Stampin' Up! Musical Youth!

The sun is shining here again today and I spent a lovely day crafting yesterday.

One of the cards I made recently was a birthday card for our extremely talented musical niece. It was hard to know what to make but once I got an idea in my head I was away! Please excuse a few retired and non SU elements but I loved this so much I just had to share!

Isn't it lovely? The purple is Perfect Plum and I used a sponge dauber to colour the flowers and a Sharpie for the pearls in the centres.

I used Dazzling Diamonds embossing powder for the little musical notes and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Card for the numbers.

She absolutely adored it and I was so pleased. It's nice when you go to a lot of effort and people appreciate it. That's why I love making cards!

June's classes are booking up fast so get in touch if you would like to book and don't forget you can order on-line 24/7!

Hope you're having a fab weekend! I'm just off now to collect the caravan from the service engineer as I'm planning a weekend away with another of my nieces and one of the dogs... should be fun!

xxx

Steppin' Up with Stampin' Up!

Thank you for joining us on another Pinkies Blog Hop! We're showcasing lots of gorgeous projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue. Simply use the buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

Not that you will have noticed [cough] but I have a butterfly 'thing' going on at the moment... so when I saw the gorgeous Watercolour Wings set and matching framelits... especially as a bundle saving 15%, I 'needed' them.

They also co-ordinate with the Butterflies Thinlits. Bonus!!

The first card I made is a clean and simple design, also using the new Lots Of Labels Framelits.

I used the new in-colours - Watermelon Wonder and Tip Top Taupe. I got the colour variations by 'Stamping Off', twice for the lightest shade and once for the middle shade.

Then I thought it would be good to demonstrate how easy it is to 'Step Up' your cards with a few extra techniques and embellishments.

It's essentially the same card in Delightful Dijon... with the addition of some of the new Gold Metallic Thread, embossing on the white layer of the labels, a couple of mats framing the image, the stunning Dotted Lace Trim and the extra, detailed die cut, using Vellum coloured with a Sponge Dauber.

A little tip for you... when stamping and die cutting the butterfly - leave the body until after you have die cut. it is a lot easier to then line it up and not end up cropping bits off.

Thanks for joining me on the Blog Hop, there are lots of other amazing projects from the other Pinkies so please keep hopping using the buttons below.

Paula xxx

Simply Sketched

Well folks - it's Friday and I'm hitting the M25 Car Park!

Hubby is going to be home alone with his drum kit so get out the ear plugs!

Today I'm sharing 3 beautiful cards made with the soon to be retired hostess set - Simply Sketched

This set is available ONLY if you order at least £150 worth of products as it is only available with hostess benefits/stampin rewards.


I used the Woodgrain embossing folder and Ovals collection framelits on all the cards, I swapped the embossing folder on the last card... I quite like it that way round. All the ovals and sentiments were sponged with a Sponge Dauber using the corresponding ink and the images were coloured with Blender Pens.

The paper piercing was done using the Occasions Paper Piercing templates and piercing tool. 

Here are the product details if you are interested in buying them. Just click on the links.

Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

£7.50

Ovals Collection Framelits Dies

£22.95

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

£87.95

Occasions Paper-Piercing Pack

£7.25

Paper-Piercing Tool

£3.50

Stampin' Pierce Mat

£4.50

Blender Pens

£8.95

Sponge Daubers

£9.95

Simply Sketched Wood

£13.00

Simply Sketched Clear

£10.00

Up in the Clouds

...is where my head has been!

I had a lovely weekend away with one of the dogs and a dear friend of mine, in a caravan with her, her baby and her dog, on a showground.

I didn't run Blaze on Sunday in any of his competitions as it was pelting down with rain and I was in a sour mood! Though we were eliminated for getting the course wrong in 2 classes Saturday, we only got 10 faults in the third class. In honesty I'm not bothered as I just like being with my friends and my dog.

Before I went away I did another short tutorial of another simple technique that most of you probably know. I just think sometimes it's useful to revisit the techniques to keep them fresh in our minds... so apologies if I am showing you something you already know.

Tomorrow I'll be back with a simple card you can make using this technique!

Hope you've had a fabulous Easter!

Pxx

Floral Home Decor

This weekend I have had a love affair with my Spiral Flower Die... I admit, when I started I had no idea how this would turn out... and now? I am so in love with this project and I have something completely different to show you tomorrow that involves sewing.

But for now this is what I made...

I coloured the dowel by simply rolling it on my Gumball Green ink pad!

The roses are made using Crushed Curry card stock and sponged on the edges with Tangerine Tango on a Sponge Dauber.

The butterflies are from Papillon Pot Pourri, I stamped them in Soft Suede and then coloured them using Blushing Bride and a Blender Pen. They were punched out with the Elegant Butterfly punch.

I hope you love this project as much as I do!

Back tomorrow with something completely different!

Pxxx

Video Tutorial - Stamping Techniques

Well it's been a good few days again since my last post, so I'm posting another video tutorial. This shows 3 techniques, Masking, Sponging and how to use your Stampamajig...

Here is the card I made;

I hope you enjoy it! The stamp set I have used is Simply Sketched.

If you would like to order any products please e-mail or call me via the details on the contact tab above.

Back again soon!

Two Challenge Tuesday!

Well I don't know about you but I'm feeling a lot more positive having had a couple of days of half decent weather! The sunshine really cheers me up.

Yesterdays news was so exciting! Even more freebies to be earned whether you join my team and the Pink Ladies or if you just want to earn lots of FREE goodies with your party orders.

Today I am sharing with you a card I have entered in two challenges. Simply Less is More is a one layer challenge - visit the blog here. Secondly it is the Dynamic Duos challenge here.

My card uses the Elegant Butterfly punch, I punched out the image from a scrap piece of card, then pressed a Sponge Dauber in my Tangerine Tango ink pad, using the cut out as a stencil I sponged the image on the Bashful Blue card base. I started at the bottom moving up, without re-inking, to get a graduated colour intensity. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake and I added a few gems. You'll notice the card stock has a lovely embossed border running up each side - these were created using my Borders Scoring Plate for my Simply Scored. 

Such a simple but effective card I hope you'll have a play with this technique!

Hope to be back with something for you tomorrow! Have a great day and hope you are feeling inspired!

Paula xxx

In Stitches - #135

You may be wondering at the title of today's post... well it is the challenge title for the Paper Players this week.

I was completely stumped for a couple of hours until I remembered the Tea for Two DSP in the Spring Summer Mini!

So I used some to create the body of my card and simply added a bow made from Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon, a Large Tag, tied with a little Island Indigo Bakers Twine and stamped in Island Indigo with a sentiment from Petite Pairs. I used a Sponge Dauber and Island Indigo to define the Tag and in line with the theme of the challenge I used my Basic Grey Stampin' Write Marker to add some more faux stitching.

You can enter the challenge here