Waylayed by Sunshine!

We have had the most gorgeous few days up here in Scotland, beautiful sunshine and temperatures up to 25 degrees! Which meant we were out and about, so even after I got the school fair (where I had a table selling cards) over and done with, no (paper-) crafting was accomplished... Instead there was said school fair, which was a success, a BBQ with neighbours, sprinklers and paddling pools for the kids, and sitting out in the sun just relaxing. Not entirely idly, I hasten to add, I've started crocheting some granny squares.

You know, I suddenly felt the need to make a crochet blanket. But I can't make up my mind what wools to get. I'd like it to be really nice, using a decent quality yarn that won't bobble immediately. But that costs money. Lots of it. I could BUY a blanket for that money. So while I'm making up my mind what to do, I had a rake through all the yarn I've accumulated, dug out these balls of cotton and started crocheting. Eldest daughter saw it and said she wanted something made from those squares. There isn't enough for a blanket, but I think there will be enough for a cushion cover. So that's the plan just now, and once that's finished, I'll have hopefully made up my mind what to do about my blanket :)

Now back to paper crafting, I'm attending a Stampin' Up! field training day in Glasgow on Saturday, and I've still got swap cards to finish. Last minute, as ever... Thanks for stopping by :)

Stamp Something - Clean & Simple Thank Yous

Made a card for the latest challenge over at Stamp Something, which asked us to make a card in the style of departing DT member Lauren. Well, I really like Lauren's style, and I enjoyed this challenge! It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be, I've always thought my style is fairly uncluttered, but I couldn't resist adding a little extra bit in the end...

I found this card on Lauren's blog and cased it, using Stampin' Up! Pocket Silhouettes, sentiment from Live Your Dream, Old Olive and Whisper White cardstock, Real Red DP, Pumpkin Pie ribbon and Old Olive buttons. The images are stamped in Close to Cocoa and Old Olive. Hope you like, thanks for stopping by :)

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Pink, Green & Brown

I've finally made a card in time for the latest challenge over at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, which is run by my lovely SBS26 sister Priscilla. It's a colour challenge, asking us to make a stamped project using pink, green and brown. I love pink and green together, anyway, and I'm sure I can accommodate a little bit of brown, too ;-) So here is my card:

I've used a Whiff of Joy image, patterned paper I've had for ages and don't know where it came from, SU! Close to Cocoa and Certainly Celery cardstock, watercolour pencils for colouring, card candy from Craftwork Cards and ribbon and flower from stash. It's quite a small card (12x12cm), but I'm liking that size just now, it's so quick and easy to work with. Thanks for looking!

Stamp With Us Colour Challenge

Woohooo! I entered my first Stamp With Us challenge last week, and guess what - I made their Fave Five! That never happens, I am soooo pleased! :)

So here I am, entering their next challenge. It's a colour challenge with beautiful bright colours that are right up my street, and here is my card:

I've used Petal Pizzazz from the mini catalogue, sentiment from Live Your Dream, large oval and scallop oval punches, whisper white ribbon and bashful blue DP. My colours are bashful blue, real red, summer sun and old olive. I really really like those big, bold blooms from Petal Pizzazz, there's just so much you can do with them! Thanks for stopping by :)

Layouts

I've also got a few layouts to share which I've prepared for my next workshop - all the ladies attending are scrapbookers!

The first two were inspired by a layout in Scrapbook Inspirations: one is made completely without stamping, just using Stampin' Up! cardstock, designer papers and embellishments, the other one uses stamped embellies and title, plus borders created with Stampin' Around wheels.

These two above are 12x12 layouts, I also made an 8x8 layout:

Apart from one little brad and the scalloped edge, the whole page is made using stamps - I'm rather pleased with myself :) And if you're wondering about the rather strong colours: that was the colour scheme of my study/eldest daughter's first bedroom in our old flat, ca 1999. Changing rooms was still very much in vogue ;-) Got to run now and get kids from school, I'll try and add the supplies later today. Thanks for looking!

Stamp with Us Thank You Challenge

As luck would have it, I also made a thank-you-card this weekend, and I'm going to enter the latest Stamp With Us challenge with it. It's rather similar to the previous one, admittedly, but I liked that one, so I just went with it again. Different colour, though!

Again, I've used Fresh Cuts, this time with Old Olive ink, cardstock and wide grosgrain ribbon. Nice and simple, but I really like the look! Hope you like it, too, thanks for stopping by :)

Pink Birthday Somethings

That's the latest challenge over at Stamp Something, and as I was working my way through an order over the weekend, I realised I had just made an all-pink birthday card :)

For this, I used my Fresh Cuts stamp set from the new Stampin' Up! mini catalogue, along with Regal Rose cardstock and ink. I also used my scallop edge punch and Whisper White grosgrain ribbon. The star flower was stamped first and then cut out and popped up for a little extra dimension.

I've not really made mono-chromatic cards before, but enjoyed this - it was nice and quick, didn't involve much thinking, which can be good when you're trying to get half a dozen cards finished in a hurry! First time, too, that I used Fresh Cuts, but certainly not last, it's a very stylish set! Thanks for stopping by :)