Meerkat

Crafty Stamps, the Edinburgh-based family business, have brought out some more great animal stamps. This cute meerkat is just one of many.

I was also quite keen to try out some more Sue Wilson dies and to see what the Foundations cardstock, which she is using frequently, is like. The result is this 5" x 7" card where even the card base is created from Foundations card.

In more detail, I have used:

* Crafty Stamps Meerkat (AN152B)
* Ginger Foundations A4 card
* Black textured cardstock
* Kraft cardstock
* Neenah Desert Storm card
* Sue Wilson background die from the Spanish collection
* Sue Wilson faux quilled leave dies
* Sue Wilson faux quilled blooms dies
* Tag die by Marianne Design
* Black Memento ink pad
* ProMarkers in Warm Grey 1, Sandstone, Caramel and Burnt Sienna
* Black self-adhesive pearls
* String
* Piercing ruler and tool

I hope you like the result.

Craft Stamps rubber stamps are available from Crafty Stamps, their shop 'Stampers Grove' and on 12 April 2014 at the Ross Papercraft Show at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. Stampers Grove are also stockists of Sue Wilson dies.

Doilies - just that wee bit different

 

Dovecraft Curiosity Corner - Mother's Day

Thank you for all your good wishes last weekend. The cold is definitely better now, but I am still fighting it. Being at work every single day and getting soaked due to gales and torrential downpours last Thursday obviously has not helped ...

Chopping up doilies might be good against the frustration caused by a nasty cold. But to be honest, it was actually a much more deliberate action. Doily dies are not cheap, and intricate dies can bring their own challenges with them. Dovecraft have now got a good selection of doilies - white as well as lovely colours - within their collections. And they can be a quick and inexpensive alternative.

Dovecraft Curiosity Corner - Predominantly Doily

These two cards, which are created using the Dovecraft Curiosity Corner collection by Trimcraft, show cut up doilies used as decorative corners and decorative panels. Product lists and full step-by-step instructions are in my Trimcraft gallery and can be accessed via the links underneath the images.

By the way, Trimcraft also have a great forum and at the moment even a design team call. Many of you are so very talented. Could this perhaps be something for you?

More Curiosity Corner

 Curiosity Corner - A little love

This is not fair. Last Saturday I was at the SECC and left there keen to play with the new toys. As it is also the busiest time of the year at work with long hours and a lot of stress, a small daily dose of crafting would help to relax and to remain sane. But on Sunday I ended up flat on my nose with a whole range of cold and flu symptoms ...

I had to soldier on and was at work every day, but when I was eventually home my temperature was on the up and I ended up snuggled up on the sofa or in my bed. And how can you craft when you are coughing, sneezing and splattering? Going to work every day and getting wet and blown through at bus stops obviously does not help when it comes to shifting a nasty bug, but I hope that a quiet weekend will make a difference.

Curiosity Corner - Time for tea

At least I managed to finish off a card today and to write the instructions for this project and a further card. They are featuring again the beautiful Curiosity Corner collection by Trimcraft. And you can find product lists and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery. Just click onto the links below the images.

Curiosity Corner Impressions

Curiosity Corner - Say it with flowers

The long and extremely busy hours at work are really starting to take its toll. At the moment I need to be careful not to start a card and to fall asleep right over it. But my brain never seems to stop working, so I do not even get the relaxing kind of sleep that helps to recharge the batteries.

At least I have managed to write the instructions for two more cards created with the new Dovecraft Curiosity Corner collection - although I must admit that this has taken me three nights instead of just a couple of minutes ... Just good that I can enjoy a four-day week in the office.

Curiosity Corner - Garden Girl

You can view the product lists and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery by clicking onto the links below the images.

Curiosity Corner - It's Your Day

Today I would like to introduce the new Dovecraft Curiosity Corner collection to you. The colours are lovely and more muted, so they are great for vintage styles and elegant cards. And some of the papers, for example, also work nicely on male cards.

The initial idea behind the card above was to look for something that could accommodate just sections of doilies and not the whole doilies, so I started to trim off sections and came up with the design you can see here. A product list and step-by-step instructions can be found in my Trimcraft gallery.

I hope that you all had a lovely weekend and will have a good start into the new week.

A whole bunch of dinos ...

The previous sneak peeks on the new dinosaur stamp collection by Crafty Stamps focussed on the individual dinosaur images in the range. But Crafty Stamps are also bringing out a set of ten dinosaurs (DN1A5). These images are smaller than the individual ones and are therefore great for smaller projects or for creating scenes with two or more dinosaurs.

The project above is a simple desktop calendar created from a piece of A4 kraft cardstock cut in half vertically, chocolate pearlescent cardstock and piece of patterned paper from the First Edition Isabelle paper pad. I stamped the dinosaur to the right onto smooth white cardstock and also onto a Post-it note. The image on the Post-it note needs to be cut out and is then used as mask to cover the already stamped dino. After that the second dino can be stamped. For the colouring I used Spectrum Noir pens and ProMarkers.

For the calendar section I cut a piece of chocolate pearlescent cardstock that is slightly larger than the calendar tab and attached it with large 3D foam squares by Dovecraft (but there is no foam pad in the top middle section). The calendar tab is held in place with a Tim Holtz bulldog clip. This way it is easy to remove pages from the tab and even to replace it at the end of the year. A bit of silicone glue and an adhesive pearl give the bulldog clip a decorative touch.

Dinosaur images are not only great for birthday cards for kids, but also for humorous cards for adults. For this card I worked out a sentiment, keyed it into Word and printed it out. The products used for this card (in addition to toolbox basics) are as follows:

* Crafty Stamps dinosaur stamp set
* 15cm white linen textured card blank by Southfield
* Chocolate pearlescent cardstock
* First Edition J'adore paper pad by Trimcraft
* Smooth white cardstock
* Die'sire die by Crafter's Companion
* Spectrum Noir pens and ProMarkers
* Paper roses and rosebuds
* Decorative pins

The dinosaur stamps will be available on the Crafty Stamps website www.craftystamps.com or in their Edinburgh shop 'Stampers Grove' from Tuesday on.

Dino Birthday Card

I hope you are all safe and dry. Here the wind is howling around the house and battering the trees with rain hammering against the windows every so often, but that is nothing compared to the awful situation in the south of the country.

Today's dinosaur sneak peek comes in a completely different style - with a more colourful creature on a birthday card for young kids. I deliberately wanted to create a dinosaur image that comes over as more cute than scary.

I used the new Crafty Stamps image DN104M (the stamp will be launched on 18 February 2014) and coloured in the dinosaur using ProMarkers in Soft Green, Amethyst and Aubergine.

In addition to the dinosaur stamp I used:

* 15cm x 15cm white linen textured card blank by Southfield
* Smooth white cardstock
* Textured cardstock in soft green and in two shades of purple
* CoreCouture cardstock by Core'dinations
* Embossalicious Lattice embossing folder
* Leave embossing folder by Crafts-Too
* Number and letter die-cuts (peel-offs would work just as well)
* Cutting dies: circle and scalloped circle
* Candi