Thank you so much handmade card featuring Gorgeous Grunge and Thankful Thoughts stamp sets by Stampin' Up!

I made this card for a lady in my team at work who did something so lovely for me. One day I went back to my desk after a meeting and on my desk was a Slimming World magazine and a pack of their yummy cereal bars. She knew I was thinking of rejoining as I needed to not only lose weight for all of the normal reasons but also to help with a knee injury I've had since May. Her little nudge was just what I needed and I rejoined the next day. I've lost 1/2 stone so far and my knee is slowly improving with regular exercise and physio therapy. Any weight loss will also help so her helping me start to think about what I eat again was just the kindest gesture someone has made in a long time. Of course I wanted to say thank you and so I made this card for her. Thank you Jane!

I created my background using the classic old favourite stamp set Gorgeous Grunge. I stamped using Blushing Bride, Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Mint Macaron and Island Indigo. I love how handmade this looks yet its all stamping - the large ink blots are my favourite!

I created a layer of Perfect Plum cardstock and using Stampin' Dimensionals I added it to the front of my card at slight angle.

I then stamped my sentiment on Whisper White cardstock using Elegant Eggplant ink and again set it at a slight angle.

I've chosen the sentiment Thank you so much as I really like the phrase and also the size of this stamp as it can be the main feature of the card. The sentiment is from the Thankful Thoughts stamp set, as you can see you are spolit for choice with so many stamps. 

In the next few weeks I will start making some Christmas cards. I've had all the stamps and papers for a little while but as the weather was still warm I quite simply have not been thinking at all about Christmas yet. October is only a few days away so its time to get started, plan my swaps for an upcoming Stampin' Up! event and come up with some ideas for making large quantities of Christmas cards for my friends and family. 

Trick or treat? Halloween card using the Spooky Fun stamp set and Halloween Scenes Framelit Dies by Stampin' Up!

I just could not resist another Halloween card, these are just too fun to make. This card is dead easy and took minutes to make - and I even did a bit of colouring! I think its super cute and it would be great idea to get the children involved to make these, they would have so much fun stamping with these creepy crawlies and ghosts!

There are so many stamps in the Spooky Fun stamp set that I still haven't used, so expect to see a few more Halloween cards from me between now and 31st October.

These are the matching dies. As you can see, you can stamp some of the images from the Spooky Fun stamp set and then using the coordinating die you can die cut it perfectly. Matching dies makes crafting so easy plus if you are a striving for perfectionism like me, I would never be happy with any fussy cutting. I just can't do it and I'm certainly not patient enough.

For the background I used the brick wall from the Ghoulish Grunge stamp set. I love these background stamps and I will be sad to see these go when the Autumn Winter catalogue finishes in January (there is a small chance it might not get "retired" but don't take a gamble, get it while its still around). 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my Halloween projects, its so fun to make these! Have a look at my Halloween Pinterest board for more ideas and inspiration by clicking here.