Black & Cream 8x8 Card :-)

Good Evening Everyone!

I've just mashed a cuppa (Earl Grey of course) and thought I'd write this post whilst whilst I have my cuppa... perfick!

I love Black & Cream together, it's a little less harsh than Black & White and feels a bit 'warmer', if you know what I mean...

To make this 8x8 card, I used:

1 A3 and 2 A4 sheets of cream linen card
2 A4 Sheets of black card
My own Sentimentally Yours Quotes of Inspiration A5 Stamps
Black Soot distress ink pad
Spellbinders Die D-Lites Blooms 4
Spellbinders Les Papillions 2
Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals
Creative Expressions A4 Tapestry Embossing Folder
Cosmic Shimmer acrylic glue
Cream Pearls
Black self adhesive pearls
Black silky crush ribbon
Glamour dust Irridescent Glitter

It's amazing, the variations you can get from the blooms 4 dies, just by curling with your tweezers and molding on you sponge mat! All the flowers on this card are from the same 3 dies!

Anyhoo, hope you like it! (You might just see me showing you this card on air soon) :-)

Happy Crafting!

Some sad news... and some exciting news! :-)

Good Morning Everyone.. 

(unless you're reading this in the afternoon or evening!) 

I have some news to share with you all.

The sad news:

As most of you know, I have been working with Hunkydory Crafts and their amazing products for a while now, showcasing them on Create & Craft and at demos and craft shows.

You may also know that last September, I launched my own stamp range, Sentimentally Yours, and they have been sooo popular with you all (thankyou!) There are 35 different sets already (so far!) and I'm so pleased you love them as much as I've loved designing them :-)

I've found it increasingly difficult to manage my work with Hunkydory with designing my stamps and running my shop, that I have now taken the difficult (believe me, very difficult!) decision to no longer do Create & Craft shows for Hunkydory.

You will still see me at The Great British Craft Festivals at Bolton and Warwick and hopefully, more craft shows and store demos, just not on Create & Craft.

I've loved every single minute with Hunkydory, Anne-Marie, Ruth, Rebecca and the team and will miss working with them dearly. 

The exciting news:

As I mentioned above, I launched my own stamp range, Sentimentally Yours, last September. I absolutely love designing my own stamps and, as a crafter myself, I spend hours designing them to make sure they are what I would use in my crafty projects.

I currently manage all the trade side of my brand too, so that other shops around the country can provide them to their customers.

This too, has become increasingly difficult to manage on my own, there just aren't enough hours in a day!

However, I'm really excited to be able to tell you that I have now joined the team at Creative Expressions, who will be taking over the trade side of my Sentimentally Yours brand (I will still be designing everything!)

What this means for me, and this is why I'm so excited! is that I will now have more time to focus on developing and designing my range of stamps (and hopefully other products!) 

It also means that I will be able to showcase my Sentimentally Yours products along side Creative Expressions products on Create & Craft!

This is something I have worked very hard to achieve and I am uber excited!

I will keep you up to date with show times etc when I have all the information.

Happy Crafting!

White on white - with a hint of green :)

Good Afternoon Everyone

So, I thought I'd have a lazy Sunday... see, the problem is, I'm not very good at doing nothing so I thought I'd pop a photo on of a card I made for our last Craftathon...

This is an 8x8 card, made all white, with the exception of tints of green.

Here's what I used:
2 x 8x8 white card blanks
1 A4 sheet of Silver mirri card
1 A4 sheet of 160gsm paper
1m of green silky crush ribbon
1 Pearl embellishment
My own Sentimentally Yours  Quotes of Inspiration A5 Stamps
Iced Spruce Distress Ink
Spellbinder Grand Decorative Ovals Dies
A4 Damask Embossing Folder
Aqua Stickles
Glamour Dust
Woodware Sakura Flower Punches (Super, Big and Multi)

It's easy to create this card... just takes a bit of time!

The frame on top of the card is cut from a 19cm square of one of the card blanks, then the centre is cut out, leaving a 2cm border.

The embossed inside of the frame is made from a second piece of the spare card blank, again cut to 19cm square, then embossed using the embossing folder and Grand Calibur.
The frame is then foam mounted onto the embossed section, creating a 3d raised frame :-)
The stickles is on the inside part of the frame, on the edge... much easier to do this than you think, just run the nib of the stickles along the edge and apply small amounts of stickles.

The flowers are punched from the sakura flower punches and the 160gsm paper, I've found the paper is easier when shaping the flowers, as I've done :-) Some flowers were left white and some were given the distress inky edge!

The die cut oval is done using the inside section that was spare from cutting the frame out .. all the little dots on it are glittered, but you can't see it too well on this photo.

Anyway, you should be able to make the rest out,... hope you like it :)

Try this card in other colour ways,.. I love white on white, with just a hint of colour from a distress ink pad :-)

Happy Crafting!!

2 Stamps, 2 Ink Pads & 2 Punches :)

Good Evening Everyone...

Well, it's been a busy old day, with one thing or another!

It's not long now until collection 3 (can you believe it!) of my Sentimentally Yours Stamps is released (but I will tell you more about that nearer the time) :-)

I can tell you that I will be at a few of the Craft Shows with them this year and, again, I will list them for you soon :)

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you another way in which you can use your distress inks.

As you know (surely by now) I love distress inks and love to make the most of them so, with this card, I have used them with a couple of butterfly punches in 2 different ways.

The first white layer, I punched out a mix of the butterflies, used low tack tape to stick them around the edge of the layer and then inked over them, with Faded Jeans first, then a touch of Frayed Burlap. (Save a couple of the inked over butterflies for decoration later) :-)

The second white layer, I used the negatives from the punched out shapes as stencils, to ink through, again with the same two colours.

Here's what I used:

• My Sentimentally Yours Inking Card (this is such a fabulous card that really helps with distress techniques)
• My Sentimentally Yours A5 Everyday Flourish Collection Stamps (great collection of mixed everyday sentiments in different shapes)
• My Sentimentally Yours A6 Butterfly Dance Background Stamp
• Faded Jeans and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink Pads
• 2 different sized butterfly punches
• Corner rounder punch
• Scrap of twine
• Glitter

And here's the card :)

Hope you like it!

Couple of Distress Inks, bit of card and my stamps :)

Good Evening Everyone...

Crikey! It's been a while since I posted (sorry!), but I have been incredibly busy (and poorly!)
Still got torn tendons in my left hand, surprising how much you take it for granted,.. still, at least I know in 4-6 weeks it will heal!

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you this card, made simply using a few distress inks, some cardstock, couple of punches and my own stamps!

What I've used - 
2 Sheets of My own brand inking card (designed especially for inky techniques)
Half a sheet of black cardstock
Couple of woodware butterfly punches
Couple of woodware circle punches
Black fine liner pen
My Sentimentally Yours A5 Circle Frame & Flourish Collection Stamps

Quite easy to do, just mask of the areas with paper and a punched circle, so your base card layer is all in one piece as opposed to adding punched circles.

The second circle and sentiment circle are the only ones raised with foam pads :)

Even if I say so myself, I think this stamp set if brill and offers great choice and value!

If you want to purchase the set for yourself, they are on my website and I have added a link in the picture so just click it :)

Anyhoo, hope you like the card, have a go yourself!

Happy Crafting!

Embossing and Inking and Colouring and Stamping :)

Good Morning Everyone

So,  it was a miracle day yesterday where I actually had time to make two cards! whoo hoo!

The first was a Christmas Card which is on my Sentimentally Yours Facebook Page

The second was the 8x8 Baby Boy card below...

Naturally, I have been playing with my new stamp range (who wouldn't!) and loved making this card as it consists of two of my favourite things ... Colouring and Stamping!

Here's the card: (with a close up of my sentiment stamp underneath... had to do the close up as the stamp is so detailed! the little feet are on the stamp set too :)

Here's what I used: 

• 8x8 White Card Blank
• A4 Sentimentally Yours White Card for embossing and Stamping
• A4 Navy Card
• A4 Silver Mirri Card
• Scallop Scissors
• Pro Markers
• Faded Jeans Distress Ink
• Glamour Dust
• A5 Sentimentally Yours New Arrival Stamps
• Card Candi
• White Silk Crush Ribbon for the bow
• White Pen

Hope you like it :)

You can, of course, get all of my new stamps and my own stamping card in white or soft cream on my website here: Sentimentally Yours Stamps 

If you get Making Cards Magazine, you will see my latest Masterclass on 3d flower making using dies, templates and punches and I have also given them 5 sets of 3 packs of my stamps to give away to 5 lucky winners! (Page 25) Good Luck!

Right, I better get some work done!

Happy Crafting!

Dandelions and Frames...

Good Afternoon Everyone

I've got half an hour to spare so thought I'd write a post showing the details of how I made the Condolence card below...

The photo of the card has been on my Sentimentally Yours Facebook Page a few days and I've had a few people send me inbox messages asking how it was done so, here we are :)

I've used three stamps from my new Collection 2 Sentimentally Yours Stamps, that you can get on my website here:- 

Sentimentally Yours Stamps

This is what I used:

• A6 Dandelion Whispers Stamp
• A6 Regency Deco Frame Stamp
• A5 Words of Comfort Verse Stamps
• 1" and Small Butterfly Punch
• Walnut Stain Distress Ink
• Adhesive Pearls
• Ivory with Brown Spots Organza Ribbon
• Martha Stewart Border Punch
• Glamour Dust
• Gold Stickles
• Feather and Flowers from my stash :)

This is what I did:

• Scored an A4 sheet of Ivory Card to an A5 card blank.
• Matted and layered with brown cardstock and Ivory cardstock, to leave a small border on each layer.
• Stamped the dandelion stamp with Walnut Stain distress ink, using 2nd generation stamping (ie, stamped once onto scrap paper then onto my cardstock)
• Distressed the edges of the dandelion cardstock with walnut stain distress ink, softly.
• Stamped the frame onto ivory cardstcok with walnut stain distress ink and cut out. (I have purposely designed the frame stamps to be easy to cut out)
• Stamped the condolence verse onto the frame, again with walnut stain.
• Glittered the edge of the frame with a quickie glue pen and glamour dust.
• Attached the dandelion cardstock to the brown layer.
• Punched both edges of a brown border with the Martha Stewart border punch and attach to the layered piece of brown and dandelion card.
• Stuck ribbon around the back of the layered cardstock with DS tape and attached the layers to the base card.
• Mounted the frame onto foam pads and attached to the right hand side of the card.
• Tied a triple bow and attached to the left side of the frame stamp.
• Decorated with flowers, pearls, the feather and finished off with a couple of punched butterflies (with gold tipped wings)

Hope you like it... I know Sympathy and Condolence cards are often difficult to make. I prefer to do them in Ivory and Brown tones as it feels a little 'warmer'.

You will notice a new 'Mailing List' bit at the top right of Blog page, please fill this in if you'd like to be kept in the loop about my Sentimentally Yours Stamps and what's happening at my shop :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Stamps - Collection 2 Launch...

Good Afternoon Everyone

I know... I've neglected my blogging lol, but there is a good excuse ;-)

My range of clear stamps, Sentimentally Yours, have been keeping me busy!

Collection 1 was launched in September, as most of you know, and collection 2 is launching this Sunday!!

I have had such amazing feedback from everyone who has bought them and for that, thankyou!

It means I'm doing my job properly lol

Collection 2 will be giving you something a bit different too, I have added backgrounds and frames to the range :)

For those of you who can get to my shop, Honeypot Crafts, the details of my launch, where you can come and see (and buy) the new collection, are below..

Sunday 10th November, 11am til 2pm

For those who can't get to my shop, you will be able to buy them from my website here, from next week.

You can also buy them in selected shops around the country, please ask your local craft store if they are stocking them, and if they aren't, tell them to call me and get them in! lol

Hope to see some of you on Sunday and, as a little teaser, here is a card I made using one of my new Frame Stamps from Collection 2 :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Everyday Tabbed Collection Stamps

Good Morning Everyone

People have been asking me how to use my Sentimentally Yours Everyday (and Christmas) Tabbed Collection Stamps... 

If you look at my cards on my Facebook Page or back here on my Blog, you'll notice I have lots of cards with sentiments that have been tucked under the edge of toppers, either at the top or one of the sides... you will probably have seen me to this on cards I have made on Create & Craft too.

When I do this, usually I have to stamp a sentiment and then cut around it, leaving an extra centimeter or so at the bottom of the sentiment to tuck under my topper... hence, the idea for my own stamps with their own 'tab' for tucking under toppers was borne :) It's so much easier when you have the tab to cut out and, as it's a smaller tab, it looks so much neater (which I love!)

I have made this 8x8 card and used one of the A5 Everyday 'Tabbed' Collection Stamps to show you how they look on a finished card...

I absolutely love using my Sentiments in this way, makes the cards interesting and very unique!

I hope you like them as much as I do!

PS - You can actually create your own Sentiment sign posts too by just cutting the tab longer... looks amazing on the Christmas ones with a bit of glitter or snow on the top!!

Here's a link to take you to my stamps - Sentimentally Yours Stamps

And here's the card I made :)

Happy Crafting!

Sentimentally Yours Launch - Thankyou!

Good Morning Everyone

Firstly, I'd like to thank all of you who came to my Sentimentally Yours stamp launch last Sunday at the shop and for those of you that have ordered from my website since Monday....

It seems you love the stamps as much as I do! so much so that I have sold out of some of the sets already and I had a very big stock!

For those that haven't seen them yet, here's a quick link that takes you straight to them on my website..

Sentimentally Yours Stamps 

I thought I'd pop a couple of cards on here that I made using my stamps, for those that won't have seen them on Facebook.

The first one was made using my Fizzy Moon Digikits and my Sentimentally Yours Pom Pom Snowflakes stamps.

As you'd expect, I used distress inks to create the two tone background and then stamped my snowflakes using the same two distress inks... 

I love snowflakes and particularly love these funky ones!

The second card was made using my Sentimentally Yours Words Of Inspiration stamps (A5), I love nice words on a card and designed this set particularly for that reason... the words are enough to make the card special, elegant and personal... the set has different shapes and sentiments in it too... 

I will continue to pop cards on my Facebook and Blog of projects created using my stamps and remember, from next week, you may even see my Sentimentally Yours Stamps in your local craft shop!!

Happy Crafting!