Saturday 31 January 2015

New Spring / Summer Catalogue and Sale-a-Bration with Stampin' Up!

**** (Scroll down if you want to see my latest posts) ****
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Morning everyone!
How are you?
Fed up with the dreary weather?
Fear not!
Lots of colourful new goodies are now available to you!


Click the 'Shop Now' button on the right hand side
or the catalogue above to view it online
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Click the catalogue above to view online
For every £45 you spend, you can choose a free gift,
and there's more!
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Have a workshop/party with friends,
or just gather up a few orders from them by sharing the catalogue
and you can earn more to spend!
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OR Join my team!
It's easy, fun, and no obligation after you buy the starter kit!
PLUS
you can get more extra treats than just the fab kit
of £130 worth of products for £99

Choose
Either


Or


Go to my Shop Here!








Happy Post

We all love happy post don't we?!
Here's a lovely gem from the talented Sarn


Sentiment takes centre stage of a crisp balanced layout on an arty inky background.
Wish I was this clever!
Hop over and see her other creations......

Friday 30 January 2015

Bow tie

Here's the Bow Punch again!
One for the men,
this was a prototype for one of my classes.
I always try out the designs so I can help avoid pitfalls on the day.


I think this was another idea from Pinterest.
I liked the paper, which worked well for the sentiment too,
but I didn't like my first 'collar', hence a double crease mark.
I 'googled' bow ties, and couldn't believe how many different styles and types there are!
The sentiment is from Butterfly Basics.

Happy Friday!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Thursday 29 January 2015

Holiday Home

The stamp set Holiday Home from Stampin' Up!
was great fun to play with for xmas,
but it's great for other events too. 


This was a little welcome for a cousin who has moved to Kent,
the 'Garden of England', to be nearer family.
I cut an oval aperture and mounted some fun sunny looking paper behind.
Then cut and mounted the houses, colouring in the centre one.
I then punched a small heart, to match the door, for the chimney 'smoke'.
The sentiment is actually in the same set.

I hope you are keeping warm wherever you are
Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Wednesday 28 January 2015

Bowtastic

I did warn you didn't I?
about the bowfest.
There's a lovely card on page 13 of the spring catalogue


Here's a couple using Hello Life to make borders.
I discovered the bows look best in a bold contrasting colour.
Cute and quick!


Welcome Maarit,
thanks for your support

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Bow Punch from Stampin' Up!

Have you seen this yet?
It's the new fab bow punch from the spring seasonal catalogue 


It makes short work of a really neat bow from paper or card,
and here's just a few ideas of how to use those bows:


You can be fairly sure there'll be a lot of bow love going on!
See what ideas you can come up with,
and feel free to share with us.

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Monday 26 January 2015

Happy swinging away

Hello
happy Monday!

Made this one for a special young man
I love this set Sheltering Tree,
you may have noticed!
This time I stamped lots of coloured 'leaves'
including some of my reduced flower stamp from Perpetual Birthday Calendar.
The sentiment again is from Hello Life.

Have a good week
Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Sunday 25 January 2015

January Rudolph Day

Do you know how many days it is until christmas?
No?
Me neither.
But I do know it's the first Rudolph Day challenge of the year.
It has a new hostess, so please hop over to have a look when you get time.


I used my Tree punch to make 3 layers for each tree,
added a 'trunk' out of paper too,
and then a sparkly star on top.
The sentiment is from Good Greetings.

I thought I'd enter the latest Snippets Playground as well,
considering a lot of snippets were used here!
Do pop over there too,
there's sooooo much talent out there!

Hope you are having a restful Sunday

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Saturday 24 January 2015

makes me happy

In case you hadn't noticed
I love stamping!

I also love sending hand made cards to my friends and family.
I think about them when I make them,
so they arrive full of love and good thoughts. 


Here's one two of my fave sets at the mo...
Hello Life......
(mainly bought for the happy big sentiment,
but am loving the others in the set too)
and Sheltering Tree.

The thing is......I wanted to try different 'leaves',
so I got out fave set three (ooo dear, just can't make me mind up at the mo),
Perpetual Birthday Calendar and stamped some flowers.

The thing is.....I wanted some smaller flowers in between.
The stamp is little, and it would have been fiddly to mask,
so I did a very naughty thing.....
I cut a bit off!
Well, it was just two little flowers, that I can still put with the others,
but it just made it so much easier to fill in the gaps.
I decided it's my stamp, I can do what I like!

I'm trying to remember to decorate the envelopes too.

Happy Saturday
Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Friday 23 January 2015

cats whiskers


Do you remember I played with brushing a background....

Well, I bought a new die too!
A silhouette one as you can see....


I cut a white one too,
and layered it behind to give the illusion of moonlight


Happy Friday, and have a lovely weekend!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Perpetual Birthday Calendar

Here we are are mid-week again already.
Bet you wondered where my swaps and makes were?!
No?
Oh well, I'm going to show you anyway!


Swaps  from recent play day:


Those eagle eyed will spot that I showed these the other day!

My 'make' was a Perpetual Birthday Calendar

This is the Kit from Stampin' Up!



I wanted to make this for a gift, 
so instead of using the kit, 
I made one up with some board.


december to july


june to january


I stamped the images using 
Perpetual Birthday Calendar Stamp set,
and added letters, and a few embellishments.
I have to say this was lots of fun,
and I would like to make some more!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Tuesday 20 January 2015

makes

Hi
hope you are having a terrrrrific Tuesday!

If not, these'll make you smile!

makes from play day:

Jan


Liz


Sarn



See!
They're too gorgeous to even add words!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Monday 19 January 2015

swaps

Hello everyone!
I'm here to help banish those Monday Blues!

At a recent play day,
we did some swapping,
and some making and taking.

So here's some of them:

First up from Liz
Beautiful in blue
stunning background


Jan's notebook
perfectly stamped and bound
and tied in lush ribbon


Sarn's cute box
lovely stamped background,
and gorgeous sentiment


See!
Told you I'd cheer you up!

Have a good week

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Sunday 18 January 2015

you're a star

Another one that slipped the net in my blogging
(I think! but please excuse if it's a repeat)


Pictogram punches stamp and flower patch
combine for a look of fireworks
(well, that was my plan anyway!)

Relax and enjoy, it's Sunday!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Saturday 17 January 2015

old favourites

I've been looking back at my pics,
and seem to have missed sharing some.

So here's a couple from a play day last year....


This one from Liz has a lovely glazed poppy




Jan's is very simple but pretty.
I think a lot of us envy her clean and simple designs

Hope you are having a Super Saturday

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Friday 16 January 2015

Classes for 2015

Hi all
Just wanted to let you know I have just updated
the classes page with this years dates:

Next Classes: Thursdays 2 till 4 pm
 22nd January, 19th February, 26th March, 
23rd April, 21st May, 18th June,
16th July, 20th August, 17th September,
22nd October, 19th November.

More details can be found by clicking on the
classes/ workshops tab.

Contact me if you would like to book a place
or discuss alternative arrangements

Hope to see you soon
Lesley
xxx
xx

Motorbiking Stampin' Up! style

I hope you are keeping warm and dry.

It's very wet around here, 
but luckily my little abode is quite high up.
I feel so, for those who worry every time it rains.

I enjoy feeding and watching the garden birds,
but I have some pesky little squirrels causing havoc at the moment.
They seem to be busy storing food for the cold,
and not satisfied with taking some seed,
one of them actually removed one feeder from it's hook,
and set about getting the lid open.
Cheek!

Anyway, I'm sure you're visiting to see another card,
so today it's an old fave for a biker fan.
I don't think I will ever part with this detailed stamp.


As you can see (sorry for dodgy photographic skills)
I stamped it three times without re-inking.

I did another brushed ink background,
and used Butterfly Basics border stamp top and bottom.
I coloured a bit of the bike with my new blender pens,
and added a simple greeting.

Happy Friday wherever you are!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Butterfly Basics

I am LOVING this Butterfly Basics set.
It is perfect for the layering collage effect.


Out came my recently acquired NBUS
{Never Before Used Stuff}
(see below)
in the form of these big brushes.


They can give an air brushed look,
that's a lot easier than with a brayer.

Here's the card using Bermuda Bay,
 Tempting Turquoise and Rose Red Inks,
then Memento Black for the fern.


After masking, brushing, stamping etc!,
I used a fine black pen to make a squiggly line to outline the panel.


A 'squiggly' line means you don't have to worry about doing a straight line!


Don't forget that any inky attempts that don't go quite right,
can be used to stamp on and punch out!


It is also fab for stamping a sentiment on the outside,
and a coordinating one inside,
not forgetting the envelope too!
Phew!

The stamp set is new,
but this is the first time I've used my brushes,
and so will enter Darnell's challenge:

Do pop over and visit her page,
it is VERY funny!


Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Big butterfly thanks

I hope I'm not boring you.....
when I get new toys, I tend to do lots with them while they're on my desk,
then put them away to be forgotten!

There's always exceptions though!



This is the biggest butterfly from the Thinlits set,
and I chopped of it's wing tips to make it fit!
(No butterflies were harmed in making this card)

I then 'infilled' some of the word,
with left overs from another die cut.

Oh dear, that means I'm off to the Snippets Playground again!
It's no wonder I get nothing done.....
too much time spent playing on the swings!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Monday 12 January 2015

Butterflies upon butterflies

A little thank you card to share.
You can see I've been 'playing'!


I die cut first,
then stamped over with the little accent butterflies,
(you might have to zoom in for that!),
then inked around edges, and over the word,
to make it pop more.

More snippets, so may hop over to the snippets playground again!

I still don't like Mondays,
but hopefully this will cheer your day :)

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Sunday 11 January 2015

Birthday Butterfly Basics

Here's a card made with some of my new stash.


I cut the butterfly and 'happy' from white and silver glimmer,
and layered them to give more dimension.
The plain 'birthday' offsets the other fussiness.

Lots of snippets used here,
so I'm off to the Snippets Playground!

Please go visit Pixie and Parsnip and the other playmates.
I won a prize there last week,
that I'll show you soon,
but meantime there's some very talented work over there.

By the way
I forgot I took this close up pic


and I get excited about the smallest things.......!
I love this sentiment, it is going to be sooooo useful,
especially for cards on behalf of groups.
It is just one of many useful sentiments in
Crazy about You.


Lesley
xxx
xx
x

make more happy

I just love Sheltering Tree and here I used it with Hello Life


The star-burst is from Kinda Eclectic,
and I used one of the little accent stamps from Sheltering Tree
to make the 'blossom' and to stamp the background.

Happy Sunday

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Saturday 10 January 2015

New Toys

Hi there
I hope your weekend is going well

I was a bit naughty after christmas,
and ordered 'a few' goodies from the new catalogue.

I can't wait to get the time to make loads of stuff to show you!


Here's some quick thank you cards I made with Butterfly Basics


It's been so wet and windy lately,
but at least it's not been as cold....or hot as some places
so I'm not complaining!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Friday 9 January 2015

Birthday fun

A fun card for a fun friend....


who loves dogs!
hence I had to add a doggy insert!


I struggle with birthdays around Christmas,
so I have a resolution to make them earlier for the next one!

Lesley
xxx
xx
x

Thursday 8 January 2015

Petite Petals

I had some birthdays cards to make
just before Christmas.
and luckily spotted this design on Pinterest.


It may have been one of Julie Kettlewell's


I die cut the shape, mounted it on foam pads to lift it from the base,
and added a few flowers and gems.

Lesley
xxx
xx
x