RAINBOW BIRTHDAY

Hello.
Today is the first day of Spring here - it's a chilly 11C,
but the sun is shining and the daffodils are out.
This made me reach for bright, cheerful colours for this week's
Inspired By Challenge

For the patchwork part of the theme, I die cut the rainbow design paper with my hexagons die, then inserted the pieces back into a white 'frame'.
I added a couple of bunnies, and a pup, trimmed down to fit, and then a simple sentiment.

Today's mistakes were inky smudges - on the top bunny, and on the rainbow!!

I covered the bunny, by layering another one on top, and the gems hide the other smudges!

Inspired By Challenge

• mft - woof pack / sweet somebunny coloured with copics
• pinkfresh studio - hexagon die
• waffle flower crafts - rainbow design paper

HOPPY EASTER

Hello.
I'm stretching my stamps today, and using this Christmas presents bunny,
for an Easter card.
I think it works!

I wanted to keep this nice and simple, with a small, stamped sentiment.
But that frame had a mind of it's own and the top piece stuck down all wonky!
When I went to lift it up the card ripped and half of it stayed behind on the DS tape!
I managed to stick most of it back down,
but the banner was a good cover up for the ripped piece!

Challenge

Freshly Made Sketches

• colorado craft company - christmas presents
• stampendous - mini alphabet
• clearly besotted - basic banners
• pink fresh studio - diagonal stitched rectangle
• copics
• mft - rectangle stax

 

GREEN RAINBOW

Hello.
This week it's St Patrick's Day,
so I've followed the cue over at the Inspired By Challenge
and created a green rainbow.

I'm embarrassed, I don't have a single rainbow stamp in my stash.
This rainbow was made by taping together my oval nestbilities, building the rainbows with the different shades of green card, and then simply cutting them in half.

We know there's a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow,
but this cute piggy is just happy to chill out amongst the flowers!

Challenge

Inspired By Challenge

• mft sow much cuteness, coloured with copics
• nestability oval dies
• sentiment - clearly besotted, time to relax

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Hello.
Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there xxx

Even though my mum's dementia means she doesn't know the day, the season, or the year,
her face lights up when I take her a weekly bouquet.
So I know she will love this flower card.

I started with a stamped, criss-cross background and overlayed it with an embossed sentiment on vellum.
Then I added my blooms.
I snipped some of them off along the edge of the panel, and then used these pieces to add the blooms back in, in other places.

Challenge

The Flower Challenge

• pinkfreshstudio layered bouquet / diagonal stitched rectangle
• the stamp market - criss cross stamp
• mft - mini well connected alphabet
• wow gold embossing powder
• altenew inks - hydrangea, ultraviolet, lime, fresh leaf

HAPPINESS IS ONLY A CUPCAKE AWAY

Hello.
I have just blown my whole, spring craft budget on this giant cupcake. 
Isn't it gorgeous?
I regret nothing!

I admit, I was a bit daunted by the colouring (it's definitely not my strong suit and I don't have a huge collection of Copics),
but I looked at what other crafters had done, and watched a Youtube video,
and found it much easier than I thought.
I am so chuffed with the results.

Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More

The cupcake and sentiment are both die-cut

colorado craft company - citrus berry cupcake
copics

HELLO BUNNY

Hello.
I've been looking at Easter ideas on Pinterest recently,
so when I came to play along at
Freshly Made Sketches
I had bunnies in my head :-)

I added the bunny die-cuts to a distress ink background, trimming off the pieces around the rectangle.
I file this under 'stretching your stamps',  because I think it gives them a totally different look.

Freshly Made Sketches

mft - sweet somebunny, coloured with copics / rectangle stax
hb2u - wplus9, friends for all seasons
sentiment - clearly besotted, make a wish
distress ink - spun sugar, tumbled glass, scattered straw

JOYFUL GIRAFFE

Hello.
Today I'm sharing the sweet, welcome baby card
that I made for our first grand baby - a grandson.

Grandson - that sounds so weird.   I'm still getting used to saying it  ;-)

I stamped the criss-cross background onto blue card, and heat embossed it in white.
Then I added my die-cut giraffe and a postage stamp frame.

I finally got my hands on some vellum sheets, for the sentiment.
This was my first ever time using it - so I started small with the heat embossed sentiment,
taking care not to warp the vellum.

Challenge

Watercooler Wednesday

WWWC310 - Marsha's Challenge - 
All About Occasions

mft - joyful giraffe

the stamp market - criss cross stamp, embossed with wow white embossing powder
altenew - sentiment from love u, postage stamp die

 

Baby Blankets

Our first grand-baby arrived safely on Friday -  February 26th.
Little Bailey is just adorable and we've managed to have a cuddle with him
(as part of a childcare support bubble).

I am really not a great knitter, but I did finish these baby blankets just in time.

This first one is an old Sirdar pattern that my mum has knitted for years - sadly her dementia means she can no longer knit, so I had to give it a go myself!
It's not really up to her standard, but not bad for a first try - the squares are knitted individually and then sewn together.
Trust me  - it's easier than it looks.

The blanket below is a free pattern from Ravelry by Tina van den Berg
All the different patterns are made up of just knit and purl stitches,
so again, it's super easy to do.

I also discovered that blankets are even harder to photograph than cards ;-)

Challenge

Love to Craft Challenge

March - Anything Goes

CHAMPAGNE IS THE ANSWER

Hello.
I fancied a bit of colouring today, so I dug deep into my old stash
for this Lili Of The Valley stamp.
I just love those adorable little mice.

Who wouldn't love a get together with a champagne tower, right now?

I kept everything else simple, with a heat embossed sentiment and a few scattered gems.

Challenge

Inkspirational

lili of the valley stamp, coloured with copics
sentiment from hero arts, layered birthday cake
glamour dust glitter

BLUE BLOOMS

Hello.
The birthday celebrations are continuing over at Less Is More this week - 
they've seen our chocolate offerings, and now they would like some flowers :-)

I've used this super, layered blooms stamp and tried out a new (to me) technique.
The stamps were inked up, then spritzed with water and stamped.
My stamping platform was great for this technique,
because it allows you to go in and add more colour where you want to.
Not bad for a first attempt.

Challenge

Less Is More

pink fresh studios - layered bouquet

sentiment - mft stamps - together forever

altenew inks - limeade, lime, fresh leaf, sea breeze, turq, tide blue, starlight

RAINBOW BEAR

Hello.
Strips of coloured card seem to be all the rage right now,
so I cut a few (dozen) and used some on this birthday card.

With the strips, I used a tip from Jennifer McGuire - 
stick the strips to a piece of thin scrap paper -
then they will go through your die cutting machine easily, 
and can be added to your thicker card base afterwards.

Challenge

Freshly Made Sketches

sugarpea designs - hey winter, coloured with copics
sentiment bubble - mftstamps woof pack

hb2u - wplus9