Hugs And Kisses

Very Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Sorry I'm a little late posting today, I surprised my little family with a Valentines breakfast this morning and have only just finished cleaning up.... I'm just soooo good at making masses ..hehe ;) 

So today I thought it would be apt to share a Valentine's card with you. 

I really do love this set from Wplus9! The large sentiments in 'Valentine's Wishes' are such a great font and the size is fab. The wreath is such a great idea to .. you know how I love unsymmetrical wreaths ;) And although this is a Valentine's set this can totally be used all year and fingers crossed I'll be able to share some of those ideas with you next week.

Hugs Lydia x

Paper smooches ...You and me

 Hello.

Our Paper smooches delivery is here and loaded on the shop :)

So it seems the obvious choice to use paper smooches stamps for today's card.

I have used older sets and the inspiration for this comes from the Paper smooches sparks picture perfect challenge. 

I have used stamp sets We connect, Falling for you and Geobasics.

I have stamped straight onto some patterned paper using the gold and two shades of pink to form a heart the same as the inspiration picture.

The sentiment was then stamped in black archival inks directly over the heart.

I added some faux stitching round the edges and some sequins ...also but not very noticeable lol is that i spritzed some glimmer mist in tattered rose so its all lovely and shimmery.

If you haven't seen our Facebook page we have a Valentines competition for you to check out :) 

Thanks for looking.

Stamping on Mugs!

Morning! Happy Tuesday!

New stock is in (if you've been on the blog already, you'll know there is lots of lovely brand spanking new CAS-ual Friday's sets. I've used this one...

Now- the tag is fairly straightforward- I've hacked away (or trimmed!) at these lovely dies

If you look closely- I've just trimmed away the outer 4 'petals' to leave the smaller shape





The stamping on the cup? A little more tricky- I thought I'd show you quickly.... 

Stazon inks are crucial- anything else simply won't dry on the surface. You can create this look using any of the Stazon colours and certainly any crockery.

1.First, clean it - really well- grease and fluff will stop the ink transferring and drying.

 

2. Use a block or if you prefer, use the stamp unmounted. Clear stamps make it easy to see exact placement.

Before you start getting twitchy about using Stazon on your clear stamps; here's what you want to know! The ingredient in the ink which will potentially damage the stamps evaporates off so quickly that you're unlikely to do any damage. Ironically, it's the cleaner that will do more damage.

The Stazon cleaner is a MUST. Unless you're lucky and manage to stamp perfectly first time- you'll end up needing to remove the image (or partial image in my case ;-) ). It's really important that you DON'T leave the Stazon cleaner soaking on your photopolymer stamps. This is the stuff that will cause damage. (If you're using red rubber stamps- it's not an issue at all). Just make sure you wipe the cleaner off pretty quickly and wipe the stamp with kitchen towel or a wipe to make sure it's not remaining on the stamp.

 

 

3. It works (unless your item is super flat) by rocking from left to right/up and down. Ordinarily you wouldn't want to stamp this way, but for stamping on ceramics, it helps disperse the ink evenly. Just try and keep a steady hand whilst you're doing it (or wipe off with cleaner and begin again!!).

 

 

4. The beauty of Stazon is that you can heat set it on crockery. Granted, you need to make sure that your dish/mug is oven safe- but about 350F for about 30 minutes should ensure its wash safe (& most likely dishwasher proof- although I need to wash it a few more times to give that guarantee).

 

 

It's a fun way of getting stampy on a different surface and is great for pepping up plain mugs. I decided to stamp the back of mine too.

Hope you've enjoyed something a little different- go and get stamping!

Keren x

A Love Explosion

Hi there :0)

Okay, so apparently Valentines Day is approaching!!!!...Lol :0) ......well I thought I'd get in on the luuuurve theme with one of the new Lawn Fawn sets to arrive in store last week.

What I love about Lawn Fawn stamps is the value for money with so many images in each set that can be used alone or all together and even mixed with other sets as I have here :0)

Those adorable test tubes and the sentiment from Science of Love look so at home with the firework explosions from Happy 4th behind them and of course the hearts and tubes gave me an excuse to use sparkle and glossy accents to make them stand out :0)

I'm going to enter this card over at the Lawnscaping Challenge this week which is dots and hearts, perfect theme for Valentines cards so pop over and check out the challenge if you're a Lawn Fawn addict *wink*

Whilst I'm here, I thought this would be a perfect time to share a card I made for the Feb issue of Craft Stamper Magazine, it's along the same theme but made using Paper Smooches Great Chemistry which will be back in stock very soon :0)

Well I think that's quite a lot of love for a Monday morning... best come back down to earth and get on with the usual hum-drum of housework :0(

See you again next week
Jenny x

Bold Blooming Heart

Good Morning - today I'm getting a little smoochy - well it is nearly Valentine's Day AND the very large order of Papersmooches has landed in the UK and will be in Store early this week once it clears customs and I can go and pick it up :-D

I die cut a heart mask from a sheet of scrap paper and stuck it over my card base and then stamped an arrangement of flowers and leaves from Papersmooches Bold Blooms through the mask onto the card (if you try this technique with large stamps like the leaf I used, a good tip is to not use an acrylic block - just put the stamp on the card and hold it in place with one hand but press it with the other - I find this gets you closer to the edge of the mask)

I stamped the sentiments from WPlus9's Valentine's Wishes over the top in Versafine black to make it stand out and then I traced around the die with a black glitter pen to tie it all together.

Both these sets are currently in stock but there are some gorgeous new botanical stamps in the Papersmooches delivery that will be here in a couple of days.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I do hope this non-stop rain is not affecting you all.

Tara

Frankly,My dear...

Hello! 

Wow,we are having April weather over here in sunny/showery Cambridgeshire! Here's hoping for some rainbows as pretty as Girl Friday Lydia yesterdays card :-)

Sorry for the lunchtime post-toddler mayhem reined supreme this morning,but it has gone quiet now (I don't know whether to celebrate or panic-toddler silence is not usually a good sign lol ;-) ) But here is my Saturday card. Celebrating the arrival of the new release and re-stocks of gorgeous CAS-ual Fridays Stamps,here is a slightly older set,but one of my absolute faves-Frankly.

As a non naturally CAS girl,I went for a chalkboard look and finished the card with my new best friend die,the Avery Elle Embellish It Flower and a scrap of Lawn Fawn twine

Hope you like it,and go have a look at those lush CAS-ual Fridays stamps,they are super versatile.

Lou x

Rainbow....

Helllooo !! Happy Friday... so happy that is the start of the weekend and guess what me and the Mr are actually having a date night this weekend and more than that ... a lay in ... eeeekkkk excited :-D 

As Make The Day Special are sponsoring 'Less Is More' I decided to take part using stamps ans a die from the store. The theme is rainbow...

For the layer I cut out Lawn Fawns 'Stitched Journaling Card' (more on the way) and the sentiment I made up from Milo's ABCs. I totally love this font and with all the repeated letters it's quick and easy to make up a sentiment like this.

Have a great weekend !

Hugs Lydia xxx