Humming birds

Here is my first card using the beautiful Stampendous stamp set and die set that I bought at the Shepton Mallet show. I added a sentiment by Unity Stamps which I thought was perfect, this is how I feel when I see something amazing in nature. I think this would be a perfect Spring birthday card for someone special.

I coloured the images with Promarkers, and I used two Versacolor ink pads to ink the sentiment stamp. The birds and two of the flowers are die cut and the flowers are layered. The smaller bird is layered because I couldn't get the die to cut it perfectly. The stamped panel is die cut with a Spellbinders card creator die. The colours I used are for the Rubber Dance colour palette.

My card has flown into the following challenges:

Rubber Dance - colour palette (April)

Die Cut Divas - in the garden (April)

Coffee, Chocolate and cards - use a die cut (Fri)

Fussy and Fancy - #137 Spring Flowers (Fri)

Crafting from the Heart - #57 anything goes (Mon)

Papertake Weekly - my pick - Use a Quote (Tues)

Cute Card Thursday - use a sentiment 

TTCRD - anything goes (May 4th)

That's Crafty - keep it simple (Fri 8th May)

Won:

Red Rubber Inspirational - Spring Birthday (Thurs)

WOYWW #308 D for do something!

I've not joined in for a couple of weeks, not since just before Shaun had his surgery. The operation was sucessful, he is home recovering and they tell us they got it all.

Last week I went to the Shepton Mallet craft show and I wasn't intending to buy any craft goodies - honest! Well this is what happened mwah mwah mwah!

So I have pick and mix card, buttons, lots of glue, triple thick glaze, sprays, Inky Doodle stamps, Stampendous stamps and dies, some cute flying things dies that will be used soon, a couple of bargain Marianne dies, stencils, beads, stickles and at the front is a small pot of Treasure Gold. I cannot get that pot open, I have tried and tried, so if anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong I would appreciate it!

 

This is my newly finished crochet project, a cardigan for me in cotton. I had a few problems with the pattern but not as many as the last one, here the buttons aren't stitched on.

Here the buttons are stitched on, it looks a lot more blue than it is, the photo above looks truer to colour than this one does. Looks a little tight, but the pattern was designed with "negative ease" - really!! I debated which size to make and am glad I went for this and not the next one down, at least I can wear it this Summer.

This handsome chap is the cat who teases the dogs. He normally sits beneath the conifers he is sitting above - until the dogs go chase him away! He is right beneath my bird feeder usually! There is another cat who also gets chased, is black and white and likes to walk across the pond cover. The grey and white used to look in our patio window until the dogs saw him and went crazy then he would hop up onto the patio table and sit watching the results!

OK I'v been putting it off, but here is the desk. I have had enough of this chaos - something has to change! See my new yarn tubs full up beneath the desk? I hoped to get a lot more in than they will hold.

Birds eye view, on the back of the desk is some material I found in the offcuts box of the local haberdashery shop, are they called that these days? Anyway it is the only shop in town selling material now, as well as yarn, and all the bits. I was heading for the art and craft shop, but found it had closed down. I thought I could make a new back cloth for my mini photo studio with the pink, and the other piece is has peace symbols all over it and the word "peace" and is a much smaller offcut. I liked the colours, just need to use it now - I have some pink left over which goes with it.

The trellis die cut and die - I bought the die at the last show in January then misplaced it until this week (see what I mean, something has to change). In the only space in the middle I am actually using some of my new stamps. The rest - just wants putting away somewhere!

Why am I showing you this? Well it is Wednesday, and on this day crafters of the world show and tell about their spaces and desks. To join in and go see just hop over to The Stamping Ground, home of the lovely Julia Dunnit who started it all.

We are going on a Quirky journey today!

 Myriam has challenged us with a transportation theme this fortnight, any sort of transport will do and it doesn't have to have wheels. Our sponsor is Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet, and they have provided the images the team used. I used the Designated Driver pack, which includes the main image, two or three different papers, and a few different tickets with sentiments.
I thought I could make a thank you card for my Dad who has driven us to hospital a couple of times which was quite stressful for him at his age to deal with city roads and traffic, and diversions! It is not alcohol related but I wanted to use the Designated Driver ticket because it is cute.
I coloured the image with Promakers and cut it, and the mats behind it, out with Spellbinders card creator dies.
I used the background paper from the pack that didn't feature bottles or glasses, but it has the driver image repeated all over and is coloured already. I added some ribbon from Crafty Ribbons, and some cute car buttons (with the shanks cut off) to the inside because this is an easel card. The glasses were in a button pack too.

The word thanks is die cut with an IO die. I used more of the paper inside the card.

Fully open you can see the map fragment I added.

If you want to see some more great examples or if you want to play along with us, hop on over to the Quirky blog now, and you could win some great images from Stitchy Bear.

This card has motored into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - cute as a button (Tues)

TTCRD - Anything goes 27th April (Wed/Sun)

Coffee, chocolate and cards - use a die cut (Fri)

Graph'it Markers - ribbon or lace (8th May)

I was honoured to be asked if this card could be featured on Crea8tive Cindy's Manly Monday post.

Pink and blue and blooming Quirky!

 It's reminder time already, as we are using a photo with pink and blue I printed Sea Breeze from our sponsor Crackerbox Palace in pink on blue cardstock. The daisy was also printed on the blue card and coloured with Koh-i-Noor pencils, then I folded a piece of blue striped cardstock to mount it on. A very quick card, the longest part was cutting out the flowers.

This bunny is so cute, I wanted him to be carrying the plant pot with the daisy in it, again all of these are printed on blue cardstock then colour added with Koh-i-Noor pencils. I cut the images out and assembled them on a panel covered in Papermania Tatty Teddy papers and some polka dot ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. I haven't added  a sentiment to either card, I might later, or may leave them as they are for any occasion.

To remind you, the challenge at Quirky Crafts is to use lots of flowers, the colours in the photo above, or both.

I have entered the following challenges:

Crafty Gals - vintage (Wed)

Polkadoodles - #16 pretty in pink

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes (Thurs)

Creative Fingers - #76 anything goes (Fri)

Allsorts - quick and easy (Sat)

Pile it on - April Showers bring May flowers (Sun/Wed)

Fussy and Fancy - Springtime flowers (30th April)

Quirky is blooming all over

Kemly set us the challenge to use the photo inspiration below for colours, add lots of flowers or both colours and lots of flowers. It is a very delicate photo with pinks, blues, white and green, and gold, and I incorporated some of those into my card. Our sponsor this time is Crackerbox Palace and the fishing image - fishing boy (could be a girl also I think), flowers and chicks are all from their web site. 

Winners of the challenge can choose any of the stamps to be supplied in digi format.

I coloured the fishing image with Promarkers, and printed the frame of flowers and chicks onto kraft card and coloured those with Koh-I-Noor Progresso woodless pencils then cut an aperture and cut the frame (it's a bit crooked I'm afraid - design feature?) with Spellbinders dies then adhered it with sticky foam to the image. I added satin polka dot ribbon from Crafty Ribbons and some novelty buttons I bought from our local market and used more of the sticky foam roll to adhere the panel to a pink card blank. I thought a bow would look nice (no really I covered a mark on the card with it lol), and I looked for a small tag die and spotted the Sizzix goldfish bowl die which had a fish the exact size I wanted, perfect with the image too. I wrote on it with white gel pen, it says "gon' fishin'".

Come and play Quirky with us.

My fishing child has splashed its way into the following challenges:

TTCRD - anything goes (Mon 13th April)

Papertake Weekly - anything goes (Tues)

I love Promarkers - #264 Ink it up (Wed)

Simon Says - April flowers or spring showers (Wed)

Creative Fingers - #75 anything goes (Fri)

Left of Centre - spots or stripes (Fri)

A Gem of a Challenge - Spring is in the air (Saturday)

Crafty Cardmakers - wings (Mon)

Ribbon Girl - any image and ribbon (Sun)

Pile it on - fancy frames/beautiful borders (Sun/Wed)

Graph'it Markers - flower power (24th April end)

WON!!!

Allsorts - bingo (ribbon, flowers, die cuts) (Saturday)

Fussy and Fancy - #136 Buttons and Bows (Fri)

WOYWW #305

 I haven't joined in for weeks now due to the numerous hospital appointments, tests, scans etc for hubby who had a successful operation to remove a tumour and his lymph glands last Wednesday. Today he has been back to have the drain changed and now I need to crochet him a little bag to carry it round, it is much smaller than the bottle and pump he did have to carry round and was using one of my cotton totes to do so, putting the long handles over his head to take the weight.

Anyway it has been tough, and we have been keeping Mother in Law in the dark so she doesn't get stressed out and have a fall again, so we haven't been able to visit because with tubes sticking out she is bound to notice something has happened to hubby - unless I manage to totally disguise the equipment!

The bags above are both camera bags, the big rucksack is one I got by taking out a subscription to a photo magazine, they upgraded it to the laptop version - I couldn't imagine carrying my old £5 jumble sale laptop around, and it has gone now. I don't do laptops, the keys are too close together and it hurts after a short while, touch screen is better. Anyway I am rambling, back to the bags, I have been studying two small bags online for months, the one pictured which is Manfrotto, the Rolls Royce of photo equipment apparently, and another one on Amazon which was a make I didn't know and slightly different design which would also carry a tripod underneath using straps, so it was horizontal. The second one had great reviews, and I might want to carry a tripod - mightn't I? Well I thought and thought, read reviews over and over, finally I decided to go for the Manfrotto, it was RRP of £79.90 or thereabouts and I found it for sale for £25, this worried me a little, it was still for sale months later - was it rubbish? Then I read one review which said that you could only really carry a travel tripod on the second bag, and maybe the Manfrotto was better quality so I ordered it.

I often wished I took my camera when we went walking, or when I did take it I carried it all the way round in my hands, and only took one lens - then didn't find anything to photograph and had sore hands, or I took the rucksack which was on my back and awkward to get the camera out - Shaun would eventually take pity on me and offer to carry it then he had the camera and was too far ahead to get it if I needed it quick! The new bag only weighs .9 kg the old one weighs 2.3kg, the new one is not much heavier than the old one when it has my camera and both lenses packed in it, it is comfy to wear and when I got the hang of how to wear it it was fairly easy to unclip the safety strap and swivel it round to use. I've taken it for a walk twice to try, not actually used the camera, but the beauty of it is that I can take my hiking sticks (I try and do Nordic Walking) and the camera because my hands are free. I am one happy bunny!

I got most of this jacket for my grandson done while waiting in the hospital, it is in a 4ply bamboo and cotton yarn. The pattern was by DMC and was a bit tricky to get right, and the size skipped from 2-3 years straight to 4-5 years, I made the bigger size. I got the buttons at the recent craft show at Westpoint in Exeter at the end of January. I'm quite pleased with it apart from the pockets, they look small, didn't seem to match and I added a row in situ to the one on the left of the photo.

Here is Kenny wearing the jacket and feeding the fish, one piece at a time and in this photo he decided to send the food down the waterfall - boys will be boys! He is nearly 3 and this is size 4 to 5 years old and not that much too big for him.

Well this was him trying it, and we have had such lovely weather this week just like Summer that he didn't keep it on for long, although it is bamboo and cotton yarn so should be good for cool evenings. It became apparent that the button/hood band was too tight and the hood wouldn't be able to be used, and this combined with the pockets prompted a deep memory - it dawned on me that when I did that band and the pockets (very late one night/early the next morning when I couldn't sleep for various reasons and actually stayed up until the morning then had to go out so couldn't catch up) I may have forgotten that I needed to go up a size hook. Something in my sleep deprived brain thought it was fine to use a smaller hook for the band - no! So I have unpicked it and redone it and the pockets and I am so much happier with it (I hope the hood will be usable too) now.

We even had lots of butterflies and bees with the warm weather, nights are very cold, and the weather is forecast to return to usual Spring temperatures by the weekend, so maybe not time to ditch the cold weather clothing yet!

 When you find a closing down sale it seems rude not to buy a big box full of yarn - right? The only problem is I found a cardigan pattern I love and worked out what I needed wrong, don't think I have enough of any colour to make it, so I will have to think again or lose a lot more weight! I have bright green, hot pink, chilli pepper and some cream slub. This is Wendy Mode DK yarn and 50% Merino wool, should be nice and warm.

 I also bought a couple more balls of this James Brett yarn that I used to make those hats and Scarfati's and hand warmers earlier in the year, it is very nice to work with and has some wool content.

Then someone posted about this gorgeous Sirdar self striping yarn on offer at 85p a ball at Love Knitting, so I checked it out. This is when I realised I had worked out the Wendy Mode all wrong, so I decided to make my cardigan in this, I needed a couple of balls of chunky for another project, and I ordered a few balls more than I actually need of the rest to get free postage, it is all the same yarn - when it arrived I thought they had sent me a wrong pack, it looked so different! So I will have that cardigan and maybe something striped with the other yarn but it will be bright.

I have a lot of yarn to get through now, better not buy any more lol.

I had yarn everywhere, so I went out and bought two more underbed boxes to stash it all in - well that was the plan. I couldn't even get all of the yarn pictured above in the two tubs and I thought I was going to get all of the rest of the yarn in the room put away too!

The card making tidying and decluttering hasn't got anywhere with all that has been happening, I really must get back to it.

Quirky baby sketch

I need a baby card so I used Meljen's sweet little rag doll baby sleeping on a cloud. I can't give you a link to get this because Mel has closed the digi shop down to start something new.

I coloured the little cutie with Promarkers and cut it out with Spellbinders dies.

I have loosely followed the sketch over at Quirky, adding teeny tiny buttons. The sentiment is stamped with stamps from a Kars clear set, and heat embossed.

The challenge is to use the sketch or feature hats or both.

Hop on over to Quirky Crafts to see some lovely examples and to play along with us this time, we have three great prizes, from That Craft Place, Ditzie Designs and Meljen Designs, and it could be your last chance to win some Meljen images too.

This little baby has floated into the following challenges:

TTCRD - Anything goes (April 6th)

ABC - G is for Go Digital (Wed)

Crafting from the Heart - #53 anything goes (Mon)

Cute Card Thursdays - buttons and bows

Creative Fingers - #74 Anything goes (Fri)

Glitter and Sparkle - anything goes (Sun)

Pile it on - use die cuts (Sun/Wed)

Graph'it Markers - Springtime (10th April)

Ribbon Girls - pastel colours (April)