Adorable pink flower

We were finally able to do our first barbecue of the year today. A selection of sausages, burgers, sweetcorn and Jamie Oliver's mozzarella and bacon skewers all went down a treat along with some sweet potato wedges baked in the oven. And the best thing is that there are leftovers galore!

I'm very happy to have been able to spend some time in the craft room today while the Culianry Consultant took care of cooking. I managed to catch up on some DT assignments and created a few cards just for the fun of it, inspired by a few new purchases like the Paper Smooches Adorable Array die I used for this card. I was inspired by the card over at Muse. I'm also linking up with the following anything goes challenges: Tuesday Throwdown, Jade's Sparkling Butterflies and Crafting with Friends.  

I started by randomly watercolouring the background using Distress Inks, finishing by flicking some splatters on the background. I die cut the flower from various leftover pieces of coloured card. I stamped a sentiment onto a banner and attached it to the card base before assembling all the tiny pieces of the die cut. For a finishing touch I added a few adhesive rhinestones.

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card, scraps of coloured card from my stash
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick
Other: Paper Smooches die Adorable Array, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners, Stampin' Up Basic Adhesive Rhinestones

Wonderful Hummingbird

Hello bank holiday weekend! Yes, the weather will be terrible, but we are talking a whole three days of blissful happiness. And toady is the eve of all of this bliss. I always love the lazy feel of Friday evenings - you know there is no hurry to go to bed as you don't have to wake to the alarm clock tomorrow morning. No big plans - just some crafting, tidy up around the house, and trying to coax the Culinary Consultant into doing some BBQ despite the arctic weather conditions. I hope you will enjoy your weekend, whether it's a two or a three day one!

I thought my new crafty stash would be my inspiration to create something new, but when I saw the inspiration image over at Fusion this week, I knew exactly which stamp set to reach for. I love the gorgeous STAMPlorations hummingbird, and decided to enjoy a bit of watercolouring with the gorgeous Gansai Tambi watercolours. I was also inspired by the colours over at ColourQ and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes and Make My Monday where the theme is April showers bring May flowers. I stamped the hummingbird and flowers in black and heat embossed in clear powder to make the watercolouring easier. Then I got creative with the Gansai Tambis. I masked the bird and flowers and splattered some blue onto the background. I chose a sentiment from STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments: Discover and added some stickles for a bit of glitter on the bird for a finishing touch.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Vanguard dark blue card, 190 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Hummingbird - Large, Bold Sentiments: Discover
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours
Other: Ranger clear fine embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles Mint Ice

You are all I knead to get my mojo going

We are almost at the end of April, and I had to scrape my windscreen this morning. How unacceptable is that? And even worse, we are coming up to bank holiday Monday, and sadly it looks too cold to even get BBQ season started! I was dreaming of a long weekend in the garden, enjoying the sun and maybe sipping a big glass of Pimms. But no, I will probably be all wrapped up in my winter fleece robe and sip bucketfuls of tea. The silver lining on that cloud is that I can sip my tea in   my craft room, trying out all my new crafty goodies (and I still have one piece of happy mail making it's way across the ocean, maybe it will make it here on time for the weekend also!).

Anyhow, the craft room has been quiet and deserted. But nothing like some new crafty goodies to get the mojo going again. I have been meaning to play with the current sketch over at Lawnscaping, and today is the last day to do so! I could not resist using my brand new Baked With Love set paired with some coloured card I created with Tim Holtz Distress Paints and which has been hiding in my unused projects box for way too long. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More where Anything Goes and Cards und More where the focus is on Die cuts.

Card: 300 gsm hammered white card, 300 gsm watercolour card, Neenah Solar White card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Baked With Love and matching dies
Ink and colouring: Stampin' Up Regal Rose and Melon Mambo, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Picket Fence, Vintage Photo
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die

Another rainbow background

I wish I knew then what I know now... It would have saved me a whole lot of money when it comes to my crafty stash. I have no idea why I keep buying patterned paper and at the same time I can't remember the last card I used any of it. It just isn't my style of crating to use it, but at the same time it doesn't feel right to get rid of it either. As much as I blame my significant other for being a hoarder, and to be fair, the way he accumulates unnecessary stuff really drives me bonkers, but I am filling up my craft room something awfully quickly too. And the most scary thing is that I have a budget tracker on my phone and I can see exactly how much I have spent on crafty stuff. And let me tell you, I could have paid off quite a bit of the mortgage with that money. 

So my half penny's worth for anyone starting their craft stash: I have noticed that the stuff I keep using over and over again are my dies, particularly banner dies, stitched rectangles and basic stuff like that. In addition, a good set of watercolours, or whatever other colouring media you feel most comfortable with, along with a few good black inks (a waterproof one and one that is suitable for alcoholic markers if that's what you use). A few basic embossing powders - I usually only use my white, clear and gold ones and a good embossing ink (I love Versamark). The only patterned papers I use are very basic patterns, polka dots and striped ones, I never use the gorgeous floral ones or the ones with funny animal patterns or other stuff. So these days I mostly spend my money on more dies - I love the sentiment ones - and floral stamps because I know I will use them over and over. I have almost the full set of Tim Holtz distress inks as they are perfect for so many things - inking with a foam pad for backgrounds, emboss resist, watercolouring, pretty much anything. Except stamping. If you find yourself stamping a lot in other colours, you want to go for something else, but I can't remember when I would have stamped in anything but black, sometimes a very light neutral for no-line watercolouring. You can really get far with just some basic stuff until you know what your favourite techniques are! I know this might not apply to what you use, particularly if you are into mixed media. But the best idea is to follow blogs or crafters you like and see what they use, I find that's the best way of finding new brands I like and new ideas for techniques.

Anyhow, after that long speech, I'm climbing off my soapbox and although nowhere closer to decide what I will do with all my patterned papers, I have managed to produce a card today based on the sketch over at Retro Sketches. I have had rainbows on my mind ever since my rainbow macarons and I thought the sketch was a perfect chance to use up one more of the rainbow backgrounds I made ages ago (I used my favourite background for this card).  I'm also linking up with the rainbow heart challenge over at The Challenge (it's my second entry for this challenge) and Time Out where the theme is Celebration with the optional twist of die cutting or fussy cutting. I have used a lot of my favourite dies for this card - the Stitched Rectangles and banner dies, along with the Scripty Happy Birthday die and my new NBUS Stitched scalloped borders dies. Last but not least I'm linking up with Addicted to CAS where the code word is Rain - my interpretation being RAINbow. 

Card: 300 gsm linen textured card, scrap of silver card, scrap of black card, 300 gsm hammered card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Paint: Tim Holtz Distress Paints
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, Happy Birthday Border, Stitched Scalloped Borders and Extra Sentiment Banner dies 

Happy Mother's Day to Grandma

For once, I managed a really productive day today. Not only have I cleaned part of the house, done two loads of laundry, cleaned out Gary the Snake, did some gardening, did the weekly shop and rat shopping (the joys of having a snake), cooked dinner but on top of all of that even managed a bit of crafty time. I'm looking forward to an early night today and a deep clean of the craft room tomorrow along with some lazy slouching. 

Today's card was inspired by two images, one over at Inspired by All the Little Things and another over at Just Us Girls. I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. The background is from my box of unfinished projects, and I was inspired by the flowers and the pink, green and turquoise colour scheme of the second image. I created the background by stamping and heat embossing in clear powder, and then inking using Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender Distress ink. I then used my new Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle dies for the background, and Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners and Violet's ABCs to create the sentiment (which says "to grandma" in Finnish). I inked around the scalloped rectangle using Distress Ink, and attached everything onto white linen textured card. So happy to finally find a use for the background I made ages ago, it's always nice to make some room in the unfinished project box. I'm also linking up my card with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Make It Girlie.

Card: 300 gsm linen textured card, 160 gsm Hobbycraft white card, 160 gsm Hobbycraft Three Shades of Green card, scrap of turquoise card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Spun Sugar, Milled Lavender and Peeled Paint
Stamps: Inkadinkado Floral Wood Cut, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs
Other: Ranger Fine Clear Embossing Powder, Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle and Everyday Sentiment Banners dies, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing Powder

April STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

It's that time of the month - when the wonderful DT over at STAMPlorations CAS challenge have produced another gorgeous batch of cards to inspire you to play along with our April challenge which is Anything Goes with an optional colour twist of spring green. Thanks for all your gorgeous creations that you have already linked up, we love seeing your fabulous work. Remember, you can link up to three cards per challenge! You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to take part, but if you have any, we would love to see them used.

For my card I thought I would go ultra-CAS and I used the fabulous Sugar Rush stamp set. I stamped the macarons and coloured them with Copics and stamped the fun sentiment in black. Then I added Glossy Accents to the macarons to give them a glossy sheen although it doesn't show very well in the photo. Now it's over to you to show us your beautiful creations!

Don't forget to add the challenge badge in your post
if you are linking up!

I am linking up with the following challenges:
The Challenge - rainbow heart inspiration image
AAA Cards - Anything Goes
Fusion Card Challenge - rainbow umbrella inspiration image (I didn't play along with the sketch this time)
One Layer Simplicity Challenge - As You Wish (anything goes)

Card: 300 gsm linen textured card 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics 
Other: Stampin' Up Glossy Accents 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Smile crocodile!

We are all among friends here, so I'm probably safe in admitting that my craft room is a complete mess. First of all, I dug out some old crafty stuff I had stashed away in the loft as I sold some old, unloved stamp sets, dies and embossing folders on eBay. And the remaining stuff is still lying around, waiting to either be taken to the bin or donated somewhere (any tips anyone, do you get rid of your old crafty stuff by donating to a school, nursery etc?). I have also been so crazy busy at work that I have hardly managed to craft at all, and the few times I have made it to the craft desk, I have focussed all my energy on the process of crafting, not cleaning up. Therefore, this is what my crafty desk looks like at the moment. 

I know I should probably hang my head in shame, but at the same time, it comes with some perks. Like the fact that to make today's card, I could find almost all the stuff I needed on my desk instead of having to go hunting for it on shelves and in drawers. The added perk was that to create the cute croc, I used a scrap piece of card I had coloured for this card. 

As I've had some trouble getting my mojo going lately, I've been eagerly perusing the wonderful challenges and all the inspiration from the wonderful DT's to get going. For this card, I was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the CAS Mixup where the theme is Stamping + stencil + your choice (in my case die cutting, smooshing and heat embossing). I also didn't quite manage to get the sentiment and croc to stand out from the background with just stamping in black ink, and when I saw the E is for embossing challenge over at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, a lightbulb went off in my head, and I heat embossed them in black glittery powder which made them pop much more against the background.

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 300 gsm watercolour card

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka and Perfectly Plaid

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under and matching dies

Ink and paints: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mustard Seed and Twisted Citron, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Frames and Everyday Sentiment Banners dies, ARTplorations stencil Retro Circles

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - Day two

Welcome back to day two of the ARTplorations stencil hop where we celebrate all the grogeous projects that can be created with stencils. If you missed it, you can find all the DT inspiration from day one here, along with the chance to win by commenting on the DT blogs. And the DT is more than happy to inspire you again today, with more projects using the fun ARTplorations stencils, on the STAMPlorations here. We wanted to remind you that you still have two days to link up with our Stencil Linky Party. You don't have to use ARTplorations stencils to join, but if you have them, we would love to see what you create with them.

Today I created two bookmarks using ARTplorations stencils, STAMPlorations stamps and Tim Holtz Distress inks. I started by creating a 5 cm wide slip of textured white card, and used the Stampin' Up Tag topper punch to create the top. I used a corner of the Distress ink container to draw the outline of the rounded corners and fussy cut them. 

For the first bookmark, I started by inking the card using yellow, orange and red Distress inks. I then inked through the Retro Circles stencil in Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inks. To finish off the tag, I stamped two sentiments from Literary Caffeine-ations and some cups from Coffee Happy in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I added some twine to finish off the bookmark.

For my second bookmark, I started by inking the card using purple, green and blue Distress ink. I then inked through the Tribal Weave stencil in Versamark, and heat embossed the pattern in clear powder. The to the fun and messy part - inking the whole bookmark in black Distress ink. The embossing will resist the black ink showing the bright colours underneath. I used a tissue to wipe off the excess black ink from the embossed pattern. I also splashed some water around for a distressed look. Last, I stamped the sentiments Live, Love, Enjoy from Trendy Butterflies onto white card and added some faux stitching around the edges. A bit of ribbon to finish it off!

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card
Stencils: ARTplorations Retro Circles, Tribal Weave 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Literary Caffeine-ations, Coffee Happy and Trendy Butterflies
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks Mustard Seed, Abandoned Coral, Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Festive Berries, Vintage Photo, Ground Espresso, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, Black Soot, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Ranger fine clear embossing powder, ribbon and twine from my stash

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - Day one

I'm sooo excited to be part of the ARTplorations Stencil blog hop which is hip-hopping away today. And we want you to play along! You can link up your gorgeous stencil projects over at the STAMPlorations blog here. You don't have to use ARTplorations stencils to take part, but if you do have any, we would love to see how you use them. You can also win some of the gorgeous STAMPlorations stencils by leaving comments as you hop along. Several prizes will be drawn from all comments on the designer's blogs. You don't have to comment on all the DT projects, but the more comments you leave, the bigger is your chance of winning! You can comment until April 17th, and the winners will be announced on the STAMPlorations blog on April 19th. The linky for projects closes on April 15th.

For my project, I used one of my absolute favourite stencils, Shower of Flutters. I picked some bright Tim Holtz Distress inks and applied them through the stencil with a foam applicator. I just love how the inks blend to create beautiful mixes of colours. Then I stamped the matching butterfly stamps from the Trendy Butterflies set. Last, I added a sentiment from the Bold Sentiments: Discover set, heat embossing the "Discover" in silver. I just love how the stencil and stamps fit so perfectly together and how easy it is to create a gorgeous, rainbow background the for the fluttering beauties.

Dont' forget to check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Prizes:

• THREE (3) winners will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.
• ONE (1) winner will receive a $15 gift certificate OR her choice of 2 ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog. 

Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by April 15:

• TWO (2) winners whose projects feature stencils (any brand) will each receive their choice of one (1) ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7)
• ONE (1) winner whose project features an ARTplorations stencil will receive her choice of three (3) ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7) OR a $15 gift certificate to the shop.

Card: 300 gsm white textured card

Stencil: ARTplorations Shower of Flutters

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies, Bold Sentiments: Discover

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Festive Berries, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint and Hickory Smoke, Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Papermania Tinsel Silver embossing powder 

Inlaid die cuts

What  a beautiful spring day it has been today. I was running around the hospital site like crazy most of the day, meetings here, picking up samples there, and all this without wearing a jacket, enjoying the warm sun on my face. Over the weekend, we bought some new plants for the flower borders. I know absolutely nothing about gardening or plants, I just buy stuff with nicely coloured flowers and they say hardy or easy to care for. I figured, those might have a chance to survive. Check in on the situation in a few weeks again. I figured, if they survive the first few weeks, they should be all right. I'm particularly excited about my new peonies, I really hope they will get to a great start to life and produce wonderful colourful flowers in a few month's time.

Colour is one thing today's card has plenty of. I've been a bit challenged in the creativity department lately, but I promise I will make up for it in a few days with a few really inspiring posts to come. Today's card was inspired by the gorgeous card by Anita Bowden over on Muse challenge and the colours over at Always Playing With Paper. I was inspired by the gorgeous background in Anita's card, and the inlaid die cut. I was also inspired by the current challenge over at Just Us Girls, which is smooshing. I smooshed Tim Holtz Distress Paints on watercolour paper to create the colourful background and the card for the die cut sentiment. The it was just a case of assembling everything onto foam pads and stamping the second part of the sentiment. I'm also linking up with AAA Challenges where Anything Goes and Addicted to CAS where the theme is Inlaid Dies.

Card: 300 gsm linen textured white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper
Ink and paint: Tim Holtz Distress Paints Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Tsukineko Tuxedo Memento Black
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle and Scripty Hugs dies

Quick thank you cards

Today I have been making some quick thank you cards to go with some of the crafty items I managed to sell on eBay. I have to say it was hardly worth the effort as I didn't make many pounds. However, the main thing is that I have managed to clear some space in the craft room and my unloved stash items have found new homes where they will hopefully be used more. I'm particularly happy to hear that some of my dies ended up with a lady who works with people with autism and learning difficulties, and she shared some of the lovely cards her students have made. She told me that crafting is such great therapy for the people she works with, but that's hardly a surprise to us crafters! 

This whole eBay episode has made me think of my relationship with stuff. I have been working through a lot of my things in the last year or so, trying to reduce the amount of unnecessary things in my life. I have happily gotten rid of my old notes from Uni, and of so many clothes I hadn't used for ages but kept holding on to "just because". I love Marie Kondo's idea that we should only hold on to things which make us happy. I think I still have a lot of things which don't make me happy but I feel like I can't get rid of them because I have paid a lot of money for them or because I just might need them sometime in the future. But to be honest, I think I would actually be much happier getting rid of them. But trying to enforce a policy of decluttering in a household where the other inhabitant is a hoarder of the most obsessive kind is a true challenge. We have a huge loft and big garage, which are both collecting so much stuff we will never need but which I don't have the energy to go through and then go through the argument of trying to get rid of them. I think it will take many more years to try and get him to change his mind, but maybe one day!!

 

My cards were quick and easy to mass-produce. I cut 10x10 cm cards from white card, and stamped and heat embossed the gorgeous STAMPlorations Large Helenium stamp. I then watercoloured the flower using Gansai Tambis and while the watercolour was drying I die cut the sentiment from pieces of coloured cardstock from my box of scrap papers. Last, I took a Tim Holtz Distress marker and doodled a border. Quick and easy, I particularly like the purple and pink flower, as well as the orange and red one. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Make My Monday - Watercolour
Let's Colour Saturday Linky Party - Anything coloured
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends - Anything Goes
Creative Corner Challenges - Flower Power 

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, scraps of coloured card from my UFO box
Stamps: STAMPlorations Helenium Large
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolours, Tim Holtz Distress markers
Other: Ranger clear embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Scripty Thanks die

April STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Spring Green

Happy April peeps! April!! Seriously... Here I thought we would never get through all that winter and all of a sudden it's already spring. I just love the light - there's daylight when you go to work in the morning and there is still daylight when you get home. Nature is in full bloom. Soon it will be BBQ season and Pimms on the lawn. It's been a tough winter with the new job and some serious health problems in the family. But now it's all starting to look a bit brighter again. And on top of all the other good stuff, we have a new challenge for you over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge!! For April we are going with a Anything CAS goes with an optional colour twist of green. I can't wait to see what you make! Thank you also to everyone who linked up with our March challenge, it was lovely to see all the fabulous inspiration.

For my card, I went with two really fab new stamp sets, Coffee Happy and Sketchy Alphabet. I have had to give up coffee because of health reasons (and no, a decaf latte just isn't the same...), so this fabulous stamp set is a close to coffee as I'm going to get. I particularly like the little sentiments that come with the set, they are hilarious. And the Sketchy Alphabet set is so much fun, you can use it to make your own custom big and bold sentiments. I coloured everything with my watercolour pens and blended with some water. Simples, as our friend Alexander the meerkat would say!

I'm linking up with the following fabulous challenges:
One Layer Simplicity Challenge - Anything One Layer goes
Creative Moments - Inspired by a song (Every time I think of coffee and songs, I think about that Taylor Swift song that everyone misheard as "Starbucks lovers". I think it still counts, lol)
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Go Green
Allsorts - April Fools/Humorous 
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Beverages, coffee/te

Card: 300 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Sketchy Alphabet
Ink and colouring: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Faber Castell Albrech Dürer watercolour pens

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Floral Bliss

Just a quick post today as I'm heading out to do some gardening. My flower beds have been deprived of attention for far too long, and you would be excused for thinking we have a jungle, not a garden. So I better go and get some dirt under my fingernails after already having stained my fingers with watercolours! Perfect for today's garden theme, my card was inspired by the beautiful floral inspiration image over at Fusion Card Challenges. and Joyce's gorgeous CASE over at Happy Little Stampers. I'm also linking up with CAS On Sunday where the theme is Flowers, Chocolate Coffee and Cards where the theme is Spring Is In the Air and Through the Purple Haze where the theme is Flowers.  

Card: 300 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Floral Bliss, Fond Expressions 2 
Ink and colouring: Versafine Onyx Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Bunny scarf in Perfect Plaid

I've spent some time re-organising my stash of coloured cardstock. I hardly ever use coloured card, or patterned paper for that matter, but I sure have a lot of both. At least some of it is a bit more organised now, hopefully that will encourage me to use it more. I bought so much crafting stuff before I really found my "look". If I would do it all over now, I would save a lot of money as there would be so much stuff I wouldn't buy. These days if I buy something I'm pretty sure to actually use it. I'm currently trying to sell off some of my unloved crafty stash on Ebay, I have several Sizzix dies and die sets as well as Stampin' Up stamp sets. All starting at £0.99, so go grab yourself a bargain here. All the stuff is in great condition, although they are all pre-loved. But everything still works perfectly well! I would love for my stuff to find a new, loving home as they are currently just sitting in the cupboard.

One of the things I recently ordered, and I know I will love and use a lot is this adorable new Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid paper. My inspiration for this card was the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. I was inspired by the beautiful pastel spring colours, the bunny and the silver on the cake stand for my card. I was also inspired by the bunny image over at If You Give a Crafter A Cookie. Furthermore, I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes, Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, Fussy and Fancy Challenges where the theme is pastel colours and Creative Corner Challenges where the theme is Use Embossing Powder.

Card: 300 gsm textured white card, Vanguard card VA019 Lime Green, Neenah Solar White card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic, Scripty Sayings
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics C1, C3, C5
Paper: Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid
Other: Papermania Silver Tinsel embossing powder