Mambo Olive Trendy Trees

This little card is created using one of my favourite stamp sets 'Trendy Trees'. It is such a versatile set that can be used for male or female cards and is one of the sets that has 20% off this month.

Today I have used the retiring Creamy Caramel as the base card with Melon Mambo square of card layered onto Chocolate Chip card. I then stamped the trees, using Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Melon Mambo Ink onto a strip of Whisper White card and placed in the centre of the Melon Mambo square. The sentiment is also from the 'Trendy Trees' set and has been stamped in Chocolate Chip. A small Old Olive button finishes everything off. 

If you would like to own your own Trendy Tree stamps, remember you can purchase them for this month only for £10.36 plus P+P (normal price is £12.95 plus P+P).  Contact me to order or for more information. Also please don't forget, retiring colours will disappear on the 1st October, so if you have any favourite colours that are retiring, you need to stock up over the next two months.

Supplies:
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Card: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Old Olive Button from Earth Elements button pack, Linen Thread

Happy Fathers Day..

Happy Fathers Day to my Dad and of course my Husband. Although it seems this year we will not be spending it together as a family. My husband left right early this morning to go and watch the Motor GP at Silverstone. Me, I am Demoing at the Cardmaking and Scrapbooking Fayre at Needham Market, with my downline Clare and my son has a cricket match.

Because Hubby is not around much today, we gave him his presents and card last night. Here is the card I made for DS to give. I thought it was a good idea to do it in England colours, Red, White and Blue, but after the way the team played on friday, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea. LOL

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Occasional Greetings
Card: Real Red, Whisper White, Night of Navy
Ink: Night of navy, Real Red
Accessories: Gold Brads, Word Window Punch

Here is the card I made for my Dad.

I have had this stamp set for ages, but not used it much, don't ask me why, because it is georgous.  I decided to give it a bit of a grunge/antique look, and blended ink around the image before stamping the beautiful fern image.  layering it onto black card made it pop.  I decided to crack open the Sweet Pea Designer Paper that arrived a couple of days ago.  There are so many beautiful papers in this stack, I had a hard job choosing which to use. I decided on one with Green, yellow and Turquoise colours in it.

Supplies:
Stamps: Touch of Nature, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, So Saffron
Card: So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Accessories: Word Window Punch


Well, I hope you have had a great day celebrating. I will be back tomorrow with a post about the fayre, so do pop back and see what we got up to.

Anniversary

Our friends celebrated their wedding anniversary today, so of course I made a card...and created another of those fantastic flowers with the scallop circle punch.

Here is the card in full

I decided to use the georgous Apricot Appeal card, for the flower and card base and then inked up the old faithful Bella Toile background stamp with Apricot Appeal ink for the central panel. I love this stamp, it produces such elegant cards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bella Toile, Basic Phrases
Card: Apricot Appeal, Whisper White
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Rhinestone Brad

I am busy at the moment getting ready to demo, with my downline Clare, at the Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Fayre, on Sunday 20th June at Needham Market Community Centre, School Street, Needham Market, Suffolk.  The event starts at 10am until 4pm.  If you are  a crafter and live near, do come along, as there will be lots of local shops selling their wares.  I know it's fathers day, but there will a cafe area that hubby/dad can sit in while you browse and why not make a day of it and visit the lakes near by.  Please do stop and say HELLO if you are coming.

'Happy Birthday' to my Husband

Today is my wonderful Husbands birthday...and of course I had to make him a card.  I have to admit male cards are the ones I find the hardest to do, I am sure you know what I mean...LOL.  SO this is what I came up with.

I have fallen back to my old faithful set Lovely as A Tree. This set can be used for any occasion. This card is a 5.5 x 5.5 inch card. using Close to Cocoa, Punpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip colours.

I also made a holder for some gift vouchers that I gave him.

Again using the same colours to make it a matching set, but a different stamp from the set. 

and a photo of them together as a set.

Although I have used this set as a Male birthday, don't forget Fathers Day is coming soon.... it would be a great set for any Dad.  May even do this set again in different colours for my Dad...so do check back and see what I do.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as A Tree, Solid Stripes, A Bit of Birthday Cheer
Card: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Friends Birthday

This little card was created for a friend who celebrated their birthday Monday.

3D flowers on cards are big at the moment and I have been wanting to try out these flowers for a long time. So easy to make yet so striking. You will be seeing more of them on my cards, that I am sure of.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Card: Rose Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black,
Paper: Night and Day
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Scallop Circle, Clear Rhinestone Brad, Stitched Felt

There is still one spot available on the ribbon and paper share here, if anyone is interested.  Contact me to book.

Curtain Call Colour Challenge: Act 24

The Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act 24 over at Stacey's Stamping Stage is:-

I had some crafting time in my cabin yesterday, so decided to give it a go. I do find myself quite often duplicating my favourite colour combo's on my papercrafting so doing colour challenges like this take me out of my comfort zone and make me use some of those often passed by colours. This combo did just that. I often use Kraft and Tempting Turquise, but Garden Green is often passed for my favourite Old Olive or Certainly Celery.  Must say, I really enjoyed using this green and will be using it more often on my projects.
So here is my card for the challenge.

I have used my favourite stamp set from the new Mini Catalogue, VINTAGE VOGUE. It doesn't seem to matter what colour you use with this set, it always looks fab. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, A bit of Birthday cheer
Card: Whisper White, Garden Green, Karft
Ink: So Saffron, Garden Green, Tempting Turquoise
Accesstories, So Saffron brads, White Taffata Ribbon

Chocolate bar wrapper

Happy Easter to all my readers.

I have been busy the last few days getting my Easter cards and presents made. Why oh why do I always leave it to the last minute. LOL
I decided this year that buying Easter Eggs was a waste of money. For what you have to pay for them you get very little chocolate!! so I bought a big bar of Cadbury Milk Chocolate for everyone and made a wrapper for each of them.

I decided to use Elegant Eggplant card to match the wrapper colour and Whisper white. The fabulous bird is from the Good Freind stamp set, stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink onto Whisper white card, then cut around and layered onto the wrapper. Didn't take me long to put these together, thank goodness.
Here is a close up of one of the bars.

I also made some easter cards using the new Bird Punch just launched in the mini catalogue.

Well the long bank holiday break is nearly over, enjoy the rest of this Bank Holiday Monday and I will be back soon with more cards I have been creating today, while Hubby has been in the garden. 
Bye for now

Carole x

It's been a while

Sorry for not blogging, but time has just got away with me.... a new job and family commitments have meant very little time for stamping and blogging! Then changing Internet provider and of course the change over didn't go smoothly, they never do do they!

However I did get around to creating this 'Mothers Day' card to send to my MIL in Australia.


I used a new stamp set that will be available from 1st April when the new Mini Catalogue arrives in the UK. Its called 'Soft Summer' and one of many adorable stamps. As a Demo we can pre-order the stamps one month before their release, which is why I have been able to use it for this card. I used my favourite colours Regal Rose and Rose Red for this card.

My second card is for my Mum. This time I have used Elegant Eggplant and Lovely Lilac with the stamp set 'Live your Dream'


and this little number for my son to give to my MUM. A very quick card using SU designer papers and card stock, but slightly cheating by using a Penny Black stickeroo for the image.

I do hope all Mum's get spoilt tomorrow. Not sure what the Men in my life are up to, been rather quiet about it so hope they haven't forgotten.....

And lastly I want to say a big thank you to Kate and Alex for leaving me this award.



I do love visiting blogs and leaving comments, which is probably why I don't get much stamping done myself...LOL

Bye for Now

Carole

Congratulations........

To Monica over at My Many Many Passions, who has won a place on the UStamp dream team. Monica is my upline for Stampin' Up! and I am so pleased for her. So pleased that I made this card to send to congratulate her. Hope you like it Monica.



This card is also for the new Color Combo challenge over at In Love With Stamping. The challenge Colours this week are, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Real Red. I am afraid I went mad with this card and have used 4 different stamp sets no less.
The card base is Chocolate Chip which has been stamped with the Polka Dot Background stamp in Chocolate Chip ink. Then I stamped a panel of Creamy Caramel card with the CONGRATULATIONS sentiment from the Cheers and Wishes set and the Polka Dot background with Chocolate Chip ink. Chocolate Chip ribbon was tied around the panel before adhering the panel to base card. I then stamped the My Dear Friend sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set onto Very vanilla card using Chocolate Chip ink and layered onto Real Red card. The flowers are from the Two Cute set and are stamped in Real Red ink onto Very Vanilla card and have a Red Circle Rinestone brad in the centre.

Andy Warhol’s Four Monkeys Inspired

One of the challenges over at In Love With Stamping is to create something using the Andy Warhol's Four Monkeys as inspiration. This is what I came up with......... except mine are Lions not Monkeys LOL...




I used the Wild About You stamp set, which I have to admit is my favourite at the moment. The colours used are Green Galore, Real Red, Brilliant Blue and Only Orange.
Very quick and simple to make but I love it. I was going to put a sentiment in the middle of the card, but have decided to leave it blank, because I think it would make an ideal toddler birthday card, and having the number of the birthday would finish the card off just right.

First Stampin' Up Card.......

Well I have been playing with my starter kit and this is my first card. The weekend has been a bit busy so I have kept the design very simple. The card base is Green Galore cardstock, with a strip of Glorious Green on Gable Green, with a bow tied around the strip made from Whisper White 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon. The present stamp is from the Year after Year set. I stamped this onto Whisper White cardstock three times in Green Galore ink, then cut the images out and attached to the card using foam pads. The 'Warm Wishes' sentiment comes from the Cheer & Wishes stamp set and is stamped onto the strip using Basic Black ink.

Recipe:

Stamps - Year after Year, Cheer & Wishes

Cardstock - Green Galore, Glorious Green, Gable Green

Ink - Green Galore, Basic Black

Ribbon - White 1/4" Grosgrain

Where does the time go

I was so looking forward to spending some time crafting on Sunday, but ended up spending day in bed feeling pretty bad. Bad stomach cramps, and then all my joints aching. Slept on and off most of the day. Couldn't go to work on Monday either, but still not well enough to craft.

Finding it a real struggle to find any spare time at the moment. I made a start on the job hunting and have completed two applications for admin roles at two schools near by. But boy do these application forms take time to complete! No interviews yet but closing date for one was yesterday and the second hasn't closed yet, so early days.

So, I will share a card I made about a week ago! It is using one of the Magnolia stamps. I decided to cut the image out and place on the card, don't know the papers used I am afraid as they where scraps from the scrap box, you know, the one we all have, because we can't throw anything away LOL. I am quite happy with the way it turned out and will certainly use stamp in this way again.

Bye for now.

More Christmas cards...

It has been a bit manic in our household. Monday I was at a funeral. My DH Great Aunt Betty. She was such a character, but had 94 good years. Rest in Peace Betty. With that and last night attending parents evening at my DS school I have had no time to share my newest card creations. Again they are very simple (but that is my style), again using Penny Black stickers, with red cardstock and papers from my 6x6 DCWV christmas printed paper pack. Four cards in less than an hour.....quite quick for me. Hope to share more with you soon. Have a great day whatever you are doing. X

Had some spare time...

So I made some cards. Normally on Thursday evenings I go to Linedance lessons. The lesson this week was cancelled at short notice so I made use of that time and made some quick Xmas cards. I used some Penny Black snowman stickers I bought last year in one of the sales. Grape coloured card and some beautiful grape glittered snowlakes on card, that I bought in Aspects, in the Mall, Norwich earlier in the week. Hoping to do some more crafting this weekend........

Had one of those days.........

Today was a day I thought I would be able to take some time out and do some crafting. Last week at work has been so manic I was really looking forward to having this time to myself doing what I like best. I thought I would start some Christmas cards, but inspiration was not happening, I had some images stamped and already coloured, but do you think I could complete a card I was happy with. In the end all I made was this card. It is a Penny Black sticker, on cream card, with the blue from 6x6 K & Co, Tim Coffey Xmas pad, (which I must have had for a couple of years) and the green is from DCWV, 12x12 Christmas Glitter Pad. I have also punched out some snowflakes and added to the blue.

As I couldn't get on with the card making as I would have liked, I turned to scrapbooking. I haven't done much scrapbooking over the last few months, Card making seems to have taken first place these last few weeks. This was a disaster as well. I decided I would have a go at the September challenge set by the GO GO girls. The challenge was to use the Scrapagogo September kit and a produce a page using a sketch issued by them. September's kit was fabulous stash from Hedi Grace with lots of lovely pinks/purple colours. Now my house is full of males (even the dogs) so my first task was to find photographs suitable, the sketch had 4 photo's on it and I struggled straight away. I could only find one that I thought would be suitable. It was from our holiday in Florida last year. We went to Gatorland and our friend Terry, got picked out of the crowd to be part of one of the shows. He ended up holding a SNAKE! Anyway, do you think I could get this photo and papers to look anything remotely like the sketch, could I hell, so I just started to do my own thing. I was quite pleased and had already decided what the title was going to be, something I normally get stuck with. Being very pleased with myself I started to set out the title, using the Heidi Grace alphabet rub-on's that came with the kit. What a disaster that was, I am not a lover of rub -ons I have to admit, but these just drove me to despair. They did not come off when you rubbed them, but when I accidentally dropped one on the layout, IT STUCK! The title ended up so bad, I just had to cut it away and make some changes to the LO. Luckily I was able to cover up this disaster but I am not 100% happy with the end result. I am sure I can't be the only one that has days like this :-)

Day at home..

Well DS woke up this morning with a tempreture and bad headache. DH had been off work last week with a similar thing. Had to phone into work today to say I couldn't come in. Boss was OK about it but things there are not good there at the moment. There are cut backs galore, mainly in the staff area so I can see this is not going to do me any good in earning brownie points. Never mind. It is so difficult being a working mum. Being at home has given me some extra time this week to craft. I am normally a scrapbooker but I am into making cards at the moment. Todays creations are another Magnolia stamp, Tilda blowing hearts and two using the Bella stamps I ordered from First Class Crafts the other week, but hadn't got around to using yet. Better go and clear up all the mess I have made now!

I am on a Roll.............

I am having such a great time playing with my Magnolia stamps. Here is another card completed. Kitty over here http://kittyskrafty.blogspot.com/ is having a Blog Candy Giveaway to celebrate having 5000 hits on her blog. (Can't think I will ever get to that many) Kitty is such a talented crafter and runs First Class Crafts, a fabulous shop selling such lovely stamps and the service you get there is fab. Thanks Kitty for such lovely things. Anyway as I am one of the people who has helped get her to 5000 hits I thought I would enter her little competition. This is not something I do normally but thought I would have a go. Anyway, here is my effort. Must now go and do the household chores, then perhaps I will do some more Magnolia stamping.......... XX

Look at what I have made..........

At last I have found some time to craft. I am a lurker on the UKScrappers site and have been following the thread on Magnolia Stamps. I have gone completly mad on these, like a few other fellow crafters LOL. I own three at the moment, but last night I ordered some more...I now have about 10 on pre-order! Hope they arive soon. Anyway last night I managed to sit down and do some crafting here is my first card using these beautiful stamps. They are such a joy to use. I think there may be many more on there way..............watch this space!