Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I've very much enjoyed making Christmas cards this year, especially after inking-up the gorgeous MFT Polar Bear Pals set. What a lovely set this is to use, but I can't help but wonder why there are no festive sentiments included.

I got busy with some distress inking and then stamped the sentiment (oldie from Stampendous, I think) and the polar bear using my Misti. I stamped, coloured, cut and stuck a second bear into place on the bacground. The cards look very cute in real life.

I'm linking my card to the current CASology Challenge: North.

and to Marina's The Librarian's Challenge, inspired by perennial Christmas favourite The Snowman. The bear's smile really reminds me of the Snowman's smile and I used the layout of the cover as my inspiration for the layout of the card..

I'm also linking to The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity Challenge #66 - Cold and Frosty because that cute little Polar Bear must be feeling very cold and frosty indeed.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Have a happy Sunday, peeps!

A Sunny Sunday Morning

Hi everyone, I hope your Sunday is as bright and sunny as it is here!

I had a little time to get crafting yesterday while Hubby went to the football so I broke out one of my favourite stamp sets: Ranunculus by Stampendous. I need a batch of birthday cards to see me through September and October so decided to check out the challenge over at Seize the Birthday. This week the topping is 'black and white' and the DT girls have really pulled out all the stops with a fabulous selection of inspiration. I was especially taken with Janet's beautiful card and decided to have a go at the technique she'd  used.

Janet's original is stunning and so well made. My homage (or CASE!) is a little shaky but I think it's ok as a first attempt. Stamping across three layers proved to be difficult and in places I had to ink-in the lines that were faint or missing.

My second card uses the same stamp but this time I embossed in gold and added a die-cut. I think this card would also work well as a wedding or anniversary card in these colours.

Finally, here is a slightly blurry picture I snapped out in the garden earlier.

It really is begging for a caption so feel free to leave one as a comment if the spirit moves you!

Back to school/work tomorrow: where did the summer go?

Happy August!

Hi Blogsters, I finally manged to hit the craft room this morning and what a happy time it's been!
I'm sorry to have been away for so long, but thankfully my Level 3 Teaching Assistant course is completed and I am told my certificate should be arriving later this month.

I wasn't expecting to create this card when I sat down at my work desk, as I was planning something very CAS. However, this is what I ended up with!

 I used C1 - 238 from Crafty Individuals for the centre panel and coloured with Promarkers. Then I went to town with Distress Ink (Antique Linen) as I wanted to achieve a look that hinted at old photographs. I cut out the individual pictures, distressed them and then mounted them on a freshly stamped panel, which I had embossed in gold and distressed with Frayed Burlap and Antique Linen. The pink card 'frame' was again distressed to deepen the colour and then stamped with Ranunculus SSC1082 from Stampendous. I mounted the frame onto some yummy chocolaty brown card from Stampin' Up! For some reason the camera has picked out the deep pink accents on each picture and made them look really obvious and clumsy. In reality they don't look as bold or vibrant.

 

I thought I'd also share this funny little Gnome card for my Hubby's birthday at the end of June. Don't you just love this little guy from Paper Smoochies???

Happy crafting everyone!