November Thank You

Just a quick post today and a break away from Christmas, a photo of my thank you card and little gift I made for the members of my hostess club. I used the Best of Flowers stamp set, I stamped the hydrangea flower all over whisper white card to make the cracker and matched the card with it. So quick to make your own crackers with the envelope punch board. I'm busy getting organised to go to Manchester for the Stampin' Up convention, packing and making swaps are taking up lots my my time, I'm very excited about going as it's my first time and I can't wait to meet up with lots of other demonstrators, some I already know but I'm looking forward to making new friends too!

I'll be back after convention to share what I made to swap and also show you some of the swaps I received back.

Remember Last Christmas

                 Remember last year we were all making these?

This was my blue version, lots of people made traditional red and green ones. The ornament stamps and framelits dies are not in the current catalogues but were carried over, so you can still purchase them! Ornament Keepsake stamps in wood mount 128048 £30.95 and in clear 128051 £24.95 and matching framelits dies 127816 priced at £20.95.

                 

If you purchased them last year, here's something new to try with them, I stamped all over an A4 sheet of whisper white in different ink colours, then cut and folded the card into a lovely little bag and added a handle to hang on the tree, perfect for a little gift of jewellery, sweets or any other small item.

We are expecting a very cold spell here in the UK so cosy up at home and enjoy lots of craft time

Wheel Away

When it comes to Stampin' Up's wheel stamps I like to remove them from the wheel, attach them to some foam backed mount and use them like standard stamps. (If you look closely, there is a join/seam, cut this carefully with a craft knife and peel away from the wheel) I find them easier to use but one problem I had was that all my clear mount blocks weren't long enough, I tried different things including using a new big shot plate but the large size of this made it a bit difficult.  One day I had a lightbulb moment (doesn't happen very often, unfortunately!) I had a clear ruler lying on my desk and I thought I would try that, sure enough, it worked! So if you don't normally look at the wheel stamps, take a fresh look now and get out those rulers!

Here's a bright, sunny card I made using the lovely gingham wheel to remind you of warmer days.  I love these colours together, pistachio pudding, calypso coral and crisp cantaloupe, so clean and fresh.

Hope you decide to try this out, let me know if it works for you too.

Getting organised for Christmas

Good morning everyone, I made a decision to get better organised this year, I say it every year then end up ruining around trying to find that important list I had! Well this year everything is going to be in one place, right inside my beautiful journal. I decorated the front at the weekend, it's a lot more shimmery than the photo shows, it's hard to get a good photo at this time of year. I sponged round the edges with the gold ink pad and then sprayed with the smooch spritz. Lots of different sections inside, already decorated, there are parts for gift lists, food shopping, Christmas cards & more.  I'm going to put temporary lists inside the little pockets and write anything that's permanent like addresses in the proper sections, I'm ticking off things completed in pencil, that way I can rub out and reuse next year, making this a journal to use again and again.  There are a couple of little envelopes tucked inside and these would be very useful to store all your receipts.

Hope this has inspired you to get more organised this year.

Christmas Sweetie Bag

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend, the weather here on the coast has been beautiful, cold but sunny and bright, the sort of weather I love to walk in.

Thought I would share with you this lovely Christmas bag I made, it's a sort of a handbag shape.  I was inspired by a gift of toffee I received in a similar bag. Off course I had to take it apart to see how it was made (after eating the toffees first!) and I came up with my own version. It's a crafters thing, isn't it, we have to see how it's done, we all do it!

Short and sweet today!

I used the gorgeous stamp set Joyful Christmas. I stamped the poinsettia on vellum in versamark and heat embossed it in white, cut out a couple of layers and coloured them on the back with cherry cobbler to give a lovely watercolour effect.  I did the same for the leaves using pear pizzazz. I added a  frosted finished embellishment to the centre of the poinsettia to add a bit of sparkle and finished off with a taffeta bow in pear pizzazz.

Happy Monday Friends

Hello, it has been a while since I posted so I thought I would share a card and gift box I made for a dear friend's birthday recently.  She loved the matching card and box. Hopefully she liked the contents of the box too! I used the stamps that say 'over a million people share your birthday' then on the other side of the 'flip' its says 'that makes you one in a million!' I thought this two set sentiment was perfect for a flip card. The sentiments are from the One in a Million stamp set, check it out as there are lots of nice twin sentiments in this set.

Hope to back with you soon as I have lots more to share, I might even show you some Christmas ideas, if nobody thinks it's too soon!
Have a great day.

Proud Mum & Dad

Well the weekend's here to relax and enjoy! I thought you might like to see the card I made for our daughter's graduation last week. There are lots of similar ones on the web, can't remember where I first saw this idea because I have had it in my head for months. Anyway this is my take on it and she loved it!

Hope you have a lovely weekend spent with your love ones.

Here's what I used to make this card.  Night of navy card base, Gingham garden washi tape and the little yellow candy dots for the buttons.  To make the tassel on the mortarboard I used white bakers twine and dyed it with my daffodil delight reinker then tied it into the tassel I needed. The stamp set is Pure Gumption  and is a very useful one to have for various types of exam results and costs only £11.95 in the clear mount.

Happy Monday

I've been away in London for my daughter's graduation so there has been no crafting :-( However I plan on spending time in my craft room today :-) Yay!

With nothing new to show you, I am sharing my thank you cards for September which are quite simple but still nice. 

Hope you all get some time to relax and craft this week.

Products used on the cards - Polka wheel, Secret Garden stamp set and Framelit dies. The Thank you is from a very useful set called Four You.  I stamped the leaf with a Versamark pad and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. The flower centre has a rhinestone to add a bit of bling.  Colours used are Daffodil Delight and Real Red.

A Sweet Birthday

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, quite an Indian Summer here in Northern Ireland, we even managed a BBQ on Saturday!

I made this pretty birthday card for my sister who was going on holiday to celebrate her special day, I wanted to give her some euros to treat herself while she was away.  I folded an A4 sheet of whisper white to make a pocket inside, this also hides where the ribbon is glued. The sentiment is from a lovely set called Cycle Celebration (page 10 of main catalogue). The ribbon is a retired one in Old Olive satin. I used the speckled stamp from Gorgeous Grunge (page 109 of the catalogue) beneath the flowers.  This is a great stamp set for adding a little something to a card, will make great snow effects for my Christmas cards!

Below is a photo of the inside of the card showing the pocket. I didn't stamp a sentiment inside, just a pansy, as I wanted to leave the space to write a little note. I also added a strip of Polka Dot Parade dsp in Old Olive.

        That's all for now folks
           

Little Autumn gift set

Good morning everyone, you are probably getting a little bored with autumn projects but I just wanted to share this little set I made for a friend I was visiting.  The little bag was filled with lovely chocolates!  I used the Magnificent Maple stamp, again! The little bags are great value, only £8.95 for eight (page 36 of seasonal mini catalogue) and can be stamped on and filled with various things, they make lovely  little thank you gifts.