Touch of Whimsy

Hello! I have had these cute bunny stamps for years and never used them! They are called 'Touch of Whimsy' from Penny Black. I paper-pieced the daisy and bunnies with snippets, so my card is off to Di, Dudley and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

I was inspired by this sketch over at Sunday Stamps

I really must get around to using all the stamps in this set. There is a great bunny with really long ears holding an umbrella that I've got my eye on! :-)

Happy crafting! April x



Happy Meow Year!

 

 

Happy New Year! As a cat addict, I couldn't resist the 'Nine Lives' stamp set in the new SU Spring catalogue. My colour scheme was inspired by this lovely combo over at Sunday Stamps. I love that cute bird!

 

 

I used SU's Grapefruit Grove, Balmy Blue, So Saffron and Basic Grey for my card. The cat certainly looks a lot happier than our two do when they find themselves near an empty food bowl!

 

Snippets were deployed, so I am sending my card to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground and also saying a big congratulations to Di on an amazing 7th anniversary!

 

 Here's to a new year of crafting opportunities! April x

 

Traveller

Hello and a Happy Easter! We've had our Sunday lunch and hot cross bun, so it's time for a blog post. This is a card that I have made for my mum's cousin. My friend Ruth kindly lent me the Traveller stamp set, as I don't really do 'male' cards as such.

I used a stamp from Timeless Textures to create the sky and sea background in Soft Sky, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon. I have to say I really like this ship stamp even though I'm not particularly mad about ships!

I missed playing around in Pixie's Snippets Playground last week. The time just seemed to run away from me. I was even late with my DT card for 52CCT, which was a first for me. I can only say in my defence that I have a very special and exciting creative project on the go at the mo...all will be revealed soon! It might be time for more Easter egg now. See you soon! April x

Balloon Celebration

Hello! I made this card at a crafty get together with one of my team members. I used SU's Balloon Celebration stamps with the co-ordinating punch and the sentiment was cut using the washi psunch (which I love!) The colours are Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand and a bit of silver glimmer paper for added balloon bling! Hope you have a good week, April x

I'm sending my bunch of balloons over to Di and Sarn at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Just hope that a certain bear doesn't get carried away by them! (that actually did happen to my friend's daughter's cuddly duck once!)

Valentine Cupcake

Hello! Here is another Valentine card - this time a shaker card with sequins and Blushing Bride glimmer paper hearts. I did a tiny bit of paper piecing with a snippet of Strawberry Slush dsp and the cupcake frosting is Dazzling Details.

 I have used a really cute digi from A Day for Daisies, so I am entering my card in the ADFD Valentine Challenge. I am also sending it off to the Friday Mashup, where the challenge is to combine Valentine's Day with images of candy (yum!)

This is also my second entry for Cards in Envy - From the Heart, and last but not least, Parsnip can eat the loveheart off the cupcake at Pixie's Snippets Playground, which I think he will prefer to having kisses blown at him!

Botanical Blooms

 

Here is my first card made with SU's Botanical Blooms framelits. I love all the leafy, flowery bits you get to mess around with! I made this card with a piece of Go Wild dsp, then cut the flowers from Blushing Bride and Real Red cardstock. There's some Blushing Bride glimmer paper there too. Some of the leaves and the card base are Smoky Slate and I used a piece of vellum - hence the slight wrinkly appearance in places! Lots of fun to make.

 

Sending these exotic blooms over to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground and Crafting by Designs - anything goes. Happy crafting! April x

Kitty Valentine

Hello! A quick and very cute kitty valentine card today. I was inspired by this CAS(E) This Sketch design:

 

The cute kit is a Clearly Besotted stamp - You're Purrfect. I created a watercolour background with Blushing Bride and Regal Rose inks and an aquablender on white shimmer card. Kitty is coloured with Copics and I added some Blushing Bride glimmer paper hearts for a bit of bling. Miaow!

 



 

I am also sending this kitty over to Parsnip and Di at Pixie's Snippets Playground and to the ladies at Cards in Envy - From the Heart.

 

April x

 

 



White on White Card

 

 I was inspired to make this card for the 'White on White' challenge over at Cards in Envy. You are allowed a tiny bit of colour, which is a good job because I was internally yelling at myself the whole time, "Add colour!" I haven't made a white on white card before and it was a challenge (I know that's the point!) It's interesting because it brings home to you just how many shades of white there are. That textured cardstock is white, not cream - really it is!

I think texture is pretty important when making a white on white card. I used some chevron embossing, textured card and glimmer paper to add some interest. I have also played with depth, by using the inlaid die-cut technique combined with dimensionals. I couldn't resist a tiny bit of pink courtesy of some enamel dots and a Hero Arts sentiment embossed with Donna Salazar embossing powder in chiffon.

I hope you like my card. It is off to a 13th birthday party tonight, so time was of the essence! It is also my second card of the week for Pixie's Snippets Playground because the very tiniest snippets of glimmer paper were deployed!

Finally, here is a member of the creative team post-snooze...

Happy Friday! April x

I is for Inks

There's only one thing better than a snippet and that's an inky snippet! I made the background by inking a piece of card with Distress ink (Twisted Citron) and then printed on a chevron embossing folder that I had inked with stripes of Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio. There's also a bit of additional stencilling. The butterflies are die-cut from the piece of Kraft card that I was leaning on throughout my Funkie Junkie 12 Tags journey! There's everything there - ink, gesso, gold spray (probably cat hair?) I love the random effect of it! I painted them with a gloss medium, so in real life they look quite metallic.

Using embossing folders to print with is one of my favourite things in my crafty life. It reminded me of a Christmas card I made this time last year using the same method (and embossing folder!)

I'd like to enter Mrs A.'s Butterfly Challenge - I is for Inks and of course, Pixie's Snippets Playground because I have managed to combine ink, butterflies and some extreme snippetage in my card :-)

Birthday Blooms

I love the Birthday Blooms stamp set from the new Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue and I couldn't wait to make a card with it! I started off by stamping the image twice and then layering the flowers over the leaves to give it a bit of depth. All the colouring was done with a blender pen, using Blushing Bride, Delightful Dijon and Pear Pizzazz inkpads. I've added a snippet of Pool Party ribbon and backed it all on a Pool Party card.

I'm waving to Di and sending the flower to Parsnip (so he can wear it behind one ear) over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. I'm also going to have a cup of tea and a gander at all the lovely cards there!

Happy crafting! April x

52 CCT Sketch Challenge

We are back for another year of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown! We are welcoming two new DT members - Kaja and Jacqueline (who make beautiful cards) and we have a whole twelve months of new challenges ahead! Deborah is this month's hostess and we are starting off with a sketch challenge:

I have used a stamp from Tim Holtz's Mini Holidays that I have coloured with Copics. I've added some glittery Pool Party ribbon and sequins and backed everything on to a piece of Island Indigo dsp and a Chocolate Chip card base.

We can't wait to see your interpretations of the sketch. Having a pile of cards ready to go at Christmas made me a tiny bit more organised than usual!!

See you over at 52CCT! April x

Parchment Craft

 

 

Hello! As part of my new year craft chat with 'Too Much Glue' Sam, I decided to try some new crafty things in 2016. This is my first go at parchment craft. Bit of a steep learning curve, as it demands lots of precision and patience - not really my strong points! So I am going for a less precise, lazier interpretation instead and will just have to hope for the best.

This little flower is A Day for Daisies digi and I did the colouring with Polychromos pencils. I also used a piece of pink glitter card and tried to tone it all down a bit by backing it on a Chocolate Chip card base.

I would like to send my flower to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground and the 'Anything Goes' challenges at A Day for Daisies and Inspiration Destination Happy crafting! April x

Xanthine

My first card of 2016! I was inspired by a playground visit to have a go at the Butterfly Challenge  The theme there is 'X is for Xanthine' - the yellow colouring found in some plants.

My butterfly is from SU's Watercolour Wings, stamped in Daffodil Delight, Summer Starfruit and Delightful Dijon. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey and was a snippet left over from making a tea light box. I stencilled the background with Daffodil Delight and added some yellow rhinestones - although they haven't shown up yellow at all!

It was nice to make a cheery, bright card on such a grey day (especially as we are in the rather stressful midst of homework left to the last possible day!) My flutterby is off to perch on Parsnip's head at Pixie's Snippets Playground. I hope his mum is having a rest after such a busy Christmas!

My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2015

Happy New Year! I've just found this great idea from Debby of A Scrapjourney - My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2015 via Pixie's Crafty Workshop. So here we go with my fave festive cards from the last year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bit of an animal/bird theme going on here, apart from Santa with his tree!

 

I'm still feeling very lazy after Christmas, but enjoyed an inspirational New Year's Day craft chat with Too Much Glue Sam over lots of lychee liqueur, toffee vodka and Panettone bread and butter Pudding (Yum!) We have decided on a number of new crafty enterprises this year, including Gilding, Brushos and Parchment craft. Very exciting! I do just need the mince pies to disappear first! 

 

Happy Crafting! April x

The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! Today I am lumping all my '12 Tags' creations together in a collage. It feels slightly creative without having to move too far from the mince pies. Hopefully normal crafty service will resume soon... April x

Final Funkie Junkie Creation!

Yay! My final make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This card was inspired by Linda's tag for Week 8. I have incorporated the banners, a tree and the swirly aspect of the original design.

I have loved this wonderful challenge! I just wish I had started earlier and it hadn't been such of a mad dash at the end. I really hope it happens again next year so I can take my time.

A massive Merry Christmas to all the kind people who read and comment on my blog. I hope you have a lovely restful (and crafty) time, April x

Festive Gift Card Holder

Here is my penultimate make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This gift card holder was inspired by Linda's last tag for Week 12. I was inspired by the holly leaves and that the tag is three dimensional.

Everything here is very snippety. The tag was recycled from my daughter's Secret Santa at school and the stars were cut from a bag. I coloured the ribbon with Distress Stains - Crushed Olive, Festive Berries and Old Paper.

 

I would like to send it over to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground for my last festive entry of the year. Thank you Di for all your hard work and kindness in running such a fab challenge blog!

 

Merry Christmas! April x

Another One!

My final tag of the day! Made for Week 10 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Such a stunning original tag by Linda! I have used the white and gold colour scheme, but my snowflakes are embossed on a tag that I first covered with gesso and gold embossing paste. I have rubbed a gold Gelato on the raised design. It reminds me of a plastered wall! I used the SU embossing folder, Northern Flurry and I've added a wooden snowflake embellishment. The end is nearly in sight! April x

Another Tag!

I'm running out of tag titles! Seriously, desperate times call for even more desperate measures - blogging more than once a day! I really need to get ahead with The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, or there is a good chance I will be fitting tag making around cooking the turkey!

This tag is inspired by Linda's lovely tag for Week 5. I was inspired by the background, the colours and of course, the tree. I started off by colouring my tag with a mixture of Soft Sky and Pool Party. I then spattered the tag with water and stamped the snowflakes in Smoky Slate. The tree was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with SU's pewter embossing powder. Depth was added with a Gelato and highlights with a white chalk marker. Both the tree and snowflakes are from Gossamer Blue's Get Happy and the sentiment is from SU's Endless Wishes.

There may be yet another blog post...At least it is distracting me from eating my own body weight in mince pies!

Another tree for Parsnip to climb over at Pixie's Snippets Playground! April x

Textured Tag

Time for more Funkie Junkie-ing! This tag is for Week 11 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I was inspired by the texture, colour scheme and snowflakes of Linda's lovely tag. My background was made by combining gesso with Cosmic Shimmer texture paste. When it was dry I applied a mixture of Distress Stains - Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blue Print. The Joy sentiment was cut with my Silhouette and coloured with a metallic marker. Some glittery snowflake and rhinestones were added to complete the tag!

Of course I am sending all this glitter over to Parsnip who is doing a very good job as Christmas waiter over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Thank you, Di for the beautiful card! April x