Freshly made sketch get well card (and a PUPPY!)

I'm on my Easter holidays, I have three days off work, and I definitely feel like I needed a break.  We also had an exciting delivery last night, our very own wee black lab puppy!  I have wanted a dog of my own for years, and since we got married and I moved out of my parents home, I have missed their big old lab like mad.  We finally decided that it was the right time to get a dog as Tom is a bit less busy on the farm at the moment and I have a bit of time off to settle him in before we start taking him along to the farm and to work.  He's only been here a day but seems to have settled in relatively well - give him time and I'm sure he'll be driving me up the wall!  Welcome to the family, Alfie!

I needed to make a get well soon card, and it's been a while since I was in the craft room, so it took me a while to get everything out (since it's all been tidied away!) and get creative. (I also had to tire the puppy out and make sure he was asleep in his cage before I could get going!)  I used the freshly made sketches design for this one, and my bargainous pound stamps from Hobbycraft.  Mind you, I can see why they are only a pound, the print quality isn't great, but hey ho!

I'm looking forward to my Easter break, it's hubby's birthday tomorrow so we're off out to dinner (and hopefully the puppy won't destroy the place while we are out!), then down to my parents on Saturday for Easter lunch on Sunday.  Alfie will get to meet my parents dog Rory, who is a big, excitable old bear of a dog, so it could be interesting!

Quick bunting cards

I love making use of scraps (as you probably know by now, I can't throw out a single piece of pretty paper, no matter how small!), and I saw some great bunting style cards on pinterest and thought it'd be a good way to use up some of the Echo Park summer papers which I've had stashed for quite a while now.  I've been in need of some simple birthday cards, so I knocked up this little lot in half an hour.  Simple and fun!  

I reckon they'd be a good addition to my etsy shop (which I think I'm going to abandon as I just don't have the time to promote it as much as it clearly needs in order for my stuff to be seen), or perhaps a good make for a craft fair.  I think I may try a craft fair this summer, but still need to go and visit a couple first to see what others have on sale.  Bit of market research and all that!

100th birthday card

It's not often you get to make a hundredth birthday card, so I was pleased when my Mum asked me to make a card for my great Uncle Matt who has just turned one hundred!  I used the Tim Hotlz travel papers as they have a nice nostalgic theme and thought they would remind him of times gone by.  I also thought they were suitably masculine.

I used distress inks to age the card, think I need to work on my blending technique though!

Alma's 1st birthday card

Oops, meant to post this one a long time ago!  Alma, Heather's little girl, turned one recently and I made a suitably girly birthday card for her.  She is honestly the cutest little baby I have ever seen, and she's just started walking, so awesome!  

I was inspired by this card

from here

Alma seemed to like it, especially since the circle with the one in it was 3d, she was determined to pull it off!

Masculine birthday card

I've got a couple of days off work this week (we are going to see Girls Aloud in Glasgow tonight, I am so unbelievably excited!), and since it's snowing in a proper blizzard outside, I'm taking the opportunity to do some card making and general crafting.  Things have been a bit hectic and stressful here lately, so I needed some crafting therapy to take my mind off it all.  Totally worked!  I used a sketch from Retro sketches, and the new travel themed papers that Amy gave me for chicken sitting.  

Here's the original sketch:

To balance out all this masculinity, here is a photo of some lovely spring flowers which my Mother in law gave me when they were round for dinner at the weekend.  They are so pretty, and are a cheery addition to the dining table when it's blowing a gale and blizzard conditions outside!

I'm back on a fitness plan at the moment having put on a few pounds, and have started running.  I have to admit, it's not something I ever thought I'd be able to do, preferring aerobic style dance classes where someone tells me what to do, and in a class you can't really quit half way through.  But with the lighter nights, I wanted to start getting outside a bit more, so I gave running a go.  It was a bit easier than I thought and have managed to run a mile and a half without stopping a couple of times now which I think is pretty good going considering I'd never been for a run before!  I've now downloaded the couch to 5k challenge from the NHS website as I had heard a lot of people talking about it.  I gave it a go last night (before the snow really hit) and it was quite good, with motivating music.  The biting icy wind and moments with stinging hail didn't really help but I made it "round the block" in the half hour, and it's just short of 5k.  So think I'll give it another go, but I'll maybe wait til the snow melts!

Pin it, do it birthday card

Time for another card pinned on pinterest, and recreated in my wee craft room!  I needed a birthday card for the hubby's Gran, and I thought these floral stamps were ideal.  

Ah, another indoor photo shoot with unnatural light.  It was a white card, honest!

I was inspired by this card from here

I coloured the flowers using prisma pencils, I do love a bit of colouring! Gran seemed to like it, she is always delighted with my hand made cards, I think she may be my number on card making fan!

A sketch challenge over at Lucy's cards

I've been an avid reader of Lucy's cards blog for a while now.  I first found it when she did a wee sketch challenge a while ago, and it was one of the very first sketches I did.  I saw she was running another sketch challenge, so I had a go.  I haven't used my owl stamps for a wee while, so I decided to go with one of them.  I used the new Tim Holtz distress ink which my friend Amy left me for chicken sitting.  I wanted it to be a bright, fun card so I used the Echo Park dotty papers and coloured the owl in bright colours.  I finished it off with some zig-zag stitching which felt appropriate as it was Lucy's cards which first inspired me to have a go at sewing on cards.  It didn't come out quite how I wanted, but I like the layout.  I'll maybe remake it one day.  Thanks for the inspiration Lucy!