March Hares - Spring Collage Card ... March Scrap Our Stash Challenge - Green

Hello Everyone

It's a beautiful day here ... the sun is shining and the temperature is not half bad for this time of the year. However, I know that is probably not the case for all of you - according to the weather map I see that those of you down in the south and over to the east of the UK map are not having it so good ... I hope it improves for you as the day goes on.

In the meantime, I have a spring themed card in shades of greens and lilacs, plus a touch of peachy pink, made as my DT contribution for the Scrap Our Stash Challenge for March - GREEN to share with you.

It looks as though I've just dipped into my stash and pulled out a few items and thrown it together but, not so :)  It all started with the IndigoBlu stamp that came free with the April edition of Craft Stamper - April!!! We're only just into March. Anyway, I digress, I loved the stamp immediately, March hares boxing/frolicking ... I couldn't wait to ink it up so stamped it onto a die-cut shape I had in my stash already (another one to thank from Marie-Louise for).

Inside

The rest of the design is as a result of reading a great article written by Jane Millard (MilliesMarvels) on making collage cards that appeared in the January edition of Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine. I really liked Jane's combination of collage and shabby chic style, especially as, by using bits and bobs from my stash mountain, it doesn't have to 'blow the budget'. Every item used came out of the drawers and boxes of stuff I have already :)

Back

Here's what I used to make this card:

• Stampin' Up Very Vanilla card measuring 12"x6" folded to make a 6" square card base.
• Prima 6"x6" paper pack, Londonerry Collection - three sheets of different designs.
• Doily and heart-edged punched strip were bought last year from an ebay seller.
• The miniature floral postcard is from Green Paper.
• Stamp from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy 2, Spring.
• Flowers were from Papermania, Wild Orchid Crafts and The Works.
• The metal flower and gemstones were also from The Works.
• The lace, ribbon, mauve pearlescent card, white card - all from stash.

I really enjoyed making this card and plan to make a few others in the same style some time ... when I have a bit of time but that could be some weeks away. Why? Well, the EM has decided that I have outgrown the craft space and has decreed that I should have a bigger room to craft in ... yippee :)) He's planned a phased move over the next week or two, but I'm certain it's not going to be a seamless transition.

A new set of shelving has been ordered, delivery next Wednesday - WOYWW day could be interesting this week - because I need more storage space ... how can that be when I've been 'using it up' since the start of the year?!?!

I think it must just be because stuff just spreads to fill available space ... a variation on Parkinson's Law - work expands to fill the time available for its completion - stuff accumulates to fill the size of your home  - so is a bigger room a good idea? Will my stuff just keep expanding? Whatever, I'm really looking forward to being in a less cramped space.

Since I started to write this post up it has turned to rain outside - the sun's still shining though ... the April rains have come early ... a bit like my magazine :))

Right, I'm off to plan what to make next ... the possibilities are endless :) Whatever it is, I'll be back tomorrow to share it with you.

Edited Note: Janet (Clarky J) has pointed out to me that this card would fit in with the current The Stamp Man Challenge - Colours of Spring/Easter so I've decided, belatedly, that I should submit it.

Take care all, and enjoy your weekend and keep crafting,

Challenge Card - Embossed Christmas Card

Hello Everyone,

Feeling better today and hopefully normal service will be resumed :)

And having picked up where I left of, here is a quick and easy tent card I made for Hazel's CHNC Challenge 61 - use a ribbon and/or a charm.

I chose to use ribbon, though it's kind of understated as the embossed panel is the main feature of this card. The greeting has been heat embossed using gold powder onto the ornate mirri label, a gift from my lovely friend, Marie-Louise - many thanks M-L ... and the ribbon is threaded through it and then wrapped around the matted panel. This was then adhered to the card base before adding a brad and a gem ...  as easy as that.

Here's what I used to make it:

• An A4 sheet of brown card folded to make an A5 card base.
• Red card trimmed to be slightly smaller than the front of the card.
• White card trimmed to the size of the embossing folder.
• Cuttlebug & embossing folder from the All-In-One Twinkle set
• Ornate gold mirri die-cut label - gift from M-L :)
• Brad and topaz yellow gem from stash

And really that's all there is for now. The March edition of the Craft Stamper magazine arrived a couple of days ago and I'm so taken with the free IndigoBlu stamp of some March hares, that I'm in the process of planning a card using it ... should be completed later today.

In the meantime, I'm off out on a quick trip to town to get my photo taken :( It's time to renew the photograph on my driver's licence. The DVLC deem it necessary every few years - and they charge you for doing it too. Over a lifetime that could be a goodly number of photographs - and quite a few fees of £20! Quite a nice little earner for them, I'd say!!!

Happy crafting folks,

HANDY HIPPO THURSDAY! - WEEK #6

Hello Everyone

And happy Handy Hippo Thursday to you all - I hope you are all well and having a good week.

This week’s card is an A5 tent shape which features a beautiful panel of embossed butterflies and a topper of gorgeous dandelions, stamped and heat embossed in white, both are matted on to gold mirri card. The embellishments are tiny punched and glittered butterflies, you can just about see the glitter in the photograph, and a pretty blue ribbon.

As usual materials used for this project are available from Handy Hippo and if you would like to make the same project then simply click on the magic button below and it will take you directly to a shopping cart that contains everything you would need to make it. Once there, you can simply and easily remove any of the items that you already have in your craft stash.

It’s easy to add to your basket any other purchase that you might like and if something is temporarily out of stock you can request to be emailed once it is back in stock.

Here's how I made the card:

• Adhere a piece of K & Co patterned paper to the front of a white A5 card base.
• Using the Wings embossing folder, emboss a piece of brown card measuring 5¾” x 4" and mat it on to gold mirri card measuring slightly larger all round. 
• Wrap a length of the patterned ribbon, the aqua shade, around the panel.
• Create the topper by stamping, using VersaMark, the dandelion stamp onto a piece of the K & Co patterned paper and heat emboss with white powder. 
• Trim the stamped image to the desired size and firstly mat it on to brown card trimmed slightly larger and then mat it on to gold mirri, again measuring slightly larger than the brown mat.
• Create a greeting topper in the same way using the 'Thanks' stamp and the tiny butterfly from the Everyday Greetings set. Trim the greeting and mat on to a piece of the K & Co paper and gold mirri card.
• Punch three tiny butterflies.
• Glue the embossed panel as in the photograph, then set the dandelion topper to the top left, overlapping it slightly. 
• Using glue gel, fix the butterflies as shown and when set add glitter glue to the bodies and wing tips. 

Once again, I haven't added an insert to the card yet ... I will when I decide to send it to someone. 

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to WOYWW this week ... I've been feeling a bit ropey these last couple of days and consequently been absent from the craft space. In fact, for the first time I'm going to attempt to schedule this post - I doubt I'll be up at midnight as is my usual way of making sure this post goes out on Thursday ... wish me luck :) Will be back as soon as I'm feeling up to it.

In the meantime, happy crafting,