Sweet Stampin' - Sentiment Only

Saturday again, and the first one in March, time really is flying these days. I hope you're all managing to keep warm and safe in the winter weather.
As it's Saturday though, it's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' and this week our theme is "Sentiment Only" and so we want to see the sentiment as the focus of your card, and don't forget to include some stamping!

I used a stamp that was the members gift from the Claritystamp club years ago, before they'd even thought of Groovi and it hadn't seen ink until now. I stamped the heart several times in black archival ink on white card. I coloured them in using spectrum noir sparkle pens using colours inspired by love heart sweets. I trimmed the card down to fit on a 6x6 card blank and cut out one of the leftover hearts. I wanted to wrap some twine round the card, but only had natural twine, so I coloured it (and my fingers and the glass cutting mat) in with a black sharpie. I mounted the panel on some black card with 1mm foam tape on the base. To finish I added the cut out heart over one of the hearts with 1mm tape to add some dimension.

In other news, I'm picking up the bunnies and bringing them both home today! Their bonding has gone really well and Oscar (still deciding on a name for him) is apparently already growing on confidence being with Willow. I've really missed little Willow, although I haven't missed going out in the freezing cold to see to her and refresh her warm snugglesafes at regular intervals!

It's Been Too Long - Since I Last posted!

It's been far too long since I last blogged, I'll fill you in on the details in a minute, but first the card.

I rustled up this very quick little card (4x4) using the Hunkydory "Happy Birthday Sausage" stamp set. I stamped all the elements seperately before colouring in the dog with my zig clean colour pens. I used a spectrum noir sparkle pen for the blue and then cut out all the elements and glued them into place. I stamped one of the sentiments from the set onto the card and drew in a frame, which I coloured to match the scarf. Super quick and simple.

So, the tooth saga continues. Having settled down over the weekend, by Tuesday morning it was aching again, typically on the first day of real snow that we had. I phoned the dental helpline from work and was told that there were no appointments available in my town. Happily though, there was one that morning at a Dentist only a two minute walk from work! He decided that he needed to drill deeper than the previous dentist had done to put in some medicine to calm the nerve. It took three lots of local anaesthetic to numb the tooth, no wonder I felt woozy afterwards! I also ended up with a course of oral antibiotics. It's still quite sore, but the (very lovely) dentist warned me it would take a few days to calm down. I have to apologise for being behind on my visits, toothache and neck ache has taken its toll, but I hope to catch up with you all soon.

By Wednesday, our snow had mostly melted, despite it being -6 degrees out (no idea how that works?!) and so I took Willow to meet Oscar who will hopefully become her new companion. Oscar was handed into rescue by a lady who borrowed a male bunny to breed her rabbit. Unfortunately, when the babies were just a few days old mummy bunny died. The lady hand reared the babies and gave most of them away, but kept Oscar and his sister. Unfortunately, she seems to have just done the absolute minimum to look after them and so at 18 months old they are not used to human interaction and consequently are very scared and hutch defensive. Oscar also seems to have a congenital cataract in one eye, which is slightly smaller than his other eye. You'll be pleased to know that his sister has now found a wonderful new home and hopefully Oscar will be happy with us, I know you're dying to meet him so here is the handsome chap,

He's a bit bigger than Willow at 1.5kg, but he is (mostly) a Netherland Dwarf. Despite being fearful, once held he enjoys a good fuss and has gorgeous soft, silky fur. I'm not sure he'll be keeping the name Oscar though, anyne got any suggestions for a plant/tree/herb related names? Apparently, so far they are getting on well *crosses fingers for luck*

I hope you are all managing to stay safe and warm in this freezing weather x

Butterfly Challenge - Tattered Lace Captivating Catmint

Thank goodness it's Friday, although not so good as I woke up at 2am with terrible toothache. One emergency dental appointment later and I have a numb mouth and a temporary dressing and filling and will need a root canal doing. Well, that's assuming I can find an NHS dentist!

A bit of crafting is always a good distraction and so I rustled up a card for the Butterfly Challenge. I've not managed to play along with this for ages and Mrs A has mixed up the rules a bit, to give lots more scope for entries.

I had another play with the Tattered Lace, Botanical Bliss Collection, this time using the Captivating Catmint die. I die cut the coloured printed sheet that came with the collection as I thought that the colour and small flowers would work well with the butterflies. Once cut I glued it onto a 7x7 card blank.

I stamped a butterfly background stamp from the Rare Earth A4 Flower Backgrounds stamp set on white card in black archival ink. I then coloured them in using my zig clean colour pens in pink and purples before cutting them out. I ran one of the coloured pens round the edges of the butterflies to hide the white cut the edge. I shaped the butterflies with my finger and used glue to secure the centre of them, but tiny bits of 1mm foam tape under the wings to keep the dimension.

The butterfly challenge wanted to see pearls as one of their options and after wondering how to add them, I decided to cover them gold/brown frame part of the image with them. Fortunately, I found the perfect pearls glued in strips rather than individually! I was undecided about adding the pearls to the inner frame, but decided it looked better with the, than without.

I found the sentiment lurking in my stash from about 15 years ago and snipped it down and added it on 1mm foam tape. As the card was finished, I decided that the butterflies needed a little shimmer and so I painted them with Windsor and Newton watercolour iridescent medium. Probably easier to paint it on before I stick them on in future! 

Art Impressions - Doggy Kisses

Thursday already! Usually a good thing, but not when you're on annual leave and go back to work on Monday. Boo hiss! 

I couldn't resist this stamp set, Doggy Kisses from Art Impressions and was lucky to find it for a good price on eBay. I stamped the dog in black archival and coloured him in with zig clean colour pens and polychromos pencils before cutting him out. I stamped the sentiments and paw print from the set and die cut them using Simon Says Stamp Stiched Circles. I also used these to cut out the aperture on a piece of paper from my stash (?Craftwork Cards) which I'd trimmed to fit a 5x7 card. I glued the paper in place and added everything else on 1mm foam tape. This adds a little dimension, but will still post at the standard rate. 

Speaking of recovery, Willow had her final post op check up on Monday and was declared to be doing brilliantly. She's got her onsesie off and is now back outside, having gradually reacclimatised her during the week and providing a regular supply of warm snugglesafes. 

I've been in touch with a local rabbit rescue and on Wednesday she's off to meet a bunny who will hopefully become her new companion. Fingers crossed that they like each other.

Finally, I was trying to get a picture of Willow on my phone to send to a friend who lives "down south" and who loves bunnies even more than I do (yes, unbelievably that is actually possible. Just.). I think I woke her up judging by the stretch and yawn!

Tattered Lace Lovable Lily of the Valley

A super easy card today. I recently bought a new Tattered Lace release of some floral dies and matching what they call "Charisma CD-Roms" which have coloured images sized for you to cut out with the dies. This particular bundle also included some ready printed sheets of the images. I used one of the sheets and die cut the Lovable Lily of the Valley. I was suprised actually at the quality of the paper, probably about 140gsm. The images have a "bleed" around them so that you have a bit of leeway if your die isn't lined up perfectly.

I embossed a piece of coordinating green card using the centre of a Tonic 8x8 Retro Fern embossing folder. The folder has an embossed frame around it but by placing my card in the centre of the folder I avoided that part. I was lazy as I was crafting on the sofa, so I cut a piece of white card and glued it into the centre of the panel and added the green card cut to size behind it, rather than cutting out the aperture.

On a 7x7 card blank I added a mat of yellow card and a smaller piece of white card on top. I then glued my topper into place. I die cut the sentiment from Paper Crafting World's Sentiments Set 3 twice and glued them together before adding them to the card. To finish I added some stickles to the flowers. Apologies for the dodgy photo again, I promise it's a square with straight lines, honest!

These are the last flowers, honest!

Yep, I bet you're fed up of these flowers by now, but I promise that this is the last of the orange ones!

I applied Imagination Crafts Structure Paste through a stencil that came free with Making Cards Magazine recently across the centre of a 6x6 card base. Once dry I spritzed it with the Lindy's Stamp Gang Icy Primrose Gold and Alpine Ice Rose starburst sprays. There is a bit of a warp in the card, but I'm sure it will flatter not out under a few books. Hopefully you can see some of the shine below.

I glued the flowers and leaves in place, along with the sentiment that I snipped down from a Clearly Besotted Sentiment Banner die. Simples! Hope you all have a fantastic week x

Sweet Stampin' - Add a Tag

Yay, it's the weekend! That means it's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' and this time we want you to Add a Tag to your stamped creations.

Yep, it's another one of those flowers and leaves! Details of how I made them can be found here. I started off by embossing a piece of white card with the Couture Creations Tied Together embossing folder. I wrapped a piece of white ribbon round it and then used 1mm foam tape to add it to a mat of black card. I trimmed down a 5x7 card base to fit and glued the topper in place. I wanted the stamping  on the flower to stand out more and so I went over it with a 0.1 fineliner pen and glued the leaves in place and added the flower on foam tape. I stamped the lili of the valley tags in black archival and cut them out and glued them onto the card. To finish I added some cream gloss Nuvo drops - not sure if I actually like them now they're on, but there's no way I can remove them!

I'm afraid I caved in with Hubby's Valentine's present on Thursday night, mainly because I was struggling not to mention going out to buy them and the fact that I was served by the same spaced out and distracted guy as last time we were in there. 

I asked Hubby if he'd found his Valentine's present from me yet. Cue a game of hotter, colder as he wandered round the lounge trying to figure it out. I was crying with laughter as he was stood in front of the fish tank for ages and didn't see them. Mind you, it didn't help that they chose that moment to hide behind a plant! They were worth the £7.50 for the laughter alone! 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stay warm and dry (or cool and dry if you're in the Southern Hemisphere) and manage to get some crafting time x