Bee Costume

I managed to make a card, yay! It's a simple one (to be fair I don't really make any other kind) because the image is so large that it doesn't really allow for too many different layouts on an almost 6x6 card. The last time I used it I stamped directly onto the card blank, but I don't think I'm brave enough to try that again with such a large stamp.

 

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Bee Costume' 

Sentiment Stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Everyday Grungy Messages' 

Papers - Make & Create 'Magic Moments'
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras -Gems

Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Penny Black And More - Things with wings
Penny Black Saturday - Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge - Anything goes

Snowy

This is a simple card I made a wee while ago, but forgot to blog. I thought I might as well do it now, seeing as my blog's been a bit neglected this month (the unusually hot summer we've been having here in Scotland doesn't suit a peely wally lassie like me, so I've found it a bit hard to get motivated to make cards, apart from my DT ones).

 

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Snowy'
Papers - First Edition 'Winter Wishes'
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Glossy Accents and Glamour Dust

Dragonfly Journeys - Christmas in July
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Papercraft Challenges - Christmas in July
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Sweet Stampers - Christmas in July
The Corrosive Challenge - Anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage - The most wonderful time of the year
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything goes
Fab 'n' Funky - Christmas in July
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Christmas in July (blog hop)
Christmas With The Cuties - Add some sparkle
Penny Black Saturday - Anything goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Use patterned paper

ABC Christmas Challenge - N & O

Time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge. Helen's our host this month, and the themes are -

'N for Name'

  and 

'O for On' 

Our sponsor this month is -

Neat & Tangled

and the prize is a $25 gift certificate

There's also another prize on offer from Helen

I've made an 'O for On' card (the snowman has his skates on) 

Image stamp -Whipper Snapper 'Snowman Skater'
Papers - Studio Light #44 and #50
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Card Candi and Flower Soft

 

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas
Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge - L & M

It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge. Helen's our host and the themes are -

'L for Love'

  and 

'M for Mouse' 

Our sponsor this month is -

Wild Rose Studio

  
The prize is a 6x6 'Festive Florals' paper pack and a 'Teddy Baubles' clear stamp!

There's also a prize from Helen for another lucky winner

I've made an 'M for Mouse' card, using a cute stamp from Penny Black. It also kind of fits the L theme as wee mousie seems to be loving that snow.

Image stamp -Penny Black 'Let It Snow!'
Sentiment stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Christmas Grungy Messages' set
Papers - Basic Grey 'Olivia'
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Twine, gems and Flower Soft

 

Pile It On - Holiday (no birthday)
Stamping Sensations - Anything goes
My Time To Craft - Holidays
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round - Non-traditional Christmas colours
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything goes + Christmas
The Holly And Ivy Christmas - Anything Chrismas goes
Christmas With The Cuties - Festive furry friends

Daisy Mouse

This is one of the stamps I was lucky enough to receive for my birthday. I got to choose and couldn't resist this one, partly because it's a cutie and partly because it's got the same name as one of my last rats (my Daisy was also a cutie, as well as one of the naughtiest rats I've ever known).

Image stamp - Whipper Snapper 'Daisy Mouse'
Papers - Studio Light #69
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Sizzix 'Tattered Florals by Tim Holtz' Bigz die and pearls

Stamping Sensations - Anything goes
Crafty Calendar - Three of something (three papers and three die-cut flowers)
The Crafty Addicts - Anything goes/Spring is in the air
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything goes
As You Like It - Flora or fauna (fauna for me, in card making and in general. I don't own any stamps with just flowers on them, they all include cute wee animals too)
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes

Bunny Bath

I've used a bit of a neglected stamp on this card. I've just had a wee look through old photos and it seems I haven't used it in around five years, tut tut!

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Bunny Bath'
Sentiment stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Everyday Grungy Messages'
Papers - Studio Light #69
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Pearls 

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Crafty Friends - The letter B (bunny, bird bath and butterfly)
Penny Black Saturday - Anything goes
Crafty Catz - Anything goes
Penny Black And More - Anything goes
Stamping Sensations - Close to nature
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - The great outdoors
Craftaholics R Us - Anything goes
Crafting From The Heart - Anything goes
The Crafty Addicts - Anything goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper

Rats forever

This card features my favourite papers and my favourite animal. This stamp's part of a set and I wouldn't have known it existed if it wasn't for a comment on my blog, so even strangers are encouraging me in my stamp buying habit!

Image stamp - Katzelkraft 'Les Rats Des Villes'
Sentiment stamp - Paula Pascale 'Big Sentiments'
Papers - Basic Grey
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Crafter's Companion 'Superstars' dies and dew drops

Brown Sugar - Masculine
Crafty Friends - Animals
Pile It On - Small and/or pencils (I use Prismacolour Pencils to colour stamped images)
Cute Card Thursday - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Animal magic
That's Crafty - A stitch in time
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper
As You Like It - Favourite animals (my favourite animals are rats. I had them as pets, almost continuously, from 1994 up until September last year, when I lost my last girly, Luna. They're the cutest, most intelligent and affectionate wee creatures and I really miss them)
Aud Sentiments - Masculine + a sentiment
Sweet Stampers - Too cute
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - J & K

Time for another challenge over at the ABC Christmas Challenge, and our host is Dorte. This month the themes are -  

'J for Joy'

  and 

'K for Keep It Simple' 

Our sponsors this month are -

Crafty Ribbons
 

the prize is a £10 voucher

and

DigiStamp Boutique

the prize is a £10 voucher


There's also a prize from Dorte for another lucky winner.

I've combined both themes this month. I've recently realised I don't have any stamps with the word "Joy" on them, so as the image is from a CD (unusual for me) it was easy enough to add a sentiment onto it before printing.

Image - From 'The House-Mouse Triple CD Collection'
Sentiment - My own
Papers - Studio Light #69

 

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper
House-Mouse And Friends - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas
Crafty Creations - Anything goes 
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything goes + Christmas
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
The Holly And Ivy Christmas - Anything Christmas

'Distressing' inks

I decided to have a wee go with distress inks. I keep hearing about this 'smooshing' technique, so I gave that a go. I don't have any acetate but read that a clear stamp block could be used instead, so that's what I did and it didn't work at all. So I tried another technique I've seen, of just swiping ink pads onto a heat mat, spritzing with water and then dabbing the paper/card onto it a few times, heat setting in between. That didn't really work for me either, but I managed to get a couple of bits that looked half decent (well, maybe a quarter decent if I'm honest). This is the second bit. The first, and best, I managed to stick onto a card blank squint. I think I'll have to admit defeat and just use distress inks for the edges of paper.

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Snow-Board Ride'
Sentiment stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Merry Christmas Words'
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw, Seedless Preserves and Mowed Lawn), Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Flower Soft and 'Icicle' Stickles

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything goes + Christmas
Craftaholics R Us - Anything goes
The Holly And Ivy Christmas - Anything goes
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge - Anything goes
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Sparkles Christmas - Feature a creature

ABC Christmas Challenge - H & I

It's challenge time again, over at the ABC Christmas Challenge, and our host is Lorraine. This month the themes are -  

'H for Hat'

  and 

'I for Ice' 

Our sponsor this month is -

All Dressed Up

and the prize is two free digis from the shop

There's also rather a fab prize from Lorraine.  One lucky winner can choose either a £20 or $20 gift voucher to spend in the store of their choice!

My 'H for Hat' card

Image stamp - House-Mouse Designs 'Whee Flight'
Sentiment stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Christmas Grungy Messages' set
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border die, Flower Soft and pearls

 

House-Mouse & Friends - Anything goes
The Crafty Addicts - Anything goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything goes + Christmas
Sparkles Christmas - Feature a creature
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned paper
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas

My 'I for Ice' card

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Ice Dance'
Papers - First Edition 'Christmas Wishes'
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Glossy Accents, and Glamour Dust