May i{nspiration} Candy

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The last day of May. And time for me to share links to some of my favourite {created by you} cards from this last month : ) They're all designs which I have found personally inspirational. So grab yourself a coffee and spend a few minutes browsing through them, because you will find something you like : )

I'm starting this month where I left off last month, and with something I've been creating with too this month, my free Pink Petticoat stamps, with some pretty little notelets created by Mandy.

There's a beautiful butterfly card by Elizabeth.

And a sweet cupcake card, created by Dawn.

The talented Jen Nelson has created
- a gorgeous card for a little baby boy
- an equally gorgeous card for a little baby girl
- a bee-autiful card with a very clever way of cutting and using digital image stamps and
- a card using the free Diamond Jubilee Party Pack.

Jo Street has been creating with Big Fella *here*.

Carol Price has created a lovely 'Apples for Teacher' card *here*.

Vicky made a stunning card with hand-made punched flowers.

And Katie shared a brilliant set of image-based tutorials, with tips and different ideas for Freestyle stitching on your cards, which you can see *here*, *here*, *here*, *here* and *here*.

And finally, and especially for those of you who like to indulge in a little digital creativity before printing your papers and images, new-to-blogland Sue, created these...


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... printing her 'Simple Sentiments' straight onto her card blanks. Gorgeous aren't they?

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has shared their creativity and ideas with us. And I hope you all enjoyed browsing through those as much as I did : )

Aren't they all very talented crafters?



If you'd like to share your Pink Petticoat creations with me, I have a few ways for you do to that.

- Twitter. If you're tweeting a photo of one of your cards or a link to one, please add @PinkPCreative to your tweet, and I'll be certain to see it.
- Facebook. Post a photo of your card. Or a link to one. Either is just fine.
- On the blog. You can add a link to your card in the comments section of any post. I'll see all of them.
- By email. Send me a link. You can send an image as an attachment too if you like, although this is not always the most reliable way. Attachments don't always get past my email filters.

You're all more than welcome to do any of those. And I'd love it if you did : )

Natural Neutrals

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed a lovely weekend : ) Hasn't it been gorgeous with the sun coming out to play?

I added a new little something to the boutique yesterday. It's a paper pack. It's called 'Natural Neutrals'. And it's a collection of the most beautiful, sophisticated, contemporary shades of cream and biscuit, all designed especially for printing card bases.

The right colour for your card base can make or break a card design. The right shade can change it's style. And these really add another dimension to your cardmaking.




There are 11 shades in the set, each one pritning as an A4 sheet, and from from 'Biscotti' to the palest shade, Chalk Dust, which will gently colour your white card with the softest, natural shade of off-white, they are all inspired by shades of nature ...

Natural Linen
Toasted Wheat
Mushroom Whisper
Soft Stone
Vintage Cream
Natural Calico
Sweet Almond
Cashmere Mist
Chalk Dust
Hessian
& Biscotti.


And to help you select exactly the right shade for your project, before your print your card base, there's a printable colour sampler in there too : )



If you'd like to take a closer look at 'Natural Neutrals', you can see them *here* in the Boutique. They're £1.49.

And I hope you like them : )

• Papers: 'Natural Neutrals' printed onto Linen Paper
• Doily Die: Cheery Lynn
• Scallop Punch: Woodware (lilac punch)

Free Diamond Jubilee Party Pack

I have something lovely to bring to you today. It's a free gift. A little treat. A 'Diamond Jubilee Party Printables Pack' and it's especially for your celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next month, 2-5th June.


I think it's a lovely little pack. It includes printable Paper Chains, A6 Union Flags, and sour cream container Gift Pouches ... two printed sheets of printed A4 Paper Chains, will make a chain one metre long, and I used a flag to make my paper Doily.


Lots of little Cupcake Toppers for you to cut or punch out ...






(including some pretty little pink ones for you to add a few girlie touches to your party)


... and some cute little Union Flags too.

Everything has a softly-washed, vintage-style finish and I've chosen a vintage-inspired colour palette too - Air Force Blue and Pebble, both with Crimson, with highlights of Rose, Pretty Pink & vintage Cream. So everything in the pack will co-ordinate beautifully with your favourite designs from the Colour Collection. The Gingham or Dotty papers would be perfect! But I've included a few plain backing papers in there just in case you need them : )

Downloading & Printing Instructions
The files are high-resolution pdf files, delivered to you inside a .zip file, printing as individual A4 sheets.
You will need a Zip File Program, such as WinZip, to download and unzip them. (Or there is a free one *here* which you may download and use if you prefer.)
And you will need the free Adobe Reader to print them.

You can download your Diamond Jubilee Party Pack from *here*. It's big - 168 mb - so you might need to be a little patient whilst the files download to your computer. But it is worth the wait : )

Personal use only please.

And I hope you like them! Enjoy!

Thank You Sentiments

Hi everyone! Just popping in to let you know that I added a new set of sentiments to the Boutique this weekend : )

They're 'Thank You' sentiments and it's a HUGE collection of sentiments. They are designed especially so you have the perfect 'Thank You' sentiment, whatever the occasion. They're suitable for different sizes and styles of cards. And for everyone too - including those difficult-to-make cards for men : )

Here are all the little details ...



'Thank You' Sentiments

This set includes ...
- 78 sentiments
- in different sizes
- and in a choice of professional typefaces and styles.
- They print as several sentiments on a single sheet of A4 with a white background. Ready for you to cut or punch out.
- It's retail price is £4.99.


This is a selection of the style choices included : )





If you'd like to take a closer look, you can find the new 'Thank You' Sentiments*here* in the Boutique.

And I hope you like them : )

• Card Bases: 135mm 300gsm Card Blanks by Papermania and A4 cards cut from 340gsm White Card from Century Paper. )
• Sentiments: 'Thank You' Sentiments
• Butterfly Punches: Martha Stewart
• Cream Silk Ribbon: The Ribbon Reel
• Chocolate Satin Ribbon: Local Haberdashery
• Tiny Crystals, Black Pen for doodling, Scraps of Patterned Papers.

Village Fayre Stamping

Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. I like long weekends. They're a bit of a treat. And nice :)

I managed to get some time in my garden in the sunshine. And some time crafting too. Village Fayre crafting. I usually make some cards for the local Church Fayre, and for Lelant Village Fayre - the little village where I live. But this year, I've also been asked to make some for one of the charity tents at The Royal Cornwall Show in June. Which is more than just a little bit exciting for me : ) So this weekend was the perfect opportunity for me to do the designing, and make my decisions about what I wanted to make. And these little Card Gift Sets are what I've decided to do. They will be my contributions for everyone this year : )


I'm ever so pleased with them. I had set myself a design brief...
- simple & very quick to make (I have little spare time)
- relatively low cost for supplies (I need a lot this year)
- styled & packaged to suit potential customers ('hand-crafted', country, rustic styling sells extremely well at local country fayres)

... and these tick all my boxes perfectly.

And I've used generic sentiments, which I hope will appeal to a wide range of fayre-goers in an effort to persuade as many of them as possible to purchase them : )










Plus, as a little bonus just for me, I've stamped them, which I don't do very often. I've used a combination of my free stamps from last year, and one of my favourite sets from Hero Arts.

Popped in a little cellophane bag, I think they might just do quite well. And I'm going to enjoy something a little bit different : )

• Card Blanks: Papermania 300gsm
• Stamps: Pink Petticoat free stamps and 'Petite Greetings' by Hero Arts (LL996)
• Circle Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities
• Natural & Chocolate Button Twine: The Ribbon Reel
• Green Marker and Tiny Yellow Crystals

Heidi Swapp Winner

Sorry to be a day late posting this ... the winner of the Heidi Swapp 'Love Your Handwriting' GiveAway is ...

Jen, who said
"never... i like my handwriting but i'm scared to ruin the cards lol xxx
think i might just give it a go now though (before i stick the card together of course)
thanks for the thought Liz
jen xx"

Congratulations Jen! If you could email me with your address please, I'll get your prize in the post for you.

And thank you to everyone who joined in.

You Know You're An Obsessive Crafter ...

... when your parcel is delivered and you get more excited about the packaging than your shopping : )

April i{nspiration} Candy

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The last day of April. And time for me to share links to some of my favourite {created by you} cards from this last month : ) They're all designs which I have found personally inspirational. So grab yourself a coffee and spend a few minutes browsing through them, because you will find something you like : )

I'm starting with this wonderful set of 'Material Girl' cards, shown in the image above, and created by Lou.

And another lovely 'Sew Special' card by Sue Walsh (Tillymint)

There's pearlised pink 'Quatrefoil' gorgeousness and pearlised pale green 'Chevrons'. Both by Jen Nelson

Gorgeous colour combinations by Dawn *here*, *here* and *here*.

Scallop-shaped tags using 'Big Hugs' and a selection of papers, including some of my favourites from the Colour Collection. By Maria.

And a card and matching gift box, which everyone can make. Because they're made with the 'When Life Hands You Lemons' and 'Pillow Box' Template freebies! By Michelle Francis.

And last, but my no means least, a selection of cards made with the clear stamps, which were a free gift with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine last year. By Lavinia and Mandi.

Do you still have yours? I haven't made anything with mine for a long, long time. I think it's time I pulled them out to create something with them again : )


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A HUGE thank you to everyone for sharing their creativity and ideas with us. And I hope you all enjoyed browsing through those as much as I did : )



If you'd like to share your Pink Petticoat creations with me, I have a few ways for you do to that.

- Twitter. If you're tweeting a photo of one of your cards or a link to one, please add @PinkPCreative to your tweet, and I'll be certain to see it.
- Facebook. Post a photo of your card. Or a link to one. Either is just fine.
- On the blog. You can add a link to your card in the comments section of any post. I'll see all of them.
- By email. Send me a link. You can send an image as an attachment too if you like, although this is not always the most reliable way. Attachments don't always get past my email filters.

You're all more than welcome to do any of those. And I'd love it if you did : )

Hand Writing Sentiments & A GiveAway

Last week, on Facebook, we were chatting about hand writing sentiments on the cards we make. And I was really surprised at the number of us who dislike our handwriting enough that we will never write a sentiment on our cards. Most of us will write on the inside - but very few of us ever do on the outside. And it seems to be because we dislike our handwriting.

I don't mind mine. I don't particularly love it. But I don't dislike it enough that I will never hand write on anything I make. I have enough confidence in it to write my own titles for pages on the web site and here on the blog. And there are sentiments in the Boutique that I have written too : )

So I will, sometimes, hand write a sentiment on the outside of my cards. But I save it for very special cards, for very special occasions. And for very special people : )

And I do it, mainly, because my handwriting to me, isn't about how I feel about it. It's about how other people feel about it - the friends and family I have made a card for.

I know as card makers we already put an awful lot of love and an awful lot of ourselves into every card we make and give. And I think we always appreciate the love in every hand crafted card we receive. But have you ever received a card that included a handwritten sentiment on it too? Did it makes a difference? Didn’t you love it? It’s even more special isn't it? It makes for a very personal card.

And I think that by not doing it, avoiding doing it or never even trying it, we miss out on an opportunity to add an entirely different dimension to our cards.

So .... I bought a copy of 'Love Your Handwriting' by Heidi Swapp. It's a book that's been in print for several years now. And is, in my opinion, a classic on the subject in the papercrafting industry. It's a great book a handwriting workbook. I've never seen a bad review of it. And I'm going to give it waay : )

So if you'd like to love your handwriting a little bit more, and be a little more adventurous with it on your cards, you could win your own, very special copy of Heidi's workbook, just by answering the following question & leaving your answer in comments below.


I'll choose the winner randomly, and announce who the lucky winner is here on the blog, next week, on Friday 4th May. Just one comment per person please!


Have fun with it!

Remember Me Too?

A few more of the pretty cards that were first published in the Pink Petticoat Edition of Creative Cardmaking magazine last year. And also much too lovely not to be seen again : )

By Katie Berberich ...





... and Leann New.









More gorgeousness.

• Patterned Papers and Bunny Images with Sentiments: 'Spring Wishes' and 'Daisy Bouquet' from the Colour Collection
• Cupcake Image: 'Cupcakes' Image Stamps
• Flower Image: 'In My Garden' Image Stamps
• Happy Anniversary Sentiment: 'Tiny {Sweetheart} Sentiments'
• ProMarkers for colouring Image, Buttons and Button Twine, White Organza Ribbon