Happy New Home from the Woods

Today I tried again to tackle an idea that ended up in the bin yesterday. I'm glad I tried again with a slightly different angle as this card made the cut for me.

The card is inspired by the sketch over at My Favourite Things, which like quite a few other participants, I also flipped to it's side. I used the bright colour scheme from Colour Me...!. I'm also linking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday challenges as well as The Pink Elephant where Anything Goes, and at PDE Linky Party where the theme is Any Animal. 

Card: Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, scraps of Stampin' Up Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods and matching dies, Stampin' Up Good Greetings
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and StazOn Jet Black
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles dies, Cole's ABCs 

Froggy birthday

Crafting is like working out. If you don't practice your crafting muscles they will atrophy. I haven't had any crafty time this week, and today I had to throw away three attempts at a card before I managed to put together something semi-decent. I think I need some crafty work-out time this weekend.

Today's card was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well the colour challenge over at Color Throwdown. I'm also linking up over at ShowCASe Your Style where the theme is Birthday, Ruby's Rainbow where the theme is Anything Green and In the Pink where the theme is Cute.

Card: kraft card, coloured 240 gsm kraft card raspberry, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Paper Smooches A Little Lovin, Stampin' Up Just Sayin', From the Herd, Hardwood
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stazon Jet Black, Stampin' Up Soft Suede
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Old Olive
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangular Dies, Ranger Ice Stickles, Papermania adhesive gems, pink ribbon from my stash

Pink and Purple with some lace

I didn't get far from the colours of my previous post. This card was just a little doodle I did while watching the new series on Channel 4 called Indian Summers. I wasn't convinced by the first episode, but will give it another chance. The image for this card is actually from my stash of unused coloured images, and I feel very good that I finally managed to use it. I can even remember the specific time when I coloured it. Last September the Culinary Consultant finally used a gift card I had given him for a day of learning to wheelie at a motorcycle driving school. So while he drove a bike around and around in circles for a whole day, I was camped out in the car with stamped images, Blendabilities, cookies, coffee, sweeties and the Bakeoff masterclass on the iPad. It was actually quite a fun day, and I think it's good to take your crafting out of the craft room from time to time. If nothing else, it makes you appreciate your craft room even more, and particularly appreciate having a desk to craft on. After the Culinary Consultant was finished with his wheelie-ing, we headed off to Ikea and ate meat balls. And bought a pack of bag sealing clips for £0.90. A day well spent I say!

Anyhow, back to the card at hand. I used distress inks and a stencil to create the background, fussy cut my pre-coloured image and stamped and inked the banner for the sentiment. I added some lace washi tape I have had for a while, and added a few adhesive gems for a finishing touch. Quick, easy and summery bright. 

This card was inspired by the sketch over at STAMPloratons. I'm also linking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and The Pink Elephant where Anything Goes this week.

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Raspberry, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Good Greetings, I Like You
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive
Other: Simon Says Stamp stencil, Papermania adhesive gems, lace adhesive tape

Fiddly stamp-colouring

It's been a bit of a rough weekend, but thankfully it took a turn for the better today. Lack of sleep really messes with me. But upwards and onwards is the way to go. So I have baked a chocolate bundt cake and a fudge loaf. And made this card.

Today's card is inspired by the absolutely awesome colour combo over at ColourQ. It's no secret I love pink and purple, and gold is growing on me. It wasn't originally my favourite metallic, I used to be a total silver girl. But I have to admit I'm using gold more and more. I was also inspired by yet again a great sketch over at RetroSketches. I'm also playing along at both the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (poor poor Edna looks like she's had a worse weekend than I did...) and The Card Concept, both with the theme "Get Well Soon" (in the style Clean and Layered for The Card Concept). I also want to link up at Allsorts Challenge because their badge is so delicious looking, and also because the theme this week is to use some purple.

I love the big central panel in the sketch. It was just a question of what stamp to use to fill it. I have made a similar panel using the same stamp in monochrome blue before, you can see it here. But that was a bit easy, so I thought I could colour it with markers in many colours instead, resulting in quite a bit of fiddly colouring. Half way thorough I almost lost my patience, but thankfully persevered as I think it turned out quite nice. I matted it onto mirri card. The banner is made from a scrap piece of card I made using Distress Paints. Sometimes it's worth saving all those scrap pieces, eventually there will be some place where they fit in. I heat embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum and added three adhesive gems to finish. First I didn't like that the stamping was a bit uneven due to the marker colouring, but after looking at it for a while, I think it's actually quite a nice look.

Card: White 300 gsm card, mirri card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum

Stamps: Stampin' Up Fresh Vintage, From the Farm

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Write markers Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Wisteria Wonder

Other: Scrap piece of Distress Paint coloured card from my endless stash, Papermania adhesive gems, gold embossing powder.

Retro colours

Today's card is a play around with the colours from this week's Colour Me...! challenge, and this is what I came up with. It was supposed to be something completely different but turned into this instead. Oh well, it's always a journey. I was also inspired by the Just Add Ink "Just Add Thank You" theme. 

I absolutely adore Vintage Photo, it's the most amazing brown colour and I use it all the time. This time I inked it through a Tim Holtz stencil to create a background. I punched the flowers and inked around the edges in matching colours, and added a big rhinestone after shaping the flowers for a bit of a 3D effect. I stamped the butterfly and fussy cut before adding the clear jems. Last I stamped using Gorgeous Grunge for the splatters, stamped the sentiment, and inked around the edges of the front panel which I adhered with foam pads.

Card: Kraft card, Stampin' Up Pool Party, So Saffron and Real Red card

Ink: Stampin' Up Pool Party, So Saffron, Real Red and Tim Holtz Vintage Photo

Stamps: Stampin' Up Yippee-Skippee!, Gorgeous Grunge, Bloomin' Marvelous

Other: Tim Holtz stencil, Stampin' Up Petite Petals punch, Papermania adhesive rhinestones

First Easter card

Today is both a quick post and a quick card, as I spent most of my crafting time doing something a bit different for the next Crafts Galore Encore challenge which goes live on the first of March. I'm so excited to show it. Meanwhile, there is still time to participate in the current challenge, which is "Use a stamp or digi". 

After that shameless plug, onto today's card. With Christmas and Valentine's over and done with, the next cardmaker's main event is Easter. And the spring colours over at Color Throwdown were perfect for a spring card, and along with inspiration from the Stampin' Royalty inspiration pic and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches I came up with this. I'm also linking up at Graph It Colour challenge where the theme is Spring/Green and Cute Card Thursday where the challenge is Floral Delight.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz, Calypso Coral, Old Olive, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful, Personal Impressions Easter Set 1

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up Old Olive

Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Calypso Coral and Old Olive

Other: Stampin' Up Hello You thinlits

Happy birthday from dino paradise

This card came to me in a split second when I saw the sketch over at My Favourite Things. I saw a sunset and partying dinos immediately. And I knew they would have to wear party hats. I can only imagine the party the dinos will have after dark. The theme for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is paradise. Right now for me, paradise would be a hot sunset under palm trees instead of an icy car on a freezing cold morning. I'm sick and tired of coming down with my gazillionth cold this winter. I want a party hat, hot sun, palm trees and maybe a cold drink. That's what I thought about when I inked the background for this card. I would also like to link up with Lawnscaping's Birthday Celebration for their 100th challenge, how cool is that! Happy 100 LawnScaping, and here's to at least 100 more! I'm also linking up at Addicted to Stamps where the challenge is to make your mark. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past and Critters on the Savanna

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick

Colouring: Copics B04, B06, E34, E39, V04, V09, V93, V95, V99, YG11, YG13, YG17

Other: Paper scraps from my stash, pom poms from a piece of pom pom string, Lawn Fawn stitched hillside die

Happy Birthday from the black and white herd

I'm trying to eat really healthy this week. For five days, my diet will consist of smoothies, veggie soups and fruit. I'm almost done with day two, and so far I've consumed bunches of berries, several oranges, avocados, spinach, cucumber, mango, nuts, seeds, broccoli, cauliflower... And I have a terrible craving for crisps. And chocolate. Technically a milkshake is like a smoothie, right? I am eyeing the Culinary Consultant's Hagen Daz with an intention to devour. 

To keep me distracted from the fact that it's almost 48 hours since I've had any food that needs chewing, I'm focusing on crafting. It's not often you get a challenge with the theme "Farm animals" so I couldn't resist when this was in fact the theme over at The Friday Mashup. In fact, it's a mashup of "Farm animals" and "Bling". Based on wonderful DT creations, I wasn't the only one who has happy to use their From the herd stamp for this challenge. I decided to do something slightly different, so I coloured it in black and white instead. I also used Irresistibly Yours DSP and inked it using grey inks for the background. For the bling, I used the Hello You die on mirri card for that finishing touch.

I was also inspired by the monochrome challenge over at CASology and the G is for Grey challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (I know this wasn't exactly what was meant by the challenge, but it fits the theme in the most innocent of ways). I'm also linking up at The Pink Elephant, Come and Get It Challenges and Creative Card Crew where the theme this week is Birthday and at Top Tip Tuesday where the theme is rubber stamps only.

Card: Coloured 240 gsm black card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, mirri card
Paper: Stampin' Up Irresistibly Yours
Stamps: Stampin' Up From the Herd
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Copics C1, C3, C5
Other: Lawn Fawn die, Stampin' Up Hello you die

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

Two weeks since I showed you my sweet little Stella fairy for the Holly Jolly Fairy challenge. It was only just Christmas and New Year, and now we are halfway through February. Bring on the spring. The rational conclusion is also that it must be time for a new challenge over at Holly Jolly! This time the theme is Non-Traditional Christmas Colours. Get creative, go beyond the usual red and green and get your creative mojo going. 

As usual the Holly Jolly DT have created lots of cards for your enjoyment and inspiration. And we have three sponsors for the challenge offering great prizes to our winners. This time we are sponsored by Fitztown, Stitchy Bear and Di's Digis.

For this challenge I chose to use a beautiful image from Stitchy Bear called Winterville. Unfortunately it seems to be removed from their shop as I can't find it anymore. But they have lots of other great images, so hop on over and see if you find something that will inspire you. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle the image to not make a complete mess out of it so I decided to go for a monochromatic purple colour scheme with a pop of yellow for contrast. I coloured parts of the image with Copics, and then used foam applicators to ink the edges of the image. I added a touch of ice stickles to the trees for some oomph. The background is created using a snowflake stencil and inks. I used my brand new dies to frame the image and sentiment, and put it all together. For the finishing touch, I die cut some snowflakes, added distress stickles and put them together to an embellishment with an adhesive gem in the middle.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes

Crimbo Crackers - Charming

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes

Clear it Out - Holiday stash, yellow or gold things (used yellow card, yellow ice stickles, snowflake dies and yellow ink from my stash)

Fantastic Tuesday - Use a die

Shopping our Stash - Inspired by a movie (Ice storm, which may seem a weird choice for a serene winter scene, but it was set in a small town and who knows what's going on inside those peaceful looking houses, which in a way was a theme for the movie as well...)

ABC challenge - D is for die cut

Card: Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm three shades of yellow

Stamp: Stitchy Bear Winterville, Stampin' Up Good Greetings

Colouring: Copics V93, V95, V99, Y15, Distress Ink Dusty Concord and Mustard Seed, Stampin' Up Slate Grey, Wisteria Wonder

Other: Imagination Crafts Snowflake Frenzy stencil, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice, Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Mustard Seed, Spellbinders Nestabilities Romantic Renctangles and Pearl Effects, All Occasion Dies Snowflakes, Papermania Adhesive Gems Capsule Sunshine

Newsprint balloon

I'm popping in for a very quick post this evening, as we have enjoyed our traditional Valentine's day Venison dinner with the Culinary Consultant today. We didn't get to enjoy our traditional dinner yesterday on V-day as we were off to a wedding. 

I loved this week's ColourQ challenge, and wanted to create a card for it. I was not only inspired by the colours but also by the balloon theme in the inspiration picture, so I chose to use my lovely Tim Holtz balloon stamp. I stamped onto real newspaper and paper pieced the balloon part of the image. I wanted to keep the card really minimal so the beautiful stamp would be the main focus, and I think it turned out quite nice, although I only had a short time to spend in the craft room today. I would also like to link up at Fashionable Stamping where the theme is Black and White with a hint of red, Open Minded Crafting Fun Challenges where the theme is Up In The Air, Sweet Stampin' where the theme is inspired by a song (Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me) and last but not least Lil Patch of Crafty Friends where Anything Goes. 

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card black and ruby red, 300 gsm white card
Paper: newspaper
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Remnants CMS130
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Copic R240
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You thinlits die

Something lacy

This is another one of my lovely new stamps. I love the lacy look, it's going to be so versatile. I saw it coloured in this way in the Stampin' Up catty, so of course I had to try it. I wanted to keep the card really simple so that the beautiful lace flowers are the centre of attention.

I stamped and heat embossed the gorgeous lace pattern in white embossing powder onto vellum. I then used Blendabilities to colour the image on the back of the vellum. I die cut the "happy" from a scrap of light purple card. I also stamped the lacy flowers on the inside of the card and heat embossed in white for a subtle effect. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Craft for the Craic - Birthdays or Anniversaries
Simply Create Too - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
As You Like It - CAS or Fussy (CAS, because I love clean, in my mind it's harder to create CAS as it's unforgiving, whereas with fussy you can always cover up mistakes with new layers, embellishment etc).
Creative Knockouts - Floral Delight
Ruby's Rainbow - Soon be Spring

Card: 300 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, coloured 240 gsm kraft card lilac
Stamps: Stampin' Up Something Lacy, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana
Colouring: Blendabilities Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight,  Melon Mambo, Old Olive and Rich Razzleberry
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You thinlits

Happy Birthday from the herd

Nothing like getting a shipment of new stamps, is there? Except then you face the problem of choosing which one to start with. This is my absolute favourite stamp from the new Stampin' Up cattie. I mean, it has an alpaca on it! Or a llama, however, an animal from the alpaca-llama family of quadrupeds, you can never have too much of them in your life. Why are you laughing? I'm sure the term alpaca-llama family of animals is the correct scientific term. I mean, I'm a scientist after all. 

I love alpacas. There is an alpaca farm not far from us, and every time we drive past I hope the alpacas are out in the fields. I know it's going to be a good day if the alpacas are out. 

Anyhow, I love this stamp. And it's perfect for watercolouring!! I used my Stampin' Up inks and an Aquaflo brush. Then all I did was to add the sentiment and stamp the balloons.

This card was inspired by the new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I did flip it onto it's side kinda... I also think the herd is perfect for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is All Creatures Great and Small and Just Inspirational Challenges where the theme is Any Animal. I'm also linking up at Addicted to Stamps and Craft Your Passion where Anything Goes this week.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper Aquafine
Stamps: Stampin' Up From the Herd and Just Sayin'
Ink: Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black, Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Sahara Sand, Smoky Slate, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi
Other: Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Welcome baby in pink

I think short is sweet today, I came home from the gym, had a shower and am writing this while eating dinner, about an hour past my bedtime. Some days life just gets a bit nuts. But I"m glad I dragged my ever increasing behind to the gym and had a great workout. I think I made a mistake sitting down on the sofa (yes, I admit, I eat dinner on the sofa) as I'm not sure I will be able to drag my aching bones, muscles and other tissues to bed.

On to more crafty things. Love seems to be all around. Valentine's day is just around the corner, and every card challenge is either about pink, hearts or love. I thought a slightly different take would be nice just for a change. I hope you like it!

I would like to enter the following challenges:
STAMPlorations - Sketch challenge #27
STAMPlorations - February challenge Stamps and Hearts
Crafty Creations - Owl how I love thee
House of Cards - Love 
Just us Girls - Love
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Red + pink
Tuesday Throwdown - Love is in the air
Artistic Inspirations - Anything goes with a heart
Crafty Cardmakers - Love

Card: kraft card
Paper: Stampin' Up More Amore Speciality DSP
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress inks Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past with matching dies, Paper Smooches A Little Lovin'
Colouring: Copics B00, R20, R43
Other: Tim Holtz Hearts stencil, Lawn Fawn Say Cheese die

Butterfly bonanza

This set of birthday card and home-made wrapping paper were all made to match. I saw the tutorial on how to make the flowers using the Stampin' Up blossom punch here and wanted to give it a try. In addition, I had a few swallowtails I had stamped, embossed and coloured earlier. The swallowtail works so well in every card I have made with it, it brings that extra something. I love colouring the stamp, this time I did it by sponging distress ink. I embossed the background for the card using a Cuttlebug embossing folder

To make the wrapping paper, I stamped a big and smaller swallowtail stamp and stamped using Tim Holtz Distress Embossing ink and dusted with Perfect Pearls powder onto basic brown wrapping paper. This gives such a beautiful, subtle effect. The pictures really don't do it justice as the shiny powder doesn't quite show up on photos as beautifully as it does in real life. Also, to get the best result, you should only stamp one stamp at a time, add the perfect pearls and then go on to stamping the next stamp. If you stamp all the butterflies and then start adding the powder, the ink will have dried and the powder won't stick anymore.

To further snazz up the wrapped present, I added two yellow ribbons from my stash and stamped the Chalk Talk stamp and fussycut it. I also inked a doily and attached another swallowtail I had coloured. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - For the Girls

Incy Vincy Designs - Punch or Die Cut (flower punch for the flower)

My Craft Creations - Anything Goes

Perfectly Rustics Design Challenge - Wings

Through the Purple Haze - Flowers

Vintage Stamping Challenge - Bring on those Spring Colours

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge Blog - Anything Goes with a twist: wings

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Anything Goes 

Cardstock: Hobbycraft three shades of yellow 160 gsm cardstock, Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock, Craft UK kraft card
Inks: Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers, Pumice Stone, Shaded Lilac and Squeezed Lemonade, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain distress inks, Stampin' Up Markers in Bright colours
Stamps: Stampin' Up Swallowtail and Chalk Talk, Hobbycraft Butterfly clear stamp, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Sketch CMS131
Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder textured script, Ranger Perfect Pearls in Interference Blue, Interference Green, Interference Red and Interference Violet, Papermania tinsel silver embossing powder, Stampin' Up Blossom Punch, doily and yellow ribbon from my stash, brown kraft wrapping paper

Dino holiday snapshot

Happy Sunday! I have been enjoying a great weekend with my Sis. I always keep saying I'm so lucky to have my sister in the same country as me, as the rest of my family and almost all of my friends are in another country. However the sad truth is that we don't get to see each other nearly enough. She is very busy being a first year doctor, and I'm busy just... well, crafting, gardening and spending my free weekends doing random stuff.

Today's card is inspired by the great sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I also used the colours on Color Throwdown for inspiration. I just treated myself to another die I have been dying to have, the Lawn Fawn Say Cheese die, so I thought I could use the dino and palmtree that I had coloured previously to make a little holiday scene. I used the Tim Holtz Bubble Layering Stencil and distress inks to create the border. I think it looks almost like scales (did dinosaurs have scales? My dino-knowledge is apparently very limited). I'm also linking up with Stampin' Royalty where the theme is "To Die For".

Card: 300 gsm white card, coloured 240 gsm kraft card Pillarbox red
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past and matching dies, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Aged Mahogany, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Colouring: Tim Holtz Distress markers and Stampin' Up Blender Pen
Other: Tim Holtz stencil, Lawn Fawn Say Cheese die, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

One more Valentine's

As you read this, I'm surfing down the information highway at very high speed. Fasten your seatbelts! After a long wait, I no longer have to wait for a minute to upload a photo to the blog. We have left the dark ages! I'm so giddy about this, I want to do a happy dance. I must have scared the poor BT engineer with my high-pitched squeal of "Oh my gosh it's working!!!". You can say he had one happy customer.

Today's card is inspired by the wonderful card over at Time Out where the challenge is to CASE the card. It is also inspired by the colours over at ColourQ which I used to colour the flowers on the tag. I'm also linking up at Make My Monday where the theme is Hearts and Flowers (I don't know if it's cheating, but the small flowers look heart shaped to me), at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Bright and Beautiful, In(k)spire Me "Valentines", Kitty Bee Aloha Friday Challenge "Valentine's/Love", Polkadoodles Challenge "Flower Power" and Simply Create Too "Valentine".

I stamped the flowers onto the tag in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I used Stampin' Up inks and a watercolour brush to colour the flowers and a marker to draw the faux stitching. I embossed the background and printed the sentiment. I added some pink ribbon from my stash and matted the card onto pink card.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful
Inks: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Blushing Bride marker
Other: Cuttlebug script embossing folder, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, pink ribbon from my stash, Scalloped Tag Topper punch

My Snarky Valentine

I'm enjoying a lazy day off. I had to stay at home, we are finally getting hooked up with high speed broadband. The engineer better get here today as agreed, I don't have the best track record with broadband service providers and they better not make me take another day off. I can't wait to have fast internet though, we have been getting by on 2 Mb and it means from time to time I have to even wait for webpages to load, not to mention streaming. But soon we can stream as much as we want!! We have been waiting for this for ages. I'm also notorious for leaving a gazillion web pages open at any one time, and sometimes everything just freezes because of the slow internet. I can't imagine what it will be like living with a civilised internet speed. The joys of living in the countryside, waiting for years and years for technology to catch up.

Onto today's card. It should be evident by now that I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day. I guess I was alone for so long I developed quite a distaste for the whole thing. And we aren't very romantic in this house. But I do feel like a small acknowledgement of the V day is in order now that I seem to be in what can be called a stable relationship.

I think Gus got it right on the spot in this Bugaboo digi. I thought it would make a great Valentine's card for my Culinary Consultant. Neutral colours, snarky sentiment. The card was quick to put together, I just coloured Gus and the frame around him and stamped the Hardwood and Gorgeous Grunge stamps onto kraft card. That's it, all done. I added adhesive gems in the corners which I coloured with a brown Sharpie. I'm sure the Culinary Consultant will find this funny. And I'm giving him the best Valentine's day present - a DVD box of Game of Thrones season 4 which in fact I want myself. I know he likes it too, but more than that, I'm giving him something we can actually watch together without me being bored or falling asleep. How smart am I, lol!! No, seriously he does like it too. 

I already linked up with the current Snarky Sister's one year anniversary Snarker's choice challenge with my Stella tag. However there were so many great choices I thought I would link up Gus as well for the A is for Anti-Valentine challenge. I'm also linking up at 4 Crafty Chicks where the theme is "use a hand coloured image", Crafting for all seasons "have a heart" (here, the heart being in the sentiment, not a physical heart on the card), The Male Room "Valentine", Cuttin' And Stampin' "Masculine" and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "H is for..." (hardwood in this case). 

Card: kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamp: Bugaboo Gus - her nagging, Stampin' Up Hardwood, Gorgeous Grunge, Just Sayin', Good Greetings
Colouring: Copics YR00, R20, E34, E39, brown Sharpie
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede
Other: Stampin' Up adhesive gems

Make a Wish in Watercolour

The Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After is one of my favourite stamp sets, if not the favourite stamp set ever. It's the first Lawn Fawn set I bough and really sparked my love for their gorgeous stamps and handy matching dies. If I had the money, I would buy every single stamp set they have ever released. 

This card was first and foremost inspired by the lovely video by Nichol on the Lawn Fawn blog about the watercolour look. I have been planning to try it out for quite a while already, but this video finally gave me the kick to actually do it. I was also inspired by the challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays which this week is watercolour. The layout of this card was based on the great sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and several of the great DT cards that used Washi tape to create the background. Finally a good chance to use up my Washi tape, yay!! I am also linking up with the current Lawnscaping challenge (number 99!!!), where the theme is Clean and Simple. Can't wait what they come up with to celebrate the 100th challenge soon... I'm also linking up at Clear It Out where Anything Goes.

I started by cutting out the journaling card form watercolour paper, and stamped the images in Antique Linen. I then painted the image using a watercolour brush and ink from the markers that I scribbled onto my craft mat. For the sentiment I used a scrap of leftover cardstock that I created for another card using Tim Holtz distress paints, stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. Last, I created the background using some craft card and Washi tape.

Card: kraft card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Linen, Distress markers
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling die, washi tape from my stash, gold embossing powder 

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Angels or Fairies

I'm very excited as today we have a new challenge for you over at Holly Jolly. This time the theme is Angels or Fairies. We are sponsored by A Day for Daisies, QKR Stampede and Bugaboo. There will also be fantastic prizes for three lucky winners. Everyone has a chance to win prizes as they are randomly drawn. Remember, you have to be in it to win it! The DT will also select favourites who will get a badge to proudly display on their blog. 

The wonderful Holly Jolly DT has a lot of inspiration if you are stuck with a bit of mojo gone AWOL. You can also have a browse on the sponsor's pages to find fabulous digis to work with.

I always love the challenges where Bugaboo is a sponsor as I get to play with the fabulous Stella. This time I used Stella Tidbits Fairy Visit. She is just the best, and I love her in her little fairy costume. Nothing says Christmas like a happy little Stella fairy, right? This time I thought I would try to make a bit of a mixed media tag. The great thing about starting your Christmas crafting early is that you can put quite a bit of time and effort into each piece. It will be November again sooner than you think, and then you have to come up with simple designs for mass production, so the beginning of the year is the perfect time to make your more elaborate Christmas crafts. 

I started by creating the background onto a kraft tag using Tim Holtz distress paints. I dabbed the paints onto my craft mat, spritzed generously with water and swirled my tag in the paint. After thoroughly drying the tag with my heat gun, I used Distress Inks and a star stencil to created the stars in the background. The I used a beautiful Christmas ornament stamp which I heat embossed in gold powder. I coloured Stella with Copics and fussy cut her. I die cut the snowflake and bow from copper cardstock and printed and inked the words for the sentiment. Last I added some ribbon, twine and a bell, and a die cut border to the bottom of the tag. As a finishing touch, I added some Ice Stickles to the Stella's stars and the centre of the snowflake flower.

I would like to enter my tag into the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Snarker's choice (I chose I is for iconic, because I think by now Stella has made the iconic status in the snarky world!!)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Something Beginning with B (bow, bell)

Merry Monday - Bows

ABC Christmas Challenges - B is for bows, bunting or baking

Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes

My Craft Creations - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - H is for... (Have yourself a magical Christmas)

Sparkle n' Sprinkle - Anything goes with loose glitter, embossing powder or flocking (gold embossing powder christmas ornaments in the background)

Use Your Stuff - Inspired by a song (One of my favourite Christmas songs, Fairytale of New York (you get it, *fairy*tale... hehe) but also the bit where they sing "You were handsome, you were pretty, Queen of New York city)

Incy Wincy Designs - Tic Tac Toe (use a punch (bow builder punch), something that sparkles (adhesive gem), ribbon)

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Card: Ranger Inkssentials Kraft tag #8, Copper metallic card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Real Red

Background: Tim Holtz Distress paints Barn Door, Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Antiqued Bronze

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress inks Forest Moss, Iced Spruce, Pine Needles, Black Soot

Stamps: Bugaboo Stella Tidbits Fairy Visit, Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes

Colouring: Copics YG13, YG15, YG17, R24, R46, B00, E34, E39, YR00

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes and Stitched Journaling Card dies, Stampin' Up Bow builder punch, Tim Holtz Vintage Lace dies, red ribbon, twine and a bell from my stash, Tim Holtz Stencil Stars, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice