Castle on a cloud

I really love the new Puffy Cloud dies from Lawn Fawn. It's always so much fun to use new crafty goodies for the first time. There are so many great scenes to create with them, and I knew I had to start with my favourite ever stamp set - Critters Ever After. I have been doing quite a bit of watercolouring lately, so much that I'm almost out of watercolour paper. 

The card was inspired by the gorgeous inspiration image over at Daring Cardmakers. I was inspired by the rainbow colours, the white decorations on the butterflies and by the butterflies themselves as well. I have created the card in the "Simple and Layerd" style. I was also inspired by the Time Out challenge where the challenge is to be inspired by the phrase "Happy is the bride that the sun shines on". My inspiration was the word happy, as a unicorn on a cloud must be the happiest thing in the world. I was also inspired by "sun shines" as the sun is always shining above the clouds. I'm also linking up at Shopping our Stash where the theme is Cute Critter Alert.

I created a watercolour rainbow background using Tim Holtz distress markers and a water brush. I bushed off some colour from the markers onto a clear block, and then used a watercolour brush to create the background. I then spritzed the background with a Perfect Pearl mist for a bit of subtle glitter. I stamped the castle, unicorn and butterflies using Staz-on and coloured using Distress markers in the same way I did for the background. I die cut the castle and unicorn using the matching dies, and fussy cut the butterflies. Then I die cut the clouds and last stamped the sentiment from Scripty Sayings. I just love how many scenes you can create with the gorgeous Lawn Fawn products. 

Card: Hammered white 300 gsm card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and matching dies, Critters at the Dog Park, Scripty Sayings
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Tim Holtz distress markers in Festive Berries, Mermaid Lagoon, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves
Other: Puffy Cloud Border dies

I ruff you

This week flew by without any crafty time once again. It was all work work work and working out a little bit too. Luckily I just have one more week to go before my holiday in Cyprus with my Sis. And then a short two weeks of work before a week back home. Me, the Culinary Consultant, Sis and Best Friend are heading off to our summer house for a week of peace and quiet (and no electricity, hence no phones, computers or Internet!). Good times! 

I did manage a few minutes in the craft room last night before collapsing in bed. Inspired by the Colour Throwdown and yet another amazing sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch as well as my new Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. I went on a bit of a splurge so I have a bunch of new Lawn Fawn stuff for me to try out, I'm so excited! I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Friend or Superhero. I think this card qualifies as it's for a furry friend. I have to say in my completely unbiased opinion (hehe) that the card actually turned out better than I imagined. It's not often I say that. But the little furry friend is just too adorable.

Card: Kraft Card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm cardstock, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi

Colouring: C1, C3, C5

Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hugs die

Holly Jolly - Frame It

It's time for a new challenge over at Holly Jolly. For the next two weeks we are challenging you to "Frame It". If you aren't sure how to get started, the DT has plenty of inspiration for you. We are already in June, and there is less than half a year left until Christmas. Now is a perfect time to slowly start going with the Christmas crafting if you haven't started yet. And if you already started, well done, and keep going. Don't forget to link up with us to show you how you have "Framed It". 

Our generous sponsors this time are A Day for Daisies and Lacy Sunshine. Our sponsors have provided digis for the DT to play with and you can see our interpretations over at Holly Jolly.

For my card, I got to play with the cute Scotty Mistletoe A digi from A Day for Daisies. I decided to print the digi onto watercolour paper and paper piece his little coat from the same DSP I used for the die cut frames. I watercoloured Scotty and the mistletoe using distress inks and a waterbrush. I chose a sentiment from the Stampin' Up Endless Wishes set and stamped it in one of the colours from the DSP. I also chose the card to match one of the colours from the DSP. 

I would like to share my card with the following challenges:

Come and Get It Challenges - Paper Piecing 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Use Some Blue

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenges - Christmas Animals

ABC Christmas Challenge - K is for Keep It Simple

Sweet Stampin' Christmas - Cute Christmas

ABC Challenges - K is for Kritters

Card: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper

Paper: Stampin' Up Nordic Noel DSP

Stamps: A Day for Daisies Scotty Mistletoe A, Stampin' Up Endless Wishes

Inks: Distress Inks Black Soot, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Stampin' Up Calypso Coral

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies

Summery swallowtail get well soon card

What a great weekend it's been. The ever so elusive sun has not been shy, and it almost feels like summer! Yesterday we bought a huge pile of strawberries, and I was planning on freezing some of them. However, by some mysterious power, they are almost gone already... I wonder who comes into my kitchen and eats my strawberries? Today we took the bikes out for a ride around the reservoir. I keep forgetting we live so close to great biking routes, although that was one of the reasons we did move out into the countryside. Anyhow, it was great to enjoy the sun and the wind in my hair. I could have done without the swarming insects that made their way up my nose, into my mouth and inside my Oakleys. Now I can't wait to dine on the leftovers from yesterday's BBQ.

With all the other stuff going on I'm not quite sure where I found the time to craft, but this weekend has seemed so blissfully long. So I did manage to steal some time in the craft room. I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch as well as the colour challenge over at ColourQ. Although I didn't have the Stampin' Up colours Island Indigo or Hello Honey, I did manage to find very close matches from the Tim Holtz Distress colour palette as two of the new colours, Fossilized Amber and Mermaid Lagoon, are very similar. And it was a great reason to get to use these new gorgeous colours. I was also inspired by the butterfly theme over at Addicted to CAS. I'm also linking up over at Addicted to Stamps where the theme is Make Your Mark (as I coloured the butterfly using markers). Last but not least I'm linking up with Just Us Girls where the theme this week is Summer.

I think this swallowtail stamp is one of the most gorgeous I have ever come across. I keep going back to it over and over. For the card, I cut out the two white panels and stamped the swallowtail in black ink. I then heat embossed it with clear powder, and coloured using markers. Then I realised I don't have matching cardstock to the Mermaid Lagoon and thought I would have to scrap the whole idea of the card I had in my mind, until I realised I have white cardstock, I have the ink pad and a foam applicator for the ink - and hey presto, Mermaid Lagoon coloured cardstock for matting. Such a simple solution but it took my two brain cells a while to get there... I used two sentiment from Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings, one of my favourite sentiment sets at the moment and stamped them in black. Last, I inked up the Gorgeous Grunge stamps using markers and stamped splatters all over. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Swallowtail, Gorgeous Grunge, Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Ripe Persimmon
Other: Ranger Ultra Fine Clear Embossing Powder

Happy Father's day from the herd and Distress Ink Storage

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busy running. I kid you not! I have been trying to get back into the whole running thing, but it's an uphill struggle. I keep getting slower instead of faster, so I think I need to give my body a bit more time to adjust. Anyhow, today I got my run done first thing in the morning, and without that pesky work thing getting in the way, I did manage a bit of time in the good old craft room.

Today's card is in preparation of UK Father's Day (as Finnish Father's day isn't until November). So this is for my Father-out-of-law (I guess that would be the correct term for one's significant other's father if not married...). I wasn't quite sure what would be a good theme for the card as I went with boats and sea last year, that's a sure bet. But I thought I can't go wrong with the herd, now can I?

I stamped the herd onto watercolour paper using Staz-on ink and watercoloured using Tim Holtz distress inks. Then I die cut the photo frame using a Lawn Fawn die, and die cut the "Happy" using Stampin' Up Hello You dies. The "father's day" part of the sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn sentiment set. For the background I chose a paper from Let's Polka Mon Amie, and I punched a few banners using the Stampin' Up Banner Punch.

I am linking up with the following wonderful challenges:
Clear It Out - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations Challenges - All Creatures Great and Small
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Masculine
Stampin' Royalty - Masculine Projects
My Time To Craft Challenge Blog - Male
Brown Sugar Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Creative Corner Challenges - Just for Dad 

I would also like to show you my storage solution for my Distress Inks. I decided all the commercial Distress Ink storage solutions are a bit too expensive given that I just spent a whole lot of money on getting new furniture for my craft room. So I thought, as I am a crafter after all, why not make one myself. So I did, using black cardstock and some gorgeous Tim Holtz paper. It's a bit wonky and not perfect, but it works and it didn't cost me more than a few pieces of cardstock, so I'm happy with it for now. However, the size was limited by the size of the square shelves in my storage unit, and with six more colours coming out this year, I will have to find some more space for my ink pads. And I'm not even close to owning all the standard colours either! And of course after that I need to complete my collection of Distress markers and paints as well... What's that sound? Oh, it's just my credit card screaming in pain. I have a few other posts on my craft room organisation, my desk organiser here, my paper scrap organiser here, my general craft room layout here and my stamp and die storage here.

The organiser on it's shelf with inks and the matching foam pads.

The top of the organiser.

The back of the organiser.

Father's day card
Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Stampin' Up From the Herd, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Inks: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Tim Holtz distress inks
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka Mon Amie
Other: Lawn Fawn , Stampin' Up Hello You die, Banner punch

Ink organiser
Card: Black 350 gsm card
Paper: Tim Holtz idea-ology Wallpaper

Smile Crocodile

Time for some water colouring fun with my birthday pressie stamp set. I just love the adorable Lawn Fawn critters, and now they are coming out with new stamp sets again... Be still my credit card!

My inspiration for today's card is The Friday Mashup where the challenge is a sketch and watercolour. I was also inspired by the current Lawnscaping challenge which is Calling all Critters. I'm also linking up at Crafty Creations Challenge where the theme is All Creatures Great and Small

First, I made a mock up of the card by stamping on scrap paper to get the layout of the critters. Then I stamped the scene in Antique linen distress ink onto watercolour paper and masking the already stamped images. I then used a stitched rectangle die to cut out the card front. I coloured the scene using Tim Holtz distress inks and a watercolour brush. Last, I made a background using a paper from Let's Polka, Mon Amie. 

Card: White 300 gsm card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka, Mon Amie, Stitched Rectangle Dies

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