Polkadoodles Digi Choosday

So the cat is out of the bag, my first design team post is with

Polkadoodles Digi Choosday Blog where I am a guest designer for a few months. My first creation is live today on their wk 26 anything goes challenge. 

Pop over there is a great discount code for a limited time only.

The DTs specification was 4th July using red white and blue but not a card. 

Nervous does not come close and then a sheer panic blinded me as the voice inside my head taunted me with 'you only make cards' I think I can safely say I have silenced it now. I can add gift bag to my resume!

Butterfly and Bee

This is another of my bargain stamps. Craftstash have a sister site called craft world which is full of expert advise and inspiration. Every Saturday they have a Super Six which is a six offers that run for craftworld members. This stamp was one of the super six last week and I only had to pay postage and packaging which was £2.49. If you are interested in joining craftworld it is free and available here

Global Pride Day

Global pride day in 2020 is Saturday 27th June. Like most other events on the social calendar all parades and celebrations have been cancelled. 

The LGBT+ community have a number of on line celebrations but I wanted to show my support for a very special couple in our family by flying the flag with them. 

Simple Card Using Clearly Besotted Best Balloon Stamp Set

My little helper wanted to play with the distress inks again so we came up.with a little design together.

Sweet Treats

This simple card uses The Sweet Favourite Stamp Set by Daisy Mae Designs. I really love the details on the sweet jars on the shelf. It makes me think of Beamish (an open air museum in the North of England telling the story of life in the region from 1820 right through to the 1950's) and days out with family and friends. Which is just what we need at the moment 

Polkadoodles Spring Rose Layering Stamp

The theme for the Cupcake Inspirations 496 Challenge is Pink, Tangerine and Cyan 

Group Hug

This stamp set reminds me of book I used to read to my children when they little and because the image is fairly big I am finding it really good to practice blending. I love how the badger has turned out.

Zig Zag Card - Fun Fold

Another really easy fun fold card. That looks super effective. This one incorporates stamps from the Daisy Mae Design Village Bakery Collection and really makes me want cake....

Papercraft Society June Box

I have finally bitten the bullet and purchased the Papercraft society monthly subscription box. Please do not read any further if you do not want to see the unveil

Wizardly Magic Dutch Door Card

I have a Harry Potter mad daughter who is Team Slytherin 

The Inspiration for this card begun to grow when I came across the ribbon on eBay on a late night shopping experience. I purchased the ribbon and then spent along time searching for the perfect stamp set to match it with. I eventually decided on the Hello Bluebird Halloween set featuring Tabitha, it has a girl, a cat, some bags, a witch hat and some potions  and spell books. It looked perfect. I ordered it from America and as her birthday drew closer it still hadn't arrived. Then I discovered the Wizardly Magic from the Little Dudes Collection at Polkadoodles and my mind was made. This was just perfect for what I had in mind.

Polkadoodles Bunnita Card

My daughter got a jelly cat bunny the day she was born from a friend of my brother. The jelly cat bunny is affectionately known as Bun. Bun has travelled everywhere Martha has. He has camped, been to Eurodisney, down a coal mine you get the drift. Martha loves every inch of Bun's ever thinning fibres.

Mischievous Moles

While laminating some papers I had a brain wave. I could use a laminating pouch to make a stencil. I laminated an empty pouch and used by Big Shot to cut 4 squares into the plastic. 

The stamp set is by Clearly Besotted and is so incredibly cute, even my husband past comment on it's cute factor

A Wine Bar Card

I made the mistake of asking Mini Miss H what sort of card she would like me to make her to give to Daddy for Fathers Day. She thought about it for the whole of about 5 seconds before she proudly announced , Erm I would like it to be a wine bar.....

My imagination totally left my body as I stumbled over my words, but after the initial "how the heck am I gonna do that?" moment. I had a little idea that developed and turned into a bigger idea....

Sometimes Simple is Best

This cute little guy was sat coloured waiting to be put to use. He is too cute to be sat on a shelf for too long. So decided to use make a super simple card to make him the main focus

Embossing and Negative Dies

Having the kids at home and trying to home school, work and have some form of family life is an interesting concept at the moment. I am running out of ideas to keep them entertained while trying to limit to some extent the amount of screen time they have. 

Pop Up Box Card - Vintage Tool Box

I make no secret of the fact that I struggle with masculine cards, so to have to do 2 dad cards for my own children, 1 husband card and 1 dad and Grandad for my own father can feel belittle overwhelming and I fear I end up making them all a little similar.

I fancied something a little different for my own dad so decide to go down the route of a pop up card themed as a vintage tool box 

Bee Safe Stay Home

This cute digi stamp is free from Clearly Besotted. My little girl helped me to make this creation and can be seen on the YouTube video having her first play with distress inks. I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did, it was lovely having se quality time together that does not involve me trying to get her to do some school work or learn her time tables.

Otterly Fabulous

I have been eyeing up the Otterly love stamp set by my favourite things on instagram for some time so when I saw that Craftstash was selling a similar one by Creative Stamps called Otterly Fabulous, I just had to have my own piece of that cuteness.

Background Stencil Card

Stencils are not something I normally reach for but I had an impulse buy in the early hours of the morning the other night. I normally avoid them, I am not sure if I think they are too fiddly. 

I had visited the Polkadoodles site to investigate 'stamp soup' which sounded very intriguing and came across this cloud and grass stencil. Of course a bit of stamp soup also fell into the virtual basket. But I digress 

So when they arrived I just had to have a little play....

Friendship

Are you like me? Are the social restrictions begin to grate on you? I understand why we need to do what we are doing but I don't think I have ever gone this long without seeing my best friend. We have been friends since I was 10, so for over 25 years we have stood shoulder to shoulder through the tough times and the great times and I now have not seen her since the beginning of March. Of course we have spoken but not actually seen each other in flesh. She lives over 30 miles away so to drive all that way just to wave through a window was against the rules.

 

 

Review - Finesse by Spectrum Noir

When I first started on with my stamping addiction  my stamping journey I was not sure what to expect, I was a total beginner and when my clear stamps arrived I was not prepared. It was floppy, I kept smudging the ink, I had no idea I needed a block to put it on....

I have come a long long way since them early days but one thing that has not changed is the black ink pad I was using. It was one I found in my  8 year old daughters craft supply. I have no idea where it came from or even if it was any good. It actually turns out that it is a Tsukineko Impress in Jet black. But being the only black ink I have even used I decided to see what else was on the market.

Fathers Day Card

I always struggle when it comes to male cards, the inspiration just does not flow like it does with female cards. So when Creative Stamping magazine came with a free set of Hunkydory, For the Love of Stamps The Great Outdoors stamp set, earlier in the year I knew that I would save them for this occasion.

Tent Stepper Card

I wanted to create a card where I could show off the vast majority of the Daisy Mae Faraway Collection. I wanted a woodland scene but all the folds I tried just looked swaped with the size of the toadstool and the tree stump house. But the tent stepper allows the little scene to play out perfectly

Oh My Gosh!!!

I am not feeling overly great today, a bit of a sore throat, a banging head and really really achy legs. Mr H has sent me to lay down, while he is in charge if the children. Thankfully today I am off work but it does mean I am losing out on valuable crafting time. I am praying that it is not the dreaded virus, not sure if I dare even whisper its name!!!

My phone brings an email, it is from Cupcakes Inspirations with their new challenge, I scroll to the bottom looking at the amazing entries that are the last challenges sweet picks and mine is there!!!! Mine is actually there!!!!! I feel my forehead to make sure I am not hallucinating due to a temperature. Nope mine is actually up there as a sweet pick!

Easel Card - A Positivity Rainbow

There are so many beautiful rainbow cards out there that I wanted my take to be slightly different. This is s super easy easel card, almost like a cheat way, so perfect if you are in a rush, but still gives a great effect

Spring Clean

I love cute animal cards but never thought I would describe a frog as cute!!! However the Daisy Mae Design Spring Clean stamp is an exception to that rule.

This cute little guy looks like he is throughly enjoying his scrub in the bucket and as such it needed a plain and simple card to allow the stamp to do the talking.

Distress Ink Background Card

The stamp in this card was one of my bargain finds, a few weeks ago and I love the vibrant flowers in the cart. It reminded me of marigolds which got my little mind working and reminded me of the dried marigold distress ink I have in my stash.

I wanted to create a background that complimented the flower colours but which did not deter your view point from the stamped image as I wanted that to remain the focal point.

A Beginners Review of Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend Markers

I have spent a long long time admiring others colouring techniques and staring in awe at their alcohol marker collection. Dream one day, one day....

Distress Ink Watercoloured Retirement Card

So after pondering for 12 months my Dad has finally decided that the time has come to retire. I think this was hurried by my own battle with health last year, which made him question alot of things. But of course retiring amid a global pandemic means that normal send offs are out of the question. So I thought a card may be nice to at least mark the occasion. 

Distressed Butterfly Card

Right back at the start of my stamping journey I purchased a job lot of stamps from eBay and there are a number I have never used. There is nothing wrong with them, I just do not reach for them. I think the main reason is that they are rubber and I have much more experience, so feel more comfortable with clear stamps. One such stamp is the butterfly on the front of this card.