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
x

It's almost time for that 'V' word !

hi all

well with 'Sale-a-bration' well and truly here - and lovely goodies to earn for any qualifying spend of £45 - I have a little card for you, using items from both the sale-a-bration gift list and the Spring/summer catalogue.

...and my apologies to everyone who thinks they have been seeing double or had a touch of de-ja vu as it were.

In a mad clear out of my blog I stupidly deleted a load of posts - including this recent one - the air was not a pretty colour for a few hours I must admit.. So have been trying to recreate a few of the pages and this was the first one I re-did. I think it's approaching something similar to the original so fingers crossed.

Because Valentine's day is getting ever closer - I thought I would make a card in celebration and decided to enter it for the current 'You have my Heart' challenge over at Delightful Challenges and at the Crafts and Me Challenge and Inspiration Blog where they want us to Use a Heart -

....however with the sad demise of the original page, of course the links to my page no longer worked - but the lovely people in charge for both of them very kindly fixed things to enable me to re-link it, so I could play again.! thank you so much, ladies..

so after all that here it is again!

Well it had to be red of course, and you can't get better than Stampin Up' Real Red' in my book.
I chose this for the background of my card - and layered it up with some toning designer series paper. I decided on a fancy cut edge for a change, so easily done with the Adorning Accents Framelits.

For the main embellishment I kept this very simple, just used the large stamped heart, from the Language of Love stamp set from the new Spring/Summer catalogue.

As I wanted to layer it, I punched 2 hearts from some more of the red card stock, cut these apart and used the pieces to frame it, and then popped them up on dimensionals.

Matted onto some more of the Very Vanilla card stock, die cut from the 'Labels collection' framelits and sponged for definition.

A couple of small hearts from the Banner Blast Stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue, one of which I needed to tweak slightly (mishap with my stamping!) a toning brad, and a piece of my own toning ribbon re-cycled from a Christmas gift bag to complete it.

and inside - Couldn't resist this very appropriate sentiment from the See Ya Later set - another of the free items from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue, with a spend of £45.

I finished the card with a bit of a trim at the bottom with the help of my beloved border punch.

Stampin Up recipe for this card:

Stamp Sets: Language of Love, Banner Blast, See Ya Later
Inks:Real Red
Cardstock/Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla, any red co-ordinating papers
Punches: heart punch, scallop ribbon border punch
Other Essentials: Stampin Up dimensionals, toning candy dots, sponge daubers, 
Stamp-a-majig, scrap of toning ribbon

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 
 

and yes it really is THAT TIME! - Stampin Up's Sale-a-Bration promotion. For every £45 you spend on anything from the current catalogues - you get to choose an item free from a special selection of 'Sale-a-Bration' gifts. Can you tell I am excited - I keep repeating myself.!

Take a look at the new catalogue online using the link on the side bar or just contact me and I will be happy to send out a copy to you

til next time - happy stamping
Jan
x

Well its a grand feeling to be prepared....

awhhh - now aren't these absolutely adorable?

Brand new and just released to enable you to get well ahead with sorting out your Valentine surprises.  Yes I know,  but if this year is anything to go by, it will be here before we know it, irrespective of whether Christmas has or hasn't happened yet!

Stampin Up are launching their 'Whole lot of love' promotion 

Two little Valentine Monster Hugs - they come in both 'flavours' - a little boy monster or a little girl monster pack, complete with  toning bows, googly eyes, stick on hearts and on the backside literally! room to write a little note!

Each pack contains enough to make 18 of the little sweeties  - and their name 'Monster hugs' due in part to the fact that their arms can be folded such that they can hug a a little treat or note, am sure..  All for just £5:50 for each of the sets.  

Although not available for a few more days yet - am thinking once they are here they will be pretty popular -  Having seen a sneaky peek at Convention can confirm they are even more cute for real! 
  what do you think?
 
but it doesn't stop there - 

Stampin' Up also have little packs of treat bags specially for the occasion  - 12 heart sacks, 12 die-cut labels, 12 pre-cut pieces of Pool Party Baker’s Twine just waiting for you to wrap up a little something to send to someone special, all for £4:50.

or when time is of the essence and no time to waste,  
how about these little packs of  

'Sweet  Sayings Cards and Envelopes' complete with 

12 printed card bases, 12 envelopes (four Real Red, 

four Pool Party, four Crisp Cantaloupe) to dash off a 

quick note to decorate, embellish as the feeling takes 

you! All for £5:50 for the pack.

and of course notice the lovely stamped heart image above -  Flowerful Heart  

well if you are like me,  no promotion would be complete without the release of some special stamps sets - as in the picture below.

the other one you can just make out is from the Follow my heart set and  that just leaves Love you more.

available from today until the 27th January or while stocks last

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

Well I have to admit that my partner has just nearly spilt his coffee chortling over the title of today's post.

In his words - 'me and being prepared in advance' are just too diametrically opposed sentiments  and to this day have never appeared together in the same sentence - and he of little faith - does not see anything changing in the near future..  Now what's that about throwing down the gauntlet.. well time will tell am sure!

Until next time - have a lovely week.

Jan x