Birthday bits and bobs

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I got right back in to the crafting saddle today, and had a nice canter round the Craft Square Metre! Hmm. It needs a bit of clearing out if I'm honest, but I'm much more interested in crafting than a clear out (anyone else?!) so I had a look in my snippets box and pretended that using up 3 items was a full-on Marie Kondo!!

Here are the snippets I found - all had been cut but not used. I made myself a nice cup of coffee and had a little think about them:

 

And here is the result of that thought process:

 

The die cut is supposed to be a musical stave from The Greetery's Noted die set, but I like the little bit of movement and texture it gives behind the arch aperture. The floral sprig is from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks stamp set and has been hanging around in my snippets box for two years! It seems to have held up quite well but I added a little bit more colour to it and snipped away any untidiness on the edges.

 

I decided to stencil a hopeful sunburst on the card base using an arch stencil as a mask and my well-used Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted. The sentiment is from Altenew's Birthday Greetings set, coloured to match the leaves on the sprig with a coloured pencil.

 

I glued the elements together on my stenciled and stamped card base, popping up the arch on dimensional pads and pulled the colours together with some pink enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

I'm rather late but, since I was already in the saddle, I galloped through the Snippets Playground gates just as they were closing on their Anything BUT Christmas challenge!!  I'm also celebrating Double D's Birthday where they theme is Anything Birthday Related - Happy 7th birthday ladies and congratulations!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

January is doing its usual grey and murky thing but with extra rain this year. The river has burst its banks but I can tell you that the Golden Girls don't mind at all!

 

We cross a little footbridge to get to the river walk and when they realised that the footpath was now a paddling pool they both looked at me with the fondness and appreciation usually reserved for chicken in my pocket. I honestly think they believe that I laid it all on for their enjoyment!

Sending hugs,

Fastest card in the West

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches! It's the sketch's turn this week and this month's host Jenny has designed an interesting sketch with three elements:

I had been looking through my designer paper drawer this weekend and thought I'd harness the power of a bold pattern!

The paper I used on this card was a freebie in a Stampin' Up promotion earlier in the year and I love its bright flowers against the black background. I simply cut the elements to size and mounted them onto black card to blend in with the background of the paper.

I don't have a hello die with a 'shadow' piece so resorted to stamping one, from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks, and fussy cutting it with sharp paper snips, which gives the same effect. I added shine with Crystal Effects for a bit of extra detail. Just in case you fancy replicating this card, the black piece of backing card measures 3 3/4" (9.5cm) high x 3 1/4" (8.5cm) wide. The top piece of dsp is 1 7/8" ( 4.7cm) high x 3" (7.7cm). The two bottom pieces are 1 3/8" (3cm) square. You're welcome!

So now it's over to you! Hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site and enjoy all the gorgeous samples my team mates have created. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can share your own creation with us there. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Time Out Challenges where there's a lovely quote to inspire us. I thought the black-based floral paper could work for either joy or sadness and the hello sentiment is about connecting with friends.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather has turned now. It has become cooler with a brisk breeze, and the sunshine is broken up with showers. 

Eva loves this kind of weather!

Sending hugs,

A rummage through the snippets box

Hello, crafting friends!

I don't know about you but it feels like ages since I looked at my craft stash. I decided to make cards to thank friends and relatives for their gifts but my mojo appeared to still be in festive mode and thought we should have some more of those nice chocolates and watch a film instead! It was tempting, but I told Mr Mojo that we'd do nothing of the kind, reached for my snippets box and tipped out the contents.

And there we are - instant inspiration! It's always such a good idea to have a play with all those things you stamped and coloured but then didn't use, or the things that were trimmed off things you did use, or the embellishments you die cut but then went with something different instead... Here's what I made today:

A collage of (from left to right) a piece of card snipped off a stitched die cut frame, a trimming from card stock that had been stamped with Gingham by Kaisercraft, a small strip of striped green paper and two skinny strips of Christmas paper by Stampin' up, and finally, a 'ric rac' that was the lucky result of some die cutting with Lawn Fawn's Wavy Borders.

After attaching everything to the card base, I added a popped up sentiment from Hello and Thanks by WPlus9 that I'd once stamped and fussy cut but never used. There were two die cut silver snowflakes in the box too and I used those embellished with clear gems.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

Thrilled to see that my snippety card won a diamond award at Color My Heart Color Dare!

CHALLENGES

This is my entry for the Grand Prize Draw at the Snippet Playground where Miss Di is doing a sterling job of brightening the end of this unpleasant year. I'm also going to link up my traditional Christmas colours with Color My Heart Color Dare 423.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've had a restful and happy Christmas with excellent food (although perhaps a little too much of it!) A certain young lady became rather excited at the present opening and offered to help everyone unwrap their gifts. Fortunately, before things got out of hand, she was given her own present. She spent some delightful moments savaging the wrapping before discovering a plush tree trunk with little squeaky animals inside. Pulling the little animals out of her tree stump kept her bus all through Singing In The Rain after lunch!

Sending hugs, 

I just miss you

Hello, crafting friends!

What sort of cards have you mostly made this year? I seem to have made a lot of notecards, Hello cards, Thinking of You cards and Miss You cards.

This card gave me the perfect excuse to use a new-to-me stamp set called Missing You by Inky Doodles that I couldn't resist because of the adorable pup.

I started by die-cutting some clouds in shades of grey using one of the Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud border dies. They were arranged ombré style and I added a sentiment from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks.

Next I stamped the pup, coloured him with alcohol markers and fussy cut him. I masked off the corner of a card base and sponged an area for my pup to sit and gaze up at the sentiment in the clouds. If this were my pup, he'd never be alone, not even ever!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with The Rainbow Card Challenge where they're looking for shades of Smokey Slate this month; also Watercooler Wednesday where it's Tristan's tuyrn to host All About Occasions; I felt this was an appropriate card for the males of the species so I'm playing along with the Clean and Simple challenge at Cards 4 Guyz; and since it was my first time inking up the Missing You schtamp schet, I'm joining in at NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff)!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I haven't been around lately as Eva has developed an ear infection which has caused a hematoma (swelling of the ear flap.) I'm devastated. She's always been a water baby so I've always made sure I've looked after her ears and this is the first time she's ever had an infection. I took her to the vet and found that vet we knew and trusted has left. The new vet was frankly appalling. He had no idea how to handle a nervy dog and was unable to outline any treatment options except drugs. Eva was absolutely traumatised by the whole experience and I was shocked. 

Neither of us slept the night after the visit but as you can see, Eva has now moved on and is smiling again. We really don't deserve dogs.

Sending hugs,

A cup of tea with bird friend

Hello, crafting friends!

Well, it seems that summer isn't over yet! The temperatures have soared here: Eva has needed to cool down with a swim on her walks again, I've been glad I didn't put my summery clothes away and I've been drawn to brighter colours in The Craft Square Metre! 

I had great fun with some of my favourite techniques on this card: masking, stamping, colouring with alcohol markers and stencilling!

The cups are from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks, and the masking enabled me to stamp them in a stack and give each one a different pattern with the florals in the same set. There are also a couple of cute birdies in the set so I perched one of them on the top cup. I grounded the cups with a ruler and fineliner, then coloured everything with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.

I usually like my cards to be pretty clean and simple but felt this background needed a little pizzazz. My new Fancy Trellis stencil from Funky Fossil was the answer with a little pale green ink sponged into it. The panel was trimmed with a stitched rectangle die from Heffyy Doodle, attached to a card base and finished with a sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks stamped in purple.

CHALLENGES

I've loved all of Inspired By's challenges lately but just haven't managed to join in, so I'm pleased I made the deadline for this fun inspiration pic! The colours are from Color My Heart Color Dare challenge 411. I chose the top row of the tic tac toe board (Eggplant, Saffron and Pixie) adding Goldrush, Sweet Leaf and a touch of gold. I'm also playing along at Allsorts where they're celebrating their 11th birthday (a little belatedly!) They're asking us to make a card using things we love (mine are the techniques listed in the post) - and there are prizes on offer so do check it out! Finally, I'm linking up at NBUS with my Never Before Used Schtencil!!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's a new game in town!

I gather it's about finding the plant pots that are neatly stacked in the potting corner and distributing them around the garden. When the wind blows them about, you pounce on them (pretending they are those pesky squirrels!) and show them who is Boss Of The Garden. After that a nice snoozle is in order :)

Sending hugs,

A bit dotty

Hello crafting friends!

Just a quickie today as I suddenly had an idea - and those have been few and far between just lately! Come and see:

This one layer thank you card was first stamped with a bold sentiment from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks. I used a stamping platform for this so that I could stamp it several times and make it good and black, then without removing it, ink it up with versamark before heat embossing with clear embossing powder.

The dotty background stamp is an NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) called Halftone by Uniko which I bought it with an order a while ago, thinking it would make a lovely background for florals. Well, there's not a flower to be seen today! I just inked it up with Stampin' Up's Pool Party ink and stamped it off the edge of my card base at an angle. The card was finished with some enamel dots.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
Delighted that this card was showcased at Less is More!

CHALLENGES
I've had dots on the brain this week as Less is More have a Going Dotty one layer card challenge, and Allsorts are celebrating pattern with a Gingham, Stripes and/or Dots challenge. I took my colours from this week's Color Throwdown challenge and I shall link up at Darnell's NBUS challenge too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We're gearing up for another lockdown birthday weekend here - woohoo! Sunshine has apparently been laid on and there'll be frolics out in the countryside followed by champagne in a rose-scented garden. Guests will be zooming in for dinner and we'll be having a Netflix party!

What do you have lined up for your weekend? Have fun and stay safe whatever you're up to.

Hugs,

A basket of flowers

Hello crafting friends!

Checking the card-making challenges is the perfect way to take my mind off all the things buzzing around it! Planning a card just seems to block everything else. Come and see what I've been up to:

This basket is from a set called Hen Pecked by Artistry Inc, which sadly closed its doors shortly after I bought it. It is usually a basket of eggs but I have enjoyed filling it with apples (here) and kittens (here). Today, I decided to fill it with flowers :)

I stamped the basket directly onto the card panel, and then again on an off cut of white card stock. Then, using alcohol markers, I coloured the handle on the card panel and the basket and cloth on the off cut. The off cut basket was fussy cut and laid aside while I stamped the flowers (from Hello and Thanks by WPlus9.) These were coloured and fussy cut in the same way.

Time to assemble the card! I glued two strips of striped designer paper to the bottom of the card panel, added the fussy cut basket on top, then arranged the flowers, popping one cluster up on dimensionals. The sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks was attached and the whole panel cut out with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodles.

CHALLENGES
Hopefully, I'm just about in time to link up with Inspired By, where the inspiration is this beautiful image: (Edited to add: I DID manage to make the card in time AND post it... but forgot to link it lol)

AND IN OTHER NEWS
There are definitely fewer people around now when I take Eva out for her long walk, so she has been able to scamper about off lead. I've noticed that she sometimes gets the zoomies when we're out, which she hasn't really done since she was a puppy. Covid 19 has stopped her from playing with her doggy pals and I'm pretty sure she misses crazy canine play. I've tried introducing more games of tug and fetch and hide and seek, but I get the impression that I'm not a very exciting playmate!

Of course, I don't think she's THAT unhappy, do you?!!

How is the virus affecting your life?

Hugs,

A good book in the garden

Hello crafting friends!

Although crafting is my favourite thing to do in my spare time, I do love reading too. Today I made a card that combines the two! Come and see:

This is a snippets card - everything apart from the card base is an off-cut, or was made for another project but didn't make the finished creation. The white panel was a practice run of one of the Tiny Cuts dies from Neat and Tangled, a dashed line, which I cut three times. I cut the panel out with a Stitched Rectangle die by Heffy Doodles and mounted it on a blue panel...

... which you can see through the dashes. And those dashes are perfect for threading a piece of twine through and tying into a bow. The little bird sitting on the book was snipped out of an old piece of Stampin' Up designer paper. I gave him a background of flowers from Hello and Thanks by WPlus9. It was already coloured and fussy cut but I coloured green over the leaves which had been grey.

I added a final layer of dotty green paper for extra frameage. This is probably the most layered card I've ever made! The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Sheltering Tree.

CHALLENGES
I'm playing along with The Time Out challenge today where we're being inspired by this quote: 'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need'. I shall also link up my snippety little number over at the Snippets Playground which has not, I'm glad to say, been cordoned off by the council! Happy Little Stampers is running their usual Anything Goes With Dies challenge this month so I shall also play along there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I've been enjoying being in the garden and sometimes reading - I'm still being much entertained by The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. Eva has been wondering what all the giggling is about...

... and I think she's thinking of giving it a go after me!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend. Do let me know what you've been up to!

Hugs,