Bunny clip

This post is a bit of cheat really as I didn't make this adorable bunny clip. It was sent to me as a thank you for organising a swap on ILWS by Amanda. Isn't it just lovely? I am going to try and make some of these as I think that everyone would like to receive one.
Yesterday was a really great day. Immy had her first trip to London to see her Aunt & Uncle. We had a lovely day although it was exhausting! We thoroughly enjoyed having a Lebanese lunch and an Italian ice-cream. It's a wonder we managed to walk back to my brother's house we were so stuffed!

Ever-lasting Easter plantpot

So here is another item I made for Easter. It's a simple plant pot with some dried flower arranging foam in the bottom. This is hidden with raffia. Then I put scalloped circles onto the end of bbq skewers at different heights. Easy peasy and the perfect Easter table decoration as you can't kill it (like I would a regular potplant!) The chocolate eggs make it a nice gift to give too.
Yesterday I had a lovely Mum & daughter come over to design the daughter's wedding invitations. We had fun making different samples and trying different techniques. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Modern birdie

Here is a new card I created this week. It's using some of the patterned paper in the new Spring Mini which starts on Thursday! The bird punch also came from the Mini. I thought this card was a bit more masculine than my normal birdie cards... at least it was until I embossed the cheer & wishes sentiment in a girly font, which I am not sure many men would expect on their birthday cards!
Still the design is quite plain and simple, which is a style I am working hard to achieve. There is always the urge to add more and more to a card, I find!
The Easter sale was today and although I didn't sell a great deal (most people didn't expect cards etc. to be there I think) I did meet some lovely people who were interested in having a demonstration at their group and even one enquiry about becoming a Demo so quite a fun morning.

Mini bunny pouches

This idea was given by Monica Gale back in February to make origami folds. The pouches are filled with mint imperials or mini eggs. My sister made the little bunny circles to decorate the pouches. The cello bags were lightly glued onto the pouch to stop them sliding out. Aren't they cute?
N.B. Most products here are SU but most are retired Designer Series Papers or paper from my old stash.

Exciting news

A scrapbook layout that I created is being published! I used to subscribe to Scrapbook Inpsirations magazine, which sadly ended in December. To replace it they are bringing out a quarterly book and one of my pages will be in it! You can read more about it and order your copy by clicking here.
Let me know what you think if you get a copy...

Juicy card

This is a little acetate card I whipped up using some old Pumpkin Pie DSP. The scalloped circle is on the top of the acetate and the patterned paper is on the inside of the acetate folded card. This tart & tangy stamp set is so versatile and I loved experimenting with layering on the acetate.
The words are from the 'sweet little baby' sentiment but I just stamped the word sweet by inking it using a marker. The word window gives the simple sentiment a tidy look. Not sure how I managed without that punch!
Today is movie afternoon with some other mummies as Immy has been unwell (teething maybe?) so not sure how much crafting will be done... maybe this evening I will get my head down as it's only 48 hours til the very last minute craft fair that I am doing with a friend! Not to mention my Open House is in 2 weeks time on the 10th & 11th April 1-4pm - contact me to register your place if you would like to come by they way - so life is likely to stay hectic for a while yet.

Christening cards

Today I had a lovely friend over to make some Christening cards for her little boy. This is what we came up with! The lion stamp is retired now but it was too sweet not to use for this set of invitations. I was pretty impressed that we managed to make the 20 invitations in a couple of hours with our 6- and 5-month olds!

We stamped the lion in So Saffron ink and cut out with a 1 3/4" circle punch. The sentiment was embossed in white. We added a strip of Whisper White that has been scallop punched to tie the design together.

Chocolate bunny packs

I made these sweet little packets while munchkin had her nap yesterday. They are so simple to make. Also, I used different colours from my usual palette - I'm lovely the teal!
The wording was embossed using white embossing powder to make it stand out and also give it some shine. The bunnies were stamped in Chocolate Chip ink and then punched out using 1 3/4" circle punch and layered onto a scalloped circle.
On the back of the packets I have adhered the ingredients list which I photocopied from the original packaging so that nut allergy sufferers etc. can check that there is nothing that would harm them in the bunnies.

Easter Basket

This basket was inspired by one I saw on Linda Lloyd's site (aka Gadget Monkey). I adapted it to suit me by using my Big Shot box die to make the base of the basket and then white strips were adhered to create a white picket fence look. I then got stamping and punching butterflies to decorate the basket.
It was incredibly quick to make which is handy as I am making them to sell at a fair next Saturday (although I only decided to do it yesterday afternoon!). So I will be v busy this week making sure I have plenty of goodies to sell! By the way, if you've got an ideas for quick Easter themed things to make please let me know via the comments as I could do with some more ideas.
The only thing I am not happy about on it is the grass as I should have used one continuous strip instead of separate ones for each side to prevent a bit of blue showing right on the bend.

Pretty Pink card

Here is another super-simple card I cased from SCS for the layout. The card was made with Pretty in Pink card but the lighting is poor so it doesn't look so pretty, more like murky!
Today is my butterfly class and I'm really looking forward to meeting a few new people!

Blue birthday cupcake

What a week! It's been so hectic that I have been very poor at posting. However, last night I had a massive crafting session so there will be plenty to see over the next few days. The one above is one I thought would be good to keep in reserve as you could give it to men and women.
The outline was stamped with Basic Grey ink to make it a bit softer than Basic Black. The image was then painted using ink from the inkpads and the watercolour pens. It's so easy to get images to look fantastic using the exact colours. I am by no means an artist but I am happy with the results I get from this technique.
It's tricky to see but the image was finished off with some Dazzling Diamonds glitter. (Maybe this makes the card a bit girly?)

Vintage-y favour box

So here is another favour box made using my Big Shot. This one is a bit smaller but really cute. The box was cut out of Very Vanilla cardstock and then stamped using the Very Vintage jumbo roller in Close to Cocoa ink. The decorations are a lil sneaky preview of some felt flowers from the Spring Mini! Naughty I know but they were sat on my table looking so cute and keen to be included on this project!
Really simple box but big enough for some scrummy caramel bunnies!

Shabby chic Mother's Day

This is the card I made for my Mum for Mothers' Day. It was inspired by a card I saw on Monica Gale's blog that she made for one of her Passionettes. The background of the card was stamped in Versmark with En Francais (it's really hard to see in the picture), then I used my new vintage jumbo roller in Gable Green over the corners. I couldn't resist playing with my Vintage Vogue set to make the flowers. The other thing I was playing about with was my Pretties kit. This is a beautiful kit, so beautiful in fact that I've had it over a year and never used it! I just couldn't bear to stick them down, instead I just stroke the flowers and beads and then put them away again.
Anyway, now I am back to a more sane state of mind I have realised how useful the Pretties Kit is. Hope my Mum likes her card!

Die cut gift box

As it was my birthday yesterday I treated myself to a few new Big Shot dies. This is one of them. The dies make box making so easy as they are perfectly cut and scored. The main box is cut from Tempting Turquoise and stamped with a flower stamp from the Simply Said set.
The flower was made using Monica Gale's flower technique in two shades of yellow with a Pumpkin Pie orange centre. The leaves are made using the oval punch in Old Olive cardstock that has the veins drawn on using a marker.
I love making boxes as they are so useful and they make a simple gift seem much more special. This die would also be fabby to make wedding favours as you can put quite a lot in them. Keep your eyes open for my other box die in the next few days.

Bubble favours

Just a quick one today as it's my birthday. I got out some of these little bubbles yesterday at the teaparty, but they were originally made for our wedding tables. Each person had one and the ribbon tied around them matched our invitations and other wedding stationary.

The bubble pots came from a website and were incredibly cheap (£4.99 for 50 or 100, I think) but they provided some nice entertainment between courses. You could adapt the ribbons to match whatever colour scheme you want too!

Nanny's birthday

Today was my Nanny's 84th birthday. I held a little tea party at my house to celebrate as things have been pretty tough for her this year and I thought that the day should be marked. Above is a picture of her birthday potplant and the card I made her.
The tea party ended up not being such a small tea party after all, with a total of 8 of us! Still, there was plenty of food to go around and it was lovely showing everyone my little darling.

SAB of the past...

I've gone a bit nutty recently and made a massive order.... so while I am waiting for it to arrive I have been looking back at my stamp sets. I really like this one. This card is cased from the SAB brochure from 2009 but I changed the colours. I thought it might be more of a masculine birthday card but now I look at it as a finished article it might be better as a sympathy card!!!

Birthday painting

This is a picture I made for a dear friend's birthday. I saw the idea in SImply Handmade (the US version) and decided to adapt it using SU supplies. It started with a blank canvas - a bargain one at that from the 99p shop - and I drew a rough heart shape using pencil.
The article talked about using watercolours to create the picture but I don't have watercolours so I improvised and used my re-inkers! I used an aquapainter with Tempting Turquiose for the background. I then used some plain paint to fill in the heart to prevent the ink from spreading into the heart shape. Over the painted heart I used Pixie Pink to create a soft pink background and then slapped on LOTS of Pink Passion over the top to create a more striking pink colour. While the pink was still wet I sprinkled Rose Pink glitter from the Fine Cosmo glitter set on the heart.
Once the paint was all dry I used Black Staz On ink to stamp the poem (copied from the article, the words are not my own!). The 'listen' word was written with a SU black marker on Whisper White CS and then cut out and stuck on with Tombow.
The small circles are cut free-hand from white felt and stuck with Tombow and add a little more texture to the picture. I hope my friend likes it. I'll find out tonight as we're going out to celebrate her birthday at Pizza Express!!

late and cased

Lots has been going on this week but here is a card I made cased from Val Moody's site. It's late because Sale-a-bration is over but I am only just using my sets!! Better late than never.
This card is for our new neighbours - we had such a warm welcome to this area when we moved here we want to give the same to the newbies.
The card features Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquiose and Real Red.

Keep an eye out for a non-card related post as I am making a gift for someone using SU materials but not based on card... intriguing....

Dates to Remember

This is based on an article I read in Simply Handmade magazine. It's a 6x6" album where the front of each page protector is covered and decorated and has a different month. Then you write all the major birthdays/anniversaries etc. on the pages and you can slip in cards that you have made into the page protector pocket behind.

P.S. I am planning an Open House on the 10th & 11th April so look out for more information in the coming days...

So Proud

Continuing on the proud parent theme is this scrap layout. The photo was taken when Immy was only a few days old and I like how I have a smile on my face as those were tiring days!
The page was made using the Simply Scrappin' kit called Sunny Day, my absolute favourite kit that Stampin' Up! produce. The colours are really bright a vibrant, which is different from many other colour combinations. The title was made using my Big Shot and Boss-O dies.