Opps! It was meant to be for a man ......

Oh dear. What do you think? Did it work?

Honestly Miss, I did try to stick with manly colours - Chocolate Chip and Old Olive (bless her) then a flower crept in - but I tried to redeem myself by self watercolouring it - not a touch of red, although I was sorely tempted. And how about that square manly buckle? - I tried a soft oval one and put it to one side as it looked too feminine - maybe it's the fault of the gorgeous scallop punch which was just so lovely to use and I thought enhanced the circle design on the papers.

But seriously, I think I do like it and for the right man - maybe a keen gardener in touch with his feminine side - it would work and I would send it.

I had to 'do' the envelope it didn't stand a chance - all that white was just crying out to be filled - and to be fair this so puts me in my happy space that I quite forget myself.

I popped over to Sally's blog at http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ and found that she had followed what is called the Saturday Sketch - take a peek - so I have printed off the sketch, not that I am brave enough to enter, but I will have a go and show you the results on Sunday - you've probably gathered by now that this is a late Saturday post - you're right I have no social life!!

Well away I go and I shall see you tomorrow - or later today - depending on when you have stopped by - and I so thank you for doing that - but if you have time leave me a comment and let me know - manly enough or not?

Bridgette

Little Shaker Boxes by Sizzix

I thought that for today's project I would show you a Sizzix XL Die - this particular one is the Shaker Box. The die offers you the version on the left with the lid - I sometimes trim the lid and just have it as a small sweetie box as on the righthand side of the photo. As you can see a fair number of sweeties can be squeezed inside eg Minstrels, M&M's, Smarties, really any of the smaller chocolates will fit as the boxes are very nearly 2cm deep.

The SU designer papers are perfect for this sort of project, as the inside is as important as the outside - my favourite Tea and Crumpets papers are just right for my chocolate theme - I decorated the lid using a Sizzlit die from my collection - I love this phrase and sizewise it's just right when layered on the piece of Vanilla cardstock - the little scallop detail on the side edge is enhanced by first using a small hole punch down its length and then softly inking the edges with Chocolate Chip - the finishing touch was another tiny Sizzlit flower and flatbacked pearl.

The inside of the lid was also decorated but this time using one of the stamp sets from the SU Sale-a-bration brochure currently on offer until the end of February if you spend more than £45 in one order - head to http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ to see further details - just to add an additional small embellishment I cut out one of the flowers from the paper, inked the edges and cut out a small centre piece - a little piece of Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon adds the finishing touch. If you scroll back up to the main photo it shows the inside of the box for you to see, by clicking on the picture it will enlarge the image for greater detail.

I mentioned that I also have a second version of the box where I trim away some of the lid, tucking it down to give a neat edge - this allows the contents of the box to be seen all the time. I decorated this one very simply using the circle scallop punch, again punching little holes all the way round, inking the edges and using matching paper for the inset circle and positioning it in the top lefthand corner.

These cute little boxes have so many uses and can be decorated in so many different ways - Valentines and Easter immediately spring to mind - in cute paper and filled with chocolate Easter Bunnies they would make a perfect little gift for my little boy's classmates this Easter - now there's an idea.

As always thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely weekend planned - I think we have to make the most of it because apparently snow is on the way for the beginning of next week according to the weatherman - gosh, it's out with the extra winter woollies!!

Bridgette xx

PS I have to confess the Minstrels in the photo did not last long after I had taken the last photo - just a little yummy for my tummy!! A girl's got to keep her blood sugar level up whilst blogging - oh dear, I think I'm addicted.

Floral Friends ....

I've got quite a few birthdays in February and this is for one of my dear friends who loves her garden with a passion - I wanted to do cute flowers in fun colours to remind her that Spring is on the way - but she already knows that she's a gardener extraordinaire!!!

The large daisies are made using the circle scallop punch, inked and then each little petal is created by snipping down the sides, embossed tiny circles for the centres - all the other elements are Sizzix dies: the leaves, the flowers, the sentiment and the large scallop circle - I just love my Sizzix as I've mentioned before I'm so delighted that Stampin' Up and Sizzix are working together in America to create a range of dies that hopefully will eventually find their way to the UK - their exclusive XL Dies are gorgeous - I torment myself frequently by looking at the American catalogue for Spring/Summer 2009.

I appreciate all your comments and thank you for stopping by.

Bridgette

PS Don't forget about entering Steph's yummy blog candy - see the post below for details.

More Scrumptious Blog Candy !!!!!!

Yes - it's true - there is more beautiful blog candy to be had over at www.stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com - Steph's gorgeous blog has passed the 1000 hits mark and she's celebrating in true blog style by giving stash away - hurry over, take a peek, leave a comment and you could be a winner.

A Cute Trio ...

Oh dear - I feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland - I'm late, I'm late - sorry it has been a busy day today so you may be viewing this tomorrow. I said earlier that I would be making a quick project and this is the result - a trio of notelets - easily put together at the last moment.

Take a piece of basic Vanilla cardstock measuring 4" x 4" and using a selection of Cuttlebug Embossing Folders layered together with a piece of co-ordinating cardstock in this case Not Quite Navy and Bashful Blue, Ruby Red and Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery - a strip of Vanilla Cardstock embellished with three little matching brads and the piece de resistance - the gorgeous stamp collection shown below - and you have a quick and easy card. If time permits you can ink some of the edges to give definition - you could even layer the centre of the Happy Birthday and *so sweet of you* but as you can see - I didn't have time!!

I have to confess that this set came across from America - a retired set - but when used with the scallop punch in our UK SU Catalogue - just perfect - as you can see there is a Christmas stamp which I used to decorate little giftbags full of sweeties for John's classmates.

Once again thank you so much for visiting my fledgling blog and please feel free to leave me a comment if you have the time.

Take care

Bridgette

Percy Piggy

Hello - just a very quick post to show you Percy Piggy - no sweeties inside his tummy - if you're familiar with the M & S checkout sweeties you'll know what I mean - just my little stash of crafty pennies - he sits directly to my righthand side amongst all my ebay paraphenalia and I just love his smiling face.

I will post again later on today - Monday is always busy so it will be a quick little project.

Take care

Bridgette

Heartfelt Thanks

Ohhhh, the house is quiet again - Charlie and John have gone swimming so there is just time to post this card - the inspiration for which I found over at Steph's blog http://www.stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com/ - her colours were fresh and fruity and whilst I have been faithful to the layout, which is so cool, I chose colours that give it a more muted appearance to show how different it can look.

This set is crazily, no longer available - it is Heartfelt Thanks - and has the two-step stamping technique which is so effective - I'm saving for a Rose is a Rose in the SU catalogue it uses the same approach.

The papers are, wait for it, Tea and Crumpets, I know, I will be after Spiced Cider for my next order so I can promise you a little more variety - but they are so pretty and being double sided you get such alot of mileage out of them. Inks used are Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip - brads are Pretty in Pink - but again instead of ribbon I cut a thin strip of paper - inexpensive but effective.

I know, I'm guilty as charged, the poor unsuspecting envelope got a pretty flower stamped to match and the sentiment, which I have used so often on other projects is Small Script.

I must tell you before I go what a thrill it is to see the statcounter rising and thank you for all those who leave me a message - I am so grateful.

I better whizz and do 'stuff' now before the boys reappear - I'm still selling my excess crafty bits and bobs on my ebay site to fund my SU habit so I better get to it otherwise the piggybank will have no pennies in it. It's one of the Percy Pig ones from M & S and it is so cute it makes me smile every time I look at it - soft green with cute retro flowers all over it - I shall have to take a photo to show you.

Take care

Bridgette

Friends Forever .....

Well, my new little box of Stampin' Up goodies arrived and I thought that I might have been able to incorporate some of it into this project - but infact, I relied on what I already had - it seems to go such a long way.

Now, my inspiration for my card is found over at Sally's blog - http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ - she had made a lovely card for her son's birthday and so I followed her layout - Cuttlebug embossing folder at the top with SU Designer Papers at the bottom and three similar elements placed centrally - and voila - you have a card.


I was looking forward to using a little ribbon but in the end I cut a strip of the designer paper - this is Tea and Crumpets again - inked the edges and just rubbed on a sentiment. My three elements are cut from a Sizzix Sizzlit 654524 Flower Daisy - it is such a versatile die and with the addition of some brads from my stash they look really nice against the embossing folder - Stylized Flower - all is then layered against Close to Cocoa cardstock and finally mounted onto a white linen effect card.


I chose to photograph it against Close to Cocoa cardstock just to see what it looked like - I liked the effect so decided to use it.


This is short because I am awaiting the arrival of fish and chips which my husband and little boy have gone to fetch - so I will post again over the weekend.


See you soon - thank you if you've stopped by again to see what I've been up to - that's fab because you will have been registered on my new visitor counter.


Bridgette

WOW !! Blog Candy Alert !!

I have just discovered a gorgeous source of inspiration over at www.stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com who is not only generous with her ideas but also with her blog candy.

Not one, but four, yes four sets of Stampin' Up goodies waiting for a winner - why not head over and have a look for yourself by clicking on the link above - leave a comment and it might be you.

Remember - You've got to be in it, to win it !!

See you soon

Bridgette

Tea & Crumpets Anyone?

Today I decided to make two cards using the same layout and using just one set of SU Designer Papers and plain cardstock just to see how different they can look - I was quite pleased with the result - what do you think to them? Do you like them?
Both cards are made using Vanilla cardstock and cut to 5" x 5" - a size I like to work with - the Tea and Crumpet DSP were used - layering up as you see in the photograph. The sentiments are by Hero Arts - as yet I don't have that many SU sentiments but I'm working on it!!

You will recognise the scallop edge punch and the circle scallop punch but the buttons are cut using a Sizzix Sizzlit Die aptly called Buttons #1 once inked on the edges they look quite realistic - believe it or not the 'thread' I used is actually very, very thin strips of the paper - I think it looks really effective.

The other element is the butterfly - this little stamp forms part of the SU Level 2 Cause For Celebration Set - I have stamped it once and then cut a second butterfly and gently glued just the centre part to the card - so that the wings can be raised. I've tried to show this in the photo which may be at the top or just to the side - I shall just have to see where it lands.

As you can see the envelopes do not escape unscathed - one has the little butterflies dancing on the front and the other has a button on the back flap.

Thank you for looking - I will post again very soon.

Bridgette

Just a Note

Good morning - the house is quiet as my husband and little boy have gone to the beach to walk the doggies - chilly but the sun is shining!!

I wanted to let you see this little notebook that I made using the Bind-it-All machine with SU and Sizzix embellishments - with not a swirl in sight - don't laugh but I still used those two rubber stamps but this time to support the notebook while I was taking the photo - it seems they are never too far away.

These cute notebooks are easy to do and make great gifts - for this project I used a combination of the Rose Red Designer Papers to cover the front and back - I tend to use offcuts of mountboard from a local framing shop, really reasonable pricewise and just as strong as chipboard.

To make the cute floral embellishments a combination of SU scallop punch and Sizzix Flower Layer #3 was used. The little flowers on the front and on the tag were cut from mountboard using the Sizzix die, covered with the DSP and then given a little sparkle - which doesn't show up so well in the photo - but nevertheless looks very pretty - the layers underneath were cut using the circle scallop punch.

You can see how the little strip down the side was put together - this time the scallop edge punch was used. The really cute thing about these SU punches is that they cut through cardstock, so many handheld punches you buy through the shops are really only suitable for paper.

The final touch was using the Chocolate Chip ribbon across the front and for the little ribbon page marker - this ties in nicely with the use of the Chocolate Chip ink around the edges of the notebook just to soften them and give a 'shabby' look to my little book.




As you can see I am still working on the art of photo placement - this little bit of writing was now meant to be at the side of the photo but I can't quite manage that - sorry the photo is small - but I feel as if progress has been made as it is in a different place! lol


Hope you have a lovely day - I'll post more in a day or two - please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Bridgette

In Danger of Over-kill........

I really must dig deep and buy another stamp set .......yes the trusty swirl to the rescue. No, honestly I haven't forgotten about the Sizzix project but I needed to make a birthday card as my little boy is going to a 'Chill Out' Party tomorrow - he's nine by the way and has a better social life than me.

Using my Vanilla cardstock I quickly stamped the trusty swirls climbing up from the left hand corner with the cute tiny flower scattered inbetween. I diecut three daisies using my Daisy Die and then lettering from an alphabet set called Nouveau from my Sizzix collection. The large daisies were easily embellished with gold brads and layered on top of the stamped images, and the lettering glued into position. An insert was cut and swirled in a similar manner as was the poor unsuspecting envelope - if it doesn't move stamp it!!

The ribbon is from my stash and was used to tie the little origami box I made to house the High School Musical chocolates and cute frame. Let's hope a good time will be had by all, I'll keep you posted...........

Supplies used:
Certainly Celery Inkpad and ColorBox Wisteria Fluid Chalk Inkpad.
Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery and Vanilla Cardstock
Season of Joy Stamp Set

A Versatile Stamp Set ......

As I have mentioned before I am building my SU stash slowly so I am therefore having to be inventive with what I have already bought. The Season of Joy set was the first one I bought just before Christmas and I am now using it to create a pretty birthday card for a friend's daughter, again using limited ink colours, this time Ruby Red and Certainly Celery on SU Vanilla cardstock.

Briefly, the swirl was used to cascade from top left to bottom right with the tiny flower stamped randomly inbetween. The larger flowers were then added, these had been stamped separately, cut out and embellished with a gold brad to give a little texture and extra interest and then glued into position. The insert was stamped in two corners using the large flower and the envelope just has the swirl and tiny flower design in the lower right hand corner - again this just adds a little extra interest and only take a second or two.

I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of an SU parcel of goodies, blues and pinks this time, just right for Springtime - I'll hopefully have that by next week but I'm working on my next project to show you - using a Sizzix design die.

Now in America Sizzix and Stampin' Up are linked, this is excellent for me as I love my Bigshot diecutting machine, ask any of my crafting friends, and I am ever hopeful that SU will put these products in future catalogues for the UK. My project, if it turns out well, will be using one of the Sizzix dies that is currently available in the American catalogue but we have been able to purchase it here, not thro' SU but a Sizzix retailer for some time - I'll try to post it at the weekend.

Just a little something .....

I have a little girl's birthday card to send today so I made this quickly and added a matching Post-it Note Holder - she's a young teenager so it might work for her.

I haven't managed to solve the mystery of the flying photograph so I thought that I would just experiment a little and put this one to the side and see what it looks like.

Again with limited stash I found inspirations over at http://www.chicnscratch.typepad.com/ how I do love this lady's work - and something new everyday!! If you click into the Leadership samples you will see where I found my starting point.

Nothing too complicated just cutting and inking, stamping and paper piercing, the photo tells the story of how to put it together. The only cool bit is the rounded corners to my thick cardstock - this was achieved using the cute little Round-it-All by Zutter, the guys that make the brilliant Bind it All and DreamKutz - products that I couldn't craft without!

Here goes with the photo ......!!

Supplies used: Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip cardstock - paper from a selection from Tea and Crumpets - Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon - Stamp Set: Small Script

Birthday Thank You Note

Sunday 11 January 2009

It was my little boy's birthday last week and so I just needed to put together a very quick card to say Thank You for all the lovely presents that he received.

As I mentioned in my first post I am trying to keep this to SU products and whilst my stash is growing, albeit slowly, there are still gaps which need to be filled. Luckily I am part of Sally's Stampers 10, you'll find her blog over at http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ and so I order a little each month which is an excellent way of spreading the cost.

Now, by rights, the photo should appear just below and I shall attempt to insert it, this time a medium size not small. I think it is simple to see what has been used and how it has been put together, but the ingredients are listed below.

Well, as you can see it shot to the top again!! I think I shall have to seek some help on this one, but never mind at least they are finding their way here - that's a relief.

I have some birthdays coming up soon so I think I shall let you see those next - I do have a very pretty retired SU floral set which I bought from America - perfect for girly cards.

Now I just need to work out how to add a signature and stop all these huge spaces appearing in the text - well, I said it would be a steep learning curve for me!

Acid free white cardstock; SU chocolate chip cardstock and SU chocolate chip ink.

SU Stamp Sets: Heartfelt Thanks; Small Script and Cause for Celebration.

Equipment: SU Scallop Punch and 1 1/4" Circle Punch.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin ...

Sunday 11 January 2009

This is my first blog and as such it will be a steep learning curve for me - so there will be developments and changes along the way and hopefully it will be fun to discover how to do these new things but it may be more by luck than judgement.

I have crafted now for a little while - collecting bits and pieces along the way as one does but with no clear thought process - then along came an American company called Stampin' Up - and what a revelation it has turned out to be for me.

Now, I don't pretend that with a craftroom full of 'stash' it will be an overnight change - it will be gradual but I shall do my utmost to keep this site to SU products as much as possible.

Having received some lovely Christmas pressies from my crafting girlfriends I wanted to make them something that was pretty but at the same time useful to say 'Thank you' to them. I often visit an American website http://www.inkingidaho.blogspot.com/ put together by Becky Roberts - I found this idea there - a set of four little notelets in a holder. Well, the photo was meant to be just below but it has shot to the top of the blog - don't quite know how that happened - I think if you click on it it will give you a larger photo - it's a bit small - I think I'll try medium next time.

Items used: SU Stamp Set - Heartfelt Thanks; SU Scalloped Punch; SU Ruby Red Ink.

Black Stazon Ink; White Linen-effect Card and Sizzix Scallop Tag Combo.