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Tuesday 31 May 2011

Silhouette Sentiments thank you card

I've been rather intrigued by the sketch at the new Make It Monday challenge site and it's been on my mind for the last few days. I've just realised too that it's the last day to enter so, instead of the dotty project I promised you today, here's my interpretation of Jacqueline's sketch:


I've taken a few liberties with the placement of the sentiment and the group of three embellishments but otherwise I've been pretty faithful to the sketch. I used lots of separate elements to make this card. The front of the Very Vanilla card base is stamped half-way up with the leaf from Growing Green and the edge defined with one of the stitch stamps that I made from the In Stitches wheel (click here to see how!) I cut a topper out of Confetti Cream card stock with the decorative label punch. Let's zoom in and see that:


I think this flower, from the Silhouette Sentiments hostess set, is heart-stoppingly beautiful and I particularly like colouring it with Pacific Point ink. This is a level 1 set - which means that you can get it free with an order of £150. Now, that's easier than you might think: some ladies save their wish lists for a big spend; some gather orders from crafting friends or family; some host a party and gather orders that way; some join my Stampers 6 clubs and get their free set at the end of six months. Whichever way you choose, there are lots of sets to choose from and you get other free goodies too! Silhouette Sentiments remains one of my all-time favourites though.  But I digress!


This picture shows what I've known for some time, that I cannot stop using the sentiments from Plane and Simple! They are so perfect! Do you like my faux brads? I didn't want brads to show on the other side of the card front and it's easy to make these with the template in the mat pack: you just colour three of the circles in with a marker and add Crystal Effects.

Here's how I made this card:

  • Cut a 19cm x 9.5cm piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
  • Masking off the top of the card with some scrap paper, stamp a design on the bottom half with the leaf from Growing Green and Old Olive ink. Smudge the ink a little with an aqua painter.
  • Take the mask away and stamp a double row of running stitch above the leaf design using Old Olive and Pacific Point inks.
  • Stamp a sentiment in Not Quite Navy ink using a Stamp-a-majig to keep it straight.
  • Use the mat pack to make faux brads, lined up with the beginning of the sentiment. Finish these with a small drop each of Crystal Effects.
  • Cut a shape from Confetti Cream card stock using the decorative label punch.
  • Stamp the label with the Growing Green leaf and Old Olive ink. Colour the flower image from Silhouette Sentiments with Old Olive and Pacific Point markers and stamp it on top of the leaf. Repeat this until you're satisfied with your design.
  • Decorate the large flower centres with self-adhesive rhinestones and mount the label onto a 4.5cm x 6.5cm piece of Not Quite Navy card stock using dimensionals. Glue this topper to the card front.

Supplies
Stamps: Growing Green, Silhouette Sentiments, In Stitches wheel, Plane and Simple (sentiment)
Ink: Old Olive, Pacific Point, Not Quite Navy
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Confetti Cream, Not Quite Navy
Other: Crystal Effects, Basic rhinestones, decorative label punch, markers

If you live in Britain, did you enjoy watching the garden get a good watering on dear old bank holiday monday? It was pure comedy wasn't it?!! And talking of comedy, my daughter was telling me things that remind her of me yesterday - birds (yes well, I collect wooden birds), crafting (hmm, might do a LITTLE bit of that!), wellies (WELLIES?!!!) I felt I had to protest at that: "Wellies!" I said. "I've never worn wellies in my life!" (Of course that's a lie!) "You have too!" she cried. And then we looked at each other and collapsed. It probably isn't normal to snort with laughter over a tiny pun but perhaps the rain had got to us!

If you were celebrating bank holiday Monday yesterday I hope you had a fabulous day. And if you live somewhere bright and warm and lovely, I hope you really appreciate it!

Thank you so much for dropping in today. I'll be back with the dotty project tomorrow and I'll hope to see you then.

Monday 30 May 2011

Masculine Monday – fathers' day country-style

Good morning! It's Masculine Monday here at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments and with fathers' day coming up on the 19th June, I have another fathers' day card to show you. Of course with a different sentiment fathers' day cards are perfect for other male occasions so it would be easy to adapt this one!


This is a one-layer card using my favourite Confetti card stock as a base. It's a design that would be great for a outdoors, country-living kind of a guy!


Don't you just love this pheasant from the Autumn Days stamp set?! He looks exactly as dippy as pheasants always do!


And here's my favourite fathers' day sentiment from Plane and Simple - simple but effective.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Take an A5 piece of Confetti White card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
  • Roughly sponge the right-hand side of the card with Bashful Blue ink to make a sky. Tear a piece of scrap paper and use it as a mask over the sky. Sponge a little Old Olive ink over the bottom of the card to create a ground. Add a little Soft Suede at the edges. 
  • Colour the pheasant stamp with More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Garden Green markers. Stamp over the 'ground'. Now build up the foreground with grass stamps - I used one from Pocket Silhouettes as well as the gorgeous grass stalk from Autumn Days - using the Old Olive and Soft Suede inks.
  • Use a stamp-a-majig to add a sentiment in Basic Black ink.

Supplies
Stamps: Autumn Days, Pocket Silhouettes, Plane and Simple
Ink: Bashful Blue, Bashful Blue, Soft Suede, Basic Black
Card stock: Confetti White
Other: More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Garden Green markers

Here's the good news: my camera has risen from its sick bed and is skipping about taking photos again! Yay!! Thank you for all your messages of support - I really appreciated them. It's wonderful to hear from people who understand that losing your camera is a major disaster! The bad news of course is that it cost an arm and a leg to sort out... Between my dentist and the camera shop I have no doubt that I shall soon be destitute!

Thank you for popping in today. Tomorrow I shall be back with a dotty project!
Hope to see you then,

Saturday 28 May 2011

Fathers' day cards

I had a bit of a late night last night as I had some lovely girlfriends round to eat, drink and be merry! So this morning I got up early, to clear away before my long-suffering family got up, and checked out the Less is More challenge site while drinking a cup of revitalising coffee. This week, Chrissie and Mandi are asking for cards using a square in either the centre or one of the four corners of a square card.

Hmmm. I had a think while cleaning up - nothing like a mop and bucket to focus the mind! Here's what I thought of while wearing the Marigolds:


What with fathers' day coming up on the 19th June, this graphic stamp came to mind. It's just the simplest card ever - as all my cards are, let's face it! - a Crumb Cake card base with the stamp in the middle.


I inked the image up first with versamark then with Old Olive ink, then embossed it with clear embossing powder. This is very old embossing powder and has gone quite bitty, but I think that just adds to the manly effect! After embossing I coloured in the text with a Daffodil Delight marker (not quite so manly but he won't know that it's Daffodil Delight - he'll think it's yellow!)

Did I stop there? Of course not! I needed to see what it would look like in other colours!


Oh yum! I love Pacific Point with Tempting Turquoise text...


... and Real Red with Pumpkin Pie text is quite delicious too! I would have carried on but people started coming downstairs talking wistfully about breakfast! (Come to think of it, I seem a little peckish too!)


Here's how to make this card:

  • Cut an 18cm x 9cm piece of Crumb Cake card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
  • Use a sponge dauber to sponge a little Whisper White craft ink round the edges of the card front.
  • You'll need a stamp-a-majig to centre your image, so stamp it on the imaging sheet now with using any dark classic ink.
  • Clean the stamp and dry it, then ink it up first with versamark then with coloured classic ink and stamp it in the centre of the card front using the stamp-a-majig to make sure it's in the centre and straight. TIP: When using a block-style image like this one, really press hard all over the stamp to make sure the image comes out evenly.
  • Sprinkle the stamped image with clear embossing powder and heat with your heat tool until the image turns shiny.
  • Colour inside the text with a marker.

Supplies
Stamps: Occasional Greetings
Ink: Pacific Point or Real Red or Old Olive, Whisper White craft ink
Card stock: Crumb Cake
Other: Tempting Turquoise or Pumpkin Pie or Daffodil Delight markers, clear embossing powder

Thanks Mandi and Chrissie for giving us LiMettes hours of fun! I know there are many other crafters beavering away at this challenge as I type - and I'm looking forward to seeing them all!

Don't forget to check out my weekly series Masculine Monday for more male card inspiration.
See you soon,

Friday 27 May 2011

Masculine birthday box

When I give a present I like to pop it in a box or a bag. I think it makes the gift feel special - and everyone likes to be given something that has taken time and thought to make. I know I do! Of course it's easy to decorate a feminine gift - you can just run riot with jewels and flowers and butterflies and bows! But what about gifts for men? Well how about something like this:


I made this box a while ago to house a posh shaving set. I wanted very clean lines and nothing too startling! For the decorative panel I opted for the striped paper from one of the Patterns designer paper stacks. These stacks come in all four of the Stampin' Up colour families as well as the in-colours and I find the tone-on-tone designs so useful to add texture and interest to projects. Here, I've allowed the paper to take centre stage by adding a stamped leaf design using one of the leaves from the fabulous Autumn Splendor set.


Yet again a frame from the brilliant Hodgepodge hardware kit makes its appearance. This kit costs £25.95 for 200 metal accents and I highly recommend it - the frames and brads look fabulous on all sorts of projects but are particularly useful for masculine projects. The kit is a bit like the magic porridge pot too - it seems to last for ages!


When I make a box, I usually clip two sides with a 3/4" circle punch before assembling. And I always use Sticky Strip to put my boxes together - it's so strong and the box is guaranteed not to spring apart!

If you'd like to know how I make my boxes, click here for a tutorial.

Supplies for this project
Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Vintage labels (retired sale-a-bration set)
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Basic Black
Card stock: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
Other: Hodgepodge hardware kit, 3/4" circle punch

Today is the last day of the half term and I get to have my lovely children home with me again! My plan is to spend my time gently scrapbooking while the children come and go around me - although I have to say, I have the same plan every holiday and it never, ever happens!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and, if your children are off on half term, enjoy their company.
See you soon,

Thursday 26 May 2011

Three Minute Thursday - Using Notably Ornate

Good morning! It's Three Minute Thursday here and time for another quick but (hopefully!) effective card. This week I've had my head full of butterflies and bling courtesy of Less is More (butterflies) and CAS-ual (bling). So I suppose it was inevitable they'd come together at some stage! Come and take a look:


I'd been thinking about stamping this beautifully curvaceous frame off the edge of a card front so I gave that a go. And then (because butterflies were on my mind!) I thought some velvety Cherry Cobbler butterflies flying out of the frame might work. And then (because I've been dreaming about bling!) I finished them off with self-adhesive rhinestones. All it needed was a quick sentiment and hey presto! A three minute card happened!


I do like a bit of dimension on a card!


And this sentiment from Thank You Kindly is a great favourite of mine. The frame is stamped in River Rock ink which I find so useful when I want a 'gold' but don't want to bring out the embossing powder.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Cut an 18cm x 9cm piece of Very Vanilla card stock. Score and fold it in half to create a card base.
  • Ink up the frame from Notably Ornate with River Rock ink and stamp the image off the card front.
  • Tuck a small piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock into the Beautiful Wings embosslits die and run through the Big Shot. Choose three of the butterflies and arrange as if they're coming out of the frame - but don't attach them yet. 
  • Stamp a sentiment using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it's straight.
  • Now attach the butterflies using glue dots and add self-adhesive rhinestones.

Supplies
Stamps: Notably Ornate
Ink: River Rock, Basic Black
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Basic rhinestones

A disaster happened yesterday - my beautiful camera broke. I'm in mourning! I have a part on order and hopefully everything will be okay by tomorrow. Please cross all your fingers (and anything else that's handy!) for me - that camera is quite a big part of my life!

Thank you so much for visiting me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a project I've been meaning to show you for a while so I'll hope to see you then.

And then it will be half term - whoopee!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

No stamping birthday card using Manhattan Flower rose


Isn't it a good year for the roses?! Have you noticed? I have lots of roses in my pocket handkerchief-sized garden including two musk roses which smell so heavenly I almost faint when I pass them! The one in the photo is the first rose I planted. It normally gives us a few gloriously scented flowers and then it gives up but this year it's going beserk!

It reminds me a little of the Manhattan flower rose and I was inspired to use that embossing folder to make today's card.


This is one of those super-simple cards which involves no stamping and relies for its impact on the layered bloom. Here, let's zoom in on that rose!


Can you see how there are three layers of the rose. I've cut different bits out of them, sponged them with inks and layered them on top of each other. I also added a few droplets of Crystal Effects to make the rose look dewy fresh!


The rose is mounted on a masked and sponged background and the card base is the gorgeous Confetti Cream card stock with speckles in it. I've become very attached to this and use it a lot for my one-layer cards.


The sentiment, which you may recognise as coming from one of this year's Sale-a-bration stamps, has been stamped in Basic Grey - Basic Black would have been a little harsh. I added a double row of piercing above it for extra interest.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Take an A5 piece of Confetti Cream card stock. Score and fold in half to make a card base.
  • Use post-it notes to mask off the edges of the card leaving an 8.5cm square. Sponge inside the square with Certainly Celery ink.
  • Add a double row of piercing below the square and add a sentiment using Basic Grey ink.
  • Now make the rose: Tuck some Whisper White card stock into the Manhattan Flower embossing folder and run through the Big Shot. Do this twice more until you end up with three embossed pieces. Cut out a full flower from one, slightly less from the second and the centre of the flower from the last.
  • Sponge colour onto the embossed pieces - I used Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose and So Saffron and blended them well with my sponge.
  • Layer the rose pieces together with dimensionals and glue the base to the sponged square on the card front.
  • Add a few drops of Crystal Effects.

Supplies
Stamps: So Happy For You (retired Sale-a-bration set)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Basic Grey
Card stock: Confetti Cream, Whisper White
Other: Crystal Effects

I've just been having a word with my daughter about expecting to be paid pocket money for chores that haven't been done. "It's wrong!" I said and, for dramatic effect, added: "On every level!" Now, my daughter used to argue with me - often defending points of view that were indefensible for hours on end! She's given this up now though and amuses herself by finding bizarre ways of agreeing with me. "I think you'll find, Mummy," she said now, "that it's wrong in ways that haven't EVEN been discovered yet!"

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm very pleased to welcome my new followers and would like to thank everyone who follows my blog and those who leave comments and emails for me - I love hearing from you.

I'll be back here tomorrow with Three Minute Thursday - hope you can join me!

Tuesday 24 May 2011

A celebration card with bling!

I've had bling on my mind for a few days now...  and no - my husband hasn't been begging me to accept diamonds as a token of his esteem! This is all about the relatively new CAS-ual challenge which is asking for clean and simple cards with bling. Before we go on, I just want to say that this challenge has given me more trouble than I would ever have imagined, and the final card bears no resemblance at all to the one I'd envisaged, but I think it turned out okay in the end! Come and see:


I wanted to use the 'sprinkling Dazzling Diamonds onto Sticky Strip' technique and (somehow!) ended up with this glitzy frame which I then embellished with self adhesive rhinestones. Now, bling and I have a cautious relationship - I'm happy with it in small quantities - so this was WAY outside my comfort zone! I felt I had to be very careful what something so attention grabbing would be framing!


After trying and discarding lots of ideas, I ended up going with this raised panel, stamped with a subtle leaf design then topped it with a group of tightly packed  rolled roses. Phew! Crisis over! There wasn't room for a sentiment on the card but I thought it would be fine inside... I do think the card would be good for weddings, anniversaries, engagements and other celebrations.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Cut a 21cm x 10.5cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold it in half to make a card base.
  • Using post-it notes, mask off 1cm round the outside of the card front. Carefully place Sticky Strip just inside the mask, making sure you keep the corners neat. You will end up with a frame.
  • Take the backing off the Sticky Strip and sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds glitter onto the frame. Pour the excess back into the pot. Decorate the glittery frame with self-adhesive rhinestones.
  • Cut an 8.75cm square piece of Whisper White card stock. Stamp with a leaf design - I used one of my favourite sets, Autumn Splendor. Use Always Artichoke ink and stamp several times without re-inking to get lots of tonal shades. Finally sponge the edges of the card stock with the ink and attach to the centre of the frame using dimensionals. It should slightly overlap the frame.
  • Cut nine circles using the 1 3/4" circle punch and make rolled roses from them. Place them close together in a square on the card front using glue dots.

Supplies
Stamps: Autumn Splendor
Ink: Always Artichoke
Card stock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red
Other: 1 3/4" circle punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Basic Rhinestones.

Do you ever get days when everything you create seems to go wrong? I've spent whole mornings getting more and more hot under the collar until I finally end up with something that looks as if I rescued it from the rubbish tip! On those days, boxes of ribbon tip over sending the ribbon reels shooting off in all directions, unravelling as they go; ink pads fall onto pristine pieces of finished work; glue stubbornly refuses to come out of its nozzle until I give up and then it suddenly decides to come out in a large splat... Does any of this sound familiar? I hope you get a calm and successful crafting session today!

I have another rose-inspired card to share with you tomorrow, so do pop back then if you have a minute. Thanks for looking today.

Monday 23 May 2011

Masculine Monday - Nature Walk coordinated gift set

Good morning! It's Monday and that means a male card on my blog! So today I'm showing you the card I made for my brother's birthday. My lovely brother is an outdoors kind of a guy and a keen gardener, so I immediately turned to those gorgeous nature-inspired Botanical Gazette papers I was using on Saturday and the Nature Walk stamp set that goes so beautifully with them.


I cut some of the misty blue bird print paper from a corner so that I got this fabulous frame effect on two sides. The stamped plants on the other two sides and the sponged edges really draw the eye in to the focal image - the bird and the sentiment.


I love this bird and won't ever part with him! I like the way he's eyeing the sentiment as if he thinks it might be a tasty worm! (Apologies if you were just eating something nice when you read that!)


National gardening vouchers are just the thing to give to my brother and look much more exciting in a box than in an envelope. I made the box lid out of the same paper as I used on the card and the base out of Early Espresso card stock. Click here for my simple box tutorial.


I finished the gift with a length of Crumb Cake seam binding and a tied a matching tag onto it with Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon. I don't know if you can see the top of the label? Its curvy shape was made using a corner of the curly label punch - and I got quite excited about it!


So here's the card and the box together and I can report, since he has now opened them, that my brother was delighted with them!

Here's how to make this card:

  • Cut a 8cm square piece of the bird print designer paper - taking it from the corner.
  • Keeping the 'frame' on the paper on the right and the bottom, stamp the plant several times on the left and top of the square using Early Espresso ink. Sponge the edges of the card stock with the ink, paying particular attention to the edges you just stamped.
  • Using the same ink and a stamp-a-majig, stamp the bird just off the left of the square and the sentiment in the bottom right-hand corner.
  • Cut a 9cm x 18cm piece of Crumb Cake card stock. Score and fold in half to create a card base and attach the stamped panel to the card front.
  • Stamp another bird in Early Espresso ink on a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock. Add touches of Crumb Cake to it with a blender pen and cut it out - no need to cut out the fiddly legs. Fix the bird on top of the bird you stamped onto the paper using dimensionals - you'll notice the stamped legs look as if they're part of the popped up bird.

Supplies
Stamps: Nature Walk, Plane and Simple (sentiment)
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake
Card stock: Crumb Cake, scrap of Very Vanilla
Other: Botanical Gazette designer paper


I can supply everything you need for this project and have it delivered direct to your door. Click here to email me, or give me a call on 01280 820593, and I'll be happy to help.

Well, that's another weekend over! As our children have grown older, they tend to go off socialising for some of the weekend but we still manage to spend some of the time together as a family. On Saturday morning we went to a local car boot sale and had a lovely time strolling in the sunshine and browsing for bargains. It was a very windy morning and we were much entertained by the sight of a space hopper bouncing into view by itself, followed a few moments later by a large man in hot pursuit!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

I'm thinking about bling at the moment... see you tomorrow!

Saturday 21 May 2011

Nature Walk butterfly birthday

Good morning! I've been up with the lark this morning and why? Yes, it's because I am well and truly addicted to the Less is More challenge that comes out on Saturday mornings! Crafters are challenged to make clean and simple cards according to a different theme each week and it's so much fun - do come and join in!

This week's challenge is to make a card using a butterfly motif. All last night I'd been thinking about a card after seeing the FTL 141 sketch on another favourite challenge site, Clean and Simple Stamping, and then today, it all suddenly became clear!

Here's what I came up with:


I loved making this card - and it took very little time to make! It might look as if I've spent hours stamping those plants onto a carefully distressed old book page but it's actually part of one of the beautiful Botanical Gazette papers. I bought them to use for scrapbooking, as lots of my photos are taken in the countryside, but I've completely fallen in love with them and can see they'll be featuring on many of my cards too!


I layered some torn Not Quite Navy card stock over the paper and knotted linen thread around it - I don't think I could live without this stuff! The sentiment is from Plane and Simple and has definitely become my most used 'happy birthday' sentiment!


Here's my butterfly! It's yet another gorgeous image from my favourite set in the mini catalogue - Nature Walk (big fanfare here!) It's hovering here ready to get some nectar from that primula, but it's probably slightly confused about the black and white nature of the plant!

Here's how to make this card:

  • Take an A5 piece of Confetti Cream card stock. Score and fold it in half to make a card base.
  • Choose a part of the Botanical Gazette designer paper with some type and some plant images.  Cut a piece about 12cm x 8.5cm.
  • Cut a piece of Not Quite Navy card stock and tear it on the diagonal. Layer this over the paper.
  • Stamp a sentiment in Basic Black ink using a stamp-a-majig to make sure it's straight.
  • Place a length of linen thread above the sentiment and wrap around the card several times, finishing with a simple knot.
  • Mount the panel onto a 12.75cm x 8.75cm piece of Basic Black card stock and attach to the card front.
  • Stamp the butterfly from Nature Walk in Basic Black ink on a scrap of Confetti Cream card stock. Let it dry (blast with a heat gun if you're in a hurry - which I always am!) before colouring it with a blender pen and Rich Razzleberry and More Mustard inks. Cut the butterfly out with sharp paper snips and fix to the card front with a dimensional or two.

Supplies:
Stamps: Nature Walk, Plane and Simple (sentiment)
Ink: Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard
Card stock: Confetti Cream, Basic Black, Not Quite Navy
Other: Botanical Gazette designer paper, linen thread

Yesterday my oldest son went for a trial at a local cricket club. The club he belonged to last year isn't running a team in his age group this year but he's keen to carry on with the sport. At the end of the session, I met up with the coach to hear the verdict and, let me tell you, Simon Cowell couldn't have strung me along better! " I'm really sorry..." he began and I immediately had a vision of myself trying to comfort a brave but distraught son. "I don't think..." he continued (as I kept my eyes fastened painfully onto his face) "...we can offer your son..." (he is going to be so disappointed, I'm thinking) "... many games this season, but we'll do our best and he's very welcome to join us for coaching every week!" I'd nearly collapsed with the tension by the this point and had to have a stiff glass of wine to revive! Needless to say, my son had simply assumed he'd get in and took the whole thing in his stride!

Thank you so much to everyone that left comments for me last week - I am bowled over by them and always return your visit if you have a contactable blog or email address.

Have a fun weekend!

Friday 20 May 2011

Dotty birthday with a Circle Circus flower

Have you noticed that birthdays have a habit of creeping up behind you and catching you unawares? I am feeling very virtuous today though - my niece's birthday is coming up this month and I made her card in advance!


Have you noticed the sewing? (I am jumping up and down here!) Yes, it's another stitch stamp I got by modifying my In Stitches wheel (see Wednesday's post). The fabulous dotty designer paper comes from the Subtles Patterns stack. It comes in four tone-on-tone designs in all four of the Stampin' Up colour families and is SO useful!


This flower was such fun to make using the leaves from the Sweetheart set and one of the Circle Circus stamps. I stamped the flower head three times and used my scallop circle punch and a couple of circle punches to cut them out and layer them. One of the gorgeous self-adhesive rhinestones gives it a bit of glitz!


I've built up a nice collection of sentiment stamps now and it means I can put them together in different ways to fit a space. I used 'Birthday' from Sincere Salutations while 'happy' is from a retired sale-a-bration set. (Have you SEEN that stitching!!!)


While I was busy on this card, I suddenly remembered I haven't yet made my card for the St Lukes Hospice Charity Challenge! This month we've been asked to make a card using pattern and I thought this one would be perfect - so I set to work making another one!


I made a darker flower for this one and used a darker dotty paper. This photo shows the layered flower much more clearly. These flowers remind me a bit of Sweet Williams!


And here they are! Finished and ready to post - one to my niece, and the other to Sheffield where it will be sold to raise funds for the St Lukes Hospice there. This is such a worthwhile cause - please do go and check out the challenge site and join in.

Here's how to make this card:

  • Cut a 18cm x 9cm piece of Whisper White card stock. Score and fold it in half to create a card base.
  • Cut a 7cm square of dotty paper from the Patterns stack (I used Regal Rose and Pink Pirouette on my cards). Glue it to the card front.
  • Use Rose Red ink and a stamp-a-majig to stamp the zig-zag stitch round the edges of the paper. Alternatively, sew round the paper with dark pink thread.
  • Stamp the leaves in Old Olive ink and cut around the shape with sharp paper snips. Tie a length of silver elastic thread round the stem and finish with a bow.
  • Stamp the scalloped image from Circle Circus with Rose Red ink three times. I made one flower from Regal Rose card stock and the other from Melon Mambo. Cut one out with the scallop circle punch, another with the 1 1/4" circle punch and the last with the 3/4" circle punch. Sponge the edges of the card stock with Rose Red ink.
  • Make a flower head by layering the punched shapes with dimensionals. Decorate the centre of the flower with a self-adhesive rhinestone.
  • Use your stamp-a-majig to stamp a sentiment then assemble the flower and glue to the card front.

Supplies (for the first card)
Stamps: Circle Circus, Sweetheart, In Stitches wheel, Sincere Salutations, Happy Moments (retired)
Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive, Basic Black marker
Card stock: Whisper White, Regal Rose
Other: Patterns Stack in subtles, silver elastic thread, basic rhinestone

Last night, my daughter perched on the arm of the sofa where I'd laid my book. My hand shot out to prevent it from falling. "Mind my book!" I said. She gave it a withering glance. "That's not a book," she told me. "That's just some pages near to each other!" Here is a picture of my book. Hmmm. I suppose she does have a point...

Have a wonderful weekend and do come back very soon!