Deck the halls with...

...cardboard reindeer.

Not a particularly new idea, but I like it.  I scaled up this template to make the head as large as possible on A4, then printed out on computer paper.  This was temporarily adhered to kraft card & cut out.  I used  only 3 sheets of card for this chap.

 

The antlers & nose were coloured with pro-markers & the moustache was a leftover party prop which I think it rather suits him.  Tried googly eyes but they were insufficiently regal (unlike the facial hair...), so will have to keep thinking.



Father's Day

Dies: Stars (MFT); Pennants (Spellbinders)

Font: Ecuyer Dax, Stars from their Eyes

Eek.  Father's Day on Sunday & nothing suitable in my stash.  Quick - to the laptop.  The ombre HAPPY was a direct CASE from this week's Make it Monday at PTI.  (My son was looking over my shoulder at the time: "I know where you got THAT from Mum").  Printed out twice.  Die cut the spare & coloured with promarker.  No coincidence that this week's CASology is YELLOW.  Stick it all together, take a terrible photo, & there you have it.  Easy to replicate for the fil, too.

 

Linking to:
CAS-ual Fridays: CFC104~ Banners & Flags
CASology: Week 48 ~ Yellow

Snail mail

Stamps: snail (Elzybells)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Font: Special Elite

Less is More want speed this week.  Slow is a speed.  My children's favourite.  This also fits in with Susan's One Layer Wednesday call for bugs.

I found the letter image with Google & printed that out with the sentiment.  After stamping the snails, careful gentle colouring with promarkers to ensure no bleed through to the inside.  I added the'harness' with a fineline marker.

2 posts in one day.  Hurray!

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 123 ~ Need for Speed

One Layer Wednesday: OLW143 ~ Bugaloos
Simon Says Stamp & Show: Letter S

CFC93 ~ Colour Blocks

No stamps; no ink

Font: Goudy Bookletter 1911

Other: Promarkers; Vellum; Cuttlebug die

I used to have a set of different shaped tile when I was small (younger as opposed to shorter...) & they would keep me occupied for hours making different designs.  So I enjoyed making my own yesterday & constructing a variety of backgrounds for this card.  I simply cut strips of card & chopped them off lengths twice the width, then coloured them with promarkers.  Temporary adhesive helped keep them in place until I was sure what I wanted.  And that was a long time!  The grey mat beneath helps define the background.

Couldn't think how to finish it until today though, when I remembered the vellum I bought at a craft show last year.  Didn't know how it would print out, but it turned out just fine.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC93 ~ Colour Blocks

New house card

Stamps: Good Neighbours (SU); Bitty Banners, Fanciful Phrases (WM); Polka Dots II (PTI)

Ink: Tumbled Glass (DI), Lady Bug (Memento)

Other: opaque white embossing powder (WOW)

I made this card a while ago, but never got around to posting.
The 3 houses were stamped with Versamark & embossed with white embossing powder, then swiped over using a brush & some watered down distress ink.
The banner & sentiment were stamped on when dry in the same ink.  For a bit of interest I cut away the side profile & stamped behind in red.
The heart in the first house is a sequin coloured with pro-markers.

This fits in with Less is More this week: 3 houses, 2 colours, 1 heart.

Linking to:
Less is More: Week 82 ~ 3-2-1

Christmas in July

My mojo seems to be taking an unscheduled holiday somewhere, so here are some cards I made for the children to give to their friends last Christmas.

Stamps: Tiny Treasures (Pink Petticoat); Little Pieces (SU); Christmas Tags (Elzybells)

Ink: Chocolate Brownie (Elzybells); White (Studio G)

Paper: PinkPetticoat

The card bases (7cm x 7cm) were made from manilla files - the only kraft card I could get in bulk at the time without a second mortgage.  The digi images were cut out with my Silhouette & then coloured with Promarkers.

I made about 40 of these & regretted the complexity after the first 5!  Were my little darlings grateful?  Were they heck.  They wanted the Scooby-Doo ones from Tescos.  They'll be getting them this year...

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

Mojo Monday challenge

Stamps: Circle-a-Thon (Schlosser Designs); Boxes, Bags & Tags (PTI)

Ink: Pear Tart, Bahama Blue (Memento)

Other: Pear Green promarker; 1.125" & 1.375" circle punches; button twine (Waltzing Mouse)

Didn't have any green cardstock to match the ink, so I use a promarker on white for the same effect.

This is a lot fussier than I normally go for, & the jury's still out.  I think I might change the blue tags on the sentiment - they don't really work too well - but I love love love my new button twine from Waltzing mouse.

UPDATE:

Replaced the silly square tag thing with a nice sensible faux button!  It's never going to be love, but at least I'll let it live.  Only now I'm thinking it still needs a sentiment...

Linking to:

Mojo Monday 243 Round or Square?

Clean & simple's the name of the game



Stamps: Miss You (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Tumbled Glass (Ranger Distress Ink), London Fog (Memento)

Card base: 9.9cm square, linen white (Paper Mill Direct)

This card didn't come easily to me.  I had a half-formed idea way in the back of my head that made me dry emboss the centre square.  Then I sat & looked at it for a while.  It stared back, but didn't give me any clues.  We sat like that for a while.  Eventually I tried to find a stamp that would fit. (Duh! Why didn't I do a square to fit, around a chosen stamp?).  Faffed about for a bit longer, but as soon as I saw this stamp, it spoke to me.  Much more than the card base did.

And then I'm on a roll! Did a light application of ink.  I like the way it really highlights the frame & also brings out the texture of the card base.

Promarkers used: Cool Aqua, Duck Egg

Coloured in the stamped image & adhered it with foam pads.

I'm not sure it bears any resemblance to my original idea, but I like it.  I think I'll be trying this format again...

Linking to:
Less is More - Week 65 Sketch

Football card made using WORDLE

Before we get on with today's offering, can I just say a HUGE thank you to everyone who took time out yesterday to leave me a comment.  Being a new blog on the block, I really appreciate hearing what people think - it made my day!

Not found Wordle yet? Try it out. It arranges your words in a random sequence of fonts & colours. The more often a word is used in your selection, the larger the font size it appears in the picture. You have some input into colours, layout & font. Once you are happy with the colours & fonts etc, just keep choosing 're-layout with current settings' until you have one that takes your fancy.

The only thing is, if you pass over a layout you like, it can sometimes be hard to get it back again. I tend to take a screen snapshot (alt printscreen) of an arrangement I like & paste it into MS Publisher, & then I can compare them all at my leisure.

For this card, I added the footballs & cut out the sentiment on my Silhouette. A piece of red paper (coloured with promarkers) was fixed behind the sentiment to make it stand out & then all adhered to an A6 base with foam pads.

Submitted for Daring Cardmakers "The Sportsman".

Very quick & simple card

Need a card in a hurry, but don't have much in the way of supplies?  Try this.

The sentiment was printed first (SNF Lollihop), & the tiles arranged around it.  I didn't have any suitable colours in my paper stash, so I simply put stripes of colour on plain paper with a few promarkers, added sellotape over the top to give it a shine & punched them out with a small square punch.

The hardest part was trying to get the squares random enough.  Random doesn't come easily to me!