Loving those Long Fellows!

Today is my niece Caitlan's 11th birthday.. so to celebrate I made her a card using the Level 2 Hostess set Long Fellows.. It's a pretty clean and simple one for me..

I coloured in the cat using a Blender Pen (£7.95 for three) and a bit of Tangerine Tango ink.. to do this I squashed the ink pad between my fingers before opening it.. this leaves a smudge of ink on the inside of the lid which you can then pick up with the Blender Pen. The Blender Pen helps you get the ink just where you want it without being too heavy.

Caitlan's present was wrapped with some orange tissue paper and topped with a big flower made using the Flower, Daisies #2 die from the Mini Catalogue (£16.95) and a few layers of hand-made paper in a lovely So Saffron colour. The tag was made with a scrap of Confetti White cardstock, stamped again with the Long Fellows cat. This time I coloured him in using an Aqua Painter (£12.25 for two). I scribbled a bit of Tangerine Tango marker pen onto a saucer and picked up the ink with the Aqua Painter. This gives a more water-coloury, fluid look than the Blender Pen which I really like!

Can you see the difference? LOL.. I've gone over the lines a bit in this one!

Here are the card and present together.. don't they look cute?!

Supplies:

Colours: Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Very Vanilla (card), Confetti White (tag)
Stamps: Long Fellows (level 2 Hostess set - free with £300 in workshop sales)
Punches: Scallop Trim Border - £14.25, 1" Circle - £9.75
Die: Flower, Daisies #2 - £16.95
Embossing Folder: Perfect Polka Dots - £6.95
Accessories: Silver Elastic Cord - £3.95, Basic Pearls - £4.50, Crop-a-Dile - £23.95

March cardmaking class - Flight of the Butterfly

Thank you ladies for coming to today's class - I loved seeing how you interpreted the cards and really made them your own!

I have to admit, having said we'd use Flight of the Butterfly last month I struggled for a while to come up with anything I was really pleased with.. so I turned to some trusty sources of inspiration to help me out! (Sometimes the mojo takes a little holiday, you know?) ;o)

So here are the cards we made today...

This one (above) was cased from the Idea Book & Catalogue (have I mentioned it's full of wonderful card and scrapbook ideas for you to 'borrow' and adapt as you like..?). The colours I used were Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Tangerine Tango and Pumpkin Pie.

 

This one (above) was inspired by a card I spotted on SplitCoast Stampers (another valuable source of inspiration when your mojo fails you!) by justbehappy.. love the different shades of pink all together - they are Melon Mambo and Regal Rose with a bit of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon!

And finally, this last one was totally inspired by another one I found on SplitCoast Stampers - although I changed the colour scheme and added the yellow punched strip across the middle. The colours are Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Daffodil Delight.

All of today's cards were made using colours from the Brights Collection, along with Flight of the Butterfly stamp set, the Butterfly punch and the Scallop Trim Border punch. The Boho Blossoms punch was also used on the second card.

Did you know you can buy cardstock in a Brights assortment... 20 sheets of A4 smooth cardstock (2 each in 10 colours) for £6.25? Let me know if you'd like me to order some.. or any of the products used in this class.. and I'll be very happy to help!

See you soon,

Sarah x

From Clean And Simple to... Messy And Complicated?

My Clean & Simple phase was never going to last!

I got the urge to scrapbook on Saturday night, inspired by a sketch on the Pencil Lines sketch blog, and here was the result:

The layout documents a trip to the beach last weekend to explore the fishermens' huts and boats. Harry was particularly drawn to this bright yellow one. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add some strandline treasures (including dried seaweed, fishing line and a shell) that I'd been hoarding for ages.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight
Papers: Newsprint DSP
Lettering: On Board Chipboard Letters, Vintage Rub-ons, letters cut from Newsprint DSP
Stamps: Texture Jumbo Wheel
Ink: Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad, So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
Punches: Spiral, Scallop Trim Border
Other: Crop-a-Dile, Paper Crimper, Distressing Essentials kit, Linen Thread, Sponge Daubers

Gotta love these colours!

Today I needed to make six very quick, simple cards with NO greeting on them... so after some deliberation, here's what I came up with: three in each colourway, butterflies in various papers from the Love Letter DSP pack.

 

You really can't go wrong with this colour scheme in my opinion! (In fact, it matches our new lounge decor.. coincidence? probably not!)

Riding Hood Red - Baja Breeze - Basic Black - Very Vanilla

Stamps: Very Vintage Stampin' Around Wheel
Punches: Scallop Trim Border; Butterfly
Designer Series Paper: Love Letter

A New Home card using Neighbourhood Wheel and Aquapainters

Hi again!

Just wanted to share a card I made for my sister- and brother-in-law to celebrate their new home.

I used the Neighbourhood Jumbo Wheel and Stampin' Around Wheel Guide to stamp a couple of rows of houses on Very Vanilla cardstock. I then coloured one of the houses on the 'spare' row using Not Quite Navy, Blushing Bride and Old Olive ink from the Classic Stampin' Ink Pads and my new Aquapainters.

Tip: before opening your Ink Pad, squash it between your fingers and thumbs to transfer some of the ink from the pad to the lid. Then you can use this as a palette from which to pick up ink with your Aquapainter.

I then cut out the painted house and mounted it on foam pads onto the corresponding one on the row of houses. The houses were matted on to Pear Pizazz cardstock which was punched with the Scallop Trim Border punch. The base card is Peach Parfait, one of the In Colours.

Unable to resist adding a bit more detail, I stamped lots of little bees (from So Happy For You Sale-a-Bration set) in VersaMark ink as a background.

The sentiment was done on the computer and printed onto Very Vanilla cardstock.

I enjoyed painting the one little house so much, I'm tempted to go back and paint the others! But I'm trying to stay 'clean and simple' and there's always the risk I'll mess it up.. so I really should quit while I'm ahead. :o)

Have a lovely day!

Sarah x