Birthdays and Birth Days and Celebrations!

A surprise 40th Birthday was the perfect excuse for using a Gate style card with simply some Celebrations Designer Series Paper (IB&C p89) on the two fronts, some Pacific Point card stock for the 4x4cm squares and then my favorite Party this Way stamp set (IB&C p31) for the Real Red balloon and spinning party arrow. Trying to get into the habit of making two cards at a time with the idea of selling the second one, or having it to hand in case of need ;-) I hope David enjoyed his party as much as we enjoyed attending it ;-)

And from 40 years to celebration to the first celebration of life . . . .A warm Welcome to the World for the Gorgeous Gwion, second son for Owain and Rhi and little brother to Tudur. I am yet to meet this gorgeous bundle, but sent along this card to let them know I was thinking of them. As you have probably gathered, I love natural colours and recycled things and much of this card illustrates that. I have coloured the teddy bear using an Aqua Painter and Soft Suede ink.

As always I have to print a little sentiment on the envelope and here I have printed the sentiment that is inside the card. All the confetti stamps (IB&C p60) are getting serious use at the moment, but these heart ones are very versatile. I'm enjoying them so much it made a good starting point for me with this Anniversary card. I used the confetti stamp down the left hand side of the card, here in Riding Hood Red and then for the top hearts, hand cut slightly smaller than the base punched card stock. The sentiment stamps I have used here are retired, but would look good with the Heard from the Heart set (IB&C p74).

With my next card I've used the confetti flower stamp on the envelope of the card once more, always good to give the postie something to look at ;-) Here I've used the Beautiful Just Believe set (IB&C p57), with watercolour paper (IB&C p87) and simply colouring in the stamp with Stampin Write markers then spritzing the stamp with water to create this watercolour effect for the print. I then used textured card stock for the Old Olive background tearing both in an arc shape around the print. The finishing touch here was addition of Basic Pearls for the flower centres and then a line for the base of the print. I think they go quite well with the colour of the watercolour paper :-)

A note of thanks!

Using the swap from convention as inspiration I recently made a stash of cards for some friends with remnant card and left over DSP for a 9 1/2cm square note card. I had some retired coloured card stock and used Pacific Point ink for the So Many Thanks stamp (IB&C p112). While I was stamping I did make a set of five with the top colour scheme which of course is my favorite Old Olive card stock and then the gorgeous Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper (IB&C p89), so I now actually have some cards in stock - what an amazing concept!

Continuing with the thank you card theme, I had managed to resist the temptation of the owl punch (Mini p14) frenzy, but using a forthcoming kids craft session as an excuse I succumbed! The stamps that I have used here are all promotional free ones apart from the confetti leaf stamp (IB&C p60), printed with Old Olive ink. The branch for the owl is made using The Big Shot Sizzlit Die Little leaves (Mini p8) and Old Olive card stock and the owl is printed in Soft Seude ink.

More posts to come with the owl punch . . . soon!

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 :-)

Llandrindod Card Club - Workshop! Easter Greetings!

Happy Easter All! Here is the Easter card I did at this months Llandrindod Card Club - many thanks to all that attended, I had lots of fun! Here I have used A Good Egg stamp set (IB&C p20), stamping the egg onto Naturals Ivory card stock (IB&C p87), and cutting round the outline. Then I continued with the basic black ink onto Delightful Daffodil card stock, (IB&C p82), colouring the dots in with Stampin' write markers, leave all this to one side, for the moment. We then stamped the Old Olive card stock with the same colour of ink and the flower stamp, then scallop punching the top border. Then place the Bashful Blue card stock at the top, and the old olive on the bottom of the card face to position the pivotal brad on the left side, hidden under the grosgrain ribbon.

As you can see the reason that you need a hinge if to reveal the Easter Greeting and tiny chick in the Egg :-) If you place the zigzag ribbon in your desired place, then move it up about 1cm to use the bottom as a cutting guide then when you glue the paper ribbon move it into the centre of the top half egg and then the cut edge of the egg will be hidden when the card is closed. Although hiding brads, positioning the ribbon knot and lastly gluing the egg halves is a bit fiddly, I still love the effect of this card - real Easter Egg-citement.

With the card done, we then got completely carried away with the Easter theme and utilizing the Marvellous Monica's

Easter Basket (see the video tutorial on her blog - Monica's

Many Passions, on my blog list).

Loving all things Old Olive I used this as a the base card stock and some of the DSP that was on offer in The March Frenzy Promotion, Greenhouse Gala (IB&C p89). Monica gives fabulous tips to make this basket very easily. I think the 5/8" Organza ribbon works really well. And just to finish off the look we added a little gift card to go with the basket, which should really have contained Mini Eggs, but they didn't make it into the photo - somehow! The scallop envelope in Daffodil Delight was prepared with my new Big Shot - whoo hoo! The square print is one of the hostess sets, punched out with the 1 1/4" Square punch (IB&C p 106) and placed onto the old olive scallop square punch (IB&C p105) and some gingham ribbon, I had lying around to keep the envelope together. Then a little card 2x3" with a little chick, greeting and DSP egg shells from the Brights pack (IB&C p91).