Whimsy ~ Rainy Day Emma

I meant to post this on friday, I showed it on the Whimsy Inspirations Blog last week.

She is the very sweet Whimsy Stamps 'Rainy Day Emma' so perfect for April birthdays with all those April Showers around!

Don't know about April showers here, it is forecast for April snow later in the week! I hope you all manage to see some lovely Easter sunshine this weekend!

Incy Wincy Designs are asking for sewing on your creations this week.

Paper Popsicles want you to use ribbon.

The gorgeous paper is Basic Grey 'two scoops and the stitching was done on my trusty sewing machine. Had the ribbon slide ages and forgot the make, sorry!

Flowers are from Wild Orchid crafts.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Cute Card Thursday ~ dimensions

Before I show you my Cute Card Thursday card I would like to show you this little snippet of another new card of mine, you can see the whole thing over on the

Whimsy Inspirations Blog!

Cute Card Thursday

This week the theme on CCT is

Dimensions

I decided it would be a good opportunity to try out something I have had in my head for a while. I have been concerned about posting cards with large flower embellishments so either have to put them in a box or risk them being damaged or squashed.

I came up with the idea of a

Theatre Box Card

I have created a tutorial for it below if you would like to give it a try!

First of all I chose my image, a Sugar Nellie stamp called Spring has Sprung and coloured her with distress inks and Twinkling H2O's.

Next I created my card base, it measures 6in x 51/2, it is best to add your designer paper and stick everything down at this stage, the flowers can be added later so as not to disturb them too much.

Next I cut out my Nestibilities 'Curved Rectangles' mine measure 6x4 and 5 1/4 x 3 1/2

You need 4 large and 2 small.

Take 2 of the large and the 2 small ones and score at 1" and 2"

The other 2 large ones will the outer flaps and you need the centre post just slightly larger for a neater fit so score at 1" and the second one will be just after the 2" mark on the dot (see photo)
Next add the four flaps ensuring the smaller ones are attached to the top of the card ie the shorter width. You also want to keep the smallest flap to the front so that you see more of your image.

This is a good time to add your flowers or other embellishments to the inside of the card. I used Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts flowers.
Next I used my nestabilites dies to cut out some designer paper to decorate the flaps on the 2 larger flaps I have left. {These will effectively create the 'curtain' around the stage.} I found cutting them the same size and trimming around the embossed mark made them nice and neat and just left a small card edge.

I attached my ribbon before sticking the designer paper down so that it neatly comes out from beneath.

The designer papers I used are Basic Grey 'lily kate' and ' sugared', both my favourite papers!

Next I attached my outer flaps and now it is beginning to look like a stage hence the 'theatre box' name.

Next, I cut out more designer paper and decorated all the panels on the inside too. I wanted this card to be special inside and out.
I created another panel and decorated the back of the card too. This hides all the flaps and also gives extra strength for mailing.

I added some more Sugar Nellie images to the front, this one is from the stamp 'Peek a bunny'

and also some sweet sentiments from the Whimsy Stamps Sentiment Collection which fit perfectly into the stampin'up punches. The hearts are also stampin' up.

Couldn't resist using the scraps to make a little matching bookmark which also fits into the Spoonful of Sugar challenge this week!

If you got all the way down to the bottom, thank you! If any of you are going to try this then I would love to see your creation so please let me know! I think this makes rather a special Mother's Day card, of course it has already been Mother's Day in the UK but here in the US we still have it to look forward to!

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The rest of the Design Team have come up with some amazing creations, please drop by and pay them a visit! As always we have a fabulous prize on offer at CCT so hope you can play along! Looking forward to see these dimensional creations this week!
Have a great day!

Age is only a number........

Here is the wallow-licious Whimsy Hippo, don't you just love that face?

He is from the Whimsy Animal Collection and he is just perfect for a masculine card! The sentiment is from a tiny stamp set by Inkadinkado. He is coloured with distress inks and the papers are Basic Grey 'Archaic'. The token is by Tim Holtz.

I followed the Truly Scrumptious sketch and can also enter into the My Time to Craft Challenge which is ~ Make it Manly!

Some exciting news just in......

Whimsy are going to have a new line in digital images starting April 12th, for more information check out the Whimsy Home page here!

I am very excited about this as I am just starting to get the hang of digi so looking forward to playing more with this version of stamping!

If you are a fan of digital images you might want to check out this post on Crissy's blog, she is one of the illustrators for Whimsy and is starting her new digital challenge and is looking for her new Design Team!

Don't forget to check out the sale on the Whimsy Winter Stamps!

thanks for dropping by, have a great afternoon/evening!

Happy Spring!

We are offically into Spring now, even spotted some spring bulbs sprouting yesterday, so I have created a Spring themed card. I love this sweet Sugar Nellie image, she is called 'Chick-a-dee'!

I followed the sketch on Everybody Art Challenge and I also found some Spring themed challenges this week ~

Secret Crafter Saturday

and

Allsorts Challenge

Supplies~ Stamps ~ Sugar Nellie 'Chick~a~dee', Whimsy sentiment stamps 'happy spring' from the 'Spring Stepping' set in the Carousel Horse Collection and the happy birthday sentiment from the Whimsy oval snippets.

DP ~ Basic Grey 'lemonade'

Embellishments ~ Prima flowers, Martha Stewart border punch

Spring Stepping!

Here is one of the newest Whimsy Stamps to be released. It is one of Crissy Armstrong's Carousel Horses, this one is called 'Spring Stepping.'

I made this card following the Friday Sketchers sketch and also added ink 'distressing' to fit into the Stamp Something challenge today!

Your next stamp Challenge is also asking for distressing this week!

Creative Inspirations have a colour challenge to use white, yellow and green!

Supplies:

Stamp ~ Whimsy Stamps 'Spring Stepping' coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Inks ~ antique linen, tea dye, mustard seed and peeled paint

DP ~ Basic Grey ' Nook and Pantry'

Embellishments ~ flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, Pearls from Prima
That is it from me for this week, hope you all have a fabulous weekend and get lots of that spring sunshine!

CCT ~ Happy Anniversary

On Cute Card Thursday this week the theme is

Anniversary

Caz is celebrating her 21st Wedding anniversary and is offering some fabulous blog candy to celebrate!

Happy Anniversary Caz!

I have kept it fairly simple, I have been catching up in the house this week but hopefully that means I can play a bit more now! Excuse my wonky stitching, don't know what has happened with my stitching this week! The papers are Basic Grey 'bittersweet'. The heart stamps and punches are Stampin' Up.

I hope you get the chance to play along with us this week and also drop by and see the rest of the DT's cards, they are all so gorgeous!
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In case you were wondering who won the fabulous Whimsy Stamps Blog Hop prize the winner is
Nikki
congratulations Nikki, I just know you are going to love your prize.

Whimsy sponsors A Spoonful of Sugar

Whoohoo! Whimsy Stamps is sponsoring A Spoonful of Sugar Challenge this week so Debbie asked us if we would like to be guest designers for this challenge!

The theme is

Easter!

A spoonful of sugar is very dear to me as I was a designer on there for the first few months after it was created so I always leap at the chance to be a guest for them!

I had this box of Lindt chocolate carrots and couldn't resist decorating it and thought the very sweet Whimsy Stamps 'Water Lily' would be perfect looking like she was watering them!

Water Lily is coloured with distress inks, I used Mustard Seed for her dress and hair and Weathered Wood for the watering can. I get the flesh colour by mixing Antique linen, Victorian velvet and even a touch of Mustard Seed! I used Peeled Paint on her wings and then stickles frosted lace over the top. I also used a touch of Tea Dye in places for shadows.

the gorgeous little easter sentiment stamp is also from Whimsy Stamps. It is included in a set called Whimsy Holiday Postmarks.

The pretty floral punch is Martha Stewart.

This little gift is going to be sent to a friend I know will really appreciate the chocolate, I am sure she will enjoy the package too ;)

I added glossy accents to the water spilling from the watering can so that I can enter
Saturday Spotlight ~ the theme is you're so slick!
also
Totally Gorjuss ~ who want something sweet (don't we all?)
and
Pink elephant - with a spring theme

Don't forget there is still time for
A Spin on the Merry Go Round
my post in the Whimsy blog hop is
here

A cute Edwin!

to take part in the Whimsy Blog Hop

Take a Spin on the Merry Go Round

Here!

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Hope your week got off to a good start. I have had to stay in waiting for workmen to check out a couple of things in the house, a good excuse to stay in and craft though eh?

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I followed Bev's fantastic sketch this week over on

Just Magnolia

I whipped up a quickie today as I need to get this in the mail yesterday, the mail is taking forever at the moment!

This Edwin reminds me of Englebert Humperdinck ~ did you ever wonder what a strange name that is?

Other challenges I made this card for:

One stop craft ~ spots and dots

Cupcake craft challenge ~ green

Incy Wincy challenge ~ also green!

My magnolia image is coloured with Copics as I already had this image stamped out on Creative Smooth Cardstock ~ am addicted to distress inks just now so was sad I couldn't use them!

The papers are Stampin'Up, already had these on my desk from an earlier project ~ will show you that tomorrow as it is for A Spoonful of Sugar where I shall be a guest designer and where Whimsy are sponsoring!
The happy birthday sentiment is by Whimsy stamps from the sentiment collection.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

****Take a spin on the merry go round!****

Welcome to the Whimsy

Spin on the Merry Go Round!

If you arrived via Sonja's blog you are in the right place, if not you might want to start the hop at the beginning at Bev's blog!

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We have 3 fabulous new Carousel Horses illustrated by the super talented Crissy Armstrong!

Here is the candy Denise is offering at the end of this blog hop which will be on Wednesday March 17th!

Another fantastic gift to you is that Whimsy is offering you

free shipping

for the first 25 orders from today Sunday 14th from noon (EST) to Monday 15th at noon (EST) so a good time to take advantage and get your new Whimsy stamps along with other goodies the online store now offers such as Prima roses, gems and charms!

Shipping will be taken at the checkout but you will receive a shipping credit if you were one of the first 25 customers to place an order in the 24 hour period!

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This one is called 'Proud Mama', how sweet are they?

The other stamps available in this release are

Spring Stepping

and

Wings of Hope

All stamp sets come with accessories and sentiments, making these such a great deal!

So, to continue on the Merry Go Round, now head over to

Maddy's blog!

The challenges I created this card for are

Stamp Something ~ cream and green

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch

Secret Crafter Saturday ~ anything goes
Incy Wincy ~ a horse

Cupcake crafts ~ flower power

Supplies:

Stamps ~ Whimsy Stamps 'Proud Mama stamp set'

Designer paper ~ Basic Grey 'Sugared'

Embellishments ~ Cherry blossom from Wild Orchid Crafts, small punched out flowers and bling. Basic Grey 'rub-on' sentiment from Sugared collection. Lace from wal mart.

Image coloured with Tim Holtz distress inks.

and the winner is.......

Before I announce the winner of yesterdays Whimsy stamp Carousel horse giveaway I just wanted to remind you that today is the Spin on the Merry Go Round blog hop. The new Whimsy Stamps carousel horses are released today for sale shortly before the hop and the first 25 orders qualify for free shipping!

You can also win all the new horses plus some embellishments ~ I will show a pic of the prize later~ by entering the blog hop!

The blog hop starts at Noon (EST) which is 4pm UK time (daylight savings here in the US this weekend)!

Okay I have kept you lingering long enough.....

the winner of this fabulous stamp set chosen by random.org is

NO.2 Esme

congratulations! Please contact Denise with your details and she will send your stamp on to you!

Hope to see you all at the blog hop later!

Carousel Horses sneak peeks!

Here is the sneak peek I promised of the new Whimsy Carousel Horses designed by Crissy Armstrong!

I am sure you will all recognise this one, it is the magnificent

Wings of Hope

This image was first released as a digi to raise funds for Haiti and there is still $1 donation will go to Haiti for every rubber version of Wings of Hope bought!

The new Carousel horses will be released for sale on Sunday 14th March!

After Kim's fabulous tutorial on Whimsy Inspirations Blog I just had to add lots of glitter. I coloured the image with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

The flourishes around the edge are on the Proud Mama stamp. The fronds behind the sentiment are part of this stamp set and the sweet sentiment is from the 'Spring Stepping' stamp set, you might have seen the sneak peek of this yesterday on Denise's blog.

Each of the new Carousel horses come with an accessory and also some sweet sentiments designed by our talented teamie, Ann Vento of Raindrop Echo Designs!

So, how would you like to be in with a chance of winning this fabulous stamp?

Just leave me a comment at the end of this post and I will draw a winner at random in the morning, the winner will be announced tomorrow before the Whimsy Blog Hop ~ A spin on the merry go round which begings at noon (EST) at Bev's blog!

More sneak peeks and chances to win the other new stamps today are at
Debbie's blog
Ann's blog
and
Janna's blog

Hope you are having a great saturday, see you tomorrow!

New Carousel Horses!

Ready for a spin on the Merry Go Round?

Join us on Sunday 14th March for the latest Whimsy Blog Hop to celebrate the launch of the newest Carousel Horses designed by Crissy Armstrong.

If you can't wait till then to see these gorgeous creatures hop along to these blogs today where you can see a sneak peek today and be in with a chance of winning one of the new carousel horses!

Denise

Sharon

I'll be back here tomorrow with my own sneak peek and a chance to win some rubbah!

Cute Card Thursday ~ Celebrations

Happy Birthday Cute Card Thursday!

It is our 2nd anniversary!

I just have to take this opportunity to say how much I love being involved in Cute Card Thursday, a bunch of us on the DT dreamed up the idea with no idea of how popular it would become! I love that most of the DT have been with us since the beginning too, we are a family not just a design team! Anyway, before the tears start streaming, in honour of our birthday we have a special theme

Celebrations!

Create a card for any celebration!

It is my eldest son's birthday this week so I have created one of my book cards, they have to be nice and wide to accomodate the packet of sweeties they have come to expect in their card, not to mention a little holder for the cash!

The images are Whimsy Stamps from the animal collection, I used the monkey and the alligator.

I am posting on Whimsy Inspirations Blog today and have shown more pictures of this card along with sizes and instructions for creating one. I made a few last year and had some requests for tutorials so this time I went ahead and made one as I went along! You can see last year's cards here and here and here! While you are there don't forget to check out Kim Piggot's amazing tutorial she created for Whimsy using glitter! I hope to try that out later this week, it looks fantastic!


My images were coloured using Tim Holtz Distress Inks which  I purchase at Simon Says Stamps - including the brand new colours which are scrummy. Simon Says Stamps are sponsoring Cute Card Thursday this week so make sure you join in with us!


I am also entering this card into the
My Time to Craft Challenge which is Kids Kardz
Creative Card Crew which is also celebrations
Die Cut Dreams which is no flowers allowed

 I have compiled a mini tutorial for this card for anyone who would like to give this a try!

I used sheet of card measuring 29.5cm x 18cm or 11 5/8 in x 7 in. I scored at 5 1/2 then turned the card around 180 degrees and scored again at 5 1/2, it should leave just a thin spine.

This gives you a basic book shape.
Cut out backing card in a shade that co-ordinates with your designer papers.Add your designer paper to the backing card and decorate as desired. I used Fancy Pants 'Papa'.

Create a little money holder by cutting a piece of card to 10cm x 7cm or 4in x 2 3/4 in

Score at 1/2 in around 3 sides as shown.

Cut the corners off at diagonals and punch a half circle in the top edge.

There are various ways to add a packet of candy, for this card I used a narrow plastic packet and made a fold over top for it. I used the Stampin' Up slit punch to create a slot to tie it to the card. I could have attached the string directly to the back of the card but for this one I made a small card attachment and stapled twine to it.
Now, decorate the money holder and stick down using the flaps.

I also like to decorate the back page, it finishes off the card perfectly.

Supplies:
Stamps ~ Whimsy Stamps 'alligator' and 'monkey'
Stampin' Up 'snowboarder'
Basic Grey ' archaic'
Designer Paper ~ Fancy Pants ' Papa'
Colouring ~ Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Peeled Paint'
Tools ~ Scor-pal