Something Just For Me ...

I have a mid year's resolution (like a new year's one but just 6 mths late!).  I want to be more organised and I knew I needed a tool or two to help me achieve my goal.  I love "To Do" lists but find that the paper variety just don't work for me, I jot down notes on them, they get messy as I cross jobs off.   A white board would work, but I don't have a handy wall to hang one on, not where I would see or easily reach it.  My solution was to make one out of a picture frame.

The Beau Château DSP has a sheet with a lovely flourish in the top corner and lines all down the page, perfect for the task at hand.  I used my paper trimmer to cut it to size, and then did some fancy cutting around the flourish.  I added another sheet of the Beau Château DSP behind this, choosing a soft pattern in Blushing Bride.  The "To Do" is done using the Junior Type Alphabet dies.  The glass in front makes a perfect surface to write my list on, and with a whiteboard pen the jobs I do wipe straight off - the pen sits in the Blushing Bride tube you can see attached to the front of the frame - no losing the pen now!  Best of all it sits near my desk nice and handy but not in the way.   

I decorated the front of the frame with three flowers, two made from the Fancy Flower punch and the larger one from the Blossom Punch.  On the inside of each is a single layer punched using the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch.

It is really nice to make something just for me, and it was so easy to do I might even make myself another one for my work desk!

Happy Stamping

What A Week

I love doing challenges, I find they help me to create outside my comfort zone with sketches, colours or themes that I would not normally do on my own.  I certainly don't do them to be rewarded, but I have to say it is such a lovely surprise when one of my little creations is chosen as one of the top picks for the week!  This week I had the major surprise of having my creations chosen as some of the top picks in two different challenges.

The first one I received was for the lovely gift set I made for my friend for her birthday and entered in the Stampin' Royalty Challenge #133 - "Anything Goes".  

The second was for the cute little card I made for The Friday Mashup Challenge #68 - "Lazy Summer Days + Sketch"

Thank you to the Design Teams from both challenges for choosing my projects, and congratulations to the other creative artists who were also chosen, I was in some very good company!

Happy Stamping

Merry and Bright

When someone wishes you a Christmas that is Merry and Bright I wonder if my creation today is what they had in mind!  I took inspiration from three challenges for this one Festive Friday for the colours, Mojo Monday for the sketch, and Friday Mashup which was a mash up of Christmas and a card decorated on the inside.

Aren't these great bright colours for Christmas?  I wanted to use a Christmas DSP, but not surprisingly didn't have any in the required colours!  I chose the black and white DSP from Letters to Santa, and cut it to the required size for the sketch.  I then coloured each piece separately using my brayer, I love the brayer for nice clean consistent colouring of paper.  

Here is the inside of the card, decorated with one of the stamps from Delightful Decorations, stamped in Melon Mambo and coloured with a combination of silver, Lucky Limeade and Tempting Turquoise markers.  Now all I have to do is decide who will get this bright Christmas Greeting!

Happy Stamping