House Mouse - Card #2

I love this image - and how the little one on the "floor" looks SO stuffed!  That's how I feel after eating my fill of something delicious!  This is another of the fantastic House Mouse stamps that my friend gave me!  I wish I could have photographed it better, but the cupcake liner has a sparkle pen (fine point - like a gel pen) on all the edges so they shimmer slightly.  I colored them with a silver Derwent Inktense pencil, but it was the sparkle that makes the liner look like the aluminum foil ones I used to use all the time!  

The cardstocks are CTMH.  

House Mouse stamps with CTMH papers

I have been so fortunate with my House Mouse stamps.  First, many years ago, a dear friend gave me a pile of pre-stamped images to use.  I was on a tight budget, and wanted to participate in the House Mouse weekly challenges (which I never did because I was hoarding the precious gift).  A fellow scrapper, gone now, gave me two very large House Mouse Christmas stamps.  Of course, I treasure those because they remind me of her.  Recently another friend received BOXES of wood-mounted stamps.  She picked out what she wanted and brought to our Open Stamping group about 200 "leftovers" for us to share.  I wound up with a LOT more House Mouse!  I have now un-mounted all except the very large ones, and have started stamping the images and coloring them.  

Last week I made this card for a friend who has been under the weather.  I thought this little mouse in a cuppa' might make her smile.  I used Derwent Inktense pencils to watercolor the image (so easy-peasy!).  The papers are all CTMH, the design paper from "Gimme Some Sugar".  The silk hand-dyed ribbon is from my stash.  It is an A2 card.  

Inspired by Vicki O'Dell

My first attempt (top) looks more like Vicki's card here. But I felt like the die cut sentiment kinda over-powered the card so I tried a second approach and actually, I like this one better.  The sentiment is from the Birthday Sparkles set - the flowers that Vicki used are Poppies from Chelsea Gardens, and since I didn't have that set, I used other flowers instead.  Same color schemes .  I love it when I find such a beautiful artist to try to imitate!

Stamp of the Month -

This was also inspired by Vicki, but I changed a lot of things so it really doesn't look that much like her card.  It was the leafy background that she stamped that really got to me.  The stamp set is the February Stamp of the Month, here:

 I love the bold sentiments but when I saw what Vicki did with the long sprig of leaves, I HAD TO HAVE IT!  

On a personal note, we are well into the Lenten activities around here.  Steve is teaching a class Wednesday nights on Celtic Saints (Columba, Aiden, Cuthbert, Bede, Hilda of Whitby, and maybe more!).  It should be fantastic!  I had the privilege of his private instruction when we visited the Isle of Mann, Iona, and Lindesfarne a few years ago.  (I'm sure I've mentioned that a piece of my heart remains on Iona.)  Hope things are going great for you, also. 

"Yappy" Birthday

Another card inspired by Vicki Wiznuik.  I thought perhaps some of my friends who have pups would get a kick out of a doggy birthday card.  The papers are CTMH, the black slanted stripe paper is retired - that one was in the Bats & Cats pack for last Fall.  The gray texture paper is in the Basic Fundamentals as well as the script paper.  The stamps are Puny Pals - the CTMH Operation Smile benefit stamp set from last fall.  

Inspired by Vicki Wiznuik

Awhile ago Vicki Wiznuik (blog is here) inspired me with a series of adorable Puny Pals cards!  I made this one as a thank you note for my sweet sister-in-law Lynette.  She gave me the CUTEST froggy doing Yoga statue for Valentines day!   

I used a mixture of CTMH old and new here.  The wood-grain paper is in the new Sugar Rush pack, the textured cardstock (lightly sanded) is from eons ago when I bought a ton of it because it was being discontinued.  The copper color web-ribbon is from the craft store (on a roll).  The white dots are from CTMH and the stamps are all still current, I believe.  The fun thing about this is that I used one of the "Splash" stamps but I didn't want the whole thing - really just the outside edges where the splashes are further apart.  So, I didn't use a block, inked the acrylic stamp with my fingers and stamped it very organically!  The black outline was hand-drawn as well.  This frog was my favorite of the three cards I did, so it was given away first!  Hope you like it!!

Get Well Soon!

Yet another z-fold card!  I'm so in love with this card type!  Anyway, this one was a momentary departure from making Birthday cards!  I used all CTMH papers and inks, and the sentiments, although the cone flowers are not from CTMH.  The inside pair with the dots - I brushed lightly with the clear Shimmer Brush.  

Building up my B-Day card stash

I decided to build up my birthday card stash - I needed about 12 of them for February so it seemed prudent!  The sentiment on the front is not a CTMH stamp - but I fell in love with it (thinking of the z-fold card all the while).  But the inside was decorated with the coordinating stamps for the Chelsea Garden papers and are current (papers also) in the Seasonal Expressions 1 mini-catalog.  Can you tell that my clear shimmer brush is new?  Yikes!   

I really am enjoying the colors of the new Sugar Rush papers!  So pretty!  And I'm still ROCKING the Z-fold card!  LOL  I love how much paper and design shows and that this card stands up on it's own.  Can't get over it!

The stamps are all CTMH but only the Birthday Sparkles are still current.  I use that set a LOT - so if you don't have it, you should consider it!  

On a personal note, we have been enjoying having family in town - I'm getting to learn what it's like to have family (siblings) and I really LOVE it!  I'm consistently going to yoga 2/week, even when I have to crawl to get there (just kidding).  I'm getting stronger and having less soreness the next day.  In fact, my sciatica is improving and I'm sleeping better.  Can't ask for more that that, really!

Sympathy card - The hardest ones

This stamp set is an old one from Verve.  I have used this so many times, because the sentiments are beautiful and the images are too.  It seems to be incredible versatile with different color combinations and papers.  I tried to keep this really simple.  I did use the new CTMH cardstock that has a lighter color on one side and a darker color on the other for the card base.  Usually I put the light color inside, but this time I allowed the darker one since I could still write on it easily without an additional piece of paper.  I made this for a friend who is grieving, so I cried over it.  I may make a few more - it's a nice one and they are so difficult to make when you are hurting yourself.

  

Sweet Baby

I had the pleasure of attending a baby shower for a very dear friend recently - and thought I'd put some extra effort into the design  of the card!  I'm pretty happy with the result!  There are details that may now be immediately visible - such as the popped up wing on the ducky, or the shimmer brush on the fishes.  I think everything here was CTMH except the lamb, but all the CTMH items are retired.