Snowflake Treat Bags

Today was my last day of work before the holidays so I wanted to take some treats in for the girls I work with and who doesn't like Lindt chocolates this time of year!  For a red and white theme I used the individually wrapped ones below.

The treat bags are cut using  the Papertrey Ink Favor It Box 2 die.  I have a
Cuttlebug for die-cutting, and this die fits perfectly fine in it.  It's fairly easy
and quick to cut two pieces from your chosen designer paper and
put them together with double sided tape along the bottom and
sides.  They're perfect for 3 to 4 of these chocolates but also for a
small handful of any type of individually wrapped sweets or candy.

The large snowflake is cut using Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Large Snowflake die set,
though I don't see this currently available on the website.

I used  Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Mini Tags for the circular tag and
Cheery Lynn Designs Snowflowers  Set 2 dies for the little snowflakes.

I'm sure it's been done a lot before, but I had never tried using a coloured paperclip to attach the tags at the back in order to leave the bows at the top in all their glory!

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope this Christmas week isn't too crazy busy for you! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Friend

Right in the middle of all my Christmas card making comes the birthday
of a dear, dear friend - I enjoyed using several favourite Wplus9
sets for a little floral break from snowflakes and frosty images!

The circle is cut with water colour paper and a very large Spellbinder die,
then partially sponged with Memento Pear Tart ink (love that name,
it makes me hungry!)  I used Fresh Cut Florals stamps and Fresh Cut Florals Dies
 with various inks to create this bouquet on a card!  Another much
used die is Hand Lettered Hello, the die-cuts are layered up three
 times here for a bit of dimension. I love the way the sentiments
rom the Hand Lettered Hello stamp set can be combined
to make a message which is just right for any occasion.

To finish I added dots with a copic marker, tiny pearls on
 the flower centers and some ivory sequins.

My card is also for the Wplus9 Throwback Thursday #9 challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today - whatever your day holds, I hope it's a good one!

Happy 8th Birthday SNSS!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating it's 8th birthday and I made a
card in honour of the several years I spent on the Design
Team for this fabulous company!  

What a talented bunch of ladies and each one is just as sweet as can be!

I used thick water color paper which is by far my favorite for 

cards these days, loosely water coloring with Ranger Distress Dusty 

Concord and Picked Raspberry ink, and then splattering to finish.  

I then die-cut banners using SNSS's Banner Dies.  
The sentiment is from Birthday Word Art by SNSS. I find    
myself reaching for this set a lot and even using some of the
 words and phrases to combine with other sentiment stamps - for example
 this "happy" works really well for a "Happy Christmas" combo!
(Yes!  I confess - I do cut my sentiment stamps up sometimes so
they can be further mixed and matched!)

I punched holes at the top of each pennant and strung
white twine through for a banner.

It's finished off with sequins and tiny flowers with micro pearl centers.

Happy birthday to Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Korin, and the whole team!

Watercolor Poppies

It's been a long while since I've posted due to family illness - we're
not out of the woods yet, but I was finally able to find
some time to craft. I used a Rubbernecker water color stamp, 4 Poppies,
on water color paper, with various Distress inks in reds and greens.
I've found a method that works best for me with this type of stamp
and that's stamping in the light colours first - here 

I used a light pink and light green for the stems - then water coloring in the 

image in darker hues.  I also added some spritzing and some sparkling

 rhinestones.The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture

Collection 9.  I love this verse and it's been keeping me going 

through a difficult time.

Thanks for stopping by today, I have a few more water color images to

post in the next few days!

Blessed is the Man

It's been a while since I've posted due to family illness, but I couldn't let 

Father's Day go by without posting the card I made for my Dad using a fab

 new stencil I received for my birthday.  It's 

Winnie & Walter Creative Screenings Classic Diagonals and 

the large stripes are just perfect for masculine cards. It's an easy 

way to create a quick background which can end up being quite 

striking, depending on the colour used - here I used Ranger 

Distress Evergreen Bough for sponging.  The Bible verse is a

Verve Plain Jane and the "blessed" die-cut was created using a die 

from Papertrey Ink's Counting My Blessings set.  

The stars were cut using Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Stars Dies.  

I don't often use sequins on a man's card but it just needed something 

to "lift" or give a hint of sparkle around the dark stars.

This verse is perfect for my Dad - he has been such an example to 

me, trusting in the Lord through both good times and bad times.

Blessed means happy in a deep foundational way, not a superficial 

happiness based on circumstances - my Dad's trust in His 

God has been a blessing to our entire family.

I know Father's Day can be a difficult holiday if you've lost your 

Dad through circumstances or death and my thoughts are 

with those who have. Thanks for stopping by my blog

 today - I hope I'll be able to post more regularly very soon!  

Love is in the Air

Hello!  April is almost over and today is my last post as Guest Designer 

with the fabulous Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps team.  I'd love it if you have time 

to come and join me today as I share a fun engagement card on the SNSS blog!

Here's a little peek meantime!
http://sweetnsassystamps.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/love-is-in-air.html

Speech Bubble Fun

I'd love to share two cards I made this week as guest designer
with Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps  - I was delighted to be asked to design with
the talented, lovely team at SNSS for the month of April!
Both cards were made using the fantastic Speech Bubbles Dies 

along with several sentiment sets.  I love how 

these dies can be used in such a variety of ways - along with

images or with sentiments alone, as I've done here,  I
consider them an absolute staple in a die collection!

For the first card I've cut a variety of speech bubbles and sponged

them half in half with an array of  rainbow colors using
mostly Ranger Distress inks.

The sentiments are from God is Bigger which has such encouraging 

 and uplifting phrases and words!
I layed out the speech bubbles beforehand with the actual dies
 and then took a photo with my phone to remember
where I'd decided to place everything before stamping
and sponging each individual piece and adhering.
I think the key to a lay out like this is to keep it random
and place some of the bubbles going off the edge.

Each speech bubble has been popped up to a different level

so there's a variety of dimension.  I tried a few types of

embellishments such as sequins and twine but ended up

keeping it all clean and simple!

For the second card I've sponged three colors on the top panel before 

cutting with the Speech Bubble Dies. The sentiments are from the very 

useful So Thankful, a great set with mix and match 

phrases for cards of appreciation and thanks. The sponged die-cut

panel is popped up over the stamped card base.

Thanks for stopping by today, and thanks to the SNSS team

for letting me join the fun this month!

Happy Easter

It's been a while since I've been able to post, but I made
a number of Easter cards recently, 

and decided to post the one I enjoyed making the most!  No stamps,
just die-cuts!  I sponged the main panel from the top with Stampin Up's
Cool Caribbean and added some clouds using Sweet 'n Sassy
Stamps Raindrops and Clouds dies. The Easter eggs are cut using
Poppy Stamps Egg Cetera dies and they've been

 lightly sponged around the edges for definition and dimension.
The grass is made with SNSS Fence and Grass dies, and I added more 

blades of grass using Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Tall Grass die.

The lower case letters are from My Favorite Things By the Letter dies,

 the "Happy" is from Simon Says Stamp Happy Birthday die.

Making a card with Easter eggs brought back a lot of childhood memories!

Thanks for stopping by today, wishing you a
very special and meaningful Easter!

Coffee & Chat

Here's a card for the fun Spring Coffee Lovers Hop and
the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge!  

I stenciled a large polka dot background, 

then used various dies including:

My Favorite Things By the Letter Die-namics

My Favorite Things Ampersand Die-namics

My Favorite Things Say What Die-namics

Verve Coffee Word die

The speech bubble is stamped with Verve's Sip and Savor

in Versafine Sepia ink.

Loving using shiny gold card these days and I used gold sequins 

to match, finishing with some brown and pink twine.

Thanks so much for stopping by today - off to enjoy a cuppa!

CAS Poppies

Who can resist poppies - the bright pop of red always grabs me, especially 

against crisp white.  The Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Precious Poppies image is 

coloured with copics, then it was cut out and popped up with foam tape.

  

I tried various ribbons and twines with this card but always went back to

 keeping it very simple, just adding some black sequins to embellish.  

The sentiment is from Verve Wonderfully Made.   Love this set of 

beautiful sentiments which make wonderful cards of encouragement!

 I added some small black parls for the the flower center.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Leafy Hello

I love the fact that UK/Ireland stampers have the chance to
 order some of the most fabulous brands on the market through
the on-line store Make the Day Special !

Here's a card created for their blog challenge this month which is a sketch:

 

I sponged Ranger Distress Shabby Shutters ink on both sides for  

the sketch background, then added some stenciling and stamping with 

Visible Image Ink Splats. I also added some spritzing with a a
paintbrush and Distress Ink. The "hello" is die-cut using
the FABULUOUS Wplus9 Hand Lettered Hello, 

which is one of my most used dies, available at MTDS store.  

It's cut with shiny gold foil card, along with the palm branches
 using a Hero Arts die.I added some gold sequins and
green/blue rhinestones to finish.The whole card is
made on thick watercolor paper for a rich texture.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Blessed is She

Hello!  I have a watercolor card for you today with a beautiful Bible 

verse stamp I recently got from Verve.  I've used 300 gms/140 lb 

watercolor paper (I love the rich thickness of it plus there's less warping) 

and Ranger Distress Picked Raspberry for the background.  

The Blessed die is from Papertrey Ink's Counting 

My Blessings set and it's cut with the same watercolor paper
twice, stacked for dimension and I added a black die-cut 

behind for extra definition.  And then a few sequins to finish!  

I love this verse which contains the words spoken by an angel to Mary, 

the mother of Jesus.  The Bible is full of promises, some say as many 

as 3000 - I haven't taken the time to count, but I do know that even

 believing one or two of God's promises can be truly life changing!

Thanks for stopping by today!

It's Love!

Here's a wedding card which would work well for a Valentine too,

using a different sentiment.  I had these little white squares 

sitting on my desk, off-cuts from using a Tonic Domed Window die - they

have lovely embossed edges, and were too perfect to throw away!  

I used X-Cut Centurion Alphabet dies with Stampin Up Real Red 

cardstock to make the letters. The squares are popped up on a heart 

which was cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities Hearts and Stampin Up 

designer paper. The sentiment is from Verve Blessings 

(which I believe has been discontinued), 

and there's something about stamping it vertically

along the line of the twine which appeals to me.

Thanks for stopping by today!

All Things

You know how you start using something and then can't seem to put it down?  

Not sure what happened because up until recently, I had very little
interest in shiny gold cardstock, now I'm wanting to make EVERYTHING gold!

Who wouldn't want a gold bicycle!  This one's created with a Marianne 

Creatables die and popped up over some swipes of gold ink.  

I added some matching gold sequins and rhinestones.

The sentiment is a Plain Jane from Verve.  This verse is a good 

one for starting a new year with new challenges. I was thinking about learning

 to do new things and how you feel like you'll never get the hang of it, whether 

you're five years old and learning to ride a bike or 55 years old and learning to 

deal with a difficult situation!  Thank God, He strengthens me!

Thanks for stopping by today to check out my CAS creation!

We Have an Anchor

Hello, and Happy New Year!

 I'm having fun today with some crafty Christmas gifts including 

Paper Smooches Anchor die and Wplus9 Seasonal Sentiments die.  

The anchor is cut with shiny silver foil card though it's
difficult to tell in the photo.  I used Ranger Distress inks
including Peacock Feathers and Pine Needles to 

sponge the bottom half of the panel, before spritzing with water to lift some 

of the ink colour - then spritzed on more ink.  The sequins are a light sea green, 

again hard to detect in the photo.  

I added a tiny black fish from Paper Smooches Sailboat die to the word "hope" 

which has been sponged with matching ink along the bottom.

For those in the U.K./Ireland, all of the above dies are available on this 

side of the Atlantic at Make the Day Special Stamp Store.

Thanks so much for stopping by today - as we head into another weekend,

I hope it's a good one for you!