What can I say? Busy, busy, busy! Now that my little ones are on holiday, I'm struggling to find blog time; usually I'm short on time to make up my creations (well, there's never enough time to put all one's creative ideas into practice!) but having got ahead of myself on the making front, I now can't seem  to get in front of my laptop. Hey ho - I am going to try and schedule a few posts starting tomorrow, so that should make things easier.

Now that I am here, I wanted to share with you the other of my 'Best of Flowers' cards featuring the floral bouquet. This time I went for a more colourful look and took the opportunity to use up some of my Tea For Two designer series paper:

I stamped the bouquet in Early Espresso, then picked up the colour of the rose on the DSP with my marker pen to create the central focus of my bouquet. I made this card notecard size, to fit in one of the crumb cake notelet envelopes. Quite different to the last card using this stamp, but altogether very pretty.

More fun in the sun tomorrow, but all being well will have something new to share with you too, so do pop back to see. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla Tea For Two Designer Series Paper (retired)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette, Old Olive

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Ovals Framelits

So I have a confession: I don't like all the stamps that Stampin' Up! has to offer! I like modern, clean and unfussy design and don't really go in much for the vintage, distressed look. So whilst I loved three of the four stamps in June's 'Best of Flowers' set, I struggled with the fourth one. The bouquet of roses had a real 'old fashioned' look I thought and I would probably have left it in the box uninked. I could happily spend endless hours creating things with the other three stamps in the set, each of which I love, but for the fact that I had decided to use this set for this month's card class and therefore felt I should use each of the stamps equally. After much huffing and puffing, I came up with a couple of cards and this is one, of them:

This is something of a departure from my usual style, but I quite like the way it turned out. It was also a great opportunity to teach the ladies in my class the double embossing technique, which enabled me to make the stamp the focal point, without creating an overly fussy design. Some sponging of Crumb Cake ink over the surface and some ruched seam binding ribbon were all that I needed to finish it off.

I think maybe it's the kind of card that grows on you; the more you look at it, the more appeal it has - some 'olde worlde' charm, perhaps! if you would like to own the 'Best of Flowers' set, it is still available to purchase for £13.95 until 31st March 2014. Equally, if you would like to join one of my card classes, do get in touch for more details - our September class will feature the new 'Mosaic Madness' stamp set, along with the coordinating punch and embossing folder.

Back tomorrow with another card I made using this stamp; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Crumb Cake

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Sponge Dauber

Finishing Touches: Crumb Cake `1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon

As anticipated, I didn't manage a blog post yesterday. After a full day on my feet, when I finally sat down yesterday evening I was absolutely good for nothing! Today has been a busy one too: swimming lessons and Rebecca's birthday pool party this afternoon. All good fun, if challenging as far as the weather is concerned - showers are most definitely the order of the day this weekend!

Anyway, on to today's project - I've another couple of cards to share with you, this time using the single daisy flower stamp. This is the new stamp in the set - and I love that it fits the 1 1/4" scallop circle punch. This is the first card I came up with:

A bright and cheery card - I love yellow! - with a shaped edge created by a row of punched daisies in shades of yellow with some colour blending on the petals. The centres were stamped separately and punched out with the circle from the Itty Bitty Punches pack. I also made another one with additional layering in a pink colourway:

I left this one sentiment-free as I sometimes do - I can always add the most appropriate sentiment at a later date. One last thing today before I go - as it was Rebecca's pool party today, I just thought I would share with you a picture of her amazing birthday cake:

I absolutely cannot take the credit for this work of art - it was made by Sharon, one of the ladies that attends my card classes. Isn't it just fabulous? Right down to the little flip flops. Perfect for my water baby, that's for sure.

I'll be back with something different to share tomorrow - until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers, Sassy Salutations

Cardstock: Whisper White, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose

Tools: 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 3/16" Corner Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch (circle)

I've had a very busy day baking today and making last minute preparations for a school summer fete tomorrow, so am rewarding myself with a trip to the cinema later to see 'Man of Steel' (well, Henry as a superhero - what could be better?!) As a result, an early blog post from me - well, it's either early or not at all, so I'm giving the illusion of being more organised at least!

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards I made with another of the sets from this month's 25th anniversary 'Best of Flowers' stamp set. I shared a couple here previously using the miniature daisy stamp; this time it's the turn of the hydrangea. I made a couple of cards, one in pink and one in blue, and whilst the stamp is a new version of an old favourite, the colours I chose are really the 'something old' I'm referring to here; here's the first card I made:

I chose a simple design and having inked my stamp with markers, I then used a blender pen to achieve a graduated colour on the blossom and leaves. I inset the flower in a square that I masked off and sponged around the edges for definition, in the same colour. Here's a close-up of the flower itself: 

I then decided to add an Itty Bitty 'Happy Birthday' banner by way of sentiment, and cut this out and popped it up on a couple of dimensionals so that I was not completely a one layer card. Here's the blue version in the same design:

Very simple - like me! - and monochromatic. Did you guess the colours? Yes, it's Regal Rose and Bashful Blue, both colours that are leaving us at the end of this month to make way for some new additions to our colour families. They both reminded me of hydrangea colours though and seemed to justify one last use.

So that's all for today; I won't promise a post tomorrow, as our school fete has a reputation for going on long into the night with clearing up and counting of money. If I'm home at a reasonable hour, I'll be sure to share another card and the day's events with you; if not, I'll see you Sunday. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers, Itty Bitty Banners

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Old Olive

Tools: Itty Bitty Banners Framelits, Sponge

What a lovely weekend! Today I spent the whole afternoon outside and enjoyed a lovely cycle ride with the rest of the family - I felt like we had to make the most of it; if it's like last weekend, it could be raining cats and dogs tomorrow! As promised yesterday, I have a couple of cards to share with you today featuring one of the stamps from this month's 25th anniversary 'Best of Flowers' stamp set.

In case you're wondering why I headed up this post 'Help the Heroes', these cards, along with two more that I will share tomorrow, were designed in answer to a request from a fellow crafter and member of my wider Stampin' Up! team, whose husband is serving in the RAF and will shortly be departing for another tour of duty to Afghanistan. Our brave serving forces have little or no access to nice cards to send whilst away and so she always sends a box or two so that they can have something a little different to plain paper to write their notes home and wondered if her fellow crafters would be prepared to help out too. All our forces do such a great job and events such as the recent killing of a soldier in Woolwich show just what a dangerous life they lead, both in battle and unfortunately sometimes at home too. I was happy to help, so set to work creating a selection of cards that I could make lots of, but also were post-friendly and didn't have glitter, gems or anything else that could transfer to the sender and potentially make them a target.

So, for the first design, I used the silhouetted daisy stamp from the 'Best of Flowers' set and created two identical cards in different colourways - one pink, one yellow. Here's the card in pink: 

I used the stamp to create a simple 'field of flowers' look by stamping in Melon Mambo and Pink Pirouette and stamping off to create degrees of colour and give the image a sense of depth of field. I then created a scored border and paper-pierced around the image for added interest. I then created a batch of the same card in yellow, using Daffodil Delight and So Saffron inks:

So which colour way do you prefer? I think I prefer the yellow one, just because it is so cheery and bright. I really love this little stamp and can think of lots more ways that I will be using it. I will be making other projects with the stamps in this set, so if the stamps in this set appeal to you, do pop back and see what else I make with them. If you would like to order this set, it costs £13.95 and you can check out the full set of stamps on the image in the side bar of my blog.

Tomorrow I will be sharing the other two cards I made for my Help For Heroes card bundle - two new designs, both using the Summer Silhouettes stamp set. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Best of Flowers

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron

Tools: Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Piercing Tool, Simply Scored