Chrysanthemums

I hope it's as beautiful where you are today as it is here in sunny Northern Ireland... you'll  see a couple of photos which I took of the Glens of Antrim yesterday at the bottom of the post.

Today's cards are the sample ones which I made for the packs of my new Chrysanthemum stamps from the Pick of the Bunch set by Tonic Studios.

I've made these in a kind of "country cottage" style using rose pinks and creams but I've also got some coloured up in vivid turquoise which I'll be blogging soon and they look totally different and ultra modern in style. 

The lovely butterflies across the bottom of the card were made with the Tonic Studios Butterfly strip punch and give a gorgeous lacy feel to the card.

This is another of the large stamps from the pack (looks great in lime green too!) and the border this time is made with the Tonic Studios Butterfly Border punch

To complete the set I've made a little place card using one of the smaller stamps.

 The set together.

Now for the Glens of Antrim........

Ballintoy Harbour

Ballintoy

Glens of Antrim

Cushendun

Aww....enjoying the scenery!

Ballycastle harbour.

Rose card

Good morning! I've lots of lovely roses in bloom in the garden at the moment so I thought I would make a card with a rose on it too.

I saw this shape of card yesterday on Teresa's blog with a link to a tutorial for making it HERE and gave it a go. I'll definitely be making more of these.

If you've been looking here over the last few days you'll recognise this Rose as one of the new Pick of the Bunch stamps by Tonic Studios. There are 6 different types of flowers featured in the range (Rose, Chrysanthemum, Fuchsia, Rudbeckia, Peony and Lily) and they are only available to buy from Create and Craft at the moment but should be with retailers very soon. Keep an eye on Tonic Studios , but I'll update you here too.

The beautiful border was made with my favourite Victorian Border punch...

Before you go, have a look at the gorgeous new blog header David, my older son, made for me yesterday featuring some of my drawings from the Pick of the Bunch range....isn't it fantastic? Thanks a million, David!!

CREATE AND CRAFT - LILY STAMPS

Good morning!  For those who weren't up early enough this morning (!) I'm just showing some of the Lily stamps which were on Create and Craft at 8.00am.........However, there is another show with 4 sets of the new Pick of the Bunch Floral stamps and some gorgeous Tonic Studios border punches at 1.00pm, so don't forget to have a look and let me know what you think. Jodie did a great job demoing and has made some gorgeous cards too - I love them!
UPDATE- just realised there's a repeat show at 10.00pm

The top card is the main Lily image used with the Bee stamp from the same pack. The edge is done with the Tonic Studios Vine Border punch.

This is the Calla lily image and butterfly stamp.

This is a little place name card with the small lilies and the Vine strip punch.

CREATE AND CRAFT TOMORROW

Hi, just a reminder that my new range of Pick of the Bunch stamps by Tonic Studios will be on Create and Craft tomorrow  ( Tuesday 17th )at 8.00am and 1.00pm demoed by Jodie Johnson.
Ruth  :)

Pick of the Bunch - Fuchsias

Good morning. Following on from yesterday's post, I want to share a card today using the main stamp from

the Fuchsia pack in my new Pick of the Bunch range by Tonic Studios.


You will be able to see (and buy!) the stamps on Create and Craft on Tuesday when Jodie Johnson will be demonstrating them.

I've been growing all sorts of fuchsias  since I fell in love with them as a child and have been sketching them for years! I just love the way the flowers hang so beautifully from the stem.

The butterflies on the card are also from stamps included in the pack.

This one uses the Tonic Studios Butterfly Border punch

Preview....Pick of the Bunch Stamps!! and more news..

If you've visited my blog or the Tonic Studios website over the last few days you'll know why I'm so happy to bring you this post.

 Next week sees the launch of my "Pick of the Bunch" range of floral stamps!

I've been busy drawing all my favourite flowers, together with foliage, butterflies, bees, ladybirds etc.

Today I'm showing a little preview of the Peony Stamp Pack .I've coloured these in pinks but, of course, they will look great in reds, white, cream or whatever colour you choose.

I'm really delighted to be working with Tonic Studios on this project as they are a great bunch of guys but, equally as important, the quality of their products is second to none. 

You will be able to see (and buy!) the stamps on Create and Craft on Tuesday when Jodie Johnson will be demonstrating them.

The stamps will be coming soon "to a shop near you" and in the meantime there will be lots of inspiration for projects using them on my blog and also on Blog Tonic

The exciting thing is that the stamps are just the start of the range! There are lots of other crafty products to complement them. I hope you get as much enjoyment from them as I have had creating them.

The border punch used in the top card is the beautiful Daisy Border 2 punch

This is another of the Peony images and the border punch is Dotty Border

On the gift tag I've used the Peony bud with the little snail stamp and the border punch is Floral Border

One more thing - if you liked the Cardigan cards which I made earlier in the year, you'll be able to see a newer version (with a cute little twist!) in next month's Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.

"Next Is

ISSUE 108 - on sale

Thursday 2nd August 2012

Don't miss the September issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft! Create funky steampunkstyle cards with Stampendous stamps, make an autumn wreath, design cute cardigan cards with Ruth Hamilton, use up all your pieces of ribbon, plus lots of ideas for men, birthdays, back to school, retirement and more!

Christmas...? and a little preview!

Any sign of Christmas?  Well, now I've made a start on my Christmas cards and there are more to follow.

This card shows the lovely Tonic Studios Multi Detail Christmas Tree Flutter punch (I've just clipped it from the paper). There is a pretty little punched out detail already on the trees and I've added some glitter to highlight.. The roller blind was edged using the Tonic Studios Victorian Border punch . 

The other dies (window, window basket and ivy) are all "coming soon" to Tonic Studios!!

Keep your eye on Tonic Studios as there are lots of new things in the pipeline...

I'm entering this card into the Diva's by Design challenge .....Christmas in July

Kaya's first birthday

This is the card I made for Kaya, my gorgeous little great niece who will be 1 year old on Wednesday.  I didn't add too many bits and bobs this time as I wanted the "1" to stand out. I used a Colour My World template for the number and popped it up on 3D foam pads. The hearts which spell KAYA are punched with a Tonic Studios medium Classic Heart punch . The little bear at the bottom is one of my "Baxter" drawings... "Baxter Flat Out" and is available from A Passion for Stamps.

I've just noticed that the Cupcake Craft challenge this week is all about numbers, so I'm entering this card..
Also, Addicted to Stamps - for someone special

Sir Stampalot DT

"What's your crafty passion?" -  That's this month's theme at Sir Stampalot. Well, there are no prizes for guessing what mine is/are.... flowers, punching and dry embossing.

You'll find them all on this card.  The flower is a digi image from A Passion for Stamps and is called Crab Apple Blossom. The gorgeous border punch is Daisy border 2 from Tonic Studios and the Butterfly is their Multi Detail Butterfly punch.

The embossing folder is Lattice from Creative Expressions (discontinued, I think) and the paper is First Edition, Sweet Owl.

Don't forget to have a look at all the other beautiful DT cards on the Sir Stampalot challenge blog and join in to be eligible for the super prize shown below..



And now, a photo from Wednesday evening for those of you who missed the rain -

This was Boucher Road in Belfast, and it wasn't even raining when we left the house 15 minutes earlier!