Phoenix Inspirations

So - I'm a little behind again. I've had a couple of dark days and combined with a change of medication that resulted in me not blogging. I'm feeling a bit brighter today so here is the card for  Make My Monday  that I should have posted at the beginning of the week Materials - Stampin' Up (except Kraft card base) Stamps: Corner Garden, Papillon Potpourri Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Basic Black Card Stock: Whisper White, Tangello Twist Accessories: Tangello Twist Ribbon, Petite Butterfly Punch, Scallop Edge Punch (retired) To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks You can also shop directly from my Stampin' Up website - click  HERE  to take a look. Thanks for looking xx

It's time for another sketch challenge over on  CAS - Cards & Sketches  and this one has been designed by me! And here is my card I have actually cut along the diagonal in the sketch after stamping with my new Corner Garden stamp. It's a beautiful large stamp that will look stunning coloured but today I left it undecorated and just added the Blended Bloom flower instead. Another design perfect for colouring in and this has been coloured using the new Blendabilities in the Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive. The flower has been mounted on dimensionals and a Pool Party background added inside the card to make it all stand out. The sentiment is from the lovely hostess set Bloom with Hope and of course is only available with an order of £150 or more - so get booking those parties with me quick! To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items c...

It's time for another challenge in  The Male Room  and this week the challenge is to make a male inspired project using the theme of GEOMETRIC. I really had to get my thinking cap on for this one! But after reading up the definition in the dictionary Characterized by or decorated with regular lines and shapes: a geometric pattern I came up with this card So I'm really hoping this qualifies! Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Morning Meadow (retired) Ink: Lost Lagoon, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake Card Stock: Whisper White Accessories: Mosaic Embossing Folder and Punch, Modern Label Punch, Dimentionals (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks). You can also shop directly from my Stampin...

Well we had the End of Term last week and now this week at  Make My Monday  we are celebrating the Great Getaway with the theme of VACATIONS So can you imagine setting sail across the ocean in a big cruise liner, sailing off into the sunset and ending up who knows where? That was sort of my idea when I created this card although a deserted island would suit me perfectly just now! Here is my card Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Traveler, The Open Sea, Basic Alphabet Ink: Pool Party, Chocolate Chip Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Pool Party Accessories: Dimensionals, White Bakers Twine (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also see the special offers above in the top tabs - thanks). You can also shop directly from my Stampin' Up website - click  HERE  t...

It was my regular monthly workshop last night although this is the first for a long time. It was a lovely gathering and I'm hoping that all the ladies enjoyed themselves! We made three items - two cards and a tag with the Hardwood stamp being the focus of the projects and my inspiration for these makes came from the lovely Julie Kettlewell of  Julie's Japes  - she has done some wonderful work with this stamp and I couldn't resist CASEing a couple! As always when I do a workshop I put a step by step tutorial on my  Craft Club Blog  and the first of them - the Seagull card is  HERE Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Hardwood, The Open Sea Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Summer Starfruit Card Stock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Baked Brown Sugar, Island Indigo, Garden Green, Blushing Bride, Crisp Cantaloupe Accessories: Punches - Cupcake Builder, 2 Step Bird, Circle, Scallop Edge, Bitty Blossoms (retired), Scallop Top T...

We have a colour challenge this morning for you over on  CAS - Colours & Sketches  - two lovely purples and a green - take a look Don't forget that you do not have to use Stampin' Up colours - they are just a reference. So, when you are feeling down I find that the thing which really lifts my spirits is the scent of lavender, I have a pot right by my back door and it smells heavenly. This has inspired my card for today. Although the stamp I have used is not specifically a lavender flower I thought it looked close enough - what do you think? I have used a lovely new stamp set called World of Dreams and I really love the sentiment which is also part of the set. Silhouette stamps are my favourites and I'm looking forward to showing you some more techniques I have learned using this set so do please come back to take a look. Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: World of Dreams Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Mossy Meadow Card Stock: Whispe...

My lovely daughter Briony just before she graduated on Monday - mathematics degree.

It's time for a new challenge at  Make My Monday  and our theme this week is 'END OF TERM' This is very appropriate seeing as when you read this I will be travelling to my Daughter's graduation! So - many of you will have small children who like to give their teachers gift at the end of term, how about these stationery items I have customised with some Stampin' Up DSP? I was so glad to see Marina choose this theme for us as I have had these items prepared for a long time - no scrabbling around at the last minute wondering what to do this week! I even have a little presentation box to put them in - take a look Materials - Stampin' Up + various stationery items bought from a supermarket Paper: Lullaby DSP Accessories: Blossom Punch, Itty Bitty Blossoms Punch (retired), 2 Step Bird Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Silver Glimmer Paper, Tag a Bag Gift Boxes (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-ma...

Morning crafters - hope everyone had a lovely weekend? I did: Stampin' Up Quarterly Training with Michelle Last and the Pinkies yesterday and a I have a Neal's Yard Remedies Aromatherapy course tomorrow - can't be bad! So - today being Monday we have a brand new challenge over on the Make My Monday  blog. It's been set by Suzi B and this is what she had to say about this week's MAIL ART CHALLENGE 'It can be anything, as long as it displays some form of mail art, add it  to a greeting card, envelope, parcel, gift box, tag etc.... which gives lots of options... keep it simple or go bonkers :-) The DT would love to see what you come up with you always manage to surprise us with your fabulous imagination!'  Here is my card And inside the envelope is a teeny tiny card - take a look Materials - Stampin' Up (Except Kraft Card Blank) Stamps: Postcard, Bloom with Hope, Petite Petals Ink: Soft Suede, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral Card S...

Welcome to the  52 {Christmas} Card Christmas in July Blog Hop !  If you've arrived here from  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown , you are on the right track!  If you haven't and want to participate for a chance to win honors and/or prizes, please go back to   the original blog hop post   and follow along with us!  Come and take a peek at the creation I have made using our prompts for the month! You can choose from four themes to take part in our Blog Hop - take a look I chose the Recipe Challenge - here is my card Thank you for coming by to leave a comment!  Don't forget--hop along with us starting at  the original 52CCT post  for multiple chances to win honors and prizes!  Your next stop will be  MYNNETTE !  Merry hopping!

Stampin' Up have introduced 5 new colours to their palette this year and I think that they are absolutely lovely. Look what I've been making with them Unfortunately until my order arrives the only new stamps I have to show you are these Hostess ones - Bloom with Hope. They do make a lovely set though especially stored in the gorgeous tote bag that can be seen at the back of the picture. I found the instructions to this on YouTube Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Bloom with Hope Ink: In - Colours 2014-16 (Stampin' Write Markers) Basic Black Card Stock: In - Colours 2014-16 Paper: Lullaby DSP Accessories: Circle Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Blossom Punch, Scallop Top Tag Punch (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found in the side bar. Items can be delivered direct to you - just £4.95 p+p any size order. Also...

We lost a lot of lovely stamps with the launch of this year's Stampin' Up Annual Catalogue however here's one that survived the cut - Summer Silhouettes. I've used it for this week's challenge over on  CAS - Colours & Sketches  . I'm the hostess this month that means I get to choose the challenges and here are the colours I have chosen for you this week And here is my card I CASEd a few of the elements of this card from  THIS ONE  I found on Pinterest - it was so quick and easy to make, especially as I had the right tools for the job! I have invested in the Stampin' Trimmer - it makes cutting card stock a doddle (better still it means I'm not gouging tram lines on my cutting mat!). To round off my corners I did use a corner rounder (obviously!) although I also have the envelope punch board which has a corner rounder built in. Having the right tools at your fingertips not only makes crafter quicker and easier, it also makes them look p...

How about a look at some of the new colours Stampin' Up have introduced into their new catalogue? Here's a little something I made to show off at my catalogue launch party That lovely vibrant orange is called Tangelo Twist and it's teamed up with some Hello Honey and Mossy Meadow. Do you like the stamp set? Here are some more images from the set The images are all from the new Hostess set Bloom with Happiness - FREE with an order of £150 or more (exc p+p)  Here they all are in more detail And if you haven't seen enough pictures yet here's how they look in their pouch Materials - Stampin' Up Stamps: Bloom with Happiness Ink: Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black (all Stampin' Write Markers) Card Stock: Tangelo Twist, Whisper White Paper: Lullaby DSP (To order any of the above current items or items from the Annual Catalogue please e-mail me on deezinesart@gmail.com - a catalogue pdf can be found...

That's right - the new Stampin' Up Annual Catalogue has landed There is a pdf version of the catalogue in my side bar but if you need one to hug and stroke do get in touch and I can get one in the post to you. There is a lot of lovely stuff this year and if you are anything like me you will have a wish list as long as your arm! Pop back later and I will introduce you to some of the new products xx