Butterflies!!

 Hello there! 

I'm back with a lovely summery card for you today! 

I don't know what the weather is doing where you are but if its anything like what we have, its not spring or summer like! Its cold and there is a threatening sky which might pour at a moments notice. Ugh! So what better way to cheer yourself up than with a bight and cheery card!

Stamp Set: Kindness Matters

Ink: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Black Stazon

Cardstock: Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White

Big Shot: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Delicate Doilies Sizzlit, Lacy Brocade TIEF

Accessories: Mini Brads

 This is such a pretty girly card and I just love it! The butterflies are coloured with blender pens for a watercoloured effect. The idea for the little half doily sticking out from the butterflies was actually inspired by a half doily stamp fro the same set (see all the stamps in the set below) The little banners at the bottom was just using up tiny scraps. I really like the punchy bright Lucky Limeade with the pastel Wisteria Wonder and Pool Party, it just adds a little pop to the soothing colour palette. 

Lucky Limeade is due to retire at the end of June as it is an in colour. The other in colours in the set are all sticking around and joining the core colour groups as part of the colour refresh! But, I'm bummed about Lucky Limeade!! Its my "go to" green! I love its vibrancy and it just seems to work so well with so many colours! I guess I will have to fall for a different green now! 

Do you have a "go to" green?

If yours is Lucky Limeade I'd definitely recommend stocking up on supplies - cardstock, ribbon/baker's twine etc before it goes for good! Oh and don't forget the all important ink refill so your beloved Lucky Limeade ink pad doesn't run dry! 

So why not leave me a comment and let me know what your favourite green is? 

Have a great day - despite the crumby weather!

Amanda x

tea anyone?

I've realised I still have more cards to show you from last month's (and this month too) card club so here's another tea inspired card for you guys! 

Stamp Set: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Tea Shoppe

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Elegant Eggplant

Cardstock: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Punch: Bird Builder, Itty Bitty

Big Shot: Lacy Brocade Emboss, Delicate Doilies

Baker's Twine: Wisteria Wonder

Accessories: Pearls

I just love this colour combo. The doily under the teacup and the leaves and flowers peeking out is darling! This is such a cute vintagy girly card! I just love it! 

Hope you enjoyed this little creation! 

Happy Stampin',

Amanda xx

a learning curve regarding window sheets!

Time certainly doesn fly doesn't it!? October was such a busy month, both for myself and for Stuart too - school has been manic for him. So at the end of October came half term - great for a little break and just hang out with my darling husband again! Now its back to the grind stone - well he is at least - school is manic once again and I am pottering along with card club, making christmas pressies, sewing thing (well trying to - I spent a lot of the afternoon reading pattern instructions and not sure I've really gotten anywhere!) 

Anyway I thought I'd show you a wedding card I got asked to make a couple weeks ago. The colour scheme was navy blue and my friend didn't want anything too soppy or mushy! She also asked if I could incorporate their names into the card too! So I got my thinking cap on! 

Wedding cards don't come around every day and when they do, you want them to look special so I will admit not, it was a bit of a challenge but I think I managed to achieve elegance without any mushiness involved, I hope you'll agree! 

Wedding Cake Card

Stamp Set: Love & Laughter

Ink: Midnight Muse

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Whisper White, Window Sheet

Big Shot: Delicate Doilies, Lacy Brocade, Typeset Alphabet

Ribbon: Midnight Muse Stitched Satin

When I started I thought the coolest idea for incorporating names would be a wedding cake card with the initials on top of the cake! This lead me to thinking about how great it would look if the card was cake shaped and after some deliberation I decided using window sheet as the card base would be the best way to do this! 

Maybe a wedding card for a customer was not the best time to use window sheet for the card base for the first time wasn't such a good idea! But you live and learn, and let me tell you, this card was a REAL learning curve!  Here's what I learnt...

1. Whatever you stick to the front of the card has to be covered up behind or you'll see the adhesive!! 

2. Embossing paper changes the size slightly - therefore if you're sticking card on the back to cover up adhesive marks, check its not too big that it'll show through on the front!! 

3. Be careful where you get adhesive - the adhesive remover, fabulous product on paper but doesn't work on window sheet - just smears!!

4. Think and KNOW for definite where you want things stuck! No matter how carefully you try to remove cardstock from the window sheet, once its stuck, its stuck for good! No backsies! 

So you can see I had great fun making this card, right? Well, I did, despite all of my mistakes! 

Also if you're wondering why the sentiment inside the card is stamped on a doily, well I stamped the sentiment on the cardbase crooked and so this was my sneaky cover up!! (Yes, I stamp things wonky too!!! I am by no means the perfect stamper!)

Wow this is starting to look like an essay, I think I shall have to sign off now before I bore you any further! 

Have a great evening,

Amanda x

snow flurries?

I wanted to introduce you to a new die Stampin' Up! has today. Its called Snow Flurry, and on it are 3 different sized snow flakes! They all look great individually but also layer beautifully on top of one another! Below is a car only using the 2 smaller snowflakes.

Glittery Snow Flurry

Stamp Set: Perfect Pennants

Ink: Early Espresso

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Champagne Glitter Paper 

DSP: Festival of Prints

Big Shot: Snow Flurry, Lacy Brocade

Accessories: Button

Baker's Twine: Whisper White 

Where do I start?! This card has so many things on it that I am loving! I love the lacy brocade embossed background, I adore the patterns from the Festival of Prints (for more information about how awesome this paper stack is see Sunday's post!), the cute little "merry" just inconspicuously stapled on. An then what about the gorgeous snowflake?! It was cut out with the beautiful glitter paper - its basically paper coated in glitter (it comes in Champagne, Silver and Red) - so you get all the dazzle and fun of glitter with no mess! You just have to see it for the full wow factor! 

I hope you enjoyed this card - its another quick one and by embossing the folded card front you cut out on more layering. The thin banner strips are a great way to show off patterns without using lots of the paper! 

Happy Stampin',

Amanda xox