Down Under!

I can barely believe that I'm getting time to write this before the less is more challenge is over, but here we are! On Sunday we acquired this utterly gorgeous bundle of joy and he has been occupying a vast amount of time since!

The kitchen table has become redundant in favour of having a completely clear kitchen for best puppy training possibilities (and minimal damage!) Instead I snatched five minutes at the coffee table with the little one asleep on my lap and made this surfing nod to down under.

Enjoy!

While the cat's away...

Today I want to share with you a card I have made with this lovely penny black mouse stamp. It's coloured with promarkers and mounted on some lovely paper from my rather large stash! I die cut the scalloped circle and mounted a craftwork cards sentiment in the middle.

I'd like to enter this card in to the following challenges;

Penny black Saturday
Penny black and more
Stamping sensations

Q is for...

I'm thoroughly enjoying playing along with the craft barn dictionary challenge. This is the second week and they've gone for the letter Q. I'm sticking with trying to have a nature inspired dictionary so for Q chose...

Quince!

This was one of those happy occasions where it all just seemed to come together. 

I first inked the page with antique linen distress ink, then stamped a card-io leaf and branch stamp in bundled sage around the edges.

I looked up some pictures of quinces and drew this one with fineliner and water colour pencils. My drawing skills leave a bit to be desired but I think it is at least recognisable!!

I added crafty individuals dragonflies in versa colour bronze, subtle, but just about visible!

It all seemed to be done rather too quickly so a couple of days later I went back and added the Q which I drew first on to tissue paper and pasted on. It is coloured worth gold gel ink and edged with fineliners. Finally I finished it of with glossy accents.

Page two done, I wonder what page three will bring?

Less is more silhouette

One more quick entry to this week's less is more silhouette challenge. Technically this is cheating as it's not really a silhouette if you can see the features in the owls face but I'm hoping I can be forgiven!!

The moon was created with a circle mask and the background inked with versa colour inks. The stamps are from two different card-io sets.

I would also like to enter this in to try it on a Tuesday's challenge which also happens to be silhouettes.

Sunset silhouette

I've made this card for this week's less is more challenge  and the try it on a Tuesday challenge which this time both have the theme of 'silhouette'. I had quite a few ideas for it including fairies and trees and other such things but at the last minute I stumbled upon this memory box die and decided it would make a good silhouette. I inked the sunset with versa colour inks in canary and camellia and a fabrico pad in tangerine. The sentiment is a very old stamp with the house image not inked, made by all night media.

Enjoy...

This dear little mouse is a penny black stamp called 'squeaky'. I've made a very simple card with him by flat stamping (using black impress) and colouring with promarkers. 

It is mounted on glittered vellum and lilac paper from my stash. The sentiment is another stamp from a penny black T for transparent set called 'enjoy'. 

This card is destined for the following challenges;

Penny Black Saturday - Anything goes
Penny Black and more - One for the girls
A bit more time to craft - Anything goes
Simon wednesday - Create with critters

A thought for 2016

So did anyone watch the queens speech on Christmas day?! I must confess I never have done before but did for the first time this year. HM was talking about how it had been quite a 'dark' year in many ways, think; Paris attacks, flooding, refugee crisis etc and it is easy to see where she was coming from. In my personal life, 2015 was a pretty tough year and included a fair number of unexpected trials. The Queens message didn't stop there however and she quoted the passage from John 1v1 in the bible, which says; 'The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it.'

Personally I found it a really encouraging message (you never know, I might even watch again next year!) It is easy in the midst of things to start feeling hopeless and as though evil, be it in the form of famine, war, terrorism or natural disaster, is taking control. What this passage is saying is that although these terrible goings on are happening all around us, they are not enough to overcome the good that is also in the world. 

I decided it was time to focus on the good a bit more. I am determined that 2016 will go better than 2015 and I came up with this little crafty project to help me on my way. (Lets face it, all good ideas need a crafty project to help!)

This is my jar of hope for 2016. As you can see in the picture there are some little tags attached to the outside. As the year progresses I plan to write the good things that happen on these tags and post them in the jar. At the end of the year, no matter what else has gone on, I will be able to look back over all the good things from 2016. 

    

I used a large flat sided kilner jar and covered it in torn pieces of blue mulberry paper glued on with a mix of pva and water. This represented the 'darkness.' I added a moon shaped mask and inked on a moon and stars using a Lavinia stamp. I also added brilliance moonlight white ink directly over some areas.

I cut four panels of K and Co paper, used a circle punch to create inverted round corners and drew a border with a brown fineliner. I then stamped Crafty individuals 'stamp a meadow' set and stuck each panel to the jar. I wanted to show plants growing in the night as a way of representing light in the darkness.

I printed the text using hero arts alphabet sets and cut the individual words out. Finally I finished off using bits and bobs, a few buttons and a ribbon from crafty ribbons. 

For the tags I printed on scrapbook paper from my stash using Crafty individuals stamps from a variety of sets (I'm absolutely loving the dragonflies at the moment!) and giving them a more varied look by applying bits of DI in tumbled glass. 

As you can see for the lid I die cut a scalloped circle, added more stamping and distress ink and finished off with buttons.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'd love to hear if anyone else is doing a new year inspired make?

Id like to enter this make in to the following challenges;

Craft stamper; take it make it

Crafty individuals; lace, buttons, bits andbobs

Stamping sensations; Anything with a die

Crafty ribbons; Fabulous flowers