Happy Potter!

Hello! Happy Day-After-Humpday!

Do you have a Harry Potter fan living with you?! I do! Today's card is a DT card made using Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic and Gnome Sweet Gnome for my post over at Make the Day Special

The lightning bolts are from Lil' Inkers Cut it Out Cloud dies and the castle is a CC Design die
and the sentiment is made using good 'ol Lawn Fawn Milo's ABC's

I had to reverse stamp 'Hedwig' onto 'Dumbledore',or he would have had an owl butt in his face ;-),coloured them both with Copics and fussy cut them out. I think the little gnome works pretty well as a wizard,no? I flecked the card with Frantage and highlighted the sides of the castle.

 I know Boo will love it-she adores anything Harry Potter related!

Im entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes 

Hope it inspires you in some way,

Lou x

Happy little birdie

Hi hi :-)

Happy nearly weekend :-D Today is my DT day over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store-Throwback Thursday.

I know some of my posts can dubiously be called 'Throwback',but todays post is TRULY a throwback. I used  the gloriously vintage Paper Smooches Chubby Chum Pals and the not so quite as vintage Think Fast to create a card one of my favourite quotes

I know,I know-its a chicken,but it could be a seagull. If you half squint. And look from a distance ;-)

He and the fries are water coloured and the packet is paper pieced and the sentiment typed with my trusty vintage typewriter. Then a little stitching around the edge in 'fry' colour to finish it off.

I am poping this into the Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge

Right,thats all from me-Im off to fulfill this cards demand ;-)

Lou x

Papel Picado

Hello!

This is another catch up post from a DT post over on Make The Day Special Stamp Store (really must learn to sync these posts :-/ )

So this is from the gorgeous Avery Elle called Papel Picado. I was so so excited about this one when I saw its release <3
I wanted to get the whole fluttering through the street thing down,so background stamped a few flags in a neutral tone,then made the foreground ones bright bright bright!

Yeah,I stitched them.
I love stitching on card (now my machine has started behaving ;-))

I cant WAIT to use this set again (and again and again)

Hope you like it!
Lou x

In the stars

Hello!

Its nearly the weekend! Wahoo!

August is a veeeery busy Birthday month for me,so todays card is inevitably a Birthday one ;-)

Today is my DT day at Make the Day Special

I used all Mama Elephant products- Cosmic Stars and Starry Nights,(which is currently out of stock) and the scrummy not so throwback Starburst Cover Plate to create this,plus a smattering of Frantage for some extra stars

How cute is that lion?!

The Starburst plate is mounted over some glitter cardstock and raised on pop dots to create a mini shadowbox .

I hope you like it! And Mum,I hope you arent looking at this just yet! :-)

Lou x

Autumn thoughts already

Hello!

Yup,Autumn thoughts already-My most favourite season <3 I usually start thinking Autumn thoughts after December,to be honest and filling my Pinterest boards with rich reds,golds and all things Fall.

So todays card is made using the ever fabulous Paper Smooches. Pretty much just all dies lol! I used Pocket,Thanks and Leaves 1 for this. 

I cut the leaves from vellum then stained them with alcohol inks. The swirls are stamped from the Flap Happy set and the stitching along the pocket is from Needle Little Love (LOVE that set) All are available from Make The Day Special Stamp Store. I got my inspiration for this card from the MtDS current challenge here 

with this lush colour palette

Yup,think I've managed to get every single one of those colours in there! 

LOVE those leaves! <3

I am entering this into the Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge 

 

Lou x

A Good Apple

Woah,better dust off poor old blog's cobwebs! 

Where have I been? Well,things have been busy and emotional with Boo. She has been very ill and we have been trying to find a balance of chemo that works for her,so although I have been making minimal bits I just haven't had the energy to blog them all. So,lets play catch up!

Ok,today is my day over at Make The Day Special and as it is close to end of school,I am busy as a bee making teacher thank you cards :-/

Today's is made using Lawn Fawn's A Good Apple (such a cute set,and the first time it has ever seen ink!)

Here you go

And a sidey view...

Hope you like it!

Lou x

Fishy Friday!

Hello!
A while back I made a card for my DT post for Make The Day Special Stamp Store,I wanted to try and make a card version of Big Mouth Billy Bass,that singing wiggling fish on a plaque,remember him? Sure you do! So I reached for my WPlus9 Fish More set teamed with Lawn Fawn's Fanciful Frames to recreate a papery version of that iconic singing fish ;-) here he is

And a closer look

To get that cool fish colouring effect I stamped the fish first in an peachy yellow,then inked the fish up with a forest green,but wiped the bottom bit off with a cloth,then carefully stamped over the peachy fish to give that two-toned look. (Jennifer McGuire does a great video on how to do this technique) Then I brushed over a little gold perfect pearls to give him a fishy sheen (that sadly doesn't seem to pick up in photos) I LOVE that sentiment,so funny! 

Lou x

Floral fancies

Hello!

I don't know about your neck of the woods,but we have officially LOST the sun! Ah well,makes for a perfect crafting day when the sun is not out to tempt me into some gardening ;-)

So today is my day over at Make The Day Special Stamp Store,and I used Wplus9 Coming up Roses in two different backgrounds on my cards.

And a closer look at each one...

These were so therapeutic to do! 

I hope you like them :-)

I am entering them into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge 'Spring Flowers'

Lou x

Mama

Hello!

Todays card is the Mothers Day card I made my wonderful elephant loving Mama. (I couldnt blog it BEFORE she got it now,could I? ;-) ) So here it is. Very CAS for me,( her previous ones have been pretty shabby chic and grungey) but it covers everything I wanted to say to her :-)

I used Lawn Fawn's Love you Tons for the elephant,coloured with Prismacolour pencils and Mama Elephant Sketchy Letters (LOVE this set!) for the 'Mama'

This is going into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge 'Anything Goes' and as part of the DT for Make The Day Special Stamp Store first blog challenge,also 'Anything Goes' (Gotta love those Anything Goes,right?) Make sure you hop on over to keep on top of those challenges ;-D

I hope your Mother Day was as awesome as mine :-D

Lou 

Hang in there

Hello!

Its my day over at Make The Day Special Stamp Store and the DT have a colour challenge this week

So here is my 'card'-a slightly different card this week,using some of my hoarded old packaging as its base and the gorgeous Paper Smooches Briny Blue and Surf and Turf and the sentiment  is from Hang Ups. I hoard packaging like,well,like a participant on Extreme Hoarding,but I do USE it,so I can justify the piles of chipboard and plastic dotted around the craft room...can't I? ;-)

Anyway,I have been holding onto this piece of floppy clear plastic forever,waiting for its true purpose to be realised ;-) Static does a lot of the work for you holding things in place,so there is no need for any adhesive in this type of card. All the sea folk are stamped and painted onto watercolour card,using the colour palette. I stamped,coloured and cut everything I thought I would use and arranged it. Then carefully sandwiched it together and machine sewed loose rings around the outside in a sand coloured thread. The jellyfish and seahorse needed a little extra anchoring,so I ran a few stitches through them,voila! Can be hung anywhere to catch the light :-)

Close up of the glittery Jellies in floaty action...

Yes they have a light coat of stickles-I think I am still coughing up glitter from Boo's birthday invite wands! I seem to have gotten a little addicted to glitter now...

This card will be winging its way all the way to Byron Bay Australia to reside on a sunny windowsill overlooking the ocean,where it properly belongs :-)

But before that,I'm putting it in the Paper Smooches Sparks 'Anything Goes' challenge over here

And in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Glitter it Challenge here

Hope you like it! 

Lou x

A little rainbow magic...

Greetings from glitter fueled pre-4 year old Birthday party chaos!
Its my day over at Make The Day Special Stamp Store.

My littlest one is about to turn 4,and being the most girly girl ever,her invites (under strict instruction from her) have just been made. I was given my brief-glitter,a unicorn,glitter,something magicy,glitter,oooh a wand!,glitter,RAINBOWS! and er,....glitter. So,with this in mind I reached for my newest Paper Smooches set, Spectrum. Those of you with little princesses must have heard of the ultimate in My Little Pony colour-Rainbow Dash?  Well,Spectrum can offer a very close second...Ladies and gentlemen,I give to you (drum roll) Lovely Unicorn Rainbow Hair! (As named by its tiny 3 year old architect)

These are the party invites (I'm lucky she is only having four guests!) The time and date and other essentials are written on the back so that the recipient has a usable memento after all boring yet essential details are noted.  And yes,there is glitter EVERYWHERE! Neon glitter around the edge,no less than three different types of Stickles adorn the unicorn on hooves and horn and there is yet more glitter on the back,with a light dusting of,yup,glitter across the sky and finished with a gemstone bottom. The craft room looks like Smaugs lair,glittering and twinkling as it waits for the hoover. The stick part are straws wrapped with washi tape (quite a therapeutic activity) and the ribbons are cemented with hot glue between the stars,along with my most of my fingertips. All the stress was more than made up for when each little girl opened up the envelope and pulled out her wand-pure joy :-)  I will leave you with another picture,just for good measure...

I LOVE the Spectrum set-as with all Paper Smooches stamps,there is so much scope in one set,but I don't think I can look at the unicorn again without seeing it covered in glitter and a mane of multi colour ;-) Swinging these guys over to the Paper Smooches Sparks 'Anything Goes' Challenge (Lets hope they mean ANYTHING! Lol) 

Happy Thursday folks,

Lou x

What a little star!

Hellooo hello hello!

Sun...? Is that you sun? Wow,I think it is- Long time no see!

And to welcome it back,I have made a card. Not just any card,but a card for the inevitable flurry of small people's Birthdays that come with the Spring and Summer (always good to make a few of these for stand-by) So the first is dusting off my old trusty favorite Birthday set (although not technically an old set,it's one that hasn't seen the light of day for a loooong time),Lawn Fawn's Critters at the Dog Park. I was hunting through all my stamps for a potential ballet star,and when I saw the sausage dog,with her ickle toes all pointy,well,she just needed a teeny tutu and voila! (P.S.-making tiny dog tutu's on a Saturday morning while the children kept 'helping'-not easy!)

I thought I would use kraft linen press card to make her 'base coat' for a change from white-I think I like it! She has a Stickles (also a dusting off item) waistband and a Glossy Accents nose,here,have a close up...

Right,I'm dashing off-better stop procraftinating and make some dinner ;-D

Popping this card in for the Lawnscaping Challenge Dust 'Em Off and Bunny Zoe's Challenge Hearts/Love.

Lou x

Herby thanks

Happy nearly New Years! 

I haven't been around much lately as Boo has been veeeeery ill and we have been at the hospital A LOT. Things aren't looking very bright,so I made the difficult decision to stop working. I am so grateful that I am able to do this,so I can focus most of my attention on Boo.

My card today is for the inevitable endless task that always comes after Christmas-the Thank You card. Ever the bane of my childhood,stamping these make things so much more fun ;-)

I used the glorious Flourishes Italian Garden set for this card,stamped onto watercolour paper with archival ink which I heat set. You might need a magnifying glass to paint in some of the leaves on the Rosemary bush! But it looks just gorgeous when watercoloured,don't you think?  

The sentiment comes from the ultra useful Paper Smooches Salutations set.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Eek-a-boo!

Hello!

Welcome to the World Cardmaking Day bloghop over at Make The Day Special!

We thought we couldn't let such an auspicious 'world day' go past without marking it somehow now,could we?  ;-)

You should have got here from Make The Day Special blog,your next port of call is posted below,along with details of a super prize you can win!

So,my card today celebrates the coming of my favorite seasons-Autumn. 

I used the super cute pumpkins from the Paper Smooches Spookalicious set (currently on special offer over at Make The Day Special) to create a pumpkin patch,coloured with Prisma pencils. The leaves are from the Paper Smooches too-I hunted through ALL my dies for the perfect pumpkin style leaf,and what do you know? The Reflections Leaf set works perfectly! :-) I finished the card off with some faux stitching and a 'fake' piece of washi embossed with my Paper Smooches sentiment and voila! A cute 'welcome autumn' type card-just perfect to hand out to someone on World Card Day. I am entering this card into the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge,and the challenge this week is Anything Goes-whoot whoot!!! Always fun to through constraint to the wind when these pop up,eh?

Right,on with the hop-the girls have got some fantastic cards to show you! Next on your list is:
Jenny 

Kate

Lydia

Tara

We have a fantastic little prize for you-all you need to do is make a card in the next 48 hours and link it onto the Make The Day Special blog to win the adorable Critters Down Under set from Lawn Fawn

Whoop whoop! How cute is this set?! (I have found its an invaluable set for those tricky boy cards!)

Have fun hopping!
Lou

Welcome Autumn!

Hello! 
Its my post over at Make The Day Special blog today :-)

Are you an Autumn lover? I am :-) It has to be my absolute favorite season of them all...those crisp mornings,low sun,the colours-oh the colours! So beautiful. It is a time to cosy down,snuggle up,pull out the sweaters and boots and bake yummy things. It is also my most active time on Pinterest...I have SO many pumpkin recipes pinned,I really don't think I will get through them all before the pumpkins go out of season!

One of the recipes I pinned this week was the scrumptious sounding Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup-yummo! I haven't had the chance to make it...yet,but it got me thinking it would be nice to decorate all my Autumn recipe cards with some of the gorgeous stamps that are in the shop. Then I thought how nice and different it would be to send a few of these cards out to friends to welcome the coming coolness. Then I thought of my very neglected Paper Smooches Clipboard die set....then this happened....

The buttons are cut from foam using the Cat's Pajamas Buttons die,and threaded with Lawn Fawn Autumny Retro Triple Twine, the stamps are all Paper Smooches Autumn Grooves, (I am going to get a LOT of mileage out of this set!) and the dies are the insanely cute Paper Smooches Clipboard Dies. 

Not sure who is going to get this yet,but I hope I get invited to try the soup ;-)

Happy,happy Autumn people :-)

Lou

A special Birthday blog hop

Hello!

Welcome to She's Birthday Blog Hop Bonanza! You should have got here from Keren's blog-as she is so deliciously humorous,I wont even attempt jokey banter ;-)

I started out thinking I would do a sort of monochrome homage to She's fave colour (Orange) but then this just sort of happened...and then I found my leftover Astro Turf....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHE!

Have an awesomely orange and happy day,we all miss you lots!

Lou x

Next stop,Lydia :-)

Blog hop order:

Make The Day Special

Emily

Jo

Jenny

Kate

Keren

                   Lou -Thats me!

Lydia

Vintage Water Goddess

Hello!
I'm back today with a piece I have just finished for my Mum's Birthday.

Stamps make PERFECT templates for a whole host of craft with fabric,one of which is mixed media embroidery.

For this piece,I used the inimitable Smeared Ink Elementals 'Water Goddess' stamp (Currently in the sale-wahoo!)

After choosing your fabric (mine is a very-hard-to-photograph-without those-annoying-lines-piece of vintage silk,bought back from the Middle East when we lived there),ink up your chosen stamp (remember-simple lines are better!) and brayer the fabric onto the inked stamp. 
Place your fabric in an embroidery hoop. I was always going to leave mine in the hoop as it was my Grandmothers,so therefore has sentimental value,but you may want to paint the hoop,or make sure you use one nice enough to leave attached! 

Next select your threads. I chose to do this piece with as much texture as I could,so chose as many different blue embroidery floss as I could find,plus bits of thin ribbon,some netting and beads. 

I used a split stitch for the majority of this,simply because it creates a nice solid textured line,splitting off two strands from the palest blue floss to outline her face. And a simple running stitch with metallic blue floss for the frame box.

Her hair was just plain fun! Just go to town on bits like this. I used random thread,ribbon and the netting and interspersed it with seed beads

Aaah,yes, the back. The utterly terrifying spaghetti junction of loose threads!

 To finish this piece,I cut the excess base fabric very closely to the hoop and drew around the hoop onto a piece of thick felt and cut it out. Using a strong quick glue suitable for fabric (I used Glossy Accents),glue the trimmed fabric to the hoop,so it wont pull through and escape,then add a little more to the wooden hoop and fix the felt pad on,like the lid of a pie. If you want to hang your piece up,add a bit of ribbon,lace or trim in between the felt and the hoop. 

It is a lovely thing to pootle along with in the evenings,adding more and more and watching it grow into a piece you feel is finished.

I hope you have enjoyed that rather long winded tute! Now go see which stamps would make for nice needle work ;-)

I need you like...

Hello!

Today's card is made with a whole lotta joy at finally getting this set from Wplus9 :-)

I have been SO excited to get playing with it and this was the first thing I did (still feeling my way around my newly acquired love of CAS-but I took the plunge with this one...that is a LOT of white space! :-o  )

I stamped the milk container onto the card,then another onto vellum and embossed this with white,tucking the straw between the two layers. 

Hope you like it!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Wplus9 'Milk & Cookies'

Dies: Wplus9 'Milk & Cookies'

Embossing folder: Tim Holtz

Extras: Vellum Polaroid frame Studio Calico, Prismacolor pencils, WOW embossing powder

Layers of Lawn Fawn!

Hello!

I made this card today using the gorgeous Lawn Fawn Bright Side papers and Lawn Fawn Grand Greetings sentiment set,some ribbon and a flower I made a while ago from some nice retro 70's polyester (Noice!!)

It is surprisingly easy to do-I cut four circles out from each of the papers I wanted to use,using a 3/4 inch circle punch. The hardest part is lining up that first line,but once you have them in place,the rest are easy peasy. Just glue the smallest bit at the top of the circle,then you can slot all the other circles underneath. Trim any overhangs and in between each circle along the bottom and add ribbon across the top (easier said than done-I appear to be quite inadept at this seemingly simple technique :-/ ) and flower or any other embellishment and add your sentiment.

 I love the look of this card as it seems to appeal to all ages-my 3 and 7 year olds went mad over it,each requesting one (Oh great!) and my Mum and her friends love it too. So I can declare with conviction that Lawn Fawn papers are universally appealing ;-)

I hope you give this technique a try-it is great fun :-)

Lou x

Sit,HEEEL...Stay!

Hello :-)

Just showing my latest creation-a 7th birthday card for Boo's BFF,who happens to love dogs :-) 

I used the Karen Burniston accordion flip 3D album die (I LOVE LOVE LOVE this die!) and the gorgeous Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park stamp set and dies,plus the Quinns ABC's and dies for the letters in the balloons,Lawn Fawn Daphne's Closet is the paper I used. The balloons and present are from Clearly Besotted,a fantastic small but growing English company. 

The end result does need a bit of man handling to get it into order,but always gets a wow from the recipient,so totally worth the blood sweat and tears ;-)