Starting off the New Year…SIMPLY…

A very Happy New Year to You… I hope that you had a wonderful festive period. I certainly did…though it did feel very strange to have all my crafting goods packed away and to not craft for nearly 3 weeks…

So I am starting off the New Year with a few projects that are as simple as simple can be! Grab a few notecards, a NEW stamp set, a few inkpads and go for it…

There are many valid reasons for this simplicity though…. Firstly I had one hour to make 30 Thank You cards for my bestie!! Secondly, everything was still packed away – so 30+ minutes would have been used up finding  other stuff ( the notecards and new stamps were in a box delivered on New Years Eve) And well.. NEW stamps…I just had to didn’t I…!?

Oh did I say NEW…. yes these projects use new stamp sets that are to be found in the 2015 Spring Summer Occasion Catalogue. Releasing 6th January…only 2 days left now….

Not got your Spring Summer Catalogue or Sale A Bration promotion leaflet yet… Just call & collect if you are local… or Email me to arrange a copy in the post … or come back here on Tuesday 6 January to download for yourself…

This stamp set is probably my favourite! I give you… Sheltering Tree… I think you will be seeing a lot of this one over the next 6 months…

More Clean & Simple Peaceful Petals Cards

Staying on the theme of sharing my “CAS filler” cards…. here are a few more using the Peaceful Petals stamp set…. this time onto a coloured card blank.

The first two are the same  with a stamped black Staz On flower coloured in using the Aqua Painter brush & Coastal Cabana and Smoky Slate ink  - plus a Four You greeting stamped in Pear Pizzazz ink….

But the first one has the addition of a background using the White Chalkboard Marker pen technique. The flower sprays are just stamped in Coastal Cabana onto the card blank and then the flowers coloured in using the White Chalkboard Marker pen plus the white Signo Gel pen for the flower centres. Very subtle but adds a lift…..

The next one is done in the same way – we called this my Seed Packet card! Pistachio Pudding was used here instead of the Pear Pizzazz….

And the last one takes the White Chalkboard Marker pen technique a step further…..

The greeting & flower sprays are stamped in Pistachio Pudding onto Soft Sky card . Then the flowers and stems are coloured in using the White Chalkboard Marker pen , then with the Aqua Painter & Pink Pirouette and Pistachio Pudding ink and finished off with the white Signo Gel pen for the flower centres. The hardwood background is stamped in Smoky Slate on a Pistachio Pudding background.

Stampin᾿ Up! Supplies

Table built by craftingbecky.com

Peaceful Petals	Four You	Hardwood	Jet Black Stazon Pad
White Stampin Chalk Marker	Aqua Painter	Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz	Whisper White A4 Card Stock

So Very Grateful Four You

There are just times where something really simple just says it all….

Though I have to laugh… this is a “concept card” ie a card where I play at a new technique or with a new stamp set…or just because!

Just setting off on my travels to the Stampin’ Up! event at Telford tomorrow now… going down to Kate’s and hitching a ride from Carol & Kate from there. A gang of us joining up for a meal at the hotel tonight. And then trying to grab enough tables first thing in the morning – so the team can all share our excitement together!!! New catty from 1st July… So lots of new products tomorrow… so much excitement amongst friends… Can’t wait!!

Happy Watercolor Get Well Card for WWWU #7

Last week’s Team Color Challenge set by Julie Wade – or WWWU for  short – was for Crisp Canteloupe, Calypso Coral, Primrose Petals and Gumball Green.

Now this combination presented an enormous challenge for  me – but the end result was much better than expected….. though a version did get binned!!

I had just found out that a very close family friend had unexpectedly spent a week in hospital – and that she had just come home – so I needed to get a card off in the post tout suite. So a quick combination of 2 of my card-making challenges that day – and here you have it! And funnily enough – when I finished – I realised that she loves the coral/pinky end of the colour spectrum – so it was perfect for her…. thank you again Julie!

All of the stamped images are from the new Happy Watercolor stamp set… I just strategically placed the flower so that the flower spray looked like leaves…..

The poppy was stamped three times using black Staz On, and coloured in using Primrose Petals ink &  the “splat…” stamp from the Happy Watercolor set… Then 1 was cut out whole and the other  2 as selective petals … and finally all layered up on top of each other. Then I just added a small amount of black using my blender pen to the centre of the flower for extra definition….

And so what of the version that got binned…… I had used the multi dots image that is also in the Happy Watercolor stamp set for the background/card base… Well it would have been perfect for someone with chicken pox!! But not for this ailment!!!

SU! Supplies Used

Stamps – Happy Watercolor, Four You, A Dozen Thoughts

Inks - Crisp Canteloupe, Calypso Coral, Primrose Petals and Gumball Green

Card – Crisp Canteloupe, Primrose Petals

WWWU #4 Card–Ampersand Embossing Folder

Quick share today. This is a card I made for our weekly team colour challenge. Thanks again to Julie Wade for yet another fantastic colour combination. This time it is Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Pistachio Pudding & Rose Red.

There are quite a few new embossing folders in the Stampin’ Up! Spring Summer catalogue – and the Ampersand one just struck a chord with me. I imagined lots of cards with Mr & Mrs… and You & Me… and then I came to use it…. and Hello & Thank You just popped into my head – for reasons that the recipient will understand in due course – as it is now in the post on its way to a very special & clever person!!!

The first card is a stepped up version of the first very clean & simple one shown below ( yes very CAS … even for me!!)

I used the new Texture Boutique machine (aka Baby Big Shot!) for the embossing. It was its first outing…. and I was very impressed with this baby for what it costs ….though I did add an extra plastic shim as I am used to the deep embossing that the Big Shot gives us….

SU! Supplies Used

Stamps – Four You; Petite Petals

Punches – Petite Petals

Embossing – Ampersand EF; Texture Boutique

Inks & Card - Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, Pistachio Pudding & Rose Red.