Middlestep variation

This is a variation on the sidestep/middlestep card.

I cheated and made a template for scal & my cricut lol.

Both cards are using one of the new stamp sets, Contempo Christmas as the main focal point. The tree card is a tiny 3" sqr, the bauble 5"sqr.



I've also used Joy of Season Flourish, String from Tree Trimmings, Old olive, cherry cobbler ink & cs. Very vanilla cs, baroque border & sparking wheels, versamark, gold ep, very vanilla taffeta ribbon, dazzling diamonds glitter

There is a complimentary bauble punch which fits the stamp but we werent allowed to preorder it :o( Hopefully it's winging it's way to me now ;o)

I'm back

Sorry I've been so deadly silent lately. An accident on a quad bike left me with a broken scaphoid bone in my right hand... Yes, I'm right handed, very much so.. whisking an egg was hilarious and brushing my teeth left handed was, odd! More than 8 weeks with my hand in a cast was miserable and not only was typing a major problem but stamping was a big nono. I did try left handed but I wasnt very good.

Anyways my cast is now off and just in time for the new catty I can stamp again, yay.

My big problem now is that I have more than a few new ink pads & card add that to a few of the new clear mounted sets (woohoo, yes most of the SU sets now come unmounted and ready to use with acrylic blocks) and I have a dilemna what do I play with first lol.


This is one I managed to stamp left handed. Thankfully the distressed look didnt need to be stamped as well as I normally like.

This one is a mix of the old & new.

Bella toile background stamped with versamark & clear ep on to whisper white before being tinted with baja breeze (this ink is better than lush) and pear pizazz (one of the 5 new in colours).

En francais script background stamped with kraft, sorry the new name is crumb cake, then the eiffel tower and round pattern from Artistic Etchings was stamped with early espresso & baja breeze.

White taffeta ribbon tinted with pear pizazz ink. The sentiment is from one of the new sets, perfect punches and fits beautifully with the scalloped oval punch. Sadly we werent allowed to order the new large oval punch until yesterday but now I have and once it's arrived I inted to back the sentiment with some more soft suede cardstock to match the card base.

Card set & box

Earlier in the week I had some of my internet friends here for another playday. The project was a boxed set of cards. Having just taken delivery of some of the new yummy colours I just had to have a play.



I need to thank Jenny Moors from Stamping Moments for the inspiration as I fell in love with the set she made. The 2nd card in is using the same card but it's catching the light oddly.



The snowflakes are from the Serene Snowflakes set in this years mini catty. I do hope they appear in the main catty when it's released in Oct as these are my idea of the perfect snowflake stamps.




All of the cards are using nowt but soft suede (woohoo, I've been after this colour since it was launched in the US last year) with a pearlescent cream card stock that I've had for yonks, soft suede ink (2nd impression for backgrounds) and either kraft or very vanilla taffeta ribbon. I've also used the scallop border punch and made dipdots with the champagne shimmer paint. The light isnt catching them very well as in real life they're a lovely soft gold colour but the sparkle is amazing. I wish this had been out when I was deeply into parchment craft as it knocks spots off of the very expensive dipping ink I used to buy.
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This one isnt making it into the box set as it doesnt quite match with the others but I had fun making the dip dots using the mat pack as a placement guide. This time I used white craft ink and 3d'd the centre.





This is the box I started on Monday using rich razzleberry (the other colour I've been desperate for) with bashful blue. Not so sure that the colours work or it could be that I need to stamp the snowflake again but this time have less of the blue showing.

Hubbys birthday card

This whopper (8" square) is for hubbys birthday tomorrow using a layout from Sketch & Stash blog. I really must invest in a light box so I can take photos on an evening as the colours look a bit wishy washy here when they're quite butch in real life.

I've used my brayer with bashful blue, brocade blue, night of navy & pretty in pink to brayer the sky and water and garden green for the hills.

Lovely as a tree was reverse stamped into the water with the brayer and the stampamajig used to position the main tree. Sponged with various greens & choc chip watercoloured over the trunk. Sentiment from Circle of Friendship & punched with 2 of the SU circle punches.

Mounted on to night of navy and papers from Nouveau Chiq & Tea & Crumpets. I used my new martha stewart punch around the page set to add a decorative border.

Finally brocade blue grosgrain ribbon with a few gems.

Sketch & Stash challenge

This is using a stamp from Autumn Days set. In truth I wasn't too keen on it and only really bought the set for a couple of the foliage stamps. But after seeing the stamp used with reinkers to create a custom ink pad I had to grab it from my neglected pile and have a play.

Reinkers used, so saffron, handsome hunter, elegant eggplant and taken with teal. Cut with nesties label 4 which was sponged with some creamy caramel ink. The elegant eggplant card has been stamped with versamark and gold ep using my favourite background, En francais. Mounted on handsome hunter cardstock with choc chip ribbon and a feather from an old (an unused) duster. Once I'd decided on colour & cardstock everything just fell into place for the sketch & stash challenge blog.

Lovely As A Tree

I've had this set a lil while but hadn't got round to inking it.

A few minutes in the gallery at SCS and I was in 7th heaven. All photos were taken in artificial light so havent photoed as well as I'd have liked.

This one is using the scalloped circle punch to create clouds. Bordering Blue & Night of Navy ink. Dazzling diamonds along the edge of some white pearl cardstock.



This one just goes to show how different cardstocks effect ink. I stamped baroque motifs with versamark, heat embossed with clear then brayered taken with teal over some white gloss from Clarity Stamps. Instead of that wonderful teal colour it's gone more of a light navy blue. The base is sponged around the edges with taken with teal but this time on whisper white. What a difference it's made.







The colours have came out dreadfully in the artificial light so I may have to redo the pic.

Brayered pale plum with elegant eggplant and a light sponge with bashful blue.

Trees stamped in basic grey. Sentiment from Season Of Joy.






This is my version of a card made by Rox71 on SCS. She used a variety of tree stamps. This one is just using the one xmas tree.

Sponged with summer sun, pumkin pie, bashful blue and night of navy.

Forground trees stamped in handsome hunter with choc chip applied with a water colour brush along the trunks. If anyone is thinking that I've left too much snow come back and see the card when it's totally finished in Apr ;o)

Wedding invite samples

Hubby has kindly offered my services to his niece for her upcoming wedding. All she knows is that she wants red & white with a top fold.

These are 4 I knocked up in a few minutes using Mr & Mrs set & coordinating wheel with real red and basic grey ink.

Seeing as these are just ideas these will be binned within a few weeks so I've only used cheap card & ribbon. I havent been none to precise with the stamping either.