Ah those fun filled days of Summer. Huddling up to the radiator, freezing cold while the rain comes down outside like stair rods, piling the extra blankets on the bed cause it turned so cold, sitting on the beach wrapped in ten layers and three beach towels, eating sand laden sandwiches while the wind roars by at hurricane speed, dipping your toes in the North Sea and running squealing like a little piggy back up the beach because it was so cold you’d expect to see icebergs floating by! Oh the joys of Summer in the North East of England when I was growing up!! All that and more I have to say. You did see the weather over the weekend for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations didn’t you?? I rest my case, lol!
But one of the joys of Summer for me as a child was a trip to the Pick Your Own strawberry fields in July or early August, assuming of course that the sun had appeared long enough and was warm enough that year to ripen the berries! We would go every year without fail, bringing home big containers of plump, sweet strawberries which we would have to eat in a few days because they don’t keep. We would always puree quite a lot and either freeze or bottle/can it, and then in the depths of a snowy winter there would suddenly be a fresh strawberry trifle on the table for “afters” on a Sunday tea time. I can still remember that blast of Summer on your lips when the snow was falling outside.
So when I saw the House Mouse & Friends challenge for this fortnight of “Here Comes The Sun”, I thought about what summer meant to me and I immediately thought of the strawberries, so I made this strawberry themed card.
I water coloured the image with Distress Inks and a few Marvy Markers, adding a few little drops of Crystal Stickles to some of the berry seeds, cut it out with a Deckle Edge Rectangle Spellbinders Die and mounted it on to some blue card. The sentiment is from a free Molly Blooms clear set.
The lovely strawberry paper is from Making Memories and I paired it with some dotty paper from MME , a freebie from a UK card magazine, as was the Molly Blooms stamp set. The ric-rac is actually sticky backed paper trim from a company called Trim W/Flair and it comes in really useful sometimes. I based the LO on the current sketch at Sketch Saturday (rotated it) and kept it very simple with just a few gems from Kars to finish it off.
Card Recipe:
- Card: Blank from Michaels ~ The Paper Company blue scraps
- DP: Making Memories English Garden ~ My Minds Eye Summer papers
- Stamps: House Mouse Sleeping With Strawberries ~ Molly Blooms sentiment
- Ink: Versafine Black ~ Distress Ink Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Festive Berries, Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender & Victorian Velvet
- Embellies: Trim W/Flair Paper Ric Rac ~ Crystal Stickles ~ Kars Pearls ~ Marvy Uchida Markers
- Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Spellbinders Die
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Challenges:
House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge ~ Fun In The Sun
Sketch Saturday ~ Current Sketch (I rotated it)
Kathyk said:
Ah yes, coming down in stair rods here too.
Your card is fab and those strawberries look good enough to eat!
Kathyk
angie said:
What a fantastic marriage of papers and stamp …not to mention colouring.
Amy said:
Love your card (though winter is strawberry season here!). Beautiful coloring and the patterned paper is so pretty.
Viksya said:
So lovely! One of my favourite stamp! So cute card!!!
Stamping For Pleasure (Sarn) said:
I absolutely adore this card and that self-satisfied look on the House Mousies face! Fab image and I love the papers you teamed it with.
xxx
Lorraine A said:
Gorgeous card Brenda 🙂 such a cute image and the papers are just perfect ! lovely colours too 🙂 LOVE it 🙂
thanks for joining us on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge 🙂
luv
Lols x x x
Stacy aka Twinshappy said:
This makes me smile as one of my first ever HM stamps. The dp is a perfect match, great CAS style card. Thanks for joining us at House Mouse and Friends Blog Challenge this week.
Sue Drees said:
Brenda, love how you matched the papers with this all time fav stamp. Never get tired of the little mouse in the strawberry patch. Beautiful soft papers are so pretty. Thanks for sharing and joining the fun at the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge.
Hugs
Sue
Kate said:
What a fabulous way to spend you time in the sun, and gorgeous image choice and colouring, thank you for sharing with us at the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge
Hugs Kate xx
Shaz in oz.x said:
aw, Brenda! this issoooo cute and do love the papers you were playing with at WOYWW too the card looks fab – should be a winner! Shaz in oz.x
Donna Hanley said:
AWWW such a sweet image and your papers are also so sweet. I think I’ll go get a strawberry out of my garden right now. Thanks for the idea. .
Paula Gale said:
Hiya Brenda
What a great card – love how you’ve water-coloured with the DI’s. Absolutely love the papers too – great how they all match.
Lol at the memories of going to the beach in the north all wrapped up… I’ve never been as far up north on holiday, but non-the-less, had holidays on the East Coast i.e. Mablethorpe, Skegness, Ingoldmells – all those places – Scarborough, Bridlington, Filey… Yep – its all the same.
My MIL used to take my boys all the time when they were little to pick strawberries – they thought the ride on the tractor was always the best part!!
Big hugs
Paula x x x
Rica said:
A fabulous card, your image is beautifully coloured and such a brilliantly papers – so co-ordinated.
hugs
Heather xx
Thanks for joining the House Mouse and Friends challegne.
Bernie said:
Gorgeous card Brenda! Such a cute image and the papers are a perfect match! When we lived in Calif. we would go to a pick your own farm. They had huge strawberries. We’d make pies and jams. The best ones were placed on cookie sheets and frozen then bagged. When he came home from school he’d rush to the freezer and grab a few. Only took a few at a time so he could eat them before they thawed. Sweet memories.
Hugs
Christine said:
Hi Brenda I dont have far to go to the beach(10mins. walk) ..yep on the North east coast UK (Filey) you defo have to get wrapped up..love your sweet guy with a belly full of strawberry’s..wish i was picking them now..lol..great colouring & background..fab design..
Thanks for sharing at HM & friends chall this wk..
smiles Christine x
sue said:
Hi hun
aww adorable card, fabulous colouring, think the strawberries turn into mush this year with all the bloomin rain!! thank you for joining us at House Mouse & Friends this week, sue,x
Claudia said:
Hi there, what a great creation. Love the combination of the papers and your coloration is just fantastic.
Hugs claudia