The song of a robin

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The garden doesn't have much in the way of flowers at this time of year so it's lovely to see the birds fluttering about instead. Watching a bossy little robin on this frosty morning prompted me to pull out an old Clearly Besotted set called Red Robin and make a Christmas card.

 

I started the card by sponging blue ink through Funky Fossil's Burlap stencil, removing the stencil and layering more of the same ink over the top for a subtle look. On top of that, I stamped holly and fir branches from Uniko's Winter Foliage and a sentiment from the Red Robin set.

 

A die-cut music score was added using The Greetery's Noted die set. I stamped one of the little birds from Red Robin and coloured him with coloured pencils before fussy cutting him and popping him up on the music score with a dimensional pad. The card was finished with a cluster of enamel dots to represent holly berries.

CHALLENGES

LeAnne's challenge at The Paper Players this week is to make a card with music as the theme so I'm linking up there; I'm also playing along at We Love Stamping where the challenge is Anything Stamped with the option to add a stencil; and the ABC Christmas Challenge where C is for checks and/or D is for Die Cuts.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The dog walks have been wonderful for the last few days - crisp and frosty in the mornings, then glorious blue skies and golden sunshine by lunchtime and warm enough to go without a coat! That's me not the pups ;) We had Murph the spaniel to play this week and as one of his favourite things is to go rabbiting*, we went on the special Rabbit Walk. You can often find other interesting creatures in the hedges...

 

... don't know what this one is, lurking in the undergrowth, but I'd guess it's probably a Beige Beast!!

*Please rest assured that no bunnies are ever in danger of being harmed in the course of our walks!

Sending hugs,

Chilling in July

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There are lots of Christmas in July challenges going on this month and, as the temperatures soar here in the heart of England, I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a snowman to cool down! 

 

This card features Berry, my favourite snowman from Purple Onion, and was made from snippets except for the card base! I stamped Berry in black ink on an offcut of white card and cut him out, trimming off his bottom half. The carrot nose was stamped again and cut out to make it easier to fussy cut him. His nose, scarf and arms were coloured with alcohol markers.

 

 

I glued Berry to the back of a panel with a die cut aperture, allowing his head, twiggy arms and scarf to burst out of frame. He was backed with a cut-to-size scrap of blue card. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Red Robin.

 

The aperture had been die cut a bit too exuberantly and the stitching on the left of the frame had become just a slit. I hid this with snowflakes die cut from the rest of the blue card and balanced them with another snowflake under the sentiment (which you can see on the previous photo.)

 

Oops, spot the typo!

 That'll teach me to try to be all clever clogs in Photoshop!!

Here are the snippets I used: a blue die cut snowflake panel which had gone pear-shaped (used for the blue backing and the snowflakes), and the aperture panel which had damaged stitching. I'm happy to have saved them from the bin! I also used an extra white snippet for stamping Berry and Berry's nose! 

 

CHALLENGES

This is my snippetty homework for The Snippets Playground where there is a Christmas in July challenge; Jo at the Kickstart Christmas challenge wants to see cards featyuring Snowfolk so I'm joining in there too; Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge has chosen a Christmas in July theme, as has Allsorts so I'm also linking up there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm still resting my fluffy girl's leg and we still have Myurphy staying with us. He has been a total star, seeming to understand that Eva is not quite right, and apart from one incident where Eva forgot herself and tried to chase Murphy down the hallway, they have both been very calm. I came up with a fun game where I stand in the middle of a paddling pool with a floating squeaky ball and try to keep it away from them with my feet. They stand there and use their noses to try to get it, and this appears to be very enjoyable for them!

Neither dog is keen to get IN the paddling pool as they don't trust the bottom of it (!) but sometimes the squeaky ball is irresistible and one of them cautiously steps in. Look at Murph pretending to be a hunter :) He's a lap dog really although he does love a hedge!!

Sending hugs,

Carols under the sea

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I do like to make my offspring laugh and today's card was made to amuse my daughter.

 

It enabled me to combine a new-to-me Jane Davenport set called Singing Mermaids with Boughs and Branches from the Greetery - NOT at first glance a natural pairing! I started by masking off the edges of a thick card base and inking inside with pale blue ink. While the masks were still in place I sponged the same ink into Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil to give the illusion of sunshine filtering into the ocean. I wet my hands and clapped over the inky panel to create 'bubbles' and left it to dry.

Meanwhile, I stamped two of the fashionista mermaids and enjoyed colouring them with alcohol markers. They were fussy cut and set aside.

The card base had dried by this stage. With the masks still in place, I stamped some foliage and berries around the left and bottom of my inky panel. Finally, I peeled away the masks, leaving a nice white margin round the edges. The mermaids were glued in place in the ocean and musical notes stamped around their singing faces. The sentiment was stamped using a stamping platform and a Stampin' Up water-based marker.

CHALLENGES

I was so sad to see that it's the last challenge at The Rainbow Card Challenge. I have loved joining in there even though I often found the monotone themes really challenging! For the last challenge, the theme is Festive Rainbow. Thank you so much ladies for all your hard work and such amazing inspiration. I'm also joining in at The Kickstart Challenge where Jo has sent the Elves off shopping and is holding the fort with an If it's Christmassy, Link it Up theme; I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge with my ink and water background, Stamping Sensations where the team want us to Choose A Theme and Stamp it, and Allsorts where Ellie's theme is Wings and/or Tails.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

One Christmas, my daughter stuck a sign on her bedroom door that read:

 

Gold... frankincense...

But wait - there's myrrh!!

It made me laugh like a plastic bag every time I passed her room. I hope this card reminds her of that :)

Sending hugs,

Say it with a label

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches! I have really enjoyed hosting the challenges in October and for my last challenge of the month I've devised a sketch to inspire you:

The digital version of the sketch looks quite full-on but this really is a clean and simple idea I promise! I envisaged a curve of stamping or die-cutting, topped with a sentiment label, and with lots of that all-important clear space in the background. Here's my version:

I used one of my favourite botanical winter stamp sets, Winter Foliage by Uniko, stamping the fir branch once then turning it upside down, masking off one of the fronds and stamping again. I added stamped holly leaves to the arrangement. After this, I stamped another holly leaf, the fir cone and some clusters of berries on scraps of card stock and fussy cut them.

For my label, I used a small shaped die and stamped it with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Red Robin. I glued this to my fir branch and holly stamping and added the fussy cut elements and some clear gems to finish.

And now it's your turn! Do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site to check out the beautiful samples from the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple - and above all, have fun! 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with a new-to-me challenge The Sparkles Christmas Challenge, where the  theme this month is Flora and/or Fauna; also Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes; and Rudolph Day over at Scrappy Mo's where we make a Christmas card on the 25th of each month (you have until the end of the month to join in!)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The puppy fun and games are still going on here!

This photo was taken in a rare moment when they kept still for two minutes having discovered some interesting smell!

Sending hugs,

Naughty or nice?

Hello, crafting friends!

What wonderful escapism card making is! While making today's card, I imagined this little grey kitten got a bit over-excited in the run up to Christmas and couldn't resist stealing his human's ball of wool to play with!

The card started with Funk Fossil's Arched Window stencil. Arched Window? I hear you cry! There's nothing arched about this window! Well that's because I turned the arch on its side and masked off the arched bit. Cunning huh?! I sponged blue ink into the panes and added snow with my Uni Posca white paint pen.

The tree is from Christmas Characters by Funky Fossil, and that cute puss cat and the ball of yarn is from Clearly Besotted's Fluffy Furball. I stamped them all, coloured them with alcohol markers, fussyy cut them and arranged them on a rug cut out of textured red card stock with an oval die. The space between the rug and the window was the perfect place for the sentiment, which is from another Clearly Besotted set, Red Robin.

CHALLENGES

I shall link this card up with Festive Friday, where I've chosen Cats, Yarn and Clean and Simple from the inspiration list. I'm also playing along with Allsorts, where they theme is Cute Christmas, and Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's too early for snow to make an appearance here but the same cannot be said of rain! What Storm Alex lacked on the wind front, he certainly made up for with the wet stuff. After four days of pretty much permanent rain, the skies cleared yesterday morning and I took Eva to the park. She was delighted that someone had laid on some water features to entertain her and went absolutely loopy scampering in and out of them!

The photo on the left shows where the path would normally go. The river usually drops in a pretty little waterfall and flows gently along to the right of the path. There are benches where you can sit and admire the waterfall and you can just about see them submerged by the fence in the photo on the right. There are picnic tables to the left of the path, although no-one seemed to be using them today!! 

Hope you are keeping warm and dry! Sending hugs,

Snowing cats and dogs

Hello, crafting friends!

I don't believe my house would be a home without my adorable golden retriever Eva, and it appears Father Christmas feels the same - at least according to Raymond Briggs!

This Father Christmas stamp is from a set I found in a charity shop for just pennies! The set is an old one from Crafters Companion and uses the Raymond Briggs images. I couldn't resist that cute little doggo and the cat doing a great job as a neck warmer!

The image was stamped onto a card panel and coloured with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. Once that was done, I masked the image, sponged in a fade-out inky background and added snow with my white Uni Posca paint pen and the Snow Day stencil from Clearly Besotted. The panel was trimmed out with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

I chose a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Red Robin and used my stamping platform to stamp it neatly in the corner of the card panel. Except that I should have gone to Specsavers because it came out at a jaunty but not very attractive angle! So I stamped it again on a piece of scrap card, added faux stitching and trimmed the bottom into ribbon tails and stuck it over the top. Save!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

Delighted that this card was A Cut Above at The Paper Players :)

CHALLENGES

I couldn't miss out on LeAnne's CAS challenge at The Paper Players this week - the theme is Pets! I'm also linking up at Retro Rubber where Anything Goes with stamps older than a year - this stamp is from a set that came out in 2013 I believe. I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days where Christmas cards are the order of the day and Jingle Belles where Lauren and Stephanie want to see cards laden with snow!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva thoroughly enjoyed her birthday yesterday (well okay, she enjoys EVERY day!!) For those of you that may be curious as to how a golden princess celebrates her birthday, it goes like this:

She had an extra eggy with her breakfast; she had a surprise walk with a black lab who she loves and who we haven't seen since March; she got absolutely filthy and then she went for a swim in the river; she had a nice snoozle in the afternoon; later on, we went out to the fields and she chased squirrels and said hello to some friendly boys who were walking home from school; at home, she was given her tea followed by a large bone to entertain herself with in the garden; she helped me make dinner (this involves lying in the middle of the kitchen floor in case a scrap of yumminess comes her way and she normally gets politely requested to Go And Lie Down!); she hung out with us in the living room as usual before having a stroll at bedtime and a glorious night's sleep :) It sure is a dog's life!

Sending hugs,

Switching on the lights

Hello crafting pals!

Will Christmas happen this year? In the current uncertain world it's anyone's guess, but I will continue to make cards for a celebration at the end of the year because I certainly hope so. Come and see:

I really enjoyed making this card with this chubby little robin bird (as we call them in this house!) Isn't he adorable? He's from Red Robin by Clearly Besotted and I've stamped him, coloured him with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and fussy cut him.

I sponged in a background with Tumbled Glass distress ink and perched Mr Robin on a branch from Uniko's Winter Foliage. He is admiring the Christmas lights which are coloured rhinestones on a doodled wire! I sponged a little extra ink round the card panel before mounting it onto a card base.

I think this sentiment from the Red Robin set is going to be a favourite! I always go round singing the old Christmas songs around December time and like them as a card greeting.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
Congratulations to my little robin bird! He won an Honourable Mention from 52CCT!

CHALLENGES
I couldn't wait to join in with the fun challenge at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge this month - the theme is Christmas Lights; I'm also linking this card up with Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Day challenge - happy Rudolph Day everyone!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It's such beautiful weather here at the moment and under normal circumstances we might think about a picnic. At the moment though, these...

...are the only rolls we'll be having in the great outdoors!

Hope you are safe and well.

Hugs,

Summer holiday

Hello crafting friends!

In England, everyone starts thinking about the summer holidays in the new year. While we're throwing extra logs on the fire, huddling up in warm blankets and cooking warming casseroles, we are dreaming of blue skies and tropical islands. Like this:

I can feel the sand between my toes, the warmth of the sun on my skin, hear the rustle of a balmy breeze through the palm leaves and the soft sigh of gentle waves lapping on the shore...

Yes, well, welcome back to the Crafting Square Metre!

To make the background, I cut blue and flecked cream card stocks with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die, then trimmed and joined them to make a square. I mounted this directly onto a card base that I'd flecked with ink splatters. The palm trees and beach huts are from Stampin' Up's Waterfront stamp set - I popped the huts up on dimensionals and tucked the palm trees behind.

The little label is a punched 3/4" circle with a tiny sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Red Robin and the smallest heart in From Our House To Yours by Stampin' Up. Interestingly (to me anyway!) that heart has become my most used stamp this year! What has yours been?

CHALLENGES

I was delighted when Just Add Ink's inspiration photo pinged into my inbox this morning! The sun is out in the heart of England today and the beach scene really sparked my imagination. I've been intrigued by Jen's sketch design over at Freshly Made Sketches, and felt it would work well for this card, so I'm linking up there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank you for amusing me with your tales of crafting mishaps! Please don't stop - it makes me feel so much better! Today I lost a sentiment stamp and spent ages hunting high and low for it. Guess where I found it? In my stamping platform!

Have a wonderful weekend,