Trick or Treat Shaker

I finally had a little time to stamp earlier today and I thought it would be fun to join in on Lawnscaping's Critters Galore Challenge.

For my critter I decided to use the bat from Lawn Fawn's cute Trick or Treat set and made a Halloween shaker card. Sorry my photo isn't great - I always find it hard to avoid getting reflections on the acetate layer on shaker cards!

I embossed the sentiment on a piece of green card and die cut the label shape. To make the shaker I added some lovely green sequins my friend Trinh (thanks again, Trinh) sent me and an embossed Waltzingmouse Stamps image (Very Vintage labels No. 10) which I cut out and used as my frame. The Lawn Fawn bat was cut out and coloured with ProMarkers and I couldn't resist adding a couple of googly eyes before perching him on top of the shaker. To finish I just added a strip of lace to the side of the card.



Stamps - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn) & Very Vintage labels No. 10 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

The last time I made a shaker I had a problem with the little bits inside the shaker sticking to the sides of the foam pads but I saw a tip somewhere which suggested rubbing talc or flour on the sticky parts before assembling the shaker. It really seems to have worked well but I'd love to hear if any of you have any other suggestions as it took a while to get rid of all the traces of flour!

Mixy-Matchy Congratulations

As I tend to shy away for mixing lots of papers or patterns on my cards, I thought I'd have a go again and play along again with Cath's Mixy-Matchy Style Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Warmest Wedding Wishes

My good friend Linda sent me an exquisite Pink Paislee paper pad called London Market. The papers are so pretty and romantic looking, I couldn't wait to use them! Just to be a little more mixy matchy I teamed some of these papers with a brown text paper from a Docrafts Wellington Bear paper pad. To make the card I layered the papers and punched some circles for the scalloped border. After adhering the papers to the card base, I cut out an extra butterfly and popped it up on a foam pad. To finish I added lace and gems and embossed the sentiment.

I'm squeezing this card in on the last day of the challenge, but if you'd like to get mixy-matchy today too, you'll find all the details here.

Enjoy

Until today I hadn't blogged in nearly a month and now I end up with two posts in the one day - I certainly enjoyed some stampy time today! So this time I wanted to play along with Hero Arts’ new Stamp Your Story contest. The challenge is to stamp your story through a card, layout, journal page, mini booklet etc using at least one product from the fab new catalogue. To start with I thought I’d stick with something I make most often – a card.

Part of the story behind this card is my love of fabrics, lace and buttons. If I have a chance, I love to incorporate any or all of these into my cards.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Number Pattern & Picnic

I usually don’t talk about feelings here on my blog (lol I’m sure you’re glad of that!) but I presume none of us has a perfect day every day. If I’m having a not so great day, I’ll always try to make sure to enjoy something from that day. It could be a walk, fun times with family/friends, the beautiful scenery, chatting with friends/family near or far away, a good book or even savouring a little bit of chocolate or a cuppa! So I tried to pull these aspects into my card – hope my story isn’t too much of a jumble!

I picked the Number Pattern from the new catalogue to represent dates and time. The panel was embossed and dried marigold distress ink applied. Then I used a bit of fabric to make the bottom part of the panel and flower. The lace on the flower and one of the lace layers on the main panel is Hero Arts lace ribbon – love that stuff! Big thanks has to go to my good friend Linda for the yummy buttons and rhinestone:) The buttons set Linda sent me triggered the colour scheme for the card.

Hope you'll play along with Hero Arts and stamp your story!

Wedding Card in Card Creations Vol. 11

Today I have a card that I made back in October but can finally share here, as it was recently published in Card Creations Volume 11.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Lace Background & Warmest Wedding Wishes

Besides playing with paper I just love playing with fabric so, whenever I can, I enjoy combining both on a project. On this wedding card I tried to achieve a pretty, romantic look, so started by making the satin and organza flower which dictated my colour scheme and then I just went to town on the card with embossing, lace and pearls.



Card Creations Volume 11 is such a big magazine packed full of wonderful cards and ideas. I love the way it’s divided into sections for every imaginable occasion and I know I’ll be dipping into it again and again for inspiration.

We’re enjoying an extra long weekend this weekend with a bank holiday on Monday. This morning I can see blue skies and am hoping the weather forecasters are wrong with their predication of showers for St Patrick’s Day. Hope you have a wonderful weekend wherever you are!

Butterflies, flowers and a teabag.

I keep seeing Lin creating wonderful cards like this and these for The Shabby Tea Room Challenges and keep thinking I must try the challenge. Although I love shabby chic style cards I find them very hard to make and never know if I’ve added too much or too little on my cards – maybe too much on this one! So here's is my first attempt at the challenge.

Butterflies, flowers and a teabag., originally uploaded by heather maria.

Stamps used (Hero Arts):- Antique Engravings & Silhouette Grass

The current Shabby Tea Room challenge is to use something old and something new. Since I only started making cards less than two years ago, I don’t have anything very old in my stash. So the things on the card that qualify as being old are the buttons which I’ve cut off old clothes over the years and the copper and diamond stickles which I bought when I first started making cards. The new things are the rhinestone flourishes, a technique which is new to me, the lace and a new teabag! Because of the faded flowers and the wheat in the background, I'm also submitting the card to the Everything Autumn Challenge at Hero Arts.



I just came across this brilliant video for making paper flowers and had to try it out. It’s great fun and I’ll definitely make lots of these in different colours and shapes. I made the two bigger flowers using this technique and the smaller flower is made up of two layers of Hero Arts flowers – thanks so much Vanessa and Linda for these!

I clear embossed the Silhouette Grass on a piece of silk and dyed the lace (originally white) with tea. The butterflies are stamped on paper which is cream and has green and copper swirls – thanks Paula and Dawn, I’m enjoying using the goodies you sent me. Sue (Stampersuzz) sent me these gorgeous rhinestone flourishes - thanks again Sue. I'm delighted to have used so many items on this card from blogging and non blogging (you need to start a blog Linda!) buddies in the U.S., Germany, Australia and New Zealand!



To finish I just added machine stitching, thread for the antennae, stickles and lots of buttons and beads.