Another christmas duo and an impending op for Bess, ssh don't tell her

Finally ... a brighter day and so chance to take some pics of the card and bag I made on Sunday. I still have some of last year's christmas scrappin' kit left (they go a long way - excellent value) so I'm using those up before I do any more with the new Christmas Jingle kit. I missed my regular dose of Stamp With Us challenge on last week (the DT had a week off for the SU convention) and so I'm also entering these for the ongoing Christmas theme challenge - normal service is resumed this Sunday.

This duo is bound for the Christmas Fair at Felkirk on Saturday, so if you're in the area then please stop by and say "Hi" to JJ and I.

Hubby and I started our christmas shopping last night and picked up a few family gifts. I'm hoping that getting started a bit earlier might mean that I get to be a bit more imaginative with some of the wrapping. Please, please don't rub things in by telling me that you're all shopped up and wrapped already, lol.

While we were shopping we also got a high visibility coat for Bess (our Staffie) to keep her safe when I walk her on these dark mornings. She looks soooo cute in it. I'll try to get a pic to show you. Ssh, don't tell her, but she's being taken to be spayed on Friday so she may not be speaking to us this weekend.

Anyway, onto the recipes.

Recipe

Stamp set: Scandinavian Season, Season of Joy

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White

DSP: I Wish Simply Scrappin' kit (retired)

Ink: Versamark, Real Red

Punch: Corner Rounder, Scallop Oval, Large Oval

Wide Grosgrain Ribbon: Old Olive

Other: Gold EP, Gold Brad, Fine Cosmo glitter (celery)

Non-SU: Die Cut mats

Recipe

Stamp sets: Punches 3 (hostess), Polka Dot Punches (retired)

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White

DSP: I Wish Simply Scrappin' kit (retired)

Ink: Old Olive, Real Red

Punches: Round Tab, Square Scallop, Eyelet Border, 5-petal

Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon: Real Red

Other: Gold Brads, Gold Eyelets, Gold Elastic Cord

If you have any tips on nursing Bess after her op then please drop me a comment.

Thanks

Sara xx

Christmas poinsettia for the Mojomonday sketch challenge

Bess is doing so much better now (fingers and toes crossed that I'm not tempting fate here). We have to keep her from rubbing her belly along the carpet or grass (she's a dog in case you're new to my blog, lol) but as long as we do there's no flare up of her rash. Anyway what that meant for me was that I got to play with the Mojomonday challenge, on a monday, for the first time in ages. This was the sketch:
This is the card I made for it:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Polka Dot Punches, Season of Joy

Cardstock: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Chocolate Chip

DSP: Ski Slope

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Double Stitched Ribbon: Chocolate Chip

Punch: 5 petal flower

Other: Crafters toolkit, So Saffron brad

Non-SU: Bells

I made the poinsettia up using the polka dot punches stamp and the 5 petal punch. The bells were tied onto the ribbon using some silver elastic cord and the tails were stuck in place with glue dots. The sentiment from Season of Joy was stamped direct to the DSP with Chocolate Chip ink.

I'm busy making up Christmas sets as JJ and I are having a stand at the next Craft Market in Barnsley on Sunday 13 September. It's outdoors so wish us luck with the weather and if you're going to be in the area that day then please stop by and see us.

Thanks for looking.

Sara xx

Normal Stamp With Us challenge service has been resumed

And we're back! The Design Team had a week off but we're back again this weekend with another set of samples for this week's challenge. It's a colour challenge using this photo as 

inspiration:

And here's my card:

Recipe

Stamp sets: Polka Dot Punches, Oval All, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Old Olive, Yoyo Yellow

Ink: Black Stazon, Old Olive, Real Red

Punches: 5-Petal Flower, Large Oval, Scallop Oval, Scallop Edge

Rhinestone Brads: Circle Fire

The flowers were made by stamping the card with the Polka Dot Punches stamp, punching out with the 5-Petal Flower punch and scoring and folding the centre and in between each petal.

Please stop by and take a look at the wonderful creations made by the other members of the Stamp With Us design team.

Sara xx

Paper pierced frame for the Stamp With Us colour challenge

Hope that you're all enjoying a sunny weekend. I'm having a bit of a catch-up time after a frantic week of running here and there.

I'd like to thank Kate for the lovely birthday card she sent me on Wednesday. I've waited until now, as you should be able to see it on her blog today and it's her sample for the Stamp With Us challenge this week.

I'd also like to thank Debbi for nominating me for a couple of awards. I already have them so I'm not going to pass them on again but I would encourage you to visit Debbi's blog over at Taylor-Made Cards to see some of the lovely cards she makes.

OK, so the mojo still isn't quite back but I think I'm getting there. Our challenge this week on Stamp With Us is a colour one using this photo as inspiration:

Now in the end I think I went a little too heavy on the bold colours, I should have kept them as more patterns against the white, but overall I'm quite happy with the frame and I think that I'll have another go at doing one in future.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Summer by the Sea, Polka Dot Punches, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink: Taken with Teal, Not Quite Navy

Brads: Not Quite Navy

Other: Crafter's Toolkit

To make the frame, I first cut it to size and then used my Polka Dot Punches stamp with Versamark to provide a template for piercing.

Using the tool and mat from the Crafter's Toolkit I pricked out the design varying the pressure I used on the needle tool to get larger or smaller pinpricks as I wanted. The paper piercing template that comes with the toolkit was used for the straight lines of piercing around the edge. I used the groove of my paper cutter to get the embossed lines around the frame and then cut the aperture with a craft knife.

Don't forget that next Sunday (21st June) is Father's Day!

Sara xx

A couple of ATCs in red and black

I'm a little late posting tonight because I've just got a new computer and so I've been copying files across from the old to the new. I tend to get a little paranoid over backups these days as I've lost files in the past - better safe than sorry now.

These are a couple of ATCs that I made for a swap a short while ago. The red one is Ruby Red card as the base. Using the dinky heart from the Cause for Celebration set (level 2 hostess gift), I stamped with Pretty in Pink ink onto Whisper White card. This was tied with Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon and topped with a Ruby Red heart stamped with the Polka Dot Punches heart and embossed with white embossing powder.

The black ATC was Basic Black card. Using the flower trio from the True Friend set I stamped with Basic Black ink onto Whisper White card. I sponged the edges to reduce the contrast a little. I also stamped the True Friend sentiment and matted that over the flower trio. To fill the final bit of (too white) space, I used the solo flower from the One of a Kind set.

All corners were punched with the corner rounder punch.

Keep stampin'

Sara xx

A polka dot bookmark made with a jumbo paperclip

I made myself this handy little bookmark for marking up what I want next from my Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue :-).

Using Real Red ink I stamped the largest flower from the Polka Dot Punches set onto Whisper White card twice. These were punched out with the scallop circle punch. I punched two circles of Real Red card with the 1-3/8" punch. Finally I stamped the smallest flower from the Polka Dot Punches set in Real Red ink onto Whisper White card twice. These were punched out with the 1-1/4" punch. The flowers were matted and then sandwiched together with the jumbo paperclip in the middle, held in place with dimensionals.

Happy stampin'

Sara xx

A duo of free stamp sets to create a duo birthday card

Am I cheating? I've combined two of the free stamp sets on my card today. You can of course use the punched flowers without the Polka Dot Punches stamps or add your own embellishments in place of them if you decide to go just for the Congrats set.

I started with a Pretty in Pink card blank and added Rose Red and Sweet Always Designer Series Papers. 

Whisper White narrow grosgrain ribbon covers the join of the papers. I stamped the Congratulations sentiment using Pumpkin Pie ink on Whisper White card. The "little bit older" sentiment was stamped with Rose Red ink onto Whisper White card. (There are another 5 phrases that come with this Congrats set). A corner rounder punch was used on the ends of the sentiments that would remain visible. Using Old Olive ink on the same shade card I stamped and punched the 5 petal flower twice to create leaves. The flowers were created with Pumpkin Pie ink onto the same shade card and Rose Red ink onto the same shade card. The flower and leaf combos were secured onto the sentiments using Earth Elements brads. These tags were stuck to the card with dimensionals.

Keep stampin'

Sara xx

Bright and breezy get well card using free stamp set

I'm loving the Polka Dot Punches set and I'm going to be so sorry when February ends and my new customers won't be able to get them. 

For this bright and cheerful get well card (for my friend Heather who's suffering poor lamb - hope you're feeling better soon) I started with Only Orange as my card blank and cut an aperture in the centre. Using my Paper Cutter I scored borders around the outside of the card and around the aperture. I lined the inside back of the card with Whisper White (I think - but it could have been Very Vanilla) and placed a piece of paper from the Haiku Designer Series cut slightly larger than the aperture in the centre. Using Pumpkin Pie ink I stamped the Get Well Wishes sentiment from the Fun and Fast Notes set onto Whisper White/Very 

Vanilla and positioned this dead centre. The leaves are Garden Green ink stamped onto Green Galore card and the flowers are Pumpkin Pie ink stamped onto Yoyo Yellow card. All stamped with the 5 petal flower stamp from the Polka Dot Punches set and punched with the 5 petal punch. The flower centres are More Mustard brads from the Earth Elements collection. The technique for these flowers was covered here.

If you'd like to get your hands on this stamp set before it's too late (free with any £45 catalogue spend plus postage) then email me at sarastamper123@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Double delight with flowery birthday cards using Polka Dot Punches

Today's card design takes inspiration from a few different cards by the hugely talented Joanne, which I've combined and added my own little touches to.

I also decided to make the same card in two different colour ways. If you come across a design you like then it's worth completing a few  different colour combinations. I find that I get on a roll in creating the elements of the card and it seems to go much quicker than producing two totally unique cards.

I'll explain how I put the Coral version together and then provide a list of colour substitutions. 

I started with Apricot Appeal for the card blank. Using Cameo Coral ink I stamped the 5 petal flower from the Polka Dot Punches set onto Cameo Coral card three times. (Don't forget - there's only two weeks left to get these stamps).

 I did the same with Old Olive ink onto Certainly Celery card and punched all six flowers/leaves out with the 5 petal punch (so much quicker than cutting them all out). To create dimension I scored from the centre of the flower down the 

centre of each petal and then in between each petal and folded (valley fold in the petal centre and mountain fold for in between). Using Certainly Celery ink I stamped the flourish from the Season of Joy set (not just for Christmas see) onto a wide strip of Whisper White card and then added the dinky flower in Cameo Coral ink. Cameo Coral ink was also used to stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set onto this same mat. The flowers were positioned at the side of the stamping and attached with small Circle Fire rhinestone brads in yellow. I cut a piece of Certainly Celery card to mat onto but paper pierced it with the Cra

fters Toolkit and added faux stiching with the white Signo gel pen before sticking the two layers together. To save a little card (thrifty/tight - take your pick) I cut two narrower strips of Cameo Coral card, rather than one extra wide one, and punched with the Scallop Edge punch. This trim was added to the existing mat and stuck to the card front.

For the Plum card I made the following substitutions:

Apricot Appeal card blank = Pale Plum

Cameo Coral card flower = Pale Plum

Certainly Celery card leaves and paper pierced mat = Sage Shadow

Cameo Coral scallop trim = Perfect Plum

Cameo Coral ink on large/small flowers and sentiment = Perfect Plum

Old Olive ink on leaves = Sage Shadow

Yellow rhinestone brads = small clear rhinestone brads from Pretties Kit (also ideal would be lilac from Circle Ice set)

Hope you like them.

Sara xx

A positive negative polka dot heart combination

Today's card is another one for Kristina Werner's colour challenge. Colours this week are these:

Please excuse the quality of the photography. I didn't get home early enough to make the card and photograph it in natural light which I prefer to do. I may reshoot it tomorrow and update the photo. 

We don't have Riding Hood Red in the UK and so I went with Rose Red as a close match. Using the heart from the Polka Dot Punches set, I stamped with Versamark twice onto Whisper White card and twice onto Basic Black. I added white embossing powder to the black card and black embossing powder to the white card and applied the heat tool. The four hearts were matted onto Rose Red card. This was paper pierced and faux stitching added. These layers were then stuck onto a card blank made from Basic Gray cardstock. Using the dinky With Love sentiment from the Yummy set, I stamped again with Versamark onto Whisper White card and embossed with black powder. I trimmed this to a tag shape and attached it to the front of the card with a fancy brad from the Hodgepodge kit.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

A flowery thank you card to fulfil a colour challenge

I'm home working again due to the snow and so I've been able to use my lunch hour to play at Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge - well at least some good has come of the bad weather, heehee. Kristina's colours this week are these.I decided to start with the More Mustard as my base cardstock. Using the 5 petal flower stamp from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set (click here to found out how to get it for free) I stamped in Old Olive ink onto Old Olive card 5 times. I stamped 3 times in Taken with Teal ink onto Whisper White card and twice with Versamark and white embossing powder onto Taken with Teal card. All flowers and leaves were punched out with the 5 petal punch. The flowers were attached to the leaves with a More Mustard brad through the centre. 

Using the Thank U sentiment from the True Friend stamp set I stamped once onto Taken with Teal card with Versamark and white embossing powder and once with More Mustard ink onto So Saffron card, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to centre the image. The corners and the area under the Thank U were paper pierced and the So Saffron card was matted onto the card blank. The white flowers were stuck flat to the card and the teal flowers were raised on dimensionals . I cut the U from the teal card and attached half a dimensional to each stem before positioning it over the mustard Thank U. 

Well we had another 3-4" of snow this morning and here's the view out of the back window. Pretty ain't it? This is about as tidy as my garden is going to look all year *grinning*.

Keep warm and safe.

Sara xx

A sunny birthday card on a grey day using a free stamp set

Well, the good news is that I'm feeling a whole lot better today. The bad news is that means that I'll have to go back to work tomorrow. But at least it's nearly the weekend.

It's been a miserable grey day here today and so I decided to make a card in warm sunny colours to try to balance things out. I took the layout from a sketch challenge over on Splitcoaststampers.

I started with Old Olive cardstock as my base and matted it with So Saffron card and paper from the Haiku Designer Paper Series. Two more strips of a different paper from the same collection were matted onto Old Olive. 

Using the 5 petal flower from the Polka Dot Punches set (click here to found out how to get this for free) I stamped twice each with Old Olive ink onto Old Olive card and with Really Rust ink onto So Saffron card. I then used the 5 petal flower punch to punch these out. A More Mustard brad from the Earth Elements set was added to the centre of each flower and leaf set and the whole was stuck on with a dimensional. I used the Happy Birthday stamp from the Circle of Friendship stamp set with Really Rust ink on So Saffron card and the large spiral flower from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set on the same. I punched the spiral flower with the Scallop Circle punch and punched a plain scallop circle in Old Olive. The two scallop circles were rotated and matted. I punched the Happy Birthday with the 1" circle punch. The Happy Birthday was raised on a dimensional.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Man's valentine card with faux metal and wire

As I made a dainty, romantic valentine earlier in the week I thought I'd go for a hard metal look today, suitable to make a man's valentine. I also noticed that I've made quite a few valentine cards recently and so I've gone back and added extra labels to them all so that you can find them in one place with the label Valentine now.

I used Elegant Eggplant as my base cardstock. To make the faux metal heart, I used a square piece of mountboard (I use it for framing my photos) but any piece of strong card will work. The stronger the card the less it will curl when you heat it with the layers of embossing powder. I tapped Versamark ink all over the square then dipped it in silver embossing powder and heated. While the embossing powder is still molten I dipped again into the silver powder and worked through these steps until I had 4 layers in total. With the last silver layer still molten I pressed the heart stamp from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set into the embossed layers and waited a few seconds for it to cool slightly before removing the stamp. 

Taking the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment from the Seasonal Wishes set I stamped with Versamark onto Elegant Eggplant, added silver embossing powder (only the single layer this time) and embossed with the heat tool. Both the heart and the sentiment were matted onto Lavender Lace card. I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch a couple of holes top and bottom of the heart and threaded with silver elastic cord, securing the ends at the back of the card. The heart and the sentiment were both raised with dimensionals and I put the sentiment over the top of the lower cords.

Keep Stampin'.

Sara xx

Dainty, romantic valentine in soft colours with heat embossing on vellum

Wayhay! I've done it - I've made a valentine and not a scrap of Ruby Red in sight. This is definitely one I think of as a real girlie valentine, very soft, dainty and romantic.

I used Blush Blossom as my base cardstock. Then using Versamark ink on paper vellum I stamped the heart from the free Polka Dot Punches stamp set, three times in a row. (Click here for details of how to get the free stamps.) Now to get those hearts lined up fairly straight and even, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig with the vellum placed over Grid Paper. I poured white embossing powder over the end hearts and gold embossing powder over the central heart and then heated with the Heat Tool. Embossing on vellum is a little quicker than on card so take care not to over do it. I slightly overheated the gold - the powder melted too far and so the dots aren't quite so sharp.

I then used my Scallop Edge punch top and bottom 

of the vellum and decorated those frills with some paper-piercing. Glue shows through vellum and so I masked where I had stuck it to the card by adding a couple of narrow strips of Blush Blossom textured card over the top.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Simple Valentine pyramid card - using free stamp set

Today I've done another simple valentine card using the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. In case you've missed it previously, this is one of four limited edition stamp sets that you can get for free, simply by spending £45 or more on any goodies from the Stampin' Up! catalogue. If you order from me within the next week or so then you will get your stamps in plenty of time to create your Valentine's card. Details of the offer are here, you can browse the catalogue to create your wish list by clicking here, then email your order to me at sarastamper123@gmail.com.

For today's card I've used Ruby Red cardstock (yet again - but I promise to use something different for the next valentine's card :-) ) and cut and scored the card used a pyramid card template. The little border on the bottom was created using the Scallop Edge punch on Whisper White card and the sentiment is from the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. By the way, there's a misprint for this set in the UK catalogue and instead of "Happy Thanksgiving" we get "Easter Wishes" - much better. 

A narrow strip of Ruby Red card also decorates the border which runs round all three sides of the card. The hearts are stamped in Ruby Red ink, cut out and mounted with dimensionals. There's plenty of space on the back/inside of the card for a personal message to your valentine.

Keep Stampin'

Sara xx

Valentine gift box to match simple valentine card

Today I've made a little gift box to match the simple valentine's card that I made earlier. Details of that card can be found by clicking here.

Ruby Red cardstock was used to create the box. I stamped directly onto the box front in Ruby Red ink with the From the Heart sentiment, one of the Seasonal Wishes stamp set. Using the heart from the Polka Dot Punches set I stamped twice onto Whisper White (also with Ruby Red ink), cut out the two hearts and layered them onto the box front with dimensionals. I decorated the top of the box with some Holiday Treasures designer series paper to echo the card. The fastening is Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon.

I love creating matching sets. Hope you like it too.

Sara xx

Dotty gift box using free stamp set

For today's little gift box I've used one of the free stamp sets available from 1 January 2009 in the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration. Click here for more details. 

I used a pillow box template to cut and score the shape from Pumpkin Pie cardstock. Using Versamark I stamped all over the cut shape with the small flower from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. 

This is a fantastic set because it's designed to work with your punches  - hence the name, ha. It matches the 5-petal flower, the scallop circle and the 1-1/4" circle punches (this last one gives a trim fit but you could always use a larger circle). 

I stuck a strip of chocolate chip flowered paper from the Sweet Always series around the shortest sides of the box, offsetting it from the centre slightly. Narrow grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip was wrapped around the longer sides and ties the box closed. The large polka dot flower was stamped onto Whisper White cardstock in Only Orange ink (I don't have any Pumpkin Pie yet but as you can see this tones really well anyway) and punched with the scallop circle punch. I used dimensionals to stick the flower bridged over the ribbon, so that the ribbon can be slid out and reused (am I the only one that looks to reuse embellishments - I bet that all my friends just chuck all the bits in the bin, LOL).

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx

Simple Valentine card - low fuss, man's valentine card

Well that's Christmas done, so I'm thinking now about Valentine's Day. I know that some men aren't keen on fussy cards and so this quick and easy card may fit the bill for them. 

I've used Ruby Red cardstock for the base card and also to mat the large heart onto. I used Ruby Red ink to stamp the love panel from the A Little Bit of Happiness stamp set (a Level 1 hostess gift). The same ink was used to stamp the heart from the Polka Dot Punches stamp set. This is one of the fab freebie sets available in the Sale-a-bration that starts on 1 January (see yesterday's post for more info). I've layered the love panel onto Regal Rose cardstock and Holiday Treasures designer series paper. Dimensionals (foam pads) were used to raise the large heart (apologies - the photo doesn't really show the 3-d effect, it's really dismal and gloomy here today).

Note - photo edited on 29 December, once I had better light.

The only techniques used in this card are stamping (single colour), cutting and sticking so this is a great card for a beginner to try. 

Happy stampin'.

Sara xx