Birds of a feather...

I've been busy in my crafting area lately, having fun making mostly Christmas cards. Here are two that I recently completed.

This first one was made with some scraps from my stash. The back layer is made with an off-white piece cut to 4.5x5.5 and the red piece is 2.25x5.5 I then layered the front piece- cut to 4.25x5.25 on top. The bird (Young Vermillion by Stampin Up!) was stamped on bristol paper and coloured with copics. The wreath was made out of three shades of green cardstock punched with the Martha Stewart pine punch. I ran double sided tape on the back to attach the pine boughs. 

This one was stamped on bristol as well and then coloured with copics. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I have also added some glitter to the snow on the branches. This is one of my favourite cardinal stamps.

A little bit of inspiration

On a recent trip to the States, I picked up a new nestabilities die that I really loved the look of. It was an impulse, and I had a few ideas floating around in my head, but when I was checking out the galleries at Splitcoast Stampers, I came across a stunning card by Kittie, I took a closer look on her blog and was inspired to try it.

I made two attempts:

 The red was my first attempt- I cut out the frame using the nestabilities die and then hand cut the centre out os that the embossed background was behind. I then cut out the poinsettia using my boss kut die. There was a slight imperfection, so I added the sentiment.

The white poinsettia was cut out using a shiny white paper. It was a tad too stark so I rubbed some tea dye distress ink on it to tone down the white a bit. Instead of putting the frame on the embossed background, I cut out the embossed background and attached it to the frame. I love the simplicity of this card, and have a feeling that I am going to be creating many more along this same line.

Day off well spent

I was able to take Friday off, and spent most of the day in my craft area, not creating, but tiding up chaos. I haven't had much opportunity to play lately, and when I have had time, I've been stacking paper and stamps and ink and embellishments and dies and you get the idea. I decided it was time to start with a clean slate, and that included purging some stuff that will be given to my nieces at Christmas and rearranging my supplies and some of the furniture. I also decided to post the afters on my blog for future reference (and to hopefully help me keeping it tidy!)

On to the tour...

My craft area is in our basement, it's a large room, and I've got about 1/4 of it. The TV area is in the rest of the area. My desk faces the TV, with the couch dividing the two areas.

My stamps, paper and other supplies are in the white cabinet (a $40 score from Kijiji). It's made of melamine and weighs a ton, and it's perfect for stamp supply storage.

 The top row is cuttlebug stuff, specialty papers, and supplies (adhesive, colouring media, etc)
The next two rows on the left are stamps, on the right more supplies, embossing powders.
Bottom shelf on the left are completed cards, envelopes and cricut carts. The right is for my cricut and dies.

 My 8.5x11 paper is stored on the left and my inks and paper scraps are in the iris tower. The xyrons fit perfectly on top, and I picked up some 12x12 canvasses from Michaels and attached paper to them. I like it, because I can change it out when I get tired of it.

I played a bit last night, so my desk isn't as spotless as it was, but it's still a far sight better, and I can actually see the top of my table... I hope the trend continues!

I also decided that my blog needed a bit of an update for the holiday season. I've added a few things, removed a couple of things and changed the layout. Hopefully you like it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Santa buddy

I've finally had time to play in my craft area, and made about a dozen cards this past weekend. It feels so good to get creative! It's so relaxing and time just flies. I am also in the process of trying to make my craft area more user-friendly, and as soon as it's done, I'll post some pictures.

I got this stamp recently, and I have to say, I just love the way it pops off the page. It was a quick colour, too, which is an added bonus. I made it a while ago, and am just getting to posting it now. I'll have more Christmas cards to show over the next couple of days.

This is a Penny Black stamp, Holiday Hug. I stamped it on bristol paper, coloured with copic markers. I am quite happy with how it turned out. It's nice when the idea in your head translates into real life.

The background paper is from my stash- can't remember who makes it.

I hope Santa and his little buddy made you smile.

Flourishes Christmas Challenge 19

We had our first major snowfall of the season last night, and it looks so pretty outside. Dog 1 and Dog 2 had a blast playing in the snow, and both came in covered in snow.

I did this card a few weeks ago, and haven't had much time to post it. It's for the Flourishes Christmas Challenge. 

I have really enjoyed playing along with these challenges, and can't wait for the next one. This month's challenge was Round like a Wreath. I had a bit of a time trying to come up with ideas for this one- the first card I created was a disaster- was not impressed at all with how it turned out. I absolutely love this stamp, and have used it quite a bit.

 I cut out the shape with a cricut cartridge for the red background, and then did the same with the music paper. I then stamped Santa and coloured with Copics. I think I am getting better with the skin tones, but still need a little work on lips. I'll come with practice (I hope). I added a little sparkle to his glasses with a silver gel pen and to the berries and holly with spica glitter pens.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas mouse

I recently came across a new challenge blog, and this week's challenge is Winter Wonderland challenge- A Christmas Mouse.
I got this stamp last winter and didn't ink it. It puts me in mind of Christmas- nothing better than a cup of hot chocolate with a little something stirred in.

The image was stamped on bristol paper and coloured with Copics. I layered it on blue card cut at 4 inches by 5.25 inches, and added a little bit of white ribbon to break up the blue panel.

The mice look like they are ready for a warm drink!

The next week is going to be very busy, but I hope I'll be able to find some time to play with the new toys I got this past weekend. Lots of fun!

Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

I am a few days late, but when I checked out the Less is More challenge Saturday before I headed to a work event, I immediately had an idea. It had to stay in the back of my head until I got home on Sunday, but I am thrilled with the way it turned out.

The challenge this week is to use red and orange- and given that winter is just around the corner, I will jump at the chance to use warmer colours.

I have the Hero Arts Dandelion flower seed stamp, and I haven't played with it much yet, but I was immediately inspired to use it- reminds me of fireworks.

For this card, I used distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany to stamp the image, and cut the white card to 5x5 inches. I matted it on glitter orange stock cut to 5.25 square. The sentiment is stamped in black. I added spots of sparkle on the flowers with a Spica clear pen. It's a little hard to see, but it looks fab in person.

For the second card, I cut a 4.25x5.5 inch front and created a mask with a 3 inch circle punched out.
I sponged on Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Fired Brick into the mask and dabbed it with a babywipe to brighten the colours, then stamped the dandelion stamp three times.

The black looks a little washed out in the picture- it's more bold in person. 

When you wish upon a star...

So happy to be playing with the Less is More challenge this week! I was playing with a few ideas, and didn't have luck with any of them, so I switched tracks and did a few other cards (scroll down for my first post today and a Mousey card) and came back to it.

Always seem to be needing birthday cards, and this one struck me as I was poking around my stamp collection.

The mouse was stamped in momento black ink and then coloured with Copics. The stars are Stampin' Up (can't remember which set) which was stamped in versamark and then embossed with silver powder. The sentiment is a bargain bin stamp from Michaels. The inside of the card says "Wish upon a star."

The next few weekends are pretty busy, but I hope I have a chance to play along!

New challenge-MMSC127

I came across a new challenge this weekend, thanks to the House-Mouse and Friends blog. The Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge blog is featuring one of my favourites this week- House Mouse, of course!

This is the sketch for this week's MMSC127:

 Here's my take on it:

I used this image, stamped on bristol paper in Momento black ink and coloured with Copics. I added the gems to the middle of the snowflakes for a little bit of bling and layered it onto Stampin' Up's Old Olive paper. The ribbon is from Michaels and the sentiment at the bottom was stamped onto a strip I punched with a border punch (Fiskars, I think).

Here's another view of the card, with my ever-present assistant on the job- you've got to watch those mice- you never know when they will try to escape!

Falling for House Mouse and Friends

I had the day off today- it was a great day- did some things around the house, did a little shopping, and even had time to play in my craft area for a bit. This morning while I was having my coffee, I checked out the House Mouse and Friends blog challenge. This time around, the challenge is all about fall. I love fall- it's my favourite time of year.

As the weather gets cooler, I start to crave warm drinks- flavoured teas, hot chocolate with yummy add-ins. This mousey stamp makes me smile- he just looks so happy in that warm bath!

 

 

I stamped the image with momento black ink and coloured with copics. I found the patterned paper in my stash and overlaid it on kraft card stock. I used my Martha Stewart punch to punch out the falling leaves and adhered them with a strip of tape. The glitter paper is a new find that I treated myself to today (shhhhh.... don't tell!).

Now, off to finish a couple of things before heading back to work tomorrow.

Feeling spotty...

I am so happy to have time to play with the LIM challenge this week. This week, it's all about POLKA DOTS. 


It took me a few minutes to come up with ideas, but then I remembered that I wanted to send a card to one of my friends, and I also came across a piece of ribbon that inspired me.

First, the card for my friend Tracey, who has saved my bacon more than once.

 

I love this happy little mousey. I used the polka dot paper, cut to 2 inches, as a focal point, and stamped the sentiment in momento black ink. The mouse was coloured with Copics. I really like the freshness of the green paper. 

This other House Mouse card was also coloured with copics. I added a little sparkle on the ornament with a spica glitter pen. 

The sentiment is a new stamp I picked up earlier this month, in preparation for a flurry of Christmas card making in the next couple of weeks.

I have the day off tomorrow, and once the housework is done, and I have a couple of things accomplished, I will hopefully be able to play in my craft area. There are many stamps that are just waiting to get inky!

It's beginning to feel a lot like...

Fall. Well, it looks like fall is finally upon us. I had to scrape car windows this morning before I went to work, and we had a killing frost last night. Fortunately, they are forecasting warmer temps for the weekend. That's good news, as we are having a fairly major event at work on Saturday, and even though it's inside all day, it'll be much nicer if the weather is fair. 

Here's another card I created last weekend. I absolutely love this stamp. I decided that I wanted to try it black and white. I also attempted to do it stamped in white on a black paper, but it looked horrible, and the detail on this stamp is too fine to use embossing powder. 

Santa was stamped on white paper, then I added a couple of layers of ultra thick embossing powder to give it some sparkle and shine. I matted it onto a slightly larger piece of black card and put that on top of the music sheet and ribbon. I really like the simplicity of the black and white. I think I may try this with a couple of other stamps, too, and see what happens.

I have Sunday and Monday off next week. I am hoping that a good portion of at least one of those days will be spent playing with ink and paper.

Swirly snowflakes

This morning on the radio, the announcers uttered the dreaded S-word. Yup- snow. Now, I haven't seen any yet, and there are still leaves on the trees, but this is the Canadian prairies, so who knows what will happen.

This weather has inspired me to create- it's cozy in my stamping space, and it's the perfect place to play for a couple of hours.

My friend M and I headed to one of our favourite places last weekend- Scrapyard in Stonewall. They had a Christmas card on display that I loved last year, and was happy to see again this year. I decided to take a stab at creating something similar.

I used Baroque Motifs from Stampin up for the background image and then layered the snowflake stamp (from a non-SU unknown set) to cover up the flowers on the swirl. I stamped the sentiment and added a little bit of bling in the centres of the snowflakes and tied it up with a bow.

Hopefully, these are the only snowflakes I'll be seeing for a while- the white stuff can stay away for a few more weeks.

Candy coated christmas

 

 

I have been mulling over ideas for the Flourishes Christmas spirit challenge over at Splitcoast.  I just got a new stamp set in the mail, and started to play. I am quite happy with the way this card turned out. 

 The cardinal was stamped in momento black ink and coloured with copics. Then, I aged the paper slightly using tea dye distress inks. It was then layered on glassine paper and placed on top of the snowflake paper. The red striped paper at the back is standard 4.25x5.5.

This shot shows more of the candy-coated cardinal. I put two layers of Ultra Think Embossing Enamel on the card. It adds a little bit of sparkle and shine to the card.

I've been a bad, bad blogger...

I have no idea where the time has gone. Work seems to be crazy busy (and will be until at least the end of November), and I just don't seem to have any time to play. I have resolved to make some time at least once per week to play, and let the creative juices flow. Plus, I have to get a move on with Christmas cards!

Here's a card I did for hubby's birthday at the end of September.

The leaf stamp was attached to a recent edition of Craft Stamper magazine, I stamped it with Versamark and then used garnet, dark green and gold embossing powder. The sentiment was embossed with bronze. It's a one layer card, too, which isn't something that I usually do. It was quick, simple, and I really like how it turned out.

Metallics revisited

I am having so much fun with this metallic challenge at Less is More.
This morning, I did some more canning- love harvest season. After lunch, I decided to play.

I've gotten a bit of use out of my Boss Kut poinsettia die, and I decided to try it with red metallic paper.

 

I ran the die through twice, which gives it a nice, full look. Then I added the leaves, adhering them to the card stock with Glossy Accents. I seem to be using that as glue quite a bit lately. I stamped the sentiment on white and layered it over a bit of red. Easy, peasy. I did play with a few options, but decided to leave it plain, to let the flower stand on its own. 

 Yesterday, I was going through my stash of metallic papers- yes, I have an entire container just of metallics. I love coppery colours, and this one jumped out at me. I decided to try a couple of things with this card. I have never done the cracked glass technique, and I was a little nervous about trying it. I discovered that if you don't like what you have done, the cracks can be heated back up and they will fill in, then you can start from scratch.

I used three rounds of ultra thick embossing enamel then stuck it in the freezer for 10 minutes. After I cracked the enamel, I rounded the corners and adhered it to the brown card base. The inside of the card has a white insert so the writing can be seen.

One more day left of this weekend. Can't wait to play with some of the new toys I purchased on Saturday.

Let's get metallic!

I didn't have a chance last week to play along with the Less is More blog, but when I got up this morning to let the dogs out, I logged on to see what the challenge was this week. This week, it's a colour challenge with METALLIC.

The wheels immediately began to turn. I had a few things to accomplish before I got creative today, including stopping at a couple of craft stores with my friend M. It looks like the Michaels stores here will start to carry Spellbinders (they were not actually on the shelves, but there were tags for them!). Then we headed to one of our local scrapping stores that is under new ownership and checked out the cards we'll be making at a Dreamweaver class later this month.

OK- on to the challenge. Anyone who knows me, knows I love sparkly things. Bright, shiny, new things. So, this challenge is a natural fit. However, there were a few false starts. I thought I had a brilliant idea, but combining two embossing powders just turned into a gigantic mess.

As I had to stay in the basement until the laundry was done, I decided to play with a punch I got last year that I haven't really done a lot with

 I punched the pine needles out of metallic green cardstock and adhered it to a green base. There are about 40 punched out boughs on this card. To dress it up a bit, I punched the circles out of metallic red card and adhered it with Glossy Accents. To finish it, I tied the bow and attached it with Glossy Accents as well.

The greeting was stamped and embossed with holographic embossing powder.

 I have a couple more ideas for this challenge, and there's two more days left in the weekend for me to play.

House Mouse- no cookin' challenge

This week at House-Mouse and Friends, it's a No Cookin' Recipe Card Challenge.  I don't think it's any secret how much I love House Mouse and company, and I have been meaning to play along with the challenges for ages, but it always seems like I miss the deadline. This week, I had a few ideas for the challenge, and they were all birthday cards. September is a busy birthday month in my world, and here's one card down.

I also love cookbooks and have many. In fact, they have overflowed my cookbook cupboard and are on several shelves. I pulled this recipe from a book I picked up for $1. It's brand new, and decided to muck it up a bit using distress inks in Vintage Photo and Tea Dye. The recipe contributor's name was in the right corner, so I distressed it further by tearing the paper.

I stamped the image on Bristol paper with Momento ink and coloured with copics. I then cut it out and adhered it to the recipe with foam tape. It is layered on glassine paper and orange cardstock.

Wonder who is going to get this card?

I'll be home for Christmas

This month's challenge for the Flourishes' Christmas Spirit Challenge at SCS is Song Inspired.

I have two favourite Christmas caroles- White Christmas (also my favourite Christmas movie ever), and I'll be home for Christmas. It is a hugely sentimental song for me.

Having close ties to the military- husband is recently former military, and I have two cousins who are in, and many friends who are military and military spouses. Also, I work for an organization that supports the military. I'll be home for Christmas has a whole new meaning when you are military- either having a loved one deployed, or even just moving to a new base, where you might not know a soul and don't always have family close by.

As it is posting season (military families moving to their new bases), I have been thinking a lot lately about family and how we make our own families no matter where we are. Some people are family by relation, and others are family members by choice. When you are in the military, or married to it, the friends you make are your family as well.

OK- phew- that got a little heavy there.

On to the card!!

This was not originally what I had intended for this stamp. It's from the Forest of Trees set. I stamped it in green chalk ink, added brads as the ornaments and then put the red paper on the side of the frame, added the panes and overlaid it on the tree. I really like this stamp set and can't wait to play with it more.

Party time!

I had some time to play a bit this weekend, and brought out some of my House Mouse stamps. The first one, I seem to be using a lot lately. He's just so cute and summery. 

I stamped in Momento ink, coloured with copics and used an edge punch. Then, I layered the card onto some orange cardstock, then on top of corrugated paper, which I coloured with distress inks.

This camera mouse I have had for ages, in fact, I am pretty sure it's the first House Mouse I purchased and have never used. I think I was a little intimidated by colouring the camera, but it really wasn't that bad. I also have several birthdays coming up, and thought that by having camera mouse take a photo of the birthday mouse, I could use two stamps on one card. I have to admit, I am rather pleased with how it turned out. 

I hope to be able to play a bit more this week as well- depends on what is going on, but I have come across a couple of challenges I'd like to play.

I like to move it, move it!

It's been a crazy weekend. I was busy yesterday, busy puttering today, and finally got a chance to play this afternoon. I went to my favourite LSS this weekend with M, and there were new House Mouse stamps... this one called my name. It fits in perfectly with the Less is More challenge this week, which is THINGS THAT MOVE. We could make a moving card, have an element that moved, or depict something that moves. So, mousey it was.

I actually stamped, coloured and punched the mouse yesterday, but I was in a bit of a bad mood, and nothing was turning out, so I put it to the side and came back to it today. It turned out that I didn't like the colour of the flower (pinks), so I decided to colour over it using purples. I had never done that before- colouring over one Copic job with another, but I like the way it turned out- it added a bit more depth of colour.

I finished off the card by punching the mouse out using a 3 inch circle, layering it on a 2 inch strip of purple and putting it on a base.

The more I play with the Less is More challenges, the easier the clean and simple method is becoming.

Can't wait to see what's in store next weekend!

New stuff

Oh, how I love new toys! I have my eye on this Boss Kut die for quite some time, and last time I went to Scrapyard, it was mine.

As with most cards I make, there were lessons learned. I cut out two of for the flower and leaves. Then, I covered them with Versamark ink and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE). I learned that UTEE is a wonderful tool. However, it goes EVERYWHERE, and I mean everywhere when you are heating it. I have little balls of melted plastic all over my work table. It also gets really hot. Fortunately the cooling time is relatively quick.
I layered the flower pieces on top of each other, punched and then used a brad to hold it all together.
I needed a piece of ribbon to add a little band of colour to the card. I didn't have any colour that I wanted to use, among my (approx) six kazillion rolls of ribbon, so I took wide white ribbon and coloured it with pine needle distress ink.
I dried it with my heat gun, but for some reason, it didn't dry right away. There was green ink everywhere. Next time, I'll let it dry over night. 
This card was incredibly quick and easy to make, and I love the results. I think it'll make it into the card rotation this year.

LIM- one layer get inky... take one

This week over at Less is More Mandi and Chrissie have us making a one layer card, using ink. Now, everyone uses ink to make cards, you say... but there are lots of ways to make cards without ink- embossing, ribbons, embellishments, stickers, etc. I usually use ink on mine, and have no problems getting inky... in fact, my fingers are green and black at the moment, thanks to a wayward ink pad.

I had lots of time to mull over my creations today- the dogs had me up at 6:30, and when they were out, I checked the blog, went back to bed for a while, did some errands, and when I went to my stamping space nearly 12 hours later, I had some pretty good ideas about what I wanted to do.

The additional bit to the challenge is to do something you don't usually do, or use a technique you haven't tried. One of these cards fits into that.

I really admire Chrissy's cards, especially when she uses bands of colour, such as this one. I decided to give it a try. This one incorporates four distress inks- honey, marigold, rusty hinge and marmalade. I sponged them onto the card and then washed over it with a baby wipe. I find that the paper curls much less doing it that way. Then I stamped the Inkadinkado image over it in Momento black.

Seems as though I am on an orange and black kick tonight. I stamped the butterfly and sentiment in black, then coloured with distress inks. I put some colour onto a stamp block and painted it on with an aqua pen. For a little more dimension and sparkle, I ran a bead of glossy accent over the body and let it dry. 

I think I'll be taking full advantage of my weekend and playing with the one layer challenge more tomorrow. I usually do a card front and add it to the base, but Less is More is becoming easier for me, and the one layer challenges are helping to save paper.

Sometimes, you just have to play...

I've been playing with Distress inks quite a bit lately, and wanted to see what this LaBlanche stamp would look like distressed. I stamped in brown Momento ink, and coloured with Distress inks- the sunflower was done in Honey, the leaves in Shabby Shutters and the centre of the sunflower was (I think) sepia.

Then I decided I was going to play... and that's where it went horribly wrong...

I thought that I would add some dimension by adding glossy accent to the centre, and the centre only. And then the distress inks started to run. So, I decided to smear it all over the card to add some extra texture and interest, which I liked. Then I dried it with my heat gun, which caused the paper to curl. To get rid of the curl, I took the paper and ran it over the edge of my desk. That softened the glossy accent, and gave it an interesting feel. I attached it to the brown cardstock with brass brads. The butterfly was punched out and placed over an ink smear.

Harvest hues

A few months ago, I trekked to a stamping store that I don't usually get to- the Scrapbook Cottage in Steinbach. I was looking for a Queen Ann's Lace stamp, and came across one I liked (Inkadinkado's Meadow). It also included a wheat image, and I decided I wanted to play with that... I am a prairie girl, after all!

For this one, I took a piece of white cardstock and sponged on Distress inks in honey and marigold. Then, I rubbed a baby wipe across the card to intensify the colour. The image was stamped in dark brown and then added onto a brown piece of cardstock and the ribbon was wrapped at the bottom. You can't really see it on the card, but I also spritzed it with copper shimmer.

Swinging mouse

I was checking out splitcoaststampers for inspiration tonight, and came across a new challenge in the Try a New Technique forum. The technique was for a swinging z-fold card. Doesn't matter if you say zed or zee- this card is pretty easy to make, and it took me longer to pick my paper and colour than it did to make the card.

The tutorial is here. I have a few more ideas for cards like this.

The paper was a sale find, and I have been looking for something to use it for. The paper is reversible, and I didn't need to worry about finding matching papers (BONUS!). Once I stamped, die cut and coloured the House Mouse stamp, I attached it to the card front. It wasn't quite finished, so I added the flowers, which I coloured by pressing a yellow stamp pad onto the flower and held the four pieces together using a black brad. The inside has a 1.75 inch piece of white cardstock with a hello sentiment stamped on to it.

Patriotic challenge

This week at Less is More, the challenge is to use colours of your nation's flag. I love red and white together- it always looks so clean and classic. So, to pay tribute to the True North Strong and Free, here are my cards...

I love this stamp set. I can't remember whose it is. (edited to say it's Inkadinkado winter silhouette) I stamped in versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. The sentiment was stamped the same and embossed, then the layer was added.

 Last time I went to Scrapyard, they had a Christmas in July sale, and I purchased these flowers. I doubled them up, added a flocked red brad to the centre and attached to a 2.5 strip of Cherry Cobbler paper from Stampin' Up (all the red paper for these cards is Cherry Cobbler). Added the sentiment and it was done. I love quick and easy cards sometimes, and this one came together in no time.

The third and final card for this creation is my beloved Dancer stamp. I had a small piece of Cherry Cobbler left over from a cutting area, stamped in versamark and embossed in white then layered it onto some white. I used a little bit of ribbon to tie it all together (no pun intended).

Lucky Dip... feeling fruity

It's been ages since I've been able to play along with the Less is More blog challenges. This week, it's Feeling Fruity. I don't have many stamps with fruit on them, but I have (and have been getting a lot of mileage) out of a House Mouse stamp. I've made a couple of cards with this stamp over the past couple of months, but I have finally been able to colour the lemon so it looks like a lemon, and not a yellow blob.

It took me a while to actually get this stamp onto paper. I was in a cleaning mode yesterday, and that transferred onto the stamp, as well. I had it inked twice and cleaned it off twice before it hit paper. I stamped onto Strathmore Bristol paper and coloured with Copics. I used a border punch to punch the holes and overlaid the card onto some orange stock that picks up the orange from the flower. Wasn't sure what I am going to use this card for, so I didn't put a sentiment onto the card. I like it just the way it is, and will put the sentiment on the inside instead, I think.

I seem to be on the roll again with postings... hope I can keep it up with at least one post per week in August!

Yikes!

I knew it had been a while since I updated my blog... I had no idea how long! I have made cards over the last month, but I just haven't gotten around to taking photos. 

This morning, I went down and cleaned up my craft area. It didn't take as long as I had anticipated, so I decided to create a couple of cards. 

My friend M and I went to our favourite stamping store on Thursday for a Christmas in July sale... I didn't do too badly. As usual, I picked up a House Mouse stamp. I have been thinking about another friend's upcoming birthday, and this stamp jumped out at me (and at 20% off, how could I possibly say no?

I coloured the mice with Copics, and used my 3 inch punch. It needed a little something extra, so I punched out four more circles and attached them to a 5 inch square. The edges were inked with distress ink in Crushed Concord. 

The ribbon was husband's pick. I think this card will be destined for one of my nieces... they are into all things pink and purple.

I'll post the card I made for the Less is More challenge tomorrow. 

Happy Fathers' Day!

It's Dads' day today. I saw a card on a blog earlier this week. Thought I bookmarked it, but unfortunately, I didn't. This idea has been ruminating, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I have a deer stamp that I've used in the past, but it wasn't what I wanted for this card. Three failed attempts later, I just got out some card components I stamped at a card camp and decided to give that to dad.

It wasn't what I wanted, so I took a trip to Walmart yesterday and picked up the wildlife Cricut cartridge so I could complete this card. Funny thing is I've been looking at that cart for weeks, if not months, and kept saying to myself that I didn't think I'd use it.

So, this morning, while husband was vacuuming, I went downstairs to do laundry, and while I was down there, I whipped up this card. When I have an idea in my head, it takes next to no time for it to come to life.

I sponged on Broken China distress ink for the sky, followed by Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood to create the mountains. The pine tree from Stampin' Up's Lovely as a Tree was stamped in soot black distress ink, but I stamped it off on paper first so it wasn't bold.
The stag is cut at 4 inches, and attached with my xyron.
I punched out the pine sprigs from three different shades of green with my MS punch and attached it to the base of the card with a run of glue tape. Easy peasy. Not counting the two hours working on the failures and the 30 mins working on the first father's day card, the 2 hour errand trip to Walmart and other places, this card took less than 15 minutes to create.

Cats and mice

As I am writing this, my Tyger cat is being very affectionate, trying to get 100 per cent of my attention. He is succeeding. 

Once in a while, I get the urge to play with colours I don't really use a lot. In this case, it was purple. I have a ton of purple cardstock, but it's not something I usually use. I normally tend to neutrals. 

This house mouse stamp was coloured with copics. The strip behind the card was made with a MS punch.

I made this one with toys purchased on my trip south with my friend M. Coloured, as usual, with copics. I wasn't thrilled with the colour of the lemonade, so I coloured it with the blender pen to lighten it. The flowers are made with a Fiskars punch. 

Another new purchase... I am not thrilled with the way the ground turned out. It was better once I coloured it with the blender pen. Next time, I think I'll stick to lighter colours for the ground.