Wobbly bits!!!!

In reality I have plenty of my own wobbly bits, but I have been planning to create a wobbly card for my God-daughter (great-great niece!!!) who is three this year, but I went right off track and instead of the “Hoppy” birthday card I was planning, I changed it to “Hoppy families” as a little congratulatory note for someone we know who has just announced their pregnancy (wonderful news).

As usual my inspiration came from Less is More who have a “Three greens” challenge but also DYSU who want “Friendly critters”, so it was a case of putting the two together to make my little family.

…and who needs brushes!!!

I have quite a few inherited acrylic paints from my girls, I adapted the green with yellow and blue…….

…..daddy was darkened with the blue…mummy was the green unaltered and junior (who I have christened..Harry “Frogger” ) was lightened with yellow.

The bodies were quickly created with a few finger and thumb prints….after they were dry (note to self…in future wait till they dry ) I added some detail with a permanent marker and some white corrector pen fluid.

Last night I spent ages creating elaborate little springs with wire and twisty ties but they were sadly lacking in the “wobble” factor and the answer was simply little “Z” shapes of acteate (not too thick…the first bit I used was too rigid) and I have to say they all wobble fantastically

Now must quickly post this as….um er… should have left for work 5 minutes ago!!!!

Will have to do some blog hopping tonight (wont get home till 8 tho) or tomorrow.

Beach Inspired

This was a very quick card to make....took a little bit longer waiting for the paint to dry!!!

It is for a couple of challenges and primarily for my B-I-L and his partner who recently wrote me a thank you letter..it was such a joy to receive a proper and entertaining letter in the post so I just wanted to acknowledge how much I appreciated the thought. As they live near the sea (lucky things can see the sea from their flat) I took inspiration from a beach look..... plus the tester pots I had in the shed were all very suitable for this theme.

The actual design was taken from Claire's sketch challenge at Do Crafts and the distressed look is the next challenge from DYSU , despite it being distressed I tried to keep to my resolution to keep it simple....slightly difficult bearing in mind the busy sketch plan and distressing which doesn't lend itself to simple!! but I did resist the temptation to doodle round the stamped blocks!

I have found a fab new ink blending tool......MEMORY FOAM INSOLES!! my daughter and I both had to fit some insoles in new shoes and luckily we both have small feet so there was plenty of off-cuts but they were only a £1 a pair anyway. I also cut a square of the foam to make my stamping block.

The design was completed by printing the lettering on my computer and randomly cut out then stuck on, some thread bought from the charity shop (20p!) pulled the design together.

BAD BLOGGER!!!

O.k I hang my head in shame, I am a disgrace to the blogging community as I have been a.w.o.l. I do have very good excuses!! some exciting some a bit traumatic but I do feel ashamed as I know lots of people out there seem to be far more successful at juggling, work, family, craft and blogging at the same time. I so wish I was more organised!!

Anyway apologies!! I know I mostly talk to myself but just in case anyone is out there....sorry!

I have been busy crafting, very exciting as I have now completed two commissions for Simply cards and Papercrafts, very time consuming and slightly anxious putting my stuff in print.

Next month I shall hopefully be the Guest Designer on the Banana Frog Blog. Bev makes some great sets which I think are fab for anyone especially if you are starting out. I recently used The Superlicious Set in conjunction with some recycled stuff. An old manilla file, Paper Primark bags, some emulsion paint and nail varnish. The only other thing needed is a black inkpad

First I lightly painted the bags, allowed these to dry before stamping the flowers and cutting them out.

I created a Pocket Tag card from the folder (I will post details next time if anyone wants further info).

Then decorated the card with strips of the painted paper and the flowers. I added some doodles and embellished the flowers and card with the nail varnish.

I made this for a friend at work, the tins of paint had been hanging around forever in a cupboard, and I volunteered to dispose of them as the colours didn't match anything anyway....but I couldn't help myself I had to use them, so they have now joined my little collection of testerpots, it's so great because I would never have used that colour selection in a million years. That's what I so like about recycling, it often takes you out of your comfort zone and different possibilites open up.

What was also fab was my friend who is not a cardmaker or considers herself arty, took the trouble to make me a card for my birthday and it was absolutely brilliant, she very simply doodled some lines and drew some lovely red Poppies, it was so effective.....Thank you Eug!!!