Happy International Women's Day!!

Hi everyone! Happy International Women's Day!! I want to dedicate today's post to all the amazing women out there who make the online crafting community such a wonderful space. Thank you all of you for being there for each other and for sending wonderful and supportive comments to each other. In all the horribleness that is the Internet and the world in general today, I find it encouraging that we can have this community where we focus on supporting each other and sharing our creativity. I fully welcome all and any men into our community as well, don't get me wrong. I'm so happy we have strong male crafty role models too like the amazing Tim Holtz who clearly has done a lot to also introduce men to the crafting world. But I still think it's amazing that at large, we are a community of women who spend time not on criticizing each other or putting each other down but lifting each other up!

So I admit today's card isn't specifically a Women's Day card, it's, in fact, a wedding card. I used the snowy backdrop stamp from snow cool to create the background for the card, stamping the snow at the bottom and top of the card, heat embossing in gold. I then stamped more of the snow on another card, adding the glasses, bubbles and little heart from Happy Wedding and heat embossed everything in gold again. Then I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the panel, attached it to a doily and finished everything with a die-cut sentiment from STAMPlorations Everyday Sentiments.

I think we should raise a glass in honour of all the wonderful women out in the world, doing their thing whether it be being business leaders, politicians, stay-at-home mums, students, artists or whatever else they feel is their calling in life. I hope you'll join me and send love to as many wonderful women as possible today!

And now I'm off to visit the blogs of wonderful crafty women bloggers out there, and I hope you will do the same!!

I'm playing along with  Lawn Fawnatics - Inspired by a book, movie or a song (Champagne Supernova by Oasis, and how is it that this song is from 1995? how old am I? :) and
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - B is for Booze (sorry no snark this time...)

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding, Snow Cool

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Stackables, STAMPlorations Everyday Sentiments

Fiery Birthday Mandala

Do you remember when you first started making cards and thought it would be such a great way to save money? Never having to buy any cards at Clintons ever again for a full two or three pounds? Before you realised that when you divide the thousands of pounds you have spent on craft stash by the number of cards you have made, you get a figure somewhere in the neighbourhood of £60 (purely fictional example, don't ask me where those numbers come from...)? Don't worry, we have all been there! This is a safe space where we can all admit we have a problem. And encourage each other to never get better!!

But sometimes it's great when you find exactly what you need in your stash to create just the card you need, not having to buy anything new and able to create just the card you imagined. It almost brings back that warm and fuzzy dream of saving money by making your own cards! 

I needed a birthday card for a colleague and I didn't have anything I deemed suitable in my stash (it's the same feeling as having a cupboard full of clothes but nothing to wear...). Quick and easy enough for a weeknight craft session. I think it turned out quite nice. I hope my colleague will like it too. I even made an envelope to match. The stamping is done using the faux watercolour technique. I coloured the Simon Says Stamp Elizabeth Background stamp with Distress Markers, spritzed with water and stamped. I added some splatters to the card, and used a sentiment die from Lawn Fawn.

I'm linking up with 
CAS on Friday - use die cut words
Fusion card challenge - I was inspired by the red and yellow colours and the wrought iron  handrail on the house, which I think looks a bit like the black die-cut letters
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Stamp It
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Stamp It
Crafting Happiness - Birthday
Inkspirational - Crop (I took this to mean cropped off the edge of the card)

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Elizabeth Background Hey Love
Dies: Lawn Fawn Happy Birthday Line Border die
Colouring: Tim Holtz Distress markers Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Ripe Persimmon, Festive Berries

Happy First Birthday

Boy cards... so hard. Except for little boys who turn one, nothing but super cute smiling dinosaurs! I've had this stamp set for ages, and it always makes me smile. I also love making smooshing backgrounds using Distress Oxides. I think the colours are just right on this card, even if I do say so myself.

I started by creating a background with Distress Oxide Smooshing.  I stamped the cute-o-saurus and palm tree from Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past and coloured with Copics. I die cut the sun using a Lawn Fawn die from Lawn Fawn Let's Polka patterned paper. The '1' is die cut using a Tim Holtz die.

I'm linking up this card with the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers - Whatever the weather

The Crafters Cafe - Animal and/or ATC

Cut It Up - Critters, must include die cut

Inspire.Create - Birthday 

Always Fun Challenges - Mood board (I was inspired by the colours and the texture in the top middle image which I think looks exactly like the ink smooshing)

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past and matching dies

Dies: Lawn Fawn April Showers, Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip Alphabet Die - Inside Out by Tim Holtz

Ink and colouring: Tim Holz Distress Oxides, Copics, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Happy Wedding

We are going to our friends' wedding this weekend, and I realised I don't have any wedding cards in my stash. How is it possible that despite having dozens and dozens of cards, there is never a suitable one when you need one? Oh well, that just gave me an excuse to spend some time in the craft room, something I rarely make time for during the week.

To create my card, I used the super cute Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding stamps and Stitched Rectangle dies. I also used some of my gorgeously beautiful hand-made (not by me though!) paper which has a stunningly beautiful texture and a delicate, slightly rose tint (you can't really see the paper in all it's beauty as I just about managed to snap the pictures in what was left of the evening light. I heat embossed everything in gold as this matched the wedding invite. I did some minimal colouring on the cake in the front using a pink Copic, a silver Sharpie and a white gel pen. I also stamped a sentiment inside the card and heat embossed the wedding cake on the envelope.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Scrap From Your Heart - Wedding

Addicted To Stamps And More - Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes

Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Nesting Dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Copics, Sharpies, White Gel pen

Rainbows, Rainbows, Rainbows

Long time no see! How are you? Has spring caught up with you yet? The daffodils are already in bloom in the garden and the conservatory is nice and warm in the afternoon. And it's getting lighter in the mornings which is great, it's just that little bit easier to head off to work when it isn't completely pitch dark.  

I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that you can never have too many unicorns or rainbows in your life. So I thought I would send a few countless rainbows your way today.

Today's card is inspired by several challenges. Firstly, I cannot resist a good rainbow so I had to play along with the current Fusion challenge. I'm also linking up with Lawn Fawnatics where the theme is "What's the weather" and Just Us Girls where the theme is Birthday. 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Unicorn and matching die

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, Rainbow, Puffy Cloud Border die, Simple Puffy Clouds, Simple Puffy Cloud Frames, Happy Birthday Line Border

Ink and Colouring: Distress Paints, Copics, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, gold and silver Sharpie

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka, Let's Polka in the Dark, Really Rainbow, silver glitter card

Welcome Baby Girls

I created this card a while ago for a friend who was having twin baby girls. I have completely forgotten to blog about it and thought now is a good time with all the heart/love themed challenges.

I stamped the cute balloons from STAMPlorations Tweet Love and watercoloured with Distress Inks. I also splattered watercolours onto the panel for added interest. I added a sentiment from Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under. I die cut the second part of the sentiment using Lawn Fawn Cole's ABCs, using a piece of cardstock inked with the same colours I used for colouring the balloons. I die cut the panel using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die. I die cut a piece of patterned paper from Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Spring using the Scalloped Rectangle dies for added colour.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

Brown Sugar - Love and/or Valentine's day

Simply Create Too - ATG/optional twist of hearts

Cute Card Thursday - ATG

Crafty Gals Corner - CAS

Unicorn Challenge - Include a Heart

Dragonfly Dreams - Include a Heart

Stamps: STAMPlorations Tweet Love, Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under

Dies: Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Cole's ABCs

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Baked With Love

It's been a while since I had time for relaxing fun in the craft room. Recently I spent time trying to clear out unused stuff as I had to downsize my storage to make room for a bigger vivarium for my not-so-little-anymore snake baby. But I decided to interrupt all the cleaning and clearing out to take time to just craft for fun.

When I saw the inspiration photos over at Just Add Ink and The Card Concept, I immediately knew which stamp set to reach for. I was also inspired by the "Up to One Third" theme over at AAA Cards, and I used quite a lot of masking to create the rows of cupcakes too. Last but not least I'm also linking up over at Lawn Fawnatics where the theme is "Lots of Love" and City Crafter Challenge Blog where the theme is "Cupcake(s)".

 

 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Baked With Love

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Christmas Night Dreams

Yes, it's another Christmas card... What can I say. Less than 20 days to go! Are you getting super energised or exhausted? I'm a bit all over the place. I look forward to spending the weekend with my sister as I haven't seen her in ages! The project I'm working on is coming to an end and I naively thought that as we get to the end the workload would start easing off. More fool me! And on top of long days at work, I'm applying for new jobs. Writing applications and doing interviews almost counts as a second job! I'm sure it will all end well, but I'm not very good with change, so while it's all going on I find it exhausting. I feel like I want to sleep for a week. 

Anyhow, nothing like a crafty break to take my mind off everything that is going on. I was inspired by the inspiration image over at Fusion. I'm also linking up over at Lawn Fawnatics where the theme is Winter Holiday, Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is B is for (blue in this case) and Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where the theme is W is for Winter (sorry - no snark this time).

Card: 200 gsm white card, scrap of dark green and red card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Skies and matching dies

Dies: Lawn Fawn Forest Border, Stitched Hillside, Scripty Merry die

Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Copics

Other: Wow White embossing powder

Snowflake Trio

Pushing on with the Christmas cards! I started with the idea for this design and created the blue card first, but then I thought a really neutral colour scheme could work well. And then I remembered the gorgeous hand-made paper I was gifted quite a while back and which I think is way too nice to actually use. But I did use the corner of a sheet to die cut the beautiful Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes. It looks quite beige in the pictures, but it's actually quite light in colour. I just love the slightly patchy, natural look of the paper and it feels absolutely gorgeous, almost velvety.

I'm linking up this card over at CAS on Friday where the theme is Washi tape and Time Out where the theme is Black, White and one more colour

I'm linking up this card over at AAA Cards where the theme is Mostly White and Make My Monday where the theme is Nontraditional Christmas Colours.

Card: White 200 gsm card, handmade tan paper, light blue shimmer paper, scrip of black card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes, Mini Snowflakes, Scripty Merry Christmas Border

Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Tim Holtz Salty Ocean 

Other: Adhesive gems from my stash, Stampin' Up Washi Tape

Snowy Penguins

Usually by this time of year I have all my Christmas cards more or less sorted. Not this year. Not even close! I suspect this will be a year when some of the old, store-bought, cards up in the loft may need to supplement the handmade ones (oh the horror!). Oh well, if you get a hand-made card from me this year, you are in the top tier of my favourite people. I'm confident in writing that on the blog as I suspect of all the recipients of my Christmas cards, only my Mum reads this blog.

Today's card was inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at Crimbo Crackers where Anything Goes. 

Card and patterned paper: white 200 gsm card, scrap of aqua Stampin' Up card, Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Snow Cool and matching dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Other: Papermania Silver embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside border dies

Twofer Wreath

I always mean to play along with the Twofer challenge when I see it pop up on my blog feed, and then the next thing I know I see the winner's post. I have no idea where the days go right now, it seems like the last two months have been going past in extra fast forward. There are so many things going on, both at work and with family and I can't keep up. One of the things which unfortunately always suffer is crafty time. Today I decided to ignore all the dust around the house and spend a few hours in art therapy, a healthy mind is more important right now than a clean house.

So today I finally managed to play along with this month's Twofer challenge where the theme is wreath. I created a Christmas card and new home one. I love the little Lawn Fawn wreath die, but don't use it enough. My Christmas card was also inspired by the colour challenge over at Lawn Fawnatics. I recently ordered the Really Rainbow paper, but haven't had a chance to use it yet so it was a great reason to break out the paper. I'm a really bad paper hoarder so I tried to use various bits and bobs from my patterned paper drawer (I have a full drawer of just Lawn Fawn patterned paper which only seems to grow).

For my first card I used a light grey card base and Really Rainbow Christmas patterned paper. I die cut the wreath out of the paper as well and used a scrap of polka dot pink paper for the bow and the berries on the wreath. I also stamped the Christmas presents from Toboggan Together and coloured them to go with the colours on the patterned paper. 

For my second card I created a scene with a door with a wreath and a dog sitting outside as I thought it would be a nice little scene for a happy new home card. I die cut the door from Knock on Wood paper using the Stitched Rectangle dies and die cut a bigger rectangle from yellow paper from the same set for the background. I coloured the pooch with Copics and stamped the banner from Bannerific onto Knit Picky patterned paper. The sentiment is a combination of a few different sentiments as I realised I don't have any stamp set with a "happy new home" sentiment. I'm also linking this card up over at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is "It's raining cats and dogs"

Card and patterend paper: White 200gsm card, Neenah Solar white, light grey card, Lawn Fawn Knit Picky, Knock on Wood, Really Rainbow Christmas and scraps of Perfectly Plaid Fall, Perfectly Plaid Christmas and Let's Polka Mon Amie
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Bannerific, Critters at the Dog Park and Toboggan Together and matching dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stitched Circle dies, Mini Wreath

Starry Sky Bunnies

Just a quick post today to link up with a few starry sky related challenges. I tried something a bit different with inking up the moon and the sky on black card using Distress Inks and then adding plenty of Ice Stickles to the moon and stars. 

I'm linking up with a few challenges:

AAA Cards - Moonlight 

Lawn Fawnatics - Bling It Out

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Starry Night

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Animal Antics

Card and paper: White 200 gsm card, black card, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark, Perfectly Paid Rainbow, Perfectly Plaid Fall

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Starry Skies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxides, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Grassy Border Die

Other: Gold embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles

Christmas Moon

I recently went a bit crazy and ordered a huge batch of Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. Oh, how I remember thinking that making my own cards would be such a great idea to save money. Makes me laugh every time. I think I once worked out that my cards come out at about £30 each... I hope the recipients appreciate them. My partner just rolls his eyes every time I get a new delivery. But I'm preaching to the choir here, right?

Anyhow, among many, many, other things, I ordered the Lawn Fawn Winter Skies and Wish Upon a Star stamp sets which are so adorable. And this morning I saw that this week's Just Us Girls challenge is Celestial Elements. So instead of cleaning my kitchen, I made this card!

I've been doing a lot of blending with Distress Oxides lately but this time I dug out the trusty old Distress Inks and I do love the vibrancy of the colours. I had so much fun inking the moon and the night sky in Peacock Feather, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot. I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber for the moon. I heat embossed the stars in white after ensuring the ink had dried thoroughly and liberally using my embossing buddy all over the sky (don't ask me how I know...). I die cut the pieces for the scenery and coloured the adorable bears and their big scarf with Copics. Don't they just look so cosy sitting there, gazing upon the winter sky?

I'm also linking up over at ABC Christmas Challenge where the theme is U is for Upon (or V is for Very Quick, which this card definitely was not), Christmas Crafts All Year Round where the theme is Santa, Elf or Fairy, Crimbo Crackers and Sweet Stampin' Christmas where the theme is Anything Goes.

Card: Neenah Solar white card, white shimmer card, scraps of green and red card from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Skies, Wish Upon A Star

Dies: Lawn Fawn Forest border, Stitched Hillside borders, Scripty Merry

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feather, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot, Copics

Other: WOW white embossing powder

Rest In Peace Monty

Earlier this week our lovely little ball python Monty passed away. This made me incredibly sad, although I suspect it was even harder for my partner who has spent almost 15 years with Monty, more than twice the time he's spent with me! I created a little picture in his memory, my interpretation of what snake heaven would look like. I think it helped me work through some of the sadness.

I'm linking up my little shrine over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Anything But a Card, Daring Cardmakers where the theme is pets and Make My Monday where the theme is animals.

I started by creating the sky by blending Distress Oxides and heat embossed the stars from Lawn Fawn Upon a star onto the night sky. I die cut the puffy clouds from vellum. I stamped my images onto white card, coloured with Copics and die cut with the matching dies. Last, I composed my scene, adhered all the pieces and splattered the night sky with gold watercolour before mounting the scene in a picture frame. 

Card: white 200 gsm card, Hobbycraft 190 gms white card, vellum from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Jungle (and matching dies), Upon A Star, Critters from the Past (and matching dies), Wheelie Like You (and matching dies)

Dies: Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border, 

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Distress Oxides 

Other: Gold embossing powder

Thanks A Latte

I've been enjoying a fantastic luxury for the last few weeks, I've been working four-day weeks. This is the life, I'll tell you. I had managed to not use all my annual leave days so I decided to use the last few to just take Fridays off. I wish I could keep doing this indefinitely as I have been enjoying really slow Fridays at home, reading a book for a few hours in the morning while drinking big cups of coffee on the sofa, then moving upstairs to my craft room to spend the rest of the day there. I genuinely meant to spend these days cleaning the house and clearing things off my to-do list, but let's just call these my mental health days and ignore all that dust in the corners, right? 

My card is inspired by the inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. My choice of patterned paper was inspired by the blankets in the inspiration photo and I was also inspired by the leaves and the colours scheme of oranges, reds and teal. I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, the Awesome Autumn theme over at Lawn Fawnatics and the Thank you theme over at CAS on Friday.

Card and patterned paper: Teal 250 gsm card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, watercolour card, scrap of red card, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall, Knit Picky

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte and matching dies, Claire's ABCs

Ink and Colouring: Distress Inks, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves, Scripty Thanks

Autumn Jam

Today I have something a bit different to share. In the last week or so we have been overwhelmed by the number of plums our plum tree has produced, and which have fallen to the ground as a result of storm Ali. We had so many plums we didn't know what to do with them, our kitchen was full of tubs filled with plums. I've eaten so many plums lately I'm happy to wait until next plum season before I have any more, as delicious as they were. I've baked several plum cakes, and we made a batch of boozy plum marmalade (nothing like a bit of brandy to enhance that lovely plum flavour). I decorated a jar of marmalade to give to a friend. 

I used Stampin' Up and Lawn Fawn patterned paper to decorate the jar, and Lawn Fawn dies to cut leaves for decoration. I used a scrap of card I had inked earlier with Distress Oxides and added some hand lettering to create a label. Last, I added some twine. 

I'm linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is "It's a Wrap" and Make My Monday where the theme is autumn colours.

Twofer Leaves

Last month when I played along with the Twofer challenge I got it wrong and didn't follow all the rules so let's try again. The idea is to use the same stamp or dies to make two cards. This time I used the Lawn Fawn Leaf dies for two different cards. For my coffee card I used the dies to die cut some card I had inked up by smooshing Distress Oxides. For my other card I used the dies to create a stencil which I inked Distress Oxides through. Hopefully this is in line with the rules!

This card was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and I'm also linking up over at Just Add Ink where the theme is Just add K (in my case kraft card)

My second card was inspired by the image over at Just Us Girls. As I added some adhesive gems from my stash, I'm also linking it up over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Bling It On.

Card: White 250 gsm card, watercolour card, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid and Perfectly Plaid fall, scrap of kraft card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte, Sending Hedgehugs and matching dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxide, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves
Other: Burlap twine from my stash, adhesive gems from my stash