Coming in the new 2017-2018 Annual Catalogue is the very lovely Delightful Daisy Suite. This suite includes the Daisy Delight stamp set with a beautiful big daisy image, which I've used for this gift box (stamped in Daffodil Delight ink onto Daffodil Delight card stock, and punched out with the coordinating Daisy Punch). Then there's the touch of Daffodil Delight in the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper, all finished with Daffodil Delight 1/4" Double Stitched Ribbon. The products in the Delightful Daisy Suite coordinate so perfectly, it's like poetry!

Sympathy cards and cards for those going through difficult times can be hard. If I need to make one such card, I will create a couple at the time - you never know when you will need them. My recommendation is to go with soft pastel or neutral colours and include something pretty like flowers or butterflies. A sentiment like "thinking of you" works well. With that combination, you can't go wrong.

At the May Creative Stamping Workshops, I showed everyone how to easily create a watercolour wash effect. We used the finished background wash of colour to create this gorgeous card featuring the very popular Beautiful You stamp set and the Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies...

At a recent Stampin' Up! national event, Pam Jorgenson (a very talented demonstrator from Australia) shared her concertina card design. I loved the wow-factor of the card fold and it is so perfect for grand gestures like milestone birthdays, anniversaries or weddings. I took Pam's concept, fiddled with the dimensions and re-created it using the Eastern Palace product suite...

The rings and circles in the Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies can be combined to create lovely mosaic patterns. These dies leave openings in the card, which you can layer colours behind for a stained-glass window effect. Finish with some stamping and you have a simple project that has a lot of wow-factor.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Eastern Beauty stamp set and Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies are perfect partners! Not only are there lots of symmetrical, mosaic-inspired stamps that work together (like the five-petal medallion and pretty heart-shaped scroll on this card) but the dies coordinate so well with the stamped images to fully or partially cut out the oriental designs.

Do you like versatility? That's a redundant question! We all love products that can be used in a variety of ways, that way we get more return on our investment and loads of inspirational ideas. Well... you will have seen on my Hello Card that the petalled-medallion from the Eastern Medallions Thinlits Dies is a partial die-cut. What that means is that the die-cut shape is anchored to the card but it has dimension and peek-through windows. But wait, there's more! If you snip along the anchor points, the medallion comes free and you can use it on it's own too!