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!!

Aiden's birthday celebration

Today we went to a birthday celebration for a little boy called Aiden (aka Munchkin's boyfriend). I cased this idea from the brilliant Monica Gale and had a great time with my Sweet Pea stack of papers (soooo sad that these are retiring, but heck, what a bargain they are at the mo!) and my alphabet stamps.The main base is Brocade Blue, a retiring colour. The balloon basket is stamped using Big Bold Birthday and the 3D treatcup provides the balloon and is filled with yummy chocolate raisins (perfect for a one year old?!). Hope he likes his card. He had an amazing birthday cake and lots of friends playing with him, and I bet Munchkin is looking forward to her birthday even more now.

Also been preparing for my Catalogue Launch Party (next Saturday). Sooo much to do but I'm happy that lots of samples are in progress as well as the goodie bags. Not long now til the new catalogue!!!! Only 5 more sleeps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up up and away!

Hooray my blog is looking "normal" again! Thanks to the kind people on the Blogger help page I'm back in action! This has allowed me to add a number of classes to the schedule that you can see here. Plenty of Christmas-y goodness for you.

Today's card is a variation on the one from a couple of days ago. However I have made this for my cousin who will turn 14 on Thursday so I wanted to make it look more 'adult' but still just as fun. I ended using an unusual combination of Summer Sun (yellow), Taken with Teal and Old Olive, based on the retired DSP with polka dots. Again the base of the hot air balloon (the basket?) is stamped from the Big Bold Birthday set.

The birthday wishes stamp is from Sincere Salutations. I only recently purchased this set but it's proved really versatile and useful. The treat cup is filled with Skittles (I hope she likes lemon ones!). The penguin in the hot air balloon is from a retired set called Wild About You, and was stamped in black Staz On. I guess you could use any animal/person stamp though. Already I am imagining Christmas treat cup cards with Santa or Rudolph in the hot air balloon!

As you can probably tell, I free-handed the cloud and hills. I added a bit of doodling to the cloud edges to make them pop a bit. Apologies for the poor quality photo, by the time I'd sorted the blog the light was fading fast!

Lastly, this was Munchkin on Sunday morning. I made a dozen cupcakes before 9.30am for a family party and Munchkin helped me out by licking the icing off the beaters! Haha. You should have seen the state of her when I got her out of her highchair!!!

Red Aqua & White

Making a break from my Vintage Vogue phase, I decided to use a challenge to help kick-start my creativity. There is a Creative Craft party at http://www.shimelle.com/ and this set fulfils one of those challenges.

For those of you who have looked at the class schedule you will know that there is a Two Step Stamping Class on Saturday 21st August at 1pm at my home in Surrey. That is next Saturday! Well, above is a preview of what we'll be making at that class. Contact me if you'd like to book a place blueangelcrafts@gmail.com.
The stamp set featured is Big Bold Birthday. I adore this set and even better news is that until the end of this month (August) it is on sale with 20% off the regular price. This makes the set just £19.16 instead of £23.95 for the set containing 13 stamps. What a bargain! If you can't attend my class you can still order the set from me, just drop me an email at the above address.

The colours used are Real Red, Whisper White and Tempting Turquiose. The cute gift box above was based on a design I saw on All Things Stampy!, a blog by a fellow demo called Helen. Her blog is always full of good ideas that set me off when my creativity is hiding. The box is deceptively simple and very effective. Plus it holds plenty of choccies!

Hopefully it's possible to use these gifts for men and women, and even kids. The stamp set itself is really versatile and is one that I turn to for cards for men all the time.

Today has been a really good day. We were an ultra-lazy family today, and stayed in bed/pyjamas until lunchtime! Then my DH took Munchkin out to Birdworld while I had some creative me-time. Not content with being a perfect husband he is aiming for sainthood by doing our weekly grocery shop while I am writing this blog post. What a sweetie!! Hope you are having a good weekend, and see you tomorrow.

Red Birthday card

The festive season can feel a bit much at times so the other day I took some time out to make a birthday card. It was only when I'd finished I realised I had gone straight for festive colours: Real Red and Old Olive. Classic!

Anyway I embossed the sentiment with a stamp from the Cheer & Wishes set (pg62). White embossing powder is just genius on bold coloured card as it stands out so much better than a dark colour would.

The present on the front was created with elements from a Big Bold Birthday set (pg 35) and I filled in the little circles with red glitter. This was matted on a piece of So Saffron card - yes, a small break from all the festive colours!!

Open House Success!

Today I held my first Open House event, which I am pleased to report was really successful. The photos on this post show you the cards everyone made. I've had lots of interest in the classes I've arranged (details on those to follow), a booking for another party and some sales which is great since the wedding and house move are now both less than 6 weeks away!

I met some lovely people who I hope to see again and I'm back into the crafting 'groove'!!

New stamps, New cards

These are the cards I made with my lovely new stamp sets: Big Bold Birthday (light blue & orange) and, from the retired section, Unfrogettable. I just love the cute froggies!!

The blue card also shows my big block stamp that creates dots all over the card. It's a really clever and subtle effect when done in the coordinating ink.

The orange card had some free-style doodling to add to it's 'wonky' feel.