Easter Bunny Mini Moo

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Here's a little Easter Mini Moo to enter into THE LITTLE THINGS challenge run by Conny and Rosi. You can enter anything that is small . . . so think ATC cards and coins, tags, bookmarks, inchies, rinchies, mini moos and Memorydex cards (sizes are explained in the Permitted Projects tab at the top of the challenge blog).

Mini Moo - 28mm x 70mm

I don't have Easter stamps, so I had to draw the little bunny from an image I saw on Pinterest, then I added the word beneath. 

Details:

• A piece of biscuit packaging was cut to 28mm x 70mm to make the Mini Moo.
• Hand drawn bunny.
• Wild Honey Distress Ink was painted around the bunny for the background.
• Posca pens were used to colour everything else.

Doodling with torn paper snippets . . .

Hi there!

Something VERY quirky from me today!

I saw something on Pinterest which showed tiny bits of brown paper with doodling around their shape. This piqued my interest, so - I thought I’d have a go myself! I would link to the Pinterest post, but I can’t find it anywhere now, despite searching!

Here’s the final results, made into cards:

The process I used was to find a few brown paper snippets (never a problem, I have loads of brown paper snippets). Then I tore them into small pieces and stamped them randomly with the Funky Fossil “Shoot for the stars” text stamp. Once they were glued to a piece of A4 printer paper, I simply doodled around them and cut them out ready to add to cards.

Bits of stamped brown paper ready to doodle! I glued paper onto two A4 sheets,
but I’m sure you get the idea from this one.

These were the doodles that made the Final Cut - but then, I
didn’t like what I made with the “mouse” or the “toucan”, so they
got binned!

4.5" x 4.5” sized card with a stamped & stencilled background,
plus a clock that I cut out and stuck behind the doodle.

"Small Triangles” stencil by Rubber Dance; sentiment from 
Grunge Collection SL GR STAMP43 by StudioLight.
Grounding stamp by IndigoBlu. 
Custom card size 4 1/8th x 5"

PaperArtsy “mini” stamp in orange; grounding stamp
by IndigoBlu. Sentiment from the “So Weird” set by Whimsy Stamps.
Custom card size: 5” x 5.5"

It was a bit of fun, and I got a few cards out of the exercise, so I was happy!

Sunday Snippets - another Christmas Candle!

Hi Playmates!

I have published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire the top picks and discover which lucky playmate won the prize. There's still nearly a week left to play in the current challenge if you haven't already done so. Remember to look at the Noticeboard at the bottom of the Playground blog post.

For my homework this week, I made another hand-drawn candle card!

As mentioned last week . . . . I was inspired to draw the candle after seeing Tina Cox’s designs at Clarity Stamp.

5.5” x 3.5” card

White snippet that I scribbled some red Tombow pen on in order to
die cut some berry shapes (I used the larger 3 berries!) 

White snippet that I scraped my VFC Spruce
ink pad on so that I could stamp and cut
out the holly leaves in a dark green.

I stamped the holly leaves first, then drew the candle.
(You can still see my pencil marks on the flame!)

Details:

• Magnolia holly leaves stamped 3 times onto a white snippet for the main panel, and again onto a further white snippet that I had scraped a VFC Spruce green ink pad across. I then cut out the leaves and adhered them to the panel with foam pads. 
• Hand-drawn candle, coloured with a mixture of Tombow pens and Distress Inks.
• Berry dies - probably Sizzix(?) which came as part of a foliage set.
• The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from a PaperArtsy JOFY set of stamps.
• Main image mounted onto a red snippet of card.
• The originally A6 sized card was cut down to give an even border around the main panel.

Sunday Snippets - a Christmas Candle

Hi Playmates!

There's a new challenge to play along with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND hosted by Miss Di for the next fortnight.

For my homework I was messing about in Art Class and drew a small candle on a snippet of white card. I quite liked it - so I mounted it onto a black snippet of card after rounding all the corners with a punch. I was inspired to draw the candle having seen Tina Cox’s designs for Clarity Stamp. (However, I figured I could draw a candle myself and save £20!)

It was still quite a small image due to the size of the snippet I picked, so I reached for a long strip of white card (a snippet left from making my own card blanks). The strip measured 2.5" x 11.5", so I scored it at 4", 8" & 9¾" to make a zigzag card base.

Side view to show the card shape.

A face-on shot!

After making the card shape, I stencilled over it and glued the candle to the front panel. Then added the Merry Christmas sentiment.

Materials:

• Hand drawn candle, coloured with Tombow pens.
• Retired sentiment by Clearly Besotted*
• Stencils: "Dotty Circles" (magazine cover gift); "Bubbles" Dinky Stencil TC005 by That's Crafty.
• Snippets - ALL the pieces of card used for the card.

*EDITED to say I originally stated that Clearly Besotted were no longer trading but this is not the case. I’ve checked and the owner, Stephanie, says her little business is fully operational. 

Tag Along & ATC Challenge

Today sees the start of a NEW MONTHLY BLOG CHALLENGE for ATCs and tags, called TAG ALONG & ATCs run by Brenda, Lynn and Pinky. Each challenge starts on the 1st of the month, with a mid-month inspiration post from the DT on the 14th.

I'm quite excited about it as I make and swap a fair few ATCs and although I don't make many tags until Christmas time, I'm hoping it will encourage me to make them more often.

You can enter up to 4 times per challenge - here's my first entry:

ATC 2.5" x 3.5"

The photo below shows what it looked like with just the outlining done, before I added the doodling & shading:

Details:

• Snippet of white card to create the ATC.
• Pink Distress Ink added in patches and splatters with an acetate sheet.
• Pink areas outlined with black fineliner pen, then doodling added.
• Pencil and paper stump used for shading.

Wishing Brenda, Lynn and Pinky all the best for their new challenge. I'm sure it will be a great success.

Sunday Snippets - more collage!

Hi Playmates!

Last Sunday, I mentioned you would be seeing more collage cards . . . and true to my word . . . here's another!

I put the collage together using snippets from my Junk Journal shoe box of odds and ends (as before) - choosing complementary tones. 

5" x 7" card

The starting point was the snippet of silhouette flowers stamped onto white card and inked around the edges, followed by grouping some torn snippets around it. I added the Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers to finish it off, then glued it to the card front.

Di has published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire her top picks and discover who won the prize. There's still another week left to play in the current challenge if you haven't already done so. The conker contest is in full swing! 

Sarn on Sunday!

Hi Playmates

I have a card full of hearts for today's homework (plus an extra piece of homework at the end of this post!).

5" x 5" card base

Showing the matching card and envelope

My white snippets - some liberally
applied with Paper Artsy Magenta Infusions.

1. I cut an A4 piece of 300 gsm white card to measure 10" x 5", then scored and folded it in half to make a 5" x 5" card base.
2. I had been messing about with Magenta PaperArtsy Infusions powder - testing it out on a few white snippets (see above photo). One of the experimental 4" square snippets was mounted onto a 4¼" square of black card, which was in turn stuck to the card front with double sided tape.
3. Inspired by Asia Marquet's video, I had a go at doodling my own lovehearts, which I cut out and stuck to the card front with foam pads.
4. I put a sentiment on the inside, leaving the card front to speak for itself!
5. A matching envelope was made by adding another of the Infusions snippet strips and a heart to the envelope front.

And while I was at it, I made another anniversary card using up one of the other pink snippets shown in the picture above, along with a heart that was punched from a black snippet of card and another doodled heart. On this card, I added extra doodling around the border and a Clearly Besotted anniversary sentiment to the card front.

Miss Di has posted the Results of Challenge 448 HERE and there's still nearly a week to go for the current SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND CHALLENGE where the prize on offer is two sets of dies.

A Little Zine!

Hi Peeps

I recently attended a mixed media workshop with Floss Nicholls of Floss Workshop Art.

Floss has lots of fabulous ideas and inspiration and I was lucky enough to attend one of her Zine Workshops. Zines are little handmade booklets. 

We used the gelli plate and lots of paint, stencils and stamping. It was GREAT FUN and very inspiring. The two hours just flew by! When I got home I added some doodling, washi tape and more stencilling!

I still need to make a couple of tags to go inside the two pockets that are available.

Here are some pictures of my finished Zine:

The front cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

The back cover - where I used Floss's logo
as a memento of the workshop.

Floss is lovely and I hope to attend more of her workshops at a later date. 

Allsorts Challenge - Week 645

Hello & welcome!

It's 8am on Saturday, which means it's time for a new ALLSORTS CHALLENGE. 

I'm delighted to reveal that I've joined the Allsorts Design Team for a while and this is my inaugural post as a team member!

It's Lolo's turn to host the challenge and she's chosen EMBELLISH IT as the theme - which leaves you plenty of scope to add all manner of bits and bobs to your projects! 

I made a little pocket wallet and filled it with paper treasures. I embellished the front of the wallet as well as the bookmark that was inserted into one of the pockets.

So, why not head over to the ALLSORTS Challenge HERE to see further details on how to enter. You can also gaze in wonder at the lovely creations made by my talented team mates!

The folded & embellished pocket project

The finished project

Close up of the paper treasures
that were inserted into the pockets!

To create this project:

I followed instructions from HERE.

I took a thin A4 sheet of white card and used a brayer to randomly apply acrylic paints across it on both sides. Once dry, I stuck some tiny pieces of newspaper to it with Mod Podge. Then added a little bit of stamping as well as scraping Gesso through a tiny dots stencil. The sheet was then folded up and red liner taper was used to stick the bottom edge together. Die cut embellishments were then added to the front.

While the main pocket wallet was drying, I made the enclosures by merrily brayering paint and adding stamping to more snippets of white card. I heat embossed  images with clear EP and also doodled with a white gel pen. Added  snippets of black card for the matting. I even used some ribbon on the bookmark! 

A change is as good as a rest!

Welcome to this week's blog post.

Instead of a card, I have a few doodles to show you. The process of drawing them is very therapeutic and helps take your mind off things. 

All were drawn with Sakura pens, then shaded with an HB pencil and a paper stump. However, any fine nibbed pen will do and you can use your finger to smudge the pencil shading if you don't have a paper stump to hand.

Trying out a new swirly Tangle
in my notebook.

More tangling - looks a bit like a tattoo!

A doodled "stack"
(you can search Pinterest to learn how to stack)

Have a wonderfully creative day.