A friendly garden

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Are you ready for a little clean and simple inspiration? Well it's time for another Addicted to CAS challenge and Toni has come up with this word prompt: 

 

 

I've made a spring note card to send to a friend.

 

The stamps I used are the Greetery's Springtime stamp set which are designed to work with some hourglass shaped dies. I found they also worked really well with some stitched circle dies from Waffleflower! I stamped the ground repeatedly, then added the flowers in springtime oranges and yellows, cut the scene out with the die and sponged blue ink round the sky area.

 

I stamped a tiny butterfly from an old Stampin' Up set to add a bit of movement to the scene and a little kitten (an ancient wood mount stamp) to watch it flutter about. To finish, I stamped a Uniko sentiment in grey beneath the circle.

Okay, so now it's your turn to think about gardens - but no need to leave the craft room ;) Hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of white space will you... we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Try it on Tuesday where the theme is Hello Spring; also Stamping Sensations where the theme for April is Anything Stamped with the Option of CAS; At We Love Stamping the theme is Anything Stamped with optional (real) animals or birds; Ellie's theme at Allsorts over the Easter holiday is In the Spring Garden so I'm joining in there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've been looking after the lovely Lady Dora this week, an aristocratic black cat, who always looks as if she's wearing a crinoline and a white lace bodice when seated.

 

There's another black cat in the area - an attractive but vulgar chap who lounges around in a rumpled suit of fur and has all the appearance of having been out on the tiles all night. He has designs on Lady Dora's virtue and sometimes tries to gain entrance into Her Ladyship's residence for a free meal so I have to protect her from his wily ways. Sometimes I suspect her of making secret assignations with him... It's all drama around here I can tell you!

Sending hugs,

Hopping into easter

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Spring colours are really inspiring me right now even though the weather has Taken A Turn! In response, I put on a large pink jumper and carried on making Easter cards ;)

 

I broke open a new Easter die from The Greetery and fell in love with it! I had stamped, coloured and fussy cut a little rabbit from English Garden by The Craft Consortium and realised that the E of Easter could curl around his little body!

I started by stamping the grass image from Enjoy Life by Stampin' Up (retired) directly onto a card base. There's a little clump of flowers in the set which I inked up with SU water-based markers and added to the grass. Under the grass, I stamped the word Happy , then beneath that, I added a strip of yellow zig zag washi tape. Finally, I carefully glued the word Easter and the bunny in the space left.

 

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This little rabbit was a top 3 pick at Perfectly CAS!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with AAA Cards where Tristan's challenge is Anything CAS with the option to use spring animals; I'm also joining in at Perfectly CAS where we are asked to use up to a third of a card front and the theme this time is Die Cuts; at The Alphabet Challenge Caz has come up with the theme for Z and it's zig zags, so I'm playing along there too; I'm hoping to enable some other crafters with my new Easter die so I'm off to Darnell's NBUS challenge where we share our Never Before Used Schtuff!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva and I were snowed on today on our morning walk. I had given Eva her lead to carryy and she got her head down and made for home like a sensible girl, turning every now and again to check that I wasn't slacking. She has become my Personal Trainer! I'm sure I must have worked off all that chocolate by now. Might have to get some more to keep my strength up...

Sending hugs,

My faithful valentine

Hello crafting friends!

I know I said there would be no more valentines here but then I suddenly realised I'd missed out someone VERY important! Come and see:

She is an absolute sweetheart who has stolen my heart, and she is the most beautiful (floofy) girl in the world!

The golden retriever stamp is by Dimension Stamps who are sadly not trading any more. I stamped the dog with light brown ink, adding pale yellow watercolour and white craft ink for the coat and black detail around the eyes, muzzle and nose.

The grass is from Stampin' Up's Enjoy Life - I knew that would come in handy! I've given my dog a tuggy toy heart to retrieve, made with a punched heart with some twine threaded through it, which I also threaded through the dog's mouth and knotted the other side. The dog has been trimmed to the edge of the card.

To finish the card, I stamped a couple of sweet sentiments from Clearly Besotted's Fresh Flowers. Of course this card isn't really for my Eva - she'd only eat it! - but it would make a great valentine for anyone, male or female, who loves dogs, or even a valentine FROM the family dog!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
So pleased to be Honourably Mentioned at CASology with this card!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up with:
CASology, where the cue card is Sweetheart; The Male Room where they're looking for masculine 'Heart You' cards; The Allsorts Challenge, where they'd like us to add 'At Least One Heart' to our creations; CAS on Friday, where the theme is Love; and AAA cards, where we are required to use up to one third of the card front, and with an optional twist of Hearts.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
The inspiration for today's card was a conversation I had with a lady yesterday. She has a beautiful golden retriever and told me her husband had given him to her. The pup had a ring and a tag tied to his collar with ribbon and the tag said 'Will you marry me?' How romantic is that?! Now, I want to be quite clear, I don't approve of people using puppies as a means of proposing but this couple had been together for a long time and had already talked about getting a dog together. Also, it's a good thing my husband didn't propose like this as I would have burst!!!

Did you have an unusual proposal or do you know someone that has? I'd love to hear about it!

Hugs,

The one layer YAY!!!

Hello crafting friends!

If you have the winter blues today, I've got the very card to cheer you up! Come and see:

This is very CAS and the simplest card ever if you have a stamping platform - and I do thanks to dear old Santa :) To make it, I used the image from Stampin' Up's Enjoy Life that I like to call 'Lady leaping about like a loon!'

To start, I positioned a nice thick card base in the corner of my stamping platform, positioned the lady off the bottom right-hand edge, inked her up with violet ink and stamped. Cleaned off the stamp, moved the card base to the right by 0.75 cm, inked up with purple ink and stamped. Cleaned off the stamp, moved the card base to the right by 0.75 cm, inked up with blue ink... etc. I'm sure you get the picture!

Do you like the sentiment? I love the nice bold font and the curviness of it. It's from an older retired set called Celebrate Today by Stampin' Up. I finished my card with stars cut out of coloured card stock with my useful Twinkle punch.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired to make my card by Perfectly CAS, where this month's challenge is the oft-dreaded One Layer Card; Less is More, where the challenge for the fortnight is also a one layer card and they want the design to be Off Centre; also CASology where the cue card is Repeat; and last, but definitely not least, Just Add Ink, where they are celebrating 10 years of fabulous challenges with a great blog hop!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Yesterday, I greeted my eldest son when he came in from work. "How was your day?" I asked. "It was good," he said hanging up his coat. "But I'm so tired. I feel as if I've been awake all day!" Since my son works in an optician, I sincerely hope he WAS awake all day!!! I suggested an early night and he looked at me as if I had suggested he took up origami.

Thank you for popping in to visit me today.

Hugs,

All you need is love

Hello crafting pals!

I read somewhere the other day that it's only relatively recently in human history that we've lived in the northern hemisphere. And, looking out at the leaden skies and cleaning the endless mud off my boots, I can certainly understand why! It's also clear to me why Valentine's Day turns up in grim February when we're all completely fed up, and I've decided to celebrate love a bit early! Come and see what I made:

I started this card by colouring through a brick stencil from Funky Fossil with pale alcohol markers. The berry bush from Enjoy Life by Stampin' Up was stamped over the bricks. I inked it up with Crumb Cake ink first, then went over the berries with a red marker before stamping.

After stamping, those berries all had to be turned into hearts with the red marker - which was quite the labour of love let me tell you! I do like the result though :)

The checked strip was an off-cut of white card that I stamped with a very useful background stamp by Kaisercraft called Gingham. I added a sentiment from MFT's Floral Focus, stamped on another snippet and cut out with sharp paper snips.

CHALLENGES
On my rounds in Blogland, I spotted a new-to-me challenge site called Time Out Challenges (thanks Stephanie, and sorry it's taken me so long to join the party!) My card was inspired by the fabulous inspiration photo so I shall link up there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I have to dash now as I have an appointment with my youngest son to watch Star Wars! We've watched all the films through the holidays and just need to catch up on episode 8 before seeing the last one tomorrow - so no spoilers please!

Thanks for popping in today. I shall be back very soon as all the challenges have been popping up in my inbox and I feel very inspired!

Hugs,

Thank you berry much

Hello crafting friends!

It's great fun making Christmas cards but sometimes it's nice to take a break from the glitz and glitter and create something else - like a thank you card that'll come in handy after Christmas for example! Come and see what I've made:

I've moved away from festive motifs but have opted for a wintery feel. The background was made by smooshing a few drops of yellow, pink and blue inks with a drop or two of water on a shiny surface, then dragging a panel of card stock through it.

Once the card stock was dry, I inked up the berries image in Stampin' Up's Enjoy Life stamp set with Crumb Cake ink and used a red marker to go over the berries before stamping three times along the bottom of my panel.

The sentiment is in a nice bold font and is from a retired Stampin' Up set called Letterpress Winter. I stamped some birds from Take Flight 2 by Inkylicious to add a bit of upward movement, and finished the card by scoring a frame round the edge of the panel before mounting it onto my card base.

CHALLENGES
I was inspired to make this card when I saw the challenge at Allsorts Challenge this week - Thank You or New Year and I shall also link up with Addicted to Stamps and More where it's Clean and Simple week.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It took very little time to make today's card but it took a LONG time hunting for the bird stamp when I cleared up! I wandered about with a torch and a magnifying glass, looking like some kind of comedy investigator, but I did eventually find it, right on the edge of the sink where I'd been cleaning the stamps. Thank goodness! Sometimes the smallest stamps are the most treasured aren't they?

Have you ever lost a clear stamp and then amazingly found it? Do tell me your miracle stories :)

Hugs,