Another Birthday Bunny...

Hello folks!!

Firstly... Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2017 has started well for you and that you had a lovely Christmas time!! :) Secondly, I finally have another card to share with you... made for my lovely Mum's birthday just before Christmas...

My mum has always loved rabbits since being given a toy one- named Mr Bun, and who still resides, wrapped up safely, in Mum's wardrobe to this day!- so I ordered her a lovely mug with a watercoloured bunny as one of her presents and decided to continue the theme with her card and use an equally gorgeous LOTV bunny stamp :) I have had this stamp for a very long time (bought to use for my Mum!) but think this is the first time I've actually used it... it definitely won't be the last as I love it even more now!! 😍 I'm sooo glad I have it as it's one of the many that has now been discontinued :(

The image is simply coloured on cream cardstock (Papermill Direct's Cream Smooth, which I've found to be fine for colouring with markers on so long as you're not worried about laying down too much ink for perfect blending... and I like the relaxed style of quicker colouring so it's all good here!! ;) ) with Pro/FlexMarkers and Warm Grey Copics for the bunny... with a little added glitter and shimmer here and there, of course!! :)

I also added a bit of blue paper to match the butterflies and a scattering of diecut hearts and sequins... so many of my favourite brands made it on to this card!!! lol

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Cream Smooth; SU! - Blushing Bride

Stamps - Lili of the Valley - Gift Wrapped (retired); Clearly Besotted Stamps - Many Mini Messages

Dies - Simon Says Stamp - Mum, Mini Hearts Set; CBS - Scalloped Edge (retired)

Colouring Medium - ProMarkers, FlexMarkers and Copics

Inks - Memento  - Tuxedo Black; VersaMagic - Pretty Petunia, Cloud White

Papers - My Mind's Eye - Lost and Found Portobello Road

Tools - Cuttlebug

Embellishments - Little Things by Lucy's Cards Sparkly Shaker Selection - Cherry Blossom, Forget Me Not

Finishing Touches - Wink of Stella Brush Pen - Clear; Sakura Stardust Pen - Clear

{Challenges}

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

And, last but not least, a fuller pic to show the lovely mug :) I only discovered the amazing artist, Hannah Dale of Wrendale Designs, late last year when a friend posted a picture of a book she had won... it was full of gorgeous dog images with a Black Lab on the cover and I fell in love there and then!! 😍 When I searched for the book on Amazon, though, I discovered she paints sooo many stunning animals and there are all manner of different items... if I had the room in amongst the craft stash I'd totally start collecting!!! lol

Right, I'm off to press post then to bed! Thank you for reading, have a good week!! :)

Easter, Tulips and Polka Dots...

Hello Everyone!! :)

I hope you all had a lovely long Easter Weekend? I'm back with my post for March (to keep up with my target of posting at least once each month throughout 2016!!) and I have a few very last minute Easter cards to share...

I needed some cards in a hurry so reached for the gorgeous two-step tulips from CBS' new With Love set and some chalk inks...

I decided I wanted a larger vase to balance my tulips than the one in the set so used one from another favourite CBS set from last year, stamped and masked it before stamping the tulip then coloured with a very light FlexMarker for depth. I also added a sentiment from an old-faithful Woodware set.

I knew I wanted to use  some of the fabulous polka-dotty card Jen had let me have for the bases so found a few complimentary shades of paper in my stash and added a punched border and some butterflies... go me- that's the second time in the last couple of weeks that I've dug out those punches having not even looked at them for aaaaages!!! lol Then just some WoS sparkle on the flowers and butterflies and I was done... I actually made five cards altogether but for some reason only photographed three of them so for two evenings work (on rather exhausted days!), I was pretty pleased with how these came out!! ;)

{The List}

Cardstock - Polka Dot card from Anna-Marie Designs (I think!)

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - With Love, Simple Silhouettes; Woodware Clear Magic - All Through the Year

Inks - Memento - London Fog; VersaMagic - Pixie Dust/Pink Petunia, Thatched Straw/Pumpkin Spice, Spring Pansy/Pretty Petunia and Tea Leaves

Colouring Medium - Flexmarkers (mainly Dove Grey but I think I grabbed a couple of brighter blues in there by mistake too!! ;D)

Papers - DoCrafts - Forever Friends Springtime; First Edition - New Leaf and Spring Feast

Tools - X-cut Scalloped Border punch; Martha Stewart Butterflies punch

Finishing Touches - Clear Wink of Stella

Challenges: Less Is More - Polka Dots; Addicted To Stamps and More - Make Your Mark; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

Phew!! I might actually manage to hit 'Publish' before midnight and keep my one-a-month goal on track!!! ;) Thanks for reading everyone, see you in April!! :) (Btw- *how* the heck is it April tomorrow?!?! Somebody please slow time down a bit for me or I'll never be ready for Christmas... again!! :/ )

♡ I love you a Mini Bot!! ♡

Hello everyone!! :)

So, I have decided that, since regular posts seem to be the ever-impossible task around here, I should have a bit of a goal to aim for... but I know myself at this point so am going to aim relatively low and say I hope to at least post once per month this year... and if I make it twice occasionally then that's cause for extra celebration!! lol I managed January by dint of not getting that post up as soon as I'd hoped before the new year (!!) so here I am for February... and keeping it uber-simple as we have soooo much going on here (workmen here since late January and here until the beginning of March, at best, putting in a wheelchair access ramp for me out the back and currently, a much-needed new kitchen, which will also have some accessibilty aspects to make it easier for me to enjoy being creative in the kitchen as well as the craft room... so... pretty unpleasant right now but it will all be worth it in the end!!) with a post which will hopefully be as CAS as the card...

My mum took some of our crafty bits to the fairs at her church in January and February and we thought we should have at least a few Valentine's cards in the boxes... and as I was casting around for ideas, I spotted the fabulous Mini Bots from the CBS January Release sitting on my desk... so this was inevitable!! Uber-quick, uber-CAS and uber-fun... if I do say so myself!! ;D

Simply stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento with a bit of red Sakura Stardust pen (I've had these for years but only recently resurrected them from the depths of my shelves during a sort out... I forgot how pretty they are!! ;) ) for the hearts... and we're done!! Don't think I even need 'The List' this time as that's everything- see... uber-CAS blog post, too!! ;D

Challenges: CAS on Sunday - Valentine; Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

Thanks for reading... hopefully I'll see you all again in March!! lol Hope you've all had a good start to 2016 so far!!

#ThrowbackThursday :: Up and Away :)

Hello :)

I'm back with the second in my as-and-when series of #ThrowbackThursday, or #tbt posts and I have another card using Clearly Besotted Stamps goodies, made at about the same time as my last #tbt card, so around 18 months ago...

Simple but effective, with a negative diecut aperture and some lovely clouds to set the scene for this fab hot air balloon... I made this one for my Grandad's birthday and he loved it (don't Grandparents make the best and most receptive of audiences!! lol)... I still rather like it myself!! ;)

The panel with the aperture has some inked clouds, which I made using a stencil I created with a negative of some of the same CBS cloud dies and some white pearlescent ink :)

This pic shows the lovely effect of using different heights of 3D foam to stick down all the different bits and pieces... much more interesting than everything being all one level ;)

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Sky Blue, White Linen; Craftwork Cards - Digital Cardstock (for the balloon)

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Going Places; Woodware Clear Magic - Retro Words

Dies - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Going Places, Sky's the Limit, Tag Along; Spellbinders - Nestabilities Circles

Colouring Medium - ProMarkers (sorry, no colour list as it was so long ago!)

Inks - Memento - London Fog; Brilliance - Moonlight White

Tools - Cuttlebug, Ranger Blending Foam

Finishing Touches - Sakura Stardust Pen - Clear

Challenges I'd like to enter: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Let's Get Sentimental ; CASology - Shape

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you've enjoyed another detour into the depths of my computer's Pictures folder!! :) Have a great week everyone!! :)

#ThrowbackThursday :: Cute & Cuddly :)

Hello :)

Long time, no blog again... health stuff... life stuff... etc., etc.... I won't bore you all with the details or excuses again!! ;) I'm glad to be back, anyway, and thought I'd get things going again with an idea I had a while ago whilst going through the mountains of photos on my computer... I realised I have a huge number of photos of cards, jewellery and other crafty things from quite a while back which I have never got around to posting and, since I am finding myself with less energy for crafting (cardmaking in particular) at the moment, I thought I would start a little as-and-when series of throwback posts... which I will post on a Thursday and tag with the well known #ThrowbackThursday or #tbt hashtag :) I will still be posting new cards when I can, of course, but I'm hoping this may help me to fill the gaps of time a little ;) 

So... up first in my #tbt series, a little CBS Baby card from about 18 months ago...

It was for my cousin to celebrate the birth of her little girl... I kept it simple as I was having trouble with the old mojo at the time but I ended up loving it :)

A stamped, diecut and watercoloured giraffe, along with an assortment of stamped hearts on the notebook page and two sentiments, all from CBS, and then a sprinkling of diecut hearts and gems was all there was to it... of course, we crafters know nothing is ever as 'simple' as that at the time but, looking back on it now, it seems like should have been!! ;)

I also stamped a few of the hearts on the inside lining papers to prettify it all a little... excuse the slightly grey area between the two hearts on the inside front in the photo above- I stamped the baby's name and birthdate in that gap but blanked it out for my post :)

{The List}

Cardstock - PaperMill Direct - Baby Pink, White Linen and assorted scraps for the hearts

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Cute & Cuddly, Baby Love, Many Thanks, Many Messages and Just A Note

Dies - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Cute & Cuddly; Simon Says Stamp - Holiday Shapes and Large Holiday Shapes; MFT - Notebook Edge

Inks - Memento - Rose Bud, Lulu Lavender, Angel Pink and Lilac Posies

Colouring Medium - Watercolour with Brilliance Pearlescent Purple and Pearlescent Orchid

Embossing - Versamark Ink and Crafter's Companion White Embossing Powder

Tools - Heat Gun

Embellishments - Docrafts Anita's - 3mm and 2mm gems

Finishing Touches - Sakura Stardust Pen - Clear

Challenges I'd like to enter: Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes ; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes ; Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark :)

I thought I would also share a pic of the felt heart decoration I made to send with the card with the little one's initial on it... this was my first felt decoration and, while not perfect by any means, I was pretty pleased with how it came out :) I did go on a search for a more solid felt after this though, as this wool/acrylic blend really wasn't very strong for sewing and stuffing... it is lovely and soft though and will get used for less demanding purposes :)

Okay, that's all from me today... I'll hopefully be back before *too* long, though, and will maybe share a few pics from my amazing outing to see the Cherry Blossoms at out local park last week, something that has been a dream through years of living housebound!! :) :) :)

Wonderful Watercolour...

Hello :)

I'm back with a card today- I've not been well enough to make many cards at all since before Christmas but this last week I've managed to make four... most of them very simple but I'm very happy!! :) 

If any of you follow my little blog over on Facebook or Instagram, you may have already seen a sneak of this card as I was simply so excited I had to share it straight away...

... but I have since taken some better pictures on my proper camera so please keep reading!! ;)

Last week saw yet another fabulous release from Stephanie at Clearly Besotted... I seem to say this almost every time but I really think this may be my favourite release so far!! :) I couldn't wait to play with this particular set as it is just stunning... so I just had to drag myself to my desk the evening they arrived despite not really feeling too well... and I am so glad I did as I love what I made!! :)

Having seen so many of the fabulous DT creating gorgeous samples from this set with watercolour, I decided it was time I gave it another go... and for once, it actually came out looking the way I wanted it to!! :) If I had had the energy, I would have danced for joy!! ;D ;D I used the 'Wet on Wet' technique, which is truly wonderful with a heat embossed image as the embossing pools the paint so beautifully :) I also added some ink splatters... my technique with this needs some serious practise as I ended up being a little (okay, a lot!) heavy handed when trying to get a *few* *slightly* larger splatters :/ lol 

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Smooth Cream

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Friends Forever

Inks - Versamark

Tools - Heat Tool

Embossing Powder - WOW! Metallic Brass

Colouring Medium - Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone

Finishing Touches - Shimmer Sprays - Perfect Pearls Perfect Pearl, Tattered Angels Antique Gold, Wink of Stella Clear

{Challenges}

Simon Says Stamp - All Things Bright and Beautiful

And I'll leave you with another quick pic from my Instagram of my messy desk... believe it or not I had already done some of the tidying away at this point!! ;)

Thanks for reading, I'll hopefully see you soon!! :) Have a good week folks!! :)

It's the most wonderful time...

Hello!! :)

I'm popping in with a last minute entry for the Clearly Besotted Stamps Challenge which is Christmas... and we all need to get on with a few of those right about now, don't we?!!

I have been putting off and putting off a Simon Says Stamp order for most of this year... but I finally caved last month after I saw the Stamptember release... which included a couple of exclusive (and gorgeous!!) sets from CBS... so this is what I did with one of them the very day it arrived :)

I stamped the wreaths from the set three times in three different green chalk inks then added pinecones and berries, with a little sparkle and shine to finish them off!! :) I love how they came out- and I'm not usually one for traditional at Christmas!! lol - and all three barely took me 45 minutes... perfect for the Christmas rush!! ;)

I also got slightly carried away with the photos, as you can see... this one does at least show the glaze on the berries as well as the Stickles on the pinecones!! lol

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Rich Cream Linen

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps (for SSS) - Autumn Blessings and Holly Berries ; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Most Wonderful 

Inks - VersaMagic - Sage, Tea Leaves, Hint of Pesto, Red Magic, Jumbo Java & Sahara Sand

Embellishments - Docrafts/Anita's - 3mm Gems

Finishing Touches - Wink of Stella Clear brush pen, Sakura Clear Glaze pen, Stickles in Frosted Lace

Right, I'm off to link this up at Steph's blog while I still can... have a fabulous weekend everyone!! :)

CBS and sewing for World Cardmaking Day...

Hello folks!! :)

Well... Happy World Cardmaking Day to you all!! :) Seeing all the posts about WCD this morning, I thought this was as good a day as any to make my long-overdue return to Blogland (again- I know!! Thank you to anyone who has stuck around this long!!) but, having actually made it to my desk to make some cards earlier- my mojo actually made one of its fleeting reappearances just in time for World Cardmaking day- how unusually cooperative of it!! ;) - I haven't got much energy left... so I will try and keep it short... it is sure to be sweet by virtue of the stunning stamp set I made my card with!! :) 

After depriving us for the month of August ;D , the lovely Steph came back with another fab CBS release last month... and I was waiting to pounce on the postie so I could make a card for a sewing friend of mine the very day it arrived... her birthday was two days later but I knew the Sew Special set was perfect!! :)

I used the stamp set and matching dies along with a lovely vintagey floral paper from First Edition, some stitching on my new little machine- which I am still in love with... but more on that another day!! ;) - and added a little watercolouring and some WOS to the images... as it was coming together, I was quite unsure but ended up very happy with the result and it was just perfect for my friend!! :)

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - White Plain

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Sew Special, Fabulous Fuchsias (Happy Birthday sentiment)

Dies - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Sew Special Die Collection; MFT - Fishtail Banner Stax

Inks - Versafine - Vintage Sepia; Memento - Espresso Truffle, Angel Pink, Summer Sky, New Sprout

Papers - First Editon - Floral Pavillion

Tools - Cuttlebug, my new (teal! ;D) Sewing Machine

Embellishments - Sequins, Gems and Pearls from stash

Finishing Touches - Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen

Okay... thank you for stopping by tonight... I am truly grateful that people still want to read my blog when there are so many unscheduled and lengthy absences lately!! :) And now, I shall hit publish and head off to bed before I fall asleep right here... hope you are all having a lovely weekend!! :) And if any of you were lucky enough to make it to the craft shows on this weekend, I hope you had a fab time!! :)