Vintage woes...

So I am not good at all at the vintage/distressed look...

But I'm game for a try at anything!

This card was for Freshly Made Sketches #75. I flipped it & rotated it!

The stamp set is Postage Due. A bit of an impulse buy. I think this one might be traded... Anyone want to swap for something else current SU!?

Special Delivery!

A friend of mine is having a baby BOY very soon. I actually must get sorted & go through all the clothes I have in the basement to give to her - I have just been stuffing them in randomly. :( She actually used to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator too (before I met her!).

Here's her card:

See the fun bits from the "Sent with Love" bundle? It makes fab cards too! I made the "envelope" from the Scallop Envelope Big Shot die.

This card is for Dynamic Duos #41.

Anniversary Card

Every year, I forget my mum & dad's anniversary. The big day is March 6th, one day before my sister's birthday. So usually, on my sister's birthday, I remember, and of course by then it's too late!

So this year I'm trying to do a bit better with sending cards etc. As I was making my sister's birthday card, I remembered the anniversary! Brilliant! So I made this for them:

The sketch was from Mojo Monday:

 

And as I have never made a circle card (nor really wanted to - how would it stand up?!) I went with the square.

Supplies:
Ink: Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green
Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Serene Silhouettes
Ribbon: Gumball Green stitched satin ribbon
Paper: Print Poetry stack
Other: Apothecary Accents framelits, Edgelits, 1 3/4" circle punch, Dazzling Details

Happy Mail

So - remember this card?

Or this one?

Well, on Thursday my "Sent with Love" bundle arrived. It includes a full stamp set, beautiful designer paper, and some Calypso Coral baker's twine. Well, so far I've just cracked open the stamp set - and used it to decorate the envelopes for these cards!

The envelope is another chance to make someone smile when sending a card - but I usually forget to do it. However I think I might HAVE to do them now, because I am head over heels in love with this bundle!

Check it out here. Note - you don't HAVE to buy the bundle, but with 20% off, it'd be rude not to, no? I can't tell you how gorgeous the envelopes look once you've addressed them. Super fun!

Flip-flop Alert!

OK as predicted, I woke up this morning in a MUCH better mood than last night and I am all enthused again. It might have a wee bit to do with Leo actually sleeping. He's FOUL today, but at least he slept last night!

I also woke up to two SU! orders which was LOVELY. Thanks Zhenya & Lindsay. I've also had lots of cheerleading from Z&L, as well as from my downline Laura. I was actually going to delete my post from last night but then I thought that was editing a true story to make everything sound wonderful when in reality that is not the case! Take it with a pinch of salt if you read it and be assured that my positivity is back in the driving seat today!

However, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So I've decided to make a consistent effort to maintain my blog, post pics of my projects, and try to get back to doing some work on stamping every day. I've even thought about Meetup but I'm sleeping on that one!

Let me share with you the project we completed on Friday night. In the UK we have Mother's Day during Lent (so before Easter) and as that's the one holiday you really DON'T want to forget, I showcased a Mother's Day card:

That's the Primrose Petals version. I also did a Marina Mist version:

It's a deceptively simple card to make:

1. Cut your card base to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" from your desired coloured cardstock and score down the middle.
2. Cut a mat 5 1/4" x 4" from Naturals White cardstock (Item number 102316; $7.50 for 40 sheets). I like this as it's a bit sturdier than Whisper White for card bases, and it gives a lovely speckly effect.
3. Take your mat and using Scotch Blue Painter's Tape (available at all good hardware stores! Ha!) mask off the areas you'd like to leave white. Grid paper (Item number 102787; $9.95 for 100 sheets) really helps here as it allows you to get nice straight lines parallel to the edge of your cardstock.
4. Using the Gossamer Lace stamp (129050, $9.95), stamp randomly over the bare portion of the cardstock. To get the variations in colour, "stamp off" some of the images. This means to ink up your stamp, then do the first impression of that inking off the page - another great use for the grid paper!
5. Using a sponge, gently rub your ink onto the bare area to give it an all-over shade.
6. Carefully remove the masking tape. Stamp your chosen sentiment onto Whisper White cardstock. These two examples are both from the fantastically versatile Delightful Dozen (WM 122650; $32.95, CM 122652; $24.95).
7. Punch your sentiment out using the Decorative Label punch (120907; $16.95) and adhere with a couple of Dimensionals (104430; $3.95 for 300).
8. Cut about 4" of your chosen ribbon, fold it over and use a Vintage Trinket (118764; $5.95 for 48) to catch the fold. Place a Glue Dot (103683; $4.95 for 300) low on the back of the ribbon to stick it to the label.
9. Finally, bling it up a bit with Rhinestones (119246; $4.95 for 150) and/or Pearls (119247; $4.95 for 150) then stick the mat to the card base.

Wasn't that easy? You could easily substitute a stamp from Circle Circus or Delicate Doilies to get a similar effect, and of course, the colours & sentiments are easily swappable.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I'll see you tomorrow! 

Meh...

*** Pity Party Alert! Pity Party Alert! Do not read if you're not in the mood to indulge my first-world problems! ***

Urgh. Well, I think I might be about to throw the towel in as regards selling Stampin' Up! I absolutely love their products, but I just don't seem to be able to translate that into sales. I held a workshop in my home last night and invited pretty much everyone I know here in SoMD and whilst I had a great time socialising & chatting with my friends, at the end of the night my net sales were.... the roundest number in the world!

I'd spent all day cleaning, baking, and all the previous day designing the project & getting all my stuff ready to go. This while looking after two children and having very little support from the hubs (he isn't that interested in me earning money as it'll complicate our tax return... ????!!!).

I just feel a wee bit flat today, particularly as both my children are now ill & I feel like I neglected them all day. I know they were probably brewing their bugs long before now but it doesn't stop the Mummy Guilt. I am trying my best to get some sense of achievement out of my life here but there isn't much instant gratification in what I do!

Anyway. Here's a picture of my cocoa bunny cookies (with SU! cookie stamps, naturally!) I made for last night:

They were yummy. And they've been helping me through today! :D

Sideboard update!

Here's the sideboard so far... And the original pic. We are having MAJOR staining issues now but it's early days!

Stampy Saturday

Lots of cards done today, and there may even be another!

First up - a card for my friend's niece:

I am not at all confident on "vintage" and that was not the look I was aiming for, but it just evolved this way! I like this one. 

And now for something completely different.

I finally cracked how to use my Piestra Tile die - I used Dotto to tape a strip of DSP to the back ( leaving a 1/8" border) then used the shims from my SU! crease pad. This one is for my sister's 39th birthday. Colours are Summer Starfruit, Sahara Sand and Raspberry Ripple. Yum! 

And! I started, at long last, my Christmas cards for 2013.

This one is for Retro Sketches #50. I rarely use purple but I recently discovered that Wisteria Wonder is quite pretty with Baja Breeze. 

Anyway I am hoping to do one more challenge this evening, HOPEFULLY it will be making a card for my Stampin' and Socialisin' night on Friday. Looking forward to it very much. 

Happy V-day!

Hello everyone! I am sitting her in my PJs at 8.05am because my wonderful husband has taken the boys to nursery. So it's just Solomon and I here, enjoying a lazy morning.

I wanted to share some pictures of the Valentines I sent for Jacob & Leo's nursery pals & teachers. I am quite proud of myself this time round, lesson learned: start early!

OK so here are Leo's pressies - Leo is 10months and he goes in the Baby Room every Thursday. So thinking of an appropriate Valentine was tricky but then I spotted these in the cupboard:


So I jazzed them up a bit:

In case you can't see, the sentiment says "Whale you be mine?" How cute!!!

Then, for Jacob's room, I got these pencils at Target and whipped up these little labels:

I cobbled the "You are just" and "for me" together from some random stamps. There was cutting up of stamps involved! (shock! horror!)

Finally for the teachers, I made these little cookie goody bags:

Spot the funky cookies? I used food colouring on my usual speciality, sugar cookies stamped with SU! cookie stamps. They bizarrely matched the DSP I used... now that's serendipity! Truly accident rather than design as I was aiming for pale pink & pale purple, NOT Calypso Coral and Rich Razzleberry, but who's counting!?

Have a wonderful day... I suppose I should start thinking about de-PJing...

On a happier note...

Another challenge done with Laura today and I *think* this might be Stew's V-day card. Maybe.

This one's for Retro Sketches #49:

I love their sketches! This one's SUO and I made the heart-y paper myself. Fun!

A "why?" day

Tears were shed over this card. My heart hurts.

Aaaaaah...

After a tricky week, I sacked off the housework today & treated myself to a couple of hours crafting. It was fab! Only got two cards made but I really enjoyed the whole process.

Make a monster has to be one of my favourite sets! I've used it loads. Might be something to do with having two little boys but it seems to fit the bill quite often! Also great for hallowe'en, and who doesn't love pink, girly monsters?