A gift for Josh...

Hello again, ooh I am sooooo excited, there s only 3 more sleeps till our first SWUS Retreat!!!!!!! I am still busy packing and double checking kits and I cannot wait, I just know we are going to have the best time ever, I love crafty get togethers. Sadly I cannot share anything with you yet but I have a few projects that I have done a few weeks ago. On 4th of July Claudia one of my bestest friends celebrated her Birthday, you may also remember from this blog that in January she gave birth to her first baby boy the ever so sweet Joshua. Here's a few items I have made her.

Firstly the card

Tempting Turquoise and So saffron, a really fresh and summery combo. The stamp set used *True Friend* is one I haven't touched in ages and what I've decided to use. I love how you can create your own beautiful backgrounds with just one stamp and some ink, and I have used Tempting Turquoise to stamp the main medallion onto whisper white, I have also added a clear gem to the center of each one. The saffron flower has been glittered using the heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds, the turquoise circle was made with the tab punch, the slightly bigger saffron ones were cut out with the Coluzzle system. Some saffron striped grosgrain ribbon ties everything together.

Then I have made a waterfall album, using some photos of baby Josh. Some of them are not very good ones as I have pinched them off facebook so they were very small, but Clau and Leigh can easily replace those ones as they are only stuck down with repo adhesive.

The Cover

Of course I used Wild About You, this is probably my most loved set, I have made cards for 65 years old, men and women, children you name it, I just love it! And just how cute are those paisley elephants? To make them I have stamped the paisley background in Bashful Blue then I have clear embossed the elephants over and cut them out. The stick on letters come from my scrapbooking stash. Basic Gray, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery is the colour combo.

First page

The photos I have worked with are absolutely adorable, Leigh( Josh's dad) is a wonderful photographer and I really wanted to keep the pages clean and simple. Not only that but because of the nature of the album pages needed to be flat with no bumpy embellishments. Next 2 pages, I have stamped the cute tiny owl from the Forest Friends in versamark and added a square clear button over it, the eyes lined up with the holes perfectly. I have also added some journalling labels for mum and dad to add a few facts and details.Next two pages and again simple accents and stamped backgrounds. Just how adorable is Josh? I cannot wait to meet him in September.A celery giraffe of course, what else? LOL, and the last two pagesThese are the ones that will need changing but how about that cheeky grin. I smiled putting every page together, such a cutie pie.!!

So I am hoping mum and dad will take some pleasure in browsing this little album, but I couldn't post those out without sending Josh something and after spending ages thinking what to get him I have finally settled onto a little elephant from Russ, a soft toy made from Eco friendly cotton.

I fell in love with him and I can just imagine baby Josh nibbling and sucking on his trunk. Too cute. Oh and apparently one of J Lo's babies was photographed with one of those recently, so I thought to myself, if is good enough for J Lo.... LOL.

Well that s it from me today, off to sort some clothes out for the weekend as I'm in work all day tomorrow, then Friday morning hairdresser and after that I am travelling down to Guildford. I will have some posts scheduled while I m away and I have some recent reasons to celebrate, so I might have some candy for grabs who knows? See you soon M xxx

oops!!!

Is Sunday and I didn't post for ages. Naughty but I have been creating honestly, just not enough hours in the day. I am showing you a little mini album I made for the Stamp With Us classes, is a little mini book documenting Luca's first birthday. I love mini books and this one is really cute and a novel idea as the pockets pages are made from toilet tubes.

I have used yummy papers from the Washington Apple collection, Bashful Blue, So Saffron and Old Olive card stock, Wild About You stamp set and a selection of coordinating ribbons. It looks so lovely in real life, this particular one will go to my sister but I am already planning one for my mum as well..

Next I am sharing the card I have made for the SWUS challenge blog, it is a colour challenge and I hope you will take part in it. This is the inspiration pictureHow fab are those towels? The DT have come up with some fabulous examples, you need to see them really to believe me. And here is my example

Washington Apple designer papers ( love those so much I have had to buy another pack as I already used a full one, good job for the special offer this month, ask me about my paper share!!!), So Saffron, Old Olive, Real Red card stock, olive grosgrain ribbon, scalloped oval punch and large oval punch square scalloped punch, the stamp set is the gorgeous Tart and Tangy sentiment form the Crazy for Cupcakes set.

Well I am hoping to be back with more soon. Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. hugs M xx

A donkey ...

... for my sweet little Luca.


Hello there, my title probably made you smile today, and my heart smiles when I think that my gorgeous nephew Luca will receive this in post tomorrow morning( I made sure he will wink, wink). you see Luca is nearly 1 and a half now and is growing up (FAST!!) to be a typical little boy, full of energy, loud and every now and again mischievous. So of course like every parent out there my sister is trying to lay down the rules that will bring peace and harmony to the household( I know what you are all thinking here, well those that have kids of their own at least LOL). Of course this new plan of mummy's doesn't meet Luca's approval and like expected he did rebel against it at first. Perseverance is key and I have heard reports that the plan is finally starting to work (daddy joined in mum's efforts so they work as a team) and my cute little angel is GETTING THE PLAN!!!!LOL How sweet is that?
So of course Mimi (that's what Luca calls me, oooh you just don't how much I like that) thought that this kind of good behaviour should be rewarded and she bought him a little present, a DONKEY!! Now this is not your everyday donkey but the softest and squishiest donkey out there. Is supposed to be a pillow and it just feels gorgeous ( found it in my local Aldi for a bargainous £4.95) but what s so perfect about it is that Luca adores anything furry or fluffy, he just loves snuggling up to furry things and I just know this will make his day.
A quick card was made to travel with the donkey to London and I have used a layout shared at a demo training event I attended last night in Sheffield. The stamp set is my fave's *Wild about you* and colours used are Kraft, Choc Chip, Creamy caramel ink, and Bashful Blue. Lookie at that new grosgrain striped ribbon (mmmm). Will keep you informed on how the donkey and Luca get on. Hugs Monica xxx

Joshua's card

......and Carole's colour challenge. Hello I am back with a cute baby card I have made for the cute baby Joshua.
Isn't it just so adorable ?, me loves baby cards a lot!!! I have used Wild about you ( and I am wild about you set!! I am) and the colours are from a challenge my fabby downline Carole posted on ILWS. Colour combo was Basic Grey, Certainly Celery and Ballet Blue. Lovely combo and I am pleased with my card however the numpty that I am instead of Ballet Blue I have used Bashful Blue, not because I haven't got ballet cos I do, but because I never read things properly. still is still blue and I loves it. hope Joshie's mummy will to ( wink,wink). The sentiment I have made from 2 separate ones using the SAMJ, and the frames with the flourish medallion was stamped around it then punched out and layered onto a scallop circle layer.

I am also sharing a mini book I have designed for the latest round of UStamp.

The Fabulous Baroque Motifs set have been used in this split negative technique. Orchid Opulence, Basic Black and Whisper White is the combo. Frame from the *Frames with a Flourish* set (I use this a lot ), pearls and crystal beads from the pretties kit, taffeta s ribbon and gingham ribbon too, make this little wedding book a sweetie.

Now there are TWO MORE DAYS left to order during the SALE A BRATION period and I have a SU party booked for tonight, if you place an order with me today or tomorrow till lunch time, (12.00) I will offer you FREE POSTAGE on everything you buy, remember for every £45.00 spend you receive a FREE SAB set of stamps of your choice, Or want to join as a demo, became PASIONETTE and get 2 free stamp sets from the catalogue?anyone you like? EMAIL me before 3pm TODAY !!!! at this email address telemech01ataoldotcom. Got to go now, I have fun things to prepare for my excited ladies at tonight s party. Cheerio M xxx

A different kind of stamping

OMG!!! Look what I did with some SU stamps? This is Luca s ( my sweet nephew) card and cake for his 1 st birthday party this Sunday. I know the cake is slightly over the top but hey he is special and I can spoil him as much as I want to I am entitled to it lol.

Now before everyone send s the food hygine brigade ove rto my house let me tell you that my stamps have been thoruoughly cleand and disinfected. Not sure if is the right way to do it and I am not saying to you that this is safe I dont know if it is but I have taken additional steps in case it isn't. I first scrubbed my stamps using the cleaning solution SU sells and the stampin pad. I then washed them with a toothbrush and ashing up liquid, I then took a cloth and mixed some Milton according to the instructions and let put my stamps face down onto the cloth forn the recomended time. I then wiped them further with food grade ispopropyl alchool, then the extra step was to separately stamp the images ( inked using food colouring paste)onto flower paste and cut out then stick them to the actual cake, the party guets are far too small to be even sniffing sugar ( well my nephew apparently is not allowed any sugar till his 18 according to my sis lol... love you Laura) so they can be removed before the cake is cut but i think you should be allright eating it. Made the snakes and the palms using a mixture of half sugar paste and half flower paste. I love ho wit turned out and if it looks a bit bare and wrong at the top is because we are missing the big number one candle in front of the star burst.

Then there was the card. I wanted everything to be coordinated from the invites to the cake I even stamped plain white serviettes and cut out little animals to stuck onto cocktail sticks !!!

Made using Always Artichoke card stock, So Saffron, Real red, Ballet Blue, Old olive, Pumpkin Pie, his name was spelt with the Big deal alphabet and I ve made the capital *L* from letter *I*. The ballons are from Big Bold Birthday set all from SU> Hugs M 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

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