Dinning Room

The March Stamps of Life Club set 'bicycles2stamp' is lovely! It includes all sorts of bike related stamps, and the die set also includes a gorgeous Hello die and shadow. Sadly though, this is my last post as a member of The Stamps of Life Design Team. I made the decision to leave a few weeks ago, though I will very much miss it! I've been so grateful for the opportunity to work with Stephanie Barnard and her fun products! I hope you enjoy my cards made with the set. (You might have spotted a new design of Stand-Ups Card here!) Some of the products used:    

Here's a card I made using Karen Burniston's new Bathtub Pop Stand die set . The set is really clever! You use one die to make some little tabs in a card base of your choice, then the feet of the bath fit perfectly onto the tabs. Add two baths, stick them together along the top rim, and you're done! The set also comes with dies for the little claw feet, various bubbles, the cute little tap, and a rubber duck! I used one of my favourite Purple Onion Designs stamps - Rosie , so go in the bath. I sandwiched her and the tap and bubbles in between the two bath layers. I stamped her onto patterned paper, and cut her out by hand (and stamped her ears onto pink card stock, and glued them on top.) I made a kind of bath mat area, using the Paris Edges die set , and added some stamped letters from this Skinny Dip set (which I partially coloured with Copics, and cut out by hand), and die cut letters from the Alphabet 1 - Caps set . I stuck wide Elizabeth Craft Design double-sided tape

One of Stephanie Barnard's fabulous new die sets for Sizzix is this 'Friend Forever Step-Ups Card'  - isn't it great, with that lovely centre stepped part, plus all the layer dies, for decorating it so easily?! On this first card, I also used some more of Stephanie's new Sizzix sets - the 'Oh Baby Triplits' set , and a set coming soon with layered banners and letter stamps. On this card, I used Stephanie's new Sizzix Spring Birds Triplit die set , and a new flower set she has coming out soon.  Here's a card using all the extra dies which come with the Forever Friends Setp-Up Card set. I just happened to watch the video shown on this page at Scrapbook.com , showing Stephanie at the recent CHA show, and was really happy to see her showing this card I made below!! And finally, another card made with the 'Oh Baby Triplits' set, and a ribbon slider from the cute new Bugs Framelits and Stamps set . Some of the products used:    

I have got heaps of cards which I just haven't got round to blogging yet - here is one using some Purple Onion Designs stamps, and a Mama Elephant Birthday die. I cut the die into the patterned paper background, then cut it again from green paper, and inlaid the green die cut. For the Ruby the Owl , (and also the bunting ) I stamped the image in pale pink ink, and then coloured it with Copics, to give more of a watercolour effect - I quite liked this look! I cut it out by hand, and stuck it down with small foam pads. Some of the products used:    

I loved making this card! I used Stephanie Barnard's  Basic Step-Up Card die for the base, and Brenda Walton's Layered Cake die for the cake sections and scalloped trims. I used a Tim Holtz Handwritten stamp set for the cake sentiment, and an Altenew 'Label Love' stamp for the Happy Birthday. The candle stamp is from Stampin' Up's Balloon Bash set, and papers are from First Edition's Bella Rose pad. Some of the products used:    

I had fun making this one! I just got a new Neat and Tangled box die in the post, and thought it would look cute teamed with one of Karen Burniston's character dies - Whiskers the Cat . I also thought it would look good as a pop-up card too, so used Karen's Lucy Label Pop Up card die , to create the panel to stick the box to. I added a party hat to the cat, from the Props 2 set , a little tag and stamp, both from a Sizzix tags and stamps set, the paw print dies from the Props 4 set , and the frame from the Rectangle Pull Card die set. The paper are mainly from First Edition's Bella Rose pads. I added ribbon strips (stuck on with ATG tape, with the ends tucked under the floral paper panels), and a Birthday die cut and stamps from Marianne Design, and rounded off the edges of the card with a Zutter Round-it-all. Some of the products used:    

Another birthday card for one of my nieces today... it's the Half-Term holidays this week, and we are having a nice quiet time at home, and I've been able to get a few cards made. This one uses Karen Burniston's new Accordion Star  die set, which cut the panels, the inner star layers, the 3-D barn star, and the small stars. I used Purple Onion Design's ' Jackson & Bubbles ' stamps, which I coloured with Copics. I stamped the bubbles with Staz-On ink onto acetate sheeting. Before folding the barn star, I used a stamp from this set with Versamark ink, and gold heat embossed it. I used papers from Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes and Flea Market 12 x12 pads. Some of the products used:    

 I thought my husband might like a little help choosing a Valentines gift for me this year, so I picked out some new craft products! How nice of me! I made this card for my brother with some of them - I used the Sunburst stamp from Neat and Tangled to stamp with Versamark ink, and then gold heat emboss the background. I added a glitter card 'birthday' cut with a Mama Elephant die, and the 'Happy' with a 'Label Love' stamp from Altenew. That's it really - just trimmed some narrow strips of gold glitter card and glued it to the borders, and added a few sequins and gold glitter candy dots. What a lovely present!! My lovely husband also treated me to flowers and chocolates... he obviously wasn't too impressed by stamps!!

Here's a card which was made for Karen Burniston's Elizabeth Craft Designs stand at the recent CHA show. I used Karen's Butterfly Pivot Card die set, to cut the moving butterflies, and large butterfly decorative layers. I also used Karen's new Paris Edges set for the lovely doily-like floral edges. I used the Butterfly Accessory Dies set to create the almost embossed look of the butterfly background. It's easiest to stick wide Elizabeth Craft Design double-sided tape to the card stock before die cutting the little delicate butterflies, so they are made into stickers, rather than doing lots of fiddly glueing. And the front of the card with some ribbon, paper flowers and metal butterflies added. All the papers are from First Edition's Bella Rose collection. Some of the products used:    

I just wanted to show you the Valentines cards I've made for my family this year. I loved making them!! Playing with paper, with a big fat smile on my face! For my husband's card, I used the Sizzix Flip-its Circle #4 die, the centre circle of which happens to fit absolutely perfectly with Tim Holtz's Sizzix Vintage Globe die . I stuck a grey cardstock globe to the back of the circle, and then die cut it again in grey, and snipped a portion of the globe stand out, and stuck it to the card front. I then glued on a blue globe layer, and the countries I snipped out of a green die cut, and stuck on with little foam pads, after inking all the edges. The papers are all from Basic Grey's Mon Ami 6x6 pad. I also stuck a silver glitter card die cut arrow (from Tim Holtz's Sizzix Artful Arrows die ) to the left-hand card panel. Inside the card, I stuck another arrow, and words cut with Elizabeth Craft Design's Alphabet 1 -Caps . I stuck ECD's wide tape to the back o

I thought I would show you some cards today made with  Sizzix's Triple Circle Flip-its die set , by Stephanie Barnard. I love all the Flip-its dies , especially with their wonderfully handy layer dies that they come with them, and this Triple Circle Flip-its is a lot of fun to decorate. This card was really easy to make into traffic lights, along with the Sizzix Framelits Dies & Stamp -Cars set. I decorated this card with stamps and dies from The Stamps of Life . This card was decorated with a Sizzix tag , and Sizzix stamp . And finally, I decorated this card with snowman elements from these stamps and die sets from The Stamps of Life, and the tag and sentiment stamps from this set . Some of the products used:    

 This month's Designer Challenge from Karen Burniston, is to make either an 'Artsy' or 'Cutesy' card, and so my card today is my attempt at 'Artsy'. I wouldn't say that's my usual style, but I've had fun making a mess with ink and paint! I used the Lorna Label PopUp Card die  for the pop-up mechanism (and stitched label).  Firstly though, I made my own patterned paper by using a Purple Onion damask background stamp , and stamping it with VersaMark ink, and adding clear embossing powder and heating it. I then sponged some brown, light blue and teal ink over the pattern. Next I sprayed the inks with water mixed with a little mica powder. This added some shimmer, and also made the inks spread into each other. Once dry, I placed some copy paper over my patterned paper, and ironed it. This takes off the clear embossing powder, leaving a flat patterned paper behind which can be inked. This my finished shimmery paper, ready to use as my background paper

I wanted to have a go at making a simpler hydrangea card, using the new  Hydrangea die set by Susan Tierney Cockburn for Elizabeth Craft Designs . I really enjoyed assembling it! The stem die has a circular shape built in to the top of it, which you can shape outwards with a ball tool, making an ideal surface for sticking your teeny flowers to. I just simply bordered the three hydrangeas with glitter card. I also made a custom fit envelope for the card with my Envelope Punch Board (love using that thing!!) and decorated it with a die from Karen Burniston's Happy Birthday PopUp die set , and Stampin' Up stamp. Did I mention I love hydrangeas!! They remind me of my Grandma's front garden, which was full of them when I was growing up, and also remind me of France. There is a wood near our house in France, which every summer is filled with blue hydrangeas... beautiful!! These are my pictures from last summer. Some of the products used: