Rainbow Party on a Cloud

Two cards in two days! I haven't managed that for a long time. But to be honest, today I used crafting as a procrastination tool - plenty of windows downstairs needing a wash, not to mention skirting boards needing a good wiping. I have also spent the morning procrastinating in another way - my long awaited Fitbit finally arrived last night (first I was annoyed at Amazon for taking so long to ship it, but when they finally shipped it, it actually arrived the same day so I that turned me back into a happy customer). And boy is it fun! I have been spending time setting it up, linking it up with my food tracker and other fun stuff. I had some trouble setting it up initially, throwing my toys out of the pram, but now that it's all up and running it's really addictive. Now I'm just waiting for this wretched cold to pass so I can start accumulating exercise as well. I don't believe you actually need toys like this to get in shape but for me being very resisting to any efforts of eating healthier or doing exercise I'm hoping it will be the boost to get me a bit fitter in a fun way. Also, I can't wait to see how many flights of stairs I climb per day as my office is on the fifth floor, and I usually always take the stairs, going in an out of the office multiple times a day because of meetings. I know, my life is very boring when things like this get me all excited.

Anyhow, on to the more interesting stuff. Today's card is inspired by a bunch of challenges. First off, I wanted to play along with the current Lawnscaping challenge where the theme is Sparkle It Up. I was also inspired by the great sketch over at RetroSketches. I'm also playing along with Daring Cardmakers where the theme is Paint the Rainbow and with the big 2 year Birthday Bash over at AAA Cards, happy second birthday AAA, here's to many more!!

I started my card by die cutting the various elements - the clouds, the frame and the rainbow. Then I stamped the cute unicorn and Dragon from Critters Ever After as well as some party paraphernalia from Party Animal and coloured with Copics in the same colour scheme as the rainbow. Then it was a great big puzzle to play with the various elements to create the scene. Last, I die cut the sentiment from the same glitter paper as the rainbow and adhered everything onto white card. 

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, glitter card in various colours from my stash, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and Party Animal with matching dies

Ink and colouring: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Square Frame, Happy Birthday Border, Puffy Cloud Border, Rainbow 

Critter birthday in the woods

What an insanely crazy week. Working towards our project's big Quarterly review on Friday, and there simply isn't enough hours in a day for anything else than reports, slide shows, emails and a bit of sleep in between. However, today I decided to finish a card I have been creating bit by bit for the current Lawnscaping challenge "Calling all critters". So I thought the critters would hang out in the forest and have a great birthday party with party hats and cupcakes! I love combining the various Lawn Fawn Stamp set and have used five different sets here, along with some lovely Lawn Fawn patterned papers. And sadly, it's back to writing reports now, any further crafting will have to wait until the weekend. 

I'm also linking up with the Unicorn Challenge where the theme is polka dots and the Critters and Creatures Linky Party where anything goes with a cute critter. 

Card: 300 gsm white card 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest, Critters in the Arctic, Party Animals, Joy to the Woods, Hats off to You and matching dies

Inks and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow, Let's Polka, Perfectly Plaid

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Frame, Stitched Hillside Borders, Grassy border and Happy Birthday Border 

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 Birthday from the Party Animals

Well it's been pouring with rain all day today. What a shame,  I was so looking forward to going for a run (I hope the sarcasm comes through even though you can't hear the intonation in my voice or my expression...). Instead I have been more or less locked up in my craft room all day. Not a bad way to spend the day at all! 

Today's card is inspired by the current CAS(E) this Sketch and ColourQ. Im also linking up with Stamping Sensations where anything goes as long as it has a stamping, Simply Create Too where the theme is Special Occasion and Addicted to Stamps where the theme is CAS. This is quickly becoming yet another favourite Lawn Fawn set. I created the background by making a square mask from some scrap paper, coloured the Stampin' Up Brushstrokes stamp using markers and stamped through the mask. I coloured the critters using Copics and die cut them using the matching dies. Last, I created a sentiment using the Happy Birthday border die from a scrap piece of turquoise card, and die cut the front panel using Stitched Rectangles dies.

Card: White 300 gsm card, white 300 gsm linen textured card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animals and matching dies, Stampin' Up Brushstrokes
Ink and colouring: Stampin' Write markers Bermuda Bay, Wisteria Wonder, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Happy Birthday border die

White embossing in a twisted citron kind of way

I have been contemplating my crafting lately. In fact, I have been contemplating more than crafting, which I'm sure is the wrong way around. I've been contemplating the justification of putting as much money into this hobby as I have in the last few years. I have been contemplating Facebook and other services constantly telling me I should grow my blog, advertise it, reach out to get more followers. But I don't want to! I'm perfectly happy doing this as a hobby, and I am not the type of person who wants to push my blog anywhere it doesn't want to go naturally. I just want Facebook to leave me alone, stop showing me those horrible "advertise your blog here" things. They stress me out. I have been contemplating whether my cards have "a look". Whether my cards would be recognisable as my cards. I have started to feel that after more than two years of crafting I have started to find my own look, at least in my head. It's all about watercolours and bright colours and cute critters and die cut sentiments and stitched die cuts and clean and simple designs. Most of the time. I think. At least that's how it's all in my head. Anyhow, they are my cards so if I say I have a look, that must be how it is. Right? Oh well, I take myself way too seriously most of the time.

I didn't take this birthday card too seriously though. I just stamped and watercoloured and had fun with the little Lawn Fawn party stamps. Too bad it was quite tricky to photograph, and it does look much better live than it does in the picture. I seem to have the crafting bit down a bit better than the photography bit.

I was inspired by the embossing challenge over at Lawnscaping.  I was also inspired by this weeks Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Citrus with a twist, which made me choose some very uncharacteristic colours for me. I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. FMS is celebrating the 200th sketch with a major, major challenge and a huge amount of sponsor prizes. Happy 200th FMS, and here's to many more!

I stamped a mix of the small party stamps from the Lawn Fawn Party Animal set in Versamark onto watercolour paper (I have to start buying that stuff in bulk!) which I had die cut with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and heat embossed them in white powder. Then I took Tim Holtz distress markers in Squeezed Lemon, Twisted Citron, Pistachio Pudding and Peacock Feathers and smudged them onto a clear block. I picked up the ink with a watercolour brush and just played around to create the background. I die cut the sentiment from a leftover piece of coloured paper I had created with Tim Holtz distress paints for my crazy bird and doughnut card here. I then double heat embossed the sentiment with holographic powder before attaching onto the card. I attached the coloured panel with foam pads onto some linen textured card. For a little subtle bling, I added a few sequins in the same colour scheme as the card. I hope you like the card as much as I do, it's simple but I have to say it turned out quite nice, didn't it. Oh well, I'm off now to enjoy bread week on the Great British Bakeoff!

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animal
Ink: Versamark, Tim Holtz Squeezed Lemonade, Pistachio Pudding, Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle and Happy Birthday border dies, sequins from my stash, Papermania Seafoam White and Holographic embossing powder

Longing for minimalism

I have been thinking a lot about all my stuff lately. Living in a big house, it's so easy to just accumulate stuff. Most of it completely unnecessary (and note that I'm not including my crafty stash in this discussion, it's another topic). My Mum has gone through a big phase of getting rid of things. Just things that you hang onto although they aren't important. My partner is a hoarder. He can't get rid of anything. Me, I'm slowly starting to come around to the thought of less is more. I have sold some of my clothes on eBay, just stuff I know I will never fit into again. Next I need to do the same with shoes, you know those shoes that are so pretty but at the same time so incredibly uncomfortable and you know they will never be worn again. And what about DVDs? I never watch DVDs anymore. If I want to watch something, I will stream it. But at the same time, I have a nagging thought at the back of my mind reminding me of how much money I have spent on all the things I own. It seems wasteful to get rid of them. But then you stop and think - are these things important? Do they make me happy? Would I miss them if I got rid of them? And the answer is very clear.

I did a bit of cleaning today, just some cupboards full of stuff that I threw in there when we moved into the house, and have not thought about since. After some re-arranging I found that I have over 30 bottles of various hair styling products. And I'm a wash and brush type of gal, I maybe use one product here and there but I think I have enough hair styling products until I die... I have 10 bottles of toothpaste. This is because I bring Finnish toothpaste with me whenever I go home. Let's not get into it, it's just better... But I didn't realise I already have a huge stash, I just keep adding to it. This is the trouble with stashing things. You will lose sight of what you have and just add to it. I'm so incredibly annoyed with myself for letting this happen. Again, it's not things I will throw away as they will be useful eventually, but I will work hard on not adding anything to my huge stash of stuff until I know what I have and I will make sure I will try to use them all up before I buy new things. 

Anyhow, my card today is also a bit minimalistic. I had an idea in my head, and the card didn't quite turn out as I wanted it, but I can't quite put my finger on what went wrong. I was browsing Pinterest earlier and got a horrible inferiority complex. All those gorgeous cards out there that I wish I had made. And then my stuff turns out a bit... naff. Oh well, all you can do is practice, practice and practice even more. Maybe one day!

I made a shaker card using all the little birthday related things in Lawn Fawn's Party Animal set. It's one of those thin shaker cards so the things inside the shaker don't move around very much. It's so that it can easily be posted. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Lawnscaping - Inspired by Colour
CAS(E) This Sketch - Sketch #133
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers - S is for Shaker
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Sparkle and Shine

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

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animal and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Colouring: Copics, Tim Holtz Distress markers

Other: Lawn Fawn Happy Birthday border die, Ranger Ice Stickles, Stitched Circle dies, Stitched Rectangle dies

Happy birthday over the rainbow

I made myself extremely proud the other day as I managed to change the light bulb on my car light. Without any help whatsoever from the Culinary Consultant. I was so proud of myself I skipped back into the house from the driveway. It may be a bit silly, but cars are such a mystery to me even small things make me feel very accomplished.

I have felt a bit less accomplished in the craft room this week as last night was the first time all week I had some time to craft. I just received the Lawn Fawn Rainbow die, so of course I had to give it a trial run. I thought a little birthday scene above the clouds would be perfect for the current Lawnscaping challenge where the theme is Sparkle and Shine. I would also like to link up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Furry Friends. I'm not sure if dragons are furry, but unicorns certainly are! I'm also linking up with Time Out Challenges where the theme is Nature with an added twist of animals. Again, I'm sure unicorns and dragons are animals, even if imaginary ones.

Card: 300 gsm white hammered card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After, Year Four, Hats Off To You and matching dies

Colouring: Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Rainbow and Happy Birthday Border dies, Ranger Ice stickles, Papermania adhesive gems from my stash