Rotary stamps are us!

(Well hello there!

I did mention the other day that I was rather keen on a certain new rotary stamp from Stampin' Up (SU) (see here if you have no idea what I am talking about). I also mentioned that I'd let you see the masked card I was working on. Well..... *drum roll*.... tada!

Here we have a very simple but effective save the day card. I used a 4x6 piece of kraft card, one Crumb Cake ink pad, a corner rounder punch and three SU stamp sets (Up, Up and Away for the birds, Serene Silhouettes for the flowers and the This and That rotary stamp for the date). They literally took me 5 minutes to make 24, once I'd decided on the design, and have saved me a few more pennies to put towards the day itself.

Yes, that's right - it's my save the date card! I'll print the actual details on the reverse of the card, pop them in their envelopes and send them off sometime this week.

I'll soon be sharing my first two pages in my new This and That journal, which has been earmarked for organising and recording all the bumf I expect I'll collect over the next five months!

So, for anyone who's done this (getting married) before, here's the time to pass on your handy hints and tips, tricks and things to avoid!  Go on, you know you  want to!

Masking part 1

Morning! Hope this wet Thursday finds you well, and with better weather than here in Derbyshire!

Today, I'm introducing a couple of new products from Stampin' Up. They are due to be released in the 2013-2014 catalogue which is coming soon!

Firstly, there is this little collection of Epic Day washi tapes. A Calypso Coral with faint hexagons on,  Basic Gray and light grey diagonal striped, and a Crumb Cake one with a faint ledger-image.

There are many things you can use washi tape for, in addition to holding pretty things down to pretty paper in pretty ways! I used it just the other day to hold down my stamping mask in a secure yet easily-removable-without-ripping-the-card manner.

If you haven't seen masks before, they're a way of keeping a clear area on your stamp design, say, for a sentiment like the above one will be. You can also use them to protect areas that have been previously stamped if you want to build up more stamped images.

The above image also shows a Serene Silhouettes stamp (part of a set), and a Crumb Cake large ink pad. 

The other new product, which is also part of the This and That line, is this rather lovely rotary stamp:

This is going to get used so much - I have a regular date stamp from Staples, but this has phrases as an added extra. I reckon you could easily use the phrases alone, so am going to have a little experiment! Check back tomorrow for the finished project with this stamp.

What's your favourite Stampin' Up product, current or retired? Do tell!

See you tomorrow, but if not, have a fantastic weekend!

Fresh and pretty layout

Today I'm sharing my latest scrapbook layout.

It's a couple of photos from this time last year, which show my youngest daughter enjoying painting. We love getting messy in our house, and we're often found in our PJs on the weekend making stuff at the dining room table.

I've made a strip of pennants/bunting using the Stampin' Up (SU) Hearts a Flutter Framelits dies, and embossed a couple of the plain pieces of Subtles cardstock with the SU Fancy Fan embossing folder . I've been really stingy with the patterned paper - the scraps behind the pictures are actually the remnants of the paper I cut the bunting out of! The Designer Series paper I've used is Twitterpated, and I have to say it is the best of the current ranges. I'm saving every scrap!

It's a lovely fresh colour combo, taken from my favourite patterned paper at the moment, the floral one shown here. No journaling though, I'm just showcasing the photos. The butterfly embellishments are made by glueing paper onto bog-standard cardboard, and punching out the shapes with the Bitty Butterfly punch. Really easy and effective!

And the title? It's one of those that popped into my head - I often use song lyrics in my titles, even if they are a little... altered!

How do you choose your scrapbook layout titles? Do tell ;)