Puffin fun

This evening I have a card to share with you made by my lovely friend, Ruth. She made it for her Dad who recently went puffin hunting (I was a but alarmed when she told me this but then she re-phrased it as "puffin watching" and I could breathe again!




She made it using punches based on a tutorial she google'd. Isn't he a cute puffin?? A sweet googlie eye finished him off perfectly.

This evening I've been printing the order of services for my Nanny's funeral tomorrow. It's getting close now but I hope to keep posting here to keep my mind on brighter things.

Night night. Xx

Busy Bees

Hello again! I have finally been able to upload this card!! Last night I must have spent an hour trying to do it and nearly threw the laptop at the wall but today it appears to be loading just fine!

This is my entry to the Less is More sketch challenge. This stamp of a bee is just adorable and thought that embossing them in gold would make them *pop*. Hopefully I succeeded. The stamp comes from the set, Nature Walk, which is just fabulous.

The card was quite challenging to make plain as I had a huge urge to add glitter or brads or ribbon but I fought that urge!! The sentiment comes from the new Level 2 hostess set that you can find in the Mini catalogue. Mmmm love it. I stamped it in Sahara Sand, and I have to say that having sentiments in clear makes using them a breeze!

Hope you like!

Something Old, Something New

Hello all. It's been a long time but I haven't forgotten my blog. It's more a case of real-life getting in the way. My Nanny, who's been ill the last 18 months passed away pretty suddenly last Monday. It has been an upsetting time as we'd all been spending a great deal of time with her recently; the week before we'd been to visit, taken her to hospital for an appointment, sorted out her new glasses, picked up prescriptions etc. and suddenly she's gone. But at least now she's not in pain. The funeral is this Thursday so we look forward to resting her in peace.

Onto brighter things. Today the sun shone. It was a beautiful day and we made good use of it. It was our lovely friend Lara's 30th birthday so we went along to celebrate with her at a BBQ. This is the card I made for her:

It was inspired by the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week of "Something Old, Something New". So to explain, the

Something old: the doily - classic and old fashioned in my mind

Something new: my new alphabet dies for my Big Shot arrived a couple of days ago so it was great to try them out.

Something borrowed: I recently borrowed the butterfly stamp from the set Strength & Hope from my lovely downline Diane.

Something blue: love that DSP in Night of Navy.

To add to the theme I used the pink and green from my wedding colours. I thought adding orange (the other wedding colour we had) was a bit much but maybe next time...

Young artist at work (again)

As you may have read, I ran a punch art class last Saturday... well, Munchkin doesn't enjoy being left out of such occasions so after most people had left she had her turn:

There was glue, glitter (mainly on the chair and her hands/feet), red tape, old buttons and post-it notes. Turns out she naturally gravitates towards mixed media!!!

This was the final result:

Potential, definate potential!!

Sheep-ish

Evening all! I thought I would share a cute card that I have prepared for my punch class tomorrow morning.

I love punch-art and it's always a bit magical to see the basic shapes forming something much more complex. The punches were used to make the sheep and trees and there's also some tearing and free-hand cutting (for the tree trunk).

Not sure what sentiment would look good on here so I guess it's not quite finished... which sentiment would you add?

Ballet punch art

Hello! Sorry it's been a while - where does the time go?! Today I have a card that I've CASE'd from Monica Gale.



Its using punches and vellum for the pretty skirt. The vellum was run through the Big Shot using the Antique Wallpaper embossing folder. It's great!

Then there are layers of Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Pirouette Pink DSP. An elegant
colour combo and so easy to finish off with little pearls.

The sentiment is from Curly Cute and I hand cut a little banner for it.

If you like this card why not come to a Punch Art class at my home this Saturday morning? You'll make this card plus two others!

Summer blooms

Evening all! I'm just learning to blog from my phone so I hope you'll bear with me while I learn!

Today I have a cute flower to share with you:



The flowers were cut from felt using the Fun Flowers die on the Big Shot. Literally just seconds to cut out the shapes.

The flower centre was made with wavy pieces of felt that were wound round each other. So simple and then I just glued the pieces together using Tombow.

To finish there's a piece of grosgrain ribbon and a matching button. I have to admit these aren't Stampin' Up! pieces as they came in a kit from a new magazine I've been reading called Mollie Makes:





Today I had a fab day teaching a scrapbook page to some local U3A ladies (University of the third age). We had such a relaxing day and lots of ideas were shared!! A special hello to you if I
met you today.

Hope you enjoyed and I can't wait to share some more projects with you soon!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Extra Extra!

Extra Extra Read all about it!!

As you know, at Stampin Up! there are always great offers each month and this month's offer is just great!


If you host a workshop in June or July you will have the chance to earn FREE products if the orders total £250+.


The regular fantastic hostess benefits have been extended for June & July ONLY!


If you host a workshop that totals £250 of products you will earn a LEVEL 1 hostess set PLUS £45 FREE spend in the current catalogues!


Please contact me if you'd like to host a workshop or have me come and demonstrate our fantastic products at your craft group. Spaces are filling up fast!

Cate xx
blueangelcrafts@gmail.com

Monochrome Rose

Hooray hooray it is Wednesday! Firstly I want to show you this card. I'm entering this into the Daring Cardmakers challenge which is June roses (or honeysuckle). Love this Manhatten Flower embossing folder. I've embossed three of them and then cut out layers which I coloured with a blender pen to give extra dimension. I saw this technique on Vicky's blog a few weeks ago and couldn't resist trying it myself.

The other challenge I'd like to enter this into is Less is More challenge week 18, where the challenge is Monochrome. The colours I've used are Whisper White and Pirouette Pink. Such an elegant combination that you almost forget that only two colours were used.

Apologies for the poor quality photo - my camera has packed up today!!

Oh no!!!! Had to use my phone instead.

Yes, yes I've already posted today but what you might have noticed is that my posts haven't been too chatty the past week... that's because I was away on holiday!!! Where did I go, you wonder? Well... it wasn't Spain.... it wasn't the Carribean but here is a photo, and see if you can guess:


Sun, sand and the sea! Lovely and hot too... it was SWEDEN! The most unexpected beach holiday ever (in my opinion). We had a fabulous time on the beach and got to know Malmo and Halmstad over the course of the week. Such a pretty country.

Here is us on a sweltering day out for lunch. My timer worked! Not the best photo I've ever taken but quite sweet to get the three of us together. Poor Munchkin found the heat rather trying!

Still loving the Medallion stamp, this time embossed in Black.

The original idea was taken from a sweetie favour I saw on SCS and I adapted it to make this card. To make the 3D embellishment, you take a strip of patterned paper (mine was from Love Letter) 12"x1.5" and edge it with a border punch. The strip is then concertina'd and the ends stuck together to make a circle. When this is flattened you can adher it to your project. (Shimelle Laine did a great tutorial for these at Christmas time last year if you want a video tutorial)

The cherub and sentiment come from the set Clearly For You (in the Spring Mini) and were punched out with the 1" and 1.25" circle punches. A splash of Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and some card make the design "POP"!

Hope you like!

Don't be Square

This was a card I wanted to enter into the Less Is More challenge this week but I realised too late that I'd gone overboard and there definately wasn't enough white space! It was inspired by Vicky and I adapted her idea but used pens to colour the stamp (from Occasional Greetings)

and then layered it on Chocolate Chip card and Woodland Walk papers.

Such a quick and simple card and could be adapted to be made from whatever papers you had available. Lots of colour options too! Fortunately there is a challenge that this card suits therefore I'd like to enter this into the HSS challenge #70 where the theme is Father's Day/Masculine this week.

Oh no it's wonky! That was my first thought when I saw this card uploaded. However we can't be perfect all the time so after a few deep breaths I decided to go ahead and share this with you.

The design is heavily influenced by one I saw on SCS (I'm afraid I can't remember the artist's name) and I adapted it to suit my supplies. I love the combination of neutrals with Rose Red and Black. Black is a colour that I sometimes overlook in favour of other neutrals, but it is so striking when used sparingly.

The stamp set used is called Clearly For You from the Spring Mini catalogue. It's a great versatile set and can be used for many different looks. If youd'd like to get your hands on the set, why not place an order with me? Just email blueangelcrafts@gmail.com

Envelope Basket

Here is a basket I've been meaning to share with you for a while! We made these at Nat's training last month. The basic basket is made using 4 envelopes cut on the Big Shot which are glued together. The main colours are Pear Pizzazz and Baja Breeze.

Just love this butterfly from Strength & Hope and we stamped two to give it a fluttery effect and finished it with pearls. There is also Springtime Vintage DSP. These are soooo pretty and they add an elegant touch to all projects IMHO.

Wouldn't this make a cute gift? I can just see it around Easter filled with chocolate eggs or for a child filled with a small soft toy....

This is a project I've had going on for a while. I really wanted it to be a video but our camera has gone bonkers so I'm not able to upload it. However, the sweet little book is really fun to make. It is constructed from a single sheet of A4. I'm so proud as it is my own design!

It's basically a sheet of A4 cut into four strips and scored to be folded into a mini book. It's just the right size for those small photos you can have printed where you get 4 prints per 4"x6" print.

Perfect as a brag book for grandparents or to show a few important family photos in your handbag...

Here is another example. The top one was made with Play Date papers and the one just above now was made from Blueberry Crisp papers.

Here's the pair together. Hope you like and maybe you'll give it a try? If you do I'd love to see how you decorate yours.

Medallion Magic

This is a card I thought up that was really quick. This medallion stamp is great fun to use as it is simple and you can get great effects. The colours I've used are Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise.

The sentiment is from the Level 1 Hostess set Afterthoughts. It's been embossed in black to make it contrast with the stark white and bright colours.

Simples

Another card inspired by Vicky! This one I used the Plane & Simple stamp set and Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy and Not Quite Navy inks. The sentiment came from the same set and, if I'm honest, I fluffed up stamping it as I didn't get out my Stamp-a-ma-jig (tut tut). To rectify this I stamped the words onto a scrap of card and punched it out using the Window Punch.

Really quick and simple and could be adapted to any number of other stamp sets and themes.

Cover copycat

Love these colours! Obviously this isn't an original design of mine; you may recognise it from the current US Stampin' Up! catalogue. Well, that was the basic idea. My strips of Greenhouse Gala patterned paper were a little more chunky than the ones on there and I used some different embellishments.

Having been quite afraid of the giant buttons at first they are now my favourite embellishment. They are lovely to play with and make quite a statement when they are stuck onto a card. I also used markers on the stamp from Oval All to tie in the colours from the papers. The sentiment was then punched with the scalloped oval punch.