Clearly Besotted August release teaser time...

Hey!

I'm here today sharing a sneak peek of the new Clearly Besotted August release which is available to purchase from 5th August at 10pm BST!

It's serious cuteness overload with this release – I just had to play with the Be Lucky stamp set. I'm going to confess that it was the unicorn of the set that had me itching to ink it up, but as I was sat at my desk I thought that many of us would be thinking the same thing so I decided to give the cat, dog and rabbit a little time in the spotlight. :)

This card really is as simple as it looks! I've paired the stamp set with some yummy papers from First Edition's Pick 'n' Mix collection. You may also noticed that I added some subtle stripes to my ginger tomcat. I love that you can customise and colour these cute animals to suit your projects or even represent a family pet (my ginger tom is based on a past pet called Marmalade!)

Don't forget that Stephanie is sharing more sneak peeks at CB HQ with links to the rest of the Design Team sharing even more teasers from the release. We also have the talented Jen Nelson and Rubeena Naz on board with us as guesties too!

I'm keeping it super-short and sweet today, but I hope to be back tomorrow with another sneak peek for you. :)

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Tickled pink...

Hey!

It's release day today over at Clearly Besotted so all of these sneaky peeks we've been sharing with you over the past few days will be available to purchase from 10pm UK time tonight! :D

For my final card of this release, I've inked up the Tickle My Fancy stamp set. This fabulous set features both solid and linear feather designs with a variety of sentiments. It's ideal for both focal points and background stamping! I decided to put a bit of a literal spin on the tickled pink sentiment by playing with some pink ink and a sheet of pink bokeh BoBunny paper from the You're Invited collection.

You'll see that I also couldn't resist some pops of gold in the form of glitter Washi tape, gold foil Washi tape and a cute BoBunny mini clip. :)

Well my sneak peeks are over and Stephanie will be sharing a full reveal of all the new CB goodies, so be sure to pop over and get your shopping list ready! In addition to the full reveal, there's links to the rest of the Design Team sharing their final sneak peeks, so be prepared for some serious enabling! ;)

Thanks so much popping by here today, your visits are always appreciated!

A panda pyramid...

Hey! 

Happy Monday and a happy 4th of July to anyone celebrating Independence Day today! Today's card is a little nod towards the special occasion and gives you sneak peek of the new Cheering for You stamp set from Clearly Besotted. All new CB goodies are available to purchase from 5th July 10pm BST. :) 

So what do you do when you're faced with a cutie patootie stamp set full of cheerleading pandas? Stamp yourself a cheerleading pyramid of course! I wanted to keep things pretty simple and flat for postage and you can't get much flatter than a one-layer card. ;) 

• The pyramid was easy to stamp once I'd marked the centre of the card front and stamped the top panda first. It would also work if you started by stamping the bottom-centre panda too, I just preferred to stamp from the top to the bottom. 
• It helps to test this design first on a piece of scrap paper so you can see how big the final design will be, and then create an approripately sized card blank. 
• There's a a bit of space in between the pandas, so I stamped stars in them (from the same stamp set) to fill them and add a fun feel to the pyramid. :) 
• I added a little shadow the bottom row of pandas using a grey alcohol marker. It just helps to ground them a little bit on the white space. 

Well that's enough cheerleading for me today, but it's time to wave those pom-poms and celebrate the amazing sneak peeks that Stephanie is sharing today along with links to everyone else teasing you with inspirational ideas. :) 

Happy 4th of July, peeps! I'll see you tomorrow with a final card before you can make your shopping list for the release at 10pm! 

Trouble...in a tutu...

Hey!

Well it's July and although it might be grey and soggy outside, it's time to inject a little sunshine and happiness with sneak peeks of Clearly Besotted's July release!

It's a well known fact that no-one quite does cute like Clearly Besotted, but somehow they've even managed to excel themselves this month with what can only be described cuteness overload. This, combined with their humour, is a recipe for some seriously fun stamping. :)

Today's card features the hilariously titled, 'Trouble in a tutu' stamp set and I just couldn't resist using that sentiment. I know a number of friends who would love this sentiment paired with the images in the set and I'm pretty sure that if I ever found myself in a tutu, I'd certainly be in trouble...LOL!

I decided to pop my stamped hippo and sentiment onto a tag from BoBunny's You're Invited collection. I also used the mini star cluster stamp from the same stamp set to fill the spaces in between the fun dots on the tag, then used 3D foam tape to mount it onto a card front covered with paper from the same collection. A mini peg and twine bow was added to finish the design. :)

For this month's sneaky peeks, Clearly Besotted have the amazingly talented Laura Bassen and Kay Miller on board! I just know that they're going to create inspirational and fun projects for the release so be sure to check them out. Pop across to Stephanie's (CB HQ) to see more from this month's release including links to the rest of the Design Team sharing more sneaky peeks!

I'll be back tomorrow with another card, so I hope you can join me then! As always, thank you so much for stopping today. :)

Jumbo hugs...

Hey!

Happy Sunday! It's release day over at Clearly Besotted and I'm back with one more card using the new release and Stephanie is sharing the full reveal too. Be sure to set your alarms to bag the new goodies from 10pm tonight (UK time). :)

I've been busy playing with the new Petite Baby Shower stamp set and couldn't resist stamping a rainbow troop of elephants. The mix-and-match nature of the stamps meant that the hardest and most time-consuming part of this card was deciding which design of elephant and elephant ears to stamp!

• I traced over the eyes of the elephant with a fine-line pen to provide a more contrast against those fun polka dots. It makes so much difference!
• When it came to stamping the elephant ears, I decided to use the same inks but swapped the colours around on the elephants to add a little fun to the design.
• I lightly drew a line across the card front as a guide to stamp the troop of elephants across. Using clear stamps makes this so easy! If they don't sit quite straight, then just add a thin strip of glitter tape to ground them! ;)

Don't forget to pop across to Stephanie's to check out the full release today, find links to the rest of the fabulous Design Team sharing their final sneak peeks, and to make your shopping list for tonight! As always, it's a fabulous release containing something for everyone!

Thank you so much for visiting my little corner of Blogland today!

Tiger lilies

Hey!

Happy Friday! I'm popping in today to give you a sneak peek of what's in store for you with the new June release from Clearly Besotted. All of the new products are available for purchase from on Sunday 5th June from 10pm (UK time).

When I received my parcel of Clearly Besotted goodness (trust me, it's like Christmas every month!) I was immediately taken by the 'To Have & To Hold' stamp set. I love lilies and there are so many varieties out there that you could pretty much colour these any way you like and you'd probably find that you've captured a variety of lily perfectly!

For some reason, I'm gravitating towards orange at the moment. I also fancied a good colouring session, so I've transformed the lilies from the set into tiger lilies. I used a no-line colouring technique by stamping them with Desert Sand Memento ink. The sentiments of the stamp set cater for weddings, but you really could use these beautiful lilies for any occasion.

I decided to pair the bright tiger lilies with navy and touches of gold. I love this classic, sophisticated colour combo. I also coloured over the lilies with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. You can't see the sparkle on my pictures, but trust me, it's there!

That's all from me today, but be sure to visit Stephanie to check out more sneak peeks and links to the rest of the Design Team sharing even more fabulous projects!

A superstar sentiment...

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! It's a super-happy day as Clearly Besotted's May release is available to purchase from 10pm UK time tonight! :D

I'm back today with one final project to celebrate the release and I couldn't resist inking up this stylish sentiment from the 'To You With Love' stamp set. You'll see that I've already inked up the stunning flower from this set on this card, so now it's time to let the sentiment of the set steal the spotlight!

The font of this sentiment had me wanting to embrace the fun chalkboard technique that was extremely popular a while back. I remember the craze kicking off from Betsy Veldman and was instantly taken with it then as I am now. You could take this one step further and even add colour to it, but I decided that colour wasn't required for this sentiment to shine. :)

As this sentiment is the main focal point, I kept the rest of the design pretty simple (no surprises there!) and added some touches of gold in the form of gold glitter Washi tape, a mini peg covered with the same Washi tape and some gorgeous gold foiled paper from the My Mind's Eye On Trend 2 paper pad. Black and gold: a classic, sophisticated colour combo I don't' think I'll ever tire of!

If you're not already come across here from Stephanie's, then what are you waiting for? Stephanie has the full reveal of the release for you to admire as well as the final projects from the rest of the super-talented Design Team so be sure to check it out! :)

Thanks so much for joining me this week for the sneak peeks of the new release. If you're busy shopping at Clearly Besotted tonight, I hope you manage to tick everything off your list!

One card, three stamp sets...

Hey!

I'm back again with yet another sneak peek of the Clearly Besotted May release! If you missed yesterday's sneak peek, click here. Remember that all of the new goodies will be available to purchase from 5th May (tomorrow!) at 10pm UK time. :)

Today's card is my attempt to try and make up for the fact that I'm a day behind on my fellow teamies in sharing the new release by using not one, not two, but three new stamp sets on one card! Where are they, you ask? Well take a closer look at the focal point and you might just spot them all. :)

The sentiment is from the 'Mr & Mrs Hoot' stamp set and I've added detail to the die-cut heart by stamping the flowers from the 'To You With Love' stamp set (seriously, I can't get enough of that set!) and some hearts from the 'Just The Two Of Us' stamp set using a tone-on-tone ink. I then stamped those beautiful flowers onto a square of white cardstock and aligned the flowers on the heart with them to add a little more interest to the design.

This card is accompanying us our friend's wedding this Saturday where Mr Gray is the Best Man. The yellow twine bow has been added as yellow is one of the main colours of the big day. There's absolutely no reason for the gorgeous My Mind's Eye mint and gold polka dot foiled paper other than I'm absolutely smitten with it – a special paper for a special card! Well that and I've just realised that the dress I plan to wear is this shade of mint too so I must have been thinking about it at the time of creating this. Maybe I need to add some gold polka dots to it before Saturday? :D

Well that's enough pondering and babbling from me today. If you haven't already seen the plethora of sneak peeks Stephanie has in store for you today, then be sure to visit! As always, she's sharing links to the rest of the Design Team featuring even more sneak peeks.

I'll be back tomorrow to celebrate release day with one more card. I hope you can join me!

Clearly Besotted May sneak peeks...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday! It's back to work for me today after the extended bank holiday. It was a bit of soggy one here, but that gave me the perfect excuse create with Clearly Besotted's May release to give you some sneak peeks before the full release is available to purchase from 5th May at 10pm (UK time). :)

Today's card gives you a sneak peek of the beautiful, 'To You With Love' stamp set. I gravitated towards this set as soon as I laid my eyes up on it! I always say that Clearly Besotted do the most fabulous floral stamp sets and this is set is of no exception!

I'd normally go ahead and heat-emboss this image and colour it in, but I fancied doing something a little different so opted for the no-line colouring technique. I'm no artist (just check out Keren's or Debby's take on this flower to see how a real artist does this set justice) but I had fun stamping the image in Desert Sand Memento ink and colouring it with all of my three pink and three green Copics (I really want more!) I added a few highlights with a white gel pen and paired the image with some yummy papers from the My Mind's Eye On Trend 2 paper pad.

The heat-embossed sentiment comes with the stamp set too and I couldn't resist adding some of Lucy's pretty sequins and a BoBunny clip to the design. I'm going to admit that it pained me to affix the layers onto the card front at angles, but I'm hoping it adds a bit of fun to the finished design. :)

This month we have the fabulous Taheerah Atchia, Anita Bowden, Vanessa Amann and Yoonsun Hur joining us as guesties! I'm also absolutely thrilled that we have my talented friend, Keren Baker, joining our Design Team! Pop across to their blogs to get your mojo fix – and while you're at it, hop across to Stephanie's for more sneak peeks and links to the rest of the Design Team sharing more jaw-dropping creations!

Let's celebrate you (& release day!)

Hey!

Hip, hip, hooray! It's release day over at Clearly Besotted and April's release will be available to purchase from 10pm UK time tonight! :)

I'm celebraing release day with a card featuring the brand-new A Better You stamp set. This set features beautiful butterflies with co-ordinating designs to stamp on top. I love this concept and I wanted to create a tone-on-tone butterfly for this project, but I have plans of heat-embossing the detailed stamp to create a contrasting design for a future project (when I've finally built that time machine I require to find more hours in the day!)

I'm still on a bid to use and enjoy some of the pretty stash I have just sat here waiting for me so I've used up a teeny bit more of my BoBunny You're Invited collection with this stamp set. I just felt that the butterfly suited and fitted the journalling card design perfectly. I originally stamped the sentiment directly onto the printed design, but I felt it was lost in the pattern so I stamped it again onto cream cardstock and carried out some serious fussy-cutting to affix it on top. Project rescued!

Stephanie is sharing the full reveal of the new release today so be sure to pop across and get your shopping list ready! The rest of the Design Team are also sharing their final creations featuring the new release so be sure to take a sneak peek at the links Stephanie is sharing today for a mojo boost and to help make those final purchasing decisions. ;)

Thanks so much for visiting this little corner of Blogland today!

Happy days...

Hey!

Happy Monday! I'm a little late to the Clearly Besotted teasers of the April release, but better late than never, right? I'm sure that you've already been checking out some fabulous sneak peeks of new goodies over the past couple of days from the talented Design Team and I'm joining in today with a quick and easy card featuring the Good Times II stamp set. 

I have a thing for bicycles. I don't even own one myself, but I love to see them in print form so I was extremely happy to see this second version of the original Good Times stamp set; I especially like the fact this bicycle can be coloured or paper-pieced as desired!

I've paired up this fun stamp set with some bits 'n' bobs from the BoBunny You're Invited collection from my stash. The bike was simply stamped and coloured onto a square journalling card from the collection and then I stamped and heat-embossed the sentiment above it – it fitted perfectly! 

I added a mini gold binder clip for a final finishing touch and gave myself a mini pat on the back for using up some goodies from my stash in addition to playing with the new release. After all, if I use up goodies that I already have then I'm making room for more! ;) 

That's all from today, but I hope you can join me tomorrow as we kick off release day with more projects featuring the new stamp sets. In the meantime, if you haven't already, then pop across to Stephanie's to see more sneak peeks and links to the rest of the super Design Team sharing their talent with the new release! 

As always, thank you so much for stopping by today!

Colourful blooms!

Hey!

Happy Friday! I'm back today to tease you (in the nicest possible way!) with some more sneak peeks of the Clearly Besotted release before the new goodies are available to purchase from 10pm GMT tomorrow!

It was a case of caped cuties yesterday, but today I'm back with another theme that Clearly Besotted does so well: flowers. Today's cards features the new From All of Us stamp set and I decided to take some creative license when colouring my flowers so that they co-ordinate with some BoBunny stash I wanted to use on this card. :)

I've gotta keep it short and sweet today so if you haven't already, then pop across to Stephanie's where she's sharing even more sneak peeks with links to the rest of the Design Team ready and waiting to tease/inspire you!

I hope you can join me tomorrow for my final card featuring the new release. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Caped Cuties

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! Happy March! How did it creep up on us so fast?! Well a new month here on the blogeroo means it's time to tease you with some sneak peek of the new Clearly Besotted release! The new goodies are available to purchase from 5th March at 10pm GMT. :)

Today's superhero card features the adorable Caped Cuties stamp set. This set does exactly what it says on the tin: Clearly Besotted cuties in caped form just waiting for their next adventure. I couldn't resist pairing one caped cutie with the Clearly Besotted Cityscape border die to create a fun superhero scene.

The stars come with he Caped Cuties stamp set too and the toughest thing about working with this adorable set is deciding on which caped cutie to use! It was tough to pick just one for this card, but I have a feeling that more will be featuring on future cards. ;)

• When fussy-cutting stamped images I like to use a black marker to colour the edges and avoid white edges from showing. It helps the image to blend into the design. 
• Whenever creating cards for kids I like to use bright, primary colours and they add to the superhero theme too – Superman was the inspiration for this colour combo. ;) 

Well that's the end of today's superhero antics, but if you fancy more then pop across to Stephanie's blog where she'll have more sneak peeks and links to the rest of the awesome Design Team sharing their own crafting adventures. I promise you'll be left inspired. Happy endings all around!

Thanks so much for visiting my little corner of Blogland today and I hope that you can join me tomorrow for another sneak peek of the new Clearly Besotted release!

Hey, cutie!

***I ran out of daylight to shoot this card! Fab photography kindly provided by Natalie Garforth***

Hey!

Happy Friday! It's just about the weekend and I'm kicking it off here on the blogeroo with a final project featuring new goodies from the Clearly Besotted February release. These fabulous new products are available to purchase from 10pm GMT tonight! :D

Today's card features no flowers (I bet you were expecting them if you've been here for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 of the sneak peeks, right?) but a real combination of the new stamp sets to create a fun little scene. I used the nest from the Nesting mini stamp set, the adorable sentiment and chick from Chirpy Chicks, and leaves from Round Roses. That's a lot of stamp sets for just one card LOL!

• The chick is an adorable image of one peeking from a basket of Easter eggs. I simply cut out the chick from the stamped image and popped it into the nest. Easy peasy! 
• The leaves have been repeatedly stamped along the bottom to ground the nest and I sponged green ink over the top to avoid any large white areas showing through them.  
• I love that I managed to use three different stamp sets on just one mini card. It's worth looking through your supplies to see what you can mix and match. Clearly Besotted stamps are cleverly designed in a way that they can be mixed and matched with ease. :) 

If you haven't popped across here from Stephanie's, then what are you still doing here?! Stephanie is sharing the full release which should give you plenty of time to pick your favourites before it all becomes available to purchase from 10pm tonight. The rest of the amazing Design Team are sharing their final projects today too and you'll find full links to them on Stephanie's post. :)

Thanks so much for visiting today and over the past few days. I hope you've enjoyed these sneak peeks and that you have a fabby weekend!

Trendy tulips...

Hey!

Happy Friday Eve and welcome back to the Clearly Besotted teasers from the February release! If you're new to the teasing, then be sure to check out Day 1 and Day 2 of the sneak peeks too. All of the new goodies will be available to purchase from 5th February 10pm GMT (tomorrow!)

Now I know what you're thinking. More flowers, Aimes? Really? Stick with me though. I've kept my promise from yesterday and today's card features a sneak peek of a different set. Yup, those tulips are from the 'With Love' mini stamp set and they feature multilayer stamps which means you'll be stamping detailed tulips in no time. :)

I decided to stamp a lovely row of tall tulips for today's card and then the rest of the card kinda just happened. I had some of the yummy Crate Paper Hello, Love papers left on my desk from creating this card so I decided to use them again. I like to think the striped paper used on the card front adds a trendy touch to the design. Tulips can be trendy, right?

• I lightly blended Broken China Distress Ink along the bottom of my stamped tulips to ground them a little.  It makes so much difference! 
• Confession: I stamped the sentiment with a little too much space above it for my liking. I didn't want to trim the panel down any further, so I simply added a strip of glitter tape across the top to balance the space a little more.  This is our little secret, OK? 
• When working with striped paper, I always consider whether horizontal or vertical stripes will work best for the design. Horizontal worked best here as it contrasts against the vertical tulips. 

Want to see more sneak peeks? Then hop across to Stephanie's to check out more peeks of the release along with links to the amazingly talented Design Team sharing even more lovely projects to tease you with.

The full reveal of the release is tomorrow (yay!) and I'll be back with one more final card. I hope you can come chick check it out...hee hee!

Easter blessings

*** I ran out of daylight to shoot this card! Photography kindly provided by Natalie Gartforth ***

Hey!

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Clearly Besotted sneak peeks of the February release! If you missed out on Day 1 then click here. All of the new goodies are available to purchase from 5th February at 10pm GMT. :)

I know that I shared a creation featuring the 'You Are Wonderful' stamp set yesterday so I hope you won't mind that today's card features the same set. What can I say? I'm giving you a good peek at it LOL! I love it and I'm going to suggest that today's card is very different in both style and occasion from yesterday's. ;)

We have an early Easter in 2016 so the new Clearly Besotted release is perfectly timed for me to create a couple of cards ready for the occasion. To give the flowers a bit of a different look, therefore making it kinda different from yesterday's card (have I convinced you yet that it's different?!) I decided to capture a section of the image on the die-cut circle; it goes to show that sections of a stamp can look just as lovely as a full image. The sentiment tucks nicely next to the daffodils too which keeps everything contained snugly in the focal point.

• You can achieve a different look with these beautiful blooms by simply changing the colour of the ink used. For yesterday's card I opted to use grey ink which gave a softer, more subtle effect. The black ink used on today's card creates a bolder look. 
• To make my daffodils really 'pop' I traced around the outline of them using a very light blue alcohol marker. This is a trick that works for any image and will instantly add some depth. 
• I love to add little twine bows to mini pegs as a finishing embellishment. I find that a good dot of Glossy Accents is great at keeping the twine in place on the wooden peg. :) 

I promise that there are more sets from the Clearly Besotted February release to take a sneak peek at, and the best place to start to check them out is at Stephanie's. I also promise that tomorrow's card will feature a sneak peek of a different stamp set. I hope you can join me then!

Clearly Besotted Sneak Peeks: Day 1

Hey!

Normally I'd say something along the lines of not believing that it's a new month already, but I'm actually sat here thinking that January seemed to be running in slow motion LOL! Maybe it's a winter  thing, but nevertheless it's a new month which means we have some sneaky peeks of the new Clearly Besotted release to tease you with. Yay! :)

The February release is nothing short of fabulous and adorable in equal measures. I've had such a blast stamping with the new sets and I can guarantee that you're in for real treat. Today's card uses the beautiful 'You Are Wonderful' stamp set which features springtime blooms and beautiful sentiments in a stunning font. I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: No-one designs floral stamp sets quite like CB!

• The vase is a separate stamp. I created a mask of it, placed it on the stamped vase and sponged Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink along the bottom to subtly ground it. 
• I'm going to admit that it did pain my perfectionist ways to mount the focal point at an angle, but the two strips of patterned paper help to balance (and straighten!) it a little. 
• Those little strips of patterned paper are actually strips of contrasting patterns along the top of each 6x6" sheet of patterned paper. They're worth holding onto and cutting up to create fun finishing touches. I like that the 'XO' pattern echoes the sentiment too – bonus!

You'll see that I'm embracing and actually using (yes, you heard me, using!) some yummy new papers from Crate Paper's Hello, Love collection. I'm promising myself that whenever I indulge in a new paper pad that I must use it instead of sit admiring it. I think this is a good start for me!

Well, that's all from me today, but if you haven't already popped over here from Stephanie's (aka: CB HQ) then hop across there now to see more fabulous sneak peeks from the rest of the Design Team including this month's guestie, my talented friend, Keren Baker! :)

As always thanks so much for visiting today. I hope you can join me for more sneak peeks tomorrow!

Fabulous florals...

Hey!

Welcome back to the sneak peeks of Clearly Besotted's January release! If you've only just joined in the fun, then be sure to check out Day 1 and Day 2 (especially if you're a fan of punny cards!) All of the new goodies will be available to purchase from tomorrow night at 10pm GMT.

You may, or may not, be glad to hear that I've stepped away from the punny cards for today with this card featuring stamps from the Minature Florals Collection II set. I wasn't kidding when I said that there was something for everyone with this release! Clearly Besotted design stunning floral-themed stamp sets like no-one else IMHO. This set works fabulous on its own or paired with the larger versions of the flowers you'll spot from previous Clearly Besotted sets. I'm thinking of beautiful cards co-ordinating with miniature versions as tags for a future project!

• I'm not brilliant when it comes to horticulture so I'm not entirely sure what colour these flowers should be. I'm a true believer in artistic license with such things so go for whatever colour you please! 
• I heat-embossed the flowers onto vellum and coloured the majority on the reverse (no need to stay inside the lines!) using cheap anything-but-fancy pencil crayons. I then added a touch of shading and sparkle on the front using Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens. 
• There's some serious fussy-cutting going on with these vellum flowers, but following a raised, heat-embossed line makes it much easier than you think. 

From punny stamp sets to seriously stunning floral stamp sets, there's a lot to check out in this release! I won't keep you any longer as I just know that Stephanie will be sharing plenty more sneak peeks with links to the rest of the talented Design Team's wonderful creations. Enjoy!