Not buying cards

As a card maker, I'm ashamed to admit that quite often I leave it that late, that I end up buying a card from a shop. I then just want to kick myself, especially as I have enough craft stuff to keep me crafting for a lifetime. I attend enough craft fairs and buy enough magazines for inspiration.

Anyway, my biggest challenge is that I find it hard to make cards for my Mum. As a fellow crafter we share a lot of ideas, we go to the craft fairs together and usually buy similar sorts of products when we see them (or we each buy something, with the intention of sharing it), so I feel under immense pressure to create something she 'hasn't seen'.

I decided that I needed to use my stamps, once and for all, and chose to use another of my new stamps http://www.liliofthevalley.co.uk/acatalog/Stamp_-_It_Takes_Two.html. A bit of colouring in, and I was really pleased with the outcome.

I mounted the image on a Kraft card blank and used a piece of pattern paper I found in my stash which just seemed to bring it all together. I can't for the life of me remember where the paper came from and am certauin it was a download... my next mission is to find it!

Anyway, Mum was delighted.

Being Inspired...

I just LOVE Lili of the Valley stamps and I probably own a lot more than I have actually used, if I am honest!

This is probably one of my favourite stamps by Lili of the Valley, called 'James in the Snow'.

I was inspired to make this card after I had seen a very similar one whilst browsing online. I don't like overly flouncy cards and there seems to be a trend of adding loads of flowers and flourishes to cards, something I think gets a bit excessive. For me, less is definitely more!

You do have to consider packaging the card, too, and the more you build up on the front, then you have to look at boxing the card up. 

I thought this card was quite simplistic, with just the right amount of fancy for me. I am looking forward to making some variations on this, and playing around with the hat/scarf colours.

Mish

My 2 year old daughter loves the cbeebies programme 'Same Smile', and as they don't yet have any products from the show I wanted to make her very own Mish, Moosh and Mogo (shown here (picture courtesy of BBC/cbeebies):


Not only are there no products but also there is also no 'pattern' for these, so I knew I would have to come up with my own adaptation. Luckily enough I spotted a teddy bear pattern which came free as a supplement with the Simply Knitting magazine which seemed to fit the bill. The teddy had a muzzle, and I knew that the rest would just be down to colouring and a wool change to make the body two tone.


I purchased some DK wool in purple, orange and green along with some Snowflake wool for the white furry bits and set to on Mish. It all knitted up pretty quickly however I am rubbish when it comes to sewing these things up and for a short while he was merely a torso with legs, a head and the muzzle!

My daughter on the other hand, knew when I was knitting what it was and would refer to it as 'Mish' (very sweet) and even in his part assembled state she would steal him off my desk and play with him as if he was complete.

This week I decided I owed it to my daughter to get him finished, and painstakingly sat and attached his arms, ears and eyes, then finished his features off with an embroidered nose & mouth. I had tears in my eyes when I finished him sometime after 11pm, as he literally 'came alive' in my hands.

I sat him on the sofa ready for my daughter the following morning, and I am pleased to say it was worth the effort. She was delighted when she came down and found him, and kept mentioning that he now had eyes!

Here is the finished Mish! One down, two to go...

Owls

I just love these. I purchased them from a charity shop after they caught my eye, and I just couldn't get over how cute and quaint they are. I just loved the way they each have their own little 'owl hole'.


My favourite is the one at the very bottom right. Too cute!

I Love Ewe!

I came across these fab Aero Bubbly Lamb's and at 2 for £1, I had an idea to use them for Valentine's instead of Easter as they are intended.

The lamb's start out like this, the actual character is 6cm long:

I re-bagged him, and added a bag topper wording printed from the PC:

It has all been a bit last minute so if I had more time I think I may have done it slightly different. There are certainly plenty of other ways he could be used, but as a little novelty I think he's baa-rilliant!

You Rock...

A short and sweet post to showcase my Valentine's card for my man...

Love is...

I think this little Valentine's gift speaks for itself. I came up with it through my other idea (see previous post). I had seen the 'My Last Rolo' gift's on ebay which is a solid gold/silver Rolo in a presentation box and wanted to create something on a similar yet cheaper scale! The idea developed into this:

The outside reads: 'Love is...'

And it opens to reveal: '...saving my last Rolo just for you!'

The rolo is seated into gold satin fabric. Simply stunning!

The boxes were from ebay and the fabric was from my local craft shop. The font is the dotty font from Helen at the 'It's All Fiddle Fart' blog.