Paper Piercing

Many thanks for your prayers and messages for my husband's health.  I will keep you updated.

This afternoon I have taken some much-needed time out for *me*, totally ignoring the two sets of exercise books needing marking, the three foot pile of ironing and our disgusting kitchen floor!!

It's been ages since I've taken part in Less is More, though I still have a nosey most Saturday mornings, so I really enjoyed paper piercing for this week's challenge.  I rooted through my stamp sets to find something suitable and my eye fell upon Flowering Flourishes as I've seen some really beautiful cards on Pinterest made using this stamp set.  As part of the flourish design is done in dots, I decided to pierce them.

I couldn't decide what to add for the sentiment and was about to make it an anniversary card when my mobile beeped... it was a dear friend who told me of her engagement to another friend of ours.  Well, with such happy happy news, the card just had to become a congratulations card for them both.

Supplies
Stamps: Flowering Flourishes, Trust God
Ink: Basic Black, Raspberry Ripple (this is my absolute favourite of the new in-colours!)
Card: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple
Other: stamp-a-ma-jig, Elegant Butterfly punch, pearls

I'd also like to join in again with Word Art Wednesday's challenge.

I just love today's cat picture (assuming the spelling mistakes are deliberate... linguist's nervous twitch!):

Thanks so much for visiting,

Butterfly Dreaming

A big hello from snowy Lancashire! Sadly it isn't sticking much, but I sure hope that changes.  Just think how much crafting I could do on an unexpected snow day (no sarcastic comments about teachers and snow days, please, or I shall cry!).

I am popping in with a snippety make today so that I can go and play in the Snippets Playground - it's been too long!  I bought a cheap canvas for £1.50 in the sales, and decided to replicate some of those lovely butterfly canvases you see in the shops that cost an extortionate amount of money.

Dead simple to make, punching two butterfly shapes from each scrap of patterned paper, three gems in the middle of each and a die cut title.

Supplies

Paper: Brights stack, Neutrals stack, Twitterpated Designer Series Paper

Other: Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies (retired), basic rhinestones, elegant butterfly bunch

Cats and dogs to make you smile today; both are courtesy of the lovely Sam who has sent me two giant emails of animal photos to keep this blog ticking over quite nicely this year!

Thanks for visiting -- and keep your fingers crossed for a snow day and you might see more crafting here soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my blogland friends!  Let's make 2013 the year we want it to be!

I have had a lovely Christmas with family and even managed to squeeze in a few hour's crafting.  I made the most of the opportunity, finishing a frame that I had covered with gesso back in October and then hadn't time to do anything with.  I love creating little garden and wildflower scenes so I was in my element with this.  My new stamp sets that I treated myself to with my first pay check have been sitting there lonely and uninked, so this was always intended to be pure inky self-indulgence!

I started by painting my PoundLand frame with gesso and sanding it down.  (The leaving for 3 months part is optional.)  I stamped the leaves from Summer Silhouettes in VersaMark and then embossed in a shimmery type of embossing powder that I've had for some time.  I measured out some Whisper White card, but as the frame measures 15" I was always going to have a line to deal with.  I inked the bottom of the card with a combination of Pear Pizzaz (retired, but I love it), Old Olive and Summer Starfruit.  The top of the card was inked in Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze. I do find my sponge daubers very easy to use for inking.  

I started stamping with the beautiful bloom on the left from Elements of Style and then stamped randomly along the rest of the card.  I used the top of the fir tree from Lovely As A Tree, the dandelion heads from Serene Silhouettes, the leaves from Papaya Collage and the flowers from Summer Silhouettes.  The inks used were Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Pear Pizzaz and Gumball Green.  I added some insects from Nature Walk and the beautiful butterfly from Papillon Potpourri, stamped twice, once directly onto the card, once onto some scrap. Both were coloured, and then the scrap was punched out with the coordinating punch and mounted on top of the other.

The chipboard tree looked a little stark against the vibrant summer flowers so I stuck leaves onto it, punched out with my Bird Builder Punch and the stems trimmed off.  I added paper roses and gardenia to the edges, with some die cut leaves positioned behind.  The final touch was a rub on quotation.

Supplies

Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Papaya Collage, Elements of Style, Lovely As A Tree, Papillon Potpourri, Serene Silhouettes, Nature Walk (edit: definitely not retired, clearly I am confused from lack of crafting)

Ink: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green, Pear Pizazz (retired), Rose Red, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Pretty in Pink, VersaMark

Card: Whisper White

Other: aquapainter, sponge dauber, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Bird Builder Punch, heat gun

Non-SU supplies: paper roses and gardenia, rub on, chipboard tree, copper shimmer embossing powder

Now, on a serious note, Socks felt that he should give you all some advice as you contemplate a new year.  Firstly, set realistic and achievable resolutions:

Always see the best in yourself:

Reorganise your clutter:

Spend time on your hobbies, or even learn a new one:

Make sure you spend time with your family and those you love:

Wishing you all the happiest of New Years!