Papillon Potpourri

I've recently bought the lovely papillon potpourri stamp set from Stampin' Up with the matching butterfly punch & I just love it! Here's a couple of cards I've made with it ...

I've also used the new In-Colour 2012-14 Stampin' Up ink pads.
For the first card, I punched a circle from paper, lightly stuck it on the card & stamped round it, then removed to leave a blank circle with the butterflies seeming to fly around it.
I tried the triple stamping technique for the first time on the 3rd card & love the effect it gives.

Now I need to go & put together the Playmobile advent calendar for tomorrow morning  & fill up the advent calendar I made with choccies. Yum!!

Take care & thanks for popping by x

Wedding cards

Here are a few Wedding cards I have made in the last few months. I love these latte Stampin Up papers ...

And here's another version, but in black & white ...

I made quite a few wedding cards using the Wedding Wheels stamp. For this card I made an extra long tag from the Two Tags Stampin Up die, tied in ribbon ...

Here's a close up ...

And when the ribbon is untied, the tag unfolds to reveal a secret message!

I've had a musical September this year ... my Dad organised a Blues concert bringing together lots of old Blues music acts from when he played in a band back in the day! I finally got to see George Michael after his concerts were postponed due to ill health last year! And much clapping & singing was had at our night out to see Ultravox :)

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Proud to be British

Well, how fab were the Olympics?! I was hooked to my TV for the whole fortnight. And for someone who can't swim & hates the water I bizarrely couldn't get enough of the rowing, diving & swimming!
A friend of mine celebrated her 40th birthday just after the Olympics so I made her this card ...

We had a further reason to be cheerful in our family too, my lil sister passed her driving test first time :) very proud of her & you guessed it ... another card was needed ...

And as I haven't updated my blog for a while, I'm going to spoil you with a third card! My Mum retired this year. For the last 10 years or so she has worked part time in a shoe shop, so her retirement card from me had to incorporate shoes!

As you can see from my lack of blog posts lately, I've been quite busy with extra hours at work & with studying. I finished one of my Open University modules in June & recently received my result of a Grade 2, narrowly missing a distinction by 1 mark!
I've also had quite a few cards to make & will post some of these over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Beaches & balloons!

Another couple of card requests! The first one was for a 21st birthday, the recipient lives in Brighton, so the beach & bright colours were requested. Here's what I came up with ...

I sponged the sky on a white card base with Baja Breeze ink. The beach huts I cut & scored just using my trimmer & the 'roof' is made with the one punch I use again & again, Stampin' Up's Word Window ... neat huh? :)

Supplies used:
Cardstock & ink pads - Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, So Saffron
Punches - Pennant, Circle, Word Window
Ribbon - Old Olive Taffetta, Melon Mambo Striped Grosgrain
Sentiment from Party This Way SU stamp set

The 2nd card was for a male 50th birthday. I always find masculine cards a bit more of a challenge, but I was quite pleased with this one ...

The textured grass was made with the gorgeous Square Lattice embossing folder. The hot air balloon stamp was a free gift with Craft Stamper magazine last year & I've found it really useful for male cards! I stamped the inside of the card too ...

Supplies used:
Cardstock - Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Pacific Point
Paper - Brights Designer Series Paper, Pumpkin Pie & Pacific Point
Dies & punches - Square Lattice embossing folder, Lots of Tags sizzlit die, Word Window punch, cloud & alphabet dies (Quickutz)
Stamp - free with Craft Stamper magazine

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Tam x

Teenager!!!

Last week we reached one of those birthday milestones in our house ... my wonderful baby turned 13! Yes, I am now the mother of a teenager ... aaaaaaaghhh!!! Such a momentous birthday demanded of course, a fitting card :) so here's what I came up with ...

Now as I've been making cards for quite a few years my kids don't just give me a present wish list for their birthdays, I also get requests for what they would like on their birthday cards! Jess is a big fan of The Wanted & Jessie J so they were her requests. I was a bit cunning & hid them :) ...

I'm no longer a Stampin' Up demonstrator, but I still find myself going straight to their products when I have a card to make & this time was no exception!
Jess had a lovely birthday ... we went to Frankie & Benny's for her birthday meal & Cadbury World ... yum yum :) Fingers crossed the next 5 or 6 years aren't too painful. Jess showed her the Harry Enfield YouTube clip of when Kevin turns into a teenager, she loved it.

Supplies used:
Papers - Rose Red subtles design series paper; SU
Ink pads - Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink; SU
Punches/Dies - Pennant Parade punch, Beautiful Wings embosslits; SU
Ribbons - Baja Breeze Seam binding, Pretty in Pink grossgrain; SU
Stamps - Dots; Hero Arts, Alphabet; Banana Frog
Other - Pearl Jewels; SU, Barn doors; Piggy tales

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Modern vintage 80th birthday

Well this is a bit later than I intended but life's been a bit hectic lately! So here, as promised is the 80th birthday card I was asked to make. I used the lovely Enchantment papers from Stampin' Up to make a shutter card.

And here's a close up of the rolled rose ...

Supplies used:
Papers - Everyday Enchantment, SU
Cardstock - Old Olive, SU
Ribbon - Baja Breeze Seam binding, SU
Dies - Little Leaves, SU; Beautiful Wings, SU
Other - Pearl Jewels
Sentiment printed on computer

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Using up the scraps

A very quick post as I wanted to include a card in the Less Is More challenge this week, & it's just about to close!
I've been having a play with the Stampin'Up SAB papers & I made this using up the scraps ...

Supplies used:
Papers: Stampin' Up SAB
Cardstock: Pool Party, Stampin' Up

Thanks for looking & take care x