origami wreath decoration

Some of you may remember this wreath ornament that I made for a class last year. Its pretty simple to do, just a little bit of folding and slotting together! I had a request for instructions from a customer and after looking on my computer for them to email her I realised they wouldn't be on here as they are on my old computer (the one that only had half a screen and drove me mad, remember?!)! So I decided to draw a line under that and make y'all a video! Now you can all enjoy learning how to make it and maybe even make some of your own!

If you have any questions please do drop me a message! 

Enjoy!

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

merry mini trees

I've got a quick and easy Christmas card today using the Merry Minis punch pack! 

So with the Merry Minis you get a tree, bauble and star! They are so sweet! 

Stamp Set: For My Family

Ink: Gumball Green

Cardstock: Gunball Green, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Whisper White 

Baker's Twine: Lucky Limeade

Punch Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Merry Minis

What a easy and fun card using up all those little scraps! 

Hope you've enjoyed the real quick post today! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Amanda xx

watch me on you tube?!

I am sorry once again for being a absentee blogger once again! But I promise you I have a good reason (or two!). 

I'm trying something new! I am trying my hand at some you tube videos! For all of those craft obsessed people like myself who can spend hours watching youtube crafting tutorials, now you can while away the time with the lul of my voice! Haha! Maybe not so much of a lul but hey! I'm on there doing my thing! 

So I am hoping to do some general demos with different products and techniques and I am also planning (in the pipeline) to do some product reviews/how to use and get the most out of a certain product! For example the Big Shot or the Simply Scored board so watch this space! 

In the mean time I have a could videos already on, one was for this sweet little place setting favour for our Thanksgiving meal which we celebrated on Saturday! 

Ink: Raspberry Ripple

Cardstock: Raspberry Ripple, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

DSP: Orchard Harvest

Big Shot: Little Leaves, Lots of Tags, Mini Milk Carton

Punch: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border

Ribbon: Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin

Accessories: Pearl

For those of you interested to know what I filled these with - two Ferrero Rochers fit perfectly inside!!

And don't forget that if you switch up the colour combo and DSP you would have a delightful place setting for Christmas too! (Or any other dinner party for that matter!)

Please do feel free to leave me some feedback about my videos, if you like them and what you would be interested in seeing yourself! 

Have a lovely day! 

Amanda xx

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

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

use up your scraps!

I wanted to show you a card using the holiday ornaments framelits today. It actually uses the negative space cut out so you can use the ornament shape for another project! Behind the ornament I laid down strips of ribbon (great for using up scraps that aren't big enough for tying into knots or bows but too precious to throw away!) I just love all the different textures and colours you can achieve doing this tecinque with very little ribbon too! I added a bow too and red stitched outline around the ornament to give it a little more definition. I added some more of the ruffled ribbon to the top and bottom of the sentiment, the ruffled ribbon gives a lovely border! 

Ribbon Ornament

Stamp Set: Curly Cute

Ink: Real Red

Cardstock: Whisper White

Big Shot: Holiday Ornaments Framelits

Ribbon: Old Olive Taffeta, Real Red Taffeta, Gumball Green Stitched Satin, Lucky Limeade Ruffle, Gumball Green Sweater Trim

Have a great day! 

Happy Stampin',

Amanda x