December .. a month of craziness

How come peace, tranquility and everyday sanity seem to disappear out of the window when December rolls around.   I can't believe that Christmas has come round so quickly I'm in a mad panic of preparing and shopping and going crazy!   Trying to get work tied up so I can enjoy the break and working out my Christmas preparations.  AAGGGGGHHHHHHH is all I can say!!!

Hopefully you are a lot more prepared and ready than I am!!

This is going to be picture overload but thought I'd get ahead with my thank you cards for Christmas.  Its been raining so much in the UK and so dark and miserable that it was very difficult to get good pictures.  I used the same stamp set, SU designer series paper and white satin ribbon to make a selection of cards in the same design.

I was really pleased how these turned out.  I stamped the floral image and then rubbed white ink onto the flower to really make it pop.

Well that is going to be it from me until after Christmas I have the week off which I'm really looking forward to so will hopefully get some crafting time in then. 

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year.

A little bit of a crafting break

I took a bit of a creative break work has been exceptionally busy and I have a few things going on that I need to find a few extra hours in the day - I'm sure we all struggle with that problem especially with the run up to Christmas which is coming round very quickly!

These are a set of cards (4) that I made a long time ago but never posted to the blog - it uses one of my favourite retired sets Growing Green and they are clean and simple.  They are in shades of green - River Rock, Certainly Celery and Old Olive with matching seam binding.  I used a variety of sentiments and very vanilla and river rock cardstock.

Butterfly fetish

Are you beginning to wonder if I have a butterfly fetish!!!  So many beautiful butterfly stamps and not one festive card in sight at the moment!!!  I just can't bring myself to make Christmas cards just yet .. think I had a christmas card overdose at the start of the month when all I made was snowmen and penguins!

This card uses some really pretty Stampin Up colours one of them I was so sad to see leave which was peach parfait I'm so glad I stocked up on this colour as I love it.  I used daffodil delight, calpyso coral and certainly celery for my butterflies.  Added some embossed detail one debossed to add something different some ribbon and a sentiment.

Dreaming of butterflies

This is the last of the set of butterfly cards that I made I had two really bright sunshine coloured ones and wanted to go for two contrasting but more subtle ones and this is what I came up with.  Same one layer design and layout for the butterflies and sentiment but colours this time were Stampin Up bashful blue, wisteria wonder and a beautiful pale lilac that was non Stampin Up.

Sweet Baby

I needed a baby card for a friend that has just given birth to a baby boy and just love this stamp set.  I took 3 of the animals from the set and stamped in Stampin Up colours daffodil delight and calypso coral for the lion, pool party for the elephant and lucky limeade for the giraffe.  I used one of my favourite cardstocks for baby cards which is the sadly retired confetti white - it just adds something else to the card which I love.  I took the heart and stamped on the animals and added two either side of the sentiment.

I really love how quickly this card came together and how quick and simple it was.

Another one sheet wonder

Again I used the one sheet wonder technique for this card - I need to improve my photography skills as every photo I take my cards/sentiments look drunk even when they are not!!

I just love the colours on this card - I used Stampin Up colours Wisteria Wonder, Pretty in Pink, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral I just love these colours together makes me think of sunshine and summer .. which seems such a distant memory ago!

One sheet wonder - Thinking of You

 

I love one sheet wonder cards - they are great when you want to make a set of matching cards in different designs but fundamentally using the same pattern.    You take one sheet of A4 I used Stampin Up Whisper white and you stamp over the whole thing using a stamp set .. or two of your choice you then have some great patterned paper that you can make several cards from.

I used the Stampin Up colours Not Quite Navy for my card base - its a standard A2 card.  I then used matching not quite navy ink, sahara sand for the leaves which really adds some subtle interest and is such a fab colour, poppy parade now sadly retired and daffodil delight.

Here's a close up of my main stamped panel.

 

Summer memories

 

This card is part of a set that I made you can find one of the other cards here.  I really enjoyed making this little set of cards as sometimes I forget just how much I do love to stamp.  Again I used several different stamp sets on this card but the same cardstock colours as previously.  I used one of my all time favourite stamp sets from Stampin Up that was a freebie if you spent over £45 and was called reason to smile I just loved this set and was sad that it was only available for a month.   I made a set of 4 cards and a little purse type box to keep them and give them as a gift I'll post the others throughout the week as well as showing the complete set.

I hope you like them :)

Butterfly Crazy

Two cards from me today both using the same design, different sentiments and the same Stampin Up colours - I used melon mambo, daffodil delight and tempting turquoise.  A plain simple one layer card I just love this butterfly set.

Another first

Another first for me some stamping BUT some embellishments that I usually shy away from using.  I used a beautiful doily on this card and stamped directly onto it as well as some lace to add a bit of interest.   I had the items out on my desk from my previous post and thought I'd try something different.  The colours are all the same just a different layout and design.

I can stamp .. honest

One of the things I love is stamping I have been fascinated and loved it for many many years now I first start stamping about 20 years ago .. gosh that makes me feel old I was in work and a colleague was sitting cutting out some images and I strolled over and was intrigued a million questions later and I was hooked and my love has developed from there.

One of the things I love to do is mix and match and experiment with different stamp sets - this one uses at least 4 different sets.  There are two different background stamps the fleur de lis and the moroccan background stamp all stamped in River Rock which is one of my favourite colours from Stampin Up.  I had great fun making this card and think all the sets work well together.  

I added a couple of punched butterflies and some pretty Stampin Up jewels I love the way they are just so bling and a touch of seam binding and an embossed panel.  I didn't add a sentiment as I'm not sure what I am going to use this card for yet but I made a set of them with a pretty box will I'll post later.

Something a little different

 

Well I scheduled a post yesterday as I knew I was going to be exceptionally busy and not able to get online .. did it work not a chance so here is yesterdays post which is something different for me.

I love the colours on this card I used lucky limeade, peach parfait, daffodil delight and pretty in pink with the sentiment in not quite navy.  The cardstock is confetti white I just love the flecks on this cardstock.  

I hope you like my card I really enjoyed making this one and it was nice to go a little different and not so CAS.

Less is More Challenge - Houses

Well if this wasn't a difficult challenge I don't know what is .. I made a complete boo boo I did not read the challenge correctly and my first card was not ONE LAYER so I went back to the drawing board!

The challenge this week was one layer with the theme of HOUSES!  This is my second attempt:

I kept it simple, but I wish my sentiment didn't look crooked as it took me so long to line it up on the block and get it straight  :( in real life it isn't I used a Stampin Up set that was not available in the UK called unchartered territory it has a light house, sentiment and a boat image.  I added some extra birds from the Up, up and away set.  I kept the colouring simple only adding dashes of colour with baja breeze, cherry cobbler, old olive.  The image looked like it needed something else so I added some shading with sahara sand which made it look a lot better.  The clouds you cant really see in the picture but there are some subtle clouds in the background.

Now this was the first card that I made that was not one layer .. I really should read the challenge before I whip up to the craft room

This is a very old SAB set from Stampin Up which had several houses, trees, clouds and the roofs for the houses.  This is the only stamping set that I own that has houses!  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink - I used the colours soft suede, old olive and cherry cobbler with some baja breeze and dazzling details for the clouds and added some lucky limeade bakers twine.

Butterfly Mania

What a beautiful autumnal day here in Aylesbury today the sun is shining, there is a crisp bite to the air I've been out and about doing shopping and went for a walk and have now done all the housework and washing ready for an afternoon in my craft room.  It was a busy week last week so its been nice to have a couple of days just chilling and recharging hence the lack of posts to the blog as I really do try to post everyday .. work was crazy so I'm hoping with my boss away things will go back to a normal level. 

Anyway enough chatter I had this set already out on my desk from the last post so thought I would make a quick and easy card using a different colour palette.  Come see what I made:

I used muted colours for this one and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink.  The colours were Baja Breeze and Sahara Sand with Not Quite Navy for the sentiment.  The cardstock is the sadly retired Confetti Cream I just love the flecks in the card.

Comfort Cafe is just so lush!

 

As I already had the majority of this stuff out on my desk after yesterdays card I decided to make a slightly more feminine version of the card using the same papers, layout and cardstock and ink but using one of the beautiful floral papers from the Comfort Cafe pack I love love love these papers.  

Sorry for the short posts lately but like I've said work has been busy and by the time I get in the only thing I want to do is go and curl up in bed and sleep it doesn't help that it is so dark and cold by the time I leave.  

Quick and simple masculine card

I wanted a quick and simple male card for somebody close to me to let them know I was thinking of them.  I used my favourite ever papers the Comfort Cafe papers are just gorgeous I love the colours and the fact that they have papers both for male and female cards.   I used the woodgrain embossing folder on some early espresso cardstock two of the papers from the series, a wooden button with some twine, sentiment from curly cute and midnight muse ink and cardstock.   This was such a quick and easy card to make and looks really nice in real life was very pleased with how this turned out.

 

Final Christmas card for a while

A different take on the card from yesterday.  Again using midnight muse this is such a fantastic colour I love it so much.  Festival of prints paper, ornament stamp, favourite christmas sentiment, swiss dots embossing folder, splash of glimmer mist and voila another Christmas card to add to the pile - at this rate I won't be shamed into running out of time and sending a shop bought card this year :)!

Less is more challenge - Pink

Hmmmmmm PINK .. that is the challenge over at Less is More this week - I have to say Pink really isn't a colour of choice and one that I hardly ever use so this was a challenge to say the least.  However I had to make a birthday card for a teenager who loves butterflies so come see what I made:

 

This is my absolute favourite butterfly set - it is called Beautiful Butterflies and is by Papertrey Ink it has a selection of really wonderful sentiments in a beautiful font and some of the most gorgeous butterflies I love the fact that they are all silhouette and come in different sizes and shapes.   I used 3 pinks from Stampin Up - Primrose Petals, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose - I added a little bit of bling I mean what girl doesn't love bling.  The cardstock is a new cardstock that I am trying for my bases and I have to say I love it.  It is a great weight and is the new Naturals White from Stampin Up I highly recommend it.   

Here is a close up of the butterflies:

 

Quick and Easy Christmas Cards

I'm trying to make quick and easy Christmas cards at the moment as time is short in the crafty room.  I love this card and really enjoyed making it.  I used the festival of prints designer series paper again I think you all know how much I love this versatile packet of papers used the new apothecary accents dies and cut it in half to add some interest, my favourite Christmas sentiment, midnight muse cardstock run through an embossing folder which gives fantastic detail and the little ornament stamp that gets missed from the new seasonal catalogue which a touch of dazzling details on the baubles.

Christmas has well and truly arrived on the blog

I did a class for simple, quick and easy Christmas cards recently and these are the cards the ladies made.  We used Midnight muse (love it), cherry cobbler and gumball green.   The paper is from the very versatile and such great value for money Festival of Prints from the seasonal catalogue.  We used one of the embossing folders that looks like delicate snowflakes so pretty and mixed and matched corresponding colours.

 

I love how these cards came together so quickly sorry its a short post from me today as work is exceptionally busy and I need to find at least another 8 hours in the day to do everything I want to do!!

Polar Party Christmas

As you may have guessed I love this stamp set it is just so versatile - this time I used the tree image and part of the polar bear.  My colour combination was old olive and real red.  I used matching marker pens and some designer series papers.  I wanted some focus on the polar bear so just stamped him and then punched him out - here is a close up.

I used the tiny stamps in the set in old olive ink to stamp onto the back of my card to add some extra interest as well as some whisper white bakers twine.

Less is More - Sketch Challenge

Over at Less is More this week there is a sketch challenge I've not played along with a sketch before and found it more difficult than I imagined!

Here's the sketch:

and here is what I came up with:

 

I used lots of my favourite products on this card and made it for my mum as we sadly lost my dad 7 years ago and its been very hard for her and its his birthday next week so thought I'd send her a little card.

The card base is SU sahara sand I just love this colour it really does change depending on what colours you pair it with here I've just gone for very vanilla, old olive, cherry cobbler and soft suede.  I used my favourite stamp set Fabulous Florets and stamped onto newsprint designer series paper.  I randomly stamped the stem once into the center of the card and then up the sides.  The main bloom is again stamped onto the patterned paper this time in cherry cobbler.  It is popped up on dimensionals here is a close up:

I then went mad with the sponge and distressed the edges the card looked a little blank and I had wanted the butterfly from the patterned paper to be more prominent but decided it wasn't working for me so added my own stamped in cherry cobbler.

 

Scentsational Christmas

After the time consuming card yesterday I decided to try something a little quicker as I sent out LOADS of Christmas cards!!!  This one was so quick and easy and I made 20 cards so quickly which is just what I need.   Its plain and simple but I really like it.

I used the scentsational christmas stamp set from the seasonal catalogue - you get a great selection of stamps with this set and it is also available as a bundle which is exceptional value and you get the matching sizzix dies with it.

For these cards I used the cute christmas tree and stamped it in gumball green you can just about pick up from the pictures I then took the dazzling details and smothered the tree with it this has such a fantastic shine.  These cards are 4 x 4 and I ran it through with the swiss dots embossing folder first added a sentiment, some strips of DSP and popped up the tree on dimensionals really quick and easy.

 

 

Christmas comes to Inkylicious

Well as it is feeling decidely wintery I thought I'd make a start on my Christmas cards.  I so love the Polar Party set its so cute and such great value.     I used one of the little penguins (you get two in the set) coloured him with pretty in pink markers and pool party.  My cardstock is crumb cake which I ran through the swiss dots embossing folder I then swiped it with my white craft ink and distressed the edges just to add some interest.  I think took some pool party cardstock and paper pierced it stamped the sentiment, punched out the penguin with a punch added some white satin ribbon and done.

I have to say I do love this card but it was quite time consuming so this one won't be my quick and easy card of choice when I go into meltdown when I've not made enough cards come Christmas lol.

Its so cold in the UK right now .. think winter is arriving with a vengeance.

Step up card

Well Mr Blogger didn't want to play uploading this image so its taken a while for me to get this post live .. so frustrating!  

As promised in yesterdays post this is a step up on the card I made yesterday all I added was an extra layer which was the newsprint designer series paper which I distressed to give it an old look.   I really love the combination of crumb cake and wisteria wonder and really enjoyed making these cards.

I've just go in from work, it's 8.00 p.m., in the UK and I cannot tell you how dark and cold it is tonight seems like winter is here already I'm going to tackle the first of my christmas shopping tomorrow so whatever you are doing I hope you keep warm :).

Something a little different

I am absolutely ashamed to admit how long I have this stamp set and not inked it up .. shock .. horror I'm not even sure why as I love it.  I do love this style of card and find I don't do it as often as I like and when I do I sit and think why haven't I done it for a while.

I used Crumb Cake and Wisteria Wonder with some crumb cake seam binding.  I made two of this card but decided I was going to step it up (I'll post that card tomorrow).  To add interest once I'd embossed my panel I ran my ink pad over to give it a distressed look.  I also added some extra interest using the wonderful and essential french foilage stamp set this one has so many uses.

If you would like to find out more about any of the products I've used please do not hesitate to contact me.

Delicate Doily meets Christmas

I am a little late in posting today this week has been a killer at work and I've not been too well I've got pulled muscle and all I can say is OUCH so it makes sitting in front of the computer a nightmare for long periods of time so I haven't been able to get round and comment on all my favourite blogs :(.

Anyhow onto todays card.  This stamp set is so versatile it has been in the catalogue for a while its called delicate doilies and I thought instead of investing in a new snowflake stamp set this one would be good value for money and I could use for both everyday and Christmas I do like value for money!

I used midnight muse (yummy), pool party and whisper white cardstock, pool party and midnight muse ink pads added some bling, my favourite Christmas sentiment and some pool party seam binding then sprayed it to within an inch of its life with my new favourite vanilla shimmer spritz!

Thanks for visiting me tonight I hope you are all having a good week.

Perfectly Preserved Thank You

I still really love this set and as I had it out already on my desk I didn't want to put it back so took some left over scraps from the Floral District DSP I created two banners.  I stamped the jar and this time filled it with the pears I got the two tone look from inking up the stamp with pear pizazz first and then taking one of the sponge daubers i dabbed into peach parfait then dabbed it directly onto the stamp before stamping I love the interest and dimension that it gives.

The sentiment is curly cute and I used the banner from itty banners to cut out a blank frame.  I used the swiss dots embossing folder directly onto my whisper white cardstock as it looked too stark and bare without anything.

With Sympathy

 

I was asked to make a card for a very sad occasion I'm not going into details as its so sad but think the picture tells a thousand words.

I used several different sets for this card, using very vanilla as my card base ad early espresso for my ink - the sentiment is not Stampin Up and is from Papertrey Ink.  The two main images came from the My Special Day stamp set I used the beautiful scroll set and the baby image.  I then added some interest as the card looked too clean so added the splodges from French Foilage as well as the text in crumb cake the final touch was some crumb cake seam binding.

Less is More Challenge - Autumn

So over at Less is More the challenge this week is Autumn.

Now who could resist such a challenge I love this time of year the glorious colours, the fresh bite in the air, the gorgeous early sunsets like the world is setting fire as it catches all the leaves in their glory .. its just so pretty.  Come see what I made..

I took a Very Vanilla card base that I made to standard size then using several markers (poppy parade, peach parfait - sadly retired, more mustard, old olive and cajun craze) I coloured directly onto the stamps from the Stampin Up Gently Falling before stamping down I sprayed completely with Vanilla shimmer spritz you can't really see it in the picture but in real life it looks gorgeous a bit like dew on the leaves.

I used two different leaf images from the stamp set and then used the outline on only one of them using Early EspressoI added one of the new wooden buttons (I love these) and some of the twine I then used a sentiment from Blooming with Kindness with set I so love that font.

Life is a bit chaotic in my house at the moment . we got a new kitten on Friday night and she is already causing mischief and mayhem my other cat is taking a while to get used to her being a set in his ways old boy!

But how can you resist these eyes .. I can safely say yes she is full of mischief and was found 6ft up the window climbing the curtains this morning!!!

Fabulous Florets Part 2

Whilst I had this set out on my craft desk I wanted to show how by using a different colour combination you get a totally different look from the card I posted yesterday.

If you are a little overwhelmed with all the choice in the new catalogue then this would be a set I would highly recommend it is so versatile and lovely.  My colour combination was Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla.

I added some of the twine and using the scallop punch to add two strips of early espresso card stock I used the timber wheel to add some detail to the bottom of the card.

I really like how this one turned out.

Product Details:

Fabulous Florets (W) 123025 £21.95 or (C) 123027 £17.95

A card for my mum using Fabulous Florets

My mum really has had a terrible time lately we have been struggling with ill health for a number of years and it all came to a head two weeks ago when she was rushed to hospital with a DVT she is on the way back up at the moment but its been a difficult two weeks I don't live close to my mum but will always be there for her and I wanted to send her a card just to say she is wonderful and I love her very much.

I do love the Fabulous Florets stamp set I love the simplicity of the stem and the detail of the blossom.  I used inks in midnight muse, lucky limeade and primrose petals.  The sentiment is from the wonderful delightful dozen.

I added some bakers twine in lucky limeade and one of the gorgeous vintage faceted designer buttons threaded with some more twine.

Product Details:
Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons 127555 24 buttons in 3 designs £5.50
Fabulous Florets (W) 123025 £21.95 or (C) 123027 £17.95
Delightful Dozen (W) 122650 £29.95 or (C) 122652 £23.95


If you would like to order any of these items please do not hesitate to contact me.