Wetlands mini-waders say happy birthday

Hi all and happy bank holiday .... or more precisely, what's left of it.!

I have been helping Mummie, following the lightning strike on Saturday, and glad to say she is over the shock of it all now, and just keen to get it sorted.  The aerial people are due to call tomorrow, the insurance people are scheduling an assessor's visit - so all in all.. we are now in their capable hands,  or at least I like to think so..

but in the midst of all that- it's also my dad's birthday tomorrow and what with one thing and another, well you can imagine,  have only just finished his card this evening. Uhm.. Talk about 'last minute.com' yet again!

Well it's a man card, so it has to be blue.. one of these days I might break out of my comfort zone on this, but not today!

I chose the lovely Wetlands stamp set,  starting with this beautiful card from Julia Carmichael as my inspiration. But I thought my little squares just looked lost on the overall card, so sponged them, then popped them up on a focus piece using the 'En Français,' background stamp.

The 'glitter letters' are from a very old set of pre-cut die shapes, which I have had for ages.

The sentiment on the front is from the 'One in a million' stamp set and I carried on with the complimentary stamp from the same set, 'That makes you one in a million!'  to decorate the inside. I finished  off with the 'Happy Birthday' from the Memorable Moments stamp, placed to perfection with the use of my Stamp-a-Majig.

Hope he likes it.

Stampin' Up! supplies for this card:

Stamp Sets: Wetlands, One in a Million, Memorable Moments, En Français,

Inks: Night of Navy

Card stock: Night of Navy, Very Vanilla

Punches: 1" and 1 1/4" Square punches, Scallop border punch,  
Decorative Label Punch,

Other Essentials: Stampin' Up! dimensionals, sponge daubers

 I can order Stampin' Up! Products for you, shipped straight to your address and am happy to answer any questions you may have - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or contact me on 01438 820829  
  
or why not visit my on line store

Must admit this bank holiday has flown somewhat -  and what with the thunder and lightning, the downpours and everything else that has happened - although am not normally one for wishing my life away - on this occasion I just might make an exception!  to be honest am glad to see the back of it!

til next time
best wishes all
Jan
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Valentine meets Flower shop and 'En Français'

hi all and hope you had a lovely weekend

and it certainly turned out to be far better than I was expecting - it was so nice to see it bright and sunny out there for a change.  It just lightens the mood.  So hope it was the same story where you were.

Which is possibly more than can be said for my card this week, though.

I had Happy Valentine's day in mind  - but to be honest its turned out with a far more sombre feel to it, than I really had in mind.

What do you think?

Well I was back on my Very Vanilla card stock, meets  'En Français' background stamp, as a starting point, again sponged for a bit of interest but this time matted onto Cherry Cobbler cardstock though, in honour of Valentine's day!.

I added the 3 punched flowers, some toning stamping from Clockworks, Flowering Flourishes, and the little hearts from the Language of Love set..  Well,  I was trying to aim for dark and velvety - a bit like yummy chocolate with a touch of  sophistication thrown in. It might have been the intention - but it does need lifting somehow I think...

But with those flowers placed the way they are  - had thought to enter it for the current challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays where this week they want to see  things 'Over the edge' - but uhm... may not quite fit the bill as regards the 'CAS' bit - but shall cross my fingers.

and inside...
my current stamp set of the moment for 'all thoughts Valentine' - from the See Ya Later stamp set.

The little heart from the Two Step Owl Punch was a necessary addition as I dropped the sponge dauber whilst going round the edges, luckily it hit just the one spot - instantly covered up with that little heart ! You know what the say about 'Necessity being the mother of invention'!

...and of course no card would be complete without lovely packaging of some sort - so this is what I came up with.

Envelope punch board to the rescue, and some leftover scraps of designer series  paper, cherry cobbler seam binding and the 'Just for you stamp'  from the Label Love stamp set, punched with the matching Artisan punch and this was the result.

Stampin Up recipe for this card:

Stamp Sets: Language of Love, Flower Shop, Clockworks, En Français, 
See Ya Later, Flowering Flourishes

Inks: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip.

Cardstock/Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla. any toning paper for envelope

Punches: Flower Punch, Two Step Owl Punch, 
Artisan Label punch

Other Essentials: Stampin Up dimensionals, toning candy dots, sponge daubers, 

Stamp-a-majig, .Envelope Punch board, seam binding

I can order Stampin' Up Products for you, shipped straight to your address and am happy to answer any questions you may have - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or contact me on 01438 820829

or why not visit my online store 

 (for every £45 spent, choose a free sale-a-bration gift)

well, having had a 2nd opinion from he who likes to comment - and in whose hands I had left today's photo-shoot,  am thinking am not going to be getting much peace til I re-work this somewhat. - but can also see him thinking, 'well this can't be mine, then..'  

So, he'll just have to wait and see, wont he?

but til next time - and have a lovely week.

Jan
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Very Vanilla meets basic black!

hi all

Well today found  me with a particular challenge - that of making a card for my partner's son - and we aren't talking  little boy here - he is...err - well he is getting on a bit!

and really not having very much in the way of something suitable by way of stamp sets - decided I need to make the best of what I did have - so majored on ideas to do with Stampin Up's Clockworks.

Have to admit, devoid of any ideas of my own,  I have unashamedly used this lovely card  as the basis for mine - thanks so much Michelle for the inspiration.

I teamed Very vanilla card stock and Basic black ink as my colour ways - and ended up with this.

I matted a layer of Very Vanilla, shaped with my corner rounder on just 2 sides and opted to sponge the edges for a bit of interest.

I also used the 'En Français' stamp for my custom background and think I used all but the very large stamp from the Clockworks set for the stamping in the 'interest' corner.  With the addition of a basic black candy dot for the middle of the pocket watch!

Parts of the elements I punched out with matching sized circle punches, propped up on dimensionals and mounted them on black card stock just to give some areas a little more depth and definition.

My sentiment is from the Occasions Alphabet. I just love how this perfectly teams up with the Ticket Duo Builder Punch. I punched 2 more in black just to act as a frame, and all finished off matted on top of some toning ribbon.

I used some candy dots in place of my usual 'bling' - thinking these suited the overall effect better, considering the recipient!

...and of course no greeting card is complete without a matching envelope - which my dearly beloved promptly  proceeded to ruin as he got the post code incorrect when addressing it.!

uhm...!

to say the air was a little colourful was putting it mildly.!

However, thanks to my Envelope board punch making a replacement did not take long and peace was soon restored.
   


Things I used to make this card:

Stamp sets: En Français, Clockworks, Occasions Alphabets
Inks: Basic Black 
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Other Essentials : Toning ribbon, Ticket Duo Builder Punch, candy dots, circle punches, Stampin' up dimensionals, corner rounder punch, sponge daubers, Envelope board punch

I can order Stampin' Up products for you, shipped straight to your address and am
happy to answer any questions you have  - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or phone me on 01438 820829

or why not visit my on-line store

Last night we were out at a 70th birthday party for an ex-works colleague - and now that I have handed it over,  hopefully back tomorrow,  with a few photos of the card I made for her.

happy Saturday all - or at least what is left of it.!
very best wishes

Jan
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