Dashing through the snow

Hello, crafting friends!

Having seen deer leaping about in the countryside around here, it's easy to see how the idea of a sleigh drawn by flying deer came into being! Today's card was made with a stencil from Funky Fossil called Leaping Stags. It comes with a mask of the stag too which enabled me to create this scene quite easily.

I started with a card panel, positioning the stag stencil off the edge and sponging Crumb Cake ink into it. The stencil was removed, the mask placed over the stag and I added a torn piece of paper over the bottom of the panel which was to be snow. Then I was able to sponge blue inks above it to create my sky.

To finish, I added detail to the stag with markers, added a sentiment from a retired Uniko set, and dotted snow in the sky with my oh-so-useful Uni Posca white paint pen.

CHALLENGES

I made this card using the beautiful colour palette at CAS Colours and Sketches challenge. They have a DT call there and I'm going to put myself forward for it! I'm also joining in with Rudolph Day where every month on the 25th, we all make Christmas cards. I shall also link up with NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) as this is the first time I've used the Schtag Schtencil - I think I'm on safer ground with this Darnell, lol!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While walking in the countryside the other day with Eva and her chum Otis, a black lab, the pups were excited to see a pheasant fly out of the hedge. They darted after it like hunters and I got the impression they were doing that thing that small children do when they pretend they are a princess or a pirate and really get into character. When the footpath led us through a gap in the hedge, we startled a group of deer who immediately took off across the field. The dogs looked at each other and half heartedly wandered after them but you could tell their hearts weren't in it at all - they had been playing Bird Dogs and deer weren't part of the script!

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,

Something to celebrate, using four masks!

Hello, crafting friends!

Does anyone else keep a couple of bottles of fizz in the back of the cupboard in the happyy belief that a celebration is sure to happen soon? Of course you do! My stashed bottles were the inspiration for today's one layer card.

These gorgeous champagne coupes are from Mimosas by Avery Elle and I have used them quite a lot! To make the card, I masked off  the edges of a good thick card base, stamped the glasses in versamark and heat embossed in silver. I made a mask for the glasses by stamping them again on a sticky note and cutting them out. That's two masks - the edges of the card and the glasses.

For my third mask, I used a piece of scrap paper, laying it over the top of the masked glasses and inking in a ground. For the fourth mask, I transferred the scrap paper to the ground, laid Funky Fossil's Folk Floral Wallpaper stencil across the top of the masked glasses and inked into it lightly with rust coloured ink. All the masks were then removed - and I never want to type the word mask again!

I finished the card by colouring the glasses with water-based markers and adding Wink of Stella shimmer. The sentiment was put together with words from the Mimosas set. 

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So proud to be get Honours at Time Out with this card :)

CHALLENGES

Less is More has a one layer card challenge this fortnight with the theme of Cheers! I'm also joining in a Time Out where there's a fun word challenge: 'Move over Coffee. Today is a day for Champagne!' At Watercooler Wednesday, they're celebrating a five-Wednesday month with an Anything Goes challenge, so I shall link up there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's definitely no champagne on the cards here today. Storm Alex has come to batter us with winds and rain and has decided to stay for the weekend. I have spent my day changing in and out of an oilskin and wellies, rubbing Eva down with towels, and muttering "Go home Alex! No one likes you and who invited you anyway?!"

Sending hugs (and here's hoping for something to celebrate soon...!) 

The autumn fairy

Hello, crafting friends!

I had an autumnal moment in the Craft Square Metre and when I came up for air, this card had happened:

I adore this little fairy from Funky Fossil's Christmas Characters stamp set. She may come from a Christmas set but she's definitely an all-the-year-rounder! I made a layered background for her with three Funky Fossil stencils (Brick Wall, Fancy Trellis and Arched Window), stood her on a bit of wood-effect designer paper from SU and surrounded her with stamped leaves from Reverse Confetti's Fall Foliage.

The leaves were coloured with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and because I'd used my semi-coated card stock they have a lovely sheen. The fairy was stamped, coloured and fussy cut. I've given her the Wink of Stella treatment so she shimmers and she has a glowing amber gem on her dress. She looks as if she's summoning up a wind to swirl the leaves around but maybe she's just trying to remember where she left her keys...!

Tiny dots, added with a gold pen and with the Wink of Stella pen give that magical feel. To make the sentiment, I stamped the banner from Concord & 9th's Hello Sunshine turnabout set in Stazon ink on vellum, added a greeting from Clearly Besotted's Simply Said, and snipped it out.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This card was chosen as the Sapphire Winner at Color My Heart Color Dare!

CHALLENGES

I'm squeaking in under the wire at The Rainbow Challenge's Autumnal Amber challenge. I will also link up at The Color My Heart Color Dare 413 where I've chosen Canary, Espresso and gold, adding in Toffee and Sundance! Allsorts are looking for Autumn Colours this week so I'm joining in there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've been cleaning Eva's ears today. She is a very good girl about it I must say and the most difficult thing about it for me is getting her to sit in a position in the light where I can see what I'm doing. She always gets a nice treat when I've finished and she certainly looks forward to that!

It's terribly tiring though!!!

Sending hugs,

When I'm feeling blue

Hello, crafting friends!

Sometimes it's hard not to feel a little down at the moment, which is when you go into your craft space and just look at things and move things about on your desk and can't quite manage to get anything done. So I feel quite proud to have finished this card which has been hanging about on my desk for about a week now!

I used a home-made stencil that I made previously for this card. After positioning it on a card panel, and masking off each area as required, I sponged turquoise inks into the aperture to create a sea and a sky. Once the masks were removed, but before removing the stencil, I stamped a couple of wild flower silhouettes from Funky Fossil's In The Meadow stamp set in navy ink.

I wasn't sure how to finish the card, but decided that such a peaceful scene would be perfect for a sympathy card. The sentiment is from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, stamped and snipped out, and the card was finished with some clear gems and a simple navy mat.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

Delighted that this card was a Rocker at Watercooler Wednesdayy!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Color Hues, where the colours this time are Navy and Turquoise; and also at Watercooler Wednesday, where Michelle's challenge is all about Occasions.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm sometimes reminded of the lyrics from Phil Collins' song, A Groovy Kind of Love:

When I'm feeling blue

All I have to do

Is take a look at you

Then I'm not so blue...

It did cheer me up! She had arranged herself among the flowers so prettily - what a beauty she is :)

Sending hugs, especially if you're feeling a bit blue too.

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,

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,

Bricks, beams and autumn flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

I am so happy to have been invited to guest at The Color Throwdown again! I just love the colour palettes these ladies come up with each week, and their amazing creations. This week, the colours are just right for autumnal crafting:

VERY inspiring! Here's what I came up with:

I rarely use cream as a card base these days but thought it would be a good way to incorporate the cream of the swatch. For the rest of the colours I went with a floral cluster, stamping one of the bouquets from Clearly Besotted's Say It With Flowers, heat embossing it, colouring it with alcohol markers and fussy cutting just the flowers (not the stems or the ribbon.)

To ground my flowers, I blended some pale yellow ink onto a card panel through Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil, then added a strip of wood-look paper from Stampin' Up. The panel was trimmed to size with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die. To finish the card, I stamped a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Just For You, attached my floral cluster to the wooden strip, and added a sprinkling of coloured gems.

Now what about you? What have those colours sparked off in your mind? I can't wait to see what you make! Click here to head over to The Colour Throwdown to check out all the fabulous samples by the DT and to link up your creation.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking my autumnal bouquet up with The Sisterhood of Crafters where Autumn Inspiration is the theme; and also Festive Friday, where I've taken brown, gold, stitching and leaves from the inspiration list.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather has become quite warm here and the leaves are only just beginning to turn, but Eva found this fallen branch which looks quite autumnal.

Once it had been minutely  examined and given a good sniff, it was abandoned. Eva looked at me and gave a wag as if to say "I think we both know that's not worth carrying home!"

Sending hugs,

Sail away with me honey!

Hello, crafting friends!

Summer is back here in the heart of England so when I thought about making a Man Card today, I thought of sailing away somewhere with calm waters and warm breezes...

What do you think? I've masked off the top two thirds of some semi-coated card stock and sponged the remaining third with Stampin' Up's Shaded Spruce and Pacific Point inks to create an ocean. This was trimmed to A6 size with a Heffy Doodle stitched rectangle die.

The ship from Uniko's Nautical Treasures was stamped onto my ocean in Memento black ink. Using an off cut of white card stock, I sponged more Pacific Point ink into Funky Fossil's Simply Stripes stencil, then stamped the ship again onto it. I was then able to cut out the sails and paper piece them onto the original ship. I added a flag snipped out of red card stock for a pop of colour.

Finally, I used Lawn Fawn's Happy Birthday Border die to cut out a sentiment from my ocean. I replaced it with a version cut out of black card stock, then added the original over the top.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So pleased this card was a Team Pick at Tic Tac Toe Challenge!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with the Tic Tac Toe challenge, which inspired me this week with its top row Stripes/Masculine/Blue; I'm also joining in with Jaydee's Masculine Birthday challenge at the Paper Players; and last but not least, I'm playing along with The Male Room, where Travel is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I do try to keep up with Eva's training and she is very good on the whole (except when she thinks she knows best of course!) Here she is doing a great Stay...

... but that alert look shows me she's only staying on sufferance because if that squirrel comes out of the tree, she'll have him! 

Sending hugs,