Cute Monkey - Hello There!

While we're still waiting for summer to get here I decided to take my son & my friend over to Glasgow for a day out.

As always on our trips to Glasgow our first stop is the Chinese bakery for a supply of pork buns (yum!). This was followed by lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in Saracen Street before heading off to the shops. School clothes shopping with a 16 year old male of the species is such a joy - not! I swear that it was easier taking him shopping when he was a toddler that it is now he's a teenager! I haven't decided if it's a male thing or a teenager thing but either way it's hard work!

 

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided to use the small "Cute Monkey" Hot of the Press stamp set I bought in a sale a while ago but had yet to use it to make something - I thought this sketch seemed ideal.

 

The stamp set consists of the main "Cute Monkey", the "Hello there!" sentiment, a single leaf and a banana. I coloured a small piece of card using pastel yellow Promarker and used the wee banana stamp to make a background for the rear panel. The single leaf was stamped onto a small strip of cardstock for the banner behind the main embellishment. 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock

PayPer Box - Ivory

Stamp

Hot off the Press - Cute Monkey Set

Inks

Tsukineko - Brilliance Tiramisu

Letraset Promarkers

 

 

 

 

 

Hugs & Kisses - FMS 187

Last weekend I had been looking for a new corner rounder punch as mine had decided it didn't want to play any more. I found an X-Cut one online which did both converse and inverse versions so I decided to order it.  The new punch arrived the same day as the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge was published so imagine my surprise to see that it featured inverse corners!

 

Instead of using the inverse corners on the embellishment I made them a feature on the base of the card design and some Spellbinders Labels 4 for the "Hugs and Kisses" topper.

 

After the problems I had earlier with the new Spellbinders Sapphire butterfly die I wasn't really in the mood to put a butterfly on my card! Instead I decided use the Crafter's Companion "Moonbeam Meadow" stamp of two cute wee mice kissing - aw!

I had some of the nice PayPer Box turquoise cardstock left so used that as a starting point for my colour scheme and used my trusty Promarkers to co-ordinate.

 

 

 

 

Cardstock

Image Supersmooth - White

PayPer Box - Turquoise
Card Candy - White (coloured with Cool Aqua Promarker)

Embossing Folder:
Darice Dots

 

Dies/Stamps

Crafter's Companion Moonbeam Meadow
Sizzix - Small Hearts

Ink:
Memento Brilliance Trio "Tiramisu" - Black
Letraset Promarkers - Various

Ribbon:
Club Green - White with Silver

 

Scrap Paper Makes

Like most crafters I seem to have amassed loads of bits and bobs including rather a lot assorted scrap pieces of paper that have ended up in my "might come in handy at some point" box. Last night I was going through the box to see what was there as winging it's way to me in the next few days is one of the new Spellbinder Sapphire Die Cut & Embossing machines. These machines are teeny tiny and to me seem an ideal way of turning the scraps into small die cuts.  In the meantime, I decided to turn some of the larger pieces into something useful and came up with these covers for sticky note pads (generic Post-It notes).

These covers are easy to make and are a great way to turn something boring into something pretty. 

If you are looking to entertain the kids on a rainy afternoon these sticky note pads can be picked up in various "Pound" stores (I've found packs of 3 or 4 for £1). They could be made as gifts or perhaps for fundraising at school or group. You can keep them simple, personalise them or really jazz them up with lots of bling!  I made some of these at Christmas time and teamed them up with matching calendars using calendar tabs to give as "mindings".

 

Paper from Trimcraft Spring in Bloom 6x6" Pad,

Flower Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

Paper from Trimcraft Kiss and Tell 6x6" Pad,

Flowers - Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms,

Patterned Craft Tape - Papermania Capsule Collection Spots and Stripes Jewels

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

For the men - something a bit more macho:

 

 

Cardstock White Pearlescent & Matt Copper Metallic from PayPer Box. The Copper cardstock were trimmed pieces left over from embossing with Darice folders Steam Punk Gears & Diamond Plate Pattern

 

White "Card Candy" pieces were coloured with Memento Brilliance Tiramisu Ink Pad and made to resemble screws by denting them with end of a nail file!

Busy Wee Bee!

It was a bit last gasp but last night I thought that as it is our Wedding Anniversary (today) perhaps I'd better get a move on and get the card I'd been saying for the last month I was going to make for hubby finally made!

In the end it didn't come out in anyway shape or form as I'd planned over the weeks. I lost count of the chopping and changing I made - the original idea was, by now, long gone out the window! Anyway here is the card that greeted him this morning:

 

 

 

 Card Stock:

Black, Ivory Leather Effect and the Gold Pearlised cards all from PayPer Box

Patterned Card from Trimcraft 6x6" Serenity Pad

 

Dies:

Spellbinders Nestabilities Radiant Rectangles

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Arched Elegance

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK w/Stamps - Hello, Jillibean Soup by Hampton Art

Stamps:

Sizzix Framelits Stamps - Hello, Jillibean Soup by Hampton Art

Ink:

Black from the 3 colour Ink Pad Tsukineko Brilliance Pad, Tiramisu

 

 

 

 

By the time I finished John's card I was on a roll and decided to make something else.

 

Earlier in the week, whilst out with my friend, we were looking in the window of a rather pricey Gift Shop which had opened recently. It was there we saw a couple of handmade cards for a new baby which were in a "onesie" shape. They were made in brown Kraft Card, which had been very roughly cut out (you could see lots of what looked like jagged scissor marks) and then stamped with a sentiment. I couldn't see a price on them but going by the rest of the prices in the shop, they were unlikely to be cheap! 

 

So at 0200hrs this morning, I decided to see if I could do better. I made up a template from a piece of UK A6 (US A2?) sized card using a ruler and a small circle die (it came from the free gift I received when I signed up to Tonic Gold). Once complete I used the template to trace around a tent folded A6 card and came up with this, the collar/bib was cut from a Spellbinders D-Lites Love Locket border die:

 

 





I'll have another try later to see if I can refine the design a bit more.

 Card Stock:

White Pearlised and Aqua Spotty card from PayPer Box

 

Dies

Spellbinders D-Lites Love Locket (cut down to form bib/collar)

Tonic Circle die (from their freebie Tonic Gold die) to form neck & leg holes.

 

Embellishment

Pearls tinted using Promarkers and the "Charming" sentiment came from my craft stash both originally came from Home Bargains.