It’s been a long time, too long actually. April 10th, that was the last day I published a post about a hand made card! What with holidays, work and busy weekends I just haven’t been able to get back into my little crafty room upstairs until now, and I can tell you it felt really good to be back.
So, my card today is a cute House Mouse one for the current House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge who want to see May flowers. My garden is a mass of flowers right now due to the appalling April we had, there was no Spring like weather until the end of the month and into May really so we’ve ended up with everything in flower at once. It nuts really but the daffodils are still out, along with tulips, grape hyacinths, forsythia, cherry, apple and pear blossom, bergenia, phlox, orchids, bleeding hearts, viburnum and hellebores to name just a few. I’ve never seen them all flower at the same time before, and we’ve also been along to the garden centre and bought annuals so the pots of summer bedding are starting to appear on the deck too! It’s a bit surreal to be honest. What’s also about to flower in a day or two is the lilac, it has huge tight buds right now but it won’t take long for them to open, so I chose this image for my card. It’s called Sweet Dreams and was stamped for me by a friend, another cute HM stamp to add to the wish list!
I coloured the image mainly with water colour pencils but also with a few inks too and then liberally added Lavender Stickles to the flower head. The little butterfly was stamped directly on to the image panel and then stamped again on to pink card, accented with a purple glitter pen and then cut out and stuck over the first butterfly, curling up the wings a little. The petal backing paper was a 12″ x 12″ sheet that’s been in my stash forever, it’s simply called Rose Petals. The pale spotty paper is from K & Co Sweet Nectar pad. The purple, green and pink card is from The Paper Company and I cut everything out with a Nesties die. *TIP* I also had a light bulb moment too! I like to mat my cut outs, I think it looks better but my cutting skills aren’t that great. My light bulb moment came when I put the die on the purple card cutting side up and used a pencil to trace the outside outline and then just cut it out! Simple yes? Have no idea why I didn’t think about it before, and I’m probably the last person in the world to discover this but it was an absolute revelation!! I also traced the die on the back of the card so you wouldn’t see any pencil lines on the finished piece, you could also use patterned paper too just as long as you remember to trace it on the unprinted side. Amazing huh?!! I made the sentiment on the computer in Word using three text boxes so I could place the text how I wanted it.
Felt good to be back after all that time away from my beloved stamps and pretty papers!
Card Recipe:
- Card: Blank from Michaels ~ The Paper Company coloured card
- DP: K & Co Sweet Nectar pad ~ Rose Petals 12″ sheet (can’t remember the brand)
- Stamps: House Mouse Sweet Dreams ~ Kathryn White Garden Friends clear set
- Inks: Memento Purple Hydrangea, Bamboo Shoots, New Sprout & Summer Sky
- Embellies: Water colour pencils ~ Lavender & Cotton Candy Stickles ~ Prima Flowers ~ Making Memories Brad, Fiskars Glitter Pen ~ Wide organza ribbon from JoAnn ~ Purple ribbon from Michaels
- Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Nesties Labels Eight ~ Computer & Printer ~ McGill Fern Punch
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Challenges:
House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge ~ May Flowers
Christine said:
Awwww how sweet is this oh so cute mouse?? to darn cute..LOL I can just smell that lovely lilac blossom..stunning layout & creation Brenda thanks for sharing with us at HM & Friends Monday chall.
smniles Christine xx
Samantha :0) said:
Hi, Lovely card, really cute! Great take on the challenge, Great Tip too! Thanks for joining us
hugs Samantha Top Tip Tuesday :0)
Shaz in Oz.x said:
Hey love House mouse but also really love your light bulb moment there Brenda.. have not thought of that and will be using it in future so thanks heaps for the tip!! well done you!! and love the layout ..thanks for sharing Shaz in Oz.x
Nancy said:
All those flowers blooming at once sounds sooo pretty!
Your card is so cute! Love that image. Great coloring of the flowers!
Thanks for joining House Mouse & Friends Monday challenge.
Nancy – Guest Designer
Stamping 4 Pleasure said:
Oh YES! That’s lovely.
Blogger is BACK after his Fri 13th BIG TIME tantrum. YAY!
Hugs, Sandra x
Sue Drees said:
Beautiful coloring, great background papers. Love this stamp, in fact, we both used the same one!!
Great color combo and love how you made the mats. Thanks for joining us at the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge.
Hugs
Sue Drees
Angela (Toucan Scraps) said:
gorgeous card
Fuzzy Slippers said:
Oh lilacs are one of my favorites! Great card. Thanks for playing with us this week at Top Tip Tuesday. 🙂
Lorraine A said:
Gorgeous card 🙂 he looks so comfy lying there in the petals eh 🙂 very cute ,, the papers and embellies are all perfect too 🙂
Love the tip ,, I never thought of that either !! 🙂
thanks for joining us on the HM&F Monday Challenge 🙂
luv
Lols x x x
sue said:
Hi ya
aww a fabulous card, beautiful colouring, luv the sparkle, pretty papers & embelies,thank you for joining us at House Mouse & Friends this week, hope to see you next time, sue,x
Esme said:
Gorgeous card Brenda – love that image and the petal paper is beautiful!
Thanks for joining the HM&F Monday Challenge!
Esme xx (GDT)
america said:
wow- beautiful colors, coloring and papers. Gorgeous design. We’re so happy you could join us. Thanks so much for playing along at House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge. Hope to see you again next time too!!
Stacy aka Twinshappy said:
Very pretty, adorable HM he is so cute laying there. Great coloring and your flower is perfect. Thanks for playing in the House Mouse and Friends Blog Challenge.
Sue from Oregon said:
Wonderful creation Brenda! So glad to have you join in again! I like to mat my nesties too. I just use a sharp craft knife and cut around the outside edge of the nestie (I tape it in place). Any rough spots I just sand down. I saw that tip on Becca’s blog! Thanks for joining in at House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge! See you soon! ♥ Sue Kment