Still Rummaging in my Bits Bags...

The waterlily (Sheena Douglass) was a leftover from another project ...it's embossed, coloured in with Spectrum colour shimmer pens and cut out. The patterned paper and vellum are scraps. I smooshed the background with Twinkling H2O and splattered it.

I'd like to enter:
TGIF
Little Red Wagon  background
Papercraft Crew

Pool

I've been rummaging in my bits bags, where I found this die-cut palm tree and an alcohol ink background. I cut the ai background into a curve and stuck it to some orange card. The sentiment is Concord and 9th.
I'd like to enter Casology. 

For a Catsitter

Did I tell you about my kitten, Smudge? He's about 13 weeks old now . We'll be going away for a few days break soon, so my brother has kindly agreed to move in and look after the cat, so this card will be for him. 

I used a digi from Mo's Digital Pencil -  I wouldn't change Smudge now, but I should really have thought harder before getting a black and white cat ...the colouring was really difficult! The sentiment is one I designed and cut on the Silhouette. 

Here's the real Smudge:

I'd like to enter:

Color Throwdown  hmm, my terracotta looks a bit more orange than intended...

Shopping Our Stash  black and white 

As You Like It  cats of course! Look at his little face....

Winter Greens

Here's a green Christmas card, using stamps from various Flora and Fauna sets.

I'd like to enter:
Fab n Funky  Christmas
Christmas Kickstart  starry night 

Roller Coaster

I was inspired by the photo at Just Us Girls to make this card. I chose my colours because of the the pink of the swing and yellow of the girls jumper. Maybe you do get pink and beige skunks! I used two stamp sets from Avery Elle.
I'd also like to enter:
Krafty Chicks 
Crafty Friends
Fab n Funky 

Tropical Flower Birthday

It's certainly not tropical today, here in rainy Hertford, England , but there are tropical flowers a-plenty in my craft room.

I used flowers from a Clearly Besotted set, stamping them first with white ink and then a black outline. I couldn't be bothered to mask them , so I found a tiny flower from another stamp set to fill in the gaps. I added details with yellow pencil and white embossed a birthday sentiment.

I'd like to enter:
Cupcake Inspirations 
Seize the Birthday 
As you Like it  summer for that tropical vibe
Allsorts 

Weird Christmas

Oh dear. I was inspired by the photo at Jingle Belles. I thought I'd make a fun and quirky card but it just turned out to be weird. I used the reindeer from Taylored Expressions and the fireplace from a freebie from a magazine years ago.  I shimmer penned the deer to make it more Christmassy. I tried to use colours from the photo but it turns out the photo has nearly every colour going. It looks great on the photo, but on my card, oh dear.

With Sympathy

Just realised I didn't share this sympathy card, which unfortunately had to be made quickly to send to my partner's friend. I white embossed the flowers and shaded them with white pencil.

I'd like to enter:
Allsorts 
Time Out 

Santa Sleeveless

It's the first time I've (successfully) used this stamp from the Colarado Craft Company and, as I was colouring him in, something occurred to me...he appears to be wearing a sleeveless tunic. Perhaps this is the outfit he wears when delivering in Australia and NZ. 

Anyway, I masked the image and stamped the sentiment from the same set. I coloured in with Promarkers and shimmer pen.

I'd like to enter:
Less is More 
The Spot
Sweet Stampin 

Inkspirational Challenges - Photo

At Inkspirational, our new challenge is to be inspired by this photo:

I was inspired by the octopus arms, spots and colours. I stamped and cut out the octupuses (octupi??) , coloured them with Promarkers and white gel pen. The seabed stamp is by Sunny Studio.

I'd like to enter:
Sisterhood of Crafters ocean
Krafty Chicks 
Watercooler 
Little Red Wagon  spots
Pearly Sparkles  3 of a kind

The Library Challenge - Miniature Garden Grower

The new book at The Library , is a gardening book called  Miniature Garden Grower .

I have this book - it's really lovely with lots of ideas for mini garden scenes and also straightforward instructions on making terrariums. 

For my sample card, I took the title literally and featured a miniature garden grower aka a gnome. I made it into a shaker card using a Tonic die and pouch. 

I'd like to enter my gnome shaker card into:

Penny Black and More  in the garden 

Papercraft Challenges  fantasy 

AAA Birthday 

Little Red Wagon  fantasy 

I did post a second card , which I will show you  below but it's a bit of a cheat as I made it a few years ago. It really does go with the cover though , doesn't it? 

Surf Bunny

After bigging myself up in a previous post for not buying new stash, I have to confess I did recently buy some new release stamps from Avery Elle.  This surfer bunny is one of them. Here, I stamped a beach scene from Clearly Besotted , coloured everything with Promarkers and stamped a big birthday sentiment.

I'd like to enter:
Cardz4Guyz no patterned paper
Male Room 
Watercooler 
Moving Along with the Times  at the beach
Krafty Chicks  cas

Two Butterfly Cards

So the theme at Twofer this month is butterflies .... I used the biggest butterfly in an Avery Elle set. 

 For my first card I white embossed the butterfly, and a Mama Elephant sentiment on pink. Then I added buttons and white enamel dots.
I'd like to enter:
Retro Rubber -  (stamp is about 4 years old)
Fab n Funky  pink

For my second card I used a page from an old dictionary and sprayed it with Antique Linen ink.  I used a circular stitches stamp by 49 and Market and then gold embossed the butterfly, splashing it with black ink. I die cut it into a circle and then cut another circle in black, embossed with  gold ink in an embossing folder (I know, you can barely see it!). Then I sprayed a cream card base and doodled a frame, and stamped the sentiment.
I'd like to enter:
Stamping Sensations  creatures
Try it on Tuesday  book paper

Pool Pretender

My favourite thing from MFT's latest release was a Pool Water stencil - the idea is you ink and rotate several times for a rippling pool water effect. BUT HOLD ON!  I thought I'd try the same effect using a stencil I already have - this one's a shattered glass pattern. I think I've 'shopped my stash', do you?

In the pool today, is a Mo's Digital Pencil image , coloured with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter:
Use Your Stuff summer fun
Handstamped Sentiments
Double D
Challenge up your Life 

A Little Wish

I love colour challenges, but I hate them too. Did I get the colours right? It's so hard to tell, when looking at colours on a screen and in your stash.

Here I am attempting to  replicate Less Is More's 'fuchsia, yellow and grey'... I used Promarkers to colour but I didn't have one labelled fuchsia so I mixed hot pink and maroon....

The digi I used here was one I won from Gerda Steiner and the sentiment is a MFT stamp (I think) .

As well as Less is More, I'd like to enter:
Stinkin Inkers  I see spots
Passion for Promarkers animal antics
INTAAS tiny things (mouse)

Snowman with Gold

Here's one for the Christmas card stash. Me and this snowman stamp have been together many years now, but I still like to think of different ways to use him.

I'd like to enter:
Christmas Kickstart 
Krafty Chicks 
Christmas Craft Creations