Wild Card

Just a super quick post today - as it's been (fitting to the theme) a wildly crazy day. The house is finally clean from top to toe, the garden has had a trim and the guest room is all done and waiting for guests. And I got through my 21 point to-do list for today (although I skipped the run in favour of crafting this time). Just one more day of work and then four blissful days of annual leave!!

Today's card was inspired by the fun sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. In addition, I was inspired by the "Let's Go Wild" theme over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, the watercolour theme over at Just Us Girls and the Animal Kingdom challenge over at Unicorn Challenges.

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters on the Savanna and matching dies, Claire's ABCs, Owen's ABCs and matching dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Stampin' Up Soft Sky

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow

Dies: Lawn Fawn Spring Showers, Grassy Border, Banners

RIP Cecil

Usually when I reach for my Lawn Fawn stamps, they make me smile. Today even crafting and Lawn Fawn cute critters couldn't cheer me up when thinking of the recent sad events that resulted in the murder of a magnificent animal who had done nothing to deserve the cruel ending he did. So I felt like I needed to do something, however small, to pay my tributes, and that how today's card got created. I also made a small donation to WildCRU, the Oxford University Conservation ResearchUnit. They were the research project who were tracking Cecil the lion to learn more about these beautiful animals. You can find them here should you wish to make a small contribution of your own. I also love this link with the last pictures of Cecil. Sometimes I just despair at the depravity of some members of the human race... 

The idea for my Cecil card started with the sketch over at CAS(E) This sketch. I immediately saw the circles as a rainbow. And I love how the Lawn Fawn rainbow die goes so well together with the Puffy Cloud border dies. I didn't really know what sentiment to add to the card, as I can't find any words but I think that Roawr is what Cecil would have said so I thought maybe that would be appropriate. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes this week. 

I'm so sorry for the sombre mood of today's post, I hope you will be back tomorrow as there is a much more light-hearted card to come.

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm white hammered card, scraps of various coloured card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters on the Savanna and matching dies, Violet's ABCs
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Copics Y19, YR04, E34, E99
Other: Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border dies, Stitched rectangle dies, rainbow die, sequins from my stash

Quick thank you cards

I can't believe I hardly spent any time in the craft room this weekend. Actually that's a lie, in fact today I have spent quite a bit of time in the craft room, but not crafting. I finally decided it's time to try and overhaul my crafty storage as it was all a mess. So off we went to Ikea for a storage solution. I also ordered some stuff online that will hopefully help me organise some things a bit more efficiently and also in a way that looks a bit nicer. I'm also hoping to buy a new desk some day, but it didn't quite fit the budget this time so it will have to wait until another day. I'm hoping that once my craft room is a bit more organised I will rediscover my crafting mojo. I have been so frustrated by my huge piles of cardstock and DSP which are tucked away in a cupboard and so hard to get to as they are all just in a huge pile. Now they are stored in a more sensible way so that I can browse them more easily and hopefully be inspired to use them. I can't wait to get it all finished and show you.

I did try to get some crafting done on Saturday but I couldn't produce anything worth showing so instead I'm showing you a bunch of thank you cards I made a while ago when I sold some stuff on Ebay and I wanted to include a personal thank you note when I sent off the things. All the images are from my "junk" box, things I have coloured but didn't get around to using. So it was a really quick thing to just adhere the cute critters to my cards and stamp a simple sentiment.

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - ATG
Pile It On - Cute Animals
Crafty Calendar - Things with Wings (the dragon cards)
Crafty Catz - CAS
Sister Act Card Challenge - ATG
Red Rubber Inspirations - Give Thanks

Happy Birthday from the Savanna

So far today I have baked a bread that turned out to be slightly underbaked in the middle, and a coffee cake where all the filling oozed out before baking. Oh well, it's all cool, as my Sis is coming for a visit today and we are heading off to Ely for a visit to the fabulous Peacock's Tearoom. I've been once before and I was thoroughly impressed both by the tea, the food and the super friendly service (by the way, they don't even know I exist, much less pay me anything to say nice things about them, this is just my opinion which I want to share). I am to cook a roast dinner tomorrow for six, and based on today's performance it will probably turn out a complete disaster. Oh well, we have meats and cheeses which we can dig into if it all turns sour. There are still several glorious work-free days to enjoy, and that's the main thing! If only the sun would show up at some point that would be great.

Today's card is inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Retro Sketches. I didn't quite know what to do with this colour combo, and was going to skip it altogether but as I was cleaning my craft room (and that took a good while, trust me there, friends....) the lovely Critters on the Savanna caught my eye, and the rest as they say is history. Given that these colours were completely alien to me, I'm quite proud of how it turned out in the end. I was also inspired by the Birthday theme over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, they are celebrating six years of challenges. That's a lot longer than I have been making cards, so Happy Birthday Wednesday challenge, here's to many many more!! I also want to congratulate The Challenge on their one year anniversary by linking up with their Anything Goes challenge. Last but not least I'm also linking up at Crafty Creations Challenge where Anything Goes.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Tim Holtz Core'dinations Aged Mahogany, Hobbycraft 160 gms white card

Paper: Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper Pattern Stack Brights, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters on the Savanna and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany distress ink

Colouring: Copics E09, YG02, Y13, Y15, Y19

Other: Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle dies, Stampin' Up Hello You die

It's nearly chocoholiday!

I had a look at the calendar today. Not just a glance, I mean a proper look and I made an effort to engage my brain at the same time. This was a big effort for me, admittedly, but I came to the rather scary realisation that Chocolholiday (in some circles also known as Bunnyday, Chich-o-holiday or even Easter) is just around the corner. As in, a few weeks away! After Christmas it felt like it would be an eternity until Easter (aka the next break from work), and now it's almost upon us. I have spoiled myself by taking a day of annual leave each side of Easter making it a leisurely six day break with a three day work week on each side. I can't wait! I will spend the time in my craft room, chocolate bunnies at my side.

Of course chocoholiday means some chocoholiday cards are in order. Today's card was born inside my head while stuck in traffic yet again. Getting off the hospital site in 5 pm traffic is such a nightmare. And there are plans for new buildings (including relocation of another hospital to the site) with thousands of new jobs to appear on site over the years to come which will mean even more imaginary crafty time for me. Obviously the good thing of congestion traffic is that as long as I remember the current challenges that are out there, I can pre-design the cards in my head while stuck in traffic, and then it's a quick business of just putting them together once I'm actually in my craft room for real. Alternatively, I could take some stamps and markers in the car and sit there colouring away while waiting to move along. Oh well, for the safety of myself and others I may have to stick to imaginary crafting in the car. 

Anyhow, the inspiration for today's card was the Distress challenge over at Lawn Fawn, along with the inspiration image over at Curtain Call and the inspiration board over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. I am also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Animals, Creative Card Crew "Easter Critters", Artistic Inspirations Challenge "Anything goes with a twist of Easter" and Clear it Out challenge where the theme this week is Easter and stash item is pastel things (pastel distress inks, markers and cardstock).

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday inspiration board

I only have one proper Easter stamp set, and I have already used it for the last two years, so I wanted to change things up a bit so I went for non-Easter stamps. I made a mask for inking the egg using yellow, blue and pink distress ink. I love how the colours mix together to give greens and purples where the colours overlap. Then I stamped the bunny, birds and easter eggs and coloured them using watercolours and distress ink before fussy cutting them. Last, I stamped the sentiment in black ink and matted everything onto yellow card. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft Three Shades of Yellow 160 gsm card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past, Critters on the Savanna, Critters in the Arctic, Personal Impressions Easter 1

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry, Salted Ocean, Tim Holtz Distress markers in Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Salted Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Pumice Stone

Party on, you striped little zoo friend

It's been a crazy week, and spending time in the craft room unfortunately hasn't been a priority. Today the weather has been miserable, and I welcome the thunder storm as it gives me some time to play in the craft room, while I watch the skies weep and the thunder roll.

Today I wanted to make a cheery card, and ever since I saw that the theme for this week's CASology was "Stripes", I knew I wanted to make a card with the funky disco zebra I coloured on holiday. I was also inspired by the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where the theme this week is "Z is for Zoo" and I thought the psychedelic zebra would fit right in with all the funny animals the Sisters have created this week. I was also inspired by this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where we are asked to "Make it sparkle". 

I coloured one swirl from the Sweet Threads Spirals background stamp using Tim Holtz distress markers and stamped onto white cardstock. I printed the sentiment using free fonts Cutie Patootie and Hey Pretty Girl. I stamped the zebra using Staz-on onto watercolour paper and coloured using Tim Holtz Distress markers, and cut using the matching die. I used a punch to cut out the stars from silver paper. Not only did I add the sparkly silver stars, but as you can see from the close up photo below, the disco zebra also has a bit of sparkle in it's mane and tail. I also stamped inside the card. 

Cardstock: Silvery grey cardstock from my stash (ordered from eBay and has no indication of make on it), Hobbycraft 160 gsm white cardstock, Daler & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Glimmer Paper Silver

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters on the Savanna and matching die, Hero Arts Sweet Threads Spirals background stamp, Stampin' Up Banner Blast, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler

Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on and Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress markers in Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves and Squeezed Lemonade

Other: Tim Holtz distress stickles in Crushed Olive, Dusty Concorde, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmelade, Tumbled Glass and Worn Lipstick

Roaring savanna sunset

I love the Lawn Fawn stamp sets, one day I will have them all. I increased my collection from 1 set (Critters Ever After) to two after I received the aaahh so cute Critters on the Savanna set. There is so much you can do with these cute little guys, but this time I was inspired by three challenges. First of all, I saw the savanna sunset in this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch (below). Also, I saw the savanna sunset colours in this weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is themed Not So Mellow Yellow. Indeed, not very mellow, with that big roaring cat sitting there in the middle of it all! And third, this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is Anything goes but with the amazing and inspiring DT using Lawn Fawn stamps, I felt like I should join in the fun.

I started with creating the sunset using Tim Holtz distress inks, ink blending tools and masks. I then stamped the critters in black ink and fussycut using scissors. They were sponged with Black Soot ink enough so that they would look like shadows against the sunset, but still showing those cute details through the ink. For the sentiment, I used a scrap piece from my stash that I have created earlier using Tim Holtz distress paints onto watercolour paper. I attached the sentiment onto my block in a wavy pattern. Lastly, I stamped some grass in black onto the savanna, and adhered everything into place and onto yellow carstock. I have to admit, I'm a teeny weeny bit proud of the colours of the sunset, I absolutely love playing with the distress inks. The way they layer, blend and make such a lively and vivid result is just amazing. And it's fun to get your hands literally dirty too!

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white cardstock, Daler&Rowney 190 gsm watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight cardstock
Inks: Hobbycraft black pigment ink, Tim Holtz distress inks in Aged Mahogany, Black Soot, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmelade, Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters of the Savanna