An Apple for the Teacher

This week on Hand Stamped Sentiments there is a theme of back to school, and what do you know, Ruth & I made this card!!

Ruth made the apples using a tab punch and Very Vanilla & Riding Hood Red cardstock. The tops were punched with a 1/2" circle punch. The cores were drawn with a Early Espresso marker which matches the freehand-cut stalks.

I made the base of the card out of Old Olive cardstock with a Very Vanilla trim that I punched. Then a small piece of Woodland Walk paper was added.

Such fun to create with a friend. I'd highly recommend it!

Summer Fun

Hello and happy Monday! Today I'm beginning my Week in the Life journey 2011!! I'll show you my progress as I go.

Anyway today I have a card to share with you that I'm entering into the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge this week. The theme was summer fun and there's nothing more summery than a nice big ice-cream!!



The base was cut from Melon Mambo using the scallop circle die on the big Shot. I then cut a circle to fit inside out of Whisper White.

The ice-cream scoops were stamped using the Big Bold Birthday stamp set. The scoops are actually meant to be the top of a cupcake but I thought they looked good as ice-cream!

My trusty Color Coach came in useful when choosing colours so the scoops are in Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise. The cone is a scrap of Daffodil Delight that's been run through the Square lattice embossing folder on the Big Shot. To finish I hand wrote a sentiment in Daffodil Delight. Easy!

Today munchkin has put her foot down and insisted starting potty training. Lots of accidents to come, I expect, but exciting nonetheless!!

Button heart

Hello! Here is my entry to the Less Is More challenge:



The challenge was to use buttons and/or ribbons and I couldn't resist making this card. I used shimmer cardstock and stuck a variety of buttons on with glue dots. The sentiment is from the Level 2 stamp set in the Spring Mini and was stamped in Grey ink.

Hope you're having a good weekend, and if you're taking part in this challenge I can't wait to see your creations!

Inspired by...

Having taken part in some of the Daring Cardmakers challenges I was checking out the blog this week to see what the challenge is. It was based on the site Pinterest which is a cool site where you can make your own virtual pinboards using pictures from all over the web. Well, it's taken me this long because I've been addicted to the site ever since!

Anyway here is my card for the challenge:



My brother seems to be attending a wedding every week this summer so he asked me to make him some cards. This one is based on a card designed by Monica Gale. Hers was purple and featured butterflies so you can tell I've made my own version.

I had trouble adding the picture from Pinterest but here is a link to her website itself. I promise it IS on Pinterest though!

Here are a couple of close-ups:



This shows the gold embossed crown; the crown is from Artistic Etchings. The Cherry Cobbler hearts are stamped with Bella Toile background stamp and the Very Vanilla heart has been stamped in Crumb Cake with the circle stamp also from Artistic Etchings.



The sentiment was from the set Wedding Sweet and I finished it off with Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon and plenty of pearls!

Thank You!

Today I received a lovely email in my Inbox from HSS (Hand Stamped Sentiments). I was chosen as one of their Artist Pick of the Week for the Sunshine challenge last week! Here is my prize:

Thank you very much DT!!

Cirlces Theme

Greetings LIM fans! Here is my entry for the Circles Theme this week on the Less is More challenge blog.

I used my 1/2" circle punch to punch out the rainbow. As soon as I heard the challenge I knew I wanted to use that punch. I forgot that the rainbow has only 7 colours so I had to do a bit of arranging but now I'm pleased with the end result.

For the sentiment: it was stamped in White Craft ink using a stamp from Flight of the Butterfly that says "thank you so very much". It's much more striking in real life but that's me taking photos I guess!

Such a great challenge this week - seeing everyone else's creations has been a real treat. Hope you like mine!!!

One layer challenge

Hello all! Finally here is my Less Is More challenge entry this week!



The challenge was to make a one layer card featuring "something with legs". So... I used a Very Vanilla base and stamped the monkey from Fox & Friends in Soft Suede. I coloured the bellies with a Crumb Cake marker.

The sentiment came from Trendy Trees and was stamped in Crumb Cake and was finished with a couple of pearls. Voilà!

You are my sunshine!

Hello and happy Tuesday! I have dragged myself out of my sick bed to share this card with you! It's my entry into the HSS sunshine theme challenge!

It was inspired by a stamp I saw in the new US SU catalogue which features a sunflower. This is as near as I can get! I covered the medallion background stamp with Daffodil Delight ink, then a layer of Pumpkin Pie around the edge and then ran a Tangerine Tango pad around the very outsides to give them further definition.

I was not happy with my original stamping as I thought that the centre wasn't yellow enough so I stamped the centre again and punched it out using the 1 3/4" circle punch. The sentiment came from the set, Something Sweet, and was stamped in Tangerine Tango also. I cut it out freehand to keep the swirly-ness as it reminds me of rays of sunshine.

Tangerine Tango is soooo overlooked in my projects. I love the colour so I aim to use it more!

Cute as a button

Hello and happy Wednesday. Here is my entry to the HSSBC #74 where the theme is buttons.



I love the Sew Suite stamp set to make a faux packet of buttons and used the co-ordinating paper. Then I used my alphabet stamps to stamp my own sentiment. Aren't alphabet stamps great? It's so nice to have the flexibility to choose ANY sentiment.

The Blues

Hello all! Another beautiful summers day and a card entered into the Less Is More colour challenge (week 22).



You had to use more than one shade of blue, so I used Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze.

Yes yes I have been naughty and added a rhinestone but I think it really sets it off! Hope you like.

So far today we've been to the pool and set up the paddling pool in the garden for later. Yay!

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...

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!

White on White

This is my entry to the Less is More Challenge, week 14. I've decided to do some challenges as I am finding I reach for the same old colours/layouts and I need to be stretched and challenged!

This was super-fast to make. I used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and layered flowers cut using my Big Shot. I embossed the smaller flower with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to add further texture. I couldn't resist a clear brad... I promise to be more clean and simple next time!!

TGIF Challenge

Hello hello! It's Tuesday and I'm already dreaming of the weekend!! Still, I made this card for my Aunt which has pepped me up. She lives in France so I wanted something special to send as I can't be there to help her celebrate.

I made up the dimensions on the card and cut/scored pretty randomly. Then I layered Pear Pizzazz (green), Rose Red and Crumb Cake card, as well as some scrummy flowery Springtime Vintage DSP. Some of the card was run through my Big Shot embossing folders for added texture. I finished off the design with some cut out stamped images from Nature Walk (found in the in Spring Mini) and sweet pearls (for the Irridescent part)

This card is being entered int he the Stampin' B's Design Team challenge - TGIF, which stands for Texture, Green, Irridescent & something beginning with F. Hope you like!

Darling Bugs of May

Here is my challenge entrey for the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week.The theme is "Darling Bugs of May" and I couldn't resist sharing this card we made at training yesterday. My upline, Natalie, got the idea from heather Summers and we CASE'd it!. The stamp set used is Strength & Hope from the Spring Mini catalogue. Love the pretty stamps and by buying this set you're also giving to a Breast Cancer Research charity! Email me if you'd like more information about the set: blueangelcrafts@gmail.com Those of you who have seen me recently have heard how we've been struggling with Munchkin being under-the-weather and not wanting to sleep. Well, today's day time nap was a marathon and we finally found here alseep! Not her usual sleeping place but she seemed to find it ok!!

This is a cute photo of Munchkin I took earlier this week. Isn't she adorable? It won't be long until she can't fit into the sink so it was good to have this photo to remind us of her fitting!

Hope you are having a good weekend

Cate xx