Altered Birdhouses

I was inspired by an article in Craft Stamper a few months ago to alter some mini birdhouses.  They are always selling little blanks of these type of things in the Works and I have been tempted before, but the magazine article gave me the push.  Only thing is it took me ages to get round to finishing them.  I did the base layers (polyfiller instead of modelling paste through a stencil for texture and gesso) and then waited about 6 weeks to do the rest!

 For these two houses I tried stamping on tissue paper and adhering to the walls.  Never done that before, but I liked the effect.

 A bit of furniture paint (pinched from mum!), acrylics, inks, Fireworks spray, beads, yarn....  I think they are mixed media??!  LOL

 The birds are crocheted using a 2mm hook (very small and fiddly!)

 For this one I made a little gnome from air drying clay (plus the boots and flowerpot).  Only problem is, he wouldn't fit in the house and so had to be decapitated, inserted and reassembled.

Maybe you might give this a go sometime too?

Clever Owl

This image comes from a DigiStamp Boutique set which never seems to go out of favour in my eyes.  You can't get much better than an owl for a Graduation card, can you?

 

Stewie Wedding #2

This is my second wedding card using a recent DigiStamp Boutique release: Stewie Wedding.

Clever Sausage

Coming up to the end of the exam season and into the results and so I have made a few Congrats cards.  This DigiStamp Boutique image and sentiment always makes me smile.

 

Stewie Wedding #1

It is wedding season now I guess and so I thought I would make a few cards.  DigiStamp Boutique recently released a new wedding set featuring Stewie (a cute mouse couple).  This is my first card:

Gnome Fishing

Thought this DigiStamp Boutique image was good for a Father's Day card or just a birthday card for a father.

 

Dad's Shed

I know I can't really get in Dad's shed (and neither can he).  Things are piled up that much inside that they reach all the way to the door.  I don't want to suggest another shed extension though (and yes there has been one already!) 

This card uses a DigiStamp Boutique image.

Love Grows

I stamped up quite a few images the other day and had a blitz on card making yesterday (8 cards in a day which is a record as it normally takes me on average 2 hours per card!).  I adore this Lily of the Valley image.  I think it is super for anniversaries.

 The card follows this weeks Sweet Sketch Wednesday layout.

 I went to town a bit on the flowers and made my own with offcuts of paper.

New Home

Or should I say 'New Gnome'???  This card uses image from the DigiStamp Boutique gnome set.

Happy Father's Day

This is the Father's Day card I made to give my Dad.  I used a DigiStamp Boutique image released in May which I though was very apt for Dad (who is a DIY super man- or I think he is super anyway, even if sometimes things go a bit wrong...).

Ironically though, painting is the one DIY task that Mum always does, not Dad (except the very tricky bits on the ceiling above stairs).

Sketch Saturday #417

This week our Sketch Saturday challenge is sponsored by Robyn's Fetish.  I have used this super image called 'Daisy Days'.

Hope you are inspired to join in this week :-)

Dad's Tools

This DigiStamp Boutique cheeky monkey image is apt for so many people I know.  I challenged myself to use just black and white backing papers on this card.

 

This week's mission

This weeks mission was to finish this owl blanket I have been making for months.  It was no mean feat either as I had to buy more wool and wait for it to arrive but I wanted to bring it with me to the market at Bentley Heath this week.  So yesterday was a crochet marathon.
Finally finished (an impressive 1x1.2m):

 I'm pleased with the result.  Certainly it has been a bit of a work of love.

Super Dad

A father's day card for a 'Superhero Dad'.  I love this DigiStamp Boutique image :-)

 

A Palace for a Home

Going with the Royal theme again tonight, this is the third card I made specially for Friday's Bentley Heath Country Market to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday (the official one rather than her biological birthday).  This is an old Pollycraft image I had and again I used Papermania 'Sew lovely' papers.  I thought it would make quite a nice 'New Home' card for someone to send.

 

Happy Birthday Elizabeth II

Wishing her Royal Highness Many Happy Returns for her 90th.

A card made for Friday's Country Market in Bentley Heath.  This uses a Pollycraft image and Papermania 'Sew Lovely' papers which I cut up to make the Union Jack background. 

Cute Birthday Dragon

This is one of the cards I made for the Queen's birthday themed market yesterday.  I remembered I had this super cute royal dragon image from DigiStamp Boutique that I had never used.  Together with some Papermania 'Sew Lovely' papers I hope it gives the card a bit of a 'Royal'/British theme.

Unfortunately I seem to have got a bit lazy recently about entering my cards into blog challenges.  I often use the sketches from the challenges but post the cards here too late- ooops!  This card was made using this weeks Sweet Sketch Wednesday layout.  Hope I remember to link it up in time.

 

Queen's Official 90th Birthday

Tomorrow we are having a special market at Bentley Heath to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday.  I only found out about it last Friday and so have been busy this week making a few things.  Some crocheted 'Royal' bunting:

 and some 'Crown' broaches:

 I also made a couple of cards, but will share them with you here in the coming week- can't have too much excitement today- lol!

-----------------------------------------------------

Sorry I didn't get round to blogging my makes for last week' s Country Market.  In case you were interested I have gone on a bit of a 'bunting' spree the last few weeks.  This is some purple flower bunting I made:

 And some sunflower and daisy bunting:

 And the third 'make' from last week was a lined wallet, which I was quite proud of:

 Thought the hint of yellow gave it a bit of character, but maybe that is just me.

Anyway, last week I did a little better than the week before and sold 7 cards.  I am yet to sell any of my crocheted makes, but maybe the Royal bunting or Crown broaches will catch someone's eye tomorrow....

Art cards!

I was inspired by the Card Art article in May's Craft Stamper to make a batch of thankyou cards for my birthday presents (in May)- not that I had that many presents, but now I have a mini stock of 'thankyous' for when I need them- bonus!  The backing paper was made (in part) with instant coffee!

 

Sketch Saturday #415

It's Saturday again and I have made a card for the new Sketch Saturday challenge starting today.  Our sponsor this week is A Day for the Daisies.  The image I have used is called 'Little Striped Dress'.  She is cute isn't she?  The image made me think of a little girl walking along a beach a bit lost carrying the balloons.  That's why I went for an uplifting sentiment because I didn't want to think of her lost forever.

Hope you are inspired to join in this week.

Thankyou teacher(s)

These new cute cat 'thankyou teacher' images from DigiStamp Boutique are just ace.  I made a card with each image: