I Love Winter

Do I love Winter? I love fresh Snowfall, crisp frosty mornings, snowball fights and snuggling up infront of an open fire with a milky hot chocolate. I love the anticipation of Christmas, all the seasonal socialising that goes on and Christmas lights on all the houses.

I hate a frozen car in the morning, Christmas shopping and cold feet.

On Balance then, I think I must love winter but not as much as I love summer, sorry winter...

This little Owl loves winter, adores it. Look at his face! His little feet kicking up the snowdrifts! His Hat! He's got loving winter written all over him, see?

I was totally inspired by the colours on Colour Throwdown this week and then I looked for a Sketch, and found one on CAS(e) this Sketch.

I got out my embossing paste again, my wallet is wincing at the thought of all those extra stencils I'm just going to have to buy at some point, but I'm resisting, for now...

I'm looking forward to a crafty retreat with my online friends this weekend so hopefully I'll have lots of cards lined up to post when I get back.

Have a great weekend!

Might as well face it I'm Addicted to CAS...

Lol, I wonder if I went back through my Blog Posts, how many of them would be a play on a song or title?!

I'm playing along with Addicted to CAS today, the codeword this time being 'Cuddly'

I've been missing my super-detailed, super-cute stamps recently so this was the ideal opportunity to break them out.

How cute is this Purple Onion Squirrel?! I loved colouring him in with my distress markers.

I used lots of different companies' products (arrgh my head is exploding with the correct grammatical representation of this... companies? company's ?...) The Alley Way background stamp, Mama Elephant tag die, WS9 sentiment banner stamp and die, Lawn Fawn Journal card die & PPs, I like to spread myself around, lol!

I had fun making this, hope you had fun looking at it!

Nikki x

Christmas Critters

Hello there!

I'm going away for a few days so I just want to sneak this card in before I go. Made for the latest Lawnscaping Challenge, Critters!

Boy, I threw a lot of techniques into this one card, inlaid die cuts, partial die cutting, embossing, masking, distress inking, did I miss any? Ha Ha, here's a look at my card so you can decide for yourself...

That's all from me (because I really should be packing) have a great weekend folks!

Nikki x

Hippo Birdie to You!

Popping in to share a not-so-quick make I started last night and finished this morning.

The card is for my Niece who's favourite colours are electric blue and mint. The gold is pure indulgence on my part!

I broke out the distress inks to colour my images today, I used to use these ALL THE TIME when I was into fussy & frilly cards (Magnolia - need I say more?! - they're a very unloved part of my stash now, I sold quite a few but I have quite a few more I can't bear to part with!)

I'm not too sure about the stamped background, perhaps it should be a lot more subtle...hey ho!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Nikki x

Just Because...

Just because I got new stash today and couldn't wait to play with it...

Just because a crafty friend is having a tough time and I want her to know she is in my thoughts...

Just because my brood are all in school/nursery...

Just because I'm avoiding housework!

Just because I can...

I am playing along with the LOVELY Darnell this month please visit here for the challenge and to meet this amazing lady who singlehandedly seems to be bringing the whole crafting community together with her fab and funny Blog...My NBUS is Mama Elephant Up and Away Stamps, Mama Elephant Creative Cuts Basic Set, Ranger Texture Paste (fisrt time ever using embossing paste, LOVE!)

The rainbow stencil is from the SSS March 2014 card Kit and is also NBUS! (Really? March!?)

Happy Crafting!

Nikki xxx

Paper Piecing with Mama Elephant

Hey there!

You can tell the kids are back at school can't you? 2 posts in one week!!

I am playing along with 2 monthly challenges today, Make the Day Special are running a sketch challenge and Mama Elephant are asking for paper-pieced thank you cards (Oh Bother, after uploading the challenge pic I have just realised my schoolgirl error... no prizes for guessing what it is!).

I only have one ME stamp set at the moment and when I looked at it I must admit I nearly quit before I even started, paper-piecing those dinky little images was not going to be easy! But I persevered and ended up being delighted with the result. It's the first time I've tried a cloudy background for my images and was totally inspired by this card by Torico.

I used my lawn Fawn grass border die to cut 2 borders, one of card and one of fun foam, I love the extra dimension the foam brings to the card but to tone down the green a little I added a vellum banner embossed with an Avery Elle Happy Birthday Thank you sentiment *wink*

The images which were masked first to create a cute little scene are paper-pieced with Lawn Fawn Hello sunshine PPs, that little guys onsie with the moon and stars on it is so cute I WANNA DIE!!!! Ha ha =D

I have some more ME stamps on order, I'm hoping they'll arrive before the end of the month so I have a chance to re-enter the ME&Me challenge again this time following ALL the guidelines *rolleyes*

Until next time!

Nikki XxX

One Layer Challenge

Hello there!

I'm still recovering from the surprise of being a Retro Sketches Rockstar, Lol!

I bid a bittersweet farewell to my two eldest at the school gates this morning, I think they were ready to go back and reconnect with all their friends, summer holidays are great but the boredom does start to set in. That is of course unless you are a #supermom and you have a timetable of #superfun activities that not only entertain but educate and enrich their super-perfect lives which is then plastered all over facebook/blogland and makes me feel #superguilty!

*sigh* I am not a supermom....

So, where was I? Ah yes, blogging about a one layer card I made for the Lawnscaping Challenge this week.

So, what did I do? Well, I stamped my bee (Hello Sunshine) first masked both it and a section of my card which I then blended over distress inks. A few splashes of water to create a bit of texture and the panel was complete. I then heat-embossed a white trail behind the bee (Science of Love) and coloured him with promarkers. I stamped the sentiment from #awesome underneath. Then I thought it would be fun if my bee was following something so I added another one flying of the page. As a final touch I rounded off one corner.

Here it is!

Thanks for reading today!

Nikki xxx