A Spec-tacular hello

Stampin' Up stamps mostly come in sets containing images that have been designed to work beautifully together but, at the beginning of this month, the company released some exciting new stamps that were available as singles. There are some fabulous images but of them all, the one I've used today is my must-have. Come and see:

It's Three Minute Thursday here today, so this is a really quick card - don't let colouring the specs put you off! When I first started stamping, I spent ages colouring the rubber on my stamps when I wanted multi-coloured images but I soon learned that a quick scribble of colour is just as effective!

The label is stamped with a sentiment from the retiring Tiny Tags set. To keep it quick, I cut it out with one of my square punches and snipped the final side with my paper snips, then attached it to the specs panel with a stapler. (By the way, two of the square punches are also on the retirement list and, if you don't already have them, I'd highly recommend going for it. They're great for quick, accurate labels, for inchie-style cards, for cutting ribbon tails on banners, for cutting squares FAST - I don't know what I'd do without mine!)

The Spec-tacular stamp I used today is one of five different single stamps which will only be available until 31st August. They're all cling mount and are priced at £6.50 - £6.95.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: Spec-tacular, Tiny Tags (retiring)
Ink: 2012-2014 in colour markers
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Square punch (1 3/8" and 1 1/4" square punches retiring)
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

I look forward to my children coming home from school. They tend to arrive at different times and come through the living room where I'm usually at my desk so I always get to have a chat. Sometimes our discussions are lengthy and sometimes they're not. "Hi sweetheart! How was your day?" I said yesterday when my daughter came in. "Long!" she said and disappeared upstairs to her room. "Right, " I said to the air. "Well, I can't spend all day chattering away - I'd better get on then!

See you tomorrow when there'll be something fishy going on around here!

Sending sympathy with the Best of Flowers

Stampin' Up's new Best of Flowers is such a versatile set with images suitable for practically every occasion. The daisy image for example can be bright and cheery but is also perfect when used in a more subtle way for a card intended to give comfort. Come and see:

I started by masking off a rectangle with sticky notes and sponging in a soft background. The daisies were stamped over the top in black and the sentiment added. When the mask was removed I scored in a handkerchief-style border using the Simply Scored tool.

The panel is attached to one corner of the card base and the card finished with a sprinkling of gems.

I shall link this card up to the fabulous Paper Players challenge where they're looking for CAS with bling.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Best of Flowers, Love and Sympathy
Ink: Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette classic inks, black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

I've had lots of questions about 'handkerchief-style' cards. Er... it isn't a real thing, it's just something I made up - I call them that because they look like a folded hanky. Of course I could also include my blooper cards under this heading but they'd be more like a used hanky! Oh dear, I think this post should definitely end here!

See you tomorrow when I'll be showcasing a fast card for Three Minute Thursday (and not being quite so vulgar hopefully!)

Secret Garden - handkerchief-style!

I'm quite fascinated by hanky-type layouts at the moment and today's card came about when I saw the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. It also fits challenges at ATSM (to make a clean and simple card), CAS on Sunday (to use black and white plus one other colour), and Dynamic Duos (a colour combo of Pear Pizzazz and black with the option of featuring a plant). I'm panting after that sentence so without further ado - come and see what I've made:

Black and green is quite a favourite combination of mine and I do feel that a black card base can give a simple layout a nice bit of drama. I particularly like a black silhouetted flower with green accents like this one from Stampin' Up's Secret Garden.

The flower was stamped onto the white panel and the handkerchief-style scoring added over the top using my Simply Scored tool. I stamped another flower, cut it out (there are framelits to make this easy!) and popped it up over the first. I used a marker to add colour to the flower centre with a marker before dotting it with my 2 way glue pen and heat embossing with clear embossing powder.

I could have used the leaves from the Secret Garden but I noticed the clock ticking urgently at this point and felt a quick click with a punch was the answer!

This is the fabulous sketch I was working from today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Secret Garden, So Sorry
Ink: Black stazon, Pear Pizzazz marker
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz
Other: 2 step bird punch, Simply Scored, Secret Garden framelits, Big Shot, clear embossing powder, heat tool, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

Whenever I offer pears to my family I always ask if they'd like 'a pair of pears'. I started mucking about with words to amuse myself and the children when they were small and I'm afraid I never stopped! (More examples are Sammy Sandwich, sublana (my eldest son's way of saying banana), nippy noodles and creme de la creme a la Edgar (meaning cream and taken from Disney's Aristocrats). We are a weird old lot but it makes me smile and I bet my children will do the same with their own children!

I shall be back tomorrow with another hanky-style creation. See you then!

Washi tape and buttons for a new baby

After a mixed weekend it gave me such a boost to see my Smile card from last week being featured on the front page of Stampin' Up US! It featured one of the gorgeous new Gingham Garden washi tapes from the brand new catalogue which will go live on the 2nd July (check the side bar to pre-order your copy!) Today I've used one of the other tapes from the set on a card inspired by the fabulous sketch at CASe this sketch this week. Come and see:

Isn't this floral tape gorgeous? It's so easy to just stick a strip onto my cards! I decided to emphasise it with a bit of scoring which you can see better here...

... in this photo! The sentiment is from the retiring Friendly Phrases and I stamped it either side of my washi tape so that I could feature a button as the 'o' in 'congratulations'. It was stamped in two stages, inking up with markers so that I could miss out the relevant letters each time, and I used my stamp-a-majig to line the letters up.

Here's the sketch I was working from today:

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Friendly Phrases (retiring)
Ink: Midnight Muse, Pink Pirouette markers
Card stock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
Other: Gingham Garden washi tape (available 2nd July), Simply Scored, Big Shot, Sweet Buttons embosslits die, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

Yesterday I took my eldest son to the shops to get some wellies for his upcoming geography field trip as he's completely grown out of his old ones. Can somebody please tell me -  how did we get from this...

... to this...

in such a short space of time? I mean okay, the Thomas the Tank Engine ones were not the pair before the size 10 Dunlops we bought yesterday but still, it does seem like only yesterday they were his pride and joy!

See you tomorrow for more crafting fun!

Washi tape and hexagons for fathers day

It's a bright and breezy day in Buckingham today - perfect for getting up early and sneaking in a Less is More card before the chores begin. The challenge there today is Hexagons - and there's certainly no lack of those among my Stampin' Up stash! Come and see what I made:

I started by partially embossing a white panel with my Honeycomb embossing folder and added a strip of hexagonish (!) Epic Day washi tape where the embossing met the smooth card stock.

It needed something more... oh I know, MORE hexagons! I like the shape this fathers day sentiment from Delightful Dozen makes so I emphasised it by adding these fabulous map-patterned hexagons snipped out from a gorgeous design in the Epic Day designer paper pack. An accent of contrasting washi tape adds a bit of interest.

All the hexagons I used are different sizes  - but I didn't let that stop me!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Delightful Dozen
Ink: Black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Epic Day washi tape and designer paper, Honeycomb embossing folder, Big Shot, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

Notice that I might get the card made early but posting it takes a bit more ingenuity! Have been up to all sorts of mischief this morning, including this game:

I called it 'Pin The Hem on the Donkey' which was VERY rude but which caused me to cackle like a hen!

See you soon,

Smile! It's a Happy Day!

Since all the local cats seem to be using my back garden as the venue for their nightly raves at the moment, I'm feeling a tad sleep-deprived. I had some cheer-up therapy though in the form of this week's CASology cue word - Yellow - and some new stash YAY! Come and have a look:

It's impossible to feel tired and low when working with bright yellow - especially when you get to use this fabulous new gingham washi tape!  I laid strips of it onto a piece of card stock and cut out a frame using two of my Ovals framelits. I also cut an oval aperture into a panel of Daffodil Delight card stock and mounted the frame on top.

The wonderful, bold sentiment is from a new set called Happy Day (which will be available in to order in just 11 days time!) It was stamped directly onto the card base using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it was centred properly. The card was finished with a flower from Secret Garden centred with one of the retiring designer buttons and some delicious new Crushed Curry bakers twine.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Happy Day (available 2nd June), Secret Garden
Ink: Daffodil Delight classic ink, black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Other: Ovals framelits, Gingham Garden washi tape and Crushed Curry bakers twine (available 2nd June), Brights designer button (retiring), paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• To make way for new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see STAMPS and ACCESSORIES available, while stocks last, until 30th June.

My youngest son has begun to organise his social life but seems to keep forgetting that communication is key! Having had several upsets on the matter, he has resolved to improve. Yesterday, at dinner, he announced that he'd been invited to a friend's birthday party. "That's great!" I said. "When is it?" He looked up from his plate. "Oh I don't know yet," he said. "I just thought I'd give you a pre-warning!" Hmm, not entirely the most useful information then. And what IS a pre-warning? A warning about a warning?! Don't worry though, I will find out when the party is... about five minutes before my son is due there!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you very soon,

Three Minute Summer Silhouettes border

Of all the stamp sets in the Stampin' Up catalogue at the moment, Summer Silhouettes has to be one of my favourites and most used. But if you thought the set was just about flowers, think again! Come and see the fast card I made for my Three Minute Thursday slot today:

That little garden trellis in the set can turn into a rather interesting quatrefoil border! I stamped it in Gumball Green ink and coloured it in with markers. I chose these sugary colours but you could easily use more masculine colours for a male card.

The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen and used to say 'Thank you so, so much' until I doctored it with my craft and rubber scissors! I think it's important to make your stamps work for you. I added a die-cut butterfly (I keep these ready cut in a jar in every colour) and topped it with a gem to finish the card but again, a button would work for a male card or, if you had more time, you could stamp the border on scrap card and cut one of the shapes out and pop it up over the original with a dimensional.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Gumball Green classic ink, black stazon
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Markers, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Basic rhinestones, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and, to make way for the new items, some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

My favourite story all over the internet this week is the one about PC Peach - have you seen it? Apparently the crown prosecution service demanded a written statement from PC Peach, despite being told several times he was a police dog, so eventually police submitted the requested statement:

Picture from Twitter

Unfortunately the prosecution service were unable to see the funny side of it (what?!!!) but it certainly brightened up my day!

Are you wondering what I've been doing with my brand spanking new stash? Well, I've been putting it away on my shelves and stroking it and if I haven't been able to resist using some of it on a card made for tomorrow, well who can blame me!

See you then,

A bank of stippled blossoms

The large flower in Stampin' Up's Stippled Blossoms stamp set is such a show-stopper that it immediately came to mind when I saw the challenge at Make My Monday this week: to make a clean and simple card featuring flowers. Come and see what I've been up to:

The bank of smaller flowers was made by repeated stamping and stamping off with the solid stamp, then going back over them with the detailed stamp. This gives quite a bit of depth which is emphasised by adding leaves amongst the blooms.

The flowers are so pretty and provide the perfect foil for the queen of them all! This one has been stamped and fussy cut with the larger leaves, then popped up over the smaller flowers.

I love this sentiment from Life Shared, which will be retiring at the end of this month, and think it's perfect for another crafter. Can you see the 'running stitch' style scoring? It's easy to add subtle scoring detail with the Borders plate which fits neatly into the Simply Scored tool.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Life Shared (retiring at the end of June)
Ink: Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Simply Scored, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Forgive me for not being very chatty today but a man from the UPS delivery service came round yesterday with some VERY exciting boxes. If you live in a five mile radius of me, please do not worry about the noise, I'm just a little bit over excited... SQUEEEEEEEAL!!!

See you tomorrow!

Picking a bunch from the Secret Garden

The colour combination at the Paper Players intrigued me this week so I had to have a go! I picked Stampin' Up's fabulous Secret Garden to play with and here's what happened:

I definitely wouldn't have come up with this colour combination on my own but there's a summery feel to it that I love to bits!  The leaves are stamped onto a So Saffron stripe from the Patterns designer paper stack and a strip of card stock placed across it...

... then the gorgeous coral flowers were stamped and cut out (framelits are available to make this easy!) and laid over the strip. I used Pool Party card stock to punch out tiny flowers to add to the cluster and  the colour pops up again in the mat and the large flower centres.

Here's the colour combination I was using today (right) - I'll be using it again I think!

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Secret Garden, Delightful Dozen
Ink: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso
Card stock: Naturals Ivory, Very Vanilla, Pool Party
Other: Markers, Secret Garden framelits, Itty Bitty punch pack, Basic pearls, Patterns designer paper stack in Subtles, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links for lists of the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

I'm still smiling over our trip to Bourton-on-the-Water.  There was a lovely moment in the railway model museum when all the children were pressing the buttons to activate the trains and other vehicles on one of the breathtakingly detailed scenes. "Mummy look!" said my eldest son, his deep manly voice full of boyish excitement. "When I press number three, Thomas comes out of his engine shed!" Ahhh - it was just as if he was three again!

See you tomorrow, for more crafting fun!

Happy 7th birthday using punches

It's my nephew's birthday next weekend but since we can't get together then, we celebrated in advance  yesterday. I did mean to make him a lego brick card but forgot all about that and instead put together this punch-art boy (who is almost as cute as my nephew is!) Come and have a look:

This is such a handy card to have up your sleeve for primary school birthdays and uses just a collection of punches, some bright designer paper and a stamped sentiment. It can be adapted for a girl quite easily by adding a pony tail or bunches made with the bird wing from the 2 step bird punch.

My nephew will be seven years old so I made an easy badge for the punch art boy using the pennant punch for the '7' and mounted it onto a couple of layered circles.

This bold cartoon-style needed a strong sentiment to balance it out and the happy birthday from Sassy Salutations fits the bill.

Here's what you'll need for this card
Stamps: Sassy Salutations
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Card stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Rose Red smooth card stock plus Early Espresso Core'dinations card stock
Punches: Pennant, Modern Label, 2 step Bird, Owl, 1/2", 3/8", 1", 2 1/2" circles
Other:  Patterns designer paper stack in Brights, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER STAMPIN' UP ITEMS FOR YOU AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ADDRESS IN THE UK. I'M COMMITTED TO PROVIDING EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND AM ALWAYS HAPPY TO OFFER HELP AND ADVICE. TO FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.
• It won't be long before the new annual catalogue is here and to make way for the new items some of our favourites are retiring. Click the links to see the STAMPS and ACCESSORIES that are retiring - some at amazing prices! Sale items are never around for long, so contact me as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

We had planned to meet up at Wendover Woods for a picnic yesterday but having seen the weather forecast, I suggested travelling a bit further west to chase the sunshine. We spent a lovely day in Bourton-on-the-Water, a pretty little Cotswold village with chocolate box cottages and pretty little bridges over the river which runs alongside the main street. There's heaps to do there but we opted for a visit to the model village and the model railway - pure nostalgia for my children and me, and a new experience for my nephew! "It was always such a treat to go to Bourton-on-the-Water," said my daughter afterwards. "It was up there with Christmas!"

Happy Monday and I'll see you tomorrow,