The Greeting Farm March Previews: Sitting Cute

Hi everyone! Today is the final day of The Greeting Farm March previews and we are previewing the suitably named "Sitting Cute" rubber stamp set.

For my first creation I created a scene. I used Basic Grey Piccadilly 6x6 paper for everything except the wooden floor (paper for this is from the Echo Park This & That Charming collection kit). I paper-pieced Anya's sofa, cushions and also the blanket across the back of the sofa (although you can't see that part very well!). Everything was inked with Vintage Photo distress ink. The sentiment is part of the stamp set and I tried to create a picture to hang on Anya's wall with it! :)  Button, seam binding and button twine from http://www.sewsweet.co.uk

For my second creation I used the cute cushion stamp that comes in the set and created a clean & simple card using some Echo Park This & That Graceful 6x6 paper. The diamond strip down the right side is from the alpha stickers page from the same line.

Want to WIN "Sitting Cute?" Pop over to the TGF blog to see how to enter, but basically all you need to do is leave a comment on the blogs of the DT who are previewing this stamp set today. You have until 11pm CST tonight to leave comments and we'll announce the winner tomorrow when we will hold a release day blog hop!! Woo-hoo!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,

Whimsy February Release: Showcase Day 7

Please scroll down or CLICK HERE for my 'The Greeting Farm March Previews: Sitting Casual' post

Hello and welcome to Day 7 of our February Rubber Die Release Showcase!

On Wednesday (22 February) Whimsy Stamps released this month's rubber designs and new Shapeology dies. From then until 28 February the Whimsy Stamps DT and Special Guests are showcasing these fabulous new stamps and dies with a daily mini blog hop and I am part of today's hop!

Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw.

To be entered into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy Inspirations blog TOMORROW!!

To take a peek at today's fabulous new release creations, please click on the links below...

Bev Rochester {Special Guest}
Erin Bailey
Niki Estes
Tammy Louise Cunliffe
Mariska van der Veer {Special Guest}
Simonne Clay
Heidy Blom

For today's creation I inked up the sassy Elena K. I really wanted to pair her up with my unused Basic Grey Kissing Booth 6x6 papers, so I decided to colour her hair a golden blonde ... which wasn't as successful as I'd hoped, lol! Next time I ink her up I shall choose a more subtle hair colour! :)

Unfortunately I am very unwell at the moment with a fever, chest and ear infection, and so Elena K has not made it onto an actual card, but I wanted to show you her anyway! :)  Here are the papers she will be paired with:

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check the Whimsy Inspirations blog tomorrow for a final Release Round-up and a list of mini blog hop winners!

Hugs,

The Greeting Farm March Previews: Sitting Casual

Hi everyone! Today is the 4th day of The Greeting Farm March previews and we are previewing the adorable "Sitting Casual" rubber stamp set.

For my first creation I followed the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 153 and used some Echo Park Time & Seasons paper (from the 12x12 collection kit).  The alpha stickers are from the Echo Park Dots & Stripes Metropolitan collection kit.  Buttons and seam binding from http://www.sewsweet.co.uk

For my second card I created a kraft base and then cut some strips of paper from my Echo Park This & That Charming collection kit for Ian to sit on.  I stamped one of the 2 sentiments that come in the stamp set just above his head in Walnut Stain distress ink.  A really simple card, but I think it works! :)

Want to WIN "Sitting Casual?" Pop over to the TGF blog to see how to enter. You have until 11pm CST tonight to leave comments on all of the DT preview posts and we'll announce the winner tomorrow when we will be previewing the last of this month's release.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,

Whimsy Stamps February Release - Showcase Day 5

Hello and welcome to Day 5 of our February Rubber Die Release Showcase!

On Wednesday (22 February) Whimsy Stamps released this month's rubber designs and new Shapeology dies. From then until 28 February the Whimsy Stamps DT and Special Guests are showcasing these fabulous new stamps and dies with a daily mini blog hop and I am part of today's hop!

Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw.

To be entered into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT's posts listed below by 12.00PM EST tomorrow. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy Inspirations blog on 29 February.

To take a peek at today's fabulous new release creations, please click on the links below...

Ann Vento
Deb Routledge {Special Guest}
Debbie Eastman
Dena Concienne {Special Guest}
Patricia Garcia
YOU ARE HERE ---> Simonne Clay <---YOU ARE HERE

For today's creation I inked up the adorable Little Playmates illustrated by Crissy Armstrong for Whimsy Stamps. Once I'd coloured this cute image with Copics I decided I wanted it to look like a photograph from an album and so I used one of the 4 dies from the new Corner Dies Set. This set is fabulous and something that I have been wanting for a long time! For the sentiment I stamped one of the new I Heart You Tabs 2 sentiments in Walnut Stain and used the new co-ordinating Tab 2 die to cut it out. Finally I added some yummy Hot Chocolate buttons and Kraft Button Twine from http://www.sewsweet.co.uk/.

Remember that the entire new release is available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favourites.

I also would like to share a card our daughter, Erin, (who is 10 yrs) made this morning for her grandad's birthday.  This card is extra special as she drew the image 100% herself - no copying or referencing or help or anything!!

Grandad (my dad!) is a big fan of Wallace & Gromit and dd wanted to make him a W&G card. I said that she could print something out from the internet, but no, she wanted to draw it.  I gave her a piece of white card, told her to draw the picture in pencil first and then go over it with a fineliner before colouring. She sat in the lounge doing this whilst I was catching up on my FB games (hehe!) and so I can confirm that she drew this picture 100% herself - no referring to the www or intervention from anyone!  Yes, I am one VERY proud mummy right now! *grin*  Perhaps a digi stamp artist in the making? Who knows! :)

She chose everything for this card, even down to the green gems in the corners, and the balloon sentiment was all her idea.  She took a while to look through my sentiments, but as soon as she saw this one from the Whimsy Stamps Party Mini Letter Seals set she said it was "perfect, as Wallace always says things are grand!".

My role in this masterpiece was simply to cut the paper and card for her under her direction, as my guillotine is pretty temperamental and I certainly didn't fancy a trip to A&E, lol!  Oh, and I did tie that tiny bow. as well. Everything else was her! (But I think her layout was inspired by my card, hee hee!)

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check the Whimsy Inspirations blog tomorrow for more new release creations!

Hugs,

SCRS Preview & Release Day: Easter Bunny Ruby

Hi everyone and welcome to Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps February RELEASE DAY!

Today we are showcasing the adorable Easter Bunny Ruby who comes with the darling sentiment "Easter blessings". All new release stamps are available to buy RIGHT NOW from the Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Store - yippee!

This week we're also sponsoring Card Patterns (one of my favourite challenge blogs!) and so the SCRS DT have followed today's sketch for our Ruby cards. Check out their blog to see the actual sketch and more darling SCRS creations from their wonderful DT. Play along with this week for a chance to win some SCRS rubber!

For my card I used some yummy Jillibean Soup 'Blossom Soup' paper (available HERE from My Mum's Craft Shop) as I thought the pretty, spring colours went perfectly with this adorable stamp.  I also used some of the *new* 10mm satin polka dot ribbon (which comes in a variety of gorgeous colours) and one of the white buttons from the 50g bag of Red, White & Blue buttons, both available from SEW SWEET.

Be sure to visit our fabulous SCRS designers for more peeks of Easter Bunny Ruby. Sparkle will be giving away a Easter Bunny Ruby rubber stamp to one lucky person! For a chance to WIN, you need to visit and comment on all of the designers' Easter Bunny Ruby blog posts (listed below) then head on over to the SCRS blog and comment on the Easter Bunny Ruby post there. You have until midnight EST tonight to comment. You have until midnight EST tonight to comment.

Alice Wertz
Amber Hight
Danielle Lounds
Kerri Michaud
Kim Yu
Margie Cortina
Pam Varnell {February Guest Designer}
Savannah O'Gwynn
Shaela Odd
YOU ARE HERE ---> Simonne Clay <--- YOU ARE HERE
Sparkle Smith
Stephanie Kraft
SCRS blog

I hope you enjoy our new release! Thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,

SCRS Preview: Karber Wizard of Oz

Hi everyone and welcome to the second day of our Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps February release previews.

Today we are excited to show you the brand new Karber Wizard of Oz set. This is a clear acrylic set with 4 images and 2 sentiments. All new releases will be available to buy from the Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Store tomorrow!

Supplies
SCRS Karber Wizard of Oz stamp set
Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
Copics
MME 'Ooh la la' 12x12 paper - Get In Line #OLL114 (yellow brick road)
Echo Park 'Life Is Good' 12x12 paper - Set The Table #LG2011 (meadow)
Crate Paper 'Emma's Shoppe' 6x6 paper pad (emerald city)
Jillibean Soup 'Blossom Soup' 6x6 paper pad (sky)
Brown & Green chalk ink for edging; Stickles

Isn't this set the cutest?  It was crying out to be made into a 'yellow brick road' scene, and as I love making scenes, I just had to go with it!  (I have a sneaky suspicion that you will find many scene cards on today's hop, hee hee!)  After rummaging through my papers, I found some old 12x12 MME that had a gold grid pattern perfect for the yellow brick road.  Once I'd chosen all my papers, I drew my scene onto some scrap card, cut out all the pieces to make templates, drew around the templates onto the patterned paper, cut them out and ... voila, a patterned paper jigsaw! :)

I wanted to draw the rainbow straight onto the background paper so it had a transparent look to it.  I started with the violet colour (V15), laying the next colour on top of each arc as I went - that way I could control the exact position of the rainbow.  The colours I used were R14, Y13, Y38, YG06, B02, BV02, V15, but as I said I added them in reverse order. I stamped the sentiment onto white card and then drew a freehand cloud shape around it, cut it out, then defined the edges with W1 and W0.

I added some Stickles to the tops of the Emerald City peaks, but it doesn't really show in the main photo, so here is a side angle complete with sparkle:

I'm quite pleased with how this card turned out; it was SO fun to make! :)

I'm super excited that one of my all-time cardmaking and Copic colouring idols, Amy Young, is joining us for today's preview - yay! Amy is this month's guest designer over at Karber and so is showcasing the adorable Karber Wizard of Oz today along with the SCRS designers!

Be sure to visit our fabulous designers for more peeks of Karber Wizard of Oz. Sparkle will be giving away a Karber Wizard of Oz stamp set to one lucky person! For a chance to WIN, you need to visit and comment on all of the designers' Karber Wizard of Oz blog posts (links listed below) then head on over to the SCRS blog and comment on the Karber WIzard of Oz post there. You have until midnight EST tonight to comment.

Alice Wertz
Amy Young
Kim Yu
Shaela Odd
YOU ARE HERE ---> Simonne Clay <--- YOU ARE HERE
Sparkle Smith
Stephanie Kraft
SCRS blog

I hope you all have a great Friday and I'll see you tomorrow for the final day of previews and RELEASE DAY, woo-hoo! Thanks so much for dropping by!

Hugs,

SCRS Preview: Leprechaun Oliver

Hi everyone and welcome to the first day of our Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps February release previews.

Today we are showcasing Leprechaun Oliver who comes with a "wishing you good luck" sentiment. All new releases will be available to buy from the Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Store on Saturday 11 February.

Supplies
SCRS Leprechaun Oliver rubber stamp
Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad; Vintage Photo Distress ink pad
Copic markers
Basic Grey 6x6 paper pad - Boxer (retired)
Spellbinders Nestabilities: Labels 18 & Ovals
Sew Sweet button twine

I had a tonne of fun colouring up this image!  (I did an extensive search on the www to make sure I got the colours right, otherwise it would have bugged me, lol!).  An interesting fact I found along the way was that the original dress of a leprechaun was a red coat edged in gold as opposed to the green we now all associate with these little guys.

Colouring was done with Copics as per usual and I used quite an array of different greens to get the colour I wanted. I decided that he was drinking a pint of good old Guiness (don't like the stuff myself) so I coloured his alejar brown rather than gold.   I used a Gold Copic Spica glitter pen for the gold trim on his clothes and buckles, even though the sparkle is very subtle (those of you who have these pens will know what I mean!).

I don't know how long it takes you to make a card, but I realised whilst making this one that I spend most of my time faffing around with layouts and embellishments! See that cute Prima layered flower?  Well, it took me 45 minutes ... yes, you read that right, 45 minutes to finally decide on that 3 flower layer!!  (And believe me I don't have a lot of flowers, just a small pot of the green ones!).  I really must spend less time doing this, or invest in a cute flower die so I can use felt or patterned paper that I know will match (I have my eye on an MFT one).  Anyway, that's quite enough chat, hee hee! 

Be sure to visit the rest of the fabulous SCRS designers for more peeks of Leprechaun Oliver. Sparkle will be giving away a Leprechaun Oliver rubber stamp to one lucky person! For a chance to WIN, you need to visit and comment on all of the designers' Leprechaun Oliver blog posts (listed below) then head on over to the SCRS blog and comment on the Leprechaun Oliver post there. You have until midnight EST tonight to comment.

Alice Wertz
Amber Hight
Danielle Lounds
Kerri Michaud
Kim Yu
Margie Cortina
Pam Varnell {February Guest Designer}
Savannah O'Gwynn
Shaela Odd
YOU ARE HERE---> Simonne Clay <--- YOU ARE HERE
Sparkle Smith
Stephanie Kraft
SCRS blog

I hope you all have a great Thursday! I'll be back tomorrow with a darling new Karber clear set preview!

Hugs,

Where I work...

Hi everyone!  Hope you're keeping warm this cold Thursday - brrrr!

I don't have a card to share today, but I thought it would be fun to post a few photos of where I craft instead. I use our dining room table (not lucky enough or rich enough to have my own craft room, lol!) which is beautiful solid oak, hence why I have a table protector plus a piece of red spotty vinyl tablecloth covering the top to protect it!

These photos were taken a few weeks ago when I was working on the January SCRS release.

My Copic Ciaos are kept in the 36 pen plastic holder thingies that they came in, sorted by colour.  I then keep the few promarkers that I own along with the few Copic sketch markers that I also own in a (clean!) Walls ice cream plastic container!  The 12x12 white plastic box in the top right of the photo holds all my 12x12 card stock (mostly Coredinations and kraft).  I keep the majority of my small collection of nesties in CD cases.  I've stuck bits of magnetic strips to both sides so that one CD case holds 2 sets of nesties.  The only machine I owned until recently is an old Cuttlebug. I won a Grand Calibur from Echo Park just before Christmas, but as it's too big to be put away in my crafting cupboard, it remains in its shipping box until I can find a home for it!  I have to be able to clear everything away at the end of the day as we do actually use this dining table to eat, lol!

It's a great room to craft in as I have our stereo in there and my piano is along the wall behind where I sit.  The room also has french doors which open onto the patio, which is lovely in the summer.  The room looks smaller than it is in real life.  When the weather gets better, I will take some more from outside so you can see all the mess which is currently out of shot, lol!

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs,