I hope you are all enjoying your weekends. So far mine has been spent doing laundry, assisting the James Juniors with their homework (Ted Hughes poetry and an art project today!) and preparing for my technique classes next week. I did find time to finish a card that I started yesterday though: another Valentine's card, using this week's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the top line of the tic-tac-toe board over at Stamps, Ink, Paper and fitting with the 'love' theme over at Paper Craft Crew too.

In order to fit in my large sentiment, I went with an unusual 8 1/4" x 5 1/2" sized card - take a look:

I stamped the 'l v e' from the 'Larger Than Life Alphabet and Numbers' stamp set in Versamark and heat embossed them in black, then substituted the 'o' from my 'love' sentiment with the heart from the 'First Sight' set, which I stamped in Real Red on Real Red cardstock, then overstamped again in Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder for additional shine. I used a piece of Everyday Chic designer series paper for my border panel and finished off my sentiment inside the card with one of the 'Hello You' thinlits and an outline stamped red heart:

I even created a custom envelope with some Real Red envelope paper and the help of my trusty Envelope Expert tool, which I also decorated with a stamped red heart.

I love the layers of this card and the letters shine beautifully; I think this may be one of my favourite Valentine's cards that I've ever made. Today's blog title comes from the combination of one of the stamp sets I've used today and the sentiment and it got me thinking - I remember meeting my now husband for the first time and thinking even then he would be the man I would one day marry; I do believe there is such a thing as love at first sight - do you? Do leave me a comment below today's post - I would love to know what you think.  

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with a new card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

First Sight Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Sweetheart Punch	Larger Than Life Alphabet & Numbers Photopolymer Stamp Set	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red A4 Cardstock	Everyday Chic Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
Heat Tool (Uk)	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the sweet Jaydee to host and she has a tic-tac-toe for you to play along with:

When I was considering which squares to use to create my card, I noticed that none of the other girls on the team had used purple. This is one of my favourite colours, so I decided to use this as my starting point. I was also drawn to the black and white striped background and central focal image of Connie Collins' card for 'Case The Designer' over at The Global Design Project, so wanted to combine the two. I settled on the top row - flowers, bling, purple - for my card today:

My background paper is from the 'Go Wild' paper stack - these papers are not just great for animal prints! I used a trio of purples for my flowers, die cut using the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies, and I used them to frame my birthday sentiment from the Tin of Cards stamp set - I just love the fonts in this set. My 'bling' is in the form of a liberal dose of Wink of Stella on my main flower and a scattering of rhinestones across my card. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's tic-tac-toe challenge - so many creative possibilities! Rebecca is playing in a hockey tournament today so I shall be wrapped up warm with a mug of tea in hand as I watch and hoping for a little craft time this afternoon. Enjoy your Sunday however you are spending it!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Botanical Builder Framelits Dies	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Big Shot	Go Wild Designer Series Paper Stack
Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Elegant Eggplant A4 Cardstock	Perfect Plum A4 Cardstock	Neutrals Candy Dots
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Pear Pizzazz A4 Cardstock	Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Happy Friday everyone! Firstly, I must say a big 'thank you' to everyone who came by to see yesterday's Mrs Potts and Chip card - I have received many wonderful comments on this card both here on my blog and wherever I've shared it, so thank you all so much! Whereas yesterday's card was a little more involved, today's card is almost as CAS as it get! I managed to snatch a quick 10 minutes at my desk this evening so made this Valentine's card for a few challenges:

I went with the top link of the tic-tac-toe board over at Stamp Ink Paper and red/punch or die cut/heart and also used the tilted sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches to add a little more red to my sketch, which is the theme over at Addicted to CAS. Here's my card:

A Real Red base, a twisted panel of white and a simple sentiment; I used the heart-shaped 'steam' die from the Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies for my heart, which I cut out of red foil for a little dimension and shine. So clean, so simple - and I love it!

That's all from me today; back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bloomin' Love Photopolymer Stamp Set	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Big Shot	Red Foil Sheets

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

Now as my regular readers know I love a good sketch but it wasn't actually the sketch that inspired my card today; I was working on a couple of projects at the same time and had my Cups and Kettle Framelits Dies still out on my desk from my Paper Players card (if you missed it you can see that card here) and the minute I set eyes on that little cup (or it might even be a milk jug, I'm not sure) I just knew it would be perfect to make Chip, the little cup from Disney's movie 'The Beauty and The Beast' - you know the little guy I mean?

 (Copyright Disney)

Paired with a customised teapot for Mrs Potts, Chip's Mum, this sketch gave me the perfect layout to showcase my fun characters - here's my finished card:

Now I know I'm biased since I made the card, but aren't that pair just the cutest?! So how did I make them? Here are the key component parts you need:

• Basic teapot and cup cut from Shimmery White cardstock (I reversed my cup for the above card as I wanted the characters to be looking at each other)
• Cupbase and teapot base made from the base of the other cup framelit cut from Wisteria Wonder
• Cut an extra teapot and cup in Daffodil Delight and trim off the handles and some strips to edge the bases
• Cut three of the looped framelit pieces, one each in Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Pink Pirouette. Detach and use one whole yellow loop to line the cup. Snip the blue and pink ones in half across the middle and glue them in alternating colours to the Wisteria Wonder base.
• Cut a teapot lid out of Wisteria Wonder and add a Pink Pirouette candy dot to the lid top. 
• Cut two pieces of the wave shapes, one each from Daffodil Delight and Wisteria Wonder. Paper-piece them together and adhere to the teapot edge to create the frill.
• Punch some eyes using the circle from the owl builder punch, adding eyelids and eye lashes to Mrs Potts and cut the eyebrows and mouths freehand with paper snips. 
• Lastly, don't forget to snip to add Chip's chip!

I stamped a faint heart on the background, added a strip of 'Have a Cuppa' designer series paper and a heart boarder, along with my sentiment, to complete my card. Punch art-type cards like this are sometimes time-consuming to create, but so worth it I think for a special card!

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Cups & Kettle Framelits Dies	A Nice Cuppa Photopolymer Stamp Set	Have A Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock
Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate A4 Cardstock
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Hearts Border Punch	Owl Builder Punch

Another quick silhouette card from my brayer class today - this one featuring the birds in a tree stamp from the Serene Silhouettes stamp set:

This card uses a similar pieced silhouette technique that I used on yesterday's card, with the sunset sky panel made from a combination of Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Real Red inks. I used the sentiment from the 'Wetlands' stamp set again and this time in addition to my black mat and Pumpkin Pie card base, I added a piece of black satin ribbon tied around the bottom of the panel.

A quick post from me today; do come back tomorrow to see what I created for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary - I have something rather special to share!

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Serene Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Brayer	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon
Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Wetlands Clear Stamp Set

I've spent a lovely day today teaching a group of ladies how to brayer in a Brayer Technique Masterclass and witnessed lots of lovely sunsets and beautiful colour schemes as they learned the 'do's and don'ts' of perfecting the technique. Today's card is one of the ones we made, practising creating a monochromatic ombre:

We used a small 3/4" circle of post-it note to mask out a moon, then having brayered in the blue sky, I stamped the tree image partially off the panel in Black Archival ink and mounted this onto a mat of Basic Black. I then stamped the tree again on the Tempting Turquoise card base, using my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up with the partial stamped image. I added my sentiment from the 'Wetlands' stamp set to complete my card. 

I'm linking my card up again with the lovely ladies over at Less Is More whose challenge this week is to use a silhouette on your card. I like the way the partial stamping adds interest to the silhouette on this otherwise monochromatic card and this card was a great way to start today's class. Here's a shot of my ladies hard at work and having fun:

Very messy, but well worth it! 

If you would like to join one of my classes, please do get in touch for details of upcoming classes or check out the listings on my web page here. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Brayer	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Serene Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Wetlands Clear Stamp Set
3/4" Circle Punch	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

The weekend is over and it's Monday again - where does the time go?! I'm finally finding the time today to share a card that I featured in part on my Facebook Page last week. This particular card was a commission for a client - a bride and groom with a romantic sunset of pinks and purples:

This card doesn't have a great deal of stamping, apart from the sentiment from the ever-popular 'Sassy Salutations' stamp set. The bride and groom were cut using my e-cutter having set them into a frame, but the real star of the show for this card I think is the beautiful brayered background. I masked the moon using a piece of post-it note punched with a 1 1/4" circle punch, then brayered the entire background using a combination of Perfect Plum, Rose Red, Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry. So very pretty!

I am entering today's card into this week's challenge over at Less Is More where this week the recipe is 'Silhouettes'. I was thrilled to be the LIM winner in December and so far I haven't managed an entry in January due to other commitments. This week I am going to make up for this though with not just one, but (at least!) two entries; I've been making samples for an all-day brayering technique class that I'm holding tomorrow so have lots of silhouettes to share! 

Back tomorrow with one of my basic brayer class cards that is perfect for the 'Less Is More' theme!

Until then, happy stampin!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

1-1/4" Circle Punch	Brayer	Sassy Salutations Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad	Perfect Plum Classic Stampin' Pad	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the lovely Nance to host and she has my favourite type of challenge, a sketch, for you to play along with:

For my card this week I was inspired to use my Cups and Kettle Framelits Dies and co-ordinating 'Have A Cuppa' Designer Series Paper Stack for a fun card:

My colour scheme was taken directly from the paper stack and my card is otherwise really quite self explanatory. I added a White Perfect Accent to my teapot lid and some clear Wink of Stella to the steam heart above the spout for added shimmer. I love the bright colours in these papers and the many little elements in the framelit set - endless creative possibilities! 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. We have a an important day of sport today: Ben is playing basketball this morning and no hockey this week as Rebecca has an afternoon of swimming with County trials today - wish us luck!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

A Nice Cuppa Photopolymer Bundle	Have A Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack	Have A Cuppa Cardstock Pack	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Banner Triple Punch	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush
White Perfect Accents

I've had a busy day today with housework and homework, but fortunately a little crafting time too! I made a clean and simple Valentine's card for the following challenges:

Global Design Project, TGIF Challenges and SUO Challenges all have a Love-Valentine's theme and this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch provided me with the perfect layout for what I had in mind:

Using a Pool Party base, I took a piece of Shimmery White cardstock and washed it lightly from top to bottom with my Aquapainter and some Pool Party ink. then stamped a cluster of heart-shaped balloons in Blushing Bride and Watermelon Wonder, with Smoky Slate strings, using the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set. I heat embossed my sentiment in White on a popped up banner of Watermelon Wonder. This card has a wonderful lustre and sparkle in real life as a result of the shimmery white cardstock that is difficult to see in the photo and I just love the soft, almost watercoloured stamp effect of the balloons. One stamp set, one card - what's not to love?!

That's my card for today; come back tomorrow for a new challenge over at The Paper Players when I will be sharing another new set for the first time with you. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Banner Triple Punch	Shimmery White A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad
Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)

It's Friday - who doesn't love a Friday?! Today I have a rather special birthday card to share that is rather appropriate for this week's Can You Case It? Challenge where they too are celebrating their third birthday anniversary:

We have a choice of 'black, white and elegant' or 'black, white and fun': my project today is definitely the former - a lovely 6" shadow box frame birthday card featuring the Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper. My papers are black and vanilla rather than black and white, but I'm hoping the CYCI team will allow this! Here's the card:

To make the card itself, I followed this tutorial by the talented Amanda Bates. For the central panel, I used one of the patterned papers and added just a hint of sponged colour in Blushing Bride and I heat embossed my greeting in gold over the top. I then used a co-ordinating pattern for my frame decoration. Isn't that just lovely? I made this card for my mother-in-law who loves a black and white colour combination; I also made a co-ordinating gift bag and tag for her present using my Gift Bag Punch Board and a box to present my card in:

Whilst I'm not a massive fan of black and white as a colour combination, I do love the patterns in these papers and I think the colour combination can indeed look very elegant. More importantly, this card was made more with the recipient in mind rather than the creator and, since she loved it, I guess that's all that counts!

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper	Neutrals 12" X 12" Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Sponge Daubers	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Happy Birthday, Everyone Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Gift Bag Punch Board
Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon