Birthday catch up!

 With the best of intentions I am still running massively behind on catching up with my latest creations! My Dad celebrated his 75th Birthday last month and as the King of celebration I made this red, white and blue inspired card - bunting made with the petite pennants punch and the numbers from the medium sizzlits Timeless Type Alphabet and the Birthday Greeting from the hostess set (p8).

July also starts family Anniversaries - here, a woven Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Series paper off cuts from last Christmas projects on a Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit die in Riding hood Red as with the retired greetings above and below - less is more!

A surprise Birthday Party for Mike the Monkey boy - our resident tree climber - hence the name! Here using the Pine stamp from the Lovely as a Tree set (IB&C p58) done in Garden Green and the monkey from Fox & Friends - keeping it simple!

And to finish on a flourish a couple of Birthday cards with the Apothecary Art stamp set and matching framelit dies form the current Mini Summer Catalogue, with above the flourish from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, in Melon Mambo, and shades of purple below.

Keep on crafting, Gen xxx

Summer Sabbatical!

Sorry to have been quiet for the whole of July pretty much, but I keep forgetting how busy the summer gets! No excuse really, just the same time management issues as always!!

So, thought I would let you see what I've been up to . . . .

Here's the Birthday card that I sent to my Nephew Mark - simply Well Worn Designer Series Paper for the bottom half, then 3/8" Denim Jean Ribbon with a Vintage brad on the left and three antique brass brads on the right and then the fabulous Birthday Greeting stamp from the Delightful Dozen stamp set (IB&C p85) and then another Birthday Greeting for the envelope from the hostess set (p8), both printed in Pacific Point.

Then my Niece Ariana turned 10 - where has the time gone!! For girls it's never possible to have enough Pink and sparkles ;-) I have used Rich Razzleberry, vellum and Pretty in Pink, the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die for my Big Shot. Another Birthday greeting from the p8 hostess set and then a Regal Rose seam binding bow secured by a circle fire rhinestone brad, with rhinestone jewels liberally added - hee hee hee!

Gorgeous Golden Wedding celebration for Don & Rach, so I made this card for the occasion. It really does stick to my "Keep it simple" motto! Brushed Gold card stock, with my favourite Scalloped Trim Corner punch and then gold emboss powder for the heart stamp from the You are Loved stamp set, on Very Vanilla card stock and the sentiment is from a retired set, here done in Early Espresso. I think every year of love is worth celebrating, but 50 years is a wonderful excuse for a party and Dad & I had a wonderful time at their lunchtime celebrations in Hawkchurch, Devon.

Will continue my catch up in the next blog - honest! Keep on crafting, Gen xxx

Fourth Birthday for the Twins!

Luckily, I'm not the only one who can hardly believe that four years have passed since these terrific twins were born. As you can see from their cards above, I have got completely carried away with Bunting, and with the Petite Pennant Punch (IB&C p119), it's not difficult, using Baker's Twine (Summer Mini p22), for stringing the pennants together. I was going to stamp their names onto the pennants, but I wanted to match in with their presents, seen below, so used Brushed Silver card stock and Medium Sizzlits Die Timeless Type Junior Alphabet and also for the number 4!

 

So for this years presents I made drawstring bags for school, using the Bigz Dies Alphabet Simple Letters (IB&C p123) in felt, and for Emily's bag I used Melon Mambo 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon (IB&C p107) - Louie's bag turned into a Red White and Blue theme!

 

 

A little hand stamped gift wrap for their presents - the Happy Birthday Octopus from the Kidoodles set (IB&C p32) - more cake with eight tentacles!! Yum!

 

My last note is just to bring your attention to the July promotion (see the right hand side bar), as those of you who loved the Sale-A-Bration Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper as much as I did, can buy this paper for this short time and if your order reaches £45 you can earn free co-ordinating brads and ribbons - whoo hoo!!

Keep on crafting, Gen xxx

 

Butterflies, Brads & Simple Stamping

So just to keep moderately up to date with my card making, a Birthday card using the Bigz Die Beautiful Butterflies (IB&C p123) for the Rich Razzleberry card stock, and Elegant Bouquet embossing folder for the vellum butterfly, highlighted with rhinestones gems and the lovely outline stamp from the Growing Green stamp set (IB&C p52), corner scallop trim punch and greeting from the hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set (p8).

As always my Father's Day is a less is more approach - Mocha Morning Speciality DSP (p96), Artichoke Denim Jean Ribbon (p106), Antique Brad (p109) and then stamps in Soft Suede.

A small super quick card - done with a previous free set :-)

And my first time to play with the Everything Eleanor stamp set (IB&C p57),
using colours from the Subtles Collection, and printing the Dog Rose with a yellow centre after walking up the back lane at the weekend :-) and realising that nature is fantastically variable.

Keep on crafting, Gen xxx

Hostess benefits - Precious Butterflies

So just to entice you to host your own party, (extra benefits in June & July on the right side bar), and earn FREE stamp sets for having fun, I thought I'd show you a few cards that I made with the Hostess stamp set you can find on page 12 of the current Ideas Book & Catalogue. Above I've used Melon Mambo card stock and ink, with Wild Wasabi emboss powder, greeting from Sincere Salutations (p82), and then my favourite Scallop Trim Corner punch, highlighted with Rhinestone gems.

Below, a similar format, with pearl gems, Whisper White for the greeting and a 3D flower that I made from heart punching the Rich Razzleberry print three times.



Last but not least, Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive and Perfect Plum, simply stamped straight onto the card stock - this set is so versatile - will really have to make some to sell at work!

Keep on crafting, Gen xxx

Handy hints and tidy tips!

At the most recent training I attended at Reading one of the demonstrators mentioned that it might be easy to keep the fabulous new Framelits and Edgelits with a magnetic sheet and I have actually got round to acting on this advice - result! Doing this for the Framelits means that you can know that you have all 6 dies in place - handy when at workshops, so I don't leave anything behind!

The other plus about this system is that the adhesive paper highlights the labelling of the plastic pockets these dies come in, so allows easy identification. The other really fabulous hint was to get spare standard cutting pads, cover one with grid paper to allow lining up and then use the fabulous sticky strip to hold the edgelit in the desired and lined up position, as seen here.

So when you use these cutting pads you can align your card stock and make sure that your die is level too because of the grid lines. I also hold the framelits on place with a sticky note which works perfectly - lots of fun! Keep on crafting, Gen x

P.S. Have added a couple of new offers on the right hand side of my blog, so check out these offers, while they last! I know I will be ;-)



Apothercary Art co-ordination!

As I have already rambled on about, the Reading Training was full of inspiration for the Summer Mini Catalogue, and with the will of steel that I really don't have I have I was swept away by the co-ordinating possibilities.

 Here, is my version of a greeting card pack that I made from a trimmed 6"x 6" album page protector. Simply using Wisteria Wonder and Pool Party for the backing card and Belly Band with the scallop border punch to finish the presentation pack.

As you can see from the cards in the pack the stamp set co-ordinates fabulously with the Framelits Dies (Mini p16) which I have used for the two background shapes, embossed with the Stripes and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder - all run through the Big Shot Die Cutting Machine :-)

Colours used, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Regal Rose and Pear Pizzazz, small pearl jewels.

Here I've used my favourite Melon Mambo as a background, shaped with the Adorning Accent Edgelit die above and below, with the Labels Collection framelit die for the sensational central stamp, hand coloured with pencils and an Old Olive bow at the base.

And finally as I get completely carried away with the diagonal plate for the scoring tool to make envelopes with Pear Pizzazz DSP and the scallop trim border punch for the envelope flap.

So the same format, but a different greeting, with a Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding (IB&C p106), wound round three fingers 3 times, with the middle secured by an Antique Brad at the side. I love the detail of this stamp, seriosly arty and seriously easy. Keep on crafting, Gen xxx