Backyard Basics - More Retiring Products!

I thought I'd get some inspiration from the The Paper Players and was happily playing with ink and paper....completed my projects and went to upload them...when I saw the closing date was yesterday!
Backyard Basics and the matching framelits are on the Retired List as is the DSP Gingham Garden !  Which means you only have until Monday 30th June to order them. Check the Retired List out here.

 This lovely sketch from Paper Players is a great one for using DSP, because if you are like me, I fall in love with some paper, only to find I hate to use it as it is too beautiful. Sound familiar?  Well, this is a another way to show off that beautiful paper. 

There are only a couple more days to take advantage of the amazing deals from Stampin' Up! at the moment.

http://www2.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryid=3123&dbwsdemoid=5002019

A last chance reminder to visit the Retiring List on my website.  Some of these products are discounted, some aren't and some have already sold out.

FANTASTIC OFFER

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• £55 product of your choice
• £45 business kit
•  Low cost to get you started

This really is an Amazing Deal.  For just £50 you can become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and reap all the benefits you can get as a result.

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Turn your passion for paper, stamps and ink into a business.  Purchase your Starter Kit from me HERE and you will become a member of my team and also a member of Stampin' Stars!

Don't forget to check out the Weekly Deals.  These change every Wednesday morning.

Easter Treat Box

This treat box was cased from Lucy Tustian   Lucy was asked by Stampin' Up! Uk to do a video with Easter treats.  This box is very easy to make and uses the Petite Petals punch and the small flower punch from the Itty Bitty Punch set.  The grass was cut by hand in the box, however in the card I used the Fringe scissors.

The dimensions are: Blue Sky card stock 20cm x 4 cm, scored 8cm from each end; 6cm square Blue Sky card stock, scored 1cm on each side, then snipped in at one corner to make the box for the egg to sit on.  Find the centre of the square and punch out a 1" circle.  Pop your ends from the long strip into the Scallop Tag Topper punch to give you the closure.  The Happy Easter is from the stamp set Delightful Dozen.

A gift card using the Petite Petals punch

The next card is a Congratulations card that will be heading to Margaret Greenwood of London, our winner of Stampin' Up! goodies.
In the first card I just stamped the petite flowers.  However in the second one I added some punched flowers and the card just lifted itself to the next level, the daffodils jumped off the card!  I would love to have your comments and thoughts.  Please leave a comment below.

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

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!