Monday sees the launch of the brand new annual catalogue and, this year, it's a massive 205 pages! To bring us in line with the US there are lots of exciting new products and you really will be spoilt for choice from both this and the Seasonal catalogue which is running alongside.
If you would like to spread the cost of your wishlist and, at the same time, earn yourself some freebies then why not join my Stampers 6 club (starting in October). You need to commit to a minimum spend of £25 per month (excl p&p) for 6 months and, in one of those months, you will earn yourself an additional £25 worth of products of your choice from the catalogue. Please email me for more details if you are interested (see contact me tab at the top)
To celebrate the launch of both the Seasonal catalogue and the main catalogue, lots of SU demos are taking part in an ILWS Blog Hop which starts at 10.am on Monday so do come back then and go hopping for lots of inspiration. Until then have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday x

Mixed Bunch Birthday

My apologies for being AWOL again! The saga still continues with Dad and, added to that, I've had a streaming cold for 10 days which doesn't seem to want to go - I think I must be looking after it too well :0) Hence not too much crafting getting done at the moment. However it is my sister's birthday today and this is a card I made for my Mum to give to her. I used a couple of the stamps from Mixed Bunch, which was available in the Summer Mini, along with the co-ordinating Blossom Punch both of which, I can tell you, will be making a reappearance in the brand new annual catalogue available from 1st October. I used one of the new In Colours, Summer Starfruit, which was stamped off to get some paler images. The sentiment is part of a stamp in the Happiest Birthday Wishes Hostess set, coloured with a marker and teamed with anotehr stamp from For my Family and punched with the Extra Large Oval Punch. A strip of cardstock punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch was added across the centre of the card, the central punched flower was added with dimensionals and Basic Pearls finished the card. I also added a bit of stamping to the envelope by using a post-it note as a mask.
Hope to be back soon, have a lovely weekend x

My apologies for the lack of posts this week but my Dad is still in hospital and we are trying to get things sorted and, on top of that, on Tuesday I developed a streaming cold making me feel very sorry for myself!! Back at school for one week and I'm already picking up the kids germs - it doesn't bode well does it?
Anyway this week at Less is More the ladies are asking for Ovals so I have used the oval Designer Embossing Frame to make a card for my eldest grandson who, at the grand old age of 4, is starting 'proper' school on Monday. I seem to have used a lot of retired or retiring stamps for this card so I won't bore you with the details. I have used Pacific Point, as the colour of the uniform is Royal Blue, and Basic Gray for the trousers. The small picture on the right shows the inside of the card and I have done this because just lately whenever I see him he has drawn a 'special picture for Granny' and it always comes in a massive envelope covered in kisses so I thought I would send him a big one back!
Have a great weekend and I'll be back as soon as I can. Thanks to all who leave such lovely comments and I'm sorry that, just lately, I haven't got round to leaving many.

One Layer Foliage

This week's challenge at Less is More is a One Layer card with Foliage and the card I have made is SO simple! There is a brand new die in the Autumn/Winter catalogue called Autumn Accents, which is a variety of leaves and an acorn, and after cutting some leaves for another project, rather than throwing the waste away, I kept it to use as a stencil. I placed this onto a card blank secured with some post-its and simply sponged on Old Olive, Riding Hood Red and Summer Starfruit, one of the new In Colours. I lightly drew on some veins with my Old Olive marker, added a bow of Linen Thread and stamped a sentiment from Sincere Salutations overlapping the leaf. This set is unfortunately retiring but it definitely won't be retiring from my collection!

It was 'party time' at my house yesterday as my youngest grandson was 1 on Wednesday and his sister is 4 on Monday needless to say the theme was pink as Conor is not old enough to know what's going on and anyway, as is always the case, he was far more interested in the wrapping paper than anything else!! His time will come :0)

Halloween Treat Bag

This is a Halloween Treat Bag I have made to show some more of the new products available in the new Autumn/Winter catalogue. The stamps are from a set called Googly Ghouls which also has a ghost, a witch, a 'Frankenstein' and a spider stamp - perfect for all those Halloween crafts which seem to have become increasingly more popular over the past few years. To accompany this stamp set there is a kit, called Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kit, which contains 20 printed double-sided tags, 10 glassine treat bags, 50 self-adhesive googly eyes and 10 pieces of Baker's Twine and costs £7.25 (if you purchase this kit along with the stamp set you save 15% on the total price!). For the bag topper I used a piece of the Howlstooth DSP, cut with one of the dies from the Window Frames Framelits collection and secured with a knot of Basic Black Narrow Taffeta Ribbon. The bat was stamped in Basic Black, cut with the smallest die from the Window Frames Framelits which was sponged around the edges, and two googly eyes added.
Have a great weekend and I'll try to be back soon x

Autumn/Winter Catalogue Goodies!

Well my new goodies from the Autumn/Winter catalogue arrived while I was at work yesterday so I have hurriedly made these three cards this evening as I promised to show you something. They have been made with the Merry Minis Punch Pack (£15.50 for 3 punches), Greetings of the Season stamp set (£13.95 wood mount/£10.95 clear mount), scraps of Snow Festival DSP (£9.95), Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler & Brushed Silver cardstock and a few Basic Rhinestones. The punches have all been used to punch out shapes in a piece of Whisper White, with the Christmas Tree & Bauble being backed with a scrap of DSP and the Star layered onto a panel of Brushed Silver. The NOEL is silver embossed and the bottom edge of cardstock is punched with the Scallop Border punch. These were really quick to make, it took about half an hour for all three and I'm sure, once you've got all the measurements etc you could make them even quicker!

More Snow Anyone?

By the time you see this I will be back at work and the last thing I want to be thinking about is Christmas. However here is another Christmas card using the lovely Snow Flurry die teamed up with a piece of new DSP from a pack called Snow Festival (both available in the new Autumn/Winter Seasonal catalogue). I really don't think it needs much explanation - a strip of DSP, some Snow Flurry diecuts, a sentiment punched with the Modern Label punch, a few Basic Rhinestones and 'Bob's your Uncle' as my Nan used to say!
Well where has the last 6 weeks gone? It feels like I've spent most of it at the hospital with Dad (he's still there for those of you who have kindly asked) and when I haven't been there I seem to have been cleaning, sorting, washing & ironing. Heaven help all those people who say this morning 'Did you have a nice holiday' :0)
Have a good week and I'll be back soon - I have more Autumn/Winter goodies arriving hopefully this week so plenty more to show you (if I get time to use them that is!)

Brown & Pink

 

It's a colour challenge of Brown & Pink this week at Less is More and this is the card I've made. I punched one edge of a piece of Whisper White cardstock with the Eyelet Border punch before matting onto a slightly larger piece of Chocolate Chip. Before fixing to my card blank I tied some Pink Pirouette Taffeta Ribbon round and finished with a bow. The central stamp is from Everything Eleanor stamped in Crumb Cake with a sentiment from Petite Pairs stamped in Chocolate Chip. I made some flowers with Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip cardstock, punched with Boho Blossoms and Itty Bitty punches, with a basic Pearl for the centres and the leaves are from the Bird Builder punch.

I'm really not a fan of pink but, if I have to use it, then putting it with brown is ok with me :0)

From the New Seasonal Catalogue

It's a busy time for SU demonstrators (and customers) as not only is the retiring list available, this year for the first time, is the launch of the new Seasonal Autumn/Winter catalogue. As a demonstrator I am able to get certain products on pre-order and I have chosen a couple of very quick and easy Christmas cards to show you which are made with the new Snow Flurry die, Brushed Gold and Brushed Silver cardstock. The die has three snowflakes on it and these cards use the two largest (the larger one positioned on top of the middle sized one) The card at the top is matted onto Raspberry Ripple cardstock and, the card to the right, on Gumball Green which are two of the new In Colours. I used Basic Pearls with the red & gold and Basic Rhinestones with the green & silver. As I was unable to pre-order sentiments I used ones from Beautiful Season and Polar Pals which are carrying over to the new annual catalogue.
The retiring lists (one for stamp sets and one for accessories) can be found here & here and are available while stocks last. You can view the Autumn/Winter catalogue by clicking on the catalogue image on my sidebar.