Hey Baby!

Hi! 

Woah hasn't the weather been HOT!? Yesterday amidst the heat I finished a big project that I've been working on for the last few weeks, I can't quite share it yet but its really cool and I had a lot of fun making it! 

Toda I have a really quick little new baby card I created for my friend Vicky who had a little boy a couple weeks ago. We got to know each other through my craft classes. 

I'm afraid the lighting isn't too great on this card, I was wanting to get it in the post with the gift and the light was fading at this point! I used mainly retired products, they're still some of my faves that I haven't been able to let go of! 

Stamp Set: Two by Two

Cardstock: Whisper White, Balmy Blue

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Blends: Pool Party, Balmy Blue, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Highland Heather

Emboss: Decorative Dots

Dies: Circles

As I said above, most of this, besides the card and blends is all retired products. I stamped and cut out the Two by Two stamp onto some whisper white and coloured it in with the blends- totally my favourite way to colour at the moment! 

I embossed the background with the decorative dots embossing folder and then stuck everything together. It was as simple as that! 

Before I go I thought I might just share the sweet baby gift I made for them. (Vicky is penguin mad!)

Aren't these penguins just the cutest thing? I made it in fun rainbow colours and backed it with a super soft cuddly plush fleece. I had fun making it and hope that Vicky and her little babe get lots of fun and enjoyment out of it too! 

Have a great day, 

I Return....

Hi! 

Its been a while. What with a new job to get used to, exciting holiday in America, redecorating and now Christmas planning I'm afraid blogging and even CRAFTING has got pushed to the bottom of the list!! I'm finally getting to that stage where I have more energy (I don't come home and crash out to sleep on the sofa). I will update you further o everything that's been going on over the next few weeks but today I just wanted to get back in with a short little post!

Tonight, after work I went to Warwickshire for a Sale-a-Bration Creative tour! I've seen some gorgeous new things and I'm sure you enjoy seeing sneaky peeks in weeks to come! I feel so pepped up and encouraged! (Thanks Michelle!!)

As I can't really post without showing you something pretty...I've got a birthday card I made for my sweet godson Euan's 2nd birthday back in July to show y'all...

Stamp Set: Remembering Your Birthday

Ink: Versa Mark

Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Basic Grey, Smokey Slate

DSP: Moonlight

Punch: Owl Builder, Banner

Big Shot: Decorative Dots, Typeset Alphabet (retired)

Embellishments: Mini Brads

Other: White Embossing Powder

I used my favourite technique - selective embossing and then added some little punched dots on top for more colour. 

I just love this paper and the banners look so fun and celebratory.

I'm planning to wean myself back into blogging, creating shorter blog posts which hopefully will be easier to maintain in my busy life I appear to be leading at the moment! 

I'm off to bed as I am completely wiped out!

Have a great day!

Happy Stampin',

Amanda 

Bright Silhouettes

Hi guys!

I am so very sorry for going AWOL for almost a week. In all honesty its been a pretty pants week. I was feeling really anxious about my job interview for the Pastoral Support job I'd applied for at school, I really, really wanted it was loosing sleep over the whole interview thing. Anyway the interview day didn't go entirely to plan, I had a bit of a melt down. Anyway I didn't get the job.....totally sucks!! Saturday I was out all day at Stampin' Up! regional training event in Telford - I'd been looking forward to it for months, unfortunately I had a migraine all day and really didn't manage to enjoy myself. Yesterday I spent in bed still suffering with headaches. I managed to drag my butt to school today but maybe I'd have been better off at home - more headaches and another melt down ensued when I got home. Thank goodness for my lovely mum who very kindly offered to come over and just "hang". It did feel nice to just chill and chat with her. I'm feeling a lot calmer now, I just need to pick myself up and carry on now. 

Anyway, enough of me babbling about my rubbish week, I hope the rest of you enjoyed the weekend - it was glorious weather!! To go with this beautiful weather and to cheer one else up who might be having a bit of a rubbish day, I have a happy and bright duo.

 As I've said previously Summer Silhouettes is a set I thought I'd love and haven't really used much. I've been forcing myself to have a play and experiment. I ended up fussy cutting out a ton of little flowers and came up with these two little flowers. 

Stamp Set: Summer Silhouettes, Express Yourself

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay

Cardstock: Whisper White

Punch: Decorative Label

Embellishments: Pearls

White on white is such a subtle and elegant frame for the sentiment and gave a platform for a few little flowers. 

Along the bottom I just used a bunch of the flowers and leaves to make a sweet summer floral border. 

I ended up having a few flowers left over and seeing as I'd spent that time cutting them out I didn't want to just throw them away so I came up with this second card - more subtle but still just as lovely in my opinion. 

Stamp Set: Summer Silhouettes, Express Yourself

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay

Cardstock: Whisper White

Punch: Decorative Label

Embellishments: Pearls

Other: Clear Emobssing Powder

I clear embossed a "meadow" of leaves and flowers along the bottom. I love the subtle shine the clear embossing gave here. 

The pop of colour is focused around the sentiment with some more of the bright and bold flowers. 

Of course both cards needed a little bling so I added plenty of pearls. 

Come back tomorrow for something else. I promise I'll try to be better at blogging. 

Happy Stampin',

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',

Kind Ruffles

Hello! 

I hope all you British followers are having a great Bank Holiday weekend. Three day weekends are just the best. We've been doing a few jobs around the house, I've tidied my craft room a little and done some crafting too! 

One of today's makes was using the Freshly Made Sketches' sketch for the week - just in time for the deadline once again! I was really pleased at such an interesting sketch to play with.

Stamp Set: Sweet Essentials

Ink: VersaMark

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana

DSP: Gold Foil Vellum, Afternoon Picnic

Big Shot: Circles Framelits, Chalk Talk Framelits

Embellishments: Gold Baker's Twine

Other: Gold Embossing Powder

The designer paper was ruffled up for a fun border - I actually had to stick 2 pieces of the paper together to make up the right length. I cut a thin strip of another pattern paper from the pack. I also added some baker's twine to the centre - it just finishes it off nicely and holds the papers in place a little better too!

I thought something light would work well for the half circle in the background. I also wanted more gold incorporated so the gold foil vellum was the perfect choice. I wanted more gold so cut out a few more hearts from the vellum sheets and added a gold embossed sentiment to the card. 

Part of me wonders if there just a little something else missing from the card but I couldn't figure out what so decided to leave it rather than risk over-doing it!

Hope you like it! 

Happy Stampin',

Kaleidoscope Banners

Hi! 

Sorry I didn't get around to blogging yesterday! Literally spent the entire day yesterday sewing!! I've finally got my project finished and spent today getting it washed and laid out to dry. So pleased with how its turned out.

I've had quite a nice relaxed day - spent quite a good portion in my craft room making some new cards! I made one for this week's Freshly Made Sketch and the Paper Players and set it aside to photo and upload later then completely forgot about the deadline for Paper Players today. Whoops! 

So the Paper Players' challenge this week was "Three Spree" so I'd just kept in mind that however the card turned out I wanted 3 or the main element! 

Of course Freshly Made had another beautiful sketch this week...

Here's how my creation turned out!

Stamp Set: Remembering Your Birthday

Ink: Versamark, Whisper White

Cardstock: Basic Black

DSP: Kaleidoscope

Punch: Banner

Embellishments: Sweet Sorbet Twine, Brights Candy Dots

Other: White Embossing Powder

My starting point was actually the black/grey coloured DSP. It's kinda plain and boring but I thought with the right treatment it could look really lovely! I added it to a black card and jut knew it had to become a masculine card. Now this was all very black and just needed a pop of colour.

The banners gives a nice height and movement to the card. Its a bit of a lighter element than a solid strip down the side like in the sketch which I think has worked out well. 

The twine knots were just a nice finishing touch for the banners. 

Hope you liked this one! 

Happy Stampin',

Watercolor Poppies

 Hey! 

So I don't know what happened to yesterday....I met up with an old school friend I haven't seen in several years, it was meant to be a coffee which turned into a full day of shopping and a turkish restaurant for lunch. It was lovely but I was shattered and had sewing to crack on with when I arrived home. 

So today I thought I'd share a pretty and simple card that I made a little while ago. 

Stamp Set: Happy Watercolor

Ink: Versa Mark, Calypso Coral

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White

Big Shot: Beautifully Baroque TIEF

Embellishments: Baker's Twine

Other: White Embossing Powder

The embossed is the simple background for the main focal point of the card. This is just a little bit of white heat embossing of the flowers which I then coloured in with a blender pen and some calypso coral ink for a watercolour effect. 

There's something quite aesthetically pleasing about allowing images to run off the edge of the card. I keeps the eye moving and to me, it looks as if it were a small snapshot of a garden just bursting with flowers! Do you enjoy letting your images run off the edge? 

This doesn't need pearls or anything fancy. Baker's twine and a simple little sentiment are the perfect finishing touches for this card.  

Have a great day!

Happy Stampin',

Rainbow Birthday

Hi there! 

I have a card I've made for The Card Concept today. The challenge this time is to create a birthday card. Now this seemed like a pretty simple challenge so I thought it'd be fun to try a new technique I found on you tube.

I loved the bright colours in the picture so I thought I'd use that as a little bit more inspiration! 

Stamp Set: See Ya Later (SAB)

Ink: Versa Mark, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Watercolor Paper

Other: Embossing Powder, Water, White Gel Pen

I stamped and embossed the sentiment first on the watercolor paper and then sponged on the ink like a fun rainbow all over the watercolor paper. Next, splatter water over the paper and allow to react with the paper for a little bit. It created this gorgeous splotchy effect. I used the heat tool to just dry the paper when I thought it'd reacted enough. After all this I then placed scrappy paper over the top and ironed off the embossing powder. The photos really don't go this technique justice, it just looks great, clean and matt watercolor paper like the embossing powder was never there.

The final touch is just a little dashed line around the edge with a white gel pen. 

Now Card Concept likes us to define our cards by a certain style. I'm really tossing up between Clean & Simple or Clean & Graphic. I think it fits quite well in both categories. Its such a simple card, totally flat and post friendly but really contains a massive WOW factor!! I'm in love, I hope you are too?

If you like this card and love the sentiment, don't forget you only have until March 31st (next Monday) to place your £45 orders and get free Sale-A-Bration products! This stamp set See Ya Later is one of them!!

Thanks for stopping by, 

Catch you again tomorrow,

Happy Stampin',

Popping Petals CQC230

Hello!

I got quite a lot done yesterday so today I've got another card challenge for you - today its for Colour Q. And again its another really lovely colour combo - but different from colours I usually use.

Tonight I'm going to meet little Arthur! He's my bestie's new babe and also lil bro to my gorgeous godson, Euan! They are such a lovely family and I can't wait to hang with them all this evening, eat pizza and of course have LOTS of cuddles! 

As I was thinking about this combo I decided how striking this combo would be to use black as the main base colour and add pops of colour! 

Stamp Set: Petite Petals, Lots of Thanks, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink: Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Versa Mark

Cardstock: Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit

Punch: Bird Builder, Petite Petals, Itty Bitty

Embellishments: Pearls

Other: White Embossing Powder

Okay, I am just loving this. I've never been a black girl. I do like colour but I wouldn't say I like dramatic pops of colour like this. However, recently this has really grown on me - I am just loving colour pops against the black! 

After fiddling around with the flowers for a little while on the black card base I decided that it needed something else to ground it so I dug out the gorgeous grunge set and embossed the splatters in white! It was just the perfect background. The flowers' petals are bent up for a bit more dimension. The branch from the bird builder punch made the perfect leaves for the flowers - I just snipped off the three/four leaves and discarded the extra leaves and branch. 

When it came to the sentiment, I really thought I wanted to emboss a sentiment but I was feeling really happy with my card and I was actually feeling pretty nervous about screwing up my card. For that reason I decided to emboss my sentiment on a separate piece of cardstock and then add it over to. Using the tone on tone look it doesn't detract so much as using another colour would have and allowed me to add just a tiny pop of colour with a couple leaves and mini flower! 

What do you think to this card? Are you liking the black and colour "pop" look? 

Happy Stampin',

Kaleidoscope Guy FMS124

Hi!

I'm back today with a Freshly Made Sketch. I actually struggled with this sketch for quite a while - sometimes when you've got too much choice its difficult just going of something with confidence!

Stamp Set: Hello Lovely, Happy Day

Ink: Crushed Curry, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Versamark

Cardstock: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise

DSP: Kaleidoscope

Embellishments: Brights Candy Dots

Other: White Embossing Powder, White Gel Pen, Zig Zag Paper Trimmer Blade

I'm actually really liking this card....now. It took quite a while - I must've repositioned those striped pieces of DSP about 10 times! I got them in the wrong order so the stripes didn't line up - they were pretty well stuck down  so removing them was not an easy task. Eventually they got there though. I purposely chose a paper that looked so fun and dramatic but also really quite scary to use - its very in your face! The white lines around the edge is a great way of making a faux layer and is such a simple way of just adding a little something to the card! 

I debated about what to add on top of this background - I knew I wanted a strong pop of colour. I finally pulled out a stamp set I got at convention and just haven't played around with much. I also decided to keep the sentiment monochrome so it would blend with the background and not distract from the colourful elements. The candy dots seemed to finish it off nicely adding little dots of colour around the card to balance it. 

I'm super happy with the end result - it would make a very funky masculine card! I always need those!!

Hope you enjoyed this. Do you play along in challenges? If so, which? 

Happy Stampin',

When Skies Are Gray...

Hello!

Busy day today, house work, grocery shopping, finishing organising card club cards and materials for tonight. I've also got to go do Aunty Lil's housework and dinner too! 

The weather has been doing crazy things lately so I thought this little number was perfect...

Stamp Set: See Ya Later (SAB)

Ink: Whisper White, Basic Gray

Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Basic Gray, Pool Party

Punch: Cupcake Builder, 3/4" Circle, Boho Blossom, Owl Builder

Other: White Embossing Powder

Love this little sentiment! The stamp actually comes with a little cloud and smiley sun with it but I thought it'd be cute to make my own version with punches. I used the negative from the cupcake frosting as a mask to make some light and fluffy sponged clouds! 

I bet you're wondering how I made those raindrops?! Its the little heart from the owl builder punch cut in half. It makes perfectly shaped little rain drops! Neat trick, huh? 

Hope you enjoyed this happy little number. Stop by tomorrow for something else creative! 

Happy Stampin',

Make it Masculine

Hello there!

Bit of a different day to what I'd origionally planned. I was supposed to be going to my friend Vicky's today for a crafty play time and good ol' catch up. I haven't seen her since convention back in November so totally over due for some play time! Unfortunately I've had a rotten cold all this week, super sore throat, hardly and voice and earache to boot! So I've had to take rain check on our play date! Oh and in case I didn't feel bad enough, I've also got the dentist this afternoon - ugh!

I realised that I hadn't show you the card I made for Stuart for his birthday! It was inspired by the masculine card I showed you last week. He really liked it so I thought I'd make another similar version for his birthday! 

Stamp Set: Remembering Your Birthday

Ink: Versa Mark, Whisper White

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate

DSP: Modern Medlay

Punch: Banner, Merry Minis

Embellishments: Mini Brads, 

Other: White Embossing Powder, White Gel Pen

I got him a mandolin for his birthday so I knew I totally wanted to use the music notes paper in the Modern Medlay paper pack. I also went all out and made the card a tall one - I actually think I prefer it tall! What do you think?

I used the chalkboard effect here again - just works so well here and adds a little something extra while still keeping it clean and manly!

The arrow paper clip was just a little last minute addition, I had the pack of clips sitting on my desk and I still haven't used them so I thought I'd just slip on of the corner. Pit there wasn't a treble clef shaped one but hey, this still works well!

There was a little more of the chalk board effect inside to finish off the card and sentiment beautifully! 

I thought I'd just finish today's post off with another quick masculine card I made with some left overs I had kicking around - It's not much different to the others I've done so I thought I'd include it here.

I know masculine cards aren't easy so I hope that these two cards have helped you with a few new ideas for the men in your life!

Now, here's a question for you, would you like to see masculine cards become a regular feature on my blog? Say once a week perhaps? Comment me on your thoughts, I'd really appreciate them. 

Happy Stampin',