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

The joy of watercolours

As much as I love all my DT assignments (and in a few days I have another guest DT spot that I'm dying to share with you), sometimes creating for them can be a bit restrictive, particularly if working with sponsor images that you get assigned to. So today I enjoyed the total and absolute freedom of just creating a card based on a few inspiring challenges and then just sitting down with some stamps, a brush and some inks. I love watercolours, they are my current favourite.

Today's card was inspired by a few challenges. First of all I was inspired by this week's CAS-ology cue card, Wings. I immediately knew I wanted to use my STAMPlorations gorgeous hummingbird. I was also inspired by the Flower theme over at Make My Monday. I also wanted to challenge myself by using the colour combo over at ColourQ, which this time was very far outside my comfort zone. I did love the fact that I got to use two of my new Tim Holtz inks, Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber. I would also like to link up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is "No ordinary paper". I used my favourite type of paper, watercolour paper. Last but not least I would like to link up over at the STAMPlorations Anything Goes challenge.

For my card, I stamped the hummingbird in Scattered Straw distress ink, and the flower in Abandoned Coral onto watercolour paper. Then I used Scattered Straw, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Chipped Sapphire to watercolour the image. I created the sentiment by combining a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches stamp set and a Lawn Fawn die cut. Last, I cut the image using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies and added a few sequins. I do like how it turned out, despite using a  colour combo which was very far outside my comfort zone. I absolutely adore these stamps, and the way the distress paints behave when you use them as watercolours. They blend so perfectly!

Card: Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper, 240 gsm coloured kraft card navy

Stamps: STAMPlorations Stamp Lab Hummingbird and Bloom Sketches

Inks: Tim Holtz distress inks in Scattered Straw, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Chipped Sapphire

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Scripty Hugs die, sequins from my stash

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

Dino-critters in colour

Nothing like a bright and early Saturday morning, right? For some inexplicable reason, I have woken up before 6am all of last week, and on a work day that's ok, but on a Saturday... Oh well, at least by 8:30 I have already gotten lots of things done. And as an added bonus, I got to catch up with a friend who lives on the other side of the world.

I know things have been a bit quiet on the crafting front lately. But today I'm back with a new card, inspired by the Colour challenge over at Lawnscaping. I was also inspired by my new wonderful Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils, if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen them already. I wasn't sure if they would be my thing or not, but I really love them. And they are so convenient to work with, it's easy to do my colouring in front of the telly if I want to. I got a pack with 36 different colours which is a great set to start with, there are some colours I know I want to add, but usually I can pretty much get any colour I want, especially if blending a few colours together which is really easy. I also splurged and got a nice water brush, I only had a few cheap-o ones, which weren't very good, and I like my new Pentel Aquabrush. Although I still don't like using it with water in the brush, I prefer to just dip it in a pot of water as that gives much better control over the amount of water. But the brush part is really nice and perfect for detailed work like this.

I have also taken to listening to audiobooks while I craft (not at the same time as watching TV obviously...). Also, I would like to find some great podcasts to listen to, so let me know if you have any you like, I would love to get some tips. My current favourite is "No such thing as a fish" which is the QI podcast, and it's filled with great little facts, and it's really, really funny. I often listen to it at work if I'm doing boring routine things that don't require too much thought, and my colleagues must think I'm crazy as I burst into laughter and giggle all the time. 

Sorry, I strayed from the point at hand. Back to crafting! I stamped the dino-critters in Staz-on ink onto watercolour paper using masking for a one layer card. I coloured everything with my lovely watercolour markers, and used a permanent black marker to add some landscaping to the scene. Lastly, I added some final touches with a white gel pen. I absolutely adore the dino critters, they just look so happy, don't they! Last, I die cut the scene with the stitched rectangle dies, and matted onto white linen paper.

I would also like to link up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Things beginning with I (I is for indigo blue, for colouring one of the dinos. is that too far fetched? also I is for inspiration, which I always get when I look at my colouring pens and my lawn fawn stamps. last but not least I is for imaginary, which this scene is as I doubt all these dinos would actually been hanging out together in real life)
Daring Cardmakers - Rock birthday card, with added twist of using the colour ruby (ok, this takes a bit of explaining, but you know Bedrock from the Flintstones? That is a rock... sort of? and one of the dinos is clearly ruby red, right?)

Card: 300 gsm white linen card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters from the Past
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-On
Colouring: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles dies, Signo white gel pen, black permanent marker

Stampin' Royalty Guest DT - Keep It Simple

I can't believe this is already my last post as a Guest Goddess over at Stampin' Royalty. I've had a great time creating with the talented ladies of the DT and feel sad it's already time to say goodbye. The good news is of course that I can pop by and play along whenever I want to, so it's not goodbye, it's just "See ya later"!

This week the challenge is to Keep It Simple. As I have finished my summer holidays, I'm already starting to look forward to Christmas as it will be the next time I will get a bit more time off work (yes, I am very dedicated and hard working...). And I thought it might be a good idea to use my old stash of Christmas crafting goodies to remind me that I don't really need to buy any new Christmas stamps this year, but should instead try to use the stash I have got (ok, fat chance I actually won't buy anything, but still...). 

I stamped the Seasonally Scattered "Merry" sentiment using Soft Sky, and then added some Marina Mist and Pacific Point using markers before stamping onto Whisper White card. I then heat embossed the Christmas sentiment from Endless wishes in silver. I also heat embossed silver snowflakes onto Marina Mist card for the back panel. I thought this was all that was needed for a quick and easy clean card. This would be a great design to mass produce as it's quite quick and easy to make, and it would be easy to make different colour variations of it. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Clean and Simple
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Christmas in July 
My Time to Craft - Christmas in July
Sweet Stampin' - No Designer Paper
Happy Little Stampers - CAS
Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Marina Mist
Stamps: Stampin' Up Seasonally Scattered, Endless Wishes
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Stampin' Write markers Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Silver embossing powder

Holly Jolly - Inspired by a Christmas Carol

It's time for a new challenge over at Holly Jolly. This time the challenge is "Inspired by a Christmas Carol". Why not stream some Christmas music to get you into the mood and start by creating just one or two cards to get you started. There's 156 days left to Christmas. It may seem like it's a lot, but it's actually only just over 22 weeks. Just sayin'....

As usual we have wonderful sponsors who are giving away prices to our winners. Remember that all prizes are given to randomly drawn winners, so everyone has a chance to win! Our generous sponsors this week are Lacy Sunshine, Dr Digi and Melonheadz. Why not hop over to their pages to find inspiration for your cards. 

For my card I got to play with Dr Digi's Christmas Chris. I hope it's pretty clear which Christmas song I used for inspiration for my card! If you aren't sure, let me give you a hint: something about being made fun at because of a red nose. I coloured Chris with Copics and fussy cut him. I chose a matching paper from my stash and stamped the custom sentiment using Lawn Fawn's Violet's ABC's and Stampin' Up Endless Wishes. I popped on a  reindeer paperclip for embellishment. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps #153 - Holiday
Daring Cardmakers - Christmas in July 
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
The Glory of Christmas #63 - Feature a Creature 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' Christmas - Oh Deer

Card: Kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Dr Digi's Christmas Chris, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs, Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Paper: Dovecraft Merry Magic 8x8 designer paper pack
Ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo
Colouring: Copics
Other: Reindeer paperclip from my stash

Stampin' Royalty Guest DT - Photo inspiration

I can't believe this is already my third guest post for Stampin' Royalty. Time truly flies when you are having fun, doesn't it. This week we have a gorgeous inspiration photo for you. The colours could not have been more perfectly picked for me! Green and pink is one of my all time favourite colour combos. I absolutely loved making this card. Hop over to Stampin' Royalty to see how the amazingly talented DT have been inspired by the image. Then, please have a play around for yourself and join us as we love to see your gorgeous creations. 

For my card, I was inspired by the beautiful colour combo and the bright pink flowers. I was also inspired by the gold and silver bling in the beautiful jewellery. I started by stamping the large flower from Bloom With Hope in Staz-On onto watercolour paper. I coloured the flowers with pink markers and used a waterbrush to blend the colours. Then I fussy cut the flowers. For the background I stamped the Brushstrokes stamp in Pistachio Pudding. This is such a great stamp, and it certainly has not got all the use it deserves so far. I also die cut two feathers from gold foil. Then it was just a quick job to assemble it all onto a doily, add one of those gorgeous wood veneer sentiments, a bit of silver thread and a few rhinestones. Hey presto! 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
Fab n' Funky - Flower Delights
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - Summertime
Happy Little Stampers - Sketch

Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White Thick cardstock, Gold Foil
Stamps: Stampin' Up Brushstrokes, Bloom With Hope
Ink: Stampin' Up Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Markers Strawberry  Slush, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Memento Staz-On Jet Black
Other:  Stampin' Up Expressions Natural Elements, Silver Metallic Thread, Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Feathers die, Jewels Basic Rhinestones