An irresistible bunny

Just a quick card but a fun card to make. The stamp (irresistible isn't he?) is from the new collection at Little Claires. As mentioned on more than one occasion, I loathe acrylic stamps as i just don't seem to be able to get on with them. Whether they're getting better in general or if I've just managed to stumble on a couple of companies who do superior acrylic stamps I don't know but Little Claire's stamps are superb. They're all so cheerful and for those who've visited my blog before, you will already know that anything with animals in general and especially cats and bunnies is irresistible to me.

So, I saw this bunny and had to have him! I wonder if she'll do a lady bunny too? Hope so, oh and bunny babies...!!? This card is C6 which is unusual for me as I prefer larger cards but I had the image coloured in and wanted to just make a quick and easy fun card. These would be easy to make alot of actually, especially if you reduced the matted layers and would make perfect Easter cards especially if you could bring some Easter eggs in by using papers, stickers, stamps etc. I think he makes a great Thank you card though too.

I used Stampin Up markers to colour him in and some glossy accents on the flowers for extra shine. I used a sentiment 'thank you' and a small swirl from the 'Noteworthy' set also from SU. These were stamped in 'Pretty in Pink' to match the flowers. The C6 card base is 'Barely Banana' with matted layers in 'Pretty in Pink' and 'Apricot Appeal'.

I used a Stampin Up brad to attach the paper blooms from Sarahs cards.

PS Please ignore the appalling grass and flowers by the bunny's feet. I didn't want him hanging in midair and have seen the whole 'making ground' thing demonstrated many times. I KNOW I am not artistic but really-a bit of grass should be easy enough surely? Not for me, but I didn't want to have to stamp another image to 3D the bunny on(remember this is a quick card!)so persevered and well, the bunny is so gorgeous I hope people won't look at the grass etc! Plan B is required for my next attempt though no idea what plan B is yet.

Yet more blog candy!

Well, if you were crowned Papercrafter of the Year 2008 in Papercraft Essentials magazine wouldn't you celebrate?!

Kim won and is sharing her success with some fab blog candy-we'll have rotten teeth at this rate! Go to Kim's blog and see the sort of cards that (rightly) so impressed the judges-be inspired and look at the lovely goodies on offer.

Of course you'll see more of Kim's work in future editions but what a fantastic achievement-well done!

A card and a terrible photo

Apart from the insipid colour of this photo; (taking photos on gloomy Winter days in England isn't a recipe for photo perfection alas!), I thought this quite a cheery card.

The stamp is from MFT (My Favorite Things) - another US company and they're fab! This set actually comes with the lady, a lead and lots of different dogs-sausage dogs, labrador, boxer, the poodle of course and many more. It's a clear stamp set (yes I know I don't like clear stamps), but (and it's a big but) easy to work with-no squishing-yea!

I used a Karen Marie Klip paper to paper piece the lady's skirt and for the background. I am going to have to try and take another photo-this is shocking!

Coloured in with SU markers and just a white card blank, some Europa pink marble card and a few gems finish it off. The sentiment was the best I could manage, as no doggie sentiments! Thought it worked anyway-a bit like 'follow your nose' I thought.....

Sorry about the AWFUL photo-I will try, try, try again.

The beautiful and very brave Sophie

This is my latest scrapbook layout featuring the beautiful and very brave Sophie. If you've visited my blog before you'll know that Sophie fought so hard but lost her battle for life in May 2008. We miss her so much, life really is not the same and our home certainly isn't the same without Soph running around.

I'm only a scrapbook beginner and with one thing and another I make very slow progress. I have tried to make this page so many times but it's been so hard, the other day I just felt ready and the ideas just flowed really easily. I want my pages to be personal and not just trying to be 'on-trend' for the sake of it. It is for this reason that I hand write my journalling though I loathe my writing and I'm not fussy about rulers to line everything up-it's about the subject-in this case Soph and nothing else. I want my pages to enable the viewer to understand what I'm trying to say without me having to explain. I try to capture the subjects character and my feelings towards them-my pages are 'made with love' quite simply. It's primarily me who looks at them and I do enjoy looking over the 5 (including this page) layouts I've completed. I think Soph would approve of this one and whatever I've done in terms of embellishing doesn't (I sincerely hope) detract from the photo which says it all-my beautiful Sophie.

I had told Soph when I started scrapbooking that when I did her page, I would do the prettiest and most girlie layout possible, in an attempt to reflect Soph's beauty. I have tried hard to do this, to find the prettiest embellishments possible and create a really girlie, pretty page.

It's a very gloomy day here, hence the flash but I wanted to post this photo anyway.

I should list some of the ingredients shouldn't I?

Laura Ashley 12 x 12" paper

Paper blooms including the large 'Wild Rose' from Sarahs cards

Green Thickers from American Crafts (also from Sarahs cards)

Chatterbox pink chipboard letters

Making memories polka dot pink puffy alpha letters

Queen and Co. pink and green floral design felt ribbon

Brenda Walton bunny embellishment

Stick on pearls by Joy crafts

'Love' epoxy dome sticker by Michele Ackerman

Jenni Bowlin journalling shape and scalloped circle behind epoxy 'Love' sticker

Pink and white lace from local haberdashery shop

Flower gems and flat backed pearl from local craft shop can't remember make

Christmas Thank You cards

I managed to get my thank you cards done a week or so ago but kept forgetting to post, so here we are-eventually!

I have always written thank you letters/made thank you cards since being a child-I think a written thank you means so much more than a rushed verbal one. Someone spent time and thought on me, so the least I can do is return this and say thank you properly.

These cards were in response to some lovely Christmas presents and the lovely time I spent on Christmas Day I spent with my Mum and her husband.

To make these cards I used Royal and Langnickel cream square hammered card blanks that I've had for ages so it was great to find a use-I seem to be afraid of square cards in a way even though I love how they look!

The rest is from Stampin Up to include some of the retired (but still available whilse stocks last) Dashing designer paper which is double sided so the strips of paper on the cards above show each side of just one of the papers in the set.

I used Real Red cardstock punched with a scallop punch.

The stamps are 'Natural Beauty' for the robin and 'Simple Sayings 2' for the sentiment (again-it's a great set!). Both are retired.

I used a memories ink pad to stamp the image and then watercoloured the robin using Stampin Up ink pads and a aquapainter. Real Red and Chocolate Chip were used for the robin and Real Red for the sentiment.

It's not often I've made several cards in one go but I really enjoyed the process which surprised me.

I'm finding I am enjoying watercolouring more and more which is incredible considering how horrific art classes were at school. I find it so rewarding and quite soothing actually. I think I really enjoy being creative even in this small way.

The recipients liked the cards so that's what matters ultimately and I've a set of small 'Love Notes' (small blank cards and envelopes) from Stampin Up that I've been wanting to make a card set from for ages and now I think my confidence may be up to it! I can but try can't I!

How amazing is this.....

...prize! (You'll have to blog hop to see!).

Pop over to see Steph on her cleverly titled 'much ado about nothing' blog and you could win some beautiful stamps.


http://stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-candy-alert.html#comment-form


While you're there, do stop and look at her creations- on the 14th January she posted 'a card to share' and I want it! It's beautiful and making me seriously want the Stampin Up papers she used! Then look at the one she posted on the 15th!! WOW! Gorgeous colours too!

Steph seems to be new to blogging but I for one will go back as I can't wait to see more cards she makes as they're really 'my kind of card', which is extra good.

There's alot of blogs out there but Steph's is a real breath of fresh air and I can't wait to see how it pans out, so best of luck Steph.

Just because

In the cardmaking world the next big thing (or Holiday as our US friends would say) is 'Valentines Day'. As I spend alot of time on Splitcoaststampers I feel somewhat surrounded by valentine cards so when I came across a card challenge by Linda on her blog, I thought a Valentines theme appropriate! The challenge comes about after Linda reached 10,000 hits on her blog-how amazing is that!? To celebrate this mammouth achievement, Linda is doing a challenge with a prize for the lucky winner.

Linda has designed a sketch as an inspirational guide to the card design she wants and as well as being fun and challenging, the lucky winner will win a Stampin Up (Linda is an S.U. Demonstrator) stamp set from the limited edition 'Sale-a-bration' range. The draw will take place on 24th January which is also the birthday of one of Linda's sons. (Happy Birthday!).

This is my attempt using Linda's sketch. It's almost entirely Stampin Up:

Real Red, Old Olive and very Vanilla cardstock
Real Red and Old Olive ink for the hearts and edging the Very Vanilla panel
'Dashing' designer paper
Real red and very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon
Sticker from a 'Love Notes' sticker pack (not available in the UK currently)

Simple Sayings 2 stamp set used for the sentiment
Happy Hearts for the hearts- raised using stampin dimensionals

Heat and Stick powder
Glitter
Circle punch for cutting a circle from the designer paper for behind the sticker
Corner punch to make the scalloped border as I don't have the S.U. scalloped punch

Versamark black ink as I don't have an SU black one!

The 'Happy Hearts' stamp set and the 'Dashing' designer paper are both retired now but still available while stocks last (feel like I'm on QVC saying that!).

I actually quite struggled with this card-there's alot of elements to incorporate and I don't usually follow sketches or cards I've seen, my cards just evolve somehow by themselves. I do see sketches I like though so must try a few more and once I get the hang of it, hopefully it'll seem easier than this card was to make!

Having said that, I am reasonably pleased with the result-it's certainly alot more minimal than I usually do, which is something I've been trying to do with my cards-take a more simplistic approach. This doesn't make the card 'simpler' or easier to make-quite the opposite and it's certainly alien to me, but I see this card as a step in that direction which is good at least!

SU blog candy-what could be better!

Found another lovely blog:

http://emmalockley.blogspot.com/

Emma is an SU (Stampin Up) lady so the candy is fab and so are the projects on her blog-check out the cupcake clock!

Closes 15th January so get over there and have a go and hang around a bit, download the cupcake template and have a play-cupcakes are perfect for most people and you can do so much with them-if you win the candy, you can do so many different toppings with the fab paper!