today's offering

Last Friday we received a wedding invitation to my cousin Ben and his fiance Hannah's wedding at the end of August. We are really looking forward to it, my parents, brother and Stu and myself have booked a little cottage up in the peak district for a long weekend. Looking forward to getting in some walking and picnics etc and also a lovely wedding! 


Anyway, when you receive a wedding card you obviously need an acceptance card to respond, right? So, that is what today's share is. Unfortunately the stamp is not Stampin' Up! but its similar to a stamp that Stampin' Up! does carry and one which is on my wish list...as are many others. Everything else is Stampin' Up! though! 


I usually try and make a acceptance card and wedding card that matches the colour theme of the wedding. Their card was ivory with a teal ribbon in a bow. Sadly Stampin' Up! no longer has a teal colour in their collection...they so need to!!

Acceptance

Stamp: Starburst Lace - Hero Arts (I really would have loved to use Stampin' Up!'s Medallion background stamp)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Old Olive

Pastels: Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi, More Mustard, Old Olive

Ink: Versa Mark

Punches: Modern Label, Corner Rounder

Accessories: Old Olive Button, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Linen Thread

Extras: Cotton wool balls, Glue Dot, Dimensionals, White Gel Pen

As Stampin' Up doesn't have teal in their collection and their turquoise was just too bright I decided that stamping the "medallion" stamp in versamark and then adding poppin' pastels to the image I would be able to blend the pastels and create my own teal(ish) shades. I added a button with s bit of linen thread through it to finish off the centre. Down the side I added some satin ribbon. Finally I hand wrote the sentiment and adhered it to the bottom right hand corner. 

Please let me know what you think, and leave a comment!

Until next time, 

Amanda xx

simply stampin' challenge, week 6

It's Saturday again and time for another Simply Stampin' Challenge. As last week was a colour challenge it means that this week is a theme!!! 

 

This week's theme is Buttons & Bows! 

I decided not to do a card, I do one almost every week and while Buttons and Bows would lend itself excellently to a really great card I thought I'd do something different. In the wake of the Royal wedding, I have begun to think about my own upcoming weddings I'm attending. My friends Kathryn and Robert get wed next Saturday and my cousin Rachel marries Ed in just under a month. So as I was looking through my wardrobe at my "wedding" clothes I pulled out a lovely dress I acquired last year, and thought perfect, all I need is some accessories. With that in mind I thought I'd make a hair clip to match using buttons and bows. Here it is...

Stamp Set: n/a

Cardstock: n/a

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Pacific Point

Accessories: Satin Ribbon, Grosgrain Ribbon, Brights Buttons, Linen Thread

Extras: Sponge, Needle, SNAIL

My dress is very bright and colourful! Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pacific Point, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Early Espresso...I only had white ribbon and as the dress was so brightly coloured I knew I needed a hair accessory as colourful to match! I did my usual trick of dying ribbon myself. I looped the ribbon and used SNAIL to hold the loops in place while i stitched them together with some linen thread. Finally I sewed on a Rich Razzleberry and a Pumpkin Pie Button on top of all the ribbon bows. I finished off the linen thread by tying it in a little bow on top of the buttons! 

To the back I attached a hair slide from a pharmacy.

I hope you enjoyed what I made this week! I look forward to seeing what you all create! So head on over to the Simply Stampin' Challenge blog to enter and also see what the other design team members have created for you this week! 

Amanda xx

general update

Its been a funny few weeks, I'm still battling some bug and meanwhile trying to keep going with work, Stampin' Up! and everything else in my life. Its been a struggle when to be honest all I want to do is sleep. But I can't as I am leaving for America in just over 2 weeks (YES I am VERY excited!!) For anyone wanting to place orders or book a workshop, please note I will be away from May 23rd until June 9th. During that time I will have limited internet access!!


I'm really hoping my throat thing has cleared up by the time I go away or I will be very miffed off. I went to the doctor yesterday and he was nothing but useless! I feel as though I wasted an hour of my life! 


On the plus side, I had a lovely Bank Holiday Monday (I was feeling almost completely better - before getting worse again the following day, yeah, go figure!). The Hacketts and Scarsbrooks (some of Stu's uncles, aunts and cousins) returned from the US so it was lovely to catch up with them and a bunch of other family members at a little cafe in Castle Ashby. Little Georgia was there, and I got a cuddle!! (I'm not a baby person but she's just so sweet - yes I am excited I got a cuddle!) Actually I got more than a cuddle, the minute Abi gave her to me she started to cry (mainly due to hunger) so I got to feed her her bottle and burp her. First time ever in my life I've fed a baby, its quite exciting really. After her bottle she ended up falling asleep and we had the nicest little cuddle...she's just SO adorable!!! I realise I might be coming across as a slight nutter here but its a big thing for me, and I just wanted to share it with someone. I hope you will allow me my moment of craziness! 


Catch you later,


Amanda xo

in-love with in-colour...concord crush

This post is a little late, I made the card using the Sketchy Sunday sketch challenge, last week and then I just didnt quite get time to post it...so here it is. Better late than never hey?  

Concord Crush Rosette

Stamp Set: Greenhouse Garden

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Certainly Celery Always Artichoke

DSP: Concord Crush (6"x6" Hostess only pack)

Ink: Concord Crush

Accessories: Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon

Punches: Two Step Bird

Extras: White Gel Pen, Big Shot, Lots of Tags Sizzlets

This card really came out as I had recently got the hostess only pack of 6x6 in-colour dsp and having not really had a chance to play with those colours yet thought I'd just set myself a few cards to make...I have a few more that I'll show next month as part of the Simply Stampin' Challenge! Can't wait! I thought I'd use the Sketchy Sunday sketch as a starting point for my card. I love the vast expanse of Concord Crush dsp, it just allows the eye to really drink in gorgeous deep colour. As a focal point I cut out rough circles from Concord Crush dsp and Riding Hood Red cardstock, distressed and then layered them up. For the centre of the flower I stamped the smallest flower from Greenhouse Garden. I used two of the bird wings from the two step bird punch for the leaves. Finally I added some ribbon and a tag from the big shot to fill it out a bit and create a balance between the expanse of colour and detail. 

I hope you enjoyed this card, please do let me know what you think, I love reading people's comments! 

Have a nice day!

Amanda xx

may class

As I said, at the beginning of each months I will announce the details of the month's class techniques and 3D items! Without any further ado, here they are for the month of May:


Techniques:
Rock and Roll 
Two Step Stampin'
Stamp-a-ma-jig
Poppin' Pastels 
3D Item:
Candle 


Just to remind you the class is on Saturday May 21st from 11am-2pm and costs £12.50. This includes all the materials you will need to make all the projects and also lots of tea and cake! :) Places are limited so please book.


I am very excited to say that I already have 5 people who have booked their places for my first class, but still have a few left! It would be lovely to see you there too, I promise it will be fun so please do book your spot as soon as possible to avoid disappointment! 


For any more information or to book your spot please email me at, amanda_burditt@hotmail.co.uk


I hope to see you there! 


Until next time, 


Amanda xx

simply stampin' challenge, week 5

Colour Challenge time!! Now this week I would like to say a special thanks to Vicky for lending me some cardstock as I didn't have two of the colours in the challenge, they just aren't colours that appealed to me, although I may be having a change of heart about one of them! 


So without further ado, here are the colours in this week's challenge...

And the outcome...

For You (Birdcages)

Stamp Set: Every Little Bit 

Cardstock: Whisper White (textured), Basic Grey, Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry

Ink: Versamark

 Punches: Modern Label, 1" Circle, Two Step Bird

Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Linen Thread

Extras: White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Tombo Mono, Dimensionals

As I said a couple of these colours, I didn't have - Basic Grey and Always Artichoke! 

I started off with a rough idea that I wanted to use images from Every Little Bit using heat embossing and and a circle punch. I decided to use the bird cage as I love the image and have yet to use it!! Can you believe it!?!  I embossed quite a few, origionally intending to have them in some sort of a 3x3 pattern but when I was laying everything out I just thought, No, this is too boring. I've done a lot of cards like that before, I guess its one of my safety layouts. So I began playing with the circles at different heights, suspended somehow and suddenly thought how cool would it be to have these little birdcages hanging with linen thread on a branch!

I didn't have a long enough branch so used three branches from the two step bird punch joined together. I finished off the card by handwriting the sentiment on the modern label punch in the bottom left hand corner. It really filled the gap and rounded of the card. 

I did say one colour is growing on me, and that one is Always Artichoke! How lovely is it!?! 

Please do let me know what you think. I love reading all your comments! They really do make my day! 

Hope you do take part in this week's challenge. For the other lovely talented design team member's designs head on over to the Simply Stampin' Challenge blog! I look forward to seeing all your entries! 

Amanda xoxo

home again! (a slightly delayed update)

So, I am home from my trip away to Chester. Let me tell you, this trip did not go quite according to plan!


First off we managed to miss place the voucher for the hotel we were staying at so ended up paying it ourselves instead - not the best thing to find out the night before you go away but still we thought we could manage it, and we had been looking forward to getting away for a while so it would have been such a shame to cancel! Stu has been working really hard at school lately and I think its really important for him to have a few relaxing days away...where no work can get in the way! (its not that we haven't been relaxing at home but he has had lots of marking to do and its good to get away from all that for a while!!)


Then on the morning we went away (Wednesday) I woke up with the most awful sore throat and earache, felt really dreadful! I was kind of feeling like we weren't meant to go or something which felt really rubbish! I had a sore throat, earache and cold etc a couple weeks ago and have just been getting over it, just had a little bit of a cough left really and then Wednesday I just got full of cold all over again! I hoped it would just clear up as the day went on but if anything it got worse! When we got to Chester pretty much all we did was find a Boots chemist, buy Lemsip capsules and water and then head to a lovely little park in the centre and relax! At least the weather was gorgeous!!


Our hotel was amazing. I might sound really naive here but I've never been to such a posh hotel before, its called Crabwall Manor Hotel (definately recommend it if anyone is thinking of getting away!!!) The Manor itself is really gorgeous and has really pretty grounds to walk in or sit in and have a drink in the evening! Our room was really something (now this is coming from someone who has always gone for budget hotels and travelodges until this point!). First you walk into a sitting room and then in another room is the bedroom with a bed as wide as I am tall!! It was all furnished really lovely as well. And then the bathroom...well its definately a lot larger than the bathroom we have in our house! It had the most enormous bath(!!!!), toilet, bday, his and hers sinks and a big shower...oh and it was all underfloor heated...what luxury!!


Anyhow, I just reaslised I'm rambling quite a lot. So now I will be brief. We had the most gorgeous weather so it was perfect for doing things outside, we went to Beeston Castle (a lovely ruin on the top of a hill with a very pleasant walk up and also a great woodland walk around the base!) and after that we cooled down by stopping by the ice cream farm and having some awesome ice cream!! Its all made fresh on the farm and after a hot day and lots of walking it hit the spot. We pigged out a bit by each having a waffle cone with 2 gigantic scoops! I had chocolate fudge cookie and pistachio (both heavenly), and Stu had malt tease and double chocolate (also heavenly!). Seriously, if you ever are up in Cheshire, you have to go there its great and good fun for the kids too...lots of play areas, baby calves and you can watch the cows being milked! 


On Friday we walked around Chester, saw the Roman sights, had a lovely boat cruise down the river Dee and then in the afternoon headed over to Ness Botanical Gardens! All the rhododendrons were out, some of my favourite flowers, and as they are way too big to ever have one in our garden, so I just soaked them all up! I'd really recommend that garden too if you want a nice relaxing place with plenty to see! 


I meant to post this last week but I was still suffering with a sore throat and had a severe migraine on Sunday. I eventually went to the doctor about my throat, earache and cough yesterday...I have tonsillitis! Thankfully now I have medication and hoping I will feel better soon, I haven't really felt like doing much of anything. 


Some good news, yesterday I finally got my passport back so today I went down to the travel agent and book myself tickets to the States next month! I am very excited as I haven't been over there for almost 3 years and cannot wait to see my cousin Rachel get married! 


Catch you later, 


Amanda xoxo