Halloween favours

A couple of weeks ago my friend Fiona and I met up to have a Winter Mini catalogue fest with some new products. Here are a couple of creations. We used the Cracker die to cut out our basic boxes and then got to work decorating them!

On the left: Fiona's creation! A Basic Grey base with patterned paper and googlie eyes.

On the right: my creation. Peach Parfait base with some punches and a coloured in witch.

Hope you like these and they inspire you!!

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!!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Enchanting Congratulations

Another bright card! This was CASE'd from the Demonstrator monthly Magazine, Impressions July 2012. I changed the colours and papers though. I'm loving the paper flowers and coloured them both using markers: Pool Party and Peach Parfait. A mini silver brad was used to secure the flowers together.

The sentiment is from Curly Cute and stamped in Lucky Limeade. There are co-ordinating scraps of card, ribbon and Everyday Enchantment designer series Paper.

DON'T FORGET: The July offers end tomorrow! That's the Everyday Enchantment papers and the brads and ribbon freebie packs with every £45+ order! I'll be placing another order before the end of the month so let me know if you'd like anything by 5pm on the 31st July 2012!

Pip's design

At the training last week I was lucky enough to receive this GORGEOUS swap from Queen Pip. She has used the set Mixed Bunch from the Summer Mini catalogue. The super thing about this set is that it co-ordinates with a flower punch. Sections of the flower were cut out after being stamped in Tempting Turquoise ink and coated in Dazzling Diamonds to create the Dragonfly wings.

The background was really clever. Pip stamped all over the Whisper White base with Versamark (I think!) and then smudged ink over the whole base using a sponge dauber. What an effective background!!

Fluttery mobile

Here is a mobile I made using the July Paper and freebies offer! I saw a different version and simply CASE'd this from the picture on Pinterest.

 It features the Everyday Enchantment papers that I have been enthusing about throughout this month. You can still purchase them until the end of July for only £9.95 for 12 sheets of 12"x12"  double-sided paper. A bargain!

To make the butterflies I used the Beautiful butterflies die on my Big Shot and cut out various butterflies using the Everyday Enchantment papers and also Newsprint Specialist DSP. The centre of the butterflies was made from the special brads that co-ordinate with the papers and are FREE this month, along with two reels of ribbon (you can see the Lucky Limeade ribbon on this mobile), with each £45+ order.

To make the top of the mobile I used the Petal Cone die and cut them out of strong scrap card and layered patterned paper on top. The Baja Breeze pleated Satin ribbon gave it a more 'finished' look.

To see more about this special offer than only runs for a futher 7 days click on the image below:

I'd be happy to place an order for you, just drop me a line! blue angel crafts at gmail dot com

Shimmery loveliness

This card is very much CASE'd but I am ashamed to say I cannot remember the original source. I did make a few changes however so I hope I can still call it mine. The base is Sahara Sand which I love as an alternative to Crumb Cake as it's less brown and more a soft grey shade.

The layer on top is Pool Party card that has been run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. To add some shimmer I used Champagne shimmer paint dabbed on using a sponge dauber to the raised sections of the embossing. The picture below was supposed to help you see the shimmer paint effect but it's a rather blurry picture!

I ran some strips of Pool Party and Whisper White through the Big Shot using Adorning Accents edgelits scallop die. To conceal the straight line I added some lovely 5/8" Whisper White Organza ribbon.

The main accent was made using the Labels Collection Framelits and Apothacary Art stamp set. The main image was stamped on Whisper White card using Pool Party ink. The central circle was stamped again and punched out using the 1" circle punch to layer on top. The sparkly frame was made by cutting out Sahara Sand card and covering it with a Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive sheet glue and then coating it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I was really pleased with the result of this card and can image that Pink Pirouette and So Saffron would also be great focal colours in place of the Pool Party to make a stack of coordinating cards.

Hair grip solution

Today's post came about to solve a practical problem faced by many ladies. As I've grown my hair longer I've taken to using Bobby pins/hair grips a lot more. The trouble is they often fall out or get bent out of shape so I need a constant supply of them on the go. Finally I have found a solution on how to carry them in my handbag!

I used a tiny mint tin and covered it with Twitterpated paper and added a strip of Riding Hood Red pleated satin ribbon as a finishing touch. A rather more stylish way to transport the pins about without them swimming around the bottom on my bag getting bits of fluff all caught up in them getting lost!

Time for tea

Hello Stampers! Here is a project I copied from Heidi Baks. It's the perfect project to use the Tea Shoppe set!

There is a tea bag dispenser and a matching 3x3" card. In the project Heidi used the Everyday Enchantment DSP but I chose to use Twitterpated papers instead. I can't get enough of the cute flower designs!

The tea bag dispenser is a box with removeable lid (to allow it to be easily refilled) with a gap at the bottom to allow the individually packaged teabags to be removed.

 I had fun with the decorating of the dispenser and even made a rosette for the top of it finished with one of my FREE brads from this month's promotion.

The card was teeny tiny. I stamped the teacup using Island Indigo ink and cut it out so it could be mounted on a foam pad. I stamped the flowers using Pear Pizzazz ink and used Riding Hood Red to watercolour them. Easy peasy!

Check back tomorrow an adaption I made to this original idea to make something totally different!

40 sucks!

Hello and welcome to the second post of the gifts I made for my lovely pal Jo. She is a very young 40 so I thought I would make her a gift that reflects that:

The first thing I started with was a plant pot I thought she'd like; that was the real gift that she can keep. I then added some Elegant Eggplant spotted ribbon and filled it to the brim with Oasis foam.

 The fun part was sticking all the lollies into the foam and trying to maintain the count at 40 lollies as Munchkin was desperately trying to steal one!

My Big Shot came into use again to cut the label, again in Elegant Eggplant and Whisper White. The numbers were cut in Lucky Limeade and the word in Daffodil Delight. I enjoyed sticking gems all over it too!! The final touch was to tie a piece of striped Bakers Twine in Island Indigo to the wooden skewer. I was really pleased with how this came out and the lollies went down a treat with the children at the party.

Box of thanks

 It was my dear friend Jo's birthday party at the weekend and I offered to make her a box of thank you cards as a gift so she could send them out to her guests for gifts she'd received. I saw the design on Shelli Gardner's blog (founder of SU) and adapted it using my own stash of ribbons and adorable Everyday Enchantment papers that are back for this month only!

I made a box to put them in so she can keep special cards she receives as gifts:

 It took no time to put together using my Simply Scored tool! It was fun to spend some time adding more matching paper to decorate it along with some pleated satin ribbon in Pear Pizzazz.

 The cards were straight forward. Each one had a Whisper White base with a panel of Crumb Cake. I used all my different thank you sentiment stamps and stapled a piece of patterned paper and ribbon to the front.

To get perfect angles on my pennants I measure the diagonal distance on my square punch and then made the strips of paper the same length. It was then easy to punch pennants that were all equal and straight!

The box top had an Apothacary Art stamped top from the Summer Mini catalogue. To colour it with my inks I picked out the colours that were in the patterned papers: Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait and Lucky Limeade. The Big Shot helped me cut it out and make a mat to match.

So that was one gift I made for my friend. Check back tomorrow to see the other one!

If you'd like to order some of these yummy Everyday Enchantment papers while they are still available, or anything else from the Stampin' Up! catalogues, I'd be happy to put an order through for you. Contact me: blueangelcrafts at gmail dot com

Fluttery mobile

As you may have heard there is a special offer from Stampin' Up! this month. It's concerning the Everyday Enchantment papers that were so popular during Saleabration this year. If you didn't manage to get any you can buy the papers during this month only for £9.95.

Why are SU doing this? Because with every customer order during this month of £45 (not including p&p) you get a FREE set of designer brads and two reels of ribbon to match the papers!

I made this mobile with the papers, brads and ribbon to show you how fabulous the colours look together. Please don't judge my camera skills - it was tough taking the photo by myself!

 Here is a close-up of the top of the mobile. I made it by cutting out 4 Petal Cone dies from scrap card. I stuck them together but cut off one half of one die so that there were only 7 sides in all. Then I used the die again to cut out the papers to decorate it. Once that was done it was easy to get creative with Beautiful Butterflies die on the Big Shot.

I used some of my FREE organza 1/8" ribbon to hang the butterflies and attached these to the roof of the mobile with silver brads. These were concealed with the Baja Breeze pleated satin ribbon.

I'd be happy to place an order for you! If you'd like to contact me I can arrange it all for you no matter where in the UK you live!! blueangelcrafts at gmail dot com.

Garden Party 40th

Today is one of my best friend's birthdays. Jo is celebrating her 40th in style hosting a fabulous garden party for all her family and friends.

I made this card for her using lots of products from the Summer Mini catalogue and a few forgotten products that I thought needed an airing!

The edging was stamped from the set Bordering on Romance, which comes from the same suite as the papers, Twitterpated. I used markers to colour in the flowers on the Crumb Cake base: Blushing Bride and Baja Breeze picked out the colouring from the papers.

The birthday greeting comes from the Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes. My absolute favourite of all time Hostess Set. I will cry when this set goes!!

It was long overdue to use these lovely treat cups. It's so easy using the 1 3/4" circle punch to cut a hole where the cup is going to go, fill the cup and then stick it down using the self-adhesive strip. To get the treats out without wrecking the card I scored the Crumb Cake base using my Cutter Kit.

I hope Jo has a wonderful birthday and party and I'm so happy we can be there to help her celebrate!