New Home

Friends of mine recently moved into a new home and I wanted to make them a card. This is a combination of old and new product. It's been a while since I used the window set so I dragged it out and blew off the dust to make this sweet New Home Card.

Recipe
Stamps : Vibrant Vases, Happy Home (ret), Holiday Home (ret, sentiment)
Ink: Memento Black, Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Sahara Sand, Purple Posy, Purple Posy 6x6 DSP
Accessories: Vases Punch, Stampin' Blends

Bloom & Grow

Another  super-simple card. A bit of watercolouring with the Aquapainter and ink using one of the new 2019 in-colours "Seaside Spray".

Recipe

Stamps: Bloom & Grow

Ink: Memento Black

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Seaside Spray

Accessories: Big Shot, Budding Blooms Dies, Aquapainter

Pretty Pavilion

I managed to break open another new set from the Stampin' Up 2019-2020 Catalogue today. It felt good just to do some colouring. I'm still a bit wobbly after my break from stamping, but I really enjoyed it. Hoping to soon be back up to speed!

Recipe
Stamps: Pretty Pavilion
Ink: Memento Black
Cardstock: Very Vanilla
Accessories: Big Shot, Pavilion Dies, Stampin' Blends

New Beginnings

It's been a while!

After the death of my husband last year, I have lived through massive changes in my life. I moved my daughter from the family home in Michigan to Boston, Massachusetts, sold the family home and made the move back to England from Michigan. I had to resign from Stampin' Up when I left the US but have now signed back up in the UK as a complete beginner under Amanda Bates who's based in Yorkshire (I've been a long-time fan of her work). 

As a result of all of this change, I haven't been stamping and therefore, my blog has been sorely neglected ... until today!

After the move, I can't find any of my camera equipment so I'm afraid these photos are terrible (taken with my old phone) it's amazing how bad cards can look without editing software and good lighting!!! However, after a hiatus from stamping, it's very easy to lose one's "mojo" and faulter when given a stamp set. The easy remedy to this is to go right back to basics which is what I did here. The epitome of Clean & Simple! However, it's a start ....

Hopefully my next attempt will be a little more professional. I'm trying to be kind to myself.
Recipe
Stamps: Garden Goodness, Itty Bitty Greetings (sentiment)
Ink: Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede
Cardstock: Garden Green, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Poppy Parade

First Frost Birthday

I love the new set "First Frost" which has been made as a Frosty Christmas set, but is equally beautiful as a Birthday, or Greeting Card making it a great purchase! How pretty it is with these colours: Tranquil Tide, Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Mossy Meadow and Soft Seafoam!

Recipe
Stamps : First Frost, PTI (greeting), Buffalo Check
Ink : Tranquil Tide, Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Mossy Meadow, Soft Seafoam
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Soft Seafoam
Accessories : First Frost Framelits, Big Shot, 1/2 Pearls, Dimensionals

Interview Thank You

I spent a couple of days earlier this week over in Boston where my daughter had a job interview (fingers crossed she will get the job!). She wanted to send a couple of thank you notes to the hiring manager and HR manager so I came up with these. She wanted them to be simple but make an impact. Not asking too much then!!!!

The Stamperatus came in really handy or this card. I was able to use SU markers to get colour variation in the leaves. I stamped them in Pear Pizzazz and then used Mellow Moss and Old Olive on individual leaves for depth.

Recipe
Stamps : Vertical Greetings
Ink : Mellow Moss, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Cajun Craze
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Mellow Moss
Accessories : Braided Linen Trim, SU Markers

Glass of Wine - Thank you!

A couple of my English friends and I spent a week visiting my lovely friend Sue at her cottage on Kiawah Island in SC. We had a lovely time with 85' weather and blue skies and sunshine. Came home to Michigan and it's rainy and autumnal!!!

I made a quick and easy thank you card for Sue which we all signed. I love how it turned out, especially the Crystal Effects on the wine glasses. I couldn't decide on the white wine colour but when I was using the Stampin' Blends, there wasn't much difference between light Daffodil Delight and light Pineapple Punch. However, now it's dry there's a considerable difference, I'm saying that 2 glasses are Chardonnay and 2 are a lighter Sauvignon Blanc!!!!!

Recipe
Stamps : Half Full
Ink : Memento Black
Cardstock : Shimmery White, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories : Stampin' Blends, Big Shot & Layering Oval Framelits, Frosted Epoxy Droplets, Crystal Effects

Rooted in Nature - Masculine

Rooted in Nature is one of the new 2018/2019 stamp sets and I think it's going to be really useful! I needed a 70th Male Birthday card for a friend so I went for a centre stair step card (tutorial can be found on SCS here) with masculine colours, soft suede, mossy meadow and naturals ivory. I love how this turned out.

Recipe
Stamps : Rooted in Nature, Memorable Moments (ret)
Ink : Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow
Cardstock : Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow, Naturals Ivory
Accessories : Braided Linen Trim, Rooted in Nature Framelits

New Home

I've been unable to stamp for a few months after a family tragedy, but with the help of some stamp-y friends (thanks Debra and Barb), I've climbed back into the saddle. Grief affects everyone in different ways, so for a while I was unable to find enjoyment in card-making. However, I placed a small order from the new catalogue and was able to make this card using the new Pop Up House framelit and coordinating set 'Pop on By'. 

The outside of the card is very simple, I used my Stampin' blends to colour the flower boxes.

The wow of this card is inside, when you open it up, the house pops out. There's a knack to making the cut-out, but it's fairly simple once you've figured it out.

I used window sheets behind the windows of the house, and adhered the curtains with mini glue dots.

The outside of the card is the standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4". The insert is 8 1/4"x 5 1/4" scored at 4 1/8". The trick is to only score about 5/8 in from each end on the 4 1/8 line. When you use the house die, you'll see 2 notches cut out either side of the house which you line up over the score line. Once it's cut out, it's pretty self explanatory how the scorelines fold.

Recipe
Stamps: Pop on By
Ink:Gray Granite
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Grey Granite, Soft Sea Foam
Accessories: Big Shot & Pop up House framelits, Stampin' Blends, Window Sheet

Graduation Congratulations

I needed a Graduation card for a friend whose niece has completed her Masters Degree. For inspiration, I found a colour combo on Pinterest of Soft Sky, Very Vanilla and Sahara Sand. I think this is such an elegant combination. I used my template for this elongated pop up box card.

Recipe
Stamps : Lift Me Up
Ink : Soft Sky, Sahara Sand
Cardstock : Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla
Accessories : Very Vanilla Ribbon (ret), layering ovals, Big Shot, Lift me Up Framelits

Birthday Cupcakes

This set has been retired for a long time now but remains on my Top 10 favourites list!

I needed a card for a friend's daughter and thought I'd have another play with "Create a Cupcake". I embossed the frame and cut it out, and added the Happy Birthday tag with some baker's twine. It's a very simple card, true to my card-making style of "CAS".

Recipe
Stamps : Create a Cupcake
Ink : Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Calypso Carol, Old Olive
Cardstock : Whisper White, Blushing Bride
Accessories : Cupcake Punch, Word Window Punch, Baker's Twine, 1/2 Pearls, Embossing folder "frame" (retired)

Feminine 60th

I only just started to use this hostess set in the past few weeks and I'm going to REALLY miss it! So sweet, fresh and pretty. Hopefully I'll find something just as lovely in the new catalogue!

This is a pretty pink 60th birthday card, CAS and really fresh looking.

Recipe
Stamps : Tranquil Tulips
Ink : Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, Perfect Plum
Cardstock : Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Old Olive
Accessories : Big Shot, layering circle framelits, typeset Jr thinlits (ret), olive ribbon