Welcome Olivia

Friends of ours had their baby daughter, Olivia, this week. We'll be going to see her in the next few days so I wanted to make her a Welcome Baby card. Her mum, Justyna, is a really good scrapbooker, so I thought she could detach the name and use it on one of her pages ... if she likes it, that is!

Recipe
Stamps : Lovely Letters
Cardstock : PTI White, Choc Chip, Regal Rose
Ink : Regal Rose
Accessories : Pretties Kit, Flower Brads, Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon, Texture Plate, Big Shot

A Butterfly Challenge

Here's a link to today's Limited Supply Challenge on Splitcoast, we're to make some sort of gift card holder incorporating a butterfly into the design. Here's what I came up with:

And here's a close-up of the butterfly. I really love this set, and now we have the coordinating punch, it makes it soooo easy to pop a butterfly on a project!

A friend of mine, Susie, came up with the great gift card holder design, there's a tutorial on this post if you'd like to give it a go!

Recipe
Stamps : Flight of the Butterfly, Simple Thanks
Cardstock : Bordering Blue, Kraft, Bella Bleu DSP
Ink : Bordering Blue, Not Quite Navy
Accessories : SU Butterfly Punch, Corner Rounder, dimensionals

A Sketch & A Birthday

Tomorrow is my friend Jill's XXth Birthday (see Jill, I was kind and didn't broadcast it to the world!). I decided to make her card using today's sketch over on Splitcoast. I adore this pig, actually I love all pigs (ask any of my family) but this one's face and squinty eyes is a firm fave of mine. Isn't he cute?!!! Well, Jill and I are always laughing about me being a greedy pig (ask her about Hungry Howie's Pizza ....) so I thought she'd get a kick out of getting him as her birthday card! I better get it into the post ....

I popped his ears and nose up to give him some dimension and I think he turned out quite well. I added some grass around his feet and followed the sketch. The birthday sentiment is computer generated.

Recipe
Stamps : Pig ~ Inky Antics, Grass ~ Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Ink : Rich Cocoa (Memento), River Rock & Mellow Moss (SU)
Cardstock : WW, Choc Chip, Certainly Celery DSP, Cutie Pie DSP (retired)
Accessories : Gamsol & Prismacolour Pencils, Dimensionals, SU Punches

OK, I couldn't resist, look at this piglet Sarah and I found at Hollow Trees Farm Shop in Suffolk, England. I wanted to kidnap him and bring him home to America ... do you think customs would have noticed???? Tee Hee!

Colour Challenge and a MOJO Sketch

The colour challenge today was a great one ... Kraft, Real Red, Choc Chip ... they're so great together! I also used the Mojo Monday sketch challenge (you can find it here) which is great when you're not sure what direction your card is going in ... a regular occurrence here!

And here's a close up of the flower dies and the flower centre ... I used the 1 1/4" punch and Think Kind Thoughts stamp set.

Recipe
Stamps : Think Kind Thoughts
Cardstock : Real Red, Kraft, Choc Chip DP
Ink : Real Red
Accessories : Linen Thread, Playground Button, 1 1/4" Round Punch, Big Shot, Texture Plate, Flower Folds Bigz XL Die, Sponge, Dimensionals

Back to the USA and straight into CLUB

I'm home! And my first job was to prepare for my club on Friday night! Jet-lag and all! I don't usually share my club projects on my blog, mainly because my blog readers ARE my club! Tee Hee!!! But for those of you who are interested, here are the 3 projects:

This first one was the faux silk technique. The photo doesn't really show it off, but the largest background layer is stamped on tissue paper, scrunched up and then glued to a piece of whisper white cardstock. If you click on the photo, you may see it in more detail. I love this set (Embrace Life) and hardly ever use it!

Recipe
Stamps : Embrace Life
Cardstock : WW, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink
Ink : Brown StazOn
Accessories : 1/4" Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, tissue paper, SU markers, scallop punch

This next project was using the Fancy Favour Box Bigz XL Die which is a SU exclusive. I used the new DSP 'Autumn Traditions' and filled it with Hershey Kisses.

Recipe
Cardstock : Autumn Traditions DSP
Accessories : Large Oval Punch, Window Sheets, Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon, Linen Thread, Horizontal slit punch, Big Shot, Fancy Favour Box Bigz XL Die

And last but not least, we made this cute little 2" square note cube. I bought them from Stamp on This and I think the girls loved them, I certainly do and think I'll buy some more to make as little stocking stuffers for Christmas.

Recipe
Stamps : Flight of the butterfly
Ink : Perfect Plum, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories : Note Cube, Pink Taffeta Ribbon

Holiday Pics of the Family

Well, I'm having a wonderful time in Suffolk, England with my family. Dad is doing all the cooking (he's an amazing chef, really ... I'm not just saying that, he's really of restaurant chef standard!). So mainly we girls are just sitting around sewing, stamping and gossiping ... what bliss!!!

This first photo was taken on Friday night when my sister flew in from the island of Jersey, Channel Islands. We haven't seen each other for 11 months and it only took about 15 minutes for hysterical laughter to set in! I really miss my big sister ... she's my best friend :)

And then tonight we had supper outside. Dad did a wonderful barbeque ... chili burgers, sausages, pork shoulder steaks, rib-eye steaks, lamb kebabs, couscous salad and green salad (fresh from their garden) ... um .... DAD? You know there are only 6 of us, right? Tee Hee!!!

From the left, my sister Sarah, my daughter Sarah, mum, my niece Sophie and the chef, my dad AKA Big Al!!! I think I have the best family in the world ... happy days!

I'm in England!

Good Morning! I'm in England! Just thought I'd post to let everyone know that I'm at my parents house in Suffolk, England. It's wonderful to be home ...

This photo was taken the day I arrived (Sunday). I was helping my dad prepare supper to keep awake! I think I'm acclimatised to the time change now though. It's 7.30am and I'm wide awake and ready for the day, even though it's 2.30am in Michigan!

It's Sketch Day

Well, it's taken me all day to get to the sketch on SCS! It's a good one too ... I kept it pretty simple, used my Good Morning Sunshine DSP along with the Country Morning Hostess Set. It's the first time I've inked it up, and I like it! I used my Copics to colour the image.

Recipe
Stamps : Pendant Park (sentiment), Country Morning
Cardstock : Riding Hood Red, WW, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories : Copic Markers, Nestabilities

CAS stitching

Today's CAS challenge on SCS is to use stitching on our project. Luckily for me, I have a quilting machine which means I can do some pretty fancy stitches! I think this card fits the CAS guidelines ... and I think the stitching looks good as an embellishment. So this must be a great start to Monday, right?!

... and here's a close up of the stitching and the 'rock n roll' flower.

Recipe
Stamps : Papertrey Anniversary Set
Cardstock : WW, Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink
Ink : Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink
Accessories : Sewing Machine, Dew Drop, Dimensionals

Bathing Suit

I found the funniest stamp at the Novi Stamping Expo ... don't you love it?! This is going to my sister, we both struggle with our weight and I know this will make her laugh ~ tee hee!

Recipe
Stamps : Bugawumps Rubber Stamps
Cardstock : Confetti White, Old Olive, Cameo Coral
Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories : Copic Markers, SU Scallop Edge Punch, Piercer