Back To School......

not having any children I'm never sure when that is for us in the UK, but sure am happy when the kids are on school hols because the roads go quiet and you can get into my local Tesco's car park anytime you like !!

Anyhoo back in to the room...Back to School is the theme for our next House Mouse and Friends challenge for you  which Snoopy chose !!

So I had to be a bit inventive as I haven't any stamps which went with the theme so I made this cute backpack with loads of little naughty mice's having fun !!

The backpack card is made just using different coloured card adding faux stitching by pricking holes all round the edges and running a black pen over to look like stitching.  The mice have been stamped and coloured then each one fussy cut out

The little chap doodling was holding a candle which I changed into a pen. Finished off with some yellow gingham ribbon for the straps and a few gold candy for the studs.

 

 Our fabulous sponsor is.....

We are super happy and very proud to welcome back the wonderful, the One and ONLY, the Official Mousey Family... 

  

Offering one Lucky player a $20 Gift Certificate to HMD.

Just remember you must use a House Mouse, Gruffie or Happy Hopper design to enter and you do have the option of anything goes !!

Would love to enter:

Sweet Stampin: school days

Simon Say's Samp: anything goes
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: shaped cards
Craft Your Passion, always anything goes

Whoopeeee !!

the new first edition Little Claire mag is now up for grabs  !! 

 

You'll find project ideas, backing papers and toppers, top tips. special offers and a fab FREE stamp and much much more !!

Now I must point out the quality of the mag , its not made of your usual see through magazine paper so the free papers and toppers are good quality as well !!

 

Myself, Helen and Heidi all have projects to share with instructions on how to make them using the super cute free reindeer stamp and here's my little project to show you how cute he really is !!

 

 Isin't he a happy chappy !! Just had to add a little bit of christmas jingle !!

So pop over to Little Claires and check it all out now !!

 

 

Hope you all have a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend !!

 

 

Christmas Scotties mini album

Morning guy's !!

My turn for a Little Claire friday project for you and I have this mini album using the Christmas Scotties stamp set and Dinkies-Mini Puppy Christmas paper pack and Christmas Puppy pack 

It's quick and easy to make and ready for all the fun christmas photo's you will be taking and it will make a fab stocking filler too  !! 

You will need:

Christmas Scottie stamp set

Dinkie - Mni Christmas Puppy pack + 2 sheets from the Charistmas Puppy pack

black and white card

2 thicker pieces of card for covers

black ink

fine line black pen

3D foam tape

stickles

tartan ribbon

Cut two pieces of black card one measuring 10" x 3" and the other 9 1/2" x 3".

Score the 10" x 3" at 1/2" / 3 1/2" / 6 1/2" / 9 1/2" and the 9 1/2" x 3" at 1/2" / 3 1/2" / 6 1/2"

(I've used white paper so you can see the scores)

Now glue both pieces together so you have a 1/2" fold either end and concertina fold.

Cut two pieces of thicker card 3 1/4" square ( I save the backing card that comes with some of the lager envelopes ) and two 4 1/2" squares of stripe blue paper from the Christmas Puppy pack. For each cover glue the card in to the centre of paper, trim corners off and fold over the paper edges to back and glue.

Now glue one 1/2" flap on the black concertina card to inside of front cover and then the other 1/2" flap to inside back cover to from your mini album. Cut two pieces of red dotty paper 3" square and glue these to inside of front and back cover to hide 1/2" join.

Now cut 6 pieces of Dinkie - Mini Christmas Puppy papers to 2 7/8" square and cover the inside pages.

Nest cut a piece of white card 2 3/4" x 2 1/2" and stamp and colour Scottie Dog with bubbles. Matt this on to a piece of red dotty paper and then black card adding a small border of each.

Add 3d foam tape to back and attach to front of album, then make a tartan bow and attach this also to front. Finish off by adding a black wiggly line round Scottie dog and some stickles glitter.

One dinkie mini album !!

Why not make a few as christmas presents or birthday gifts. There are so many Little Claire stamps you could use !!

Here's another one using the Dinkie - Fruit Pastels paper pack

Have fun !!

12 tags 2015

 

 Yep that's me !!  More about that in a min.....

Tim's tag this month is about die cuts and layering.

 

 There are quiet a few layers to my tag , with papers, inking, die cutting, ink stains, stamping and the photo of me, which does hold a story.....

Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin.....

I've been a hairdresser for over 30 years and cut my own hair using a razor which you clip on cutting depth guides from bold to 1/2".   A few years ago I had just finished cutting my hair and thought I would just go over it one more time, picked up my razor and cut a "go faster"  bald stripe across my left hand side of my head  !! I didn't notice the guild had come off !!   First I just laughed, but then thought "oh s**t".   I then tried to shave round the bottom half and leave the top,  but the "Mohegan" look wasn't for me,  so I just had to shave the lot off to nearly bald !!   Hence my Russian hat which I wore for a long time every time I went out   It was very hard to face my friends and take all the laughter, but I learnt so much from this...... (first to check the guide is on),    how people feel when they loose their hair with cancer treatment,   how cold it is,   how you get unwanted attention because of how you look and you loose you !!    It made me think and my hair did grow back, so my tag is all all about being " HAPPY " and the joy of every day..........

A whole lot of BLING !!

What a wet grey day we have today.....but this is sure to brighten it !!

  Over the weekend I have been using fusible fibres on another project and the super thing about these fibres is you can use all your waste bits by simply fusing them together again, hence this card !!

I started with a plain piece of white card which I coloured blue with distress ink and then water splattered . Then I fused my left over cut off fibre bits together to make my background and attached it over the blue card using a sticky sheet.

Next I went mad with frantage at the bottom then mounted it on to a white piece of card, then a pink card blank. The shells are made with paper clay pushed into a mould, when dry, coloured with three colours of gilding wax.

The water bubbles are made using liquid pearls and I then used loads of pearls and bling to add around my shells. Finished off with a Stampin Up sentiment with a bit of frantage added.

Not bad for a card made with left overs !!

PS I didn't point out it is suppose to be under the sea......

Would love to enter:

Crafty Cardmakers: no patterned papers

We Love 2 Create: anything creative/ mixed media/ inky goes

Alphabet Challenges: n is for no design paper

Thats Crafty Challenge Blog: under the sea

My Uncle Jack

was a right lad.......My dad had two brothers and Uncle Jack was the black sheep of the family so to speak....I never met him till late in life when he had a heart attack and I offered to take my dad to see him as he lived quiet a bit away from us. I never forgot how excited he was to meet me and see his brother again,  Aunty Kit was a different matter...enough said I was warned.

I loved Uncle Jack from then on, he had a terrible sense of humor  (like me) unlike Aunty Kit !!  Not long after meeting them both Aunty Kit passed away and she was buried not far from us as she came from these parts, so Uncle Jack use to come down often to stay with a niece and visit her grave and visit us.

I use to write to him regularly and keep him up to date with goings on. He use to have carers and play them up merry hell with his humour and called them "his gals". I really wish i had met him earlier when we could have had more time.......

Anyhoo....this months theme at AMOM Scrap Club was masculine so I took Uncle Jack along with me and was soooo pleased to see it was perfect for the layout we were making.

 

We all had papers in our kits from Prima's Craftmens collection . Although the layout looks simple it has loads of layers and textures as we played with texture paste and the embossing powders, stencils, distressing edges and inking. The clock paper clip is a hidden pull out journling tag. 

Well there you have it...my Uncle Jack.

Something different...

 Now and then I treat myself to a crafting magazine and like most of us I make my mind up by the free gift which comes with it.  Well I fell in love with the free paper pad and stamps that came with Septembers issue 147 of Cardmaking and Papercraft.

As soon as I got home I just had to have a play !!

The papers are by BoBunny called "Isabella",  just love the soft greys and pink. You also get a cute butterfly, crown and sentiment stamp.

As you can see I have stamped the butterfly several times on different papers and then fussy cut them out to decorate the egde of my shaped card. Distressed the edges and added a few gems to finish off.

I wasn't going to waste my bits of paper left over from the card so made this simple little book with them also using the fab stamps to decorate inside !!  

Going to be handy to keep all my sign in names and numbers in !!

Flower Power...

..well a funny weekend weather wise, right old mixture of sun, wind, rain , but there again it's are usual summer !!  Whatever you did I hope you had a good one !!

Now onto another challenge at House Mouse and Friends and the theme was chosen by teamie Pauline

"Flower Power"

This is my kind of challenge...

Don't these guys look cute, I think they were hoping to grow a bit maybe ....I've use some Wild Rose Studio paper for my background and the same paper to make the flowers. Coloured the mices using Spectrum Noir pens as usual, a die to but the leaves which I have inked all the edges and a sentiment by Personal Impressions.

Had great fun stamping and then fussy cutting out these little guys, so I could then mount them onto 3D foam.

Well our fab  sponsors for this challenge are:

Stampendous!

Winner will receive a Fabulous $20 Value Reward Card

(Winner must be a USA Resident, it's Territories and, or, Canada)

   
 

 STAMPENDOUS! is the next company manufacturing our beloved House-Mouse Designs® Stamps! House-Mouse Designs® stamps can also be purchased at: www.STAMPENDOUS.com For more inspiration and challenges, check out our official Blog HERE.

2nd generous sponsor is 

PIZZAZZ  APLENTY
 
 

  Winner will get a surprise package of embellishments from Pizzazz Aplenty (of Judy's choiuce(, worth $15.00.

 Pizzazz Aplenty is the place for embellishments of all kinds... Flat-back Pearls and Rhinestones, Charms, Ribbons, Laces, Twine, Flowers, Stickpins, Beads, and more.  

 Pizzazz Aplenty is generously offering a random prize package of goodies worth $15.00, (surprise package is of Judy's choice).  

3rd prize kindly donated by teamie Pauline..

Pauline has kindly offered this Prize for a lucky winner..

So you've got to be in it to win it as they say !! Remember you must use a House House Design, Happy Hopper or Gruffie image to enter and you do have the "Anything Goes" option if you wish.

Would love to enter:

Wags"n" Whiskers; frame it out

Crafts Galore Encore: anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterened Paper: anything goes with pattern paper
Through the Purple Haze: flowers

Christmas in August

is the new challenge we have for you at Little Claires and I have made another box card full of christmas kitties !!

 I love this fun stamp called "We 6 Cats"

Also used the fab  "Christmas Dinkie Text" and "Christmas Quilts" papers 

Had great fun with Woodwares fluffy stuff for my snow and frantage !! Loads of stamping, colouring with spectrum noir pens, distress inks and water and just a bit fussy cutting out !!

Up for grabs is a prize of Little Claire goodies for one lucky person !!

Pop over to the challenge and check out all the inspiration by the rest of the team HERE !!

Would love to enter:

Crafting With Friends: anything goes

C.R.A.F.T : christmas aniamls