Black on Black Birthday Celebration card

 Why is it that celebrating my son's birthday makes me feel older than celebrating my own does??? My son is my youngest child and he just turned 25 😜 oh my day's where has the time gone? And next year will be worse my eldest daughter turns 40 😱... I must be getting old !!! 🤣. Anyway back to the card making, which by the way keeps me young 😉. Today's inspiration is the card I created for my son. He likes very graphic, architectural design and his colour palette is shades of grey, black with pops of reds and purple. With all that in mind and the fantastic Birthday Celebration stamps and dies to hand here is what I created.

I used basic black cardstock for the card base which is a piece of A4 cardstock folded in half to create an A5 card base. Then I used a piece of the Two-tone basic black cardstock and the number dies from the Birthday Celebration bundle and cut the numbers out, make sure to save the inner parts of the numbers. 

 The Two-tone cardstock has a darker side and a lighter side with a white core and comes in a range of colours.

Next adhere another mat of the Two-tone cardstock but with the lighter side uppermost to the card base. 

To add more texture to the card I used a 3d embossing folder from the sadly retired Basics 3d embossing folder pack.

I adhered the die cut panel onto the card base using  black 3d foam. I also added a piece of silver foil behind the number 25 to highlight it.

The sentiment was stamped in versamark and heat embossed with silver powder then die cut out using the largest banner die from the set.

Waste not want not is a great motto to help continue the decoration to the inside of the card don't you agree 😀

Well I'm pleased to say that my son liked his card and had a lovely birthday.  Would you try a black on black card?

Cute as can Bee scrapbooking

 Wow what a day I had yesterday!  Yesterday was the first scrapbook and memory keeping event I've ever held.... and it was amazing! The 10 lovely ladies who took part shared their creativity and their laughter at this fun event 😀.  The session was an introduction to scrapbooking and memory keeping . I designed a double page scrapbook layout, a very simple mini album and photo frame. All were designed using the oh so cute and pretty Cute as can Bee pattern papers and sticker sheet.

The colours in these papers and stickers are just delightful. 

For the event my focus was on clean and simple. The layout was designed to inspire but not overwhelmed the new scrappers. I wanted to show that you don't need lots of stash to create beautiful pages.

All the talented crafters who came knocked it out of the park! They added their own flair to their pages  and enjoyed playing with the layout which was amazing 👏 🤩 

As I watched them develop their layouts I was so inspired I just had to create my own stepped up version!

The simple additions of mats and extra embellishments whilst keeping to the feel of the original inspiration made for 2 new pages that still delight me. The mats and embellishments give the layouts more dimension.

Flagging the ends of the strips and adding some simple stamped bee trails give the layout extra movement. The placement of the photo mats also help give more movement to the pages.

All in all I'm loving these stepped up pages especially as they were inspired by the wonderful ladies who I had the pleasure of spending time with. Thank you all Heather, Karen, Lynn, Andrea, Ellen, Maria, Carole, Jackie,  Kay and Jane. You ladies rock 🤩 Can't wait for our next scrap-together 😀

Darling Dinos

 When I got my first glimpse of the January to April mini catalogue the stamp set that caught my heart straight away was the Darling Dinos.  Why have I waited to share a sample with it till now? Who knows! But today I'm making amends! 

The stamps are so cute and fun full of character and charm.

The stamps come with coordinating dies which include fun elements to enhance the stamps as well as cut out the images.

Darling dinos really are versatile but today's inspiration has a new baby vibe to it. The beautiful shades of yellow are not only non gendered but also cheerful and bring spring to mind 💛. 

The sentiment and hexagon shapes are from the Meant to Bee bundle another very cute stamp and die bundle. The sentiment words are cute as can bee but for today's card all you need to do to change it is to mask off the second "e" before inking the stamp up.

Use your scraps to give a simple splash of something to the inside of the card.

When I was tidying after making the card I really liked the shape that die cutting the dino out left and decided to use it to create this coordinating tag.

Don't you agree they look together? 

Terrific Toadstools

 What a day! It's wet, windy and wild here! So of course I had to make a bright and colourful card for today's inspiration 😅 . Stamping is my happy place and I love to create whatever the weather. But there is just something magical about listening to the wind and rain whilst snug indoors making some sunshine of your own isn't there?

To help bring the sunshine inside I chose to play with the fantastic Terrific Toadstools bundle of stamps and coordinating builder Punch. These stamps are perfectly matched with the amazing free with qualifying order pattern paper stack called Toadstool gardens. If you like the papers be quick because they'll be gone once sale-a-bration is over if not before!

Aren't they just gorgeous with their bright  pink, orange, green and lilac colour palette? So why not let the paper do the talking and make a simple fun fold that shows it off so well!

The card base is made using a piece of cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 18cm scored at 10.5cm.  ( 5½" x 7" scored at 4¼")

Then mat and layer to your hearts content 

Don't forget to decorate the white panel on the inside. This is where you will write your personal message. 

The focal point on the front is made by stamping and punching and fussy cutting the Toadstools.  Use the large toadstool topper on the punch to create the green hill onto which the toadstools are adhered. 

A simple fun fold that makes for a great smile inducing card with these bright colours and zany images. 

Ocean friends and friendly Seagulls thank you card

 How you all doing? It's cold,grey and damp in my small corner of the world 🫤 So to cheer myself up I've made a bright and zingy card using the fun Ocean Friends bundle of stamps and coordinating dies. As well as the amazing Friends of the Ocean pattern papers. These papers are really eye catching in a wonderfully bright and bold colour palette combined with a fun take on the ocean theme. Perfect if you're looking for something a little different or quirky. 

The ocean theme of the stamps and papers are a perfect match for the Friendly Seagulls

 Stamps that are part of the sale-a-bration 2025 exclusive free offering! You could recieve the stamps free if you purchased the Ocean Friends bundle and the Friends of the ocean pattern paper pack 😉

With all these fun products on my table knew I would have  great fun making a card with them. 

If you want to show off pattern papers then a simple z fold card is a great fun fold to do your papers justice.

 The card base is created with a piece of cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 21cm scored at 5.25cm and 10.5cm.  ( 8½" x 5½" scored at 2⅛" and 4¼"). Fold along the scorelines as a mountain fold then a valley fold, ie folding back upon it's self. 

Next cut a strip of cardstock measuring 5cm x 21cm and score at 5.25cm and 10.5cm. ( 2" x 8½" score at 2⅛" and 4¼")

Now decorate the panels of the card base with pattern paper. The adhere paper to the largest panel of the narrow strip and the small panel next to it. Then turn the stip over and add another piece of pattern paper to the final panel. 

Turn over again and adhere the end of the strip with the largest panel onto the front of the card base. Fold the strip along the scorelines both as mountain folds. 

With the larger panel adhered open the card and fold the 2 short panels behind it. Now apply adhesive to the last small panel and close the card base. This will ensure that the strip is now perfectly aligned.

With the card base complete decorate to your hearts delight. 

When closed the card will fit in a standard C6 (A2) envelope. Make sure that your decorations aren't over hanging when the card is closed.

When open the card stands really well and is sure to be a hit with the recipient 😀.

The picture above shows how the fold works.

If you decide that you need somewhere to write your personal message may I suggest that you add a piece of white cardstock to the large background panel of the card. This gives you even more space to decorate 😜.

Well I hope that you like this bright and zany card and will consider having a go at making one yourself.  

Friendly Seagulls pop out card

 Looking for a fun easy card ? Want to share something a little different?  Well I have just the card for you! Made using the sale-a-bration exclusive free stamp set Friendly Seagulls this easy pop out card is both fun to make and fun to receive 😀 

The Friendly Seagulls stamps are only available during the months of January and February.  They are free with a qualifying purchase and so worth getting 🤩 Fun and quirky they will add a little something different to your stash for sure.

The embossing folder used to decorate the front of the card is called Soft waves. This 3D embossing folder is just gorgeous 😍. 

The little boat is from a stamp set called Choose Happy.  A great photopolymer stamps set full of sentiments and cute images.

The card base is made using 2 pieces of cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 12cm both scored at 10.5cm. ( See the video at the bottom of this post for the how too)

The pattern paper used for the background on the inside front of the card is from a pack  called Everyday Skies.

The wood effect pattern paper is from a pack called Country Woods.

The seagulls and chip boxes are coloured using Blends which are alcohol markers. For the seagulls I used light and dark smoky slate and pumpkin pie. For the chips I used dark lemon lolly and for the boxes light and dark real red.

This easy pop out card  technique would work so well with other themes such as flowers, other cute critters, lego block... the list is only limited by your imagination! 

If you'd like to see how to make the fun card watch my video below

With you in mind best wishes cards

 Isn't colour a wonderful thing?  It is a way to share who we are, how we feel and so much more. But did you know that there is such a thing as colour theory? There's so much more to it than you might think. Today's cards are made using 2 of the basic 4 ways to combine colour. It all starts with a colour wheel. Now if you don't have one maybe take a look at pages  132 and 133 in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. You can even buy one here ! 

The Stampin' Up!  Color coach is a great tool to explore all the colours that Stampin' Up! offers and explore a little of colour theory.

So back to the cards. The stamps used are called With you in Mind. These photopolymer stamps are a fantastic size for both as focal points on the front of cards and as messages for the inside of your cards. The 5 solid image stamps are fun and oh so useful 👌 

The first card is made using a monochromatic palette.  This is great for those who are just starting out, those who have limited stash to play with and of course those who are just exploring colour. Monochromatic is where you take 1 colour and pair it with shades and tints of the same colour or just chose 1 colour and add white! This is a great way to start. 

I chose to use a lovely lilac colour called fresh freesia for both ink and cardstock and paired it with crisp white for a clean and fresh look.

The background is made by using the heart stamp to create flowers randomly stamped across the white mat. The stamps are photopolymer so make it very easy to position so that they slightly over lap. The  layers of ink as you stamp create  beautiful shades of the original colour.

A mat of fresh freesia cardstock and a white card base make for a simple card. The sentiment stamped again in fresh freesia onto white cardstock is then punched out using a circle punch. Layer this onto a fresh freesia circle slightly larger to tie everything together. Positioning the sentiment circles  slightly off the edge of the background mat and cutting the over hanging edges off makes for a quirky focal point to the card.

The second card has an analogous colour palette . An analogous colour palette is one where you chose three colours that are side by side on the colour wheel. These colour neighbours work together  beautifully to give a harmonious and balanced feel.

The colours in my sample are all shades of pink with an orange undertone. The lightest colour is called petal pink. The mid tone is called flirty flamingo and the darkest shade is  pretty in pink.

 

Instead of using any white cardstock for the background this card is made using the same petal pink colour cardstock as the base. The hearts are stamped in the same flirty flamingo pink as the cardstock mat and larger circle. This layering of colour on colour with the ink creates more unique shades of colour. The sentiment is stamped in the darkest pink, pretty in pink, to add another layer of colour to the project.

Which do you prefer?  The monochromatic colour palette? Or the analogous one?

Cake celebration birthday card

 How do you find inspiration?  It's a question I get asked quite a lot and today I thought I'd share one way that I get inspiration.... catalogues! That's right I use the beautiful projects made for catalogues as a fantastic source of inspiration. Years ago they they were described as being ideas books and that just stuck with me. Now in this digital age how does it work I hear you wonder 🤔 Well  if you go explore my Stampin' Up!  Online Shop you'll find projects galore. For every stamp, die, punch, pattern paper there are beautiful stylish project ideas shown. Whilst the ideas might be related to a certain product don't think that you need to use those products! Today's card was made using inspiration from 1 set but using something completely different! 

Today's inspiration is using the gorgeous Cake Celebration stamps and coordinating dies. But the inspiration was from and very different set called Hearts and Hugs! Cake celebration has a watercolour feel and is all about, as the name implies 😉, cake. Whilst the Hearts and hugs is what I call a cutesy animal based one. They're very different!

Here is the Hearts and Hugs sample from the online shop ...

Now I know I said it was an animal set but the coordinating dies have lots of extras in it which are featured in this sample.

Now here is what I created using the Cake celebration stamps and dies....

Can you see the similarities?  The use of the 3 panels of embossed cardstock. The use of 1 colour predominantly. The softening of the edges using time on tone ink blending.

Same but different.  This is what I call casing. This is where you use a card to inspire your own creation. Sometimes you will just tweak the original slightly. Other times you might just use it as a starting point. But there is always a connection to the original inspiration. I think to case a card is OK but please remember to give credit to the original inspiration and it's creator. 

Handmade Designs mini one sheet wonder

 Want a fun, quick and easy technique that makes 4 cards at once? Well today I've got you covered. I'm  calling the technique a mini one sheet wonder. 

I've also used another technique which I believe is called collage stamping. I've chosen to use the exclusive free stamp set called Handmade Designs. The set is only available for those who sign up during January and February 2025.  I've also used a set called Elements of text which is fantastic for this style of stamping. This set has a lovely mix of different size and style script and splodges.

Start with  piece of  cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 21cm ( 8½" x 5½) . Next gather your stamps and inks. I have chosen to use 2 shades of blue, 2 of lilac and a soft grey. As said before I used the Handmade Designs and elements of text stamps. When choosing the stamps think about both outline and solid stamps as this helps to create the collage feel.

For this mini one sheet wonder stamp your images in a rough cross  shape onto the cardstock panels.  I started with the largest flowrer image first and the brightest colours then filled in and around with the blues with the leaves. Then over with the lightest grey colour with the text and splodges to create a unified feel to the piece.

As part of the joining offer you also receive 2 packs of Stampin' Write markers. So I've used these for today's inspiration.  The reason being that I wanted to only partially ink parts of the Handmade Designs stamps. I only inked the flower heads not the leaves in the lilac colours. Then only added blue ink to their leaves and stamped separately. 

Once happy with the layout turn the cardstock panel over and cut into quarters. The reason I turn it over is so that I'm not distracted by the images when cutting. Sometimes it can be a bit off putting to cut up your work 😉.

Now it's time to make your cards. These 4 smaller panels are your feature pieces and become the focal point of the card. 

I chose to use the same colour cardstock as inks and make one card base in each of the lilac and blue colours with mats of the grey.

The simple layout uses the same size panels throughout all 4 cards. The positioning of the focal images helps them to appear different yet cohesive perfect for a bundle of cards to give as a gift.

The sentiments are from the Handmade Designs stamp set and are perfect for that gift bundle 😉.

Handmade designs distressed card

 Well winter is well and truly here for me. The sky's are dull and the view from my crafting table, otherwise known as the dining table 😉, is dreary and drab. We has a little snow yesterday but not enough to make it a winer wonder land rather just enough to show up the dirt 😜. Anyway what's the weather got to do with today's inspiration I hear you ask..  well as I sit and face the forest the outlook is brown on brown and I need some colour! So decided it was time to make a card using a more hopeful colour palette. 

As I had the joining offer exclusive stamp set on the table and my trusty Stampin' Write markers to hand this is what I came up with.

The style of the card is what is generally called Distressed.  Now it's a big leap for me as I'm usually drawn to a cleaner look. But I had this idea and decided to run with it!

For the background stamped texture I used a new stamp set called Elements of Text. I used the mossy meadow pen from the neutrals marker pens and the soft sea foam from the subtles marker pens. These 2 shades of green work well together I hope you agree. I used the pens to add ink to the stamps rather than an ink pad. The Stampin' Write markers are a great way to add colour to your stash and there are lots of fun techniques you can do with them.

I used the dark green pen, mossy meadow, to just ink the leaves on the plant and pot stamp from the Handmade Designs set. Using the marker pen means that I didn't need to mask of the pot on the stamp each time I inked it up.

Once I'd finished stamping I took the light green, soft sea foam, marker pen and coloured in the leaves of plants. Now the distressing part. To add texture to the edge of the panel I ran the blade of an old pair of scissors along the edges. As the cardstock is a good weight you can be quite rough with it after all I was looking for a distressed feel 😉.

Once the white panel was finished I added it to a dark green cardstock panel just adhering it to the center.  This leaves the edges to curl and come away a little . The sentiment was stamped with the dark green on a strip of the light green cardstock used for the card base. I then tore the edges both above and below the sentiment. Then I took the torn of edges and adhered them behind the sentiment strip to enhance to torn edge look. 

A swirl of green twine from the Natural tones linen thread trio and a scattering of brushed brass butterflies, now that's a mouthful 😜, and the card was made.

What do you think? Has it hit the distressed feel? I have to say it certainly brought some greenery to my table as I made it. 

Fun techniques with Stampin' Write markers

 Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration has begun and with it a fantastic joining offer. Sale-A-Bration is an annual offering of free product with qualifying orders,  host reward specials and fantastic joining offers. The join offer this year has 2 choices.

Option 1 

Customers who join our crafting community as a new demonstrator can get 175 € | £130 worth of products PLUS a choice of two Stampin’ Write Marker Assortment packs AND the Handmade Designs Cling Stamp Set, an exclusive stamp set designed to work with the markers. That’s a 286 € | £220 value all for just 129 € | £99!

option 2 

Customers who want to join Stampin’ Up! during Sale-A-Bration but are interested in a different join option can instead get 175 € | £130 worth of product PLUS an additional 39 € | £30 worth of product of their choice when they join for 129 € | £99. That’s a 214 € | £160 value!

Both are amazing but I thought I'd share some inspiration using the amazing stamps and pens. The stamp set is called Handmade Designs and is only available with the offer.

The cards I'm sharing today were made during my weekly Facebook live.  I go live on Facebook at 5pm GMT every Monday afternoon.  Why not pop by and join me sometime?  Or subscribe to my YouTube channel and see them there 😉 

Here is the video from yesterday's Live at 5

Here is the first card I made. I've used 3 different techniques using the Stampin' Write markers which are waterbased so very very versatile 😀.

The pens I chose to showcase are all in the Brights colour family. There are 4 colour family packs of 10 pens . This joining offer allows you to choose 2 packs... the hard part may be deciding which to go with 😉

If you think this offer is one not to be missed you're right! Here is a link to join with my wonderful group of crafters Join here

Below is a short video with more details