CASology ~ Zoo

Stamps: Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Tuxed Black (Memento)

Other: various paper; By the Numbers die (MFT); Cuttlebug embossing folder

I've been playing about with MS Photo Editor.  Can you tell?

A bit more involved than my usual offering, but I do enjoy a bit of paper piecing now & again.  There was also a monkey involved during the early stages (in the the design, not helping me out), but he got cut before the final take.  I love this set from My Cute Stamps & may well be tempted to use them for this challenge again before the week is out.

 

Linking to:

CASology: Week 13 ~ Zoo

 

It's getting wetter...

It looks as if what passes for summer in the UK has definitely finished.  It is cold & gloomy here (just another excuse for poor photos...), with lashings of rain.  So what better than a cheery pair of wellies?

 

I made the digital stamp from some clip art, & used digital paper too, printing on to glossy photo paper to get some shine.  I cut out 2 versions, so I could pop up the front boot on sticky pads.  It was very tricky to cut out, as it is so small.
 

 

The corners of the white panel were rounded with my corner chomper, as was the card base.

PS Is anyone else having trouble with blogger at the mo?  It's playing very hard to get.  It took me >5 attempts to load these pictures today; kept saying server returned invalid response.

 

Linking to:

CASology: Week 12 ~ Shoe

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC71 ~ Fall Fun

Less is More: Week 86 ~ 3 challenges (wk 32 seeing double, wk65 sketch, wk73 paper piecing)

Dino birthday card

Stamps: Tremendous Treats Valentine, Polka Dot Basics II, Little Bitty Bird (PTI)

Ink: Pear Tart, Tuxedo Black (Memento); Versamark (Tsukineko)

Paper: from my stash

No time for small talk today.  Recovering from a minor disaster involving cat poo & wicker!  Don't ask...

Linking to:
CAS-ual Fridays ~ CFC63, aqua, lime & navy

Let's go fly a kite...

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II, Little Bitty Bird (PTI); Teeny Trees (WM); Good Neighbours SU)

Ink: LadyBug (Memento); Versamark (Tsukineko)

This is my entry for this week's Less is More sewing challenge.  Unfortunately, there's too much more & not enough less.  It's been brewing in my head for too long I think, & I haven't had the chance to get it on paper before it got too big!

Linking to:

Less is Moore ~ Week 77, Sewing

Monster Birthday

Stamps: Little Monster (Woodware)

Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Morocco (Memento)

Paper: Hopscotch Boy (K & Co)

Other: By the Number Dies, Stars (MFT)

A bit of a departure from my normal style today.  There is a birthday approaching in our house, & the birthday-boy-to-be has been more than a little scathing in the past about some of my CAS efforts.  "It's BORING mum, they won't like that...".

It didn't come easily.  I messed about for ages with placement of pieces & stamps.  The gold stars were a last minute addition because 'it just didn't look right'.

Finally having finished my masterpiece, I lifted it from the table to find it opens on the left, not the right!  Whoops.  Oh well, I'm sure he won't mind; at least it will be different...

You float my boat



Stamp:  Tremendous Treats Valentine (PTI)

Ink: London Fog (Memento); Aqua (Ranger Adirondack), Christmas Red (HobbyCraft)

Paper: " Peas in a Bucket, Sheryl K Designs, Shabby Princess

Font: Migraine Sans

Here is my entry for this week's Less is More - paper piecing, hurray!

I printed the sentiment then masked off a square using torn edge paper for a softer finish.  I stamped the boat then sponged in the sky with aqua ink.  Originally, the sea was sponged with darker blue, but it looked all wrong, so I paper pieced it instead.  The heart & flag were sponged with red & cut out - the heart has sellotape over it to give it a bit of gloss. 

This is very similar to a card I made a couple of weeks ago using another stamp from the same set.

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 73, Paper Piecing

That frame again...

Stamps: Bitty Banners (Waltzing Mouse); Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Pearlescent Purple (Brilliance); Lilac Posies (Memento)

I told you once I found an idea, I worked it hard!  Banners instead of washi tape today though.

The lion was stamped on DP & then the mane coloured with Promarkers. The dots were made using the Promarker blender.

If you haven't seen the first card I made like this, find it here.

Linking to:

Casual Fridays: CFC58, Pretty in Pink

Something Shiny

Stamp: Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Font: Narkism
Glitter: Raspberry, Violet, Baby Blue ultrafine

The stars were die-cut from sticky labels using MFT dies, then glitter applied in vast quantities.  The 2 stripes are super sticky red line tape with glitter on.  The sentiment is computer generated - couldn't decide which to go for, so went for them all.

Can also now enter me, my desk & my craft room into the something shiny category.  Haven't used glitter for a while... am remembering why!

Linking to:

Less is More: LIM72 - Something Shiny

Play Date Cafe: PDCC Azure, Raspberry, Blackberry

Faux washi tape card

Surfing around the other day, I came across this fab card, by Therese at Lost In Paper.  I carried it round in my head for a while, & this is what I came up with.

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II (PTI); Mesh (Visible Image); Background Stripes (Hero Arts); Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Pear Tart, Bahama Blue , Tuxedo Black (Memento); Mediterranean Blue (Brilliance); Versamark

Font: EcuyerDAX, Worstveld Sling Extra

Card base: A6, hammered white (Paper Mill Direct)



I wanted to make it look as if the frame were stuck on with washi tape.  I don't possess any washi tape, as it is hard to come by in the UK, so I made me a stencil.

I tried both ends out before stamping on the card, & the zig-zag end was just too fussy, given that the stamps I used left quite a lot of white space.

I designed the frame in Studio, & sketched it lightly in place prior to stamping.

Then I masked off the pieces of frame that would be under the 'tape' (not quite as accurately as I thought... there are a few big gaps!), & ran the card through the printer.

I stamped the seal once on the card & again on a scrap of blue & added some Versamark polka dots.  Cut out the blue seal using my new favourite tonic studios scissors, & stuck in place with Pritt stick.

Decided something was missing, so added the ball.

Took a few photos, smiled smugly & congratulated myself that all the ink was in the right place... opened the card & found a HUGE great ink smudge.  Don't know how it got there ;).  Still, gives me an excuse to play all over again!

Hello Kitty card

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Found an image on the net & printed it out on the card base, then on the patterned paper.  It's a very forgiving image to cut out - the black lines are nice & thick.  Add a bit of bling.... perfect for a Hello Kitty fan.

Only have a scrap of patterned paper to hand? Don't worry.  Print on to normal computer paper first, then stick the scrap over the part of the image you want to be patterned, using temporary adhesive.  Run it back through the printer again & the image will be printed on to the patterned paper.

Submitted for Top Tip Tuesday Challenge 76 - Clean & Simple

It's never too early to make a Christmas card..



Paper: Snowy Day (Crate Paper)

Stamp: unknown

Other: Anita's 3D Gloss

Card base: 9.9cm square, hammered ivory (Paper Mill Direct)

Nice & simple card, easily reproduced.  Stamped the robin 3 times - on to cream, brown & then just the flower on to red.  This is a good stamp for paper piecing as is has quite a thick line, so any errors in cutting are hidden when it is stuck down on the original.

The flower was a bit fiddly, but I like the result, with the glossy finish.

Paper pieced tractor card

This has to be one of my favourite cards ever.  I can't draw for toffee, & am not much better at colouring, so I like to build pictures by paper piecing.  Usually this involves stamping, but this picture was entirely my own creation.

The card base is a 9.9cm square (I can get 3 of these from 1 sheet of A4).  I sketched the idea out very roughly on scratch paper & then used this to make templates to draw around on the patterned paper.  The wheel sizes were dictated by my punch collection, so this was where I started.

Each piece was sponged with black ink before being glued into position, to give definition to the edges.

Paper pack used is 6"x6" Hopscotch Boy by K & Co.

Same card 2 ways

I find the hardest part of making a card is coming up with the design.  So when I stumble upon a design that works, I work it hard.  Lucy Abrams held a sketch challenge earlier in the year and, although I didn't enter, something stuck with me as I came up with this.

One for a girl...

Card: Hammered White (Paper Mill Direct), Kraft (Anna Marie Designs)
Paper: Pretty Please Spring (My Mind's Eye )
Stamp: Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Font: 2Peas Mister Giggles (free download)

and one for a boy.

Paper: Celebrate (free download from Shabby Princess)

I'm sure I won't be stopping at two, especially as this design lends itself to using up scraps!

Another way to avoid housework is born...

Hello.... is there anyone out there?

Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought.

I've been an avid blog READER for some years now, but I've decided to stop being merely a voyeur & join in the fun.

One thing to say straight away, as it will become immediately apparent, is that I am RUBBISH with a camera. Paper, scissors, glue, computer: fine.  Camera: pants.  So I apologise in advance for the poor quality images that will shortly be appearing on a PC near you!

Right, on with the important stuff.  Today's offering is a bookmark I put together using my newly acquired PTI Tremendous Treats Valentine set (bought second hand off ebay, of course - no way I want to pay their shipping prices).  I coloured the spines with promarkers & paper-pieced the body, details below.  Not sure whether to laminate or not.  Would make it more durable, but might lose some of the charm.  What do you think?

The kraft card is from www.annamariedesigns.com, & the paper is a free digikit from here http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/betsy-tuma/96385-digikit-bold-brights-sampler/?filters=_brights_%2Ffree%2Fdigital-kits. 

I generated the sentiment on the computer, using Silhouette Studio.

Thanks for reading.