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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No place like home

I can't bear to see my odds and ends go to waste so today I made something with them! I saw the idea in Simply Handmade magazine (mar/apr 2010). In the magazine it was a Valentine feature but I altered it to be a bit less seasonal.

The main base was some packaging card from a DSP pack. I traced the letters onto it and cut them out with a craft knife and scissors. I then adhered some Sweet Pea DSP stack onto each rectangle and cut out the letters again. On the reverse I added some vellum to make translucent windows. If you look carefully you can just about see candlelight shining through the vellum letters.

To join the pieces together I punched a hole using my Crop-a-dile and loosely tied polka dot Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon through the holes. I am so sad that the polka dot ribbon is going barely before it really arrived. (sigh)

Still, I had a great time using all my felt stitched embellishments and a few bits from the Pretties kit too. On the far right panel I even punched a few hearts.

Even more excitement was added to today when my new catalogue arrived in the flesh. Ladies, you will LOVE it! Not long for you to wait now and then we can all go shopping!!! Hope you've had a good Tuesday.

Fathers' Day

Last night I received a message from my brother saying "can you please make a card from me and give it to Mum so I can sign it when I arrive in the evening on Fathers Day". Cheeky wotsit! However, as I am a kind big sis I made the above card for him to give my Dad. I really like the zingy colour combination and I couldn't wait to use my new star punch.
Below is the card that I created for my Dad from me (and Immy). It's based on one of fabulous cards I received when I took part in the 'One For The Men' swap in April/May this year. I "had" to buy the stamp saying Fathers' Day as I didn't have one already but I can see that this stamp will get plenty of use in the future as it's so versatile and masculine. The heart stamps in the background are from the set called Hello Again.

Below is the card my clever 8 month old daughter made her Daddy. Ok, so I did help a bit! Still it was her who inspired the layout. The Bella Bleu papers always seem pretty feminine to me, as they are swirly and girly, but we managed to 'butch them up' with some Chocolate Chip cardstock.

Man card

This is the card I sent as part of a cards for men swap. To be honest, compared to the ones I recevied, mine is quite plain! If you struggle to make cards for men, then you may want to attend my next class on Saturday 19th June at 1pm: Cards for Men/Boys. We'll be making some cards for all different age groups, including one that is made using the treat cups in the Spring Mini catalogue. Places are going fast!

Card: Kraft, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Oval All
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Others: Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Sweet Pea paper stack, Large oval punch, Scalloped oval punch

Week in the life project

Did you miss me? We've been on holiday but now I'm back I'm back into crafting. This is the project I wrote about on this blog recently. I got the idea from Ali Edwards, but I felt the need to Stampin' Up! it. So... as you can see there is lots of lovely Sweet Pea Designer Stack used on this project.
Thsi front cover also had some foamy letters added. I realised after I'd stuck '2010' that I could actually fit projects from more than one year in this scrapbook but hey-ho.
This is the first proper page. I took the project to France to get everything stuck down. Now I just have a small amount of journalling and embellishing to do.
Watch out for my post tomorrow about up-coming classes! There is one for Men, a punch art class and a techniques class all coming soon!!

Sweet Pea felt

Love love love the stitched felt! This has to be one of my absolute favourite things in the new Mini catalogue. The patterned paper is from the Sweet Pea DP stack (of course!) and the sentiment came from the Fun & Fast Notes set.
Little one was unwell last night and we were a bit worried. Lovely husband slept next to her all night, which was a relief as she woke up every couple of hours with her temperature and cold. So a bit knackered today but at least she's bit better today. Phew!