birthday blooms and butterflies... and Anything goes..

hello all

well, even though Stampin' Up!s Sale-a-bration campaign is well and truly behind us now.. tissues at the ready in 'Codicote crafting corner'... There are still lots of lovely things on offer and of course the lovely seasonal catalogue has still got a couple of months to run,  so plenty of time to stock up on some items on your wish list to get your creative juices flowing.

For my card this week - I mixed Blushing Bride and Whisper White cardstock with Watermelon Wonder Ink,  with a smattering of sponging, some natural toning elements for surface decoration and a bit of bling to finish, and came up with this.

And as  the current Challenge over at Simon Says is giving us  'Anything goes'  thought I would link it there.

I popped all the flowers,  and the butterfly,  up on dimensionals to add a bit of height and I think you can just about see the little bit on the patterned vellum (cut from one of the little Sketched Dots Tag a Bag Gift bags!) sitting underneath everything. 

I have to admit I added the butterfly as an after thought as I did think the card definitely needed something to balance it in that top left hand corner.  So with it sitting there about to fly off as it were,  I was finally happy with the outcome.

I opted for a 'natural' look in the decoration department as regards my trim,  with the linen thread, the jute ribbon and the 'Celebrate'  sentiment from the Expression Natural Elements set - but think it all worked, and I achieved my aim of offsetting all the sparkly rhinestones, my usual go to embellishment!

and inside?  another partial repeat of the large stamp from Birthday Blooms in conjunction with 2 related sentiments  from the Something to Say stamp set.

and of course no self respecting card would be complete without a toning envelope - made so easily,  courtesy of Stampin' Up!'s Envelope Punch Board.

What do you all think?

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store 

Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Expressions Natural Elements	Stamping Sponges
Linen Thread	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon	Elegant Butterfly Punch	Stampin' Dimensionals	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Envelope Punch Board

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.

The card is for Mummie,  who will be celebrating her 83rd birthday at the end of this coming week. I hope she likes it.

...And as I mentioned in my previous post - we are all off on holiday next week, taking her  away for a short break following her recent stay in hospital.  Can't believe it is here and how did it ever get to be April.?

and in case you are wondering - we are off to the Isle of Man touring the island on the little railway.  Looks lovely I think and we are looking forward to it, so hope the weather behaves itself!

But on my return, it will seem a very quick week as the following weekend sees a lot of UK and other European Markets , Stampin' Up! demonstrators (me included!),   heading for Telford for the latest Stampin' Up! On stage event.

Always a show case for what is coming up - so am really looking forward to it - but as ever will be in panic/last minute.com mode as I put the finishing touches to my swaps... ...what was that about a new year's resolution, some thing along the lines of making sure I start in plenty of time.. Hah, maybe next year.. !

Til next time - when I will be back fresh from my holiday and looking forward to Telford.

well I promised..! Santa all the way..!

hello all

well I did say I would try to photograph some of my samples for our craft day on Saturday - I just love  my card with the fussy-cut Santas - (Stampin' Up!'s super sharp snips make cutting out almost therapeutic I must say)  and the lovely vintage feel  'Home for Christmas' just has to be my favourite DSP collection.

what do you think?  It's brilliant the way you can cut them out, layer them up, off-set them and with the toning colours, papers, cardstock and embellishments that co-ordinate so perfectly - honest you really can't go wrong - stampin' or no stampin'!  though I did do a little,  I hasten to add.

As you can see there's a definite bias towards the fabulous Pool Party for all my cards at the moment! Not normally a colour you would have seen me using for Christmas ordinarily,  but it seems the absolute perfect choice here ..  and inside  - some sponging, a little bit of stamping and another little Santa pointing to the happy greeting.. Just love 'em!

and talk about a 'mix and match' - I took great delight in inking up 4 different stamps for my sentiments , stars and holly garlands.

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store 

Home For Christmas A4 Cardstock Pack	Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Paper Snips	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
Festival Of Trees Photopolymer Stamp Set	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Home For Christmas Enamel Dots	Rhinestone Basic Jewels	Embellished Ornaments Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Wonderous Wreath Photopolymer Bundle

Or please just contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you would prefer.

Well after the fabulous warm weather at the weekend - albeit the foggy starts that had to be negotiated first - I could be forgiven in thinking that today would be a repeat performance and the sun would get out later - alas no, it didn't - so shall cross fingers that there is a little more nice weather still to come!

Whatever you get up to - have a lovely week and happy stampin'! and shall be back soon with that couple of cards you see lurking in the background.

til next time
Jan x

hello baby

hi all

well one of my earlier posts a few months back now! - was a little well done to my 'baby' sis - to wish her success in her new job - and now it's 'congratulations'  alround  again - she has just become a grandmum .. to  baby Esme..

...so from the baby shower and this - of course I  just had to make a card to welcome the new arrival...  and as a final gift to her parents I finished a birth quilt in keeping with the rest - scroll down if you would like to see the end result.

but.. back to my card here.. I have stuck with the very popular 'baby-tees on a line' as my theme in a variety of pink designer series papers (all be it all long since retired - but never one to throw anything out - still had scraps lurking in my scraps envelope...

so here we are :

I used a piece of 'Lucky stars' embossed cardstock for my base, easily done with my Big Shot, matted this on  a layer of pink DSP, die cut the baby-tees and coat hangers using the Baby's First Framelits set all suspended from a  banner-like piece of linen thread.

My 'Congratulations' sentiment came from the 'Something to Say' stamp set in Melon Mambo to tie in with the overall pink colour scheme, popped up on dimensionals for a bit of lift.

The inside I kept to the same colourway for my stamping and used another  two related stamps from the same 'Something to Say' set .. and no girl, well not me anyway,  could be without her little bits of embellishment, easily sorted  with the addition of a bit of sponging and my beloved 3 toning candy dots.. I just love these and have them in all the colourways, ready for instant glam up!

so hello and welcome to my beautiful beautiful great-niece - Esme..

Stampin' Up! Supplies for this card:

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store  

Pay just  £4:95 whatever the size of your order, and have them shipped straight to your address.

Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folders	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Baby's First Framelits Dies	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Word Window Punch	Linen Thread	Stamping Sponges	Brights Candy Dots	Stampin' Dimensionals

Please  contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you prefer

....
and as mentioned at the beginning of my post  here it is and  in keeping with the farm animal inspired jacket and dungarees, Esme's  birth/play quilt to mark the occasion..
I know they liked it..

well, til next time - hope you have a lovely week, all

bye for now

Jan x

all things baby...

hello all and happy Sunday

well - to day's card was made to complement some things I have made for my niece-in-law  - she is expecting their first baby mid August -  actual due date is my birthday!

and today we had a little party to celebrate the imminent arrival..

My card was one of those where you get 'double for your money' as it were - I die-cut the basic card , the 'negative' side, but then with the bits I cut out - the 'positives' - these can all  be put to good use later am sure,  for when he /she arrives!

thought I would enter it for a couple of challenges:

over at  'Cute Card Thursday'  the challenge there is  'Ladies only' - where they want to see cards and projects for women, girls, mothers, daughter

and at CASology - where 'repeat'  is the order of the day and having 3 repeats of the little bootee on my card, as well as 3 candy dots,  thought this might fit the bill.

I have my lovely up line Vicky to thank for the idea of those 'negatives/positives' - Do have a look at her post here.

I chose to use the lovely  Baby's first framelits set of dies - a few turns through the Big shot, positioning my dies exactly where I wanted them with the aid of the magnetic platform - and et voila, one 'negative' card.

The backing papers are each from the new 'cherry on top' designer series paper stack and just could not match my gift better if I had picked them personally.

The sentiments are the matching pair from from 'Something to Say'  and easily finished off with 3 toning candy dots. I just love how everything matches and Tip Top Taupe and Crushed curry and Mint Macaron are definitely the in-colours of the day here..!

and as to my gifts -  what do you think?

I made a bag for all the baby bathing /changing bits that mum's need to carry about and the stripey trim and the lining just could not be a more perfect match in my book.

and I carried on the theme with a  quilted jacket and dungarees as I just loved those fabrics.

I was so pleased with how they all turned out and, now of course, we just need 'it' to arrive

Stampin' Up! Supplies for this card:

Just click on the items below to easily access them in my on line store  

Pay just  £4:95 whatever the size of your order, and have them shipped straight to your address.

Please  contact me if you have any questions or to place an order for you, if you prefer.

Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Baby's First Framelits Dies	Magnetic Platform
Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper Stack	Neutrals Candy Dots	Regals Candy Dots	Something To Say Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

Well I write this following the conclusion of the men's final - which did not go the way I wished - boo hoo - but then when all is said and done - and to put it into perspective, it is a game and there are far more important things which we have to worry about I know..

til next time

have a lovely week

Jan x