Venturing into colour...

Hello friends

Today's card is definitely not Christmas! 

I'm returning to flowers and pretty paper.

I've chosen to step outside my comfort zone a little and use some

different colours, I have lots of coloured card that is begging to be used and

I keep picking the white and ivory.

So here is Tiara Rondelle cut from green.

 

I mirrored it with some gold foil card (I'm not getting out of that habit anytime soon!)

The papers are Anna Griffin.

The flowers are Blooming Rose, this die set has become a fixture on my craft desk.

To see how it all came together I've made a YouTube video,

please click on the link below and press the YouTube logo for larger viewing.

And a project of mine would not be complete without a pet 

getting involved.  This is Pixel looking rather unsure of the card colouring.

Items used today with clickable links:

Tiara Rondelle 

Blooming Rose

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Take care friends and please visit the blog tomorrow as it is the first

Sunday in the month and that means...Charity Kit Day.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Friday Die Day

Hello friends

Whoosh and it is Friday!

At this rate Christmas will be here before we know it...

(that's my rather obvious link to today's festive blog post!) 

I wanted to share with you a project that I didn't get around to

on my recent Hochanda shows featuring the Open Me Stamp and Die Set.

 To start place an A4 piece of watercolour card (landscape) onto your scoreboard
(or use your mat and ruler).

Score at 3.5 and 7 inches.  Remove and cut at 10.5 inches. 

Fold along each score line.

Cut at 6 inches vertically to create your card height.

Gather together your Open Me tree stamp, embossing ink and embossing powder.

Stamp, sprinkle and heat set to reveal the very pretty tree.

Colour with whatever you fancy, I've chosen watercolour paints, this design

works wonderfully with pens, pencils, oxide inks and more.

Once coloured, position the tree die over the image and fix with some removable tape.

To partial die cut ensure the top cutting plate just covers half the tree.

Once partially cut, move to your trimmer and carefully trim away the 

top and bottom section, don't go too close, you can always use scissors to finish.

You then have your partial die cut tree on the flap of the card.

I've stamped a sentiment across the bottom that goes on both outside and inside.

A stamp platform is a blessing here!

To finish I tied it closed with twine.

This would make a great money/gift card wallet for Christmas.

Swirl Insert Booklet has the exact die to create a gift card holder,

(I, of course, thought of that just now, not when making the card!)

Open Me Stamp and Die Set is available on the website here.

I will be returning to non-Christmas tomorrow! 

Take care friends, have a great Friday.

Winning ticket, pretty flowers and a speedy video!

Hello friends

First off I'm announcing the winning ticked for June's charity kit.

(Important as July's charity kit is revealed on Sunday!)

Go grab those kit bags, have a rummage and see if you have

this number...

If you do, please drop me an email at hope-chances@live.co.uk

with your address details and a goody bag will be sent out to you.

Now onto pretty flowers. 

This is Floral Oval one of the new dies from the 

Special Moments Collection available to pre-order on the website.

I'm loving the decorative oval with its grid/mesh design

and that you have those additional flowers to overlay.

If you would like to see how this card came together in just 1 minute

(well, it was sped up to be 1 minute!)

Please click below.

The full Special Moments Collection can be found on the website here.

Arriving end of July but hopefully a little sooner.
Marisa's collections are always full of gorgeous details and flowers,
love them!

Take care friends and come back tomorrow for Friday Die Day
and it's not too late to enter yesterday's giveaway,
just leave a comment on that blog post.

It's Wednesday...what are we giving away??

Hello friends

Again big thanks to those who watched my shows and

for the lovely comments yesterday, I truly appreciate each and every one.

It's that happy day of the week, it's Hump Day Giveaway Day!

Last week's giveaway was a a pre-loved die set  

Floral Gatefold

This is one of the Flower Garden Collection dies and 

all on sale on the website.

And the winner is...

Jackie Elliott

Congratulations Jackie, please email: 

hope-chances@live.co.uk

with your details and we will post your prize out to you.

If you missed out and would still like Floral Gatefold 

it is on the website at a bargain price here.

Now, onto this week and the giveaway is a pre-loved die set
Sew Sweet Sentiments

This is one of the Sew Sweet Collection dies,

all very homely and yes...sweet! 

The designer, Tammy Tutterow has used them mostly with felt

to create gorgeous projects.

The full collection is available on the website here.

If you would like to win this week's giveaway,

of a pre-loved set of Sew Sweet Sentiments

please leave a comment on today's post 

A winner will be picked and announced next Wednesday.

I'm also posting the June Charity Kit winning ticket very soon,

finally paperwork is becoming a little more up to date! 

Take care friends, have a nice middle of the week.

Seasonal Imbalance!

Hello friends

I'm back from a hectic couple of days away,

firstly the conference and then yesterday Hochanda.

If you caught me on air you'll know it was Christmas...

I know, the hottest day and I'm talking about Christmas! 

Have to admit, despite the seasonal imbalance,

 I really like these stamp and die sets.

This one is Merry and Bright.

And this was my first demo card, using that twig design in a row.

Embossing with silver embossing powder onto French Navy card.

A panel of silver mirror card tucked behind the French Navy card.

Stamped sentiment, it's a curly one!

The sentiment is from another stamp and die set - Nativity

Merry and Bright is available on the website here.

Feel free to check out the other three -

Open Me

 

Love Peace and Hope

Nativity

Big thanks to those who emailed into the show, really kind.

Today I'm playing catch-up, we are working on the next charity

kit as that will be announced on Sunday.

Also, please stop by tomorrow as it is Giveaway Day!

Take care friends, keep in the shade.

A Snippet...

Hello friends

Scheduling this post, let's hope I press that all important button

so it goes live at the right time! 

Thank you for the lovely response to Wine Corks yesterday,

they sold out on the website so you must have liked them.

In keeping with wine (I'm near the end of my wine projects - honest!)

today I'm featuring Wine Snippets.

I've used the two middle sized dies for my card cut from gold foil card

and inserted into two square apertures.

I've been raiding my scrap box for different colours recently

and I've found patterned paper that goes back years.

A sentiment stamped to the corner and little flowers and leaves added.

Mitchell does the majority of project photography now which is a huge help,

but he often gets distracted by other members of our family. 

This is Pixel, our big bruiser of a cat with the most pathetic girly meow!

Wine Snippets is available on the website pre-loved here.

More pre-loved have also been added just in case you haven't looked recently,

the link is here :)

Telly news:  I'm on Hochanda tomorrow, midday and 4pm.

I'm featuring some festive (I know...see I avoided the 'C' word),

stamp and die sets.  I would love it if you can tune in.

Here's a sneak peek.

Take care friends, hope you are having a sunny Sunday.

It's a Corker!

Hello friends

Today's card features Wine Corks, a stamp and die set

from the Wine Country Collection.

This is such an easy card to make but looks so effective.

Within this set you get the line of corks stamp, the die to cut it out

and two sentiments - cheers and saluti.

I chose a kraft card base and two pieces of patterned paper,

the join is covered by the corks.

The corks was stamped onto ivory card and just some Vintage Photo 

distress ink applied to the edges.

Fixed onto the card front with 3D Foam Squares.

I cut the 'Cheers' sentiment from ivory card, coloured with distress ink

and mirrored with gold mirror card.

Wouldn't this be great for bottle gift bags too.

Wine Corks is available on the website here, nice price too.

Not much left of the Wine Country Collection,

you can see the last bits and bobs here.

Mitchell and I are off to Daventry this weekend to attend the AFCI

(Association for Creative Industries) meeting/conference, 

I've told him to take a notebook, I may put my feet up! ;) 

Take care friends, have a great weekend.