Boom Clap!

Hello. 

Its so nice to be making again after  the Christmas break. 

As the next holiday is not far away i decided to make a valentines card.

I have used this fun set from Wplus9  called Unconditionally.

It features lots of fun sentiments but my favourite is this boom clap one as i like the song.

I made this one layer so its nice and simple to do. 

I stamped the  solid block in three colours and then stamped the sentiment in black archival ink onto one of the solid shapes.

Again using the black i stamped some of the hearts from the set and then covered them in glossy accents to add some detail and dimension.

Finally i finished with some gold gems.

Click the image to go to the product.

Thanks for looking.

Christmas Patterns with Non-Christmas Stamps

Today, I'm bringing you a little international flair – that sounds amazing, right? Well, let me deflate any expectations: the “ international” simply refers to some German stamps (I'm desperately short on time to get my personal christmas stuff done, sorry!) I used a Wplus9 label die to create a few gift tags:

1. I die cut the basic shape threet times from each color: red, white, and kraft card stock. (I messed up a few tags, that's why I cut more shapes than you see.)
2. I adhered a white and red, and then a white and kraft label with removable tape and cut them apart with my guillotine. The reason I adhered them together was so the shapes would be cut apart exactly the same.
3. I used one kraft, one red, and one white label as a base, and then glued the cut apart parts on top of it so I got the neat mix and match of colors.

On each tag, I used the Papel Picado stamp set to create a pattern on the tags. I wanted to go with a "scandinavian" style, but of course that was one of the tags that I messed up. But by using christmassy colors like red, gold, and green, you can create the impression of festiveness.

By simple creating a repeating pattern, you can go for a more playful or elegant look, depending on what you need.

Disclaimer: Since some products are currently not in the store, I'll be providing links to some alternatives that will give you similar results.

Throwback Thursday

Hello!

Todays card is a wedding card I made for a friends wedding. Wedding cards can be tricky to not make them all about the bride,to add a bit of masculinity to them for the groom too,so I hope I got this balance right. I used WPlus9 Fanciful Feathers and dies. The sentiment is Paper Smooches We Connect,out of stock at the moment,but there are loads of alternatives in stock,have a browse.

One feather is feminine,the other masculine. Heres a closer look

Hope you like it! 

There is a new challenge just around the corner,and as always a £15 store credit for the winner-keep checking in for the details,its going to be a gorgeous one!

Lou x

Back To Smell The Roses!

There is something quintessentially English about roses- and I'm a sucker for any types. The large frilly scented blooms are my favourite. On the stamp scene, the Fresh Cut Florals were everywhere for a while- we all went mad over them.
I wanted to ink them again & do something a little more pared back and try and inject a few stronger lines into my card too. The stripes of colour seemed just right

This set is back in stock & Make The Day Special has restocked plenty of these so if you missed out on them first time around, you can grab this set which is perfect for so many of your crafty projects. 

                                         

If you don't fancy fussy-cutting.. we've these fab dies to help you cut them out instantly!

Well, it's time to go! Hope you get chance to linger near some flowers & take a moment to enjoy nature in all its glory (& then run home and stamp a load of your own blooms !) 

Keren xx

Hello birthday girl

Hello.

I know i always say it but I've another quick and easy card to show today.

I have been playing with some of the new in store WPlus9 stamps and especially the Limited edition so 80's.

And the gorgeous Hand lettered hello.

These stamps apart from being great designs are also brilliant quality. 

Getting a crisp image means you can simply  just stamp and have a fabulous looking card in no time at all.

I coloured the hello stamp with two colour blues and spritzed with water before stamping and love the effect you can get with such a simple technique.

Thanks for looking.

Throwback...Sunday?!

Hello,hello!

Its Lou here,mixing things up by posting this on a Sunday, with another not-so-retro throwback of Avery Elles-the scrumptious Air Mail set. I know I say this every time (well hey,I DO have a stamp addiction ;-) ) but I really really love this set!

I had lots of penpals when I was younger,so I get very drawn to all the mail type sets out there. This card has a teeny tiny cameo appearance from the Lawn Fawn You've Got Mail set,in the form of  those small squiggles on the 'stamp'. The small pinked square is from the Wplus9 set Pinking Squares.

And a closer look....

Thats all from me for now! Happy Sunday folks :-)

Lou x

Used Today:

The Ever-Difficult-to-make Man Card!

Hey! Hope you're all ok & not having eaten too much chocolate (is that even possible?!). Today I wanted to do a generic 'Man' card. Granted, a boat doesn't float everyones..well boat!- but you could easily substitute the boat for a couple of buttons, or dare I say even sequins!!

I've used one WPlus9 set & a die set too.

You can see I've simply die cut out one of each word in vanilla cardstock & then one in different coloured cardstock & attached them offsetting them slightly. The boat is coloured with Promarkers & the patterning done with a clear Copic marker. I then embossed the rope stamp in gold & to create the waves I used the tiny 'rope' stamp that is supposed to go over the Lifepreserver. I actually snipped a quarter out ( I wouldn't have separated any more of the stamp as it is in a precise position for laying over the Lifepreserver, but just taking out a quarter means it's easy to fit back in).

I've left a sentiment off- you could add several from the Dockside WPlus9 set- it's a great set particularly for men!

I could do with a rescue today myself- not loving having to be back to work & school runs etc after the lovely long Easter break!

See you next week,

Keren x

Christmas Candles

Helloooo there :0)

I'm probably one of the few that haven't finished my Christmas cards for this year... trouble is all these lovely seasonal stamp sets keep tempting me then I have too many to choose from!!!

One of the few remaining Christmas sets in store from Wplus9 is the Merry and Bright set that Tara showed you yesterday and it really is fun to play with.....

I find the best way to work with these two-step stamp sets is to die cut all the elements and stamp them out before starting a spot of flower arranging.... any pieces you don't use can be stored in with the stamps or dies for another time. They are quite easy to line up but any small error in placement is also forgiving... after all mother nature isn't into carbon copy perfection :0)
The embossed stripes of gold are from the Mama Elephant Basic Borders.... I'm not much into gold but a little at Christmas time is okay with me :0)

I bet most of you have finished your cards now and some even written and sent them!!... I'll plod on until the Christmas Spirit taps me on the shoulder and tells me to get a wiggle on!!!

See you next Monday.... hopefully with gift packaging ideas :0)

Jenny x

Mystery Christmas Set!

Morning, morning! I was hunting through my sets and decided to do a Christmas card but using an utterly non seasonal set. Guessed which set?

Milk and Cookies! So which other sets did you use, I hear you ask? None! As soon as I looked carefully at the set., I saw the straw and immediately thought candy canes! Due to the perfect flexible nature of the photopolymer, these babies can be curled & altered. I really took the straw to the max- it only just stayed in that position. Once I curled and stamped to the left, I curled the other way & stamped again.

I trimmed out most of the middle of the milk bottle & around the edge, so we could see the canes showing through.

The wreath? How did I make that? See the closeup...

I used these two elements-

The little circle is the centre of the wreath. The single line (which is normally used as the meniscus) 

I simply curved around a little on my block and put one end on the circle & just systematically moved it around.
Just shows how with a little sneaky thinking you can create something completely unintended from the set.
Go and twist your sets! See what you can come up and PLEASE post a link - we would seriously love to see how you do it too!

Until next Tuesday!

love Keren xx

A Floral Arrangement

Hello there.... Jenny back again :0)

I was really hoping that the Wplus9 stocks had arrived before I shared this card with you but I think their arrival is near so I'm going with it anyway..... some of you will already have the Fresh Cut Florals stamp set and dies anyhow and I just wanted to show you how well they go with some other UK branded dies!!!

To echo my team-mate Lydia, I really don't think you can go wrong with these stamps and dies.... anyone can excel at flower arranging and I hope the 'boss' doesn't mind me posting a link to these Joanna Sheen dies which are the perfect companion ;0)
I love the trug, it's the perfect size for the flowers and I have the hanging basket too but just haven't got round to making a card with it yet.... watch this space is all I can say :0)
This was hubby's birthday card....him being a keen gardener this was definitely hitting the right spot..... if Wplus9 could just bring out some vegetable stamps and dies now I would be in green-fingered heaven :0)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good start to the week!!
Jenny x

Summer Strawberries!

There should be a firework themed card today- in the UK we have Bonfire night. Alas, it's so wet and miserable, I thought I'd mix it up and think of warmer times. Strawberries are one of my favourites- and it's easy to miss them on this set

They're not quite ripe- see the yellow- I was trying to shoehorn the sentiment into the images. The idea that the strawberries need something else to be good-not quite bang on- but you can see my logic!!

It's making me think of cream teas, and scones & sitting out looking over the water…

Before I drag you into my daydream- go and check out some of the other sets in Make the Day Special- right now we've a new Christmas section. Lou has cleverly put together a perfect selection of products for handcrafting your Christmas. It's a shame she can't do the same for all my Christmas shopping ;-)

See you next Tuesday!

Happy stamping!

Keren x

Strawberries and Oreos for breakfast

Hello!

Today's card is made with a whole lotta joy at finally getting this set from Wplus9 :-)

I have been SO excited to get playing with it and this was the first thing I did (still feeling my way around my newly acquired love of CAS-but I took the plunge with this one...that is a LOT of white space! :-o  )

The matching dies line up beautifully with lots of options,even including two versions of the cookies,so you can have them facing one way or the other-genius! 

I stamped the milk container onto the card,then another onto vellum and embossed this with white,tucking the straw between the two layers.

Hope you like it!

And a close up...

Thats all from me for now :-)

Grab yourself some milk and cookies,go on-you know you want to ;-)

Lou

Guiding light

Hello.

The new Wplus9 are very popular right now.

I have the famous fresh cut floral's that everyone is after but thought i would use another set today.

I have used Guiding light stamps set. 

There are also additional dies and sentiments that match this set.

I kept it simple and used distress inks to make the background before stamping over it with black memento.

i only added some white using a gel pen to the light house and to make some stars in the sky.

Although there are lots of sympathy sentiments i think this could make great nature cards as well as masculine birthdays and fathers day.

For all of you looking for a flower fix why not check out these ?

Blanket stitch blooms , they also have matching dies.

Folk art floral's these too have dies.

Thanks for looking.

More Fresh Cut Flowers & Another One!

It's lovely Tuesday- except it's a tragic Tuesday. Tragic because this lovely set is so amazing it's flown out of the store. I tend to have a backup card to show you- but would you believe it -that set's not in either. So I'll do something different- show you this, with an alternative set & show you another card that I've just posted that most of you won't have seen using a set that IS in stock!!

Right-so onto the alternative for Fresh Cut Florals- how about this one?

This set would look lovely on anyone's card AND it has matching dies too. AND you can buy it too- although the way these WPlus9 sets are vanishing, you'll have to be super-quick!

And onto a project actually utilising in stock items?

Harnessing the power of my fave set 'Oh Baby'- I know, did you think you couldn't get any more cards out of it?!!!

If, for any reason you're fed up of the set (& I fail to believe it!)- go and buy it- there's only a few left and if they're all gone, I can't show it here on the blog. You see, you have muchos power over us Make The Day Special girls!

Oh, and if you want to see us showcase any set that you're hovering about purchasing- let us know in the comments, one of us is bound to have it, and we can see about persuading you ;-)

 

Well, enough from me- have the loveliest of Tuesdays and you'll see me again next week- possibly with Oh Baby (unless you've decided against it!!!)

 

Love, Keren 



 

Hearts & Flowers!

Hey! Happy Monday again! Where do the weeks go!?  Tracy here.. I've been busy playing with some of the many new goodies from MTDS.. This week is the turn of the lovely stamps and dies from WPlus9.  I've used two stamp sets (Heartfelt Mix and Fresh Cut Florals) together with one set of dies (Hearts and Clouds) to make this cheery "thinking of you" card.

 

This was a really fun card to make.  The papers are Lawn Fawn (Daphne's Closet). The little stamped flowers are stamped using Fresh Cut Florals (not in stock at the moment.. but watch this space for all Lawn Fawn goodies!)

Heartfelt Mix is such a gorgeous set and there's no end to what you can do with it..

..it has a great range of greetings in a lovely font, clouds always come in handy (they also make great cupcake icing or ice cream!), and the hearts can simply be hearts.. they can be flowers.. and they can also be arranged to make fabby Christmas trees... (an idea for a future blog post I think!).. and the washing line... a washing line, flower stems or (because the stamps are such great quality and flexible) you can make swirls!   See? no end to how useful this set is!

Hope you like it!
tx

 

Using Up Some Waste ...

Happy Friday one and all. I hope you have all had a great week, me and the little ones have had a very relaxed first week to the summer holidays crafting, movies and running around.

It's my day to post over at Make The Day Special..... and guess what (if you hadn't seen my post yesterday) Wplus9 has landed at the Make The Day Special store ... I'm sooo excited about this as the Fresh Cut Florals stamps and dies have become my favourite go-to set :-D

When cutting out the flowers out of white card I was left with quite a bit of negative 'waste' so I thought it might be fun to have a play with this and utilize it on a card. So I inked it up in a ombre effect from pink to purple and layered it onto a kraft card.

I then thought it would be fun and a bit different to stamp the flowers on to a kraft background. It gives such a different look to stamped onto white - much more muted.

The frame on which the bouquet has been placed is from the Avery Elle set 'Framed Fonts', it is such a great set - the sentiments are awesome and the frame is soooo easy to cut out ..bonus!! I then added the lil 'You Are Invited' from the Paper Smooches set 'Salutations'. 

I hope I have inspired you to use up that pesky 'waste', have a great weekend.

Hugs, Lydia xxx