Howdy Friend

Good afternoon!

How are you? We are having some lovely weather here in Norfolk at the moment. I am not one to sit out in the sun, but it's great being able to have doors and windows open and let all that fresh air into the house.

I was so exited to be able to get hold of one of the turnabout stamp sets by Concord & 9th along with a co-ordinating die set. Finding these stamp sets in stock is like trying to find hens teeth!

I fell in love with the cactus themed stamps and dies called 'To the point'. I went with a lovely colour scheme of pool, pink, peach and lime.

A stamping platform is needed to use the turnabout stamp set. This will help to create the perfect lined up background.

What you need...

Stamps:

To the Point Turnabout - Concord & 9th
Surf & Turf - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Key Lime, Peach Bellini, Sea Breeze, Bubblegum Pink - Gina K
Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Dies:
To the Point - Concord & 9th

Glitter pen:
Sparkle Crystal Clear - Spectrum Noir

Basic supplies:
Card stock, adhesives, foam sheets

What you do...

1 Use a stamping platform to create the cactus background using Key Lime, Peach Bellini, Bubblegum Pink and Sea Breeze inks. Trim away a 4.5cm x 14.4cm section.

2 Cut a piece of white card 5cm x 14cm and use the Bubblegum Pink ink pad to colour down the vertical sides. Mat the cactus panel onto this piece and adhere to the right of a 10.5cm x 14cm white top fold blank.

3 Use the ink pads to colour some white card stock. Cut the cactus from Key Lime, the pot from Sea Breeze, the heart from Bubblegum Pink and the flowers from Peach Bellini. Die cut the 'Howdy' and the trim from black card.

4 Die cut the cactus, pot and heart from foam and assemble the cactus as shown. Attach to the left of the stamped panel. Add the 'Howdy' to the top right of the blank and stamp 'Friend' from the Surf & Turf set below.

5 Highlight the cactus flowers with Sparkle Crystal Clear.

Colouring white card stock with ink pads is a great way of matching card to stamped images. These Gina K ink pads give lovely, vibrant and even coverage. Plus, as they are dye based they dry really quickly and don't smudge.

I can't wait to do this card in another colour scheme, maybe using shades of greens and blues.

I want to give this card to a friend when I see her to thank her for my birthday goodies, and for just being there for me now that I am on my own.

Thank you for popping by, I am now going to have some tea and I will be back soon with another cute make.

Hello Honey

Hello there!

I hope you are all well.

So, I'm back with another make. This one being really cute. It mixes up two sets from Paper Smooches, Bee Mine and Blossoming Buds.

What you need...

Stamps:

Bee Mine - Paper Smooches
Blossoming Buds - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Dies:
Bee Mine Icons - Paper Smooches

Promarkers:
Pink Pearl*, Cool Aqua, Mandarin, Sand Dune*, Yellow, Sunflower, Lime Green, Ice Grey 1
*Limited Edition Colours

Embellishments:
White pearls

What you do...

1 Stamp the floral cluster onto white card stock and colour in. Stamp the bee onto white card stock, colour in and cut out.

2 Add the bee to the floral panel with foam pads and trim to 10cm square. Stamp the sentiment in the top left corner.

3 Mat onto a 10.5cm square lime card blank. Decorate with some pearls.

I've had my Promarkers for quite a few years now and when Letraset did the limited edition sets I collected them all. It will be a shame when they run out as they are not around anymore. I keep hoping that Winsor & Newton will bring them back.

I like to use both Copic and Promarkers. Even though I have the full range of colours in both brands, there are some shades of colours in one brand that the other doesn't have. I find that when I do use both, they blend together really well. 

I love this little card, it's so bright and cheery. It's perfect to send to someone in these lonely times just to let them know that you are thinking about them.

I don't know what it is about Paper Smooches stamps, the images always bring a smile to my face. They are also a dream to colour in.

Thank you so much for popping by and I'll be back soon with another card. Take care and stay safe!

Poppy Thanks

Hello there!

I hope you are all keeping well.

I'm back with another card to share with you. This one I made for some dear friends to thank them for the birthday goodies they gave me.

I decided to go elegant with a beautiful stamp set by Altenew called Poppy Garden. I also used the co-ordinating stencil and mask set. I created the background with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Candied Apple. The photo doesn't really do the colour justice as the red in real life is a very bright true red. The centre of the poppy was highlighted with dimensional gloss by Nuvo.

So without further ado, here it is...

What you need...

Stamps:

Poppy Garden - Altenew

Stencils/masks:
Poppy Garden Mask Stencil - Altenew

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things
Candied Apple Tim Holtz Distress Oxide - Ranger

Die:
Thanks - Paper Smooches

Dimensional medium:
Morning Dew Crystal Drops - Nuvo

Glitter Spray:
Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray - Imagine Crafts

Embellishments:
Droplets - The Stamp Market

What you do...

1 Stamp the poppy towards towards the lower right corner of white cardstock 10cm x 14cm. Mask off and stamp several leaves.

2 Keeping the masks in place, apply the Candied Apple ink with a blending brush (or sponge). Blend so that the colour gently fades towards the top of the piece of card.

3 Spritz the panel with the shimmer spray, when dry remove the masks and trim the card to 9.5cm x 13.5cm. 

4 Die cut the 'thanks' several times in white card and once in black. Stack the layers finishing with the black one on top. Add to the panel just above the poppy.

5  Mat onto a white top fold blank 10cm x 14cm with foam tape.

6 Add some Nuvo drops to the centre of the poppy and attach a few droplets around the poppy to decorate.

This is another card that is a little different for me, but I so enjoyed playing with the ink and masks. It got quite messy at one point and with the ink being bright red it looked like I had massacred someone.

I love the subtle sheen that the shimmer spray gives to the background. I also like it when you get a few larger droplets of it.

I'm going to have another play with this stamp set and masks and maybe create a card where the poppies are coloured and the background is left white.

Thank you for stopping by, keep safe and well and I'll be back soon. 

Ketchup

Hello there!

I hope you are still keeping well. 

I am so off the plot at the moment. It was my birthday yesterday and I didn't realise it was coming up until the other day, plus normally today we celebrate Mayday in the UK, but I only remembered earlier today that this year it has been moved to Friday the 8th to celebrate VE day. I really need to leave orbit and come back to earth!

Anyway, on with today's card. I was going through my lovely Paper Smooches stamps sets and decided on this cute little fellow.

What you need...

Stamps:

Vegtastic - Paper Smooches
Picture It - Avery Elle

Dies:
Vegtastic - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Patterned paper:
Highline 6x6 Paper Pad - Basic Grey

Copic:
Cool Gray C-1, Cool Gray C-3, Salmon Red R05, Cadmium Red R27, Green Bice YG01, Acid Green YG07

What you do...

1 Stamp the photo frame and cut out along with the inner section. Add Cool Grey 1 and 3 to add definition.

2 Back the inner section with a piece of the yellow patterned paper from the Basic Grey pad.

3 Stamp the 'Washi' tape strips, colour in and cut out.

4 Stamp the tomato, colour and cut out using the matching die. Fix the tomato to the patterned section of the photo frame.

5 Stamp the 'comment' section to the frame and the speech bubble with the 'We must ketchup' sentiment. Cut out the speech bubble.

6 Attach the photo frame to a white top fold 10.5cm x 14.5cm blank. Add the 'Washi' strips and the speech bubble.

After the lockdown has ended, this would be an excellent card to send to a friend to arrange a coffee and a good catch up chat.

Sadly the Picture It set is no longer available, however there are other stamp sets featuring Polaroid style frames by other brands out there. There are some dies available too. Alternatively you could create your own picture frame by cutting a rectangle with rounded corners and snipping out a section from the centre. There are also lots of stamp sets out there with speech bubbles.

I hope you like my cute little make. I've never seen such a happy tomato! 

I'm going to sign off for now. Thanks for popping by and I'll be back soon.