Just a Quickie!

I've decided to pop into town to run a couple of errands and stop by to see a friend but I wanted to pop a quick post here on my blog before I head out.  I have had a chance to quickly sample some of my new WMS stamps but I think it is likely to be the weekend before I can really play much more with them.

I can't seem to get myself away from those beautiful swirled corner stamps from WMS either so if you're tired of looking at these I apologise in advance - sorry.

I guess I am just lovin the simplicity of these cards.  I sooooo don't do CAS so I am surprising even myself with these latest creations plus I love that there isn't a single bit of designer paper in sight.  It's simply NO required which I think is pretty cool.

The other thing I like is how quick and easy these cards are to produce making it great to whip up a set for a sweet little gift.  Let's face it - who couldn't use a few extra cards to keep in touch with a friend who's poorly or needs encouraging?

And I love the sentiments too and that I can mix and match elements up to get just the sentiment or decoration I want.  I am lovin the contrast of the striking black lines and swirls against the white card stock too.  Maybe that's why I'm a bit hooked on these little beauties right now.  What's not to love about em'?

Gotta go.  Town is calling me, especially the charity shops and market stalls.  I only hope I can find a treasure or a bargain!

Blessings

Suezie

More Mini Cards

I am a bit later getting these posted than I expected.  We have only just gotten back from our home bible study group where we had a whole feast of wonderful food to celebrate our hosts 8th wedding anniversary.  I did make a cake but sadly I didn't try out the rose cake idea from Pinterest.  I knew as soon as I began layering up the cake that I was going to be short by about a whole extra batch of frosting and there simply wasn't time to make more!

Instead I frosted it up the best I could (under the circumstances - it was a beast of a cake!) and then topped it with fresh strawberries dusted with powdered sugar.  It looked and tasted great so that was all that mattered in the end.

I promised to share more of my mini cards for charity and I have about 9 shots to share so here goes.  The one on the left uses flower stamps from Papertrey Ink plus a quote stamp from WMS as well as these pretty swirled corner stamps.  The rest is done with a fine line pen.  The one on the right uses the same PTI flower stamp but with the solid stamp as well as the outline and the verse is a plain Jane from Verve.

The card on the left uses a plain Jane verse from Verve, scrolls from WMS and the circles are from the WMS tiny trees set.  The one on the right is just a repeat from the one above.  I am lovin the kind of brown/beige leaves instead of the usual green ones.

The one on the left above uses a Verve plain Jane scripture stamp, WMS swirled corners and PTI flowers and exactly the same stamp companies & supplies for the one on the right too.

The one on the left uses a pretty leaf spray and verse - both from Verve stamps and then just WMS swirled corners.  The one on the right is PTI flower stamps, WMS swirled corners and a Verve scripture stamp.

The one on the left of this shot features WMS tiny trees set, WMS swirled corners and a StampinUp! quote.  On the right is PTI flowers, a Verve scripture stamp and the WMS swirled corners again.  I just loved how using a couple of really small swirled corner stamps could create such fun frames when they were joined up with some basic pen lines.

These ones both feature StampinUp! sets and of course - those swirl stamps from WMS.  I've had this set from SU! for such a long time and I hardly ever use it so it feels good to finally be creating cards with it.  Sorry this shot is a bit out of focus.

Both of these cards feature PTI flowers and WMS swirled corners.  The one on the left has a quote from WMS and the one on the right has an SU! quote.

On the left is a Verve verse, PTI  flowers and WMS swirled corners.  On the right is a PTI set which features a couple of different crosses, verses and encouraging quotes and more WMS swirled corners to complete the look and create the frame.

And last but not least more Verve, WMS & PTI on the left and more SU! & WMS on the right.

I've booked a date for 9 November to get together with about half a dozen ladies from our church so we can get more cards made for fund raising and I'm so excited to be able to share these encouraging cards with the girls.  In fact I've booked a couple of days off work just so I can 'get in the zone' so to speak LOL!

Since tomorrow is my day off and I haven't made plans to go anywhere I think I'll just mooch around, do a bit of housework and a whole load of STAMPING!  How cool does that sound?

For now - it's been a very, very long day - I've worked from 7.30 am to 5.00 pm plus been busy with cakes once I got home, rushed out to home group and am yawning my head off as I type this post so it's off to Bedfordshire for me I think.

Blessings

Suezie

At Last!

At last my Waltzing Mouse stamps arrived!  Yay!  I absolutely LOVE gettin' packages.

They have been on quite a journey I can tell you.  First up they were delivered goodness only knows where but then marked as 'addressee gone away' and thankfully returned to Claire at WMS HQ.  After a few emails back and forth they were then re-posted and headed back to me and this time they arrived at the correct destination.  I couldn't be happier.

I have been wanting a seed packet set of stamps long before Claire ever released them so it's exciting to finally get my hands on some and I have a whole bunch of pumpkins from our plot ready to cook for pies.  I plan to toast the seeds to make a home made snack and now that I have these stamps I can package some up for sharing that look really cute too.

The Nestie dies are some that have been on my wish list for far too long now and the stamp die set is one that was out of stock a couple of times so I'm thrilled to finally have this now.  All I need to get are some more clear CD cases to store all these in.

I have been pretty busy this evening packaging up my mini cards for charity that I've been making since the weekend plus I baked a cake for home group tomorrow ready to frost just before we leave so I haven't had time to play much.  That said I did take just 5 minutes to create a couple more mini cards.  Can you believe these took just 5 minutes - that's for both of them together!  When I have finished making all my cards I plan to make some for myself to have on hand.  I have set a date for about half a dozen ladies from church to help me make a bunch to sell as well which should be really fun.  I can't wait! LOL

I am just having way too much fun making these mini cards - all stamped, not a bit of designer paper in sight and with some lovely frames made using a couple of small WMScorner scroll stamps and a black fine liner felt pen.

Here's a peek at a couple more.  I pulled out several sets of 'faith' stamps from Verve, PTI, WMS and StampinUp! plus a few floral sets and have created some adorable mini cards.  I promise I will be back tomorrow to post a few more pictures.  I hope 'hot potato' you will be inspired when you see some of the 'plain Jane's' I've used and what I've done with them plus lucky for you, you have a delivery on the way huh?

For now I need to go whip up my frosting and then head off to bed I think.  I'm toying with the idea of trying out the rose cake frosting idea that I've seen on Pinterest here but I need to see just how deep (high) my cake sits when I layer it up first.  I figure if it works - great and if not - well then I could just smoosh up the frosting and make it look somewhat presentable huh?  I'll see how I feel tomorrow when I come home from work since that's when I plan to do it.

Wish me luck!

Hugs

Suezie

A Busy Day Off

Well yesterday was my routine mid-week day off work and it was a pretty busy one.  First up I made a dozen pretty little napkins for a gift I need for next week, then I baked over 4 dozen cupcakes for an event at our church on Friday and I did a little crafting too.

I started off by cutting out a dozen squares.  These are actually smaller napkins - the kind you'd use for cupcakes and delicate pastries at a tea party.

Don't they look pretty all folded and layered up?

And because I knew I wanted to keep them arranged like this when I package them I decided to colour copy a piece of the fabric to match.  I plan on adhering it to a rectangle of thick card and then laying the triangle fold napkins on top and using clear cellophane to wrap it all up in tied with a nice big bow and pretty tag. 

After the napkins were finished I set to work on making up the cupcakes.  I make no secret about the fact that I use a cake mix when making cupcakes.  The frosting is ALWAYS made from scratch though but I use a mix for the cakes for two very good reasons.  First it's a fantastic time saver on preping and measuring out lots of ingredients.  I usually have to dig deep in my cupboards so it means climbing on a stool etc.  Secondly I just love how moist and 'no fail' good ol' Betty Crocker cakes are.

Plus I am lovin' the new look packaging.  Why it matches the apron I made myself last year - even down to the dots!  And anyone who knows me, knows how dotty I am for polka dots LOL.  Even the piece of Cath Kidston ribbon I stitched onto my apron hs a similar feel to it.

I just might have to find a way to use some of the packaging maybe or make up a gift set in these colours with a retro feel.  How cute would that be?

I chose to tint my frosting pink - I was aiming for red but couldn't quite get there.  I frosted them up this evening and even though I made a double batch of frosting and frosted up 42 cupcakes, I couldn't quite get them all done so I'll be making up a bit more frosting when I get home from work tomorrow to finish them off.

So I have 4 containers stacked on my stove top right now with all but one tub full ready to go.

I used this opportunity to work a few things out for when I make the cupcakes for Caroline's wedding.  Like that  I might need one more cake mix and will need to fill the cases up a bit more, plus I will probably need 4 batches of frosting so I can pipe them up a bit higher.  All in all it was really good practice for me.  I would've hated to figure out all this a day or two before the wedding!

And just so I could chill after all that busy and a bit of house cleaning I sat and stamped up a whole bunch of sheets using a sweet little nativity set from StampinUp!  I've had this set for a number of years but rarely use it and I am looking for things to make for more charity fund raising.

My first thought was to make up sweet little cards but then I thought maybe people would like to but kits to make up a couple of cards.  I still have to work out how to do the topper for the packaging but each kit has enough supplies to make 2 cards complete with liner that's stamped with the larger sentiment in the picture.

I even added a few colouring pencils (behind the cards) and all the elements already have adhesive on them - all you have to do is colour, peel and stick!  What could be easier than that?  I think these would be fun to gift to anyone who has kiddies too so I need to make a couple extra so I can do just that.  I'm sure the grandkids would love these too.

Well it's after midnight (we're waiting up to collect Jess form work) but I'm gonna start getting ready for bed.  It usually takes me 20 minutes or so and by that time hubby will have brought her back home.  I have another busy day ahead tomorrow since I'm helping out at an event at church in the evening and I know I have a big pile of work sitting on my desk that needs doing too.  Still it all keeps me out of trouble huh?  LOL.

Oh and my Waltzing Mouse package was returned to Claire stating 'addressee gone away' so goodness only knows where it was delivered to?  It certainly wasn't here and even though she's re-sent it I'm still playing the waiting game!  See!  Somebody really doesn't want me to have those stamps huh?  I'd sure love to have them to play with over this weekend so I hope they come tomorrow or I'll be emailing Claire and worrying that they've gone astray again.

Hugs

Suezie

What's in Your Shopping Cart?

Do you ever see something when you're at the grocery store and get an idea?  Well I do ALL the time.  I guess in the same way an artist would see inspiration in the colour of a flower or a beautiful landscape - I see inspiration in every day things.  Not that I would ever compare myself to an artist you understand LOL.

It's just that I knew as soon as I saw this multi pack of blank cards they would make quick and easy projects and at just £2.35 for 8 cards they were not to be sneezed at.

Further on in the store I scoured the stationery isle and found these mini note pads reduced to just .49p each. Note pads or books with a hard cover and spiral binding are some of the easiest projects to transform and make great faith journals.  If I'm honest I have always wanted to teach a 'faith crafts' workshop because the possibilities for projects such as prayer diaries, book marks or stationery and cards are endless.

One of these days!

So..........  Do you want to see what I came up with?  Then read on but be warned - this is a long post!  Oh and by the way - you can do these even if you don't own a single stamp or craft tool - well as long as you have double sided tape and access to one of your kids pencil cases that is.

This is the pretty ensemble I created and all in a matter of minutes.  My favourites are the ones where I have simply stamped one of Verves Plain Jane Scripture stamps, added my tracing wheel faux stitches and lightly inked the edges - nothing more.  You know what they say - sometimes less is more.

I could see doing this to the entire pack and being perfectly happy.  Oh and I guess looking at this picture now I should also mention that I added the teeniest diamanté gems here and there for a bit more detail but only a few to keep it simple and non-fussy.

One step on and I added ribbon along one edge plus structured my gems a bit more; adding them into the centre of the flowers.

Then I really went to town with this one.  First up I used a MS border punch along one edge and then backed this with black card stock to even up the card edges and make the design pop out.  Next I added the ribbon along one edge, added gems in the centre of the flowers as before and finally created a scripture block which is then 3D mounted to the card front.

I cannot tell a lie so it's at this point I confess I screwed up when I was stamping and this was the only way I could think to fix it.  Basically I covered over my mistake LOL.  BUT - that said this is exactly how you'd create a card without a stamp.  Simply open up a blank document in MS Word, insert a table or text box - whichever you're most comfortable with - and type a verse.  All you have to do then is play around with the font size and style until you're happy with it, print, cut into a square or rectangle and mount it onto a slightly larger coloured piece of card stock.  It works exactly the same.  How cool is that?  It means ANYONE can do it (which I happen to lurve:-)

And because I screwed up AGAIN!  This time when I was punching out the border so I decided to cut this card down to create a mini 4" x 4" square card which is easy enough to make a square envelopes for (I have a tutorial on my blog) and then I even used up the left over scraps to create a couple of tags.

Next up I cut one card down into a block which I added faux stitching and inked edges to and then mounted it on the front of the note pad cover.  It was just big enough to cover up the text and still leave a small border of green around the edges.  I added a plain coloured card stock panel to cover up the text on the back of the note pad too.  heck I even used the back of the card to stamp out my verse and also a 'handmade' stamp to punch out and add to the back cover.

Then I added a bit of ribbon and a scripture verse block to the front with foam pads.  Nothing fancy - just simple crafting but it works.  I have an SU tab punch so I may add a pink, lilac and purple tab along the left  edge just to finish it off.

So.........  Wouldn't these all make for a lovely gift item?  You could even add some pretty pink or lilac coloured writing paper & envelopes.  And yep - you could pop the paper into your printer and add a verse onto the bottom of each sheet too.  All dressed up in a simple basket this would make such a pretty and thoughtful gift.

See why I want to do that 'faith crafts' workshop?  You could pop in some extra scripture cards with a pretty mini magnetic frame so you could have a different verse up on the fridge each week or month.  Add some pretty handkerchiefs and mints for Sunday's too.  But my favourite idea of all?  Tie up 3 or 4 cards with a pretty wide ribbon and add a bag of sticky gems, 3D foam pads, ribbon & scripture blocks so the recipient can enjoy creating their very own cards!  Love when I can share crafting with others.

Well hubby is home so I'd best go cook dinner - curry tonight I think.  I have been cold all day long, probably something to do with the rain no doubt.  At least I managed to miss it - both in my lunch time walk and my walk home.  Poor ol' Jess didn't though.  Bless her cotton socks - she's been working real hard on the allotment to keep herself occupied right now and she had to shelter in the greenhouse for 45 minutes!  Even after that she still got wet getting home.  Gotta love her for all the hard work she's putting in though.

Oh and I lost 1lb this Saturday at my weigh-in with the nurse so that was better than last time.  I'm still plugging away but the house is gonna get full of cakes in the next couple of days so I hope I don't blow it.  I have about 4 dozen to make but it's great practice for Caroline's wedding.   I have to make 50 for that and it's a really special event so I'm going to make the most of this opportunity to see how long it takes, how many cake mixes I use and how much frosting I have to make for them.  Even as I've just typed these lines I'm amazed at how God has provided me with the perfect opportunity to practice.  How amazing is that?

And on a low note - still no stamp delivery despite a delivery notice last week.  Claire always sends the stamps out ahead of the delivery notes so hopefully they haven't gone astray.  I am beginning to think maybe someone doesn't want me to have them LOL!  I think I might email Claire after dinner just to check.

Hope this blesses you.  

And Eunice - I'm not ignoring you, I just haven't set dates yet but I will email you real soon.

Hugs

Suezie

A Berry Sweet Card Tutorial

I was in need of a whole stack of cards to donate for fund raising after listening to a lovely couple speak at our church the other evening.  They were talking about their work with Caring for Life which is a Christian charity that helps care for people with all manner of physical, emotional or social difficulties.  You should check it out here.

Their talk was very thought provoking and I genuinely admire them for their commitment so it was only natural that anyone would come away wondering what could be done to help.  My mind was pondering if I could do anything even before they'd finished so I felt as though Debbie might be speaking to me individually when she jumped back up at the very last minute and added as a last thought 'Oh and if anyone wants to make handmade cards that we could sell, we can really use some'.  That was all the prompting I needed - this was definitely something I could do!

I chose today to get busy on these cards since I'm desperately waiting for Mr Postie to deliver my latest Waltzing Mouse stamp order.  I was in hope it would come today as it's my day off but nothing so far.  Still I have spent the entire morning playing with stamps so it's cool and besides I know me.  I would've been very distracted if they had arrived so I might not have gotten these cards done.  See how good God is to me?  He knows me sooooo well.  My stamps will arrive that's for sure but most likely not until after these are finished LOL.  Just a s well I think cos I'm hoping to use the new dies I ordered for the WMS sketch challenge this week - well as long as they arrive before Saturday that is.

Since I knew I needed several and I needed them quickly I decided to keep it pretty clean & simple.   I also knew I wanted to use this super sweet berry stamp set and whilst I was about it I decided to take a few shots for a tutorial too.  It's nice to get back to tutorials.

First up I had purchased a pack of 25 pre-made mini card blanks with envelopes for just £3.99 with this project in mind.  I usually make my own card blanks and envelopes but doing it this way wasn't really any more expensive and it was a fantastic time saver too.  I started off by stamping one of the Waltzing Mouse handmade stamps on the back of each card.

Next up I used my pattern tracing wheel and ruler to run a faux stitch line around the front of the card.  I just love this technique.  Hopefully you can just about see it in this shot but click on it to enlarge it if not.  Maybe that will help.

Once that was done I cut a square measuring the same as my card front (4" x 4") and die-cut a heart from the centre.  I then used the relief by centring it over the card front and shading in an area using distress ink.

Then I stamped my sentiment where I thought I wanted it to be.

And after that I decided to stamp up all my strawberries - don't they just look yummilicious?   I'm gonna try this card again as a gift set and maybe do some fun colours like pink berries and lime green leaves, plus I think I might try the WMS gingham stamp instead of shading next time too.  Ooooo and I can see a shade heart with the text stamp over the top too - endless possibilities!

Then I used the same heart shaped die, traced it onto a scrap of card stock and stamped the sentiment in about the same place as I had on my card front.

After cutting out my strawberries I was then able to position them onto this scrap piece where I thought they would appear on my card.......

....and then re-stamp my sentiment to get just a portion onto my strawberry.  I set my strawberries aside for a moment to do the next step.

I love to doodle so I used the heart die to trace around my inked heart with a black fine line marker.

But because this fine line was too neat and because I also wanted a kinda hand stitched pen detail I traced around the pen line freehand weaving in and out and then added a few stitch strokes so it created a piece of patchwork.  On reflection it kinda looks like barbed wire too but what the hey!

All that was left to do was adhere my strawberry taking care to line it up to the stamped sentiment.  After that I inked the edges of my card - yes I love this technique too.  It's kinda like adding another layer without actually doing that. 

Finally I finished it off with a few doodled pen dots (which you can't see in this shot so go back up to the first shot) which again I love to add.  And there you have it!  One quick, easy, pretty card - ten down and only 15 more to go!  Then all I have to do is line them, bag them up and pop them into the post.

I am at my mother's house for dinner and crafting this evening so no prizes for guessing what I'll be doing tonight huh? LOL.

And as an added bonus keeping myself occupied today has helped keep me on track with the diet.  Can you believe I kept my weight steady and maintained the entire time I was out of action with Labyrinthitis and NOW I gain a couple of pounds?  Aaarrgghhhhh!!  I'm hoping it's back off when I see the nurse this Saturday and that I'm getting back on track.  Jessy has been out walking with me plus I played on the Wii fit board this week too - first time ever and it was a blast.  I don't usually do any computer games but I about pee'd my pants laughing when I tried to hoola hoop and then when Dave got on to try it I nearly pee'd em' again laughing at him!  In the new year I plan to join a Salsa class or something but I'll keep plugging away at what I can when I can until then.  I'm still just a bit too giddy to put myself out there in public LOL.

Blessings

Suezie

P.S.  I will be running a couple of Christmas workshops at my church before Christmas if anyone's interested in coming along.  I'd love to catch up with you all.

I Blinged it up Big Time

Well I made my decision.  I went with the giant gems since I figured my bow detail was somewhat oversized too.  I figured it was a good balance in the end.

Here's this week's sketch......

I chose to turn it sideways to suit the tag element of my design and then to make the bow element really large for a change.  I pretty much always use a thinner ribbon but I love the wider ribbon too - I just don't have too much of it on hand so often that's all.

I was working on the basis that an over sized bow at one end of the tag demanded something over sized at the other end.  And besides I have had these giant gems for ages and never found a project that I could use them on until now.  They've actually always been a bit too large.  And whilst it doesn't show up in this shot - I'm guessing because of the camera angle since I tried to defuse the glare off the gems - I added red glitter to the tips of the crown. You can see a few more shots of this (and a variation or two) in my previous post.

I don't have the Waltzing Mouse music stamp so instead I used a piece of music sheet from a book of music I purchased at a local charity book store.  I free hand cut the larger scallops which on reflection I maybe should've used dies or my CM circle cutting system even.  Sometimes you don't think of these things at the time but hey I have everything I need to make this card up again - several times over in fact so I will keep it in mind for the next time.

And I have to confess I've had these stamps out for the past week and was playing around with them on red & green card stock for a workshop project but I was super inspired by 'Cammie's' card which you can check out here.   She used the 'Nordic Winter' stamps which just happens to be another set I don't yet own (darn it!) but I loved her tag creation.  In fact I've pinned it for future reference for when I do get that set!

Now go check out all the other fab entries this week.

Blessings

Suezie

Decisions, Decisions!

As of up to yesterday evening I was struggling with a decision.  My dilema?  How to embellish the element of three on my Waltzing Mouse Sketch entry for this week.

See what you think.

Do I go with the oversized bling in the centre of my stamped circles?  I won't tell you how many shots I took of this version to try to get a better picture of those giant gems.  Soooooo frustrating!

Do I tame it down some and add some green alphabet pebbles - which just happen to work out really well for a three letter word 'JOY'?

Or do I go for something much smaller like these red flat backed dewdrops?

Who knew when I started my card for the sketch that I would have such choices?  And to think I wasn't even crazy about this element on this week's sketch!  Go figure!

What d'ya think?  Which one would you choose?