Tree names Bookmark

So today I bring you a bookmark I have made for my cousins little boy. He loves trees, and even knows some of the latin names! I love it when kids become interested in stuff and want to learn, guess that's the teacher in me!
So I thought I would make him a little bookmark, and it also ties in with two bookmark/tag challenges.
Here's the sketch from waltzingmouse sketch challenge

Totally stampalicious also have a challenge to make a bookmark.

I started by going online and finding the latin names of some common UK trees. I imported them into my Digital Scrapbook Artist and played around for a while and created this background paper.

I also printed off a list of the trees to go on the back of the bookmark so he can learn them if he wants to.

After distressing the edges of the paper I layered it onto some green card and cut into a tag/bookmark shape.

I wanted to ass his name to the front, so made a background using my teeny trees leaf stamp, then stamped over the top with versamark and clear embossing powder using my Banana frog Budmo Jiggler alphabet stamps. I then carefully cut around each letter and inked the edges.

I wanted some little tree images too and so used teeny trees stamps and cut them out individually.

 I finally punch a hole in the top and added some deep green grosgrain ribbon. I hope he likes it. If it had been a card I would have added more dimension to the little trees and his name, but as its for a bookmark I wanted it to be pretty flat!

Thank you flower card

Here is a card I made using my newest stamps which I won over at Helens blog. I was so excited when I won them, stamping is my absolute favourite thing in card making! 

I decided to try and make a flower card, as its a little out of my comfort zone. So I stamped the vase in forest moss distress ink and then stamped the flower twice in tea dye distress ink. I cut out the flower and vase and then decided to make a background using my polka dot stamp from the waltzingmouse Offbeat background set in Antique linen distress ink. I also stamped the dotty line stamp in antique linen and sponged the edges.

I layered up the two flower parts and then added a small button with some twine knotted through it.

I finally layered up all the parts onto some craft paper and stamped the Thank You sentiment. Unfortunately I think I stamped it too quickly, as you can see up close that the ink has slightly run where the polka dots are, so the distress ink must not have been dry.

Next time I'll wait longer, or use archival ink!

Rocket birthday card Challenge Card

Today I have a card which is for two different challenges. Its for the waltzingmouse sketch challenge #61 and also the new monthly challenge over at Young Crafters Unite.
The sketch we had to work from is shown here:

 and the challenge for Young crafters unite was to colour a stamped image.

As soon as I saw the sketch I thought of a moon with a rocket, as I have an amazing set from Banana Frog called Retro Space which I have been looking for an opportunity to use.

So I stamped the main rocket onto some white card and coloured with my promarkers and cut out.

The moon is just a spellbinders circle die and then I used Antique linen distress ink to give it some shading and depth. I decided I wanted a little trail coming from the rocket, so I used my trusty waltzingmouse teeny trees stamps, stamped in versamark and then used my brand new cosmic shimmers on it!

Here you can also see the background paper which is just navy paper stamped with versamark stars.

 I wanted to add some stars that were colour matched to the rocket, and so using a tip from my friend Kirsty I just used my promarkers, coloured in some white card and then just cut the stars from the matching colours using my cuttlebug star dies!

The last few finishing touches were to use some green card, punched with a Dovecraft star punch all the way along, which I placed over some matching blue ribbon. I then ripped a star ikea napkin to layer onto. I also stamped the Happy birthday sentiment (Hero Arts) onto some plain white card, and because it looked a little plain I stamped some extra teeny trees stars over the top and added cosmic shimmers. I hope you like my take on both challenges!

Waltzingmouse blog waltz - Tea/Coffee

Welcome to this months blog waltz, where the theme is Tea or coffee. My two main bits of inspiration for this card were my Tea dye distress ink, and also a lovely set of stamps I have which include a tray of tea!

I started by stamping a lovely Lila Bug stamp by Kirsty Wiseman and coloured with promarkers, and then created a random leaf pattern using my teeny trees waltzingmouse stamps. I stamped my Lila bug again over the pattern so I could paper piece the dress onto my main Lila. I also stamped a tea table from another Kirsty Wiseman set called Come on Over, coloured with promarkers, and cut off the table legs to make a tray.

Next I took some doilies, for two of them I cut off the outer part to create a smaller version of the doily, and then inked up one with Forest moss distress ink, and the other with Tea Dye distress ink. I then layered them all up.

The background is the polka dot stamp from Waltzingmouse Offbeat Backgrounds, stamped onto cream card with the tea dye distress ink. I layered this onto some kraft paper, and made a little wavy edge banner to go across the front. The sentiment is from the Come on Over stamp set.

Here is Lila holding out her tea tray! I sponged gently around her dress with more forest moss.

I hope you like my tea inspired card! 

Pink Fairy birthday card

Today I'm showing a cute little card I made for a friends little girl. I have a few little girly stamps I picked up very cheaply in our local bargain shop and was looking to use them on a card for the first time. Having been inspired to use labels by the recent waltzingmouse sketch challenge I decided to go for a mini label! 

I stamped one of the fairies onto a mini label in memento black ink. I then waited while it dried (the mini labels are glossy and smudge easy, so I had to be patient!). I then coloured the fairy with promarkers and then used a Quickie glue pen and some super fine glitter to give her some bling.

I took some pink cardstock and using a Dovecraft star edge punch I punched out a line of stars. I then cut some shiny metallic paper to go behind this and cut a wavy edge into it. I also die cut a circle with a wavy edge in the pink cardstock. I have a little stash of ready to use sentiment circles printed off from a Kirsty Wiseman CD, and so I took the circle and punched a candle into it. I put a little scrap of the metallic paper behind the punched candle and then layered it up. Finally I used some background paper which I printed off from my Digital Scrapbook Artist (can't remember which digikit, sorry!). I will definitely use this fairy stamp again as its super cute when coloured!

Triple Embossed Wedding Card

Here I have made a wedding card for a friend getting married soon. I was excited to use my doodlebug wedding stamps which are amazing.

I couldn't decide which ones to use, so decided to do 6 small images in individual squares. I coloured each with promarkers and then triple embossed each little image. This took ages, and was really fiddly, and made me decide to order some Glossy Accents (its in the post!). It really does make it look much better though. I also cut some slightly bigger squares on my cuttlebug using my square dies and then embossed around the edge with some gold embossing powder. These were layered onto some burgundy paper which is almost like angel hair and has gold strands through it.

The background is a stamps away musical score stamp, I used a gold ink pad, which didn't stamp very well, but it was actually nicely subtle. The whole thing is layered onto to some burgundy paper which has a linen pattern. I chose this colour because its the wedding theme.

I'm using hubbies new camera for these, and its amazing to be able to get some close up shots!!!

My Monkeys 2nd birthday today!!

This time two years ago I was holding my beautiful little man for the first time! How quickly these two years have passed. He has brought so much joy into our lives and is becoming such a little character!
This morning they showed his birthday card on Channel 5 and he was so excited!! It was only for like 2 seconds but we have it recorded. (Cbeebies is much better, but I missed the 2 MONTH deadline for sending that in! I hadn't even thought about making his card 2 months ago!!!) Here's the card (Its A2 size for tv!)

We had an early birthday party last night as we're at a wedding today and it was lovely to have our local family around (we visited hubbies family last week). As monkey is currently obsessed with badgers (long story!), I made him a cake based on this one I saw online. I've watched a few sugar craft shows on create and craft, so had a little experiment and was pleased how my badgers came out.

I decided to paint them with black food tint as it was cheaper than buying the black icing (or trying to make my own!). I had bought a tube of black writing icing but it was awful and my test writing was horrendous, so I painted on the wording with the same tint.

Not perfect, but hey!
Here are some more pic of it!

I had some left over icing, so made some little cupcakes too.

I had some left over icing, so made some little cupcakes too.

 I hope you like it, it tasted delicious (vanilla sponge with raspberry jam and buttercream in the middle) and joey loved it!

Quick congratulations card

My friend recently got engaged, and I needed a very quick card. This has to be one of the quickest cards ever, but looks good.
I embossed the card with swiss dots, cut and embossed a labels 4 nestie, and before taking the card from the die I sponged some forest moss distress ink inside. This leaves a lovely crisp embossed outside. I stamped a banana frog sentiment in forest moss too, and finally added some ribbon, which was originally white and I used the same distress ink to colour it. Et voila!