Make and Take

I've just returned from a Make and Take morning presented by the lovely Jill of Jill Stamps Up where we were shown a selection of Stampin' Up products and used some of them to make this pretty card in Spring-like colours.  The background was stamped using a stamp set which is free at the moment if you spend £45 on SU products (not difficult!!) and other stamps, punches and so on were used to complete the card.  Thanks Jill for some great ideas and thanks to Anne for hosting the morning and providing us with coffee and scrummy cake.

Time Flies...

This saying is so true - where has this week gone??  It is almost a week since my last post here so today I'm sharing a wedding or anniversary card which I made recently using die cuts from Marianne  together with a stamped and punched sentiment from Stampin' Up - what did we do before there were so many lovely dies available??

Banners Again

I'm so pleased I got this set of banner dies because I can see they are going to be so versatile and this card uses them in a different orientation with the addition of a shape cut using Apothecary Accents dies and stamps from the Wetlands set - all from Stampin' Up.  Background paper has been in my stash for ages but it seemed right for this card.  We had glorious sunshine yesterday and the same again today so it seems as if the weather is actually taking a turn for the better.

Banner with Roses

Today's card combines some banner die cuts made using Sizzix banner framelits dies (from Stampin' Up) and some roses stamped using their two-step stamp set called A Rose is a Rose - the flowers had to be cut out with scissors of course.  Colours used are Regal Rose and Rich Razzleberry with a couple of greens for the leaves (Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi).  Backing paper is from my stash and the sentiment was a clear stamp of unknown origin but it fitted the little tag strip quite nicely.

Bird Amongst the Flowers

I challenged myself yesterday to use a 'chicken wire' die cut which my friend Anne kindly gave me a while ago and after some thought I came up with the idea of making it the backdrop for some flowers.  I started by cutting a frame using Stampin' Up die (Framelits Labels) which I then embossed using a folder from Couture Creations; another shape was cut and embossed for the backing before I sandwiched the 'chicken wire' between the two layers.  Backing paper was a leftover piece from a Prima pad and a border strip was punched (EK Success).  When I was at the Extravaganza Day we used the SU bird punch which made me realise I'd not used mine for such a long time, so inspired by that I've used a punched bird to sit in the flowers which were stamped with Petite Petals set which we also received on the day.  There is a punch to match these flower stamps but unfortunately I don't have it yet so they were cut out wish scissors - leaves were cut with a Tattered Lace Die.  This all took quite a time to assemble but I'm pleased to have made use of the gift die cut.  I'm wondering now if I should have used brown for the bird, but I didn't really want to introduce another colour but I think he might have shown up more if I had.

Thank You Card

I'm filling another gap in my box of cards today with this Thank You card made using the lovely Mexican Tile die from Cheery Lynne.  This die cuts well but I must say it seems to take forever to poke out all the little dots and shapes - well worth the effort though.  As this is quite an elaborate die I've simply combined it with some toning paper and card from Stampin' Up together with a stamp from their Faith in Nature set and a simple sentiment using SU punches.

I decided to use one of the Polkadoodle bird house images I printed recently to make a birthday card and just couldn't resist adding some die cut cats who look as if they might be thinking of taking up residence. I'm sure they are really friendly cats (like the one in the TV advertisement with the budgie - love that one!!) and that they won't harm the birds.  Background is a piece of kraft card embossed using a Creative Expressions folder and sponged with ink to show the texture.  Greeting from the computer.