One stamp set, three cards...

Hey!

Are you ready for it? Bonfire Night? Well true, it is the time for bonfires and fireworks galore but the new, November release from Clearly Besotted Stamps is almost here too! From midnight the new products are available for purchase. :)

For today's post, I took one stamp set to give you a sneaky peek of. One stamp set that I just couldn't put down. Even though it's not marketed as a set for Christmas, my mojo and brain can't think of anything to create for any other season and it's risen to the occasion in style. Geometric style that is! 'Geometric Style' is a set that is going to be on my desk all year. Fact.

The first card of three today features a bit of holiday, argyle-inspired stamping. Think cosy, woolly jumpers (sweaters). I love that clear stamps makes pattern building a breeze and this pattern was inked up and stamped in no time. :)

So from argyle to a poinsettia. You may have noticed earlier on that poinsettias are becoming a bit of a theme of my holiday stamping. I saw a poinsettia as soon as I laid eyes on the diamond shapes in the set. The hardest part was choosing which diamond design to ink up for the petal and leaves!

I don't think polka dot poinsettias actually exist, but I'm adopting an artistic license on this one. :)

Diamonds don't just create modern-style, polka-dot poinsettias either. How about a snowflake?

I love the crackled effect that features on the shapes in this set. It reminded me so much of frost and ice, which then inspired me to create a snowflake. The intricate design reminds me so much of the similar intricacies you can find when you look closely at a snowflake. :)

• Simply change the colours of the first card to create a masculine card for any other occasion. To make it authentic argyle, be sure to add fine lines over the diamonds with a fine-line pen! 
• To add more interest to my modern poinsettia, I outlined the design with a gold marker. It adds an extra finishing touch and ties in nicely with the gold sequin. Be sure to use a ruler when doing this and make sure any gold lines are dry before placing a ruler over them (Go on, ask me how I know that...Yup, I smudged a few of these poinsettias but finally got a smudge-free version done!)
• I used a Marvy Blending Blox inkpad in shades of blue for my snowflake. The darker shades in the centre help to draw your eye to the sentiment. 

If you've made it this far - thanks for sticking with the project-heavy post! Remember: all goodies previewed here and on the CBS blog will be available for purchase from midnight tonight. Be sure to check out what my CBS teamies are sharing by checking out the CBS blog too!

Right, time to skedaddle. For those of you celebrating Bonfire Night tonight - enjoy it safely! I may treat myself to a bit of bonfire toffee tonight...love that stuff, even if my teeth won't! *wink*

My kinda stitches

Hey!

It's that time again. What time? Clearly Besotted Stamps Teaser Time of course! Yup, five new stamp sets are due to be released (with coordinating dies of course!)

Today I'm giving you a sneaky peek of an adorable set, 'In Stitches: Christmas'. Cue cute stitched-style images and sentiments galore. This here is my kinda stitching! For my sneaky peek, I've whipped up a simple gift envelope that will fit a gift card in.

I couldn't resist inking up that sweet reindeer, (I've decided that it's *the* Rudolph BTW) and giving his nose a good dollop of red sparkles. :)

I also used the star from the set to decorate the mini envelope and embellished it with a sweet paperclip that keeps with the Christmas theme with its candy cane-style stripes (Thanks, Emma!). Oh, and bells. I just loooooove bells at Christmas time! I don't actually think I could fit many more embellishments on such a tiny envelope! Ha!

•  I layed out the die-cut envelope flat when stamping the background. This allows the stamped design to continue on the back of the envelope too.
• Don't be afraid to embellish embellishments. This sweet paperclip looked fine alone, but I love the added fun and festive feel the twine and bells give it!

Be sure to check out the rest of the sneaky peeks on the CBS blog where you'll see links to the rest of the CBS designers who have been sharing products over the past few teaser time days. There's pleny more to see, trust me!

I'll be back tomorrow (I know, right? You get nothing for a week here, and then the next week you can't get rid of me!) with not one, not two, but three cards using one fabulous new set that is quickly becoming my favourite....!*wink*

Post-Halloween Trick (or Treat?)

Hey!

Wow. How fast a week can fly by when you've got the week off work and you need to squeeze in days of dental work...ugh. This week has been full of driving for appointments, needles, moulds, numb mouths and lots of dribbling (due to the numb mouth of course, I don't usually pour drinks down myself!).

But the dental work is done (for now) and so is Halloween for another year. I was planning on sharing my Halloween creations earlier on in the week, but it's been a blog-free and creating-free week until today. Plus, I'd like to secretly hope that at least one of my nieces or nephews checks out the blog from time to time and I wouldn't want to have spoilt the surprise of giving them them these treats yesterday. *wink*

I have seven nieces and nephews altogether so when it comes to Halloween I like to be able to whip up something quick that can be reproduced easily. Cue the aid of the Cricut Mini! I simply designed different fronts for the treats and adhered them to a strip of cardstock that wrapped around my treat and secured it with a cute mini clip. The pumpkin and spider front are from the Monster Bash cartridge, the skull is from the Life is a Beach cartridge, and the cool subway-style words come from the Teresa Collins Chic and Scary cartridge.

Here's a close up of each design (some designs replicated if you were thinking I couldn't do my maths: 5 designs treating 7 nieces and nephews :D)

• I used the negative and the positive cuts of the pumpkin to design two different covers. This saves on cardstock and cutting.
• When playing with my Cricut Mini, I like to use thinner cardstock than my regular heavy cardstock. I used the card available at Paperchase - it's good value for money, it still pretty thick and cuts well with my Cricut. 
• Glossy Accents is a great glue to use with extra fiddly, delicate cuts that you want to stick down.   

What was inside? Well I'm not a mean aunty, so there was a yummy treat (even though it was packaged as a spooky spider!):

For the girls:

For the guys:

The hardest part of this project was resisting the temptation to 'sample' the treats for myself! Ha!

For those of you who celebrated it, I hope you had a spooktacular (and safe!) Halloween!

I'll be back soon with my CASE Study card (don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it - it's just going to be late!) and hope to get reacquainted with some crafting before work again on Monday! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by here today!

Products Used

InLinkz.com