Dazzling Diamonds are a girl s best friend !!!

For sure they are mine!!! Hello to all that read my blog, today I have something special to show you, is not anything new never before seen but because it gets a WOW every time I demonstrate it or indeed when I make a card for myself, I consider it to be special. Here s the card

The base is Not Quite Navy with a Bashful Blue layer, see that frilled ribbon? Would you like to know how I ve done that? I will show you in a tutorial very soon.

Now sit back turn down your speakers if you have little ones asleep and ENJOY!!!!!! M xxx

Colour Challenge

Hello guys hope you re all well can I just start by saying a big THANK YOU to those that have joined my live chat for UStamp( click on the blinkie on the side of my blog) yesterday, you were all really fun and I have enjoyed it lots cannot wait for the next one this Saturday at 8 pm ( see you there)
Now I told you before just how much I love this lady s work, she is just fabulous!!! and I decided to have a go at her colour challenge, I was meant to use Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, and Pink Pirouette, now pink pirouette is the new kid on the block for the US market (ie part of the the new in colours) so I have used Pretty in Pink as we don't have the new one YET!!!! .

The card base is Choc Chip a Very Vanilla layer on top of that and the Regal Rose layer was stamped using the Paisley background with Regal Rose ink. My cupcake frosting was inked into the Versamark first then straight into the Pretty in Pink ink and stamped onto V. Vanilla, heath and stick powder was added and then dazzling diamonds was sprinkled over it. Mega bling I tell you, a few extra brads were added for dimension and a bit of R.Rose wide grosgrain ribbon.
I have got a hair appointment tomorrow but I will shoot a few videos so watch this space. Hugs Monica xxxx

Good time?

Hi guys have you had a good Bank Holiday weekend? We had the best weather the whole time which was in itself miraculous as the forecast was painting a totally different picture. It makes such a difference to what you can actually do and we had a weekend full of fun as Laura Bil and Luca came down to visit. He is such a cutie pie and I took hundreds of photos.
I have got a baby card to show you today

Pastel colour combo of Pretty in Pink, So Saffron and Certainly Celery, the green layer has been stamped with the Polka Dot background and Yo yo Yellow I used the So Saffron first and it just didn't look right but yellow was just what I wanted. The flowery layer was stamped with stamps from the Big Bold Birthday set and glitter was added. The sentiment comes from God s Blessings set and it has been cut with the Coluzzle system, I didn't want a scalloped circle as I think they seem to be on every card lately, I know I use them a lot. Taffeta ribbon and some pearls finish off this little cutie.

Right I m off I am hoping to bring you a tutorial pretty soon, and also if you ve signed up with UStamp don't forget to join me for the live chat on this Wednesday at 8 pm for a chance to win a cool prize. Hugs Monica xxxx

Birthday passionettes!!!

WOW!! So many people that I know celebrate their birthdays in the month of August, like mum and two of my Passionettes ( this is what my Stampin'Up! downline group is called thanks to Rebbecca). So of course I made sure I sent them a stamped card each * smile*. First was Rebbecca who celebrated her birthday on Wednesday and this was her card. You will notice I ve used the same stamped image like on mum s card but didn't decoupaged it and by choosing a different layout I have made it a lot more modern and young. The Elegant Eggplant card base was stamped using the flower heads from the Heartfelt set with Elegant Eggplant ink, the image was stamped with Lavender Lace , Certainly Celery and Elegant Eggplant, the Certainly Celery layer was stamped using the Distressed background in Old Olive ink and tied with a lenght of Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. Sentiment added with my favourite set ever ( as far as sentiments sets go LOL) the uber cool Circle of Friendship. And I found out that sweet Bekka liked it!!! YAY!!! Also the flower heads were glittered to the max but I did this after taking the photo.
Next was Donna s special day this Thursday and her card was this one

Rose Red card base with Pumpkin Pie designer paper ( have you got yours while they re still on offer? ask me about it ) Whisper White card stock, I ve cut a oval using the nesties and made the scalloped edge around it using my Threading water punch, the flowers are from the Heartfelt once again and have been watercoloured using the ink pads and markers, the sentiment if from the Happy Everything set and the wide stitched Rose Red ribbon from the Fairy tale collection on page 87. Nice and bright card and yes of course I had a sweet pm from Donna to thank me and she loved it!!! Girls hope you had fabulous birthdays and here to many more. Love and kisses for Donna and Bekka !!! Monica xxx

ps. also a very Happy Birthday to my mama, love you. M xx

Mama s birthday

Friday 22 of August is my mum s birthday, I do feel a bit sad and guilty as I don't think I ve been home for her birthday in the last nine years. She says she doesn't mind but I know she must do deep down, I m also sad because I send her cards all the time but more often than not she doesn't get them. Anyway here s the card that I ve made for her this year I just hope this one will reach her in time.

I choose to use a colour combo challenge set by Carole over at ILWS, Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal. Now this has happened to me before and you will smile or may just have a right laugh but I do miss things all the time, is ridiculous and all this time I m thinking gosh I m only 34 what would I be like in my sixties? ( God help me to make my sixties lol). I was convinced that I followed the challenge and I am pleased with the way my card looks but as I searched for the link I found out my mistake. My card is on a Lavender Lace base, then the Certainly Celery designer paper was also part of it so is all good up to this point, the beautiful gorgeous blooms from the Heartfelt hostess set were stamped in Lavender Lace then over stamped with Elegant Eggplant, and my Apricot Appeal is actually Barely Banana..... what?????!!!!! Honestly those two colours are underneath each other on my trays and just picked the wrong one, but I am still happy with it and I know mum will just love, she will also proudly show it off to every neighbour, friend, the postie, milkman in fact everyone that will sit still long enough for her to tell. LOL. The sentiment is from the Cheer and Wishes set, Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon and some half backed pearls from the pretties kit were also used ( see how much I love my mama? I ve used three pearls on her card!!! LOL). I have also stamped the inside and decorated the envelope to match. It all looked really pretty
Everything used is Stampin'Up! apart from the letters used to spell the word MAMA, this came from an old alphabet by Basic Gray, and the Short Order alphabet is now on my wish list, yes I ve got a wish list just like you. Hugs Monica xxxx

Luca s birthday invites

OMG in about a months time this little guy will be celebrating his first birthday!!! I just cannot believe that is been a year already and his growing up to be a lot of fun and a lot of trouble for his parents lol. This picture has me in stitches every time I look at it, it was taken on our latest holiday and while we were enjoying a cold glass of Sangria he was put down to play in the grass..and of course auntie Moni is always there with the camera

Bless just how funny is this picture lol. His hair was really long and I remember talking to my sis before this photo and she told me of a few incidents where people was referring to him as a she much to her amazement. *** I just don't understand ( she was saying) how people think he is a girl when his wearing boys clothes and is just so obviously a BOY*** Well I have to tell you that while on holiday we had his hair cut as it was just too hot and a few days later when we looked back at this photo( this was taken on our first night) we both thought the same thing, actually you know what? he did look like a little girl because of his long hair. LOL. I love him so much.

So of course we are already planning for the birthday celebrations and auntie Moni is responsible for the invites and the cake and all things pretty so decided to get those done ahead of time before UStamp starts. And this is what I ve come up with Bright vibrant colour combination coupled with the ultra cute Wild About You set from SU. I was going to go with Brilliant blue as my base( thank you Julie for the extra card) but then changed my mind as it was a bit too blue IYKWIM. Choose Ballet Blue card stock instead and this was stamped with the Canvas background from SU and Versamark ink , Pumpkin Pie designer paper( on offer this month ask me about it),Real Red for matting, and inks were Pumpkin Pie for the giraffe, Ballet Blue for the elephant, More Mustard for the lion, Old Olive for the aligator. The tab punch was used to punch the pocket and for the card that pops inside. The sentiment comes from the Cheer and wishes set. The construction of the pocket was really easy to do, you need half a sheet of A4, I might shoot a tutorial on how to make one of those. I just love how those turned out and they are a lot prettier IRL it was quite dark today when I took the photo I might retake it tomorrow. Hugs for now Monica xxxx

A card of thanks

Hello all, my dear God, what about this weather we ve been having just lately? is only good if you re a duck I suppose, the good old British Summer hey?
The card I m sharing today is one of 7 I ve made, I had a few thank you s to send so decided to follow a nice and quick layout that I often use for my cards, this is especially good when you have a lot of cards to make and don't have loads of time to do it. Also used an all time favorite colour scheme, Old Olive designer paper( I love those papers, the patterns are a great scale for card making) , Regal Rose, Choc. Chip on Kraft card stock base( love this as well, wish we could buy it individually), one of the flower head from Seeing Spots was stamped on a circle punched out from Pretty in Pink, also Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon has been used.

I ve been so busy with stuff lately but unfortunately I can't share i am planning some more videos too but like everybody I just wish I could add about 5 hours to every 24 hour day hee hee I m sure there are a lot of you that would like that. The celebrations at the Gogo HQ have started also if you joined UStamp you would have had an email to register on the site, all exciting stuff. Hugs and kisses M xxx

And the WINNER is...............................

...............................................CATHY C. Congratulations my sweet hope you ll enjoy making loads of fabulous Christmas cards. This is what she had to say.
cathy c said...
Congrats Monica!! My favorite christmas colour combo is the traditional red, green & gold ........... your work is fabulous & I would love to know what your favorite christmas colours are?
Cathy I tend to choose a different colour scheme every year for my house decorations as well as my cards, last year it was white, silver and duck egg blue, I havent decided the theme for this year yet.
Send me your details and I will send the set to you. I just wanted to thank all of you that took part, I always apreciate all your comments. Hugs M xxx

CUPCAKES anyone?

Go on those are the fat free variety...hee hee. I thought I would take a picture of the UStamp kit as a picture speaks a thousand words, I ve also made 2 sweet samples for you to see how the kit can look together, I am in LOVE with those papers the photo in the catalogue does not do them justice at all.

Here is a list of what s included , you get a full pack of Soft Subtles card stock ( A4 size and you get 3 sheets of each of the 12 colours), two beautiful stamp sets, Big Bold Birthday and Happy everything, three ink pads in the following colours Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive( you can exchange any of those if you already have them), a 1/2" circle punch, a full reel of white grosgrain ribbon and a full pack of the glorious 12 x12 patterned papers, the Petals and Paisleys collection. Catalogue price for the kit is £ 81.85 plus £4.00 p&p, my exclusive deal for you if you re buying the class from UStamp is a cool £ 67.99 plus £ 4.00 p&p . That s a fantastic discount and leaves you enough pennies to buy the class as well, don't forget the latest you can order this is 22 of August and if your kit has been delivered already try and be a good girl and don't rip into it yet. lol. Ok regarding UStamp the Official opening date is 12 of August this means that the boards will be open for registration and the chit chat is starting, I will have a busy month as the celebrations for Scrap a Gogo s third birthday start on the same day woohoo I CANNOT wait!! The classes start on the 1 st of September and you won't believe what s in store.

Second card illustrates how you could combine the two sets in the kit, this was such a simple card to put together and I hope you ll agree it looks fab. This was meant to be a anniversary card and planned to use the Happy together sentiment but by the time I came to stamp the sentiment I forgot all about my initial plan and used Happy for you instead (just how senile I m getting?). Hope you re enjoying a relaxing Sunday see you at midnight with my winner announcement. Hugs Monica xxx

A card for Paul

Hi guys, oh dear the weather outside my window is just so gloomy so I am spending a lovely Saturday afternoon stamping and listening to the telly in the background. I wanted to share a card I made for Paul one of my good friends husband ( hi Cherry, waves). Paul is currently serving in Afghanistan and it was his birthday on the 6Th of August and this was the card I made for him.

Look what I did to that famous truck? I ve used my markers and although this was my first attempt and not as good I have made another one since this with much better results, I would have practised more but I was running out of time before sending it ( typical me everything happens at the last minute). Papers are Old Olive designer papers( make sure you get some of the papers while they are on offer this month, great deal buy three packs and get the fourth free), card stock and ribbon Chocolate Chip . I didn't want to send him the pile of gifts from the accessories set so instead I ve used the pile of love hearts cos that s what I wanted to send him, LOVE not the kind his lovely wife sends him but the one that s filled with appreciation for what he is doing out there. Hope it brightened his day for a few seconds.
Now as you ve noticed I have changed the layout of my blog slightly ( what a nightmare it was for me you don't know just how useless I am with technology) so bear with me as I m adding my links back. Also I m looking in designing a header but this might take till next year LOL. Don't forget to leave me a comment for a chance to win a goujous Christmas set, there s still a bit of time left I ll be announcing the winner tomorrow at 12.00. Hugs and enjoy your weekend M xxx

My DT work

Hi all hope you re all well, is Gogo time again and I will show you what happen to the July kit when I got my hands on it. It was a gorgeous selection of papers and die cuts from Crate Paper in yummy soft colours. My first card was this baby one that I ve made using one of the gorgeous templates found in the kit , it was so easy simply traced around the template then filled in with coordinating markers. I love different colour combos for baby cards and this is different.

For the second card I choose to highlight the die cuts from the kit. Those lovely curly wines were just delightful and they made putting the card together a breeze.The sentiment was stamped with an alphabet from my own stash( can't remember the name sorry) in coordinating colours to tie in with the colours used in the papers. The topper for the sweetie bag( how fun is this? lovely for party gifts) was done again using one of these cool templates.

Ok here s the next one, I love how this turned out

This was the stamp that came with the kit, and I loved it as soon as saw it, so versatile could be used it in so many ways, but I ve decided to turn it on his head and make flower heads from it. Simple card in a adorable colour combo, fit to brighten everyones day.

Lastly my favorite (only because I like colouring)

In this kit you got another handy acrylic template with different size love hearts, all I did using a pencil trace loads of hearts on top of each other then erased the bits I didn't want, and left some underneath and some on top I then simply watercolourd them using my ink pad. A doodled frame and the LOVE LOVE LOVE template and my card was done.

As always details on how you can subscribe to those monthly kits can be found here, and there are many exciting news ahead of Gogo s future, so be sure to join us in Celebrating 3 wonderful years of inspiring monthly kits. The on line celebrations start on the 12 of August and you will love what the girls have prepared for this, loads of fun competitions and prizes to be won. I hope to see you at the Clubhouse. Hugs M xx

I am celebrating!!!!

Oh WOW!!! you are probably sick of hearing me going on about my success with Stampin'Up! but this morning I had a phone call from our demonstrator support to congratulate me on reaching yet another milestone. It is official, I am the first Silver 2 in the UK, I am elated and extremely greatful to have achieved this, don t get me wrong it was a lot of hard work but I loved every minute of it and it is a pleasure it does not feel like work because I am doing something I absolutely love. So I am now impatiently awaiting my next pin and certificate, I did told Chris ( our hero at demo support, love you Chris and thank you for all your hard work) to make sure he will polish my pin before sending it LOL> I would have never been able to get here if it wasn't for two very talented ladies. I am so lucky to know them and be able to call them friends, also lucky to have them in my team they are Sally and Carole and it was down to their promotions in July that I ve achieved this, they have both reached Bronze 3 so well done girls and massive thanks. Also I had the craziest month, the recruiting promo went down a storm and an incredible 8 of you signed up in my team during July and I am now leading a team of 16 excited girls all over the UK, it is fantastic to see so many of you and I am looking forward to the days when I will be celebrating your successes. I will put links to each of their blogs soon and you will be able to check their work out, I feel blessed as the talent between them is just amazing. So I will crack open that bottle that you see in my photo tonight (Veuve Clicquot is my favourite tipple ever and I don't have it often cos I can t afford it often lol) to celebrate for sure, but I thought hang on a minute! what about all those wonderful people that are daily checking out your blog, buy SU product from you and leave you the most wonderful comments about your work? don t they deserve something? And it has been decided on the spot, I am giving you all a chance to win some candy.

As I will be thinking of starting my Christmas classes soon I am giving away to one lucky person a brand new and unmounted Christmas set.... and it is this one

Perfect Presents, my personal favorite from the catalogue at a value of £24.95, I am also offering FREE POSTAGE on everything you purchase from me till the end of next week( offer ends on Sunday 10th of August at 12.00 am) sorry Uk entires only. To be in with a chance of winning the set just leave me a comment on this thread and tell me what's your favorite Christmas colour combo? I will use the random generator to pick a number out and will announce it on my blog next Sunday at 12.00 am. Good luck and thank you for getting me here everyone. Hugs Monica xxx