The Sisterhood Of Snarky Stampers - T is for Tissue

I am so excited to be guesting over at one of my favourite challenges - The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. I had so much fun playing with Becca's llamas for their F is for Farm challenge that my llamas won me the coveted crown of Queen of Snark which I have been wearing with great pride the past week (just imagine the looks I get at work...). The bonus prize is that I get to guest design with the fabulous Sisters for their new challenge themed T is for Tissue. You can see poor Edna feeling a bit under the weather with one of the many winter bugs we have had going around, I hope she feels better soon. I took the liberty to interpret the challenge in a slightly different way and decided instead that T is for Tissue paper Tutu!

I started by stamping one of the Flamingos from Lawn Fawn's Flamingo Together, colouring with Copics and die cutting using the matching die. I then took a few small pieces of pink tissue paper, layering them, glueing them together and scrunching them up to look like a mini tutu. Then I fussy cut the wing of the flamingo so that I could attach the tutu to the back of the wing. I also die cut the crown using gold glitter card and a die from Critters Ever After, adding some adhesive gems to it. I didn't have a stamp with the sentiment I wanted to use so I printed most of it onto white shimmery card and then stamped the word Pigeons using Violet's ABCs in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. Then I splattered some Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry ink onto the card and die cut it with a Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle. Last, I added the card front to some ombre pink/purple card, adding the flaming to the card front and decorating the layers of the tutu with Ranger Ice Stickles.

Card: White shimmer card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card, gold glitter card, ombre pink card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Flamingo Together and matching dies, Violet's ABCs

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Copics

Other: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and Stitched Rectangles dies, Papermania silver embossing powder, adhesive gems from my stash, pink tissue paper from my stash, adhesive pink gems from my stash

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

Cheer up, buttercup

I can't say it's been the most beautiful autumn day today, but although the skies have been grey, the rains have kept away and we spent a few hours in the garden. The results are a big bowl of apples which need to be turned into stewed apple, thee cucumbers and a huge bowl of tomatoes of various sizes and colours which I'm hoping to turn into a bit of tomato sauce. I'm so gutted that the tomato crops this year have been abysmal, last year we had enough tomatoes to keep us in tomato sauce for a year, and this year we hardly had any and all have been consumed as soon as they have been picked. But we did have an exceptional harvest of cherries, apricots and figs, so I'm not complaining. And there are plenty of apples and pears, I'm just happily picking the fruit straight from the tree and eating it standing right there in my garden. True happiness! 

I did get a chance to play in the craft room as well. Today's card is my second entry for the CAS-ology Silly challenge. I absolutely love this theme, and I have to admit I once again turned to my beloved Crazy Birds. The round sad looking is my absolute favourite of the bunch (shhh, don't tell the others!). I thought he could do with a bit of accessorising. The layout was inspired by the sketch over at My Favourite Things, and the colours are from the current ColourQ. I'm also linking up at Allsorts where the theme is No designer paper, Chocolate, Coffe and Cards where the theme is animals and Crazy 4 Challenges where the theme is costumed characters. 

There's nothing very high tech about this card, I die cut a panel of watercolour paper using Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles dies and stamped the sentiments and bird using Staz-On Jet black ink. The first part of the sentiment is stamped using the Stampin' Up Alphabet Rotary stamp and the second part using Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs. I like creating my own personalised sentiments to go with the cards I make, sometimes you just don't have an appropriate sentiment in your existing sets. Which reminds me I do want to buy at least one more alphabet stamp set, I am loving the Lawn Fawn ones as they have multiple copies of most letters so you can create the whole sentiment you need in one go instead of having to stamp one letter at a time. I watercoloured the birdie and his (I don't know why the birds are all male to me, but they just are...) accessories using Stampin' Write markers in Tangerine Tango, Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive (I don't have Kiwi Kiss). I then used the same markers to colour three stripes from the Stampin' Up Brushstrokes background stamp for the background and adhered the front panel with foam adhesive. I also stamped a sentiment inside the card which I thought would go with the theme of the card.

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour card

Stamps: Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Crazy Things and matching dies, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs, Stampin' Up Alphabet Rotary stamp, Brushstrokes

Ink: Staz-on Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango, Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Spectacular is what you are

I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday. I have lots of plans for the weekend. Among other things I am planning to sleep in late, lay on the sofa like a vegetable, read a book, eat chocolate and maybe some cake, and sleep some more. I'm going to be very busy indeed! 

Today's card involved lots of fun stamping. I was inspired by the Silly theme over at CASology, and thought the glasses from the Crazy Things  stamp set would bring the perfect silliness together with the custom made sentiment using Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs. The layout is inspired by this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colour combo is inspired by this week's colour swatch over at Color Throwdown.

Card: 300 gsm white linen card, Vanguard VA017 Ivory card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Crazy Things, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABC
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up So Saffron, Pistachio Pudding
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

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

Crafts Galore Encore June Challenge

And here we are, it's summer already. How is that possible, when it was just the cold and dark of winter? These monthly challenges really make me notice the passing of time. I'm enjoying our beautiful garden and the fact that it's light in the morning and evening. Everything just seems easier when it's light outside. I'm trying not to focus too much on the fact that soon we will be at midsummer, and it will start getting dark again.

Anyhow, on to the main thing. A new month means a new challenge over at Crafts Galore Encore. We are making it easy for you this month with an Anything Goes challenge so there is no excuse not to link up with us. Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Beccy's Place. You can find inspiration from the DT over at Crafts Galore Encore to get you going and see the wonderful images in action.

I used the lovely Blossom Sprig digi for my card. The great thing about digi stamps is that you can re-size and rotate them as you wish and I thought the blossoms would be a beautiful frame for a sentiment. I printed the blossoms onto vellum and die cut with a stitched die. I coloured the images using Blendabilities on the back of the vellum. I used the Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs set to create the sentiment. I love that there are multiple stamps of the letters in the alphabet set so you can create the whole sentiment and stamp in one go. I stamped the sentiment using Versamark and heat embossed in gold. All that was needed was a elegant paper for the background, and I think the Stampin' Up Gold Soiree Speciality DSP was the perfect choice. A very quick and easy, but elegant card. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:

Beccy's Place - Use any Beccy's image

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes

Clear it Out - Girly card, use die cuts or punches (the vellum is die cut using a stitched rectangle die, although it doesn't show very well on the photo)

Daring Cardmakers - Mirror Images

Sistehood of Snarky Stampers - V is for Vellum

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - Anything goes as long as using patterned paper

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goess

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

Paper: Stampin' Up Gold Soiree Speciality DSP

Stamps: Beccy's Place Blossom Sprig, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs

Ink: Versamark

Other: Gold embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

It would be rude not to...

If you get a stamp set as a birthday present, it would be completely rude not to make a thank you card for the person giving the gift using said stamp set. Am I right or am I right? My sister does know how to spoil me with the perfect present (me sending her a wish-list of stamp sets I would love to receive had nothing to do with it, I'm sure). And the cute Critters Down Under, along with the Critters at the Dog Park which was also included in the gift set were a perfect complement to my very animal themed birthday.

My inspiration for this card was the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I was also inspired by the "Animal" theme over at Addicted to CAS. The challenge over at Lawnscaping in "Try a new technique", but they do say you are also allowed to use a new product. And products don't get much more new than this, I opened my birthday present and started stamping within about a microsecond. Last but not least I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is "Thank You".

Card: White 300 gsm hammered white card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under and matching dies, Violet's ABCs

Ink: Versamark Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy, Mowed Lawn, Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone, Forest Moss

Other: Lawn Fawn Say Cheese

Hang in there

I finally managed to find a little crafting time. When I was driving home from the gym today I just got this overwhelming urge to craft something, despite the fact that my crafting room is in a horrible mid-re-arrangement-mess. I literally just pushed some stuff off the edge of the desk to make room for a mini crafting session. And now it's time to continue with the re-arranging so that one day, hopefully soon, I will have my desk cleared so that I can actually do some proper crafting again.

I had more or less designed this card in my head on my way home from the gym. All I needed was a bit of colour inspiration to get me going. And I came across just that over at Just Add Ink. I'm also linking up at Addicted to Stamps where the theme is CAS and Clean and Simple on Sunday where the challenge is "Cheer up, buttercup".

Card: 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Pool Party
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs, Stampin' Up Nuts About You, Bloom With Hope
Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles die