For my Mum

Hello! 

Today hasn't been a great day - feeling a bit rubbish and didn't have the best day at work. I'm completely shattered so this will just be a super speedy post as I really need my bed. 

I've got a card for the Paper Players' challenge this week. The challenge this week is to make a "mother" card - seeing as American mother's day is this Sunday it fits well although British mother's day was back in March. Anyway I haven't actually shared either mother's day cards I made for mum or mother-in-law so I thought I'd share one I did for my dear mummy!

Stamp Set: Something to Celebrate (retired), Beautifully Baroque

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe

Punch: Bitty Butterfly, Elegant Butterfly

Big Shot: Beautiful Butterflies

Accessories: Subtles Buttons, Whisper White Baker's Twine, Pearls

Other: White Embossing Powder

My mum likes butterflies so I thought a pretty card with lots of layered butterflies would be perfect. The baroque stamp just adds a really elegant touch to this card. 

A multitude of pearls, white embossed sentiment and button in the centre just make this a wow card. 

Sorry to be so brief, I'm off to bed, have a nice evening, I'll be back tomorrow! 

Happy Stampin',

Butterfly 21

Hey there!

It was Stuart's cousin Andrew's girlfriend's 21st at the weekend, a whole big group of us all went out for a meal to celebrate last night - it was good fun and many laughs were had! Anyway, my MIL had asked if I could make a special card for them to give Bekah so I got busy designing a couple pretty 21st cards - obviously I needed to make one for us to give her too! I gave her both so she could choose, here's the one she picked. 

Stamp Set: Express Yourself

Ink: Pool Party

Cardstock: Soft Sky, Silver Glimmer Paper

DSP: Venetian Romance

Big Shot: Beautifully Baroque, Typeset Alphabet, Ovals Framelits

Punch: Elegant Butterfly, Bitty Butterfly

Embellishments: Subtles Buttons, Pearls, Whisper White Baker's Twine

I started making a card with a window similar to this petite petals blossom one. I just wasn't liking how it was working so seeing as I hadn't stuck anything down yet I cut off the card front with the window in it, embossed it, sponged it to help bring out some of that gorgeous texture and mounted it on another card base! The sponging REALLY lifted the card!

 Then I could add the glittery 21, sentiment and lots of pretty butterflies. 

21 is a pretty special birthday in the UK so I went a bit nuts with all the pearls and added lots of scattered pearls to the background too!

I wanted to do something a little different with the large butterfly rather than a pearl so I thought a button and baker's twine would be a cute little addition. 

I'm just loving all the soft colours here. I haven't really played too much with the new colour Soft Sky. I wasn't really sure about it, its quite pale and similar to Pool Party. But I've grown to love it after having a bit of a play with it. If you haven't played with it yet/much I'd really recommend giving it a go! I think you'll like it!

I'm back to work tomorrow so I'm enjoying my last day of holidays - I've been to coffee morning at church, looked at some new phones, had lunch with Emma and now I'm going to have a relaxing afternoon of stamping! 

Happy Stampin',

Everyone Loves a Surprise!

Hello, 

I recently got a couple of new downline members and I wanted to give them something nice to say welcome to the team. My friend Esther who signed up lives quite a distance away and as she's starting out I thought it'd be nice to send her a few swaps from Convention plus a welcome card and gift. Here's what I made her!

Decorated Monogram Notebook & Matching Pen

Stamp: Beautifully Baroque

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe

Card: Crisp Cantaloupe, Silver Glimmer

DSP: Venetian Romance

Punch: Bitty Butterfly, Elegant Butterfly

Big Shot: Typeset Alphabet

Ribbon: Pistachio Pudding Ruffle, Whisper White Baker's Twine

Accessories: Pearls

 And of course there's always a card to accompany a gift...

Flip Card!!!

Stamp Set: Petite Pairs, Beautifully Baroque

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Baked Brown Sugar

Card: Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Baked Brown Sugar, Vellum

Punch: Small Heart, Owl Builder

Big Shot: Label Card Thinlits, Label Framelits

The Label Card Thinlit is a new-ish product for Stampin' Up! but its new to me. As I'd only just recieved it I just HAD to have a play and a card for Esther was the perfect opportunity! If you're wondering what is so special about the thinlit card dies, let me tell you, it makes FLIP cards!!! Its so easy to run through the big shot and out comes a cut and scored flip card. LOVE IT!

I stamped the Beautifully Baroque stamp on the Vellum - I wanted a frosty lacy look and being the impatient person I am I didn't wait long enough for the ink to dry and got it smudged a bit so it ended up looking a little worn and vintage. The banner is one of the accessories the thinlit card comes with - how awesome!! A few little hearts just completed it nicely!

If you're inteerested in joining the Stampin' Up! family and my team, you'll not only get a little welcome gift from me but you'll get all the joys of being a demo too!! Sneak peeks, pre-order, ability to make some extra income and possibly the best of all DISCOUNT on all your crafty goodies! Oh yes, I LOVE being a demo!! Contact me today for more info on signing up!

I hope you enjoyed seeing Esther's special things today. Come back soon for some more pretty makes! 

Amanda xx

Butterflies Galore!

Good morning! 

Monday already? Doesn't the weekend go fast!! Did you all have a good weekend? I had a craft table at a Christian charity sale on Saturday morning and went to see Les Miserables in the afternoon with my parents. It was good, don't get me wrong but, I think everyone had been telling me how amazing and brilliant it was that it didn't meet my expectations. Pity. I didn't even cry...oh well! 

On with today's share... This is another card I made quite a while back using the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and just never got around to showing you! 

Stamp Set: Papillon Potpourri, Curly Cute

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade

Cardstock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade

Accessories: Brights Glimmer Brads. Designer Printed Brads, Brights Buttons, Rhinestones

Punch: Elegant Butterfly, Itty Bitty

Ribbon: Rich Razzleberry Stitched Grosgrain

I love all the bright colours here! The way these butterflies are arranged in rows reminds me of those butterfly displays you sometimes find in curiosity houses or stately homes (you know the kind I mean, where they are all pinned to the board and framed). 

The wings of the stamped butterflies do stand up a bit but you cant really see it here. Behind each stamped image is a solid punched butterfly for an extra pop of colour. Its very effective, just a pity you can't see it very well here. I also love the use of lots of different embellishments, I have a tendency to get a bit over protective and precious about brads and buttons so to have this many on a card is very special but it works beautifully! 

What do you think? Like my extravagance? 

Have a wonderful Monday! 

Amanda xx

Pappillon Potpourri!!

Afternoon! 

So, now you've had a day to look at the Sale-A-Bration goodies, how are you liking them? They're fabulous aren't they?! And if you haven't seen them yet, what are you waiting for?! Grab a cuppa, sit down, put your feet up and relax for a few minutes and have a good browse!! 

So to get your day started I've got a cute card I demo'd for a bunch of lovely ladies back in October! Man it was that long ago?! 

Stamp Set: Papillon Potpourri, Fabulous Phrases, Alehambra wheel

Ink: Raspberry Ripple, Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals

Cardstock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals

DSP: International Bazaar

Punch: Decorative Label, Elegant Butterfly

Extras: Essentials Pierce Pack

Embellishments: Dahlias

So, this is a bit more of a complex card as I really wanted to show off lots of the awesome new things in the annual catty but a simplified version of this card would be equally effective. I think the two things that I love about and really make this card stand out to me is the paper piercing (a very cost effective way of adding detail to a card) and the different uses of the decorative label punch! I adore that punch and definitely recommend it to anyone that is starting out and looking for one or two punches to get them going!! 

So, how about a simplified version of this card - 

Decorative Label Punch (£15.50)

Essentials Pierce Pack (£7.25)

DSP (£9.95)

Coloured Cardstock (£6.25)

Rhinestones (£4.50) 

Dimensionals (£3.25)

= £46.70 and get the Bloomin' Marvelous stamp set for free! 

It's got both images and sentiments in it so is the perfect SAB set for someone getting started on card making! If you don't have any ink you might want to think about adding an ink pad (£4.95) to this bundle instead of the rhinestones! 

The DSP used here was the Birds of a Feather which is very light, pretty and cutesy style!

I hope you enjoyed this card and the simplified SAB bundle version! 

Catch you again tomorrow! 

Amanda x

window card

I am really loving the Papillon Potpouri stamp set and coordinating butterfly punch at the moment! 

Another of my new loves is the International Bazaar designer paper! If you haven't seen it yet, you really must! So pretty!!

Stamp Set: Papillon Potpourri, Fabulous Phrases, Summer Shilouettes 

Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

DSP: International Bazaar

Accessories: Dahlias

Embossing: Clear

Ribbon: Lucky Limeade Ruffle

Big Shot: Apothecary Accents Framelits

Punch: Elegant Butterfly

The tiny flower from the Summer Silhouettes was stamped over the background. In the bottom corner I punched out a butterfly - a strip of the designer paper inside the card shows through when the card is closed! a little banner popped over the butterfly with a sentiment on it too! I used the same paper pattern with the Apothecary Accents, layered some paper and ribbon banners over top and on top of that a butterfly embossed with clear embossing for a subtle pattern. The centre is accented with a Summer Starfruit dahlia. 

Did you see that the butterfly pattern is the same as the pattern on the designer paper? Talk about coordination!! 

Happy Stampin',

Amanda xo

small and simple!

I thought today I'd show you a really easy and tiny card I used for my thank you notes to my customers last month! Cards don't always have to be big and complicated, sometimes its enough to just make a small (7cm square) card! 

Thank You Butterfly

Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Papillon Potpourri

Ink: Raspberry Ripple

Cardstock: Whisper White, Primrose Petals

Punch: Elegant Butterfly

Accessories: Rhinestone 

Extras: Essentials Pierce Pack

So the butterfly is stamped and punched - love the co-ordination of Stampin' Up!'s stamps and punches - they make life so much easier!! To frame the butterfly I used the new essentials pierce pack to paper pierce a oval onto the card. I added a sentiment and a rhinestone to finish off! 

Hope you enjoyed a quick card today! 

Happy Stampin',

Amanda x