Crafting....

.. at long last. Geez this business has kept me so busy since getting back that I had no time to stamp at all, till yesterday that was. I was chomping at the bit to get back into it, but having had nearly 4 weeks off showed and I was very rusty to start with. I played with a old and favourite set and after the first attempt ended up in the bin, the second one was somewhat improved.

Hydrangeas are my most favourite flowers( you know me anything to do with spheres, domes, rounds), lots of perfect tiny flowers packed tightly in a perfectly round dome, just lovely. So this set was a must have straight away and I have use it to death. Is the one I reach for any time I am not sure what I will use. Colours on this card are Elegant Eggplant, Sage Shadow and Brocade Blue. I have coloured the image with my markers ( have you placed your order for a chance to win a free set?), and the ribbon is Brocade Blue wide grosgrain.

Sentiment from Oval All set, and focal image belongs to the wonderful Bloomin With Beauty.

Made a few more but you will have to wait for them. I have another cake to share though, Again it was a Christening cake to go with those invites . You really get the complete package when you come to me LOL.

The bottom layer was rich fruit, and the top pink sponge with vanilla butter cream. A bit more traditional this one the parents wanted a keepsake so that's why they choose the crib.

Right thank you so much for visiting, see you again soon. Hugs Monica xxx

Hee hee

One post a week, that s shocking!! Hello my lovely blog readers, well I won't say nothing as I feel so bad about being quiet but I live in hope that things will get better, lets face it they can't get any worst!! I am still crafting and I have also been busy finalising details for the Stamp With Us first ever Retreat I am soo excited for this, there are only 11 days left woohooo!!> By the way registrations closes today so skip over and book your place now if you want to come. I have 2 cards to show you today I have followed the same sketch for both as I really liked it, is the sketch posted for this week challenge over at SWUS.

I adore circles, balls, spheres, polka dots in fact everything that's round I love, so this suited me down to the ground, it came together in minutes. The trees from Lovely as a Tree were embossed in black powder (I love how embossing looks on cards, you get this wonderful dimension on your image while still keeping the effect subtle), then I sponged using a dauber Certainly Celery in, and a bit of Old Olive on the lower part and Bashful Blue and a bit of Tempting Turquoise for the top part. Then circle was cut with the Coluzzle system and the scallop edge was made with SU straight edge punch from a piece of Old Olive card. Oval All provided the sentiment this was again sponged on the edges before it was layered onto a old olive scalloped mat. Designer paper used was Bashful Blue and Celery, wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and basic black card blank. I really love this set and I hope it never, ever retires. So why not have a go yourself at the challenge this week? We have some free giveaway places to our next round on Stamp With Us Online starting on the 1st of August. Each week for the whole month of July we will pick one lucky entrant to join us for FREE. I am looking forward to lots of lovely entries and good luck!!

Then I got carried away with the sketch and did another, this time with an oval center piece instead of the circle.

I love this year's key colours, they are everywhere!! Rich shades of berry like colours paired with yellowy mustards and deep purples they suit me very nicely. So I settled on a combo of Rose red, Elegant Eggplant and Summer Sun overstamped with More Mustard. And yes I have used a Martha Stewart lattice punch, I must be the only person in the land that only just got this punch but in my defense I did order it at the beginning of March and only took delivery of it last week . Soft Summer is such a gorgeous set and I wanted to have a play at an old technique cracked glass, I love techniques and don't use some of them too often.

I stamped on whisper white CS then I have embossed several layers of clear embossing powder over the surface, I think all in all I did about 5 layers. I could have gone on and on but I got bored of it in the end LOL, the thicker you do it the nicer the effect, now beware do not do it too thick either. On the last layer I have sprinkled some dazzling diamonds before heating so it added a bit more interest to the whole image.

I have a close up here for you and while you might not be able to see the diamonds you can hopefully see the cracked lines, very pretty. You could also rub some ink with a sponge dauber over the cracked lines to emphasise them. Have a great rest of the week and I will see you later on this week for sure as I have a few birthdays to announce. Lots of big hugs and thank you for still visiting me and leaving me those lovely comments. Monica xxx

Weekend away anyone?

Hello, ooh the third bit of news has been announced ages ago over at StampWithUs but I managed to forget that I didn't told you about it on here as well. I know sooo many of you are excited about the on line classes and we had a FANTASTIC response already but I also know that there is nothing better then a proper get together with lots of like minded people all sharing the same passion and all leaving as friends. Well we are making it all possible after months of preparations we have finally decided to offer the first EVER card making Retreat featuring inspirational classes and projects made entirely with exclusive Stampin'Up! products. Are you a Stampin'Up! fan? are you an avid card maker looking to constantly discover new techniques and try new ideas? are you scrapbooker who would like to branch out into card making and extend those skills you already have? then this is for YOU!!!! the Classes are going to be amazing and inspirational (think gift ideas, home decor, projects for him, projects for her, all sorts You Won't Believe It!!!), the atmosphere is going to be FUN and full of laughter, and all in all WE are going to have a BLAST!!! I know just how popular Scrapbooking Retreats are and it was my dream to offer something similar to card makers out there and WE HAVE DONE IT!!! Lots of you signed up already and certainly Saturday is looking like is filling up nicely so have a look at the different options and come Stamp With Us!! I would love to meet you and spend a whole weekend enjoying ourselves. Have a look here for all details and go on treat yourself to a weekend of fun, or even a full day if your finances don't stretch to a full weekend.

Yesterday I promised you a card and here it is, I LOVE this one!!!. I bought this set for one reason only, to demonstrate the spotlighting technique.( it is brilliant for so much more though)

Now like I was telling you yesterday I made this as an exact replica to the one I have made for my friend Michelle, only that hers was in Tempting Turquoise to match her blue eyes and I can assure you it was just as lovely. I embossed the Fresh Cuts background stamp in black onto my Whisper White layer and stamped the wine onto the pumpkin Pie layer with P.Pie ink then simply stamped again and punched out my spotlighting bit( the gorgeous flower head) coloured it using the Marvelous Markers, the *fabulous friend* sentiment from Oval All was layered onto a Scalloped Oval and I've used the same markers ( Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie) to add colour to the tiny flower. Rather like this one you know. Hugs M xx

ooh before I go , I have ONE place left for a Stampers 10 CLUB starting as soon as we are FULL, would you like to join one? find out more info HERE and send me an email if you would like to join us. xxxx

Sarah's card

Hellooooooooooooooo, I am a bit excited as I have some new stuff to show you today, you see one of my Passionettes, Sarah celebrated her Happy Birthday yesterday so I had to make her a card and I thought I might as well use my newest toys,hee hee.

As a demonstrator you get the chance to preorder new product a month in advance and I have received my preorder this week. First in the mini catalgoue and first on my list was the oh so gorgoeus Sof Summer, I love this branch and I have endless ideas on how to use this set. Sarah.s favourite colour combo is purples and greens and this is what I have been using for her card, Orchid Opulence, Ceirtainly Celery, Basic Black and I added a hint of So Saffron to brigthen the overall look. I have stamped the polka dot background stamp onto the orchid layer with basic black ink, now this set is a two step set wich means it has an outline as well as a solid image and I have coloured it here using my Marvelous Markers, then over stamped the outline in Basic black using the Stamp a ma jig to ensure correct placement.( markers used orchid opulence, close to cocoa, bashful blue, so saffron,ceirtanly celery and garden green) And LOOK at this !!!!!My new and absolutely fabulous oval punches, just how much are you going to love those huh? I know, I know A LOT!!

I have combined them here with the coordinating stamp set Oval All, I have stamped the sentiment (it said thank you) onto the orchid card then using the oval scallop I punched it out and added some white dots with the white Signo pen, I then stamped my *Birthday wishes* sentiment from the Sincere Salutations set and before sticking onto the orchid layer I run the Certainly celery marker over the edge. I love the effect and I know those punches will be soo popular, don't forget that you can preorder them through me for a chance to win some cool prizes( scroll down to the Ohhhh my.... post ). The buttons are new too there s some gorgeous ones in there, positively yummy. Oh and check out my ribbon treatment, I am trying out various ways, trouble is I cannot remember how I tied it LOL>

Sarah I hope you had a fabulous day and I hope you will like your card. Got to make a sympathy card tonight so I have to go, these cards always take me ages as I don't like making them.

I also have some veryyyyyyyyyyyy exciting news to share with you very , very soon and I know you will love it!!! Lots of hugs M xxx