...saturday morning sketch! WMSC3

I'm not going to lie, even though I drew it, I found last weeks sketch a real challenge, I had a card in my head to suit it when I drew it but for some reason I didn't manage to make it happen.

This weeks sketch I found much more friendly! Hope you do to! To see what I'm babbling about pop over to our brand new Sketch challenge blog here. Lisa has all the deets.



I used the sketch to make a card for my littlest girl's teacher who will soon be getting married, this lady is an absolute sweetheart, and she's so pretty I'm sure she will look like a dream on the big day!

I used a sentiment from Fancy Phrases to wish her 'happy foreverness' with her DH to be. I went mad with my Victorian velvet distress ink - I just got the craft mat to use with them DOH! now I get it! the card front is actually cream, it's just sponged to within an inch of its life! lol!

I also took the opportunity to sneak in two brand new stamps from an upcoming set for July!!! Can you spot them?? LOL. I can't help it there is so much to show you for the July release that I figured I could be forgiven slipping a few 'peeks' out early!

I'm going out tomorrow to try to pick up a few embellishments, I felt this card was crying out for a lovely crystal style hat pin, which of course I didn't have!

So just for fun, tell me! what is your favourite type of embellishment? answer with a comment on this blog post and a random winner will receive a little 'goodie' from the July release up front!! I'll draw a random winner on Sunday night!! LOL!


Hope it tickles!

...Say hello to Fancy Phrases

ED - the textured paper used in the last couple of cards is a cream texture I got from papermillshop, it's a UK store but I believe the term for this style of paper is 'hammered" no don't laugh, lol, Here is a link.

ED - The tag set that co-ordinates with these stamps is called Fancy Tags and for you US folks it is available Here. For folks who maybe can't get their hands on a set so easily, I am hoping to have a small quantity of these tag sets for sale in the store on Saturday. Just to spill the beans properly I was hoping to start carrying a limited stock of Spellbinders dies to match my stampsets but they are so popular that my suppliers are out of stock! lol, hopefully soon!

Good morning and welcome to the second day of samples for the May release. WOW, didn't the DT ladies blow us away yesterday! I wonder what they have up their sleeves for today!! Pop over to see: Julia, Belinda, Anya, Laurie, Jennifer, Lynn and Bonnie.

Just in case you're new here I'll be releasing 8 new photopolymer stamp sets on May1st!! AND there will be a shipping promotion going on, orders over £50 sterling will ship for free as part of out first birthday celebrations!!

Do pop back later today for details of the BIGGIE contest...get your thinking caps on and set aside some crafting time...it's gonna be a challenge!

Today I'm previewing a little stamp set that is perfect on it's own but, by happy coincidence (wink, you know it's not a coincidence right?? LOL), fits perfectly with the Spellbinders die set Fancy Tags. This set is called Fancy Phrases.

My first card is what I'm fondly calling my Opera card, yep I can just see me giving this to Ms Becky Oehlers after one of her fantastic performances!! lol! I LOVE that wee sentiment and it's going to be suitable in so many occasions!

Now, see that wee burgundy colored frame stamped around the Bravo? that's one of the 5 separate frames included in this set. It was designed for the larger rectangle die but there are frames also for the oval and small rectangular tag dies.

There are 27 sentiments in Fancy Phrases in a couple of different styles to cover a multitude of everyday situations. Added to that are 3 decorative motifs giving a total of 35 separate stamps, yep this is one jam packed set!!

I used Versacolour Burgundy ink, the coverage is really excellent for detail stamps.



I have 4 cards in today's post and I feel like I am just scratching the surface of all of the potentially fabulous things you could do with this set.


Of course the first thing that comes to mind is to make tags, easy, the sentiments fit beautifully into the tag they were designed for, but what if you want to do something a little different? Try using the tag dies as an aperture cutter, I think they make beautifully shaped windows! and now I have some fabby sentiments to stamp in those windows!! The next couple of cards will show you what I mean. Simple and yet just a little different.

The little flourish accent comes from another new May set, Vintage Labels 10, more on that in a later post!!



I love this Hurrah! card, I could get loads of mileage out of this for baby cards, wedding congratulations, any sort of achievement celebrations. The old fashioned font is just tongue-in-cheek enough to be used in any situation!

OOh and if you're gonna try one of these wee aperture cards, don't throw out the wee negative bits that fall out of your die after you cut the aperture, pop them in their place on the card to accentuate the design, see below!!


In today's final card I stamped the sentiment "Happy Foreverness" onto a tag shape and sponged a little ink, gorgeous Distress velvet ink! yum! I then stamped 3 panels onto the card base using another of the frames from Fancy Phrases and some Memento Rich cocoa ink. I colored the panels in by making a mask, see the following photos for directions, it is super simple with this frame shape. I added a dotty oval frame (also from Fancy Phrases) and some bling before mounting the tag front and centre. I think it makes a decent wedding/anniversary card!


I love the slightly 30's styling on this font combined with the decorative panel, makes me think of the Orient Express...not that I've ever actually even seen it! LOL.





Hope they tickle!!