Bears - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning bloggers!

It's new challenge time at Sweet stampin', and our challenge this week is bears.
This can of course only mean one thing! you guessed it; James!

And it's also a good excuse to get cracking on those Christmas cards!

James is of course paired with LotV papers, and there's a Tim Holtz sentiment in there too... I tried to keep the card as flat as possible, as our local post office has closed, so it's a real struggle to post things that don't go in a regular envelope!

That's it from me. Go see what my fellow Sweeties have prepared, and then why not come and play?

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Inspired by a book or film - Sweet Stampin' DT

Gooood morning all!

If all has gone according to plan, by the time you all read this I will have already been in town - freezing my bottom off - for a couple of hours, escorting my dearest daughter and her friend to a comic book event.
Oh the joys of being a parent!

At least I won't be in the snow (I hope!), unlike poor James, as you will see in a moment. You see, it's time for a inspired by a book or film challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and I decided to ink up this adorable LOTV stamp.

The film I used for inspiration was one which, although well acted and well-represented in the eye candy department by the scrummy John Schneider, was rather lacking in terms of story cohesion and... well... logic. lol. The title is "Snow Beast". Feel free to look it up, but I would suggest it's for die-hard fans only!

So, without further ado, my Snow Beast, which is rather cuter and cuddlier than the one in the film!

The papers are a mixture of LOTV and Dovecraft.

I always love to see what books or films inspire other people to create, so please do come and share with us this week!

Hope you all enjoy your (bank holiday if you're in the UK) weekend, and if I don't see you before, Happy Star Wars Day for Monday!

May the fourth be with you!

Sammy-x

Cute and Cuddly - Sweet Stampin' DT

Good morning ladies and gentlepeoples.

Are you ready for a new challenge? How about a cute and cuddly one? I hope so, because that's the theme over at Sweet Stampin' this week, and we'd really like to see you play along!

Now, for me, Cute and Cuddly tends to equate to bears. Other animals/people can be cute and cuddly too, but bears remind me of my baby bear (obviously), who just happens to be the cuddliest boy in the world!

I used an adorable bear stamp from LOTV, and the papers and sentiments are theirs also.
I used a memory box tulip border die, and some Sue Wilson flower dies.
I matted everything with kraft card, which I personally think goes so well with those papers!
And of course the image was coloured with my Promarkers. Oh, and there's a Hobby House brad holding the flowers together. And some pearls...

Well, I think I managed cute and cuddly, no? I know for a fact most of you are seasoned "cute and cuddly" crafters, so you have no excuse not to join in, for those of you that don't do cute, this is a perfect opportunity to expand your horizons ;-)

I would really like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Ribbon Girl - January colour challenge (pink)
In the Pink - Pink and pearly  (I hope it's pink enough!)
Creative Inspirations - Pretty pearls

Have a fantabulous weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

Happy birthday to Sweet Stampin'!

Good morning folks,

Yes, I know I'm butting in when it's not my week again, but Sweet Stampin' is celebrating it's 5th birthday, and I naturally had to come and celebrate too! The theme is, understandably, birthdays.

It just so happens that yesterday was my baby bear's birthday. (Baby bear being our nick-name for our son, who has been completely obsessed with bears since he was 4 years old...)
I'd had an idea for his birthday card since before his last birthday, but as I didn't have a colour printer at the time, I couldn't carry it out. I could now however!

I started with stamping a Kanban bear and colouring him, then adding a "birthday hugs" sentiment. My son is very fond of hugs, to my ever lasting joy!

The paper is Grace Taylor.
When that was done, I printed out photographs of 8 of his favourite teddies (ok, so one is a snowman, but snowman has been his best friend since he was 1 year old!). I made up a little booklet with the pictures, and each one has a different word to spell out a birthday greeting.
I also added some bunting die-cuts here and there.

It can display nicely too, though taking pictures is pretty awkward, lol.

I'm pleased to say he was over the moon with his card, and the look of joy on his face as he flicked through the pages was the best thing in the world to see!

So, do you fancy making a birthday card (don't forget to use a rubber or digi stamp!) and helping us celebrate? But first, go see what my fellow Sweeties have been up to, and bid welcome to our fabulous new Sweeties too!

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

A very special card...

Hi all,

I've figured out that probably about 95% of the cards I make, I make just for the fun of it. Only 5% are actually made with a specific person in mind. So naturally when a card is made for someone in particular, it becomes that much more special. Especially when that someone is my youngest, who is going to be 11 on Thursday! I honestly don't know where the years have gone!

So, a card for my son. One of those must contain 2 things. First one or more bears. When he was 4 years old, he had so much fun playing "goldilocks and the three bears" with us one day, that he insisted on being called "Baby Bear" ever since. It stuck. My baby bear has Aspergers. This means he can get pretty obsessive about things, and bears are an example of that. He started collecting teddies a few years ago, and has over 100 of them now! He is also, despite being almost 11, really big on cuddles. I personally think this is a great thing! lol.
The second thing the card must have is the colour blue. Preferably light blue. It is his favourite colour, and another thing he can get very obsessive about. (They learnt the hard way at school that it was probably best to let him be on the blue team on sports days! lol)

Anyways, The other day I won a digi over at Beccy's Place and I knew immediately which one it would have to be!

And there we go. A card for my baby bear. (Excuse the rubbish handwriting on my part, lol)  I hope he likes it!

Recipe:

Image - "Beary Loving" - Beccy's Place
Medium - Promarkers
Papers - "Bear necessities" - LOTV
Sentiment - Part of the "handwritten phrases" - LOTV
Dies: Sizzix Framelits "stars"
Washi Tape - Dovecraft "Cupcake Boutique"
White and kraft card and buttons from stash.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

613 Avenue - Anything goes - World peace day  (Can't get more "peaceful" than a lovely hug!)
Paper Creator - Birthday
Moving along with the times - Furry friends
Cards Galore - Animals

Hope you're all having an awesomesauce day!

Sammy-x

Crafting with Dragonflies challenge #14

Hello all,

I'm scheduling this post and fingers crossed it will do as it's told...

It's time for the next challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies, and this fortnight we'd like you to make your own flower embellishments!

Our  sponsor is

And they will provide the winner with two digis of their choice.

I have to admit I found this one tricky... I ended up making three cards before I settled on this one. However, it's an incentive, as I am now determined to learn how to make lots of different flowers!

Anyway, here is my card

The petals were cut from pearlised card and arranged with the image on top to hide the joins. I fancied doing a black and white, but wanted a pop of colour too, so out came the turquoise Promarker. The ribbon and card candi were both coloured with the same pen.

Recipe:

Image - "Present Trio" - LOTV
Medium - Promarkers
Paper - Brocade paperstack - Make and Create
Card Candi
Black and white card, ribbon from stash
Sentiment - Jayne Nestorenko

Now it's your turn! Make us some flowers. They don't have to end up on a card (in fact, I just remembered seeing a pin with a tutorial for gorgeous huge tissue paper flowers... must go dig that out and give it a try!), unless you want them to. mostly, I just want to see what you all come up with so I can steal your ideas appreciate your creativeness!
Don't forget to check out the rest of the Dragonfly DT team's creations. Trust me, there's some beauties.

Much love,

Sammy-x
(who should, all things going according to plan, be fast asleep in bed as it's the wee hours of the morning!)

Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time, in a land not so far from here, lived a lovable young bear called James. He lived (together with Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear) in a cave in the woods on the edge of a beautiful valley.

Now, you have to understand that The Valley was in a magical land where the sun shone brightly every day and it was summer all year round. Trees blossomed and flowers bloomed and animals and people lived together in perfect harmony.

But James was bored.

Being an inquisitive sort of bear, James was always questioning everything around him, and he made friends with every weary traveller that passed through the Valley and stopped to rest. Through these travellers, James heard rumours and magical tales of a curious substance. This substance was said to be very cold to the touch, yet light and fluffy until pressed together into a more compact state, which could be used to build the most wondrous things.

“Well!” Said James to himself. “I must experience this for myself!” So off he went to ask Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear for permission to travel out of the Valley to locate this mysterious snow.

But Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear were not at all happy with the idea of James travelling through the dangerous world beyond the valley and forbade him to leave.

As James would not disobey his parents (he was an exceptionally good young bear you know!), he would have to somehow find a way to bring snow to the valley instead.

“I know!” exclaimed James. “I will ask the fairy Queen for help.” So off our enterprising young bear went on his grand adventure (which took him almost the entire afternoon, and is a tale for another time) and eventually he found himself before the fairy Queen. He explained his wish to see snow to her and the fairy queen was delighted with the request. She smiled and clapped her hands and small soft white flakes began to fall from the sky.

Wide-eyed with wonder, James hurried home as quickly as he could to share this wonderful discovery with Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear. By the time he got home, he was up to his knees in the cold, white snow.

“Mummy! Daddy! Come see!” He exclaimed. His parents rushed to see what the commotion was about, and found their son lying in the snow, excitedly moving his arms and legs back and forth. When he stood up and went over to his parents, Daddy Bear pointed and said “Look, you made an angel!”

James looked at the spot he’d just been lying in. “No, not an angel,” he said with a smile. “A fairy. A fairy Queen.” He hugged his mother and they went inside for a drink of hot chocolate, while outside the snow continued to fall, covering the entire Valley in a pure white blanket.

The end.

Hehe... Sorry about that... I was having some trouble getting my mojo kickstarted, so I decided to write a little something about James instead. It worked! lol.

Recipe:

Image - "James snow angel" - LOTV 

Medium - Promarkers

Papers - Crafts beautiful freebie

Stickles

Fran-tage

White & kraft card, pearls and glittery snowflake stickers.

Sentiment - Happy Holidays vintage Christmas stamps (magazine freebie)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Christmas Card Challenges - Something new (Stamp)

Have an excellent day everyone!

Sammy-x

P.S.  So very chuffed! I came in the Top 3 at Card Crafter's Circle! :-D 

Teddies!

I came across a card in a recent issue of Creative Stamping, which masked a teddy bear in order to put two of them on a card together. I was aware of the basic principle, but had never attempted masking before, so decided to give it a whirl.
I used one of my old favourite stamps. It's from Dovecraft, and is probably my most used stamp to date! It's just such an adorable bear!

I used the sample card for inspiration, but changed the colour of the card to brown, and tweaked the layout a little (it just called out for a sentiment, I thought and flowers, and bling!). All in all though, I'm really happy with my first attempt at masking. I may well play some more soon :-)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:

Creative Inspirations - Monochrome 

Have a fabulous day everyone!

Sammy-x