Cart of cards

Hello and welcome to another kit creation. This one is a cute little cart made from scalloped envelopes. You use 3 die cuts. The first two had the scalloped edge off, the third had the scalloped edge and small flaps removed. This very stripped envelope was cut in half to make the sides of the box.

 

The wheels were 1 1/4" circles of black card and 1" Daffodil Delight centre.

 

  The Flight of the Butterfly set has been sorely neglected so it was good to use them to decorate the mini cards. The coordinating punch made them super easy to cut out!

The patterned paper is called Big Top and is really fun. Such a bright colour combination!

Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day as there is a brand new Mini catalogue going to be available!!!! So exciting! Check back tomorrow for more details.

Monster just for you

 Hey there! I've been tidying up my craftroom and found some kits I'd never made so I settled down to make them. This first one is a cool technique. You make a gate-fold card and then use a 1 3/4" circle punch to cut out the main image and the centre of the Big Shot die cut frame.

 It was great to use Make a Monster again. I'd forgotten what fun this set is. The image was stamped in Always Artichoke and coloured in Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede and Melon Mambo.

Here's a picture of the original design with the Big Top set.

Check back tomorrow for another project!!

Bank Holiday Monday

 Here are a few photos of our antics on Bank Holiday Monday. The family descended and we had a great time catching up. My lovely SIL brought over some willow to weave a fence.

 Munchkin enjoyed helping out.

My Munchkin squash plant has gone bonkers. It's totally taken over the entire raised bed.

Here is one of the teeny tiny squashes. They are only small but so cute!!!!

Floating Flowers

This card originally began as a CASE of Jenni Pauli and then morphed into something I think I can safely say is mine. The Reason to Smile set came out again today along with some In Colors that we will be saying goodbye to at the end of September: Pear Pizzazz and Concorde Crush. Some Crumb Cake was added into the mix for variety and some flowers were raised up on Dimensionals.

The sentiment was a much trimmed down version of one in the Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes. The central part can be cut with a 1" circle punch. The next layer was trimmed by hand and then layered onto a 1 3/8" circle of Concord Crush.

Half way through the week and we're enjoying the last week before Munchkin starts Pre-school! She is so excited but a little part of me is already missing my sidekick as we won't have nearly as much time together soon.

Watercolour effect

So it's back to 'normal' again now. No more Bank Holiday :(

To cheer you up, or give you a Reason to Smile if you will, I have this cheery little card for you. It uses a technique that makes the stamped image look as though you spent ages painting a lovely little watercolour artwork. I used Daffodil Delight, More Mustard and Garden Green to colour the solid image on the stamp. Then a few spritzes of water were sprayed onto the inked up stamp before stamping it onto the paper.

Really quick technique and makes me feel like an artist!! Haha. If you've not tried it you will have to give it a go.

As it was a subtle image the sentiment was stamped off before adding to the So Saffron card base.

Don't forget there's only 3 days left to get hold of the Reason to Smile set!!! Let me know your order and you can secure your set!

Dear You

Hooray hooray for Bank Holiday Monday! What a great way to start the week.

Today's card was inspired by the flower. I found this flower ready made leftover from my scrapbooking class a few months ago. It explains how to make the flowers on that post.

This card had a simple Baja Breeze base with a Pear Pizzazz mat. The Whisper White piece had Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz spritzed over the top for interest, and the sentiment is from the Hostess Set, Happiest Birthday Wishes.

If you like scrapbooking and would like to add a page to your collection why not come to my scrapbooking class? It's held the first Tuesday evening each month at my home (GU12). At just £8 it's a fun, social night out and you get to go home with a beautiful 12x12" page all ready for photos. The next class will be on Tuesday 4th September at 7.30pm, contact me to book your place.

As it's a Bank Holiday, we will be catching up with the rest of the family and having some fun. Fingers crossed that the weather let's us spend some time outdoors.

Beeline

Hello and happy birthday to my lovely cousin Katrina, who turns sweet 16 today. She's away adventuring in Africa at the moment so today's card is not really for her, but I didn't want to let the occasion go unnoticed.

This card was based on a punch art one seen on Pinterest (naturally!) and I used the set Reason to Smile to create a floral background on Whisper White with Daffodil Delight ink. Only 5 more days left to get your hands on this fabulous set!

The bee was made with the bauble punch. Sooooo much more than just a bauble, it punches the perfect shape for a bee's body. A 3/4" circle of Basic Black was added for a head. To make the wings vellum was cut with the large oval punch, and  they were then sponged with some Basic Black ink. The same oval punch was used to create the bee's stripes on the body and the anntenae.

Such a fun little card! Have a great Sunday. I'll be at work this morning and then hanging with my family in the afternoon enjoying the extra long weekend!

Flutterby sponged butterfly

Hooray hooray for the weekend! Happy birthday wishes to my Aunty Rosemary too!

Here is a card that came about by trial and error. I found a cut out of a butterfly where the butterfly had been removed and then the original piece remained. This was laid over a piece of Whisper White card and then sponged with Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade inks. Once complete the stencil was removed and then cut out carefully with scissors.

This was layered on Peach Parfait cardstock that had been cut out with a framelit on the Big Shot. By the way, the sewing on the framelit was NOT real. I've totally lost my sewing mojo at the moment so I had to draw it on with a Peach Parfait marker.

The Poppy Parade base had a swirl stamped in the same colour from Everything Eleanor - what can I say, the stamp set was on my desk!

I hope you've got nice plans for the weekend. I'm off to a baby shower this afternoon which should be fun!!

Hello!

Hello all! Today is a cheery little card made my new favourite set: Everything Eleanor.

To make the card base a piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock was folded in half and then cut using the scalloped square die in the Big Shot, ensuring that the folded edge was kept in line with the last scallop so the folded edge was kept in tact.

A piece of Whisper White was had the swirl stamped in Certainly Celery. To give background flowers, the flower image was stamped in Perfect Plum ink and then stamped lightly on a scrap of paper before stamping onto the Whisper White piece. This gives a more faded look.

A few flowers were stamped in Wisteria Wonder and then cut out by hand. At first I thought this would take ages but actually the nice curvy lines mean the flowers were a doodle to cut out. These flowers were raised up on Dimensionals and then finished with a couple of rhinestones.

Did you guess where the sentiment was from? It's Pennant Parade! I wanted a cute little word and this one fit the bill perfectly when stamped in Perfect Plum.

Little leaves

Hello all! Yesterday my lovely friend Fiona of Oakfield Crafts came to visit and we had a bit of crafty time together.

This is one of the cards that I made. It features the leaves from French Foliage. The splattered background is also made by a stamp in the same set. The base is Pear Pizzazz and so was stamped in the same colour.

The leaves were stamped in Pear Pizzazz and Certainly Celery and then cut out using a 1 1/4" square punch. These panels were raised up using Dimensionals to give the card interest. A simple card but I can image it would look great in autumnal colours too.

Check back tomorrow for another card made while we chatted!

Sending sympathy and prayers

Greetings! Not to be too morbid but it's always good to have a sympathy card in your stash of ready-made cards. It's really lovely to be able to send something beautiful from the heart to the people/person who is suffering most of all at a sad time.

This card is another inspired by Pinterest and feautures the special stamp set this month: Reason To Smile. Quite a nice link to a sympathy card, actually. Remember there's only a week or so left to get your hands on this fabulous stamp set. If you scroll back through my posts this month you can see how varied and stylish this stamp set can be. (If I do say so myself!)

The framelits were layered up with a blender pen-ed image. The mat was run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder on the Big Shot to add interest to the rather monochrome colour scheme. Texture is really important if the colour scheme is not very broad.

A smaller flower image from Reason To Smile set was stamped on the base in Marina Mist to match the cardstock base. This gives yet more detail to the card without going over the top. The Marina Mist was matched with a little Lucky Limeade for the stem, sentiment (from Petite Pairs, naturally!) and the punched strip along the width of the card. The organza ribbon makes sure the Lucky Limeade doesn't get too overpowering.

Fingers crossed this card will sit in my stash for a long while, but it's comforting to know I have a card prepped and ready.

3D flowers

Hello all! Hope you have been having a good week so far.

Today's card (based on one I saw on Pinterest) features a stamp set that used to be in a Spring Mini catalogue and was so popular it's been in the main catalogues ever since: Vintage Vogue. Such a beautiful set. There are two flower images that have been layered on top of each other and have a matching polka dot brad. The colours are: Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral and Wisteria Wonder. The bakers twine is matching in Lucky Limeade and white stripes.

To give interest to the Basic Grey base, there is a heart embossed strip on the base along with a white embossed sentiment from Petite Pairs. I couldn't resist a little bling with a rhinestone too.

Background Resist technique

This card features the technique: Background Resist. The words were from French Foliage in Early Espresso. I then used the solid bloom stamp in Reason To Smile (special offer set this month only!) and used Versamark and Cherry scented embossing powder to create a solid flower image.

A sponge dauber was used to apply Wisteria Wonder ink in a soft layer. This made the flower image come to the foreground and allow the words underneath to be seen too. A quick sentiment from Petite Pairs was added along with a piece of ribbon tied in a bow.

NB. The card was altered from one on Rubber'n'Ink.

I'm here for you!

Hello and Happy Sunday! Another week in August has passed and the flowers from the set Reason To Smile are only available for another 12 days!!! This card was based on one by Kimberley Van Diepen but I changed it quite a lot. The flowers were two step stamped: the base solid section was stamped in Lucky Limeade and then the fine outline image was stamped in the same colour on top. Easy peasy! Some of these were cut out and had Dimensional foam pads and pearls added.

The yellow panel is from Everything Eleanor and was stamped in Daffodil Delight. The bird and branch images are also from the Everything Eleanor set, and the sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Don't forget you can buy the Reason to Smile set or get it FREE with an order of £60!!! Contact me if you'd like to place and order and get some last minute bits from the Summer Mini catalogue as this also ends on 31 August.

August Scrap Club

This month's scrap club was delayed as I was away on holiday so we had it this week! Here is the page we created, based on one I saw on Jenni Pauli's website.

The base is Whisper White and was distressed with Sahara Sand ink. There were flowers stamped all over the base from Bordering on Romance in Peach Parfait, Rose Red, So Saffron, Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand. Matching mats were cut in the same card. Some edges were decorated using Edgelits which match the Bordering on Romance stamp set.

Across the centre were 3/4" circles cut, some were stamped images and others were in solid coloured cardstock. Leaves were cut im Sahara Sand on the Big Shot, as well as a So Saffron flower. The large flower was distressed and a paper daisy was layered on top with a Pumpkin Pie button in the centre. This page will look great with monochrome photos and could have a Sahara Sand title cut on the Big Shot once photos are chosen!

We had a lovely time, so thank you ladies!!

The next scrap club will be held on Tuesday 4th September at 7.30pm (GU12) - Let me know if you'd like to come along.

Super-quick thanks

Here was a card that was made in 5 minutes flat. Again, it uses the same Simply Scrappin' Kit I've been featuring all week and then whole background paper comes ready with the floral image printed on it.

The thank you sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes was stamped using Early Espresso ink to match the same coloured card base. A few rhinestones later and it was finished! Great for those last-minute card situations we all find ourselves in every now and again.

Thinking of You.

 Hello again! Another card featuring Everything Eleanor. Can you tell I'm unable to put this set down?!
The flower and stem were stamped in Soft Suede ink and then coloured using a Blender Pen in Pirouette Pink for the flower and Lucky Limeade for the stem to match the card base. The blender pen gives a great watercolour effect with zero mess.

A few more holiday snaps:

Munchkin making demands for food from everyone's plates.

The view we had while eating Al Fresco!

Subtle flowers

Good morning! Such a great week so far and there's more to share with you today. Here is a card with a Pool Party base with the swirl from Everything Eleanor stamped in the same colour. Then Blushing Bride flowers were stamped from the same stamp set and cut out to place raised on the swirl. A few pearls bring the card together along with a greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes. (This card looked more stunning in real life!)

 Here's one of the stunning views we saw in France. Such beautiful natural landscapes and totally different to what I see out the window at home!

 Munchkin is clearly going to become a petrol-head. She couldn't resist this motorcycle ride (even though it wasn't moving!)

Here she is again looking cool in the back of the car with her Great Aunt.  Nice shades.

Woodgrain

Good morning! Here is another card made with the same Simply Scrappin' Kit. These kits are fabulous as you get self-adhesive die cuts (stickers to you and I!), patterned papers, border stickers and cardstock that all co-ordinates. Love it.

This card used some added extras: paper daisy coloured in Pirouette Pink, Pearls, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon and woodgrain background stamp. Plus, I used Everything Eleanor as it's new to me! Such a versatile stamp set.

For the Munckin fans, here are a couple more holiday snaps:

Playing football

Getting some shade from a giant leaf while out walking.

Did you miss me?

You might have wondered where I popped off to since last Tuesday... No?! Well, Munchkin and I went on a last minute trip to France to see my Aunt & Uncle! We had a great time: cycling, swimming in a river, visiting a chalet in the mountains, walking, eating, carbooting and reading.

Here is a picture of Munchkin enjoying the plane ride:

Another in the HOT HOT HOT park:

Up in the mountains being carried by her Great-Aunt and Great-Uncle:

I couldn't leave you without any craftiness so here is a card made while visiting:

The stamped greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and the rest is from one of the lovely Simply Scrappin' scrapbook kits.

I'll be back tomorrow with another card made from the same kit!

Premier Night

Are you already thinking about making festive cards? Time will creep up quickly but I have a solution to all your Winter cardmaking needs...

The new Autumn/Winter 2012-13 Catalogue. Yes, there is going to be a NEW mini catalogue full of lush festive products and ideas.

Want a copy of the catalogue plus lots of inspiration? Come to our

Premier Night

There will be:

• Demonstrations of new products
• 2 Make & Take projects
• FREE catalogue
• Goodie bag (if you book your place)
• Raffle
• Refreshments

The evening will be held on

 Wednesday 5th September

7.30-9.30pm

At Aldershot & Fleet Rugby Clubhouse in Aldershot Park (GU12 4BP)

Even better, the event is FREE to attend!!!!

Contact me to book your place now as numbers are limited.

Ruffly ruffles

What's been missing from my cards recently? Ruffles! I usually have ribbon strewn all over my table but have not been using nearly as much as usual, so I've cracked out some statement ribbon for this card!

The card is CASE'd from Kimberly Van Diepen but I have changed the sentiment and colour scheme. She used Rich Razzleberry, I think, but I thought black and Calypso Coral would look striking together. The Reason to Smile stamp set has another outing. This time the flower was stamped in Basic Grey onto First Edition newsprint DSP and then the image was coloured in using Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade inks.

There is also some spritzing and background stamping, plus some rhinestones and a mini brad! Lots of bits and pieces made this card a lot of fun to create. Hooray for ruffles, ribbon and sparkle.

You can find out more about the Reason To Smile promotion this month by clicking here.

Making me smile

This two-step stamp set is certainly making me smile this month! I can't seem to put it down!!

This card has a Pirouette Pink base and has been mixed with Crumb Cake, Pool Party and Very Vanilla to make a subtle card. A few pearls add some interest and I think this would make a nice Engagement card or some other happy occasion.

 The Reason to Smile set is ONLY AVAILABLE IN AUGUST.
You can earn it for FREE with a £60 order or you can order it at the regular retail price of £18.95 for wood mount or £16.95 in clear.

If you'd like to place an order simply drop me an email: blue angel crafts at gmail dot com

Cute box

Here is another project we made at training last month. It looks really cute cute with the Twitterpated papers and is deceptively easy to make. It uses a single piece of A4 cardstock, in this case Riding Hood Red, and patterned paper to decorate.

Here is a view of the inside and belly band that goes around the join to hide the raw edges.

The flower embellishment was made with the Reason to Smile stamp set (of course!)

This box would be perfect for a small gift such as cupcake, jewellery or cufflinks.

Welcome Lizzie!

A few weeks ago my lovely friends Gina & Martin had their second baby, Lizzie. I made this card for them.

I'm ashamed to say I have had these stamp sets for a looong time and I thought it was high time I used them. They are quite an unusual choice for a new baby card but I think it works well. I've combined the Little Princess set with the birds. To make the base I used Rose Red and stamped it in the same colour.

Congratulations to Gina, Martin and Aiden on their cute new addition!

Neutrals

Here is another card made with the beautiful Reason to Smile stamp set:

The base is creamy and is paired with Whisper White, which is not a colour scheme I would usually go for. This was a card we made at Natalie's training event last month.

You can get the Reason To Smile stamp set FREE with an order of £60 during August so feel free to contact me to place your order. Here is a picture of the stamps contained in the set:

Gift tag

Here is a cute gift tag I received at the training event I attended last month. The heart shape is really simple to cut en masse as it is using the Petal Cone die on the Big Shot. The heart was cut in Whisper White cardstock and stamped in Wisteria Wonder using a flower from the set Mixed Bunch in the Summer Mini catalogue.

Such a simple cute gift tag and it looked great with the length of Wisteria Wonder bakers twine and some punched circles.

Need a reason to smile?

Need a reason to smile? The weather this summer hasn't been perfect so let me make you smile with the lovely offer this month (August 1-31st 2012):

Place an order for £60 and get this exclusive stamp set FREE!

Here is a card made with the stamp set using the Triple Stamp technique. I hope to create a video to show you this technique soon. It's really simple but gives a great effect.

 The card was made from Riding Hood Red and Newsprint DSP. The sentiment comes from Petite Pairs set. There's a strip of vintage lace and an antique brad plus a tiny heart from Tiny Tags to finish it off.

If you'd like to take advantage of this offer and get yourself this fabulous stamp set, I'd be happy to place an order for you: blueangelcrafts at gmail dot com