Flying the flag......

Today I am posting the card that I made for Heather to give Matthew, she does sometimes help but she has been busy over the holidays doing horsey jobs. The card is quite large for me and the base layer is made from an A4 sheet of 'Baja Breeze' SU cardstock, folded in half to make a card with a A5 front, and do you recognise the design??

The design/ layout is taken from a card we made at training with Julie, and I just re-worked it to fit a larger card. The only try-ing bit was getting my 'Square Lattice Embossing Folder' to emboss an area that is larger than the folder its self, this meant take the card through the 'Big Shot' twice, just repositioning the folder and not winding over the embossing you did first.....it did take me two attempts....and in folders with such a ridged pattern you may see a join line, but the finished effect was pleasing!

I even decorated the inside to match the front, I had some discontinued Patterened papers to use up to make the bunting for the card front and had also stamped and punched a few with co-ordinating Ink pad & the scalloped edge bunting stamp, from 'Pennant Parade'. I so love it that SU takes the hassle out of getting things to co-ordinate, and at a recent workshop I demonstrated at, I really flew the flag..... that SU have really thought about what they do and that its great that you can easily get everything you need for a project that matches and co-ordinates perfectly, not just paper cards & inks, but finishing touches such as buttons, brads & ribbons too! So I just carried a similar decoration over to the inside, the sentiment came from a new set 'Petite Pairs', I like these as on a smaller card you can put part of the sentiment on the front of your card and the other bit on the inside, or maybe if you have made a larger card like me, use the 'Stamp-a-ma-jig' and put it all on the inside!

I made a little rosette for the front on which I put a greeting from the 'Pennant Parade' stamp set.Here you can see that the large birthday greeting, taken from 'Curly Cute' is layered on a strip of card. on top of the embossing, and how 'Crumb Cake' ink has been sponged around the edges of the white to take the glare off.On the blog candy draw for yesterday, I have had over 20 entries so far, I do have to check my spam box though!! I will be back tomorrow with the draw. xXx

Cheers to you!

Apologies for no blogging over the weekend, all good intentions went out the window, I had even started tidying my desk ready for having a play with my sneak peak stuff, but all that fell by the wayside........I ended up tackling a mountain of washing and then on Sunday, took Heather on the school shoe hunt......were we fail every time, to agree on a shoe we both think is suitable!

Here are a few cards make with the 'Cheers to you' Stampin' Up! stamp set, I made them earlier on this year, and they have proved a popular purchase for people making man cards and also for those wanting to make girlie cocktail cards.


They are a combination of colours from the 'Brights' teamed with some brights DSP, I also used the punches. on some of the cards to create apertures!Some of the cards also feature the 'Real Red' & 'Old Olive' Grosgrain ribbons that has hit the retirement list too........hmmm I wonder what we will be getting instead!
Here you can see the little aperture made using the large circle punch.......Have I ever said that 'Stampin' Up!' Punches are superb at punching through card!

You can colour the little glasses, in any colour you like, I just used the ink off the lid of the ink pad & a water brush. This one is a super cute 'Martini' glass......I have a friend who likes the real ones!!

A classic pint of larger or for those who prefer bitter you could colour it darker!
A pair of champagne flutes, perfect for engagements and celebrations!

Really I should have colour this a more fruity cocktail as it looks a bit water-ish,

but it looks good all the same!
And what I would call the classic 'Del Boy' Special.......complete with fruit and a brollie!!!

We had great fun making and tasting cocktails at 'Jilly's Hen Do' earlier on this year, one of my favourites was 'A sea monkey' and it looked similar to the one in the card above!!

Also on the retirement list is the matching cheers wheel, remember if you want anything off the retirement list, its better sooner than later, we have had a few things already sell out & I would hate you to be disappointed, email me with your order.....plus free P&P for all orders if they can be collected from me xxx

A first, first!

As many of you know, my daughter is pony mad! And last weekend we all went to watch her at a local show, 'Baggins' her pony is a bit of a character and we were absolutely chuffed, when they scooped there first, first rosette and also a small trophy, in there first class of the day- 'Young Handler'.

By the end of the day we were all really exhausted, and even more thrilled because they had got 2 fourths in other classes, but me 'the camera happy, paper stroking mum' found time for some quick pics and here they are in a page for the family scrapbook!

Now I have to admit to being a bit of a colour cheater when it comes to scrapbooking......in that i tend to get the pictures printed in black & white, and then I can go with any colour scheme I fancy, but due to the focus of the pictures being a red rosette, I just couldn't have turned it a shade of grey!

And the rosettes, I made myself, Using the 'Stampin' Up!- Scallop Circle Punch' and a lot of folding, but they have made lovely rosette embellishments.

The paper for the rosettes came from the 'Brights- Designer Series Paper Pack', I got this when i first signed up as a demo in May and still have loads left!

The tails were cut from strips of the same paper, also I inked all the edges with the same colour ink to add a little shading.

The date tab, was made by stamping the solid heart- in 'Crumb Cake' ink & the heart phrase in 'Chocolate Chip', from the 'Simply Said' Stampin' Up! Rubber stamp set. You can also just see my pencil line for lining up!

The title was cut using my SU 'Big Shot' and the 'Timeless Type' Alphabet dies, the bottom edge of the 'Crumb Cake' matte was punched with the 'Scallop Edge Punch.

As the red rosette was the most special and important, I cut the title all in lower case, and in 'Chocolate Chip' the RED bit was then cut in upper case, in 'Real Red' and to add a bit of texture whizzed through the 'Big shot' with the 'Basket weave' embossing folder. At the bottom of the page, I stamped along it using the swirly flower and stalks set from the 'Simply Said' SU stamp set.

As I haven't added any journalling to tell the 'story' behind the photos, I am contemplating a second page, for the minute though heather is very pleased with this! I will be back tomorrow with another page, as to be fair I have done one of Matthew.......xXx

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

Power to the Punch!

Thank you to all for the kind birthday wishes and cards for my birthday, yesterday. It was one of those days that started early and finished late too........Heather was on a trip, Johnnie was silo-ing and and luckily he fitted me in a tea out!!

Here are a few cards that I made for my recent launch party, that show the how versatile a few humble punches can be, and yes the 'Stampin' Up!' punches work with the SU card!!

Using the 5 petal flower you can make a lovely bloom!

The lovely two step bird over stamped with the 'Fine flourish' Stamp.

A mini bouquet made with the boho blossoms and a scalloped circle.

A floral cluster, created with the scalloped circle and the boho blossoms and using the branch from the two step bird.

Combined with some faux ribbon trim made with the eyelet edge border punch and some backgrounds made with the fine flourish stamp, I think these cards pack a punch!xx