Sunshine (and an apple) . . .

. . . glorious sunshine. Hasn't the weather been fabulous? Such a shame I was working for the bulk of it but have made up for it today. So the only card I've made was this one which I knocked up last night after work (I like to craft late at night, thank goodness for daylight bulbs - be lost without mine). Finally inked up one of my Miss Anyas 'rain, snow,shine' set (had to be the shine one obviously) and even she wanted a little bit of sunshine and was photographed outside!
I've used a few challenges; the sketch over on Friday sketchers, colours lemon, pink sorbet and choc for colour create, pearls for ABC challenge and lace for spoonful sugar. I'm sure there was a challenge for flowers too but I can't remember where I saw that, so will leave it!


Stash:

• Images: Miss anya from 'snow,rain, shine' set, Greeting Farm. 'sunshine' is an imaginisce snag'em stamp
• Colouring: Miss Anya stamped with black memento ink and coloured with Copics. Added stardust pens to rims of her glasses and glaze pen over the glass. Edges of the image was inked with yellow chalk ink whilst the nestie die was still on so you get the white border when you take it off - wanted it to look like she was basking in sunshine.
• DP: K & Co wild raspberry. The butterfly was part of the dp hidden behind her which I thought was a shame so I cut it out and made a little 3d embellie from it (just curved it, inked edges, added metal antenae and pearls before popping it on with 3d foam)
• Others: lace, flowers, pearls, gems, MS border punch and faux stitching

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Whilst outside enjoying the sun I've made my first little Amigurumi stuffed toy. It's either Rosie or Adam (. . Apple, haha, get it?!) can't decide if it's a boy or girl yet . . .

It's only my 2nd attempt at the old crochet so is very simple but I think it turned out cute (he/she's only about 2.5 inches tall). I got the pattern from here (free, just need to register) and I adapted it by making my own stalk and added eyes and a mouth! Hubby reckons I should have put the eyes higher up but I thought it looked cute where it was, what do you think?

Have a good evening.

Stamp with Fun & WoJ

Weather's been absolutely gorgeous but did manage to make this last night. The layout is from Nikki's sketch over on 'Stamp with Fun' and the colour combo of blue & brown over on WoJ (o.k with a bit of green as well but it's a blue-green!). Love this Oakley, don't you think his hat is so cute and the sign is blank so you can put whatever message you want in it. Mine is from a Greeting Farm set. As for the WoJ ice cream - yum! I've used it to stamp all over the blue cardstock with a dazzle versamark pad, think you can just about see bits of it and then cut out and coloured 3 to use as my emebellishments rather than flowers (masked and stamped 2 together to go in the top corner and then a single one bottom right).

Stash:

• Images: 'Oakley with wooden sign' WoJ stamp (he comes with sentiment 'my sweet friend' but not used it on this card). 'Your day' from Greeting farm set and 'sending you hugs' from PM clear sentiment set
• Colouring: Copics plus stickles over the ice creams
• Paper: gorgeous glittery stripe paper from MME 'laundry line' stack I've only just plucked up courage to cut into (why is that, even though it's a 180pg pad so heaps of the stuff that I'll probably never finish I feel like I need to savour it LOL)
• Others: 'Labels four' nesties, rafia ribbon, spotty ribbon, SU word window punch and 4 mini brads

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It's another lovely day today but it also looks like the dreaded hayfever season has started for me - itchy and sniffling as I type waiting for the tablet to kick in. Luckily I only seem to have allergy to certain types and seems to be whatever it is that pollinates early on in the season (trees I think) so just wish they hurry up and get it over with :/. Right, off to do a bit more crochet (think you may be seeing some more cute crochet things on my blog soon now that I've discovered a whole new cute world of Amigurumi patterns - Japanese craze of making little stuffed crochet toys and things - totally useless but very cute and I think can become very addictive as it's nice and simple and quick).

Enjoy the sunshine whereever you are!

CCT: bit of bling - 'Yay!'

CCT this week wants to see some bling. Unfortunately, that's one thing that just doesn't come across in photos so you'll have to take my word for it that my card is super sparkly and blingy in real life (not to mention very 3D). I've blinged up the balloons, dusted pearl ex around image, have used pink blingy cardstock and to top it all, 3 square gems for good measure!

Stash:

• Images: cute girl and both sentiments (love the sentiments in this set, aren't they great?! ) from Greeting Farm set 'Susie Surprise' in stock over at Silly Monkeys
• Colouring: Copics. Balloons have been covered with glossy accents then I've sprinkled glamour dust over the yellow one and twinklets (fine ground glass) over the other 2 plus in her hair clips
• Paper: old Making Memories I found amongst my hoard
• Others: Various border punches, 'labels three' nesties, ribbon and gems

Here's a side shot of Susie to show you how 3D she is -I stamped her out 4 times and decoupaged her.

Hubby's got today off rather than his normal Monday so probably won't get as much done as I'd like but we'll see (want to ink up some more Anyas and WoJ, try a bit more crochet plus my craft room is starting to look messy again - just not enough time in the day is there?!)

T & F ATC : 'love is. .sharing'

T&F this week wants to see more than 1 character on your ATCs (could be from the 1 stamp or different ones). So I used 2 stamps (from 'in the bath' Ollyfant clear set by Kars) and just about squeezed them on together as they are quite big and stamped one over the other with a bit of masking. Then trimmed the image down to ATC size, before colouring with my Copics, stickles on the bubbles and added a little title with ATB tapewriter. Nice and simple but I just think these 2 are so cute it doesn't need anything else, not to mention there was no more room! They were super fun to colour in too - especially those rounded tummies and cheeks (not just the face ones either LOL)

Also, if you like making ATCs and would like to be a guest DT for the month of June hop on over to T & F and leave a comment for Caz.

Well, the rain has well and truely come back today think I did my washing in time yesterday. Perfect weather to stay in and craft before work tonight. May try a bit more crochet too if I have time (thanks for the comments on my cupcake ;) below!)

Have a good day.

fancy a cupcake?

O.K, I know it's not a card but I did make it and it is 'crafty'! As promised, here is my first crochet attempt (besides flowers) at making a . . .

. . . cupcake! (Brought a mag over the weekend and this pattern just called out to me)

what do you think (besides it being a mutant cupcake - it turned out larger than expected LOL)?! The yarn isn't the best (just what I had) and I know my tension is non existent but at least I managed to follow the pattern (sort of!) and finish it! Now it's no where near as good as what my big sis can do but it's a start and I think I may be hooked (pardon the pun!) Just need to get some nicer cottons and practice. Think a couple of them in different colours/flavours will look cute together :D

That's all for now, will have my ATC up later.

WoJ SOA challenge & PTW

As mentioned in an earlier post WoJ is sponsoring the Stampin Out Alzheimer's event. (you will need to make a small donation before you can access the site) Different companies are running various challenges with lots of fab prizes on offer.

WoJ's is to make a post it note holder and one lucky winner will win the complete summer kit stamps. For Jacqui's tutorial on her post it note holder and to take part you need to go here

I didn't have any square post its to hand (just some shaped ones) but remember seeing some cute mini post it note holders last year using book rings and it's been on my list of things to try so thought this was perfect time to make one. Mine's even easier as I've just made a cover to go over my heart shaped post it notes.

I've just traced and cut out shape onto piece of scrap dp (this was thick like card but if you have paper just stick it onto card first)to make my cover then put them all together to cut a hole through it all with my cropodile. Then you just decorate your little cover before adding your book ring to finish.

Just had a look over on PTW and see that it's 'using up scraps' this week so I can put this in (and Steph has made a fab little post it holder too - spooky!)

Stash:

• Images: 'sitting summer Willow' WoJ stamp (was summer stamp kit, now available individually)
• Colouring: Copics
• Others: heart shaped post it notes, scrap card/dp for the cover, metal book ring and cropodile to make the hole. Embellishments to finish (I've used heart eyelet to reinforce hole in cover, flourish punch, flowers & brads, metal charm and ribbons)

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Been good day today - not only did my Greeting Farm stamps land on my door today but I also found out I won the Scrapmagasinet challenge so just need to go spend my voucher now :)

I've also been trying a bit of crochet for fun over the weekend and will show you my first attempt at something other than flowers (which is all I've done up to now) later, once I've taken a photo of it.

Until then, have a good evening.

Sketch Sat, on time!

Seeing as I missed the boat for last week's sketch (see post below this one) thought I'd get in early for this week's Sketch Sat! Although, even this one has been sitting on my desk all weekend as the weather's been too nice (for a change!) to stay inside and I've only just finished it now.
This is another cutie from the Wild sprout range over at the Greeting farm (am hoping my order with the 2nd Miss Anya set will arrive tomorrow - should have been here Fri/sat but Postie is not behaving and is making me wait!). Not that happy with the kitty's colour and I added the 'make a wish' sentiment in the corner, right at the end as it looked a bit bare but I went and over squished it (why I prefer rubber to clear polymer stamps) so it's a bit blurry. However I'm not going to chuck it as at least with all it's imperfections you know it's a handcrafted card!

Hope you've been enjoying the sunshine whilst it lasts as it looks like the rain is coming back again!

Stash:

• Images: 'Reeta' wild sprout stamp from The Greeting Farm. Circle 'happy birthday' seal stamp I think is a cats life press stamp and the 'make a wish' is from a PM clear set
• Colouring: Copics
• DP: 'Pina paper pack' digital papers by Andrea Victoria from here which have very similar designs to the pack she's done for MME
• Others: circle nesties, various border punches, pom-pom trim, prima flowers and flower brads

something girly for the weekend

I seem to be a day behind as this is the 2nd card I've made now that's missed the challenge by a day! Oh well, it gave me a fab layout to work with and I like the end result which is what is important. Fancied some softer colours after yesterday's bright one.
So this was using last week's Sketch Sat's layout which I love and another cutie from WoJ summer kit, which by the way will be available to buy individually online tomorrow (Sun 24th) here or probably later on tonight if you're up late enough in the UK. The grassy knoll she's sitting on is also WoJ from an earlier release. Love how you can mix n match them. I used some of the cute extras from the kit (the strawberries) to add to the inside too. Usually don't bother but I wanted to use up the scraps and it was a nice easy layout to continue on the inside too.

Also used some flowersoft for the first time (had it a while too!) on some of the flowers in the background as they looked like they should be fluffy to me (like the result but boy does that stuff expand and get everywhere!) and the strawberries have been given coat of glazed pen.


Stash:

• Stamps: Willow kneeling, the grassy background, strawberries and sentiments all from Whiff of Joy
• Colouring: Willow and grass stamped using masking technique with Memento ink and coloured with Copics plus various Sakura pens for glitter and glaze
• Papers: Papermania 'Regency' paper pack
• Others: Circle nesties, fiskars apron lace border punch, EK parisian slim edger punch, prima flowers, pearl brads and paper roses

Have a good weekend everyone and for those in the UK, enjoy the slightly longer Bank Holiday weekend!

WoJ & a few challenges: 'sweet hello'

Hiya, just a quick post today.

I made this card using Claudia's sketch over on Fri sketchers even though I'm too late now!However I have also used the colours over on Copics colour challenge and I think it's a fairly balanced card so will enter it for this week's ABC challenge too. Be warned, it's another bright one!

The paper (DCWV Citrus stack) just fitted the Copic colours perfectly and I just had to use this WoJ stamp (from the summer kit) as she reminds me of a spanish senorita and it all came together really quickly. The pom pom trim was just the perfect colour match and fitted the fun feel I wanted for the card.

I see Blogger's playing up again as I'm having problems seeing/viewing some blogs. Hope you're having better luck and it sorts itself out soon. Will be posting a card tomorrow too so hopefully see you then.

CCT/Scrapmagasineet/Spoonful: 'knock out day'

Morning! CCT this week wants a sporting theme and at first I was a bit stumped. Then realised I did have some just not what first crosses my mind when you say 'sports' (like fishing, skating, karate, dance etc) but didn't fancy using those or else my DT teamies had already used it. Then, after reading Nikki's post about taking part in the Scrapmagasinet challenge realised I had this fab little boxer Rakle stamp (stamps are from Norway and I've had them for over a year so must use them more!) and hey presto, I've killed 3 birds with 1 stone.

So here is my CCT sporting theme card, using a Rakle stamp and sketch for the Scrapmagasinet challenge and as it's a birthday card I can enter it for this week's Spoonful challenge - Happy 1st Birthday (realised I won their first candy on that, wonder if I can do it again for their second year?!)

Stash:

• Image: 'Rakle Bokser' Scrapmagasinet stamp (store in my sidebar).
• Colouring: Copics with a bit of Sakura stardust pen on her top and hairbands. Glossy accents to give her shiny boxing gloves
• DP: DCWV 'green stack'
• Others: 'Peony' Nesties (thought they looked like a 'POW' shape IYKWIM to go with the boxing theme?), Sizzlet happy birthday die and sparkle die, ATB tapewriter and white gel pen doodles around edges.

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I'm off to see what's over at The Greeting Farm's monthly Farmer's market and what the lovely new Elzybells release are like, then off to do some more DT cards for WoJ and hopefully catch up with some blogs later. Oh, also need to find somewhere we (me & hubby) can go to for a 3night mini break next month (only time away/holiday we'll get - downside to being self employed). Nothing too far or expensive. Was thinking Paris (we've already done Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice & Brussels). Or else somewhere in UK or Ireland. Any suggestions? Have a lovely Thursday.

T&F ATC: create your own background

It's Wed which means ATC day. This week we would like you to create your own backgrounds. I didn't have much time but as it's such a small area it didn't take me long! Here's my finished ATC:

I just used some various flower stamps and distress inks to create my background. Then thought Geisha Anya looked pretty against it so just coloured her in with Copics to match with a little bit of Sakura clear stardust pen for added shimmer. Added scrap piece of pink cardstock to frame it all and 2 black pearls to finish.

Anya kinda hides most of the background anyway but here it is before I stuck it all together.

The flowers are from a Making Memories clear stamp set that caught my eye when I was in Hobbycraft the other month then I just sponged more distress ink all over by masking sections with a bit of torn paper.

I'm really happy how it turned out considering I made this just before I went to bed last night and only took 30mins max! So hope you can join in as it doesn't have to take long :)

Have a lovely day, see you tomorrow for CCT (which I am struggling with, can't believe I don't have something suitable for the theme - will have to have a little think or else fudge it slightly!)

Trio of Toodles

Time for a change. Something fresh, clean and bright for tonight using stamps from Toodles & Binks.I think these characters are just such fun so no fancy embellishments or too many layers. Even the colouring was nice and simple :) I find it's nice to mix it up a bit otherwise I get bored making the same style of cards and you'd get bored looking at them!


First up is 'Sid Silvertrail' (I just love the names!) and as always, it comes with a matching sentiment:

Next is 'Puddleduck Pothington':
Last but not least. it's 'Clive Cockran' (clive & the steps are decoupaged)

All stamps are available from Stamps Galaxy and don't forget you can enter for some Toodles candy here. Other supplies used: Bright pearlescent card blanks, scraps from DCWV 'citrus stack', various nesties dies, EK border punches

Best go make my ATC for tomorrow, yikes running late as usual. Have a good evening.

WoJ: 'my sweet friend' & SOA

Happy Monday! Here's another WoJ card for today. I've made it for the WoJ challenge which is 'friendship' but have just had a look at Stamp with Fun's new challenge today and see I can enter it for that too (shabby/vintage) :)

I've gone from yesterday's bright/modern card to a very muted/vintagey one today with another cutie from WOJ summer kit as she just screamed vintage to me (think it's the bloomers and the boots that does it).

Again, my photo skills are useless and I can't pick up the shimmer in her dress or the dimension to the card as she is on foam pads and the flowers have been shaped - may see it better if you click on photos.
Stash:

• Images: Willow and the sentiment is from the Summer stamp kit. You can't buy the kit now but the stamps will be available individually from WoJ 24th May. The swirls are also WoJ stamps from an earlier release
• Colouring: Copics and twinkling H20s plus bit of stickles in the flowers. Lots of distress ink sponging around the edges of dp and flowers in 'antique linen' and 'brushed corduroy'
• DP: DCWV 'La creme' stack - love the flocked papers in this (the black flower one in this card), so strokable! plus tan piece of DCWV cardstock
• Others: Flowers made with EK retro flower punch. EK success flourish punch, MS branch punch, velvet brads and lace ribbon

That's all for today folks but please read below info about a worthwhile event that WoJ will be sponsoring.

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Whiff of Joy will be sponsoring the charitable event called SOA* (see details below). Our event coordinator Jacqui will host a challenge with the chance to win a great prize. Please visit Papercraft planet for further information.

*Stampin Out Alzheimer’s

Susanna Boyd (the founder of Papercraft Planet ) and Jen Tapler
are hosting a charitable event to raise money for the Alzheimer’s association to help with their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease

This charitable event called SOA (stampin out Alzheimer)is going to take place from
May25th-June 1st

SOA is an exciting “pay to play” virtual papercrafting event to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.

Here is what Jen says about SOA:
“Susanna and I, along with a group of generous sponsors and challenge hostesses, have teamed up to create a temporary online community where members can take part in a variety of challenges, contests, classes and workshops, and download several free products (a special digital kit, a printable 3-d template, tutorials, etc) in different papercrafting categories (stamping, cardmaking, paperscrapbooking, digi scrapping, hybrid, etc). All this for a suggested donation of $5. 100% of these funds will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association to help with their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease.”
please pop along to papercraft planet and listen to Susanna’s video..
or drop by Jen’s blog here to read all about