Birthday wallet

This card was inspired by one I saw on Jenni Pauli's site. Yes, yes, have you noticed I am a big fan of her designs? I just love them. Sadly the front of this project has not turned out how I envisaged.

Fortunately the inside is much better:

I made the central envelope using the scalloped envelope die on the Big Shot but I trimmed it down by 2 scallops to make it a bit smaller. It was a fab project for using scraps of patterned paper and scardstock too.

This would be nice for a good friend or if you wanted to dress up a money-type of gift.

TIP: stamp BEFORE you stick everything down!!! (I learnt that the hard way on this project.)

Happy Anniversary M&D T

Hello and Happy Anniversary to my In-Laws! Today is their special day and I have made them a card to celebrate!

It's a pretty close CASE from one I saw on Jenni Pauli's site Paulines Papier, the #1 Demonstrator for SU in Germany. I cannot say how much I love her creations. She is just so great at coming up with simple designs that look classy.

I can but try to follow!

This card is pretty simple. There is a Crumb Cake base with a layer of Pear Pizzazz on top. Then there are panels of Whisper White. The top wide panel had some Pear Pizzazz spritzering on it and then some pearls and rhinestones. The bottom left panel was dry embossed on the Big Shot and the bottom right panel was simply stamped in Pear Pizzazz from my favourite sentiment set: Teeny Tiny Wishes.

The heart embellishment was really simple as it is an embosslit. It cuts out the heart shape whilst also embossing it all over with tiny hearts. I cut it twice and then used a heart punch to cut the white heart out so it could be layered onto a Pear Pizzazz one. Finally a glittery glimmer brad in the same colour was added along with a little linen thread.

I hope Mr & Mrs T like the card and we look forward to celebrating with them at the weekend!

Birthday treats

Woo hoo it's Wednesday! Half way through the week already; where does the time go?

Today's card was inspired by L W Designs. To be fair I changed it up quite a lot.

The base is Peach Parfait and the patterned paper Top Note shape was cut from Just Add Cake DSP. These are the colours that influenced the birthday greeting from Happiest Birthday Wishes, hostess set.

The heart was stamped in Poppy Parade using the Sweetheart stamp set and then punched out to add a heart shaped treat cup. Did you see what the cup is filled with? I was so excited to find these miniture Love Hearts. I also found loads of other miniture sweets so that was a fun little trip. You would have seen more projects with them if only I hadn't scoffed them so quickly!

I thought another colour was needed so I added some Early Espresso and Pear Pizzazz. Kind of a fun retro colour combination, I think!!

Have a great Wednesday and see you tomorrow for another project share.

Heartfelt Thanks

Happy Monday!

Yes it's the beginning of a new week and time to kickstart your creative muscles!!

Today's card was inspired by Jenni Pauli. You can see the original card here.

There is a Soft Suede base and then a layer of Timeless Portrait patterned paper and Very Vanilla cardstock. I happened to have Sweetheart stamp set on my table and used the greeting from that set for this card. All the red is Cherry Cobbler. It felt a bit weird using such a Christmas-y colour in June but it does look lush next to the Soft Suede, don't you think?

I did a bit more experimenting today though. I bought white bakers twine and had a go at adding a custom stripe. I did this by wrapping the twine around a ruler and then using a Cherry Cobbler marker to add diagonal stripes. This gave the twine a traditional bakers twine stripe. The tip was given to me by a lovely customer, so thank you Veronica!!

Daddy's Day

Happy Fathers' Day! I wanted to show this cute little creation that Munchkin made for her Daddy.

Yes, I know she's only 2 but she has a keen crafty mind and honestly made this with only a little help from me - supervising the scissors and placing the letters in the right order etc.

She started by using the punch called Heart to Heart which cuts out three cute little hearts with each press of the punch. We dug through my patterned paper scraps and used all shades of blue so that they coordinate nicely.

The hearts were positioned at random by Munchkin using PVA glue (gasp!) onto Very Vanilla. She's not quite got the hang of my Snail glue yet!

Then the Big Shot came out. Gosh, she was so excited to turn the handle all by herself. We used my  new alphabet dies Alphabet Simple Letters. They are nice and tall but not too wide. Perfect for cards and scrapbooking alike.

The final addition was a clip on the left handside from the Clips Assortment. Munchkin loves my rotating Stack & Store Caddy and felt that the card would only be complete if she added something from there! When this was clipped on we stuck the whole card front onto a Pool Party base.

Voila! A cute Fathers' Day card made by a two year old. Who says all this stuff is for grown-ups!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with your family today.

See you again soon when I will announce the winner of my 500th Blog Post draw!

Spring has officially sprung

Happy Easter & Springtime everyone!



This card was inspired by one I saw on Jenni Pauli's blog a while back. I love her pared back style! The colours are Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie. Nice springy colours! Using the 3/4" and 1" circle punches To make a random pattern and then I filled it with hearts and flowers.

The sentiment was from the now retired saleabration sets but you could use any sentiments you like really. I used the same coloured inks as the embellishments I'd made so it brought a coordinated look.

We've just returned from a week in Mallorca which was lovely. It was heavenly to have the three of us together with nothing else to worry about. munchkin made lots of friends and thoroughly enjoyed the mini disco each evening. Now we are back to reality and it's time to get excited about this months promotion! If you spend £45 on products during April you can choose a free set of papers from a selected range (RRP £9.95!). It's a great deal so let me know if you'd like anything as I'd be happy to add it to my regular weekly orders.

Lacy heart

Today I have a card using an unusual colour combination for me: Island Indigo, Cajun Craze & Certainly Celery.



The background is En Francais stamped in versamark ink to give a tone on tone look.

To make the lacy heart I punched a heart out and then layered some lace border punched pieces behind the image. To add some interest I used a marker to draw on stitching.

Now, for the Munchkin fans, here are a couple of holiday snaps:



Eating DAIRY ice cream. She loved it but we certainly paid the price for ignoring her intolerance. Looking at that picture though, it seems worth it.



Next is a picture of Munchkin en route. She found the car journey tough but her trusty notebook and colouring pencils distracted her.

Tractor Card

Sunday was my Father-in-law's birthday and I wanted to make him a special card. I originally thought I would make one with a train but wasn't happy with the result - it looked a little like a child's card!

Instead I tried something totally new and sponged a background. I cut a scalloped circle in half and sponged around it to leave cloud shapes.

Then I punched out different shapes and layered them to create a tractor. The colours are Garden Green, Basic Black, Basic Grey and Whisper White puffs of smoke.

The sentiment came from Teeny Tiny Wishes and finished off the card nicely, I think.

Hope you had a good birthday FIL!

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!

Messy Little Munchkin

As promised, here is the double-page spread I made on Monday. I've loved these photos for a while and just couldn't decide what to do with them. Do you ever have that problem? There's a whole box of beautiful photos in my craftroom just waiting to be scrapped. Anyway onto this page...

Bearing in mind my new found love of "Less is More" I decided I would try to strip back my scrapbook page and leave the photos totally centre stage. Hence, I started with a Whisper White 12x12" base and no fancy embellishments, glitter or trinkets. Instead I used a circle punch to create the Daffodil Delight border and combined this colour with Tempting Turquoise; this picks out the colours on her highchair as well as the little romper suit she's wearing.

As she is completely covered in chocolate I chose a chocolatey coloured title - Early Espresso. Again, my Big Shot came in useful to make the title.

This double-page has been put into Munchkin's scrapbook album so she can see how adorable she looked at this tender age.

The girl's a natural!

Yes this is made by my lovely Munchkin! She is such a talent. Her latest obsession is with gaining entry to my craftroom, so today I took her in there to craft. She LOVED it. We had paint, glitter, stamps, ink, stickers and patterned paper. This is one of her best creations from the session. I thought I liked layers but she is an absolute pro at layering!!!

N.B. All the products shown that Munchkin used are sadly retired.

Since it's been nearly a week since I posted something crafty, here is a card that I finished today! It's been stamped with the set Strength & Hope. The cute hearts are part of the same stamp so I used a Ridinghood Red marker to colour them and then coloured the rest Basic Black.

A few pearls and a large heart punched out of Ridinghood Red DSP raised with Dimensionals foam pads and voila!

Today we've had a nice quiet day with a little Zumba, cleaning and swimming! Tomorrow is the last day until Half Term!! Many of my colleagues are counting down the minutes they are so worn and I can't blame them; it's been a hectic time.

Belated surprise

Look what I found in my pigeonhole at work! My lovely friend Amy (who's unfortunately not well at the moment) left this for me on Monday!! She's used Sweetheart stamp set and punched hearts from Jolly Holiday DSP. Aren't those ladybirds sweet?

As you may have read yesterday we went up to London yesterday to see my sister. It was a day full of adventure as Munchkin had never been on a train before, nor the underground. Turns out that there are A LOT of steps on the underground!! Anyway, this adorable picture is Munchkin with my little sister trying to restrain her in the restaurant. There was a lot of exploring to do!

Hope your week has ended well and you're looking forward to a fun weekend.

Waitrose inspiration

This is a photo from the Waitrose weekend magazine/newspaper. The image with the Eiffel Tower took my fancy and led to this....

It features Artistic Etchings stamp set, as well as the flower and small heart stamp from Sale-A-Bration set So Happy For You. I got really inky and even got my spritzer tool out!

We had a fun day today visiting a couple of friends who are expecting their first baby in a few weeks... really took us back and 16 months ago seems like a lifetime!!! Hope you had a relaxing weekend with family and/or friends.

This is what I have been waiting for! My gorgeous craft tote from Stampin' Up! I ordered it when I went to Convention last November and so I've been very excited about getting hands on it. I used it straight away for a party (that's why it is packed already LOL!)

Isn't it fab? The pattern is from the Greenhouse Gala DSP!! Even the green lining is patterned and fabulous! This is definately the best perk about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - being able to get exclusive kit!! If you'd like to come to Convention with me this November and see what goodies you can get, join now! The Blue Angel team has trebled in the past month and we'd love to have you join us. Email me for more information/a chat about it. blueangelcrafts@gmail.com

I couldn't leave this post without a little crafting on it, so here is the mini card I made when Diane came over the other day. It's so simple and we played with blender pens to colour the image (from Sweet Summer, Sale-A-Bration set). A small heart raised from it and a handwritten sentiment - simple but sweet.

Hope you are having a fun weekend. We're going to celebration my Sister-in-law's birthday this evening. I've not been well so I am looking forward to a trip out!

Duo of Valentines

It's nearly the weekend! What a sunny week we've had after the miserable start on Monday.

As I'm so happy I thought I would share the lurve with these little valentines. They feature Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla with a touch of Crumb Cake. Sounds tasty!! I used the Sweetheart set for the card on the left and the card on the right has a sentiment that has retired.

The right hand card has lots of Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the two hearts, so they look really lovely in real life. If only Canon would get on with that glitter setting on my camera!

Another thing that has made this week extra special is that my team has grown! I'd like to welcome Diane to my team of Blue Angels Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. Hopefully our little team will continue to grow, and if you'd like to be a part of it, please email me to find out more: blueangelcrafts@gmail.com

Valentine scraps

Afternoon all! Here is a little Valentine card I made the other day using patterned paper scraps - in this case it's Elegant Soiree papers. Gorgeous colours: soft suede, very vanilla, baja breeze etc. Love love love.

Even better I managed to use my spritzer tool on the background which was fun. Another addition you could add is to draw some fake stitching around each heart for a handmade patchwork look.

The sentiment I used is retired (as discovered last night by my downline!) Whoops. But I think that the 'Amour' stamp in the Artistic Etchings set would look lovely. Or the 'bliss' sentiment in the Bliss Sale-A-Bration set would be cute. Lots of options!

Variations on a theme

After the card I showed you yesterday I got a real bug to make more in the same style but with different patterned papers and stamp sets! This one features Basic Black & Riding Hood Red with Very Vanilla. The papers are Newsprint & Love Letter and the stamps are Artistic Etchings (which is designed to co-ordinate with Love Letters DSP). I think this is a really classic combo and would be good for a valentine card.

This combo is using Nursery Suite papers with Forest Friends stamp set. Cute!

This one features Woodland Walk DSP and Growing Green stamp set - the greeting is from Vintage Vogue.

This last one is a bit boho even for me! It's Greenhouse Garden DSP with Ornate Flowers stamps. I took the greeting from Something Sweet. There's a little bit of Crystal Effects added for texture and the cute flower brad is so sweet!!

Lastly, since we're snowed in again today I made a start on my Christmas baking. We've added more decorations to the tree, made 2 dozen mince pies and lots of gingerbread cookies ready for icing and then hanging on the tree. Yipee!

Lucky You!

Hello crafters! Today I managed to get a couple of minutes to myself to create this beauty. It's heavily influenced by one on SCS. I've layered pieces of Play Date designer series papers and added some animal stamps from Fox & Friends, and a heart punch and button. The sentiment was stamped using a Level 1 Hostess stamp called Afterthoughts. I don't actually like the afterthought parts of the stamps so I have cut them off but I love this "Lucky You" sentiment.

Hope you are safe and well and enjoying some crafting!

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.

Super scraps

Having seen this great post on Kristin's blog recently I decided that my scrap bowl could do with a clear out! Sadly I don't have all the colours that Kristin used but I put together a few different combinations. Last night I made these 3x3" cards based on the same designs as I'd seen Kristin do with with a few twists. I used the Boho Blossoms, Heart Trio and Large Oval punches.

This top set features Close To Cocoa, Brocade Blue and.... I need to look up the other two shades to be sure! But anyway I think this set looks quite smart and also Scandinavian.

I added a few details with a white gel pen and the sentiments came from the SAB set, Happy Moments (I can't stop using that set!) and the swirly sentiments are from Sincere Salutations stamp set in Chocolate Chip. This lower photo has Taken with Teal, Rose Red, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip card colours. I think that this set is quite funky.

However, now I realise why people enjoy colour challenges! I spent a lot more time deciding on the colour combinations than actually making the cards!!!

How is your day going? We had a nice little trip to Argos as Munchkin has been cold at night, despite having about 5 layers on so we've invested in a little cot duvet. Awww.