I do love to be beside the seaside....

Its Friday and I am making it 3D friday.
Todays make has been a while in the making but the lovely weather at the weekend meant I could sit in the garden and paint. I had a box of shapes and all my acrylic paints, what a satisfying day. Then today in the studio I have been able to create the background.

I have used elements from a number of different stamp sets, plus a lot of daubing which you know I love.
I started at the bottom and worked up the background, adding the deck chair and glass with straw last.  It was so satisfying to see it come together. Lastly I added my beach hut and shell. This would look lovely in a bathroom that has a nautical theme. 


It is for sale in my Etsy shop

Getting ahead

I know Fathers day doesn't happen until next month but I thought I would get ahead and start some Fathers day cards. Today I have 3 to show you. They are all the same design but use different designer paper. I love a Z fold card and these are the simplest form of Z card but so effective.
This first one is my favourite.

I love the paper with the glasses on and the stripe is so crisp. This could be a birthday card too. The picture below is the card closed.

A view from the top.

The second card is the same design but I have used the papers that are mostly browns. The paper in the back with pipes didn't seem quite the thing to me but lots of people still use pipes... or so I have been told. I do like the sentiment on the front 'to a classy kind of guy'.

And finally one in greens with a little blue. The check on the front is lovely and the background paper in the green is just so rich and regal looking.

The sentiment on the inside reads 'wishing you a Dapper Day'.

Which colour-way is your favourite? These are now for sale in my Etsy shop.

New groups.....

I have a new group starting today. Its always a bit nerve racking waiting to see if anyone will turn up. I have in the past sat as 'Mrs no mates'. Eventually people come over to see what I am doing then they have a go and within a couple of months a little group of crafty people is formed.

For this new adventure I have taken my makes back to being very simple. Thats quite hard when you have been working on developing existing techniques, multilayering and  more involved creations.
I decided to go for one female and one male card. A little stamping on each, a little ribbon and some pretty paper.

I hope a few people join me.

Jems team blog hop, 'Sad to see you go' but 'Glad to see you are staying'.

Welcome to the Jems blog hop, not many of us today but as always lovely makes from everyone.

I have quite a few sets I am sad to see go this year, the dinosaurs, 'No bones about it' being one in particular but the one I frequently use in my classes and card and a cup is the flower shop stamp set and pansy punch. In fact we are going to be using it this week on Tuesday afternoon. At least once a month we try a new technique and this month its messy we are using the shaving foam!

This is a little notebook with just one flower as decoration. This is also created in colours that are part of the colour refresh so they are going. I love the elegant eggplant and the plum. Sad face :(
But can't wait to create in some of the new colours coming in. :)

It is messy but so much fun I decided to use it for the second project

My set I am glad has carried over is the 'Colourful seasons' mainly because I have hardly used it. It has 24 stamps and 17 dies in the set, so its a big set. Continuing the messy shaving foam technique I have just used a couple of the dies from the set but I have hardly used the stamps at all. Its top of my list for a weeks worth of projects and at the moment if you buy the bundle before the end of the month it has 10% discount.

Whilst clearing up from my messy play one of my punches was left on the table. Its not a big set and I have used it quite a lot for small cards to go with gifts. So I made these as I wanted to showcase the narrow notecards  that come in a pack of 20. The cards and envelop packs are carrying forward into the new catalogue as well as the stamp set and matching punch. This 'Label me pretty 'set also has 10% discount until the end of the month. Its easily overlooked but is  pretty and very useful. I have teamed it with the wood papers that are also carrying as well as the hessian ribbon and the copper ribbon. Very handy to have in!

Both of these use crumb cake as a matt layer, the first card (on the left) just has a small piece of burlap ribbon the I have unpicked added for decoration. The card on the right has each layer daubed and the copper trim teased out.....plain and simple or a bit grungy ....the choice is yours.

The new catalogue will be arriving with me in the next week or so. Send me a message if you would like me to put your name on one.

The next blog is Lynn  and if you are traveling anti clockwise you will be going to see sarah

Shopping
Flower Shop stamp set               130942
Pansy punch                                130698
Colourful seasons bundle            145348
Label me pretty                           145305
Wood dsp                                     144177
copper trim                                144179
Burlap ribbon                            141487
Small notecards and envelopes 145583

By clicking and of the product numbers you will be taken to that product in my online shop. From there you can have a good browse.

When you have had a browse and are ready to place your order use the hostess code before you shop. When shopping with me for orders over £30 please use the hostess code  RB9GBYFC I will send a card and a gift in the post at the end of May as a thank you..... more lovely crafty goodies!

Bundles mean 10% discount....Orchids and Daisies

This week I want to tell you about bundles. Its getting very close to the launch of the new catalogue, just four weeks away. We all love a bargain... so when the sets that are currently bundles carry over into the new catalogue they lose their 10% discount. If there is a bundle you have wondered about then now is the time to purchase it.
There are 24 bundles that carry over into the new catalogue and until May 31st they have 10% discount. I have 10 of them. I have just ordered the Coffee Cafe so there will be makes coming with that soon.

Today I am going to start with the climbing orchid bundle.
This is a huge set of 28stamps and 12 dies. I need to have another play with this one it was one of the first I bought last year.
Three makes with this set, the first was an all day class where we made a home decor frame, the second card we repeated in a series of colours and the third is a diorama.

The second bundle for this today is Daisy Delight I love this set. I am actually using it again in my card and a cuppa on Tuesday. Here is a reminder of some of the makes from the previous year.

There are of course lots of new bundles in the new catalogue but you will have to wait for those. 

Get one of these whilst its still a bargain.

SHOPPING
Orchid Bundle              145334
Daisy Delight Bundle   145361

 By clicking on the product numbers you will be taken to that product in my online shop. From there you can have a good browse.

When you have had a browse and are ready to place your order use the hostess code before you shop. When shopping with me for orders over £30 please use the hostess code  RB9GBYFC I will send a card and a gift in the post in the middle of May as a thank you..... more lovely crafty goodies!

Lemon Zest 4

Another post using the Lemon Zest stamp set and punch. Did you know that at the moment you get a 10% discount if you buy these two items as a bundle. On the 1 st of June this will no longer be the case although the stamp and the punch will still be available.
These are the final 2 cards in this little set and later today I will be adding the 4 cards and the bag as a bundle in my Etsy shop.
For the first card I have used the stamp set as limes rather than lemons. The lemon lime twist works really well with the garden green. Adding that line of dark green around the punched out limes pieces gives the rind, so zesty!

 A little bit of stamping on the inside.

The final card is just fun. Now that I am off and running with this set I am sure I will have more makes to come.

In the inside it says....'throw them right back.'

The ribbon is white organza ribbon coloured with a marker pen as I don't have any yellow ribbon!

SHOPPING

Lemon Zest Bundle (stamps and punch)  145360

 By clicking and of the product numbers you will be taken to that product in my online shop. From there you can have a good browse.

When you have had a browse and are ready to place your order use the hostess code before you shop. When shopping with me for orders over £30 please use the hostess code  RB9GBYFC I will send a card and a gift in the post at the end of April as a thank you..... more lovely crafty goodies!

The whole group

Funny story

One to make you chuckle....
When I arrived at the studio one morning last week there were two ducks sat in the puddle in the middle of the cobbles outside the cafe.... they refused to move, I had to negotiate around them so that I could park the car to unload. Not an easy task as they were right in the middle.

Having gone past them in one direction they were still there after I had unloaded the car and was taking it back to the car park. They stood in the puddle, waddled around sat down in the puddle and repeated.

Some time later the shout went up to come and look.......

And really it wasn't April 1st. Why lay an egg in a puddle when the canal bank is only 200yds away?