Snowman Merry Christmas Blueprints Card

Here's a Christmas card I've made using a perennial favourite snowman stamp and my MFT Blueprints 14 die set.  I'm really enjoying using this die set!

For this card I've used the layout at the top right.  I die cut the rounded corner square from Island Indigo CS, embossed it with the SU! 'Softly Falling' folder, glued it to a white die cut stitched square which I then glued to the front of a Bermuda Bay square card base.  The rounded corner rectangle die from the Blueprints 14 set wasn't large enough for my Penny Black 'Brush Snowman' image.  I stamped onto a piece of Whisper White thick CS, coloured the image with ProMarkers, trimmed the piece to a rectangle and rounded the four corners with my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper.  So a bit of a tweak there - but it worked OK for the layout!  I popped up the snowman panel and also popped up the sentiment label.  To complete the card front I added three tiny punched snowflakes with rhinestone jewel centres.

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope.  I stamped the snowflakes on the inside panel in Pool Party ink and stamped the sentiment over the top in Island Indigo ink.  I stamped the sentiment again on a separate piece of CS using Bermuda Bay ink, fussy cut the banner portion of the sentiment and glued it over the top.  I decorated the envelope flap with a die cut snowflake and popped a rhinestone jewel in the centre.

Supplies:
Stamps: Penny Black 'Brush Snowman', Inkylicious 'Santa's Sleigh' set, PSX 'Snowflake Medley', Clearly Besotted 'Eat, Drink & Be Merry' set
CS: SU! Bermuda Bay, Island Indigo & Whisper White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Bermuda Bay, Pool Party & Island Indigo, selection of ProMarkers
Tools: MFT 'Blueprints 14' die set, SU! 'Softly Falling' embossing folder, Spellbinders 'Labels Trio' & 'Snowflake Pendant' die sets, Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, Woodware tiny snowflake punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewels, 3D foam tape

Pine Boughs & Cones Christmas Sparkle Card

The SU! 'Christmas Pines' stamp set and matching 'Pretty Pines' die set are just SO lovely!  I was determined to get into my craft room last week and use them to make a Christmas card.

The Cherry Cobbler card base is 5 3/4" square, I added a Garden Green mat layer and I glued a strip of 'Presents & Pinecones' paper to the white panel.  I stamped the pine boughs in Mint Macaron and Garden Green inks and die cut a few boughs in the same colours.  Because I was going to use the 'May your Christmas sparkle with joy and happiness' sentiment I added some sparkle to the pine boughs with Star Dust Stickles.  The small pine cone is stamped and die cut, the larger cone at the back is also stamped and die cut and the cone at the front is die cut only and I popped them all up.  I die cut a Cherry Cobbler bow, tied an adorable Mini Pinecone around it with linen thread and attached the bow with a glue dot. I wrapped Cherry Cobbler taffeta ribbon around the white panel and glued the whole thing to the Garden Green mat layer.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment element and popped it up.  I finished off with more sparkle by sprinkling on a few rhinestone jewels.

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope.  What a lovely sentiment - 'May the simple joys of the season be yours'.

The pine bough stamps are designed as two step stamping images and I really love the two tone effect you achieve.  Add the sweet little pine cones and I am one happy stamper!  Here's a closer look.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Christmas Pines' set
CS: SU! Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Kraft & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Presents & Pinecones' DSP
Ink: SU! Mint Macaron, Garden Green, Soft Suede & Cherry Cobbler
Tools: SU! 'Pretty Pines' Thinlits & 'Lots of Labels' Framelits dies, MISTI
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Cherry Cobbler taffeta ribbon, Mini Pinecone, linen thread, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals, glue dot, Star Dust Stickles

Rosy Blueprints Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing a birthday card made for our special friend Debs using my MFT Blueprints 14 die set.  This time I based my design on the sketch shown at the top left.

I had some new craft items I wanted to play with - the Clearly Besotted 'English Rose' stamp set, the Taylored Expressions 'Corrugated' embossing folder, the MFT 'Label Maker Sentiments' stamp set and matching dies - and the MISTI.  I have a money box in my craft room and I save up for significant crafty items.  So I was saving up for a MISTI and some accessories but circumstances meant I had to keep raiding my money box so it took longer than anticipated to fill up the box!  I finally got there and I was able to have a nice crafty splurge!  I am now the very happy owner of an original MISTI - what a great tool, it's brilliant for multi step stamping sets like the 'English Rose' set!  

I used SU! Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Primrose Petals, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive inks to stamp the roses and leaves and I fussy cut them all out.  I made a 5 1/2" square white card base using SU! Whisper White thick CS and I die cut the stitched square layer from Pear Pizzazz CS.  I die cut the rounded corner square from Primrose Petals CS, embossed it with the 'Corrugated' folder and glued both layers to the card front.  The 'Corrugated' folder is fab for adding texture but isn't too fancy - a very useful addition to the stash I think!  I die cut the white rounded corner rectangle and a Blushing Bride scalloped strip and glued those elements in place.  I arranged the cluster of roses and leaves, popping up each rose and then I adhered the stamped and die cut sentiment strips.  I completed the card front by adding a few silver sequins.     

Here's the inside of the card...

...and here's the envelope.  Yeah, you can tell I was enjoying playing with the Blueprints 14 dies, the MISTI and the rose stamp set can't you?!

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted 'English Rose' set, MFT 'Label Maker Sentiments' set, Hero Arts 'Everything Wonderful'
CS: SU! Pear Pizzazz, Primrose Petals, Blushing Bride, & Whisper White (regular & thick)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Blushing Bride, Flirty Flamingo, Primrose Petals, Pear Pizzazz & Old Olive
Tools: Taylored Expressions 'Corrugated' embossing folder, MFT Die-namics 'Blueprints 14' & 'Label Tape' die sets, MISTI
Embellishments & accessories: silver sequins, SU! Dimensionals

Chocolate & Morello Cherry Sponge Sandwich Cake

Today I'm sharing a cake I baked as a gift to go along with this card I gave to Nick last Saturday when he left as manager of the Wilko Burgess Hill store.  Nick was well known in the store as having a sweet tooth, he was particularly fond of doughnuts, cake and chocolate. So I decided I'd bake him a cake to go along with the card.  I made a chocolate sponge sandwich cake, filled with morello cherry preserve and chocolate buttercream and topped with chocolate buttercream and mini Cadbury's Wispa bars.

Here's the cake ready to be wrapped in cellophane.

Here's the cake wrapped up and ready to give.  I used the 'Baked With Love' stamp from the SU! 'I Stamped This' set and various circle punches to make a gift tag.   I tied the tag to the ribbon with red and white baker's twine.

Nick informed me yesterday that the cake was lovely and that he's eaten half of it already!

Two Sunny Floral SU! Thank You Cards - And Buyer's Remorse!

Here are another couple of thank you cards I made to give to my SU! customers.  I originally planned to make two identical cards but I changed my mind after making the first one so the two cards are similar but not the same!

Here are the two cards together.  I don't use yellow a lot but I like the cheerful, sunshiny feel these cards have!



So this is the first card I made using the SU! 'Bunch of Blossoms' stamp set and matching punch.  I kept looking at this set in the catalogue, I think it's such a pretty set but I wasn't 100% sure I'd enjoy using it.  I'm all for a bit of two step stamping but I wondered if I'd find creating a flower one petal at a time a pain in the neck.  The prettiness won out over my doubts and I got the set with Stampin' Rewards - but I really should have trusted my instincts.  Yes, it IS a lovely set and you get very pretty, realistic looking flowers BUT I did find it a pain, it was very time consuming and fiddly and I didn't want to repeat the experience - hence only one card using that set!  I have a real weakness for floral stamp sets and find them so hard to resist.  Now that I've used this set I know full well that a floral set that requires multiple petals stamped and punched in order to create flowers will not be a 'go to' set for me and it will remain neglected on the shelf - no matter how pretty the flowers are!  This stamp set and punch will be passed onto a new owner!

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I know it would have been a lot less time consuming if I didn't decorate the insides of my cards and the envelopes - but I can't stop doing that now - it doesn't feel finished to me if I don't, it just isn't 'right'!

So I made the second card pretty much to the same design as the first card but I used the 'Flourishing Phrases' set instead.  Both cards were made with Daffodil Delight A6 card bases and I used the 'Petal Burst' embossing folder to add a debossed design to the right hand side of the card fronts.  The petals, flowers and leaves were all stamped using Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive inks.  For the second card I fussy cut the flowers and leaves - maybe it seems strange that I'm really happy to fussy cut after I've said I don't like things too time consuming and fiddly - but I really enjoy it and don't find it a pain at all - as long as the bits I'm cutting are not tiny!  I added a strip of burlap ribbon to both panels before I added them to the card fronts.  I popped up the sentiment labels and added some rhinestone jewels.

Here's the inside and the envelope of the second card.

Lesson learned?  Maybe!  It's definitely not the first time I've bought crafty supplies that I've later regretted and I'm sure it won't be the last time.  I don't spend too much time on regret now though, I acknowledge my mistake, resolve to not make that same mistake again and I don't keep the items in my stash - I find them new homes with other crafty folk!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Bunch of Blossoms' & 'Flourishing Phrases' sets
CS: SU! Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Pear Pizazz & Old Olive
Tools: SU! 'Petal Burst' embossing folder, 'Blossom Builder' punch, 'Lots of Labels' Framelits die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! burlap ribbon, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

Set Of Three Butterfly Thank You Cards

I had some bags of SU! goodies to hand out to customers and I made these thank you cards to slip inside the bags.  I wanted to use that big, beautiful, butterfly die from my newly acquired 'Butterflies' Thinlits die set!  I also took the opportunity to use my new Sweet Sugarplum glitter ribbon and Fancy Frost sequins.

I embossed the white square panels with the 'Fluttering' folder, added a strip of the glitter ribbon and glued the white squares to the front of 4 3/4" square Rich Razzleberry card bases.  I die cut three plain butterfly shapes from vellum, stamped each butterfly twice using the flourish image from the 'Timeless Textures' set in VersaMark ink and I heat embossed using white embossing powder.  I attached each vellum butterfly to a Sweet Sugarplum die cut large fancy butterfly using glue dots.  I stamped and punched the sentiment labels and tied them round the butterfly bodies using Whisper White baker's twine.  I kept the labels in place by popping a couple of Dimensionals under each label.  To complete the card fronts I sprinkled on a few Sweet Sugarplum sequins.  

To decorate the insides and envelopes I stamped and die cut the pretty lacy butterfly from the 'Butterfly Basics' set.

A couple more thank you cards were needed but I wanted to use other new goodies so I'll share those later on.  

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Timeless Textures', 'Tin of Cards' & 'Butterfly Basics' sets
CS: SU! Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Whisper White & vellum
Ink: SU! Sweet Sugarplum & Rich Razzleberry, VersaMark
Tools: SU! 'Butterflies' Thinlits die set, 'Bold Butterfly' Framelits die set, 'Fluttering' embossing folder, 'Decorative Label' punch, 1/8" handheld circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! white embossing powder, Sugarplum glitter ribbon, Whisper White baker's twine,  'Fancy Frost' sequins, Dimensionals, glue dots

Sailboat Slider Best Wishes Card

Nick, the manager at the Wilko store where I work, is leaving.  I really like Nick, we shared a lot of laughs over the last year or so and he was so supportive and helpful during the period of Owen's illness and subsequent recovery.  I am very sad to see Nick go, I will miss him a great deal.

Obviously, I had to make a card for Nick to wish him well for the future!  I opted for a slider card featuring a sailboat.  I used the SU! 'Sail Away' stamp and patterned papers from the SU! 'Serene Scenery' DSP pad.  I made a 5" x 7" Crumb Cake card base and used Island Indigo and Bermuda Bay as accent colours.  I paper pieced the sailboat, fussy cut it and attached it to my slider pull strip using a 3D foam pad.  I used the smallest die from the MFT Die-namics 'Fishtail Flag' Stax die set to cut the slider channel.  The 'PULL HERE' stamp is from a Penny Black clear stamp set called 'Embellishments' - it felt good to finally use it after it's been in my stash for years!  I added screw brads to the sentiment label, popped that up, added some hemp twine and completed the card front with some photo corner die cut shapes.

Here's what is visible when the slider element is pulled to the left - a secret message - I thought that would be fun!  I realise 'Luck Good' looks odd but when Nick pulls the slider he'll see the word 'Good' first so it will make sense then.  It worked out very well that the sailboat is oriented to travel to the left as Nick is left handed!  The beach/sea/sky patterned paper was perfect for this card - I couldn't resist stamping some seabirds in the top right corner!

Here's the inside and the envelope.  As Nick embarks on his new voyage in life I will wish him smooth sailing!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Sail Away' stamp, Penny Black 'Embellishments' set, Inkylicious 'Take Flight' set, Clearly Besotted 'Brushed Greetings II' set, MFT 'Label Maker Sentiments' set
CS: SU! Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Serene Scenery' DSP pad
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Island Indigo
Tools: MFT Die-namics 'Fishtail Flags' Stax & 'Photo Corners' die sets, SU! 'Apothecary Accents' die set, Spellbinders 'Grommet Tags' die set
Embellishments & accessories: hemp twine, Woodware screw brads, 3D foam pad