Birthday Card - Loads of Fun

Hello Everyone,

Another scheduled post for you today. I'm still in the Highlands visiting lots of Scottish Castles so not around for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Instead I'm sharing a card made for my little great-grandson who celebrates his second birthday this week.

I found the topper while I was sorting through some scrapbooking stickers and thought it would be just perfect for a little boy who is loads of fun to be with.

Supplies used and how I made the card:

- a pre-made white card base measuring 7" x 5" - landscape orientation
- dark brown cardstock for base layer. It's a piece recycled from a studio photo mount... similar to these pictured here: 

The photo is now in an album so it seemed a shame to waste a such a lovely source of free card.
- a piece of Kraft card I'd already embossed using the Hessian Textures Artist Collection folder (Crafter's Companion) cut to fit the brown card leaving a small margin on three sides only.
- the sticker from BoBunny, matted on to a snippet of yellow textured cardstock (Papermania). I trimmed the yellow card to just a tiny bit larger than the sticker to create the mat. 
- I found the letters already cut and ready in a bag that dates from a year or two ago - so long I don't remember cutting them. I think the die used was this one:

There's no maker's name on it - the only hint as to the font is the word 'Rome' in tiny print top left corner.
- the number two is from this big bag of fun foam numbers from Go Create Essentials (The Works). 

I think I have enough numbers to make cards for my great-grandchildren for many years to come.

Hope you are still having a wonderful week in my absence.

Sunday Snippets - Thanks So Very Much

Hello Everyone,

I may be away on holiday but I thought I'd surprise you by scheduling a post to share this card with you.

It's another one featuring a Brushos background and everything apart from the card base is made from snippets.

How it was made:

• the card base was made by cutting white cardstock to measure 5" wide by 11¾" and folded in half to create a tent shape.
• a snippet of white card measuring approximately 3½" x 4" (sorry, I forgot to measure it accurately) to create the topper. It was spritzed with water, dusted with two shades of Brusho, Yellow first, then Leaf Green, spritzed again and then left to dry. Once it was dry it was stamped with Impression Obsession's Cover-a-Card Flourishes background stamp using Versafine Olympia Green ink pad. 
• a snippet of deep yellow textured cardstock (Papermania) was cut to the same size to make the mat for the topper.
• the topper was layered on to the yellow card at a jaunty angle.
• cream coloured twine was rapped around the topper and before tying this into a bow I attached a small green button - both items from old stash.
• another snippet of white card was stamped with the sentiment from Stampin' Up's Simply Wonderful stamp set, again in Versafine Olympic Green. Using a Woodware's corner rounder, I rounded the corners before adhering it to the topper, just under the green button which I then stuck down with a glue dot just to be sure it all stayed in place. 
• finally, the topper was adhered to the front of the card using sticky pads to add a bit of dimension.

That's my card for today. I hope you will all have a lovely week while I'm away enjoying beautiful Scottish scenery.

Tuesday's Card - A March Morning

Afternoon,

I've been playing with stamps, inks and sprays to make another card using the March Hare set from Hobby Arts.

Unfortunately, it proved to be a difficult card to photograph and although this one is the best of a bad bunch it doesn't show the depth of the colours that can be seen in real life.

Here's a close-up that is a bit better.

Here's how it was made:

1. a smooth white A4 (8.27 × 11.69 inches) sheet of cardstock was cut in two halves and then one half was folded to make the card base.
2. the card front was sprayed with gold Cosmic Shimmer. To do this the fully opened card was taped to the craft mat and the back covered to prevent the gold spray getting anywhere but the front. It was then put aside to dry. Note: I should have kept it taped down to prevent the cardstock buckling as it did - I think you can just detect that in the photograph. 
3. the topper was made using a scrap of watercolour card which was lightly spritzed with water, then the images of grasses - from Hobby Art's March Hares - were stamped using distress inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive and Shabby Shutters - and then it was given another light spritz of water to encourage the ink to bleed then left to dry.
4. once dry, more stamping was done using VersaFine Vintage Sepia first and then Olympia Green - again it was left to dry before the next step which was to spray a little yellow colour, created by mixing Mustard Seed from a re-inker with some water in a spritzer. This spraying was concentrated n the centre. Next a light flicking and spritzing of the gold Cosmic Shimmer was applied and left to dry before stamping the greeting, borrowed from Sarntangles stamp set, using Memento Rich Cocoa ink pad.
5. finally, the topper was matted and layered on to scraps of dark yellow and kraft cardstock and then adhered with sticky fixers to the front of the card.

A technique described by Jaine Drake, found in an old issue of Craft Stamper, provided the inspiration for this topper. She, in turn, was inspired by the effect of the sun on her herb garden.

It's a fun technique and well worth having a bash at so I hope I've explained it clearly enough for anyone who would like to give it a try.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday Snippet Card - March Hares

Hi Everyone,

And a very happy Sunday to you too. After almost two weeks of not being able to do much in the way of crafting it gives me great pleasure to tell you that my mojo returned yesterday - yay!

The first card I made has a topper with a lovely image of family of hares - very seasonal.

Here's how it was made:

1. I started with the topper, stamping the image from the March Hares set (Hobby Arts) on to a scrap of smooth white cardstock, using a Versafine ink pad, Olympia Green.
2. It was then coloured with Windsor & Newton watercolours mixed to create browns, greens, blues and yellow.
3. Once dry the greeting was stamped on the topper, again with the Olympia Green ink, which was then matted on to some dark green cardstock, another scrap.
4. To a cream card base measuring 4½" I glued yellow polka dotted patterned paper, Summer Textures 6"x 6" paper pad, trimmed to leave a very narrow margin of the cream base showing. Leftover patterned paper was used to decorate inside and back of the card.
5. Finally, the topper was fixed with sticky pads, to create some dimension, to the front of the card. 

The March Hares stamp set has a nice selection in it, including another larger hare image and several wild flower and grass stamps - all very easy to colour and usable at this time of the year. In fact, I'm now working on a second card using the flowers and grasses ... hope I'll be able to share it soon as my crafting life get's back to normal.

Having used two snippets of cardstock on this card I'm submitting it for our Head Snippeteer Di's consideration at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

Take care and happy crafting,

Sunday Snippets

Hello Everyone,

Two posts in one day - I'm excelling myself. Well, I'm starting of 2017 as I mean to go on - with a visit to the Pixie's Snippet Playground on Sunday whenever possible.

I did make this card before Christmas but haven't found the time to share it until today. The topper was made from snippets of white card, stamped and cut using an old Spellbinders die set, which is really pretty and deserves to be given an airing more often!

I liked it so much, I made a few more.

To make it I used the following:

• Several A4 sheets of white cardstock trimmed to create base cards measuring 4" x 5¾2 (10cm x 14.75cm).
• A selection of patterned papers from Mistletoe 6x6 paper pack (Memory Box Co.) trimmed to fit front of card leaving a small, 1/8", margin all round. The paper pack is an old one, by a few years, so I'm not sure it will still be available.
• Snippets of white card cut with two dies from Spellbinders Shapeabilities Holly Motifs for base of the topper.
• More snippets stamped with stamps from Die'sire Sentimentals Jingle Bells set using Versafine Crimson Red ink and then cut out using a circle die from Spellbinders Sapphire Basic Set A. 
• Each card was finished with an insert made from white copy paper stamped with a Merry Christmas greeting in the same red ink. The stamp has come detached from the set it originally came from and I've forgotten which set it is - yet more evidence of my declining years!!!

Of course all that trimming of A4 sheets of cardstock means that I have added even more snippets to the box. Sometimes you just can't win!

I love the Mistletoe paper pack and will be sad when it is finally gone and the Holly Motifs die set is lovely. I've just discovered the joy of piling motifs on top of each other to create pretty toppers so look out for more made that way.

Before I go, I'd like to wish all snippeteers a happy, healthy and prosperous year 2017. I look forward to seeing all your very inspirational creations throughout the year.

In the meantime, take care and stay safe.