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

Chocolate cake and chocolate eggs

Yummm I love chocolate cake, I reckon a birthday cake isn't a real birthday cake unless its a chocolate one ;)

This one is an oldie from Stamping Bella, their stamps are always fun to colour.  I've used my polychromo pencils and gloss/sparkle added to her crown and the jam in the cake.

• Daisy Chain #29 - make it feminine
• Simply Create Too #148 - anything goes
• Seize the Birthday #163 - any birthday

Oops, cutting it fine now to get this posted in time for Easter.   This is just a wee quickie usng my Whipper Snapper chicken and some old bunny DP.

• My layout was inspired by the sketch over at Try Stampin on Tuesday #404 - I went with a rectangular shape as the circle didn't quite work with my image
• Cute Card Thursday #577 - Easter
• Sweet Stampin - Easter / Spring
• My Time to Craft #394 - Easter

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

A cold Snowman and some Birdies

I've had a good tidy up of my stash while my mojo's still on holiday, and came across lots of oldies that haven't been inked for ages.  Won't stop me hunting for a new set for this year's Christmas cards though ;)

I've had a check back in my old blog and this Snowdude from Little Claire Designs is 10 years old and it's maybe been almost that long since he was inked!  Coloured with Polychromos with some added gloss/glitter.  The swirly border is a Gummiapan die.

• Christmas Kickstart #8 - frosty and friends
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #383 - though I've just noticed it should have been a partial scalloped edge
• Papercraft challenge #34 - polka dots

We get lots of birdies, but I don't reckon I've seen anything like these yet LOL.  These snazzy birds are from Jane's Doodles, coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to their beaks.  I added a few dirty marks as per usual, so moved my sentiments up to the top and added some hearts to cover up the evidence ;)

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #432
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - no designer paper

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

Christening card and a flying zebra

I'd bought this LOTV stamp a few years ago and it's never had ink on it.  In fact I had a scan through my blog and the last time I made a Christening card was back in 2013!  I was asked to personalise it so resorted to my good old peel off sentiments which haven't been used in such a long time either!

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #334 - CAS
• Moving Along with the Times #94 - masculine
• CAS on Friday #154 - baby

And here's a fun quickie using my flying zebra from Whipper Snapper.  I love their stamps so much but our customs always nab my packages from them and it costs a small fortune to rescue them.  Hopefully some day they'll get a UK supplier! 

Coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  Sparkle added to the umbrella and sentiment, and little blue stars to finish.  

• General layout inspired by the book cover over at The Library Challenge #30 - Mary Poppins
• Allsorts #513 - use yellow

Here's a wee photo of my lovely tulips taken yesterday in the glorious sunshine!  I've never grown them before, so I'm very pleased with them :)  Our back garden is very sheltered and gets the sun all day long so it was {nearly} a pleasure to get out and get the weeding started.  Our front garden is a much chillier and colder climate so it will wait for another few weeks before I tackle it ;)

A wee Christmas Sheep

I've been cutting it fine to play in DottyJo's Christmas Kickstart challenge, I've managed to slip this in with just a couple of hours to spare ;)

I've used an oldie Penny Black favourite - glitter added to her hat and clear gloss to the mistletoe leaves.  I also used some glittery card for the sentiment and snowflake so it's nice and sparkly.

I had planned to have my stripy DP the full length of the card but I cut my layer to the wrong size ... but sure if I hadn't told you that, you wouldn't have known ;)

• Christmas Kickstart #06 - moves on hooves
• Layout from Mojo Monday #512
• Crafter's Castle #15 - glitter
• Penny Black Saturday March - clean and simple
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - cute