Well, that’s another weekend flown by quicker than you can say … “what happened to my weekend?”

Now I’m back at work I really cherish the weekend for some family time, but that means crafting has to be limited to evenings once Grace has gone to bed. So this year I plan to be more organised with a stash of cards ready for that last minute remembered birthday, instead of my usual “last minute” approach.

So this is a card I made for one of my downline, Elise, who’s birthday it was on Friday, and I made it with at least a day in advance! Go me with my new year’s resolution!

I chose to create something with the Fruit and Flowers stamp set (it was on my desk from doing these) and found it matched perfectly with the Hostess Designer papers – Cheerful Treat. Ooh, how I love the Stampin’ Up! co-ordination! So that gave me a gorgeous colour combo of Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade and Concord Crush.

So on a layer of Lucky Limeade I created a split background with two of the papers – aren’t they gorgeous!!  I finished off this with spotted ribbon in Melon Mambo – this particular one is now retired but they do a gorgeous scallop dots ribbon now that I need to get my hands on!

The image was created by stamping the stems and leaves from Just Believe and then stamping the small flowers from Fruit and Flowers and cutting them out! Oh yes I did – cut each one out – even the small ones! Not as bad as it sounds with the fab paper snips.

They were then simply glued on top and the image was layered up on Lucky limeade and Concord Crush cardstock. The front was finished off with a sentiment from the Happiest Birthday Wishes set – another hostess treat.

With my new year’s resolution I even had time to decorate the inside with a quick background stamp in Melon Mambo and then a double layer top note in Melon Mambo and Whisper White. The sentiment inside is also from the same hostess set.

The hostess section has a fab range of products and if you want to get your hands on some, then why not host a party? Get in touch and I’ll explain how it works – it’s great fun!

Hasta la próxima / until next time