Painted Harvest

Well have you checked out the gorgeous new Autumn/Winter catalogue yet?  Do you love it as much as I do?  

I had my "colours" done once and apparently I was an autumn person which is spot on and a shame really as we don't really have much of an autumn here in Beijing.  We kind of have 2 weeks where it cools down from 36C to 26C then it suddenly drops to 10C.  The summer starts around the end of May and is almost over now.  The winter starts in October and it gets sooooo cold but at least it's dry.

So, one of my favourite new stamps is Painted Harvest and it comes in a bundle with the lovely leaf punch.It's such a versatile stamp set and I get to use all my favourite autumn colours

I used an embossing folder to create the background for this card together with the leaf punch.

I had to add a touch of bling to this card, I love me some bling

Hopefully the above 4 cards show you a few of the many ways you can use this stamp set.

I have been busy creating some Christmas goodies to show you all which has been surreal again as it's still 27C outside and the air conditioning is on.  Both girls have been back at school for almost a month so I've been able to get in my craft room a bit more.  I have also been researching universities for our eldest daughter as she is finishing year 13 in May!! How did that happen??

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me

 happy crafting

Ruth

Christmas Sneak Peek

So I thought I would share a few cards I have made from the gorgeous new stamps that will be available in the new Christmas Catalogue.  You can begin to purchase from this catalogue from September 1st so not long to wait.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE glitter at Christmas and this card is all about sparkle.

This was such a quick and easy card to create using the new die set shown below

Another fast favourite of mine is the Hearts Come Home bundle.  You can really let your imagination run riot with this gorgeous set.

I created the card below and used gold glimmer paper to back the buildings to create the illusion of light.

For the card below I followed the very talented Sandy MacIver on her YouTube channel here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np7TIdefIsg

I decided to coat all the white card with Dazzling diamonds to add more sparkle.

I hope I have tempted you to come back and visit on September 1st when I will post a direct link to the catalogue where you can click on my Shop Now button and order some lovelies for yourself.

Until then

Happy Stamping

Ruth

Blooms and Wishes

Some days I just love to create quick and easy cards.  Cards that don't take too long but look good all the same.  Today was one of those days. It's been very hot in Beijing these past few days and I am very thankful for our air conditioning.

I chose 3 colours for each card and kept it really simple, using the design again on the sentiment piece.

I love this yellow card, it looks so bright and happy

The red flowers on this card are happy too and so different to the one above.  I am going to create quite a few of these cards as they are handy to grab when I need something other than a standard greeting card.  I hope you like them too
Happy Stamping
Ruth

Flourish Thinlets

I am often asked to create cards with no sentiment on the front and I often struggle with these I feel they can look kind of "naked" without a sentiment.

I have fallen in love with the Flourish thinlets though and to help me get over the lack of sentiment I decided to create some kinds with no stamping on whatsoever!

I love the combination of the gold and Rose Red and the odd use of a diamonte (you can never have too much bling)

I am actually quite happy with how these turned out and I enjoyed not stamping for a while. The Flourish Thinlets come in a bundle with the stamp set but just look what you can make without the stamps!

I am off to play some more.

Happy Crafting

Ruth

Oh my word!

Stampin up have totally spoiled us again with this years new catalogue.  It is brimming with beautiful new items that you are going to fall in love with.  I found it very difficult to decide what I wanted to get my hands on first!

I decided to settle on the beautiful new Lovely Words thinlets and I teamed the together with Happy Birthday Gorgeous.  The flower is from an old favourite of mine called Flower Shop.

 There are 3 dies in the set and they are so versatile!  I stamped some background flowers onto the card above made with one of the new In Colours.

This has to be my favourite new In Colour - Lemon Lime Twist,  It's so bright and summery.

If you would like to get your hands on the new catalogue or have a look through it, please click on the Shop Now link and you will be whisked away.

I will try and be a better blogger now the new catalogue is out and until the next time

The New Autumn and Winter Catalogue......

Is just bursting with goodies!  It goes live on September and I promise you, you will want to sit down with a nice cup of tea as there are so many beautiful things in there.  I make a lot of Christmas cards as they are impossible to buy here in Beijing, so when the new catalogue came out I was delighted with the choice available.

I created the traditional card above and used the wink of stella pens to add a bit of glittery shimmer to the cards.  I love this image of Father Christmas and the fact that I can create the whole card with the one stamp set.

I then wanted to create something for my daughters to give out to their friends and the card above was super quick to make.  I am currently making the santa and the elf cards too which I will share with you at a later date.  I love this card for its simplicity and speed of make.

It has been strange making Christmas cards in August when the temperature is 40 degrees outside but if you turn down the air conditioning enough and put on some Bing Crosby it could almost be December......

Floral Phrases

Another of the new sets I love is a bundle ( I love bundles as you get so much more for less) It's called Floral Phrases and it comes with the most beautiful thinlits and stamp set.

The above card took literally minutes to make as its just two of the thinlits run through the bigshot and then stuck onto the white card.  I then cut out a flower and some leaves from the botanical blooms set.  I embossed the white Thank You for Caring sentiment to make it pop just that little bit more

The above card was created for one of my daughters friends.  Unfortunately, when you are posted to different places around the world you not only meet and make wonderful new friends, sadly they leave as well.  It can make end of school terms especially emotional

I made the thinlit cut out become an envelope to hold the card with the sentiments on.  It looks really effective and was, again, quick to make. I just hope her friend likes it.

Anyway, I'm off to check whether we're still part of Europe or not.

More of that Swirly Bird

Can you tell I'm loving the Swirly Bird Bundle?  It's so versatile!  On the above card I used it to create my own background paper, I can now create cards with a funky background in the colours I want.  This card was really quick to make but really effective.

This card took a bit longer.  My daughter and I are volunteers at our local charity shop here in Beijing and one of the things we help with is the donation of jigsaw puzzles.  My youngest daughter loves completing jigsaws so we get all the donated ones and make them up to ensure they are complete.  I was playing with the Swirly Bird Bundle whilst I was watching Summer put together a jigsaw and I was looking at the bits leftover from the wavy lines die.  I decided to put them back together on a card and the result is the card above.  I added a few swirly flowers and the lovely "You're in my thoughts" sentiment.

I am really pleased how they came out and hope that it shows to you some of the many, many was you can use this bundle.

I finished just in time as I hear the girls returning from school.  Why not order the bundle from my shop and post what you create?  I'd love to see

Until then

Sitting Here

This is another stamp set from the new catalogue and I love it!  I made this card for my Father n Laws upcoming birthday.  Her has a ginger cat called Honey so I coloured the cat in to match!

The cushions have been coloured in and cut out then I used my embossing tool on the back to give them some dimension and stuck them on with dimensionals.  I think this stamp set will be great for making the "dreaded" male cards.  There is also a dog and basket in the set so it's very versatile.

It's been very hot and humid in Beijing the past few days with temperatures in the high 30s so it's been a joy working in my air conditioned studio.  It's a perfect excuse to play with all my goodies from the new catalogue.

I'll be back soon with some more cards for you, until then

The Beautiful New Catalogue is Here!

This is one of my favourite times of the year as a Stampin UP! Demonstrator - the launch of the new annual catalogue.  I always get excited to see what delicious goodies they are giving us for the next 12 months and this year they have, once again, outdone themselves.  There's lots of wonderful new bundles and so far my favourite one has been the one used on these two cards called Swirly Bird.  I love it because it so incredibly versatile.  I managed to create a male birthday card and a totally different get well card from the same set.

The thinlets allowed me to add dimension to the cards really quickly and they look really effective.  I am going to be spending the rest of today playing with this set as it's very humid here in Beijing and about 38 degrees so I have no desire to leave my lovely air conditioned craft room!

You can see the gorgeous new catalogue by clicking HERE

You can also order any of the products by clicking the shop now button below.

Just For You

Firstly, as I live in Beijing, let me start this post by saying Xin Nian Kuaile which means Happy New Year.  Well, you can't live somewhere for 3 years and not learn some of the language!  It's very quiet here at the moment as most Chinese people travel home for New Year, so everything is closed.  This gives me a perfect excuse to hide in my craft room and make some lovely things to show you from the New Spring/Summer catalogue.

I love the new Botanical Gardens Bundle in the Spring Summer catalogue.  It comes with the most beautiful stamp set, designer papers and the beautiful framelits dies.  The even better thing is that if you purchase the bundle in my shop you will get the Botanicals for You Stamp Set absolutely FREE!!

The framelits cut out some of the flowers so that the petals are in 3D

They are so quick and easy and add such beauty to your card

You can bling them up with pearls and rhinestones

I then stamped some of the flowers onto Hello Honey cardstock and then used a new greeting to finish the card off.

As I was having so much fun as these colours are very "me" I created a cute bag for Mothers Day

I have a feeling this bundle is going to become a firm favourite of mine.  Let me know what you think

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