I Wheelie like you!

When I saw the inspiration tag at Tag You're It this week, the play on words made me think straight away of a cute hamster stamp set I have with a similar play on words, Lawn Fawn's 'Wheelie like you'. I bought it a few months ago to make my daughter's birthday card as she just adores her pet hamster (I'll share her card with you another time). I like the teal/brown combination on the inspiration card & the splattered effect & these 2 elements inspired me to make this:

I sponged Tim Holtz Salty Ocean distress ink through part of an MFT Petal Circles stencil onto a tag cut from white card stock with an MFT 'Tag you're it' die. I then sprayed a mist of water over it to give that 'swooshed' look! Once it had dried, I lightly sponged over with Tumbled Glass distress ink. This ties in with the challenge at Less is More this week where the theme is to use stencilling. The hamster & wheel were die cut from the matching Lawn Fawn die, the hamster was water coloured with Stampin' Up Soft Suede ink.

I hope you wheelie like my card :) Thanks for popping by. Take care.

Tam x

Inspiration



Less is More: Theme Week  and we'd like to see some Stencilling on your project. 

Congratulations!

August in the UK is the month for exam results. Last week the GCSE results came out & my clever nephew was one of the ones celebrating :) He's not very academic & has always found school a real slog so this was a fantastic achievement for him. He's now going on to our local college to do a 2 year course in travel & tourism. I'm immensely proud of him & it was well deserved of a special card ..

I covered some white card in the washi tape & die cut the stars.

Inspiration
Less is More - Washi tape on your clean & simple cards

Sketch Saturday:


Washi Up - make a clean & simple card using washi tape

Supplies
Stamps - Framed Sentiments CBS, Basic Alphabet CBS
Dies - Notebook MFT, Stacking stars MFT
Embossing folder - Stripes SU
Ink, cardstock & twine - SU
Washi tape - My Mind's Eye 'Indie Chic'

Thanks for popping by. I love receiving your comments on my blog, it's nice to know I'm not talking to myself!
Take care x

Hot hot hot!

We've had some gorgeous weather but it's been too muggy in my craft room in the evenings to craft, so apologies for the absence of blog posts!

My nephew asked me to make a card for his girlfriend's birthday. They're going on holiday to Turkey so he asked for a beach style card with the Turkey flag on it. This is what I came up with ...

I'm entering this card in the 2nd challenge from Clearly Besotted where the theme is 'Seeing Spots'. I used the umbrella stamp & die from the 'April Showers' set as a parasol; the sandcastle was cut freehand & the sky is strips of washi tape.

Supplies used:
Stamps - April Showers: Clearly Besotted; letters: Banana Frog
Dies - April Showers: Clearly Besotted; Scallop: SU; numbers: Quickutz
Other - Clouds & hearts Washi tape: Paperchase

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Here come the girls!

As my children are growing up I'm finding I can't use the 'cute' stamps I have for birthday cards for kids & need to make cards suitable for teenagers!

I used this sketch at this week's 'Sketch Saturday' challenge ...

 & combined it with the Hexagons challenge at 'Less is More' to make this card ...

I was chuffed to find out that the Clearly Besotted hexagon die is a perfect match for the Stampin' Up embossing folder! Clearly Besotted have their first ever challenge up & running over on Stephanie's blog where 'Anything Goes'. This will be my 2nd entry ... sshhhh! ;)

Supplies used:
Stamps - You Said It: Clearly Besotted; Big Birthday Wishes: MFT, Dies to Die for
Dies - Honeycomb: Clearly Besotted; Hexagon embossing folder: Stampin' Up
Papers - The Sweetest Thing Tangerine: My Mind's Eye
Inks - Promarkers; Tangerine Tango ink:  Stampin' Up

My second card uses a stamp with a bit more attitude! ...

I love all the washi tape that's around at the moment & on this card I've pleated the pink washi tape to give it a bit of texture.

Supplies used:
Stamps - girl stamp from my stash: unknown; Happy Birthday sentiment from Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted
Die - File tab: MFT Die-namics, Dies to Die for
Inks - Promarkers; Melon Mambo ink: Stampin' Up
Other - Washi tape: Paperchase

'Addicted to CAS' have a challenge running at the moment where the theme is 'Teenager', so I'm entering this card there.

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Bringing home the sun

Apologies for my absence from blogland but I've been ... on my holidays!!
This was the view from our hotel room in Tunisia ...

We stayed at the Holiday Village Manar; lovely hotel, good food, amazingly helpful, friendly & cheerful staff & lots of sun! We got home last Friday & we brought the sun back with us :)

A week later & we're back in routine, so last night I got my crafting stash out & made some Father's Day cards ...

I saw the moustaches on the cocktail sticks idea in a magazine, so I can't claim credit for that one! The moustache & chevron stamps were free with that magazine.

The third card is stamped randomly with the tie stamps from the 'Super Dad' set from Clearly Besotted. The shirt & sentiment are from that set also.

I'm going to enter the shirt & tie card into the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays where they are asking for creations using banners & flags.

I'm entering the 2nd card into the Just Us Girls challenge this week where they are asking you to use washi tape on your creations.

Yesterday I received my order of the new stamps & dies released by Clearly Besotted this week. Stephanie has some lovely sets in this release & I'm hoping to have a play with my haul in the next couple of days :)

Supplies used:
Stamps - Super Dad, Clearly Besotted; Moustache & chevron, free with magazine
Cardstock - Solar white neenah; all other Stampin' Up
Inks - all Stampin' Up
Dies - Super Dad die collection, Clearly Besotted; Fishtail flags, MFT Die-namics
Other - Washi tape, cocktail sticks, Baker's Divine Twine

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Spring Blooms - Part 2

A bit later than intended, but that's the joy of the school holidays!
Here, as promised are another couple of cards I made with the Spring Blooms stamp set & dies from Clearly Besotted.

This first card uses the frame idea again. I die cut the jar, stems & daffodils from patterned cardstock & stamped onto the white card base behind. I thought I'd add the strip of washi tape at the bottom to hide the fact that I trimmed my panel too short add something a little different to the card ;) Here's a close-up of the die cut daffodils ...

The daffodils on this second card are on a background stamped to look like quilting ...

I saw this technique in the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine. Basically, you lay a sheet of acetate diagonally across your cardstock & sponge in circles with your ink. You move the acetate down your cardstock, parallel with your first line, inking as you go. Then you turn your card 90 degrees and repeat.
It's a great way to create a background & I'm going to enter this card in the Make My Monday challenge this week which is to 'Create your own Background' using no patterned paper.

As these are Easter cards, I thought I'd also share with you the Easter tree I put together using various crafty bits ...

And also the Easter gingerbread house that my daughter & I made ...

Supplies used:
Stamps - Spring Blooms:Clearly Besotted
Dies - Spring Blooms: Clearly Besotted, Sentiment Strips: MFT Die Namics
Inks - Wild Wasabi & So Saffron: Stampin' Up, Pro-markers
Other - The Sweetest Thing-Tangerine: My Mind's Eye papers, Washi tape: My Mind's Eye

Thank you for stopping by my blog. If you have the time, I do love reading your comments, so comment away! Take care x

Mother's Day

Just a quick post. I've made a few cards for Mother's Day so I thought I'd share them with you ...

I'm going to enter the above card in the 'Inspired by nature' challenge on the Make My Monday blog. The challenge this week is to see cards & projects with a naturalistic theme. I love the stamps & matching Leafy accents dies from Clearly Besotted I used to make this card.

The above card was made using strips of washi tape aligned all the way down a strip of cardstock to make it appear like a seamless sky! I then stuck some red spotted washi tape onto a piece of cardstock & die cut the butterflies with the Butterfly Wishes dies. I'm entering this card  in the Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Moxi Fab World have a card creations week this week with a different challenge every day, go take a look!

Supplies used:
Dies: Leafy Accents - Clearly Besotted; Butterfly Wishes - Clearly Besotted; Circles & scallop - Spellbinders
Stamps: Leafy Accents - Clearly Besotted; Framed Sentiments - Clearly Besotted
Ink pads: Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Real Red - all Stampin' Up
Other: Twine, Washi tape (clouds & hearts); Tiny Tags stamps & punch - Stampin' Up; Swiss Dots embossing folder - Cuttlebug

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Love is in the air

The other week I was very lucky to win the giveaway at Clearly Besotted of the Post it: Love stamp set & matching die! If you haven't checked out Stephanie's online shop, pop over & have a look, she has some lovely goodies! I've made a few cards now with this Post it set & here's a few of them ...

Over at Less is More they're celebrating their 2nd birthday this week & the challenge is to use only Kraft & Kreme, here, so I'm going to enter this card.

Cute card Thursday have a 'Love struck' challenge this week, so I'm going to enter this card in that challenge.

Supplies used:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Post It: Love, Clearly Besotted - Framed Sentiments
Dies: Clearly Besotted - Post It Stamp die, SU - Large Scallop Edgelits die, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
Inks: SU Red riding hood, Memento grey fog, Memento black, SU crumb cake
Others: Baker's Divine twine - oyster, SU linen twine, buttons from stash, Red polka dot washi tape

Thanks for popping by & take care x