Ryan's birthday card

 Hi all, back again, and now the darker evenings are creeping in I'm determined to get back into my cardmaking!  And I mean it this time 😉

I've dug out this oldie from High Hopes, he's always a pleasure to colour.  I inked in a touch of green for the background and then stamped over it with this lovely burlap stamp from Gummiapan that doesn't see ink often enough!

Cutie Pie #186 - birthday 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - use a background stamp

Word Art Wednesday #613/614 - anything goes 

Addicted to Stamps #454 - any occasion 

And here's a wee photo of Molly as I haven't shared one for a while.  She absolutely LOVES balls and will steal any she comes across , so she was delighted to find this one when we were out for a walk.  Unfortunately for Molly it was actually a potato!!  One ball she didn't bring home 🤣

Perching Pelican

 Hi all, hurrah for long weekends, I love a Bank Holiday Monday especially when I treat myself to a wee Friday off work too! 😉.   AND it looks like summer is on its way with some sunshine and warmer temps due! (not before time, our weather has been pretty rubbish this year so far)

Anyway I've used a golden oldie stamp this evening (from High Hopes) 

I inked up this swirly stencil in an effort to look like water, I think it kinda works?

My dotty edge is from a set of new dies from Simply Graphic, I love their little accent pieces.

• Cards4Guys #271 - create your own background
• Papercraft challenge #70 Anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• AAA Birthday #25 - Happy birthday
  
  
  

Last Easter bunny!

 

Hi all, and a Happy Easter to you!  A quiet one for us with just me and his nibs for dinner - hopefully by next Easter we'll be more sociable!   I got my 1st jab last week, next ones due beg June, so I'll be sorted in time for my birthday 😁. We've had a lovely couple of sunny spring days, I even got out to the garden today to tackle a few weeds (some of the roots must go to Australia), but snow showers due tomorrow so it will be a stay home and turn the heating on kind of day! 

For this card I masked off a border (not a very straight one LOL) and inked up a swirly stencil.  Nice and easy and quick!

• Crafty Calendar - April - Easter / Spring
• The Card Concept #152 - I went with the Easter bunny theme
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #485-486 - anything goes

Homework Day 3

I'm loving playing along with the M?FT Summer School - I actually feel like my mojo is finally coming back, it has been a long haul since March!

Day 3's homework is symmetry.
I spent absolute ages in my stash trying to find an image that was symmetrical and ended up using this old favourite from High Hopes.  Though my stenciled background and sentiment aren't 100% symmetrical but hopefully I'll get away with it ;)
I think my stencil was from Elizabeth Craft (wouldn't like to swear to it!) - I saw it used somewhere and had to have it, and it's sat in my pile ever since!

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - Happy Birthday
• Stamping Sensations August - masculine
• Seize the Birthday #196 - I used 1image / monochrome / stencil

Pizza anyone?

Mmmmm I love a bit of pizza, and I know it's a bit controversial, but I love it with pineapple! ;)    When we went to Rome a few years back it took me quite a while before I could eat pizza at home, the stuff we had there was just so amazing - the frozen version bunged in the oven just was not on the same planet!!

Anyway, this is Mum's calendar page, late as per usual.  That could be my New Year's resolution, to get them done before the month actually has started!

I've used this High Hopes chef stamp which is years old and still gets inked on a regular basis - coloured with polychromos.  Bricks stencilled in background.

• Retro Rubber challenge #123 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #366 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #410/411 - anything goes
• Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

PS I was asked recently how I make my crafty budget ... I really just set myself a target of no more than £10 (£15 max) each month and try to stick to it - if I go over one month I'll try reign in my spending in the next.  The danger of course is when you go visiting your buddies' blogs as they always have fabulous stamps that I 'need' (you know who you are LOL!!)

Double Christmas

I actually have a decent stash of Christmas cards this year for the first time ever!!  Hopefully there's not going to be the usual last minute rush!

This first card uses an oldie from High Hopes that I haven't inked up for a while.  Coloured with polychromos; glitter added to his hat and skis; sparkle added to the green bits in his hat/scarf; gloss to his nose and glasses.  I added a little hint of purple to my shaded sky to pull in the colours of my snowdude.

• ABC Christmas - V is for Velocity
• Just Us Girls #510 - purple, navy, green
• CAS on Friday #166 - big sentiment

This old DP set is from Stampin'Up and I find it so difficult to use, I never really love any cards I've made with it!! 

My image is a real old-oldie from Elzybells - I know I used it in 2010 and don't think he's seen ink since.  Unfortunately Elzybell's is long closed, they had some fab stamps ;(

I added some black glittery cardstock and some silver stars and that's it really!

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #459
• Christmas Kickstart #21 - woodland creatures

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

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

Ruth's Birthday card and a Pelican

Just a quickie post tonight, Killing Eve is on shortly so I'm on the clock here ;)

This is my sister's birthday card using a recent-ish purchase from Whipper Snapper.  Coloured with polychromos.  I got a bit carried away with adding all my extras, I could have done with a bigger size card though this is kinda the biggest I normally make!
Gummiapan squiggly edge die; Paper Smooches heart die.

• Layout from Try Stampin on Tuesday #416
• Crafty Cardmakers #237 - dies or punches
• Papercraft Challenge #41 - glitter / sparkle

And this one uses a real oldie from High Hopes, paired with a few fishies from an MFT set.

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to his eyes, feet and the rope round the posts.  Water stencil is from Simon Says Stamp.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - life on the ocean waves
• Seize the Birthday #169 - sunshine
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #118 - sunshine

Spring flowers and a hungry crow

Just a quickie post tonight.  Line of Duty is on and it's confusing enough without paying proper attention!

I've always thought that wild flowers are the nicest flowers of all, especially this time of year when the bluebells and primroses are in their full show.

I've added in a touch of blue colouring to the background so the die cut stands out a bit better.  Gummiapan squares die; Whipper Snapper floral image.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday #579 - sequins, brads or gems
• Moving Along with the Times #96 - floral

And here's a wee silly card, using this fab crow from High Hopes.  It was inspired by the cover of 'All Creatures Great and Small', this week's book over at the Library Challenge #32

I think it still needs 'something' so I'll have to have a wee think.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Pile it On #153 - lots of layers

Butterflies!

Well that's the Easter holidays over and back to work tomorrow boo hoo.  I had a lovely time off, the weather was absolutely glorious and it's a VERY rare occasion that we be looking for sandals and summer trousers for Easter Sunday!! But I see normal weather is on it's way so I'm 'almost' glad I didn't use up some of my holiday leave for the rest of the week ;)

I'm still in 'oldie' mood with my stamps (I feel a shopping trip is nearly due and it's partially a guilty conscience ha!) And it's turned out that both have a bit of a butterfly theme going on!

This first one's from High Hopes from quite a few years ago.  Coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to his spots and gloss/glitter to the flower centre.

• Allsorts #515/516 - blossoms / bugs / butterflies
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - going round in circles
• Retro Rubber Challenge #109 - anything goes

I saw a card like this recently but can't recall where - with stencilling within a circle - so if it was you, Thank You for the inspiration!

I've used an old Penny Black stamp - coloured with polychromos and then cut out and popped up on foam pads.  In case you're wondering how I get the curly fur texture, I just do all my colouring layers in little tiny scribbly circles and it kinda just sorts itself out in the end!

• Dream Valley #200 - all about bears
• Less is More #393 - subtle colours

A hug and some booze

Quite often when my mojo is missing I go off blog hunting, and I found THIS gorgeous card by my buddy DottyJo which 100% inspired my layout and inky background!

 I've used an oldie from High Hopes - coloured with polychromos, popped up on foam pads and gloss/glitter added to his collar.  Not sure of make of sentiment die, possibly Gummiapan

• As You Like It - favourite animal - well if I was at the zoo it would be the monkeys but my favourite 'regular' animal has to be our wee Ruby.  Thankfully she's not the size of this pup, I wouldn't fancy feeding it or the bathing or the clean up either!!
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #350 - I'd a wee snip of inked card left over so used it for my sentiment.

 I was the lucky winner of one of Di's goodies over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop a while back and this Woodware stamp was one of the lovely prizes. It's a bit wider than what I've used here, but just cut it to suit my card.

I would love to like wine and be able to sit down and 'enjoy' a glass, but I'm afraid it just doesn't do it for me.  Probably not a bad thing!  I'll just stick to the tea ;)

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - no designer papers
• Just Us Girls #483 - off the edge
• Creative with Stamps #37 - birthday
• Addicted to Stamps #336 - anything goes

Bunches of Daffs and Tulips

There hasn't been much action about my blog recently - I've had a serious loss of mojo so I've been busy elsewhere, painting my bedroom and having a general spring clean and tidy up instead!  But my stash is seriously depleted so it's heads down and get stuck in time.

My old Lili of the Valley stamps are always easy to use, they're such a pleasure to colour in!  And I reckon I need to invest in some more MFT papers, this pack is almost all used up.

• Layout from Try Stampin on Tuesday #403
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - animal antics
• Word Art Wednesday #380-381 - anything goes
• As you like it - fave colouring medium - mine's definitely my polychromo pencils.  They're a lot slower to use than my watercolour pencils, but I love the shading and depth of colour you can get.  I still have plenty more practicing to do though! 

And here's Mum's calendar page which I must confess didn't quite make it to her on time for the 1st ;)  

I've used this oldie from High Hopes and stencilled in some pink swirly effects for the background but it doesn't really show up well in my photo.

• Creative Inspirations April - Easter animal
• Creatalicious #160 - not a card

Stencilling fun

Well the weather didn't quite co-operate today so my garden escaped it's tidy up, so I hit the indoors instead!  There's a lot of chat about Mrs Hinch's cleaning tips on Instagram so I tried a few of them out and right enough, my house does smell lovely!  I do love a good tidy up and chucking out session anyway :)
I didn't quite manage to get as far as my stamp stash, that's a job for another day.

I haven't played in the Library Challenge for a while, the current book is 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse'.  My little mouse is an oldie from High Hopes - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  I masked off my base and used a couple of different ink pads.  I hadn't planned on the enamel dots but those inky fingers got in the way again.

• The Library Challenge #29
• Layout from CASe this Sketch #314
• Less is More #391 - Take 3 - I used 3 colours
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

And here's my Whipper Snapper chicken again.  I always think 'ouch' when I see the size of that egg LOL

I've added plenty of bling and glitter, popped her up on foam pads and stencilled my background in pale pink.  Not sure of the make of the sentiment die - cut in shiny black card.

• AAA Cards #136 - 1 image + spring
• Cute Card Thursday #574 - spring fever
• CRAFT #506 - Spring / Easter

Sympathy card and a cheeky monkey

Happy Saturday folks!  We'd a lovely dry bright day today, I actually managed to get out to the garden and pull out dead stuff to see what's lurking underneath :)  Lots of buds and shoots and a few slugs and snails.  Yeuch.  No way could I garden without my gloves on, they give me the absolute shudders.

Anyway, I've no sympathy cards left in my stash and I like to have a few already made.  This one uses an oldie from Prima, coloured with polychromos; a few gems and a doodled stitched border to finish.  Nice and easy.  Though colouring with my pencils takes aaaaaaages!

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Sweet Stampers #29 - stitching real or faux
• Crafty Catz #449 - keep it simple

And here's a quickie using another oldie, this time from High Hopes.  I've chalked a stencil on the background to cover a bit of a dirty mark - just for a change! I'm not sure why this chalk always looks sludgy instead of green.  Image coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to the vines and clear gloss to his eyes and teeth.

• Cards 4 Guys #213 - wild animals
• Less is More #389 - one layer focus on the sentiment
• Cutie Pie #132 - one for the boys

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

A card that didn't want to be made and Feb Calendar page

I'm starting to love my new polychromo pencils but they take an age to colour something, it's a good job that's my favourite part of card making!  I normally stamp my image using my stamp positioner, colour it in and then stamp it again so that my lines are nice and crisp.

This little dragon didn't want to play ball though, and when I was going for that final stamp it fell off a millisecond before it should have and wrecked a couple of hours of colouring.  GRRRR!
So I started again but I managed to add some dirty marks and had to add those un-planned green stars.
My image is an oldie from High Hopes, not sure of the make of sentiment, MFT stripy DP.  Sparkle added to the flame and clear gloss to the icing on the cake and the dragon's nails. (This is going to be my brothers birthday card)

• Dragon theme from the Library Challenge #25 - The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Fab'n'Funky #425 - fantasy figures
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

And here's Mum's calendar page for February.  Only 2 days late this time so I'm improving my score this year hahaha.

I've used an old TiddlyInks image and I'm not sure of the make of my stencil.

I added a little heart sequin to Valentine's Day.

• Inspired by - Kissing Booth - I went for the hearts and red colours
• Creatalicous #156 - anything goes, option hearts

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Drinks and Skiing

Oh brrrrrr it's been a wild old day today.  Me and Rubydoo headed out for a walk earlier as she loves a good windy day - started with blue skies and not a cloud in sight, and then 5 minutes later it was a total blizzard so we had to make a hasty retreat!  So the rest of the day was spent crafting, snoozing and cooking!

This first one uses a set from Newtons Nook.  I masked off and inked up the bottom 3rd - I'd a bit of a raggedy edge so added the silver peel off strip just to neaten it up.  Glasses popped up on foam pads and sparkle added to the booze.

• AAA Cards #132 - up to 1/3 and masking
• Time Out #127 - Inspired by words - I went for the drinks section!
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - alcohol

And this one's for my buddy Jo's Christmas challenge - this fortnight's theme is 'Bundle Up'.  Though I think I might use this one to put some Euros in for my nephew who's off on a school skiing trip shortly, so it's not even going to make it into my Christmas pile!

My monkey is an oldie from High Hopes and my DP is probably as old too!  

• Christmas Kickstart #2 - bundle it up
• Cute Card Thursday #566 - critters
• Love to Craft #30 - anything goes
• Pile it On #150 - land animals

Leaves and Hedgehogs

Happy World Cardmaking Day!  Just a quickie visit to blogland tonight.  I've still got a stinker of a cold, just can't get it shifted, but had a couple of projects I needed to get made.

I'm already a few days late with Mum's calendar page this month, oops ;)  I used an oldie from High Hopes and then cut out another few of the leaves as extra embellies.  I'm thinking I should have chalked in a few clouds or something, it's a wee bit boring.

• Love to Scrap #114 - fall back
• Creative Inspirations October - Autumn glow
• Crafty Calendar October - Autumn
• Allsorts #488 - leaves

 And here's another wee quickie, using an oldie Penny Black.  Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the snail's shell and the flower centre.

• Penny Black Saturday October - spooky colours
• Crafty Animals #19 - any animal
• CASology #315 - gratitude
• CAS on Friday #143 - thank you card

Bunny love

It's been a yeucky damp old day today, definitely not a going out type of day!  I spent the morning clearing out cupboards (one of my favourite jobs, I love a good clear out!) and had a bit of crafty time this afternoon.
This one is inspired by Mandy's card, this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoaststampers.

I kept her bunny theme and added some pale pink sponging round the outside of my image but it doesn't really show up very well.
Image is an oldie from High Hopes, coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to the bow, and gloss/glitter added to the flower and bitty hearts.

• Word Art Wednesday #348/349 - anything goes
• Sweet Stampin - birthday
• Seize the Birthday - any birthday
• Cute Card Thursday #544 - just for girls

Blues and greens

It's Summer School time again over at MFT and today's theme is monochromatic

Laurie has a gorgeous card over on the blog mainly using different coloured card, but I don't have such a fabulous collection so I used my watercolour pencils instead.  I pulled out 3 similar blues to colour her jumper.  I'd some snippets of white card stock left over so used it for a few die cuts and then coloured them in the same pencils.

• Pixie's Snippets Playground #332
• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #466
• Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

I'm not sure why my stamped leaves look a bit sludgy here, they're definitely greener in real life!!  I would get up and take a better pic, but I'm watching Orangutang Jungle School on telly and it's just the cutest thing ever!

Anyway, this card was made for the Library Challenge and the current book is The Jungle Book.  I've actually read the book this week ;)  And the film, in my opinion, gets the top award for the best song EVER ... you can't help but sing along with it and feel happy!
I used an oldie High Hopes stamp and added clear gloss to his teeth and eyes, and some sparkle to the vine leaves.  Background stamp from Simon Says Stamp.

• That's Crafty - animal magic
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