Before I forget - Everything Eleanor

What with all the craziness that is Christmas and the craft fairs that I have been preparing for, I realised this morning that I hadn't yet made any birthday cards for two very important people in my life, my mother and my daughter. They both have Christmas birthday's, in fact they are on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day respectively. Poor you I can hear you say, but we used to have a "full house" as my father's was Boxing Day (Dec 26th for those of you not sure when this is).

Anyway, I decided this morning that I should get on with making some birthday cards and I thought I'd use the new Everything Eleanor stamp set that was introduced in the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue. The set consists of eight stamps, and it is a fabulous set.

I made these three cards using just one sheet of each of Soft Suede, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. I have to admit that this is a colour combination that I had seen on Jenny Moors' blogspot and I love it. So pretty and girly. I can see me using this combination of colours again.

This square card is 3.5" x 3.5" and has the background image stamped in Calypso Coral onto Calypso Coral card stock. This is one of the new 2011-2013 In Colours. The birthday message comes from the Sincere Salutations stamp set. The finishing touches were a piece of Very Vanilla 5/8" Satin Ribbon and some Pearls.

The base card in this second card is Soft Suede and the Calypso Coral card stock has a background image stamped in the same colour on it.  I used the new Lace Ribbon Border punch to punch a ribbon of Calypso Coral and then cut it in half length-ways before sticking it to the piece of Crumb Cake card stock that I had embossed using the Square Lattice Embossing folder. The birthday message is the same stamp that I used for the square card but this time I punched it out using the Scallop Oval punch and then matted it onto a piece of Soft Suede card that had been punched out using the Extra Large Oval punch. The card was finished off with some Pearls and also a piece of Crumb Cake 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon.

The third card is similar to the second although it is a portrait card rather than landscape. You can't really tell too well from the photo, but the embossed Crumb Cake card stock has been flipped over and the reverse side is being used. This is one of the great features of the embossing folders, using different sides will give slightly different effects.  

I don't think that this is the last you will have seen of this featured stamp set and I will be back with more early next year.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the products that I have used please contact me. I would love to help you get stampin'.

A Week of Contempo Christmas - Part 3

This is the third card in the series of seven that I made using just one set of stamps, Contempo Christmas. For this card I have reverted to the Christmas ornament from the set.

The ornaments are so simple to make and by using the Stampin' Write Markers, you can have whatever combination of colours you desire. Have fun playing with the different combinations and then everyone can receive something slightly different.

For these ornaments I used the a combination of More Mustard, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler. All of these are part of the Regals Collection of Stampin' Write Markers that form part of the card kit on offer. See below for details. Once the ornaments had been stamped onto Whisper White card stock they can be cut out using scissors or punched out using the Ornament Punch.

The greeting was stamped in Cherry Cobbler and then the ornaments were fixed to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

If you would like to make the cards, I am offering a kit containing:

• The Contempo Christmas wood mounted stamp set - See page 25 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue
• The Regals Collection Stampin' Write Markers (set of 10) - See page 93 of the 2011-2012 Catalogue
• Basic Black, Old Olive and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers
• 1m of Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon - See page 107 of the 2011-2012 Catalogue
• 1m of Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon - See page 107 of the 2011-2012 Catalogue
• A pack of Stampin' Dimensionals
• Instructions on how to make each of the cards plus a sample of each (card front only)

The price for all of this is £50.00 including postage and packaging.  

If you would prefer to receive the clear mounted stamp set, the price would be £47.00 but you would require a clear reusable block to mount them on. If you do not already have one, a clear block Size D (see page 127 of the 2011-2012 Catalogue) would be suitable and can be added for £6.50.

Please let me know at the time of ordering whether you prefer the wood-mounted or clear-mount set and if clear, whether you require the block as well.

You can contact me by clicking the following link Fiona Whitten

Latest Stampin' Up! Offer

Stampin' Up' have just announced their latest special offer. The one for November 2011 is a great one if you are thinking about having a workshop/party at your home. The latest offer runs for parties held between November 1st and December 15th, 2011 and is a great chance to earn more free goodies if the total value of the orders placed (excluding P&P) is £300 or more. This is in addition to the normal hostess benefits that you could earn.

This means that if your workshop order (excluding P&P) is more than £300 you will receive FREE

• The Paisley Petals Stamp Set (choice of wood-mount OR clear-mount), AND the matching Designer Series Paper. A total value of £33.90. See page 51 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalogue. PLUS
• £50 Hostess Pounds to spend on anything from the current Idea Book and Catalogue. PLUS
• 50% off one item from the current Idea Book and Catalogue.

See the following link to see all the great hostess benefits on offer.  Hostess Benefits Nov 2011

Remember, you do not have to have a workshop in order to qualify for the special offer. If your personal order (excluding P&P) is £300 or more you still qualify for the free stamp set and paper as well as the usual hostess benefits.

If you would like to have a party or place an order please contact me for further details fiona.whitten11@gmail.com

My first attempt using the Lace Ribbon Border punch

A quick and simple Thank You card this time round. I made this for a friend who was my first customer, as a thank you for her order. This is the first time that I used the punch, in fact I have to admit that I borrowed it to try it out, but I will most definitely be putting it on my next order. Shush, don't tell my husband because the list is getting longer by the day.

The card is a piece of Melon Mambo card stock made into a 3.75" x 3.75" card base. Using the new Lace Ribbon Border punch I punched a piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock. I also punched out three 1" Old Olive circles using my 1" Circle Punch. These were fixed behind the card ribbon and then the whole thing was matted onto a piece of Whisper White card stock.

I used a Melon Mambo marker on the oval stamp from the Perfect Punches stamp set and the message was from the Just Believe set and was inked using an Old Olive marker. I used my ever trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the message was central in the oval before punching out the oval using my Extra-Large Oval punch.The message was fixed to the card base using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I love using the Stampin' Write markers, they give stamp sets many additional uses as you can simply ink up the parts you want to stamp and then you don't get the parts you don't want to use. You can also ink up parts of the stamp in different colours to get different effects. I'll post some samples of this later in the week.

If you would like to purchase any of the items that I have used please contact me Fiona

Think Pink

This month, October, is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I consider myself very fortunate that no-one I know has been affected by this devasting illness. None the less, it is something that us women should be aware of and check for on a regular basis.

This is a card that I have made for two challenges this week.

• the Hand Stamped Sentiments Think Pink Challenge, see the following link  HSSTP Challenge 88

• and the Simply Stampin' Challenge, which is a sketch challenge, see the following link Challenge #28 Sketch

As you can see, it is very pink and I love it. 

I used Melon Mambo to stamp the images. The Whisper White base card was stamped using one of the smaller stamps from the Delicate Doilies set. The large central stamp is also from the Delicate Doilies set and it was stamped onto Whisper White and then matted onto a piece of Pink Pirouette. I used the Scallop Border Punch to punch out a piece of Pink Piroutte and this was attached to a piece of the Melon Mango spotted paper from the Patterns Designers Series Paper Stack. I also punched out a Scalloped Circle from the designer paper too.  The sentiment is from the Posy Punch stamp set which is one of the New Hostess sets in the 2011-2012 Catalogue.  The whole card was finished off with a piece of Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon

I decided to turn the challenge sketch layout on its side when I was putting all the elements together.  But the original sketch is below.

I probably spent far too long putting this card together but I really like the result and will use this layout again.