Pink and Green flowers

Pink, green and white is on of my favourite colour combinations, I even painted my daughter's bedroom in these colours when she was little, so when I saw this week's challenge at Make My Monday I was so looking forward to it. Then...brain freeze...I couldn't come up with a single idea! Do you have days like that? Well, at last I have made my card, thanks to some absolutely fabulous paper from Stampin' Up.  I decided that the paper was so gorgeous that it ought to take centre stage, so I've really not added much; a decorative edge, cut away to reveal pink inside with a simple stamped greeting, a white frame to make the edge stand out, a few punched pink and green flowers, topped with matching buttons, and three white pearls. Hope it's OK to use a couple of shades of pink, it really does remind me of my daughter's room...

Charming thank you

This little card has a story attached to it.  Last week I lost a silver ring at work, I took it off and forgot to put it back on. A day or so later I noticed what I had done and was so upset as it has huge sentimental value. Of course, it was not where I left it, so I sent round an email to all my colleagues and put a notice out to the students but, although lots of people sent messages of hope, no one had seen it. Yesterday our lovely cleaning lady came to me, she had emptied the hoover bag to look for it and there it was, with all the fluff and dirt! I have made this card to say thank you....

Blue, Blue Christmas

Today I have had time to look at a few challenges and the first one to catch my eye was at 52 {Christmas} card Throwdown where they asked for Christmas cards with embossing, dry or heat. I embossed Whisper White card with snowflakes and made the scalloped edges with my new Stampin Up edgelits die. Do you like the snowman ribbon?  He's cute isn't he? I made the medallion with  the snowflake from SU's  Season of Joy set, stamped in Adirondack Snow Cap and heat embossed with Snowflake powder -can you see the glittery detail.

 The sentiment was also from this set, stamped on Whisper White in Bashful Blue. I have decorated the envelope with a matching snowflake medallion. The colour scheme fits in with the Dynamic Duos challenge too. I love the cool, wintery feel of this card, especially after the weather we've been enjoying and it gt an Honorable Mention too!

Daffodil and Black

I have made several daffodill and black, with some embossing for dessert, cards but only when this idea materialised was I completely happy. The monochrome papers are from Papermania and the ribbon is from my stash, but the flowers and sentiment are both Stampin'Up.  The flower is from Paisley Petals - I LOVE this suite of stamps and paper (I must get more paper as I've nearly used it all up). I stamped and embossed them and cut them out and added a few 'Sweet Buttons' from the embosslits dies, which emboss and cut out at the same time- simples! If you are wondering, the colours are this weeks challenge from the dynamic duos challenge.

Away in a Manger

It's 24 degrees and I'm making Christmas cards!

At 52 {Christmas} card throwdown the theme this week is the nativity.  I don't have a nativity stamp, or any other stamp with people, come to think of it....(umm, I see a gap in my collection!) so this one's been quite tricky. I love the background paper, which has been in my Christmas bits and bobs drawer for a year or so, but I sparkled it up with some punched out, glittery stars. I have to admit that the image is some clipart which I downloaded, but I've inked the white space with dark blue and purple inks and added some tiny pearl 'stars'. I am very pleased that this card got an Honorable Mention,  I need a box now to start my christmas card collection!

Wild flowers mark 2

My previous card has made me think about the pull up card which I originally made for the Make my Monday but didn't think it was good enough! The problem was the pull up tab, it needed something. Well, here is my new, improved version, which , if it is OK with the ladies at MMM I will enter as well.  I have used more stamps from Deezines Art, and the grasses from SU's Autumn Days.

I stamped the cow parsley stem in white and clear embossed it for a very subtle effect, but it definitely adds something to the card.
I am going to relax now and sit in my garden, to enjoy some of this glorious sun!

Cow parsley Thank You

Make My Monday's floral challenges continue this week, with wild flowers and grasses.  I looked at the DT's cards and was overawed with their creations, so many stamps! Well, I have just the one I wanted to use, a Deezines stamp featuring a single stem of cow parsley, one of my hegderow favourites. I used the resist technique to make the backing paper and then made a topper with the same stamp, ebossed in snowflake white, with a hint of sparkle. I spotted just the right ribbon in my local craft shop and I hope I've come up with somwthing which fits the challenge.  The cardstock is purple too, a darker shade of the topper card, but in the photo it looks blue :(

Retro Dad

When I looked at this week's challenge on Simply Stampin I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I love all those colours but hadn't thought of putting them together.  Then I remembered a piece of pop art I'd seen somewhere and the idea came together.  I wanted a very retro feel and the concentric circles and VW camper stamp were perfect.  I have to admit that only the cardstock and sentiment are from SU, which is unusual for me.  I used whisper white card and stamped the VW all over it in Island Indigo, then layered the die cut circles and hoops.  I stamped the VW again, in Real Red and Indigo Island and cut them out and used foam pads to make them stand out.  The sentiment is stamped and clear embossed, again in Island Indigo. I hope that some young at heart dad would be pleased to get this card on Fathers' Day, next month.

Flowers and Music

Good Morning! The card I have made this morning hopefully covers two challenges in one! Make My Monday - Flowers and Music and The Dynamic Duos. Using only Pool Party and So Saffron clours I have made this spring card, featuring flowers die cut from sheet music. I used sheet music cut from an old piano music book (my children gave up playing years ago and now I've found a new use for their old music books - crafting!). I coloured the music paper and used buttons cut from Pool Party cardstock, using SU's embosslits set Sweet Buttons.  Layering these up on a big note shape cut from So saffron cardstock I assembled the card, adding a sentiment and strip of So Saffron and more embosslit buttons. Some faux stitching and the strip matches the big note. Off to see my Mum and Dad now!

Christmas Bling

Yesterday's little robin card certainly got me thinking about Christmas cards, I sorted out my Christmas drawer and it was great finding all those bits of bling and stamps again.  I also remembered that I'd seen a great challenge on the blogs to get us all ready for the season (even though it's still 7 months away!) 52 {christmas} card Throwdown. The theme over there was a colour combination which I absolutely love, Christmas or not!- Purple, silver and green.  No clever tricks, I just stamped the three baubles in the three colours, added a hand-drawn string, matted and layered also on the three colours and added as much bling as I thought it could stand! The sentiment, stamped in purple, is from the same stamp set, SU's Contemp Christmas.

Christmas Robin

The challenge over atCAS-ual Fridays is Birds this week.  Now, I do like birds on cards, they are very versatile I think and one of my favourites is this little bird punch from SU.  You can use him in all sorts of ways and here I've made him into a little robin with the addition of a touch of red. The trees are from Lovely As a Tree, stamped in versamark and embossed with snowflake white. I've added a greeting in the corner. Sorry to be posting Christmas cards in May!! Still, the sooner you start.....

Life Happens. Love Helps

I must be in a bit of a melancholic mood today as here is another card I made today for someone who needs a hug.  It's called a spring card and I made it at a workshop this morning.  The spring mechanism is made by the fold..very clever thinking by someone! The flower is one of those stamps sets where you stamp it in bits and assemble it with a brad.  The card, paper and sentiment are all from Stampin' Up, you'll know by now if you read my blog that I'm a bit of a fan. Anyway, that's all for today, perhaps I'll be a bit more cheery next time!

Lily of the Valley

Well, the challenge said Lily of the Valley, so here's my card (I did have to check what they looked like first!) I made a stencil for the stems and inked them in with SUs Lucky Limeade. I added more colour to the corner to give the impression that they were growing in the garden. I punched out the little white flowers, shaped them with my scoring tool and added a dot of green promarker to the centres. Finally I used more Lucky Limeade for the mat and layering, added a border and found a sentiment that I think is just perfect for this card. I think it would make a nice card for someone who needs a bit of sympathy. Thanks to all at Make My Monday for inspiration to craft and for picking this card as one of their Top Three!

Mmm Strawberries

Over on St Luke's Charity Cards blog there is a challenge for one layer cards. Now, I'm not good at one layer..I'm much too messy and prone to splodging, but here is my card.  I embossed the dots and sentiment and then stamped the delicious-looking strawberry from SUs Fruit and Flowers, using my promarkers I added the green tops and shading.  A dotty ribbon and little bow along the edge and I added red bling 'hightlights' to the strawberries. Mmm good enough to eat!  I will be sending my card off to the charity so, hopefully, they will be able to sell it and raise a little money. St Lukes charity cards challenge

Another Pair!

I have had another go at the Perfect pairs challenge for Simply Stamping.  This time I chose a colour combination that I rarely use; poppy parade and very vanilla.  I made the little rosettes and stamped and embossed flowers from Fruit and Flowers to make the centres. I made my background paper using the script stamp from my latest stamp set Charming. The sentiment is one from my stash and fits the theme quite nicely.Simply Stamping ;Perfect Pairs Finally I added a flourish of bling to balance the whole thing.