HUMMINGBIRD MADNESS

Hummingbird madness because you woulnd't believe how many times I had to try and get this hummingbird to ink up properly.  My fingers are quite literally covered in ink.  I've watched  you tube tutorials and they make it look so easy - but my little bird seems to be a bit more flighty.  Anyway I finally managed one I was happy with and got him down on paper quick before he flew away! lol!

He's going into the Global Design Project challenge this week which you'll find here. 

The challenge this week was a sketch

I've not followed the sketch to the letter like I normally do.  I've used it more as a guide this week.  I've been playing with Tempting Turquoise lately as the weather in the UK is so miserable I needed something bright to cheer me up.  

A touch of Rich Razzleberry which is a new colour to me was added to the Tempting Turquoise and I like the combination.  Two subtle grey backgrounds I think bring out the bright colours.  The Botanical Builder Framelits got an airing today along with the Botanical Blooms stamp set on the leaves.  The sentiment from Love and Affection, one of the new Stamp Sets.

 

The bird has been covered in Wink of Stella to make him sparkle.

 

 

ALL ABOARD

 My husband of nearly 31 years eek recently had a birthday - not a special numbered one like 50 or 60 - somewhere exactly in between!  What do you get the man who has everything?  Apart from fly fishing gear - of which he has loads - his other love is Steam Trains and he is quite partial to some real ale. 

We are very luck in Hampshire to have our own Steam Train on hand in the beautiful town of Alton.  What I found out was they offer Steam Train rides on a Real Ale Train.  Well, that chance couldn't be missed and funny enough the family wantaed to come with us.

At only £2 per pint of real ale it was a real treat.  The evening was a beautiful sunny early Spring evening on 7th May.  A poignant day for me cause its the anniversary of losing my beloved mum 6 years ago.

 The Train was wonderful - we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  The station is also all done out as it would have been in yesteryear - very 1930's - you could almost see the guys going off to war and in fact they also hold WWII days down there.

In keeping with the idea of yesteryear I turned my photos into black and white to give them more atmosphere.

And it gave me a chance to play with some Project Life.

I started my crafting as a scrapbooker and, to be honest, its my first love. I find it's a lot more satisfying than making cards - and at least you have something to treasure for generations to come.  I'm just starting to use Project Life and I am surprised at how quick it can be.

 

PAINTER'S PALETTE - PAPILLON POTPOURRI

The challenge over at Watercooler Wednesday this week is a sketch.  I'm delighted that my Masculine Card was given an Honourable Mention last week so I'm displaying my badge with pride.

And on to the sketch.  You'll find their challenge here






I'm still loving the Painter's Palette stamp set and must probably apologise early because I think there will be lots of cards made with this stamp set over the coming months.  I think its so versatile.  I've seen some lovely bunting made with the easel which I may attempt too.

It's a dull, cold day in June here in the UK so I chose some lovely Brights colours to cheer me up and, as the sun is not shining, there are few butterflies around at the moment.  Come on Summer - where are you?

I've used Tempting Turquoise with Melon Mambo.  My new purchase this month was the butterfly punches which are a must with the Papillon Potpourri Stamp set.  I did try to cut them out but these punches are so much easier and look fabulous.  A touch of enamel dots in Brights just finishes off the butterflies.

The Designer Series Paper is also Brights - thankfully not retired as I love these papers.

I've listed all the supplies used - just click on the link to be taken to my store and dont forget to use my Hostess Code for June which you will find on the right of my blog post.

SUPPLIES

 

 Painter's Palette Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Price: £16.00

 

Papillon Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Price: £14.00

 

Bitty Butterfly Punch

Price: £14.50

Elegant Butterfly Punch

Price: £14.50

  

 

Brights A4 Cardstock

Price: £7.25

 

Brights Enamel ShapesPrice: £8.25

Brights Designer Series Paper Stack

Price: £20.00

NEW CATALOGUE LAUNCH - PARTY TIME

A STAR IS BORN!!!

WOOHOO - Its an Exciting Time of the Year at Stampin' Up! when our new catalogue goes live.

  You will find lots of lovely new stamp sets, Framelits, Die Cuts, Papers, Inks, Embellishments to play with. 

 Some of the new sets you will have seen as Sneak Peaks so now is your time to get your hands on what you've liked so far - and may be find a few you didn't.  Have you seen any which may be your favourites so far?  Mine have been Painter's Palette - shown here with Picture Perfect -

 and a great word stamp set Thankful Thoughts - shown here with Botanical Builder Framelits.

  Just click on the Image below to be taken to my store.

If you would like to receive a catalogue from me just place any order and I will send you one free of charge.  UK only though sorry.

 

 

 

Click here to view a PDF of the New Catalogue on line.

NEW CATALOGUE 

 

 But Look - NOT ONLY NEW PRODUCTS BUT FREE GOODIES WHEN YOU JOIN MY TEAM AT  STAMPIN' UP

 Or if you're not ready to be a Demonstrator just yet - how about more Rewards just for hosting a party.  I live in Hampshire so can cover quite a wide area and I'm happy to come to you.  Just email me with some dates and I can let you know what I have available.

Gather a group of friends, maybe you're thinking of a Hen Party and stuck for ideas.  Crafting is great fun and very addictive!

fmwhitehead@icloud.com

 

 

JUNE HOSTESS CODE 

IF YOUR ORDER IS OVER £25 AND UNDER £150 PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING CODE WHEN ORDERING WITH ME

AJQDUHN9

HAPPY CRAFTING

FIONA

INCHY BLOG RIDES AGAIN

Over 6 years ago I used to run a rather successful Inchy challenge blog.  When I stopped crafting I stopped the blog.  I've found it again and thought it would be fun to see if I could get it up and running again cause there are lots of people who like working with small challenges.

So I'm excited to say there is a new challenge running this week on Inchy Challenge blog.

It will run until next Monday 6th June and there will be a small prize for the winner.

The challenge this week is quite easy - just put an inchy on a card.  Here's my example to start you off.  I used the retiring Serene Silhouettes to create these inchies.

Just for your information the challenge blog is not purely Stampin' Up! - you can use any stamps you want.

Hope to see you play along with us. The link to the blog is here

SHOOTING STAR

  
 I'm slowly starting to love this set.  It was one I won at Convention in Telford and all around me people were winning the Teddy Bear - yes you know the one!  And he was so cute!  But I thought well I need to work outside my comfort zone and its often the stamp sets you overlook that suddenly become your favourites.  I wouldn't say this set is quite my favourite yet but I'm starting to feel a rather warm fuzzy feeling towards it and its proving very versatile for a couple of challenges so far.

This one is going in for the Case This Sketch challenge which gave us this sketch to work with

 

I took my inspiration from all the stars and covered the shooting star in dazzling diamonds to really make it stand out from the rest.  The Card stock and ink is Dapper Denim a new In-colour just in case you didn't know! You'll find their challenge here

 

HAPPY CRAFTING

PAINTER'S PALETTE - PAPILLON POTPOURRI = BANNER BANTER

 

 LOOK!  It's my favourite stamp set again lol! And also one of my favourite retiring sets :( I found Banner Banter with its co-ordinating punch a real favourite when I needed a small sentiment and I'm sad to see it go. 

TIP ALERT The banner punch is great for doing the ends of strips of paper also to make a banner.  As long as the strip is thin enough - slide it into the punch from the top of the punch not in through the side.

My card also uses some of our new In-colours - Dapper Denim for the card stock - such a fab colour I love it!  Its been used in the ink also along with Melon Mambo to really make it pop!  The little butterfly was inked in the same colours but stamped off (inked once and stamped on scrap paper then inked again for the image) - to give it a softer colour. 

The addition of some pearls along the butterfly's back adds an extra touch.

I'm entering this card into the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge this week.  Their challenge was a sketch as below and I thought this easel was perfect.  You'll find their challenge here

 HAPPY CRAFTING

PINKIES BLOG HOP

Thank  you  for  joining  us  on  another  Pinkies  Blog  Hop!  We're  showcasing  lots  of  gorgeous
projects using products from the new Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue. Simply use the
buttons at the end of each post to keep hopping!

Our theme today is Sneak Peak Items - A chance to show you  some of the wonderful new products coming up in our new catalogue.  What can we tempt you with today?

My Card today showcases the new In-Colours of Peekaboo Peach, Dapper Denim, Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum and Emerald Envy.  The cardstock is Emerald Envy with Whisper White.

My stamp set today is Painter's Palette.  This is going to be one of my favourite stamp sets this year.  I just love it and it has endless possibilities.  It is a set of 9 stamps, three of which are great sentiment stamps and I've used two of them on this card.  The one I've missed out reads "Your Idea to have a Birthday was simply a stroke of Genius!"

I used some of the In-Colour markers to colour the sentiment on the front of the card in Dapper Denim and Sweet Sugarplum.  The frame of the easel has been cut out and applied with dimensionals to give depth to the card. A touch of Wink of Stella around the outside of the frame adds a bit of sparkle.

I hope you've enjoyed my Sneak Peak.  Please hop forwards to get some more inspiration from fellow Pinkies Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.

HAPPY CRAFTING

FIONA

BOTANICAL FRAMELITS - WEDDING CARD

 

 I have a Wedding card to do for a swap challenge I'm in and thought the colours of this card would be suitable.  I just love the soft combination of the Mint Macaron and the Whisper White.

I've used the Botanical Framelits here and also embossed with the new Floral Affection Embossing folder which you can see in the close up.  I also popped the flowers into th eDecorative Dots embossing folder(sadly retiring) and ran them through the Big Shot to add texture to the flowers. 

Theedges of the  flower petals were gently inked with some Mint Macaron

 

 I used the Botanical Blooms stamps to add detail to some of the leaves and some jewels and a touch of Wink of Stella for that little bit of sparkle.  Sadly the Mint Macaron lace ribbon is also retiring so that needs to be used up!

The challenge over at SUO Challenge this week is Wedding cards so I'm going to pop this on their list.  You'll find the challenge here.

 

SUPPLIES 

Cardstock - Whisper White - Mint Macaron

Embossing Folders - Decorative Dots, Floral Affection

Framelits - Botanical Builder

Stamps - Botanical Blossoms

Ribbon - Mint Macaron Dotted Lace

Wink of Stella 

 

All supplies can be found on my website HERE 

SHOOTING STAR MASCULINE CARD

 

The challenge over at Watercooler Wednesday this week is Masculine Cards CAS - clean and simple. You can find it here and play along

I don't have a lot of stamps that suit a masculine card so I was a bit stumped until I had a closer look at the new Shooting Star set.  I thought this seemed quite masculine.

The sentiment says You're Out Of This World stamped in Dapper Denim on a bit of torn Whisper White card stock.  The star has been embossed with white embossing powder. 

 Popping the World stamp onto a scallop and a dimensional completes the card.  No glitter and no flowers!!!

Happy Crafting

PICTURE PERFECT ROSE

 

Playing with the Picture Perfect stamp set again but this time its the three step Rose stamp.

The challenge over at Time Out challenges this week is to use flowers or weeds - There are no weeds in my garden!!!  I tell a lie - there are lots really. I like to think of it as a natural garden - my mother-in-law says I'm just lazy!  You will find the challenge here

The Challenge over at Use Your Stuff #224, a new challenge to me, is asking for you to use inks, inks and more inks.  My card uses normal ink, marker pens and versarmark ink. You'll find their challenge here.

So my flower card today has no weeds.  I've stamped the rose using only two of the steps and then fussy cut it out and popped it on to dimensionals.  It was stamped using Night of Navy and Dapper Denim.  

The background uses two stamps sets,  Playful Backgrounds and one of the stamps from Painter's Palette.  The inks used were some of the new In-Colours, Sweet Sugarplum and Flirty Flamingo as Stampin' Write Marker pens. 

I also used some of the leaf stamps and also a touch of the Botanical Framelits for the two cut out leaves.  The inks were stamped in Garden Green and Mint Macaron.

The sentiment was clear embossed.  I used versamark on Night of Navy ink and then clear embossed.  The easiest way to emboss your ink colours.  The sentiment is from the Picture Perfect set.

The pearls on the bottom have been inked with a Dapper Denim Stampin' Write marker to blend in.  

Whisper White layered onto Night of Navy Cardstock completes the card.

Hope you like my card.

Supplies:

Card Stock                       Whisper White, Night of  Navy

Stamp Sets                        Picture Perfect, Playful Backgrounds, Painter's Palette

Inks                                    Night of Navy, Dapper Denim, Garden Green, Mint Macaron, 

Stampin Write Markers   Flirty Flamingo, Dapper Denim

Embellishments                 Perfect Pearls, Versarmark, Clear Embossing poweder

SHOP HERE 

Don't forget to add the hostess code

GLOBAL DESIGN PROJECT #037 - PICTURE PERFECT PAINTER'S PALETTE

The challenge over at Global Design Project this week is a colour challenge, as below.

 

 I've used the hummingbird from the Picture Perfect set together with the new Painter's Palette set for my card.  I loved this colour combination although I only had an ink for the Island Indigo but less is more no?

I've been doing a lot of practising with this bird to get him right and its still a bit hit and miss.

  A TIP - I've actually numbered the birds on the little tabs so that it doesn't get confusing once they are off their backing paper.

 

 I stamped the Tip Top Taupe cardstock with one of the background stamps from Painter's Palette in the same ink.  It gives a nice texture to the paper. The easel has been stamped in Early Espresso - the bird has been stamped in Mint Macaron, Early Espresso and a touch of Island Indigo.

The white part of the easel has been cut out and put on dimensionals.  The part with the bird on has also been put on dimensionals so it gives this card a lot of dimension.  Wink of Stella on the bird makes him shine.

  

 I finished it off with a sentiment from Painter's Palette and a touch of Mint of Macaron dotted lace trim ribbon.  I don't have much ribbons at the moment but I do love this one. 

 

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice I've only used three of the hummingbird stamps here - nos 1, 2 and 4.

Card Stock         Whisper White, Tip Top Taupe

Inks                      Early Espresso, Mint Macaron, Island Indigo

Stamps                 Picture Perfect, Painter's Palette

Accessories          Mint Macaron Dotted Lace Trim Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Wink of Stella