Happy Monday everyone! Apologies if you struggled to see my blog yesterday; my web hosting company was undertaking some account migration activity that was supposed to be 'behind the scenes', but resulted in some outages along the way. My website still isn't fully functioning but my blog is at least now back online - let's hope it stays that way!

I am starting the week off bright and early with a card for this week's challenge over at TGIF Challenges where the theme is to use the negative space left after making a die cut in a positive way:

This is a technique I love to use and can be very effective. Here's the card I made for my lovely Mother-In-Law's birthday last week that demonstrates it beautifully:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Large Letters Framelits - I used my Large Letter Framelits to create the negative die cut space on my card. I've said it before, but in case you were sleeping/skipped a bit/not paying attention or all of the above, these framelits, whilst pricey, are an investment item - they will see you through so many projects they are well worth the spend.

Floral Boutique - My negative space not only makes light work of some important personalisation here, but it also serves to showcase this gorgeous navy and white Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper. The hand-painted blooms are gorgeous and the negative space does a great job of focusing in on the paper, which would not stand out as much if the positive die cut letters had been used.

Finishing Touches - The 'happy birthday' from Birthday Basics completes my sentiment, along with a couple of rhinestones and some Night of Navy solid baker's twine tied in a bow. I used the Floral Phrases stamp set to decorate the envelope and inside of my card too.

This type of card is quite straightforward to make; the most important consideration is to ensure your letter dies are perfectly aligned. I am happy to report that my Mother-in-Law loved her birthday card, which co-ordinated with some Floral Boutique goodies as a birthday gift. Me - I loved this card so much, I created a masculine version for my Dad, who celebrates his birthday tomorrow; hopefully I'll share this one later this week. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any.   

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Large Letters Framelits Dies	Floral Boutique Designer Series Paper	Night Of Navy Solid Baker's Twine	Night Of Navy A4 Cardstock	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

I've been busy today mass-producing cards to be sent out with my Autumn-Winter Stampin' Up! catalogues which are all ready to be sent out to the customers on my mailing list in readiness for the live date of 1st September. I'll share those cards another day - let me know if you would like a copy of the new catalogue and you don't already have a demonstrator and I will add you to my mailing list and send you one.

Meanwhile, today I'm sharing a card that I made at my Foxy Friends class earlier this month that is perfect for this week's challenge over at CASology where the code word is FUN: 

The focus for the class was to use the Foxy Friends stamp set and co-ordinating Fox Builder Punch to create some characters other than the obvious ones. If you look on Pinterest there are lots and lots of examples of things you can make with this versatile set. I thought I'd have a little fun and created this lovable character:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

A Cheshire Cat - I decided to use the stamp set to make a cat, but not just any feline - rather the Cheshire Cat from the novel Alice in Wonderland. Really easy to do - I just changed the colouring to the pink and purple that makes this cat easily recognisable. I positioned my cat behind the letter 'L', kind of curled around it as cats do.

Smile - It's Those Large Letters Again - Besides colour, the one thing the Cheshire Cat is know for, particularly in the Disney movie animation of the novel, is his toothy smile. I couldn't give him a toothy grin, so instead decided to use my Large Letter Framelits to create the word 'smile' to tie my sentiment to the image. I know these letter framelits are pricey, but for cards like this they are so worth it. Since I have them, I will definitely be making sure they pay for themselves with lots of varied use.

Colour Trio - To preserve the CAS feel of my card,I limited my colour palette predominantly to Flirty Flamingo Pink and Rich Razzleberry, although the white cardstock that I stamped my cat onto plays an important role as the narrow outline really helps to define the animal's shape. Here's my colour combination in case you would like to save it for future use:

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Large Letters Framelits Dies	Foxy Friends Photopolymer Bundle	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad	Rich Razzleberry A4 Cardstock
Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

Happy Wednesday everyone! As promised, I have another project today using the limited time stamp set and thinlits bundle 'Thoughtful Branches' - a home decor frame that includes my family tree. As soon as I saw this set I knew it would be perfect for a family tree idea that I've had in mind for a while, so combined with my 'Letters For You' stamp set and co-ordinating Large Letters Framelits I set to work. Here is my finished project:

This is a rather large project - it has a finished frame size of 9" x 19 3/4" - so was something of a challenge to photograph - but I absolutely love it! 

Here's the low-down on today's project:

Letters For You - I recently invested in this letters bundle - 'invested' being the key word here, as at £119.50 the bundle is the most expensive in the catalogue - but so worth it for projects like this one. The set has the whole alphabet along with useful punctuation and just like the Large Numbers Framelits and Number of Years stamp set, it is a set that can be used for so many projects and is timeless - a definite 'keeper'. I stamped my letters in Early Espresso and cut them out using my Big Shot and co-ordinating framelits, then substituted the 'I' in 'FAMILY' with my family tree.

Thoughtful Branches Tree - I stamped and cut out my tree trunk, then in order to create a tree big enough to comfortably accommodate my family members, I cut three treetops and layered them to create a fuller tree. Each one was backed with another base (so I cut 6 tree tops in all) for rigidity and I layered them together for added dimension. 

Family Touches - I stamped the names of each of my family members in black onto Whisper White cardstock using the modern Labeler Alphabet and cut them out by hand, then placed them in my tree in descending order of age and with a couple of birds to identify the parents and the apples identifying my children. Here's a close up of the tree so that you can see all of the elements in more detail:

This took longer to work out and put together than explain - but I am so pleased with the end result and am looking forward to hanging it on the wall. You are so going to want to get the Thoughtful Branches Bundle this month!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'm linking today's project up with the team over at SUO Challenges where the theme this week is 'Delightful Dies' - the two I've used on this project are definitely firm favourites.

Enjoy your day; I'm off for a bike ride and some fresh air whilst the unpredictable British weather holds! I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Thoughtful Branches Photopolymer Bundle	Letters For You Photopolymer Bundle	Labeler Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Cardstock	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad