Statement of the Heart

To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy
creativity and worthwhile accomplishments . . . in this we make a difference!

Friday 28 February 2014

Hip Hip Hooray!

The Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit is a great introduction to card making and stamping. This kit contains everything necessary (minus scissors) to create 20 beautiful cards and it also makes the perfect gift for that creative someone you—or your friends—know!

Why shop for cards when you can have 20 beautiful cards ready to go in just minutes? And best of all, they'll be handmade!

This kit provides a simple, fun experience at a great price. It contains a small ink pad, 3 stamps, an acrylic block, cards and envelopes and some twine and clips as well as full colour instructions to make 20 cards. A great gift!


What a great idea, everything you need to make 20 cards.  I know I will be getting a couple of these for my daughters friends for birthday presents.


Sunday 23 February 2014

Hexagon Hive Thinlit






Birds on the Wire



These cards are made with the Hexagon Hive Thinlits die, new in the Occasions Catalogue.
They are so much fun!

Colour coordinate your diecut with some Designer Series Paper, add a few cut outs or a sentiment and you have an easy card.
I was on a roll with these.







The bird is stamped in Black Stazon-On on vanilla cardstock.  It is from the Hostess set 'Nature's Hello' and cut out with the Backyard Basics  framelits.  The DSP is Modern Medley.
Nature's Hello, Papillon Potpouri, Small Butterfly Punch
 The trick to using the Hexagon Hive Die is to place a piece of wax paper between the die and the card stock.


I found I also needed to turn the die around when rolling through the Big Shott, so the pressure hits the die at different points.  It took a few failures before getting it right!

The DSP on the right is from the Fresh Prints Paper Stack, the butterfly from the 'Nature's Hello' stamp set again, in Real Red, and the hexagon in Soft Suede.
Backyard Basics, Simply Celebrate

The die comes a bit shorter than your average card.  Now I thought originally this was so that it fits the US card size, however I just think like a lot of thinlits it is just a bit short.
Now you can either centre it on your card or you can just make your cards a bit smaller.  The card on the left with the bees has been trimmed and the Pacific Point card with the Watercolour Wonder DSP, shows the size of the diecut on a normal  A5 card.
Nature's Hello, Petite Petals
Nature's Hello



Thursday 20 February 2014

Scallop Tag Topper Cards

I don't know where the time has flown! It is half term and I have been Mums Taxi Services all week and there is still a day to go.  I really don't understand this half term business, in Australia we had 10/11 week terms and that was it, no time off for a ski holiday or to pick potatoes (which is what I think they were originally intended for).

I want to show you a card using the new Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.  This is available in the new Occasions Catalogue.  There is also available an Angled Tag Topper Punch.

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch133324Price£20.95

Make a tag or topper any length you want! Makes creating bookmarks, tags, and bag toppers quick and easy.

Punched image width: 2"






Kaleidoscope DSP, Label Love, Simply Celebrate
The above are showcasing the new Kaleidoscope DSP, shown below.  Beautiful strong colours, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush and Whisper White.

Some more DSP from the new catalogue, on the right is Retro Fresh and on the left is the DSP from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue.  To get your Sale-a-Bration freebie, spend £45 on Stampin' Up! products, visit my store NOW!
Perfect Pennants, Retro Fresh DSP, Sweet Sorbet DSP
To make these cards, take your normal card size (15 x 21cm), and firstly mark with pencil 1" in from the short side. Turn it over and mark 1" on the direct opposite side.

Place your tag topper punch as shown.  Ease your card stock
 carefully through the punch, until your mark is adjacent to the punch.  Punch.
Turn your card around and do the same, on the same side.  Don't worry about your pencil marks as you are about trim them off.
Line your card with the cutting line of your trimmer and trim the excess off as shown. Score one of the scallop sections in line with the edge of the card.

Score your card just under 10.5 cm.  Then when you close your card the two scallop edges will just touch.  

Trim a piece of white or pale card stock to the base of your card, this is for you to write your greeting.  The RHS can be left plain or it can be decorated as below or as I have done with the Black and White card, a strip of DSP can be adhered to it.

You're Lovely, Papillon Potpouri, Starburst Saying, Kaleidescope DSP
This style of card can be used for many occasions and I am sure we will see a lot of them in the future.  It is such a fun card to make.  The DSP does most of the design work. 
Feel free to leave a comment and I would love to see some of your creations.



Saturday 15 February 2014

Ampersand

I am not a great believer in Valentines Day.  Shunning the commercialism, and if you love someone then every day is Valentines Day.  My card today is not a traditional Valentines card.  My husbands favourite colour is green.  He doesn't know it but it's Garden Green!
I used core-dinations card, so I could emboss the Ampersand then distress it.  The stamp set is Perfect  Pennants, cut out with Hearts A Flutter die and finished with a bit of the new gold Watercolour Wonder Washi tape. The love is from last seasons catalogue.

Saturday 8 February 2014

Birthday

It was my birthday last week and I want to share a couple of cards I received.
This beautiful card was made by Linda Kendrick.  She has masked En Francais and then stamped on top with Field Flowers, a 2-step stamping set.  The Happy Birthday has been typed and then punched out using the Modern Label Punch.  A little punched butterfly completes the picture.


Lesleys card is a bendy card in slate gray and the flowers Petite Petals and matching punch are from the new Celebrate the Everyday Catalogue.  I love the colours she has used.  It is so like a balcony with cascading flowers!  The leaves are Little Leaves Sizzlits.

On another note, I had a Tim Holtz moment and was looking at his blog and what he got up to at CHA, the big trade fair in the States recently.   I hadn't done any sort of grungy, mixed media stuff lately, as I had been caught up with Stampin' Up! and their 'nice' way of crafting, it was about time to get my hands dirty.  I took as inspiration and CASE, a canvas done by Debi Adams.

And...you know what, all the items I used were Stampin' Up!  I was surprised SU has come out of its  'nice' image and embraced the modern world of mixed media and grunge.
I have used the Music sheet from Modern Medley DSP, Stamp sets Gorgeous Grunge, Happy Day; the cork flowers and shapes from SAB, Gold Cardstock for the shapes -  butterfly punch, chevron punch and arrow(thin let), I used White Staz-On for the sentiment and the white small circles are made from the end of a pen dipped into the white Staz-On; Coastal Cabana was swiped over the board and the splotches were inked in Baked Brown sugar; the burlap and gold twine from the new catalogue and topped it off with a bit of Retro Washi tape and a button.  It was all adhered to with Tombow Multi-Purpose glue onto Coaster Board ( thinner than chipboard but sturdier than card stock!), which I scored so it sits on its own.  What do you think?  I would love to know.  Please leave a comment.
This is Debi's original image below.  A great case of CASE - Copy and Share Everything!



Monday 3 February 2014

Sale-a-Bration Drop in

A Big Thank You to all the ladies who came to our Drop-In on Saturday.  Everyone had a chance to do the Make and Take, a simple card showcasing the new small petal punch and the banner punch.
Congratulations to Jo Larcher the winner of our Lucky Prize.


 Every guest went home with a little Sweetheart  Treat Bag from the Whole Lot Of Love Range.  This has now been extended until 14th February, so still time to make something for your loved ones.  You can see these on the bottom left hand side of the display table.