Simple Saturday Snowflake Tree Trio...

Just realised I hadn't shared the 3rd card from the simple little trio of Snow is Glistening trees...

Silver embossed tree on Whisper White... cut out by hand...  matted on Galvanised Metallic Paper (which is reduced in the Year End Closeout Sale - while stocks last)

Greeting from Merry Christmas To All...

And so here are the three together for you too..

Rooted in Nature... the super-CAS one...

As my long term followers know... the first outing of a stamp set results in a CAS (Clean & Simple ) card (or four!) ... that just shows off the stamp set ... as intended... to it's simply-used best...

And this Rooted in Nature card is no exception to that rule... simply CASEing myself... using some new colours...

Balmy Blue applied with a Sponge Brayer through an aperture for the sky... and Shaded Spruce for the leaf part of the tree (albeit with a bit of extra marker thumped Tranquil Tide and Garden Green to add a bit of texture)... with good old Early Espresso for the trunk and branches...

And love the greeting... this comes in 2 parts but I couldn't resist using it together.... this is going to be a very useful greeting for the many charity cards our team create...

Read more about the Rooted in Nature stamps, dies, bundles and co-ordinating Natures Poem suite here... definitely an overall favourite the world over...

And not long till my box of new crafting goodies turns up... it has set off and is on its way!!! Exciting times...

Happy Easter... Chocolate Eggs Topiary...

Bit of a tongue in cheek post today...

Not the biggest success project in the world... but I thought I would share it to say Happy Easter... hope you are having a wonderful holiday time... and (hopefully) give you a creative laugh!

So the Christmas Topiary Tree... with Ferrero Rocher removed... with Lindor Balls removed... and the Valentines chocolate hearts removed... and lovely Caramel Eggs added... lol!

The eggs are way too big for my curled paper decoration sizing and available "holes"... so they stick up like no-ones business... but I am sure you get the idea!

And I did try some gold Mini Eggs... but they were too small... and devilishly hard to get a cocktail stick into (code for they just broke!! Yum! Shame!!!)

So Happy Easter to you!!

PS sorry... still no tutorial... though it is on THE list...
PPS please do not PIN this... way too embarrassing...

Hopeful Thoughts Cards for Meningitis Research Foundation

As many of you are aware... our Stampin' Up! team collaborate together to produce many Cards for Causes on a monthly basis...

This month it was Sympathy cards for the Meningitis Research Foundation (UK)... a cause very close to my heart as I very nearly lost my father to the disease many years ago... though luckily he finally rallied around... but it was a very difficult 4 months... and the drugs that saved him still affect him on a daily basis...

I wanted to keep things simple and classy... as not only is that my style (well, one of my styles!) but I wanted to make at least 30 cards ... and I needed to make and get them off within 24 hours...

As the stamp set was already out... Hopeful Thoughts proved just perfect for the task in hand... and of course the Stitched Shapes squares had to be used (again!)

But my initial thoughts of embossing everything were quickly discarded... and I chose to stamp the Hopeful Thoughts tree in Sahara Sand... and just emboss the Heartfelt Blooms greeting in gold... which I think worked beautifully...

Again a 10.5cm/ 4 1/8" (but I would do US Letter 4 1/4") small square card blank... with a 7cm (2 3/4") Gold Foil mat...

So here are my 30 cards just before they were packed up and sent off to support this cause...

Live in the UK? Would you like to support the Meningitis Research Foundation in a similar way? Contact me now for the address and a contact name... 

Live elsewhere? Contact your local country Meningitis Research Foundation and do the same... 

Together we cardmakers can be awesome!

Stitched Felt Embellishment peg...

Simple and sweet today... a quick dressing of a wooden peg to say a little thank you...

Stitched Felt embellishments tree...

Tiny 1/8" Real Red Ribbon bow... and a glittery pot using the Christmas Lampost dies (ie the lamp glass trio die... the one to the right of the bow at the bottom...)

Really quick... really sweet... and lots of "ahh"s and "so cute"s going on when shared in the flesh... and some more going to be made very soon... going to be a night of tiny bows tonight!

Though future ones will have a black pot... or a star... or holly!

PS I can't remember which set the greeting came from... as the pegs were actually stamped a long time ago! But nowadays... I would just use Teeny Tiny Sentiments (also known as Teeny Tiny Wishes in other parts of the world)

Card Front Builder dies meet Lovely as a Tree

A further little play with one of my favourite cards made so far this year.... click here for the original card details... 

After demoing at a lot of my classes.... I had quite a few of the misty panels made up and ready to go... so I thought I would try something different... so the Card Front Builder dies came out and the Lovely as A Tree stamps went away... 

So Tranquil Tide for the trees duo die cut... Silver Glimmer for the die cut little deer.... and a punched Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer circle to finish...

Tranquil Tide greeting from Half Full... which happened to be out at the time...

Lovely as a Tree on a Misty Morning #1

I love this card! Simple but SO effective... and will probably be one of my bulk cards this Christmas...

So I have used the long standing ever popular stamp set, Lovely as a Tree... this being the only set that has been around in Europe since Stampin UP! started to supply our shores nearly 10 years ago... and it is still going strong!

I CASED this card made by Kim Costello in 2007 shown here... which has probably been on my Pinterest CASE board since Pinterest began...

Though Kim's card uses Versamark & chalks... whereas I went Soft Sky brayering and stamping the trees in Soft Sky & Tranquil Tide double-stamped-off to achieve the misty morning background through an aperture mask... And yes the Tranquil Tide inked tree definitely needed stampin off twice on scratch paper before stamping over the aperture...

Then with the mask removed... the main tree was inked in Tranquil Tide, the ink removed from the trunk using a Blender Pen and then re-coloured using a Soft Suede marker pen... and the tree stamped in full...

And then I added glitter to the main tree and it all just popped... though I doubt you will be able to see that subtlety in the photos!

And an admittance... you may remember something rather similar in effect last week... yes this dinosaur Clean & Simple card was then created using the same layout... and I don't think it will be the last to get this brayered and sponged treatment! Looking forward to making some more...

So much so I have recreated my aperture mask using the Window Sheets...all ready to go...

Want to make a mask of your own... Start with an A6 piece (or whatever your standard card size is!) of Window Sheet... cut out at 2cm (3/4") for the top and 2 sides and at 2.5cm (1") for the bottom using your trusty trimmer... and keep the rectangle you have just cut out too... I may have another plan for that part!

Stampin Up Products Used
Lovely as a Tree
Christmas Pines
Window Sheets
Inks - Soft Sky, Tranquil Tide
Markers - Soft Suede
Sponge Brayer