Happy Birthday Liam!

Our youngest grand son is 8 today! He loves cars and all things to do with the beach so I decided to make him a card using the Just Beachy stamp set (retired). This set is one of those that you just cant bear to part with, and I know we all have at least one or two tucked away. In actual fact the whole card is from retired stock with the exception of the Burlap Ribbon. I am still sorting my craft room, re-arranging, turfing, and the pile for a garage sale! The card base is Baja Breeze, topped with some DSP which I wrapped some of the Burlap Ribbon around the middle then attached the image using dimensionals. I stamped the car with Stazon Ink onto water colour paper and coloured it with my Stamp n Write Markers. I used Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Black and Baja Breeze for the surfboard. The letters I cut with the Big Shot and they are Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlets. I know Liam will love his card and especially so because his "Grand dad Mate" has written on the inside especially for him! Till next time, Happy Stamping

A Sneak Peek Perhaps.....

My anxiously awaited goodies from the new Holiday Catalogue, which comes live on the 1st of September have arrived and my oh my where do I start.....It is fabulous every single page of it and I know you will all love it as much as I do. I thought I might tease you just a little bit with a couple of pics, well not full pictures, just portions. Can you see what I have done to change up one of the new products already? I will show little bits between now and September 1st, just to whet your appetite for the new goodies. Till next time happy stamping.

By The Tide

Have had this stamp set for a little while now, and this is the first time it has seen ink! I know thats disgraceful, so today I set about making amends! Our eldest son's birthday is today and he is a mad fisherman and knew he would love this card, anything at all to do with fishing and her is there. The card base is Crumb Cake, layered with Very Vanilla and Sahara Sand. I scored a border at 5/8" and 3/4" around all sides of the Sahara Sand to make a frame for the main image. I made a mask of the fish, stamped my focal fish and off stamped  the other two fish  using Soft Suede. Then I stamped a little sea horse on the diagonal corners of the Very Vanilla card stock. The sentiment is from the Express Yourself Hostess set and that was also stamped in Soft Suede. I seem to find myself reaching for this set all the time now, as the sentiments are so versatile. The other day when I was playing with my Simply Pressed Clay and the Simply Pressed Blossoms and Buttons Molds I made some coloured buttons. This one is  believe it or not has been coloured using Early Espresso re-inker, I didnt use much at all, because I didnt want to make it too dark, so I began lighter. I really like the way the colour has come out on the faux button, which I attached to the side of the card with Hemp Twine. I have tried several ways to get the buttons particularly out of the molds and really the easiest way is to pop the mold into the freezer for 15 mins and they just pop out and stay in shape! Another lovely simple card for a male of any age! Till next time, Happy Stamping.

Wildflower Meadow

Hi Stampers, Today's card is one I made a week or so ago. I used the Wildflower Meadow Stamp set and also the Wildflower Meadow coordinating Embossing Folder. There are so many design possibilities with both of these items. I used my Stamp n Write markers to ink up the stamp and the colours I used were Crisp Cantaloupe and Garden Green. The little dots were fiddly to colour so I grabbed a sponge dauber, and added the colour to the dots with that. After the ink was dry I placed the card stock into the embossing folder and lined up the stamped image with the folder and ran/ it through the Big Shot. The sentiment was stamped in Garden Green onto Whisper White Card stock and then Punched out using the Ticket builder punch. I stamped 2 on in the Whisper White and one in the Garden Green. I cut the green one in half and layered it behind the stamped image and attached it using dimensionals. The addition of the pearls from the Basic Pearls softened the card and made it a lovely feminine card. Till next time, happy stamping.

Re: Mosaic Gatefold Card

Hi there stampers, Just a very quick post, to say that when I was browsing Pininterst this afternoon, I came across where I go the idea of the flower on this card from it was Nikki Spencer .  Thank you so much for the inspiration Nikki!
Pop along to her blog and have a look at some of her amazing creations, till next time, happy stamping.

More Mosaic Madness

The new Mosaic Madness Stamp Set is such a simple set but holds the promise of great creation!
I decided to use all of the new IN Colours to make this card. I started with a card base of Crisp Cantaloupe, ran a piece of Whisper White through the Big Shot using the Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder. Next I stamped some of the images from the Mosaic Madness stamp set onto Whisper White, using each one of the colours, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar, Strawberry Slushy and Coastal Cabana.The shapes were then punched out with the Mosaic Punch. I worked out where I wanted to place these on the card front, then, taking one of the smaller images I stamped one of each colour onto the smaller raised image on the embossed sheet. The sentiment is stamped in Baked Brown Sugar onto Whisper White, and I didnt have another piece of Crisp Cantaloupe to put behind my sentiment, so I simply sponged a piece of Whisper White. This card is really very Clean and Simple! Till next time, Happy Stamping,

Washi Tape Frame

Hi there stampers, I have had my Washi tape for a little while now and haven't been adventurous enough to have a play! Made a frame using the yellow check gingham tape from the Gingham Garden Designer Washi Tape Trio, and went to my "Another Day Box" and dug out some flowers from the Flower Shop stamp set, that I had stamped onto Window Sheet. I cut these out with my paper snips because I forgot to order the co-coordinating Pansy Punch!! Poked around a little more in that little treasure trove and found some leaves that were left over from another project that were punched out using the Bird Builder Punch, these I attached using a small amount of Tombow on the stem of each. To finish the flowers off I just attached 3 of the Brights Candy Dots, One Daffodil Delight, one Melon Mambo and the other Tempting Turquoise. Attached the flowers with Mini Glue Dots and it was done! Really only took 10 minutes to make and I reckon if I had the Pansy Punch it would have been 3 or 4 minutes tops! Hope you like this happy little card made from goodies in my "Another Day Box". Till next time, Happy Stamping.

Mosaic Gate Fold Card

 This delightful Gate Fold came together quite by accident (as I am sure most of my creations do). I had made the Christmas one, that I showed here on my blog yesterday and still had some Brights Collection DSP on my desk so decided to use that as well. I picked up a piece of Primrose Petals card stock and happily began trying out my Mosaic Punch. I then played with them making different patterns, then remembered I saw somewhere on Pinterest a flower had been made using the punch. If this is your idea please let me know so I can give you credit. I didnt pin it so I just played until it looked right. I punched a couple of leaves out using the Blossom Builder Punch in Old Olive and for the centre of the flower I sponged one of the flowers from the Simply Pressed Blossom and Buttons Mold that I had made. The panel the flower sits on is Raspberry Ripple, matted with Whisper White that I had run through the Big Shot using the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder. The hot glue gun was invaluable for putting the flower together, and I just used a scrap of Raspberry Ripple as the base for the flowers. It was a lot of fun, my desk is still not cleaned up, and I hate to say my craft cupboard is still in the same state as it was the other day! Must get into it before my next shipment of valuables arrives. Till next time, Happy Stamping

Wine Bottle Tag

Decided to try my hand at making a Gift Tag for a Wine Bottle. Often we give a nice bottle of wine as a gift, only to have to hide it in a store bought bag! I used a piece of Garden Green Card Stock, scored and folded the top section, then punched a 1 3/4" circle to go over the neck of the bottle. This size punch was too big so I went for the 1 3/8" circle punch and that fit so much better and the top of the gift tag sat straighter. I used a piece of retired Christmas DSP for the front and then I with the Big Shot and my new Magnetic Platform and Chalk Talk Framelits I cut the biggest tag from the set. I then cut two snowflakes, one from the Silver Glimmer Paper and a small one from the same DSP as I used previously. Tied a bow using Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon and placed this in the centre of the snowflake. I am looking forward to making more of these, but overall I didnt think that this one turned out too bad for a first attempt. Till next time, Happy Stamping!

Christmas Gatefold

 Christmas will be here before we know it, so I thought I best be getting some cards done and also for the girls to make in their class. We usually make one Christmas Card each class, and that gives them a bit of head start. This one I used Cherry Cobbler for the card base, and Old Olive from the Brights Collection of DSP. The Poinsettias were stamped in Cherry Cobbler and the Holly was stamped in  Old Olive on the DSP. The flowers were cut out an placed on dimensionals and I added a little dot of the Silver Dazzling Details to the stamens. Decorative Label Punch was used to punch out both the Whisper White and the Cherry Cobbler Card Stock, the latter I cut in 1/2 on the horizontal and layered it behind the Whisper white that I had stamped the sentiment on and also lightly sponged around the edges with the Cherry Cobbler and the same ink was used for the sentiment which is from the retired set Beautiful Season. The insert of the card I off stamped the portion of the Holly Stamp twice then stamped on each diagonal corner in Old Olive and the verse from Snow Swirled is also stamped in Old Olive. Its good to have a play, and I doubly enjoy what crafting time I can grab, not nearly enough these days I am afraid. Till next time, Happy Stamping.

Retired Stock, but I love it

Today I was cleaning out my craft area trying to make room for the new goodies from the latest Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue, and came across all sorts of things that had sort of been pushed to the back of the cupboard. Didnt realise I had so much Not Quite Navy Cardstock and Baja Breeze, and more than one packet of Twitterpad I thought "Blow it, I am going to play!" I decided to make a Z Fold card, havent made one of them for ages. Dont know why I dont make more of them they are so quick and easy and they look lovely too. I used the Not Quite Navy for my card base and for the inside and also the outside flap. I layered it with the DSP and Baja Breeze. Then for the front panel I used Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. For the inside panel I made it the same size as the one on the front so that when it was closed the top panel would sit over the bottom one. My intention was to use my new Flower Shop Stamp set to decorate the front when I glanced across my desk and what did I see but a "Pretties Kit" tin. Now these have been retired for at least a couple of years, and I think I have used one or two pearls and thats about it :(
This tin has been sitting there for quite some time, and I was going to put it in a garage sale that I have been contemplating having. I grabbed three of the flowers in different sizes and coloured them with Baja Breeze Ink Refill and water. Old olive and the Bird Builder punch took care of the leaves and basic Rhinestone in the centre of the flower. Sentiment stamped with Well Scripted stamp set in Not Quite Navy. I think this is a really pretty card, and I am so glad that I got to have a play. Now its back to cleaning the craft cupboard to get ready for the delivery I am expecting this week.....much excitement, cant wait. Till then, happy stamping.

Sunny Challenges 85/13

Hi there Stampers!
This week at sunny Challenges and Creations it was Kris's turn to issue the challenge to us all, and what a great sketch has been provided for us to work with.
For my card I used Soft Suede, So Saffron and Whisper White. I used the bird from the Hostess Stamp Set Simply Sketched, and stamped it onto the card base using Soft Suede Classic Stampin Pad. A small Paper Doiley was cut in half and the So Saffron cardstock I ran through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing Folder. I wrapped a length of White Taffeta ribbon around the So Saffron and attached this to the card front. 2 1/2" Scallop Punch was used to cut out a Soft Suede backing for my 1 3/4" Circle Punch to cut out my Water Colour Paper after I had coloured the bird. The Bird I stamped using Stazon Ink, then using a combination of Stamp n Write Markers and my Aqua Painter I coloured the the bird using Crumb Cake for the body of the bird, Daffodil Delight for the area around his eyes and Old Olive for the grasses. Bermuda Bay was the colour I used for the background, and this was painted on using the Aqua Painter and picking up the ink from the lid of the Bermuda Blue Classic Stampin Pad. The Sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede on Whisper White and punched out with the Large Oval Punch, another ovals was punched out this time in the Soft Suede and it was just offset at the top of the Whisper White. The sentiment and the Scallop Circle were placed on Dimensionals before attaching to the card front.
Kris, Vicky and I would love to have you join us for at Sunny Challenges and Creations.  Remember each one runs for two weeks so you have plenty of time to take part. Who knows you might just be our next winner and Ray of Sunshine! Till next time, take care and happy stamping.