Welcome to the World Amy!

Huge congratulations to Tom & Nina Brereton on the arrival of their gorgeous baby girl Amy! How fabulous :-) Continuing with my KISS concept, (see previous post), I have used the Baby Tees Jumbo wheel (IB&C p39), with chocolate chip ink on Pretty in Pink card stock and then highlighted a few elements of the wheel print with a pink Stampin' Write marker (IB&C p102), finishing off with some grosgrain ribbon and then the hearts Confetti stamp on the envelope with the so happy for you greeting from a free Sale-A-Bration set.

Finally, in the hope that I can actually get up to date, and therefore go and make some cards ;-) Here is the card for my fabulous nephew Davon, and inspired by his Pokemon Black game, I've used some of the Neutrals Designer Series Paper (IB&C p85) on the right of the 5/8" Black Grosgrain ribbon (IB&C p97), with the Happy Birthday Greeting from again a free SAB set - which really does look like a stamp when you put it on the envelope - hee hee hee! And for a final flourish silver embossed stars on the left hand side, and his name printed in Whisper white ink (Just Perfect Alphabet IB7C p77), and punched out of Black textured neutral paper - what a star!

Belated congratulations!

So here is a congratulation card I sent to my nephew with the fabulous news that he's engaged :-) I've used Rich Razzleberry ink for the Love stamp, (from a retired set), and the heart Confetti stamp (IB&C p60), on the right of the Rose Red top stitched ribbon (also retired!).

I'm going through a real phase of square details on top of the scallop square punch - just like the way it looks :-)

I then used the congratulations stamp from the Cheer & Wishes set (IB&C p75), punched out with the label punch (IB&C p105), on Melon Mambo card stock, using a clear heart button from the Itty Bitty range in the new Mini catalogue (p21), with a bit of silver embroidery thread I had already. See detailed photo on the right. With my other favorite phrase KISS Keep It Simple Stupid - I left it before I over did it ;-)

There is also the exciting news that Martyn & Leonie have a new home, so having bought watercolour pencils (IB&C p102) and not had the excuse to use them yet I made this card and used the Neighbourhood Wheel (IB&C p48) in chocolate chip ink, and then spent a very pleasant time colouring in, which has always been one of my favorite things to do. The Confetti stamps were used once more in Old Olive ink at the bottom and the Just Moved! sentiment is also from a retired set, but I am just realising that to use these lovely sets is the only way to be able to keep buying more - hee hee hee! So may Martyn, Leonie, Kayla & Sophie's new home be filled with lots of love and laughter. Keep on crafting Gen x

Big shot playtime!

Indulging my Big Shot fetish I have had serious time to play :-)

Here I've started with Old Olive card stock, using The Top Note Bigz die (Mini catalogue p7), and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder (Mini p10).

I've used some retired grosgrain ribbon, Melon Mambo card stock and the Flower Daisies die (Mini p7), putting the middle sized daisy through again with the Square Lattice embossing folder (Mini p10), and using s sponge dauber to apply Frost White Shimmer paint (IB&C p103) to the tips of the large and small daisy petals. For the centre I had some retired Old Olive felt flowers, with a large Basic Pearl in the centre (IB&C p99).

The pink label is one of the Lots of Tags 4 pack sizzlit dies (Mini p8), printed with a greeting from my favorite set Pocket Silhouettes (IB&C p45) and the flower stamp from the Tiny Tags set (IB&C p66), secured by a Circle Fire Rhinestone brad (IB&C p99). Last but not least a little Old Olive stamping at the right side of the card with a Confetti stamp (IB&C p60).

Thought I would just show you some quick Thanks cards! Another favorite stamp set for me is Baroque Motifs (IB&C p70), and so the matching Pendant Notes (IB&C p87) were too wonderful to resist for me! Continuing with my Melon Mambo phase I have simply pushed out the perforated sections to show the bright pink, using Early espresso ink (IB&C p85) for the twiddly background stamp and greeting - both from FREE sets in this years Sale-A-Bration promo!

The centre of the card is then two of the three flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch (IB&C p105) with a mother of pearl effect with scrunched up plastic and the shimmer paint, secured in place by a pink rhinestone brad.

As always I love the excuse for matching bag and for the recent orders I printed some plain paper bags to match the thank you card - et voila!

My Easter is coming to an end . . .

Just as I start to think about returning to work, I thought I would share with you the Easter cards that I sent out this year. After last year, where nobody found the chick I kept things very simple by using A Good Egg stamp set (IB&C p20), and the Brights Designer Series Paper (IB&C p91). Using again Daffodil delight and Pacific point and then as little gingham ribbon secured with a flower brad (IB&C p82). Of course, for a little variation I also changed the colours for a very special friend, who believes black is a colour rather than a shade, but using the Naturals DSP created a bit of fun :-)

So I have been lucky enough to make the most of the bank holidays and took this last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off work and predictably I was ill for quite a bit of the time !!

Luckily, I had already made the Birthday card for my brother; which was the first time I could use my new builder wheel from the Mini catalogue (p13). To create contrast I have used So Saffron ink for the candles, Real red for the Happy Birthday Greeting and Night of Navy for the sensational stars! Then I used some brights DSP for the background and a few star brads I had lying around. The sectional ink cartridge (Mini catalogue p 13), allows you to specifically allocate inks, but I think I might also try a blank ink cartridge with graded ink change and see what it looks like - lots of playing possibilities ;-) As sometimes I'm a little pushed for time, this allows super quick cards and then there's the wrapping paper possibilities - sometimes not enough hours in the day :-)