Hey, folks!
Here to share a card I made with a fun stamp set I just got in the mail recently...
:o)
The back of the stamp set's packaging says Cats at Play. I got mine from Scrapbook.com, where they have the set listed under the name A Cat's Life. You can also get the stamp set from the creator herself, Jane's Doodles!
When I first saw this stamp set, I imagined making a scrapbook page about Humble [Napping Champion!] with this adorable cat image stamped in a rainbow of colours, fussy cut and attached in a playful arrangement, underneath his photo. This is the card version of that idea! The sentiment is a sticker from Pebbles, which I was saving for a cat project, of course. :o)
I'm entering my card in the current challenge over at The Paper Players:
Hope you have a crafty weekend!
Hey, folks!
When I signed up to become a demo last month, my wish list was crazy long and it was tough to edit it down. I wanted the Reason For The Season bundle, but I also really wanted the Garden In Bloom stamp set! I wanted watercolour-y looking floral stamps like the ones in Garden In Bloom. I thought, maybe I can just use the flower and leaf 'filler' images from Reason For The Season as watercolour-y flowers without the poinsettia outline. So this card idea has been in my head for weeks!
While the poinsettia image from Reason For The Season kind of screams Christmas, the 'filler' images can look like any flower, making the stamp set more versatile. I love that!! To get a more watercolour-y look, I lightly spritzed the stamps with water after I inked them [I used a Stampin' Spritzer].
My attempts at "saving money" were FEEBLE because I just ended up buying the Garden In Bloom stamp set later anyway. Ha! I couldn't resist the sweet sentiment, "Friends are kind to each other's hopes & cherish each other's dreams." I really love that. :o)
Back to today's card! I used my Elegant Dots folder for the first time -- I really love it! Both the embossed and debossed sides look great, but I chose to use the debossed side. I used watercolour paper because I like the texture of it. To tell you the truth, that panel reminded me of a paper towel or loo roll paper -- but a REALLY NICE paper towel or loo roll paper. Ha! :D
I used Pool Party, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango and Sahara Sand inks, and my card base is Tip Top Taupe. I love those colours! The sentiment is from Tin Of Cards, and I punched it out with the Washi Label Punch [sounds kind of angry, eh?].
Here's a closer look at the stamp set I used...
Reason For The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!
I'm entering my card in the current Pals Paper Arts challenge [PPA267]:
Thanks for stopping by -- hope you have a great weekend! I was hoping to get a post done for tomorrow, but I think it'll have to wait until Sunday. I need to get into a rhythm of photographing projects and editing pictures ahead of time, but I'm not very good at that. I'll be hanging out with my dad for a while tomorrow, so a day away from blogging wouldn't hurt me. :o)
Hello, folks! Long time no see! I know things have been quiet here on my blog, but that's not to say that the crafting has stopped! :D I just get wrapped up in things I'm working on and don't think of blogging, that's all. You know how it goes, right?
I just got a surprise from Kelly in the mail and am already having some crafty fun with the things she sent! Thank you so much, Kelly! :o) Here's the card I made for today's post...
:o)
I *love* shades of teal! And my love for hand-stitching is still going strong! :D
When looking through the Snow Day 6x6 petite paper pack, I was instantly inspired by this adorable heart with a scarf wrapped around it:
I wanted to make a heart embellishment that kind of looked like it, so I die-cut a heart from coaster board and one from a cute red pattern from the paper pad and glued them together. The coaster board just gives the heart some sturdiness!
To create the scarf, I just cut a strip of fabric, applied some Scor-Tape along the length of it, and folded the sides in. For the end of the scarf, I used a small strip of Scor-Tape, then attached pieces of embroidery floss to it. I'm sure liquid glue would work well, too, but Scor-Tape just makes it so easy! :D It's 6-strand embroidery floss that I stuck down, then I trimmed the pieces to be the same length and unraveled the strands.
All of the patterned papers I used on this card are from Snow Day, and I'll have more to share using that cute paper soon!
Thanks for stopping by today! :D
Today is Best Friends Day! Every day is Best Friends Day here, though. :D Even after almost ten years together, every day I look at Humble and think, "I can't believe I get to live with you!" I just feel lucky. :o)
Though I had my projects already made, I didn't have a chance to blog over the past few days, so I actually have two posts for today! Here's the card I meant to post a couple of days ago, inspired by my little guy...
:o)
I love this sentiment and the adorable kitty cartoon! Again, I used supplies from Simple Stories' super-cute Cat collection. It might seem as though I used one journaling card here [the sentiment], but I actually used three! The yellow polka dot pattern is the back of a journaling card. And the cat? I trimmed around the kitty cartoon from another journaling card. :o) I like doing this because I can't always fit the full journaling card on a project, and trimming around the image kind of looks like I used a die-cut! I added an enamel heart because I felt like it 'belonged' there. :o)
As I mentioned earlier, today is Best Friends Day. :o) If you're looking for your own best friend, consider adopting an animal! Petfinder has many informative articles that will help with questions you may have about adopting a dog, a cat or another kind of animal -- you can find the main page for those articles HERE!
I'll be back in a bit with another post!
Thanks for stopping by!
Today I'm continuing on with my Pet Adoption week! :o) I read that today is Hug Your Cat Day. Here, every day is Hug Your Cat Day [or maybe Annoy Your Cat By Hugging Him All the Time Day]! :D Here's the card my little guy inspired for today's blog post...
:o)
I loved making this card!! I wanted to customize the adorable cat die-cut a little bit, so I added some hand-stitching. The yarn ball has four lines printed on it, so I just used my paper piercer to make holes along those printed lines. :o)
The paper and cat die-cuts I used on today's card and yesterday's card are from Simple Stories' Cat collection! I absolutely LOVE this collection, as well as the Dog collection!
CUTE overload!!
I mentioned a few months ago that when I looked at CHA product previews online, I was most excited about Kaisercraft's Hello Sunshine collection. I admit that I hadn't looked at any of Simple Stories' product previews, but if I had, I would've been most excited about these two collections right along with the Hello Sunshine stuff. I'm actually glad I didn't see their previews because I would've annoyed myself with my impatience. Ha! There's just something about charming animal images that make crafting even more fun for me. :D I absolutely love the way the cats and dogs were illustrated for these collections -- they're so joyful! :o)
I realize that I didn't mention what stamps I used for my sentiment on yesterday's card, though you may have already guessed! I used the Milo's ABCs stamp set that Lawn Fawn sent over -- isn't that a great alphabet? Thank you, LF!
And now for some pet adoption links! :o) If you have a blog or web page and want to help spread the word about adoption, Adopt-a-Pet has great options on this page, and Petfinder has great options on this page!
Thanks for stopping by today!
This week, my projects will be centered around pet adoption! Since June is Adopt-A-Cat Month, cat-themed projects will be the focus, though I'll have something to share later this week that includes some of our other animal friends. :o)
As you might know from looking at my sidebar there, I'm a huge fan of animals and am big on adoption. Adopting Humble was THE best thing I've ever done. Ever. In my whole life. :o) One of the many things I love about animals is that they are so genuine -- always themselves, never afraid to be themselves, never phony. And their love is so pure. They don't care what you look like, how much money you make, or what's on your resume. They just love and want to be loved in return.
Here's a card inspired by my own best friend...
I'm grateful for Humble every day. :o)
If you think you can care for an animal, please consider adoption! There are so many animals who are waiting for that one person to come along, someone who will give them a loving forever home. You'll be rewarded with a friendship that is truer than true. :o)
Best Friends Animal Society, along with some of their Network partners, have an adoption promotion this month with the spotlight on cats! CLICK HERE for more info!
Thanks for stopping by today!
I've got two projects to share today -- first up is this little treat bag...
:o)
Really fun to make!! I used stamps from the Love You S'more stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I like that you can add little faces or a tiny image from the set to the marshmallows! And those little faces are small enough to fit in tons of other stamps, so it'll be so easy to give inanimate objects some 'personality'. :D I heat embossed the sentiment and added some hand-stitching for a finishing touch!
Next up, a card...
:o)
Here I used stamps from Lawn Fawn's Hello Baby stamp set. At first, I thought this felt like an "I miss you" card, but then I thought it would be nice to make it a baby girl card with colours that might be a little unexpected for a baby girl. I love that little bunny -- I coloured her with grey and white Prismacolor pencils, then I added some grey Flower Soft to give her a fluffy tail! I wanted to create a sort of 'woven' look on the green grass, so I used the stamp of three dashed lines to create the pattern, but I purposely spaced each stamping unevenly and didn't have any of the horizontal stampings line up. I added a bit of hand-stitching for extra detail -- I'm hooked on adding hand-stitching to stuff!
Many thanks to Kelly and Mike from Lawn Fawn for the stampy goodness!
I had planned to share a third card today, but I want to do another theme week, and the card couldn't be a better fit for the theme! I'll be back to share it on Tuesday! :o)
Hope you guys have enjoyed my theme week for Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary! I've really enjoyed making these projects, and for somebody who is not usually a regular blogger, this theme week idea really worked in pushing me to blog more! Of course, that has more to do with the cause and trying to help spread the word about it. I mean, I make a lot of stuff and always enjoy making these things, but I usually don't feel a push to share everything. So I'm really doing this for the animals! :o) If even a few people click on some of those links and read about Edgar's Mission, it will be worth it to me.
Today's project was inspired by a cow named Blossom. :o) I read the page about her weeks ago, and there was something about her that just stuck with me. And the pictures of her giving her friends nose smooches? Just makes me happy to see. :o) She's in their Best Buddy Program, so you can sponsor her if you'd like! Check out this video in which Blossom makes appearances with some of her friends at Edgar's Mission!
:o)
Here's the card that Blossom inspired me to make!
:o)
I used the cow image from the On The Farm stamp set from Stampendous! You'll see that the stamp image has lines on the cow's face, so I couldn't make the face of the cow look like Blossom's [she doesn't have the brown around her eyes]. I guess I could've just left those areas uncoloured, though I'm not sure if the cow's face would then look like I just forgot to finish colouring! On her body, you can see that I coloured outside the lines of the stamp image to try to make the cow look more like Blossom. :o) The cute punny sentiment is from the Critters on the Farm stamp set from Lawn Fawn.
Before I go, I'd like to re-share some of the links I posted on Monday:
- You can help support Edgar's Mission by visiting their online shop, where they also have links for making donations! All pricing is in Australian dollars [AUD].
- Here is a quick link to their donation page. There are more donation options, which you can find here!
- If you'd like to make regular monthly donations, visit this page!
-
If you'd like to sponsor a member of the Edgar's Mission family, check out their Best Buddy Program!
For just an extra $5, you can get your Welcome Pack by snail mail --
just check the "Postal Buddy Pack" box when signing up on the individual
animal's page!
If you think you might be able to help, I'm sure it would mean so much to the animals at Edgar's Mission and to the folks who care for them!
Thanks for stopping by this week! :o)
I'm continuing on with my Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary week today! First, I wanted to share this heartwarming video about friendship...
So moving to me! :o)
My card for today was inspired by the duck residents at Edgar's Mission -- ducks like Phantom [who can be sponsored in their Best Buddy Program!], Lorne Duck, Lone Ranger [who is also in their Best Buddy Program!], Huey, Louie, Dewey and Joy, Selena Duck, Candy, Miss Puddleduck, Boris Yeltsin, Manuel, Dawn Fraser, Dame Edna, Daffy and Xena, Sir Francis Drake, and Robinson Crusoe! I was also inspired by Quick and Quack -- there's some very important information in their blog post, so please click on over to read!
Here is the card they inspired!
:o)
I had so much fun making this card! Last week, I received a gift of several stamp sets from Kelly and Mike at Lawn Fawn -- thank you so much, guys, for the snail mail surprise!
For my card today, I wanted to use stamps from the #awesome stamp set in a slightly different way than they were intended. To create my 'photograph', I used the adorable duck image and cloud from the Hello Baby stamp set. I chose to do all of my colouring with Prismacolor pencils because I knew I wanted to draw the grass myself, and I thought pencil crayons would be more forgiving than markers. I also just love the look you can get with pencil crayons! :D To hang my picture, I pulled the Fanciful Frames stamp set from my craft stash so I could use that super-cute hanging nail image -- I love that little stamp! To add a finishing touch to my card, I did a little hand-stitching with embroidery floss. :o)
When I got the surprise from Kelly and Mike, I wanted to create projects that really featured their stamps, but I couldn't help sneaking a couple of their stamps on Monday's card! There's a stamp with three dashed lines in the Hello Baby stamp set -- my immediate thought was to use that stamp with the cloud or umbrella images, but that stamp also works great for faux stitching! If you're a Lawn Fawn fan, stop by on Sunday to see a few more projects!
Hope you got a smile here today! I'll be back tomorrow with one more Edgar's Mission inspired project! :o)
Today I'm continuing with my Edgar's Mission week -- a kind of tribute, I guess you could say, to Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary, a place that has quickly come to mean so much to me. The card I made today was inspired by the lambs at the farm sanctuary! This video featuring Peter Pan the lamb gave me smile pain -- he's sure to make you smile, too! Just seeing his happy reactions to Pam Ahern's touch melts my heart. :o)
:o)
I was also moved by this blog post about Smudge, and animals like Charity, Alan Marshall, Bubbles and Babe, Berni, Tinker Bell [I believe that's Tinker Bell who appears in a part of the video above!], Lizzie, Lucky Phil, Peter Parker, Helen and Bea, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Brutus and Swee'Pea, Coco, Merlin, Dorothy, Tattslotto, Miles, Sunny, Phoebe, The Flintstones, Buttercup, The Andrew Sisters, Panda, The Rainbow Lambs... Really, every animal is an inspiration to me.
Here is the project they inspired!
:o)
The lamb is from the same stamp set I used for Monday's card -- On The Farm from Stampendous. I just love those stamp images! I also love adding some hand-stitching to projects -- even if it's just a little, I think it adds a lot to a card. :o)
Today I thought I'd reshare some of my favourites from past Paper Crafts blog hops! First up is this hand-stitched card...
:o)
For the Handmade Cards blog hop in September 2013.
We were asked to make cards using a certain number of supplies, and my number was three. The three supplies I chose: cardstock, stencils and embroidery floss [basic tools and adhesive didn't count].
For most of my card's elements, I used stencils from an American Crafts kit. For the blue flower centre and "hi", I paper pierced the cardstock freehand. The flower from the stencil was a simple outline, but I wanted to add a bit more detail, so I pierced one hole in the middle so that I could have stitches radiating from the centre [like I did with the blue piece]. One option was to cut the designs out before stitching, but instead, I decided to stitch the designs before cutting them so that I'd have a slightly larger piece of cardstock to hold onto as I did the stitching.
Next up is Naptime Santa Card...
:o)
For the Holiday Cards & More: Volume 7 blog hop in September 2012.
We were asked to create projects using the free sentiment downloads from the issue, and I chose to use the "Holiday Cheer" banner.
The napping Santa and couch are stamps from Starving Artistamps. I love colouring on patterned paper, as I did with the couch there. It's an easy way to add detail/another colour without having to paper piece! To create the baseboard, I scored a piece of cardstock and then trimmed it. I found it easier to score the cardstock first and then cut it into a skinny strip, rather than trying to score a fiddly, skinny piece of cardstock.
Humble, Napping Champion, was napping on the couch when I made this Santa card. :D
Next up is a Before and After set of cards that I made for the Card Design Handbook blog hop in August 2012. The idea behind the blog hop was to show how a project can go from "good to great" by following the rules of design explained in the issue. I decided to work with the "rules" of Fun & Cute, my favourite crafting style. Some of Paper Crafts' tips for crafting Fun & Cute are to incorporate the following:
- happy colour scheme
- sweet sentiment
- uncomplicated design
- whimsy [i.e. cartoons and doodles]
- simple shapes [i.e. hearts and stars]
- friendly patterns [i.e. polka dots and gingham]
Here's my Before card:
Here we've got the uncomplicated design and cartoon. The main thing that looks a little "off" is the sentiment -- the font is a little too fancy for a Fun & Cute card.
Now for the card makeover!
:o)
That sentiment is WAY better, right? Punny sentiments and Fun & Cute are like the best friends of card making. :D This time, I covered the card base with a slightly brighter blue that's embossed with dots, and I stamped polka dots on the "sky" to add more of that friendly pattern. I rounded the corners of the card to soften it a little.
The moose and polka dot background stamps are from Starving Artistamps. The sentiment from them is really "That's Amooseing", but I did some selective inking with it and a different stamp to get this sentiment.
My last reshare for today is a card I made for the Card Creations: Get Inspired blog hop in December 2011. We were asked to make cards using something from our homes as inspiration. I chose one of my favourite vintage finds, this adorable bunny mug...
:o)
This little guy makes me smile every day! Here's the card he inspired...
:o)
Jumping for joy!
For added dimension, I trimmed around the upper body and lower body separately, then I attached the lower body with one layer of foam and the upper body with two layers of foam. The cloud paper in the background is shimmery -- fun stuff!
Again, I used stamps from Starving Artistamps. If I had to pick one favourite stamp company, it would be them. Their stamps make me laugh, and I just have pure fun using their stamp images. They have lots of cat stamps, too, so it's impossible for me not to be in total stamp love. :o) I used some of their cat stamps on a couple of my favourite blog hop cards, but I'll save those for a future cats-only reshare post! :D
Before I go, I wanted to share some news that made me giddy! Humble will be appearing in Holiday Cards & More: Volume 9! :D Hoo-hoo!! I crossed all fingers and toes hoping that one particular card would make it in. I don't mention this to brag or anything -- I'm just happy about it because I love Humble the most. :o) I'm still grinning like a fool.
Thanks for stopping by for this gigantic blog post -- hope you have a crafty weekend!
