Katie is 10!

Hello today,

I am off into town with DH in a bit but I wanted to pop on and share a card I made for Zoe's friend who's birthday it was on Tuesday, we went around yesterday afternoon to celebrate with her and this is the card I made :-)

The colour combo is Melon Mambo, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight, I love this combo, so bright and summery (unlike the weather here!)

I used the new Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzix Alphabet Dies to spell out the Katie's name which was adhered on top of the bunting which I stamped onto Pacific Point DSP

Curly Cute sentiment again with Itty Bitty Buttons on each of the ends ;-)

and Itty Bitty Punches used inside with a little piece of Melon Mambo DSP behind to finish

Well, that's me for today, I'm off out :-D

Thanks for dropping by today,

Stampin' Hugs,

Mandi's 40!!!

Good Morning to you :-)
** EDIT**
I had this post scheduled for Tuesday morning but for some unknown reason it hasn't published, ah well, here we are, all details are one day back! lol! Sorry about that! xxx

This week two more of my friends have very special birthdays,  Mandi's 40th was on Sunday and she spent the day with her family so we had a day out yesterday, and what a day we had! We went to Gunwharf Quays, wandered around the shops, had lunch at Wagamamas and then out for tea last night at Prezzo's too! I love birthday's :-)

Today we will be going out for Nicky's special 40th  birthday but more on that later in the week!

Today I am sharing with you a gift I made for Mandi, another of the letters like Julie's from Sunday's post.

Now, Mandi loves Black and White so I used some retired Night and Day papers,

with an Old Olive double bow topped with a Melon Mambo big button and some die cut Butterfly Embosslits in matching colours

I added some rhinestones to the centres of some of the butterflies,

and spritzed shimmer spray (shimmer paint in rubbing alcohol) all over,

and I gave her this card, more details on THIS post,

Well, Mandi seemed pleased with her gifts, i just want to wish her a very Happy Birthday Mandi!!

I will be back tomorrow with the first part of Nicky's 40th presents. Please do pop back :-)

Thanks for stopping by today,

Stampin' Hugs, 

Something a little different today...

Good Morning!

Back to school today for all my children! Yay! Zack was sooo bored last week, but his chicken pox spots are all but gone now, thank goodness!

 I am off out today for my friend Mandi's birthday, can't tell you where as she doesn't know yet ;-) and then out tonight too for a joint 40th celebration, more on that later as I can't show anything on here 'till it's all gifted!

So, here is my something a bit different for you...

I had a few over ripe bananas last week and I decided to make a very simple and quick banana cake and I thought I would share the recipe here with you.

First of all cream together 4oz of butter and 4oz of caster sugar (it's an old book so in oz's) until pale and fluffy, 

Get a small child* to break and whisk 2 eggs, preferably keeping them in the bowl and not all down the cupboard!

 *child optional ;-)

add a little at a time (not all in one go, Zack) to creamed butter and sugar,

then rope in second small(ish) child* to weigh out and sift 4oz flour,

*again, child optional

add a tablespoon or so of said flour with last bit of egg, then stir in the rest.

Next get afore mentioned over ripe bananas (as many as you have, I had 6 but 2-4 would be fine too) and mash,

add to cake mix. Now, don't panic, but it may look like it has curdled but it will be fine, I promise :-)

and finally stir in that special something.. a bag of Waitrose Soft Tropical Fruit Medley, chopped into chunks. This turns this boring old banana cake into a really special cake :-)

bake for 40 or so minutes and voila!

it goes down really well and barely lasts a day or two in our house, I like mine warm from the oven with a perfect cup of fresh coffee!

I really hope you give this recipe a try, if you do please let me know how you get on and most importantly if you and yours like it :-)

Back tomorrow with some paper fun,

Thanks as ever for dropping by today,

Stampin' Hugs,

Happy Birthday Dear Julie :-D

Happy Sunday to you!

Today is a very special day, it is my dear friend and up-line (Stampin' Up! Mummy) Julie's birthday!

Happy Birthday Jules. Jules lives a very long way away from me and I often wish we were closer in miles but I don't think we could be closer friends, wherever we lived :-)

Anyway, I really hope Julie has received this parcel and opened it before she see's this post, in fact I have scheduled it for a bit later than normal, just in case!

O.K. Be warned... we have yet another picture heavy post again today!

So, I was chatting to Julie a while ago and she said she was getting a sewing machine for her birthday, now I am really hoping she has because this is the first gift I made her! A pin cushion on top of a jar to keep thread in,

I have used Springtime Vintage DSP to wrap around the jar with a couple of die cut Fun Flowers topped off with a lovely big button,

some seam binding sewn to a strip of paper around the lid,

and finished with another big button on top of the pin cushion part,

Second gift I have made for her is a letter "J" to decorate her conservatoire ;-) I covered it in Wild Wasabi DSP as she loves green (I hope!)

I added a 3d flower to the bottom, tutorial in side bar <<<

some yummy wide striped grosgrain, this ribbon is just gorgeous for tying lush bows like this, finished with another big button in the centre,

and a bit of bling along the bottom edge, notice too the distressed edges, mmm.

and here is the card, I wanted to keep along the same sewing theme so I made this...

I inked all the squares with Crumb Cake ink before zig zag stitching around them,

Sentiment is from Basic Phrases inside a Four Frames punched out image and adhered on top of a seam binding bow,

and a little more stitching inside,

So, this is it all together with a pack of socks which I couldn't resist as they are very much like Baby Blossoms, don't you think??

Well Jules, I really hope you have the most amazing birthday and you are spoilt rotten by your boys, just as you deserve to be!

And thanks to you, lovely blog reader for visiting me today!

Stampin' Hugs for today,

A New Colour Challenge at Simply Stampin'

Good Morning to you!

Well, did you all enjoy the Colour Coach blog hop yesterday?? There were some fantastic projects along the way and I would like to say a few thank-yous. first of all to Anthea for suggesting and organising it, secondly to all the other ladies who took part and finally a big thanks to all of you for stopping by :-) If you have no idea what I am waffling on about then scroll down and take a look ;-)

Anyway, onto another week at Simply Stampin' Challenges and it is time for another colour challenge, this week we are using Night of Navy, Peach Parfait, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White.

This is the card I made using the Funky Four stamp set...

I inked the mushroom stamp using markers to get the multi coloured look and layered it onto some Perfect Polka Dots embossed card which I sprayed with shimmer paint first, sentiment is from Basic Phrases and punched out with the curly label,

Some lush Rich Razzleberry satin ribbon, I love SU! satin ribbon, it is fab for tying bows like this :-D

I topped this one with a Navy button tied with Silver Cord,

and a bit of detail inside to finish,

Well, that's today's project for you, I have a table at the little ones school fair this afternoon but I am off work tomorrow night so am hoping to get cracking with typing up the tutorial of yesterdays projects for you. Watch this space!

Don't forget that today is THE LAST DAY to register and pay for your space at my charity card class next Saturday, 9th July, email me for more details of go HERE to read more, I am also doing this class by post, it will come all cut and prepped for you and I will email you the PDF tutorial so you can make the set of cards and a bonus box, more details on this PDF tutorial soon!

and finally don't forget you only have July left to get your special extra hostess benefits and postage discounts from me too, go HERE to read all about it :-D

Right, I'm off, thanks for stopping by today and have a great Saturday,

Stampin' Hugs,

Colur Coach Blog Hop! Teacher Cards and more

Good Morning to you!

Well, if you have just stumbled onto my blog then Welcome! Today is a special day and I am very excited to be sharing my Colour Coach Projects with you all :-D

A small note before you start, I have a lot of pictures for you today, I have made them small for this post but you should be able to click on them to make them much bigger. So grab a cuppa (if you haven't got one already) and I hope you enjoy today's projects!

This blog hop today has been split into two rounds, so hopefully you will have come to me from Glittermum (Niki), thanks Niki :-)

Round two starts with Emily, I will also give you the link to round two again later ;-)

So, I have chosen the colour combos that are shown to go with Regal Rose, and combination number one teams it with Early Espresso and Daffodil Delight, yummy!

I decided to make a card many of us will be needing in the next few weeks! One for a teacher :-)

I used Every Little Bit for the cute bus and the flower background with Curly Cute for the sentiment.

I coloured the bus with ink pads and a blender pens adding Crystal Effects to the 'windows', finishing it off with some scrummy satin ribbon and a rhinestone.

 And a Sticky Note Holder to match with Number One die cut shapes on the back for your #1 teacher! :-D

 

O.K. onto combo number 2 and the colour coach shows Tempting Turquoise and Sahara Sand,

and for this combo I have made a special card with a gift box to match using the Level 1 hostess set A Slice of Life with the organza ribbon to finish,

Itty Bitty punches were used to create the background

and the matching box, I am working on a tutorial for this :-D

Well, I hope you like my projects today, your next stop today on round one is going to be Jane, I might even see you over there ;-)
**Edit to say** hop continues after Jane to HERE with Linz :-)

And as promised round two starts HERE with Emily.

Thanks again for visiting today,

Stampin' Hugs xxx