A two-fer

I've discovered new-to-me stamps - Alpaca Pals by Tracey Hey and I'm in love!! So of course I had to go on a wee spending spree ;)

This little dude was first in my shopping basket.  I'm not entirely sure if he's a cat or a lion, but I suppose he can be whatever I want!! I actually managed to use up some of my rainbow washi tape - if I was being picky I'd point out that that rainbow only has 6 colours!

Lion coloured with polychromos; clear gloss + glitter added to his cheeks and headband, and gloss to the little feathers.  Clear gems from stash.

• Time Out #143 - I chose the rainbow theme
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - S is for Stripes
• As you like it - favourite way to add text - mines using stamps. I don't have a printer, I've only a few sentiment dies and my writing is awful, so it's really my only other option!

And here's Mum's calendar page for September.  It's a much simpler affair - I think I only used 6 pencils on this one as opposed to my entire arsenal on the last one LOL

Silver September sticker; pink metallic heart sequins; and again gloss/glitter on his cheeks and headband

• Your Next Stamp #121 - anything but a card
• Less is More #401 - metallics
• Addicted to CAS #167 - pink and purple

Off on new adventures

Bank Holiday weekend and for a change it's warm and sunny!! It's a bit of a rarity that the two go together LOL!  I've an extra-extra-long weekend as our office was closed yesterday while the movers shifted all our stuff to new premises.  So it will be fun I'm sure when we go back on Tuesday, what's the chances of our computers and phones actually working?  Hmmmm ;)

I'd a good tidy of my craft space (a.k.a. kitchen!) today and found this really old High Hopes cutie amongst the debris.  I don't believe she's ever seen ink, isn't that really bad!!  I've coloured her with my polychromos, though I'm not so sure if I'd be happy coming out of the hairdressers with hair that colour LOL.  Gummiapan flower dies and background stamp.  Little flower gems from stash.  This is the last snippet of my stripy MFT DP in this shade, I almost wanted to save it hahaha.

• Allsorts #534/5 - feminine
• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #336
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #359
• Sweet Stampers #35 - dies or punches

Birthday chick

I'm always slightly out of my "comfort zone" (I hate that expression!) with one-layer cards but thought I'd give it a go ... and I love how it turned out :)

I used an old Whipper Snapper image - masked it off to use my chicken wire stencil and then overstamped with this Gummiapan text block stamp.
Chicken coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to the balloon, his beak and feet, and sparkle to his red comb.  My lines down the edge are a couple of Paper Smooches border dies.

• Addicted to CAS #166 - one layer
• Less is More #402 - OLC Stencil
• AAA Cards #147 - along the edge
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - CAS

Christmas doggy

Here's one for the Lovely Dotty Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge - this fortnight she's looking for festive pooches so I've used this oldie from LOTV.  I've since added gloss/glitter to his Christmas hat and to the ribbon on the pressie - the more sparkle I can get on a Christmas card the better!

• Christmas Kickstart #17 - Dachshund through the Snow
• Layout from Mojo Monday #521
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Fancy DP!

I bought a pack of DP from the Range ages ago and it really seems to be never ending!! This pink one is a bit difficult to use as it's so patterned, but I thought I'd give it an outing for a change.
I've used this oldie from Whiff of Joy - coloured with polychromos and glitter added to her flower, dress trim and the stamps.  My colour combo was pink and green - I thought I didn't have enough green so added the little corners from some scraps.

• Layout from CAS colours and Sketches #334
• As You Like It - colour combo - I would normally use grey or blue with pink so it was a bit of a change for me!

This one's a wee quickie, using that paper stack again and a cake stamp from Gummiapan.  I wish I'd paid more heed to the blue sentiment and would have put another layer of colour on it as it's a wee bit faint.  Siler stars from stash.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - midsummer blues
• The Male Room #116 - birthday
• Addicted to Stamps #354 - CAS
• Penny Black and More August - for boys and men

Some watery cards

We'd a real mad day for weather today, one minute it was streaming sunshine and the next lashing rain!  Poor Rubydoo was in and out like a yoyo, as was my washing!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day :)

Anyway, I was very lucky to win some $$ from a recent MFT challenge and this Friends with Fins set was one of the goodies I chose.  Mind you, by the time Customs got the hold of them I probably ended up paying nearly as much as they actually cost.  Grr.  Anyway, I love them, so it doesn't matter.

I've masked off my BG and used this Simon Says Stamp stencil to simulate the water.  My whale is coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - midsummer blues
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #120 - thank you
• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #335

This one uses a very old Penny Black stamp dated 2005, I'd been hunting for one with water in it and this was the only one I could find.

I die cut a couple of rows of hearts (I think this die is from MFT) and then popped up a couple of the leftover bits.  

• Penny Black Saturday - water
• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #516
• Retro Rubber challenge #117 - anything goes

Flowers and bubbles

There's a couple of challenges this week to feature your favourite flower - I'm completely fickle with my favourites as it really depends on the time of year!  At the minute my current favourite is my hydrangea which is absolutely covered with fabulous blooms, unfortunately they're a bit more horizontal after a storm on Thursday night!
This stamp is an oldie from Lili of the Valley, coloured with polychromos.

• The Flower challenge #35 - use your favourite flower
• As You Like It - favourite flower
• Through the Craft room Door - anything goes

This one uses another real oldie from LOTV, I think I bought it in a sale ages ago and have maybe only inked it once before, bad me!

I added some gloss and glitter to the water (I've just noticed I missed one of the bubbles completely)

For my background I cut a couple of circles from some card and used it as a template to chalk in some 'bubbles'.  Hopefully you can see them, they look better in real life, but by the time I took this pic the light was already starting to go. I can't believe how quickly the dark nights and mornings are coming.

• Cute Card Thursday #594 - circles
• Addicted to CAS #165 - bubble (hopefully mine qualifies with my bubbly background!)
• Just Us Girls #500 - circles

Two wee quickies

This card was inspired by this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast - here's Pam's original.  I was inspired by her image of a watermelon and I knew I had this oldie from High Hopes in my stash ... somewhere!  Took a while to find it but I' glad I did as it's been such a loooooong time since she saw any ink.
Coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Just Us Girls #499 - summer
• Word Art Wednesday #398/399 - anything goes

This one looked better in my head!  Haha.  Though I'm not sure what I would do different.  I think I should have done something different with my sentiment and I would have moved him over to the left a smidgen. 

My little hippo is from Gerda Steiner - coloured with polychromos and a paper pieced shirt. I'd a little piece of grey card in my stash that was sort of the same shade as my hippo so cut a few butterflies from it.  

• Layout from MFT sketch #448
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #358

Birthday doggy

Hi All!  Long time no see!  2 cards in 3 weeks must be a new low-time record for me!  I'm still struggling a bit with my shoulder, but getting plenty of attention from the NHS and am determined to plough on and get on with things.

I've pulled out a really old Wild Rose Studio stamp for this one, so old that it's got a bit delicate and it ripped a bit when I pulled it off it's backing, thankfully in a blank space so it didn't affect the stamp.
Coloured with polychromos.  Clear gloss added to his nose, and a few little gold sequins to finish.

• Colour theme from Less Is More #401
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - bright and cheerful
• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #333
• Tuesday Throwdown #437 - furry friends