A little under the weather......

Sorry for being AWOL folks, but the first week of the Easter holidays has left me drained, and suffering from a really bad back, I know exactly what I did to set it off,  I dangled from a tree, but teamed with the general bits and bobs that life throws at you in the holidays, I am feeling a little under the weather and have only just ventured back to my desk tonight, the first time since Tuesday!

Anyway feeling a little brighter after a chat with my mum this evening, I got heather to help me shoot a little video, on an ace technique, I shared with my 'Creative Cafe' ladies at our last session.....

I think I may have managed to refrain,

from my favourite phrase too!!

I was inspired to create, after seeing the cards & projects in the May edition of Craft Stamper, in the 'Stamping Contrasts' section. There were a few inky backgrounds and I fiddled around getting that effect with my SU stash!

Here are some pictures of the cards, as the film doesn't show the colours of the purple one well....

 Shades of yellow, with 'Soft suede' stamping

& card stock trim... 

Purples with 'Basic Black' stamping & card stock trim...

And my final colour combo.....

 Blues with 'Basic Black' stamping & card stock trim.

Here is a close up of the greetings, which are all in the stamp set, they were punched with the 'Decorative Label' punch & given a little stamping with the frond that is in the stamp set too!!

 The inside was given a little stamping too!

 And here is a list, were I jotted down which markers I used for my colour combos.

I hope you give this technique a try, as I say in the video...

If it isn't quick easy and achievable, then I wouldn't do it!

And do get in touch, and let me know if you come up with some different colour combos.

xXXx

A note of thanks.......

Well maybe you have guessed, but if the set is out on the desk, I do tend to play around with it for a few days and try to get a few different looks/ projects out of it.....I love it that stamps can be so versatile!!

Now on Tuesday this week, my children were lucky enough to be invited out by my Auntie & her friend, to have a private tour of the local Agricultural college's Pet & Equine departments.....Matty got to see loads of snakes and creepy crawlies, and Heather got hands on with the petting ponies, and then checked out the equine department....they had loads of fun, I thought a little set of note cards, would be a nice way to say thanks instead of the usual bottle of wine! So with the 'Pick a Petal' SU stamp set out on the desk, I had play around and came up with these.........I love cards that are just one layer and have noticed that in card shops they can be ultra expensive, so armed with my stamps I came up with these! The finished cards measure 10.5cm square. The outline images were stamped in Stampin' Up! 'Basic Black' and with a bit of playing on some scrap first, I was able to line the stamps up 'freehand'. Colour was added by using the water brush and ink from the lid of the Ink pads. The colours I choose were.....

Rich razzle berry

Tempting turquoise

Regal Rose

Pumpkin Pie

Then after making not just this set but two more....I realised I had no envelopes to fit!!! ARRRGHHH.....at this point I was nearly ready to stamp my feet and chuck the whole lot in the bin....but then I had a root in my stash and found a box of DL envelopes that were the right width, and so set about cutting and scoring them to size....and being really honest it wasn't as much trouble, as I thought and far, far easier than making an envelope from scratch! I had no envelope glue, so made a seal to fasten the little envelopes, out of a sticky bit I had cut off! I just stamped and the centre of the flower and it fits in the 1" circle punch, and I then coloured them to match.Don't you just love it...the way it all works out in the end...... ooo I just need to think of a way to fasten them together/ present them.................. suggestions please... my mojo's zapped!!

Punch crazy!!!

So after a vase and a flower, in my insomniac induced punching frenzy, I through all punching control out the window, and thought I may as well go the whole hog....

This card used four punches and also the 'Big Shot'!

So here is the Hot Air Balloon Bauble!!!

A side view to show how i made a little easel card.

The baubles were punched out of whisper white card and then run through my 'Big Shot' with the 'Perfect Polka Dots' Stampin' Up! Embossing folder. They were inked with either 'Rose Red' or 'Wild Wasabi' SU ink, to add colour. Turned upside down and with a little SU 'Linen thread' added to make ropes, you soon have the makings of a 'Hot Air Balloon'

The lovely billowing clouds were created b sponging the 'Bashful Blue' SU ink along a scrap of paper, that had, had the 'Scallop Circles' Punched along it! The birds were added with a pen.

The baskets were created, by stamping the square patterned heart from the 'I {heart} Hearts' Stampin' Up! Stamp set, on to 'Chocolate Chip' card with 'Chocolate Chip' Ink. I then trimmed the little basket shape 'free hand'.

The sentiment for the main topper came from the 'Just Believe' SU stamp set, it is stamped in 'Chocolate Chip' SU Ink.

The easel card blank was created from a piece of A5 'Crumb Cake' card, that was scored in half and then had one of the leaves scored in half again. The stopper bar, was created by punching along both sides of a strip of 'Chocolate Chip' SU card stock, with the 'Scallop Trim Border Punch', I then added a label from the SU 'Four Frames' stamp set, with a sentiment from 'Just Believe', using the 'Stamp-a-ma-jig'.

I hope you have enjoyed my variations on a bauble, please get in touch if you come up with any more bauble ideas, I would love to know. xXXx

Long time no see!!!!!!!

Hello, sorry about the lack of posts, my craft 'Mojo' left me and I have been busy doing 'Mum' stuff while Heather and Matty, are on their summer Hols!

Last night though, it came back to me in a flash of inspiration......well I had been jigging over a Layout with the 'Just Believe' Stampin' Up! stamp set for a bit, and when I finally put stamp to paper it all just came together!

When I had finished the 12x12" base, I had a look through my box of photo's and came across this one of 'Foxy....sunday name Foxglove!' she is our beautiful 'so grey- she is white' pony, she taught Heather how to ride, and 'Baggins' that wheelie bins and blue garden plants won't kill you! Anyway if I told you were she was when I took this photo, of her with heather and Matty...you would think I was crazy....well, yes, I am! And yes, she was in the living room!
I used some more of the 'Marina Mist' ink refill, diluted and misted over the card to add colour to the 12x12" textured Whisper White card.A few splats were add, by flicking the plastic tube in the spritzer accross the page.....
WARNING>>>MAKE SURE YOUR SURFACES ARE COVERED AS IT GOES FURTHER THAN YOU THINK!!!I felt that the base page needed something to draw the eye from the decoration at the bottom, to up and across the page so added a few butterflies from the 'Strength & Hope' SU stamp set.
I then created a wide matt for the photo using the same butterfly, by stamping it in 'Basic Black' around the edge of a piece of the textured white card, I also dragged the ink pad around the edge of the card to define it.
For the title, I die-cut the lettering using the 'Timeless Type' alphabet dies. I stuck the title to a piece of 'Whisper White' card that had been die-cut, using the 'Top-Note' die and then folded in half.

To add more texture to the letters, I embossed them using the 'Square Lattice' embossing folder, I also added a little stamping to the die-cut!And the reason for folding the 'Top-note' die cut in half...well it gave me a little area to add some journalling...well I don't want the whole world to knew that i had a pony in the living room! ;-)Don't forget about the fantastic offer from 'Stampin' Up!' if you place an order for £75 or over, or host a workshop with sales totalling over £250 before P&P, you get the fantastic cosmetics tote, ribbon and clips, so everyone gets a chance of this offer I am placing weekly orders myself, so email me to find out more. xxx

Colour Coached!!

Do you ever find you get stuck in a colour rut......you know.....the same ink pad colours always in use, or maybe you are afraid to mix things up a little??? Well the fantastic SU colour coach may be the thing for you, I never thought that I would use it, but I constantly have it on my desk and yes it's on hand, so that I have all the gorgeous 'Stampin' Up!' colours, without having sheets of card or ink pads all over, while I am going through my 'Will I- Won't I' stage of making!!

So I was making cards for some fellow Julies Jem's earlier this week, Happy birthday- Terri & also Catherine xx, and was once again drawn toward my 'Concord Crush' ink pad and I thought, what other colour could I pair with it for more of a monochromatic colour scheme......well yes the colour coach, even has a suggestion for this! It called a 'Dynamic Duo' and for 'Concord crush', It was paired with 'Perfect Plum' from the subtles collection, and 'My-o-my!' i do like this combo!

No prizes for guessing the stamp set, but it was on the desk, and well, I think the finished result looks pretty.....

yep! you guessed it 'Just believe' for the fronds

and this part was stamped in the 'perfect Plum'.

The text stamp in the background is the large friendly stamp.... it's big but don't be put off you can make it small too!!
The ink used for this was 'Concord Crush'.

Linen thread and a sentiment from 'Tiny tags' punched with the co-ordinating 'Jewellery tag' punch, created my own embellishment.

The inside was given the stamp treatment too, this time with just the 'perfect plum' ink.

And again on the envelope.
I do admit that I made the same card for both girls, but i really liked the first one and thought I would go with the flow!

I hope you like it too xx

Top note crush!!!

Yes I have a crush.........well two actually...................One with the lovely SU exclusive 'Top Note' die and the other with the fabulous 'In colour'- 'Concord Crush', you know the one that is so delicious that it can't decide if it blue or purple!!!

They are both in regular use, and feature prominently on my blog, but wants the point in liking something and having it and not using it!!

I teamed them together with the lovely 'Just Believe' Stampin' Up! stamp set, to make a lovely gift for a hostess, a few weeks ago, and gave it away before taking some piccies to post on my blog, so this morning while prepping for today's workshop, I took time out to make one for myself.

The 'Concord Crush' ink was sponged around the edge, and the large frond from the 'Just Believe' stamp set was added over the top using basic black ink.

I added the word 'Notes' cut with the 'Timeless Type' dies.

The pages are cut, from just copier paper, so when I run out, I can just cut some more!Got to dash off to a workshop in the 'Trough of Bowland', that's the great thing about 'Stampin' Up!' we can come to you!!

What's a milk carton??

Whilst having a little play with my SU goodies over dinner time, Heather asked what I was cutting on the 'Big Shot', it was the milk carton die, now living on a dairy farm, our milk comes in a Jug, so I had to spend a few minutes discussing what can come in cartons!!

But for the sake of our house, I have transformed the 'Milk carton Die' into a jug, just with a little snipping and a scrap of card from what the die was cut from. Don't forget that it's easier to stamp on the die before you stick it together!The top tip of the day is to have a few paper clips to preform the task of the third hand that us crafters wish we had, when attaching the strip for the handle!!
I hope you like, right got to dash.... a mountain of none craft jobs to do before my 'Big Shot Event' tonight xxx

Chariot at 7.30pm please!!

Today has been one of those day's were I have been here, there & everywhere- apart from at my craft desk......that is until an hour ago!!

Tonight Johnnie & I, are at a 'Toga' party for a family friends 18Th, so I have been mooching around the shops, trying to put together a Roman-esque outfit, I hit it lucky on the Gold bangles as ASDA were having a sale!!

Anyway I wanted to create a card, that was suitable for a trendy lady, who is now 18 and came up with the colour combination of- 'Melon Mambo' and 'Basic Grey' 'Stampin' Up! Classic Ink pads', 'Whisper white' card stock with a touch of 'Tempting Turquoise' grosgrain ribbon.

The stamp set is 'Just believe'

I cut the numbers using my 'Big Shot' and the numbers from the 'Timeless Type' Alphabet die set, from a few scraps of 'Melon Mambo' card stock. The frame was stamped once in each colour and layered up to create an area, on which to stick the numbers.

A bit of stamping to the insert and the envelope, I felt gave the card a pretty finish.

Right got to dash, my chariot is waiting, it's just a shame Russell Crowe, isn't going to be there!!