Caturday: A small black kitten

There are three gorgeous little black kittens in the Wendy House at the cat shelter. I have no idea which one this is; either Gabriel, Frank or Star? I think those are their names anyway; they arrived at Christmas, as you’ve probably guessed. I do love a black cat so it’s lovely to watch these three grow and develop into real characters.

Mix It Up Monday: In The Meadow with Wink of Stella glitter brush

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts. Except, I messed up a bit and have repeated a colour combo by mistake. I thought it felt familiar; I must have forgotten to tick it off on the master list!

So this card repeats the colour combination that I used on this project. I made lots of these as thank you card for my most recent party, where the hostess earned a staggering £118 of freebies! She really does know how to pull in a crowd, and of course the Sale-a-Bration factor helped a lot. 

What you can’t see is the lovely shimmer created with the Wink of Stella pen. It’s so difficult to make this come across on screen, you have to see it in real life. Even SU struggled with their official video, which you can see below. 

In The Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140754] £18.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Perfect Pairings Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141261] £0.00
Card Stock A4 Pear Pizzazz [131290] £6.50	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] £7.25	Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad [138327] £6.00
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [131180] £6.00	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad [138325] £6.00	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] £7.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Caturday: Holly

As the weeks fly by, it’s Caturday again already and today it’s the turn of Holly, who arrived at the shelter at Christmas, which is presumably how she got the name. Holly moved into the conservatory with big-cheeked George, who has now been rehomed. Holly isn’t a fan of other cats (apart from George) but loves being stroked and would make a great pet.

Tutorial: In The Meadow half easel card

I really don’t know what’s come over me this year. I keep making projects which are so out of character that I hardly recognise myself. Now it’s time for another fancy fold – this time a half easel card using one of my new favourite stamp sets; In The Meadow. I teamed it with another new set, Perfect Pairings, which is free with a £45 order during Sale-a-Bration. 

I was surprised how easy this one was to make; it’s simply a case of sandwiching a flap between two pieces of card and sticking an image to it. I made lots of these, trying to perfect the design for a Make & Take. When I say “perfect”, sometimes this just means making sure I have enough of the right colour cardstock. 

I created a tutorial for you to download if you wish, although please do bear in mind that the measurements are in metric. But I’m sure you can adapt them. The tutorial is for the design you see below, but obviously you can switch the colours around to suit. I used the Botanical Blooms cardstock pack, as the colours lend themselves perfectly to the stamp set, and you can get all three in one pack, eight sheets of each. 

In The Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140754] £18.00	Perfect Pairings Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141261] £0.00	Botanical Gardens Cardstock Pack [140719] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25
Kraft And White Corrugated Paper [138317] £6.50	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976] £6.00	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad [133643] £6.00
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965] £6.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645] £6.00	1-1/4" Burlap Ribbon [132140] £7.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Mix It Up Monday: Flowering Fields with Botanical Blooms DSP

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts. It may be a little late in the day but it IS still Monday and I’ve just made this project, loosely based on this one by Jo Blackman (Jo’s is nicer).

I confess my version didn’t go smoothly. In fact, it wasn’t until I sat at the computer, edited the photo in Photoshop Elements, created my Mix It Up Monday colour combo in My Digital Studio and started writing this blog post that I realised I’d completely forgotten to use Delightful Dijon! Which is very odd because, if I look at the colour combinations I’ve used so far, it seems Delightful Dijon is my favourite In Color this year. 

So I hurriedly added some Dijon spatters and a butterfly so that I was fulfilling the brief. In the nick of time!

The project uses the gorgeous Flowering Fields stamp set, which you can earn free during Sale-a-Bration with a £45 order. I stamped some of the images in various colours (not Delightful Dijon!) and added some Timeless Textures spatters. The bow took me AGES, but then I’m rubbish at bows. 

Anyway, the recipe…

Flowering Fields Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141303] £0.00	One Big Meaning Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139420] £17.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] £18.00	Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper [140583] £10.00
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [126978] £6.00	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad [126986] £6.00	Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad [138327] £6.00	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [138326] £6.00
Soft Suede A4 Card Stock [119982] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Gold 1/8" Ribbon [134583] £4.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Caturday: Big-cheeked George

Look at those enormous cheeks! George caused quite a stir when he arrived at the cat shelter, mainly because of his huge cheeks. Having only recently been neutered, he was kept in semi-isolation so that he wouldn’t fight with the other male cats, but was soon joined by Holly, a pretty tortoiseshell and white cat who was attracted, no doubt, by the warmth of the radiator rather than the size of George’s cheeks. Handsome George has now been snapped up and gone to his new home, but Holly remains.

Sale-a-Bration retro pop-up card

I wanted to make a card with a retro vibe, so searched “retro colour combinations” on the internet. I came up with something like this: Pool Party, Delightful Dijon and Watermelon Wonder. It’s a combination that could have come straight from my In Color charts and, to be honest, it’s such a good one that I wish I had thought of it. 

Circle punches are perfect for creating a retro vibe, so out they came, too. And eventually, with a bit of playing around, I came up with this card. Pretty clean and simple, but there’s more…

Open it up and you have this fabulous pop-up greeting, which I absolutely love. It’s so simple to create with the new Party Pop-Up Thinlits Dies. Check out the Stampin’ Up! video below.

Behind the pop-out greeting is some retired paper (it wasn’t retired when I made the card!) which helps the greeting to stand out even more.

If you’d like to see a demonstration of these dies, do get in touch to book a party... but hurry – my calendar is filling fast!

Party Pop-Up Thinlits Dies [140620] £27.00	Flowering Fields Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141303] £0.00	Botanicals For You Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141237] £0.00	2015-2017 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [138333] £13.50
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock [138345] £6.50
Pool Party A4 Card Stock [124391] £6.50	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock [138341] £6.50

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com