Meet The Fuzzbogs

Check out these cute little fellas... :)

 

 

These happy chaps are called the Fuzzbogs. They're furry, friendly little monsters and they are the newest additions to my new range of Alipeeps' Art digi stamps... they're available now from the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

 

You can buy each Fuzzbog (Wumble, Fumble and Mumble) individually or you can buy them as a digi stamp bundle which also includes a variety of sentiments in .png format which can easily be layered onto Fuzzbog Mumble's sign before printing.

 

 

I made this card by simply colouring the Fuzzbogs with Promarkers, cutting them out and attaching them with foam tape to a white card blank along with a strip of washi tape. Quick and cute. :)

 

 

I can see me playing with these little guys lots more... they just look so cute coloured in! :D

 

Support Your Favourite Charity

The new monthly challenge begins today at Sweet Pea Stampers and the theme is "Support Your Favourite Charity". To enter the challenge you need to make a card, or other project, that in some way supports or relates to your favourite charity.

 

 

For my card I've used this gorgeous digi image (also available in red rubber) by Rebecca Sinz called Sweet Demon. I've also used a fabulous quote stamp that I saw in a craft shop a few months back and just had to get as it tickled my sense of humour. :) It's also very appropriate for this card, in more ways than one.

 

The charity to which my card relates is Arthritis Research UK (previously known as the Arthritis Research Council) and this charity is close to my heart for a good reason...

 

I was first diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 2. It went into remission when I was 4 and my parents were told different things by different doctors... some said I was more likely to get arthritis as an adult and at a younger than usual age, others said juvenile arthritis was completely different and I was no more likely to get adult arthritis as anyone else.

 

Turns out the first lot were right. I developed arthritis in my 20s, initially in one knee and I now have it in both. It's not as bad as some sufferers (and thankfully it's not rheumatoid) but it does affect my mobility and has a direct impact on my daily life.

 

 

The reasons I chose this image and this quote for my card are many. I love the Rebecca Sinz image and the contrast of her demonic wings and her cuddling a bunny. The cuteness and bunny-cuddling kind of ties into the quote, the with idea of not wanting to be a grown up. :) And from a personal perspective, the pose of the character says a lot to me about my arthritis... cos I would never in a million years be able to sit like that! :lol: I doubt I could even get into that position (kneeling down and sitting back on her heels) and if I managed to I would be in a lot of pain and would find getting back up even more difficult than getting there in the first place! In fact, it's a sad fact of my life for many years now that I avoid kneeling down at all unless there's no other choice. So when I coloured this image with my Promarkers, I gave her my red hair (not that I'd ever look that good in a skimpy dress! :lol:).

 

 

And as for the quote, aside from the fact that it makes me laugh, it says a lot, I think, about what it's like having a condition like arthritis as a (relatively) young person. Most peope seem to assume that arthritis is an old person's disease and would never think that someone in their 20s, or even 30s, would have it. And as a child you really don't expect to have painful, stiff joints and to be unable to kneel down or sit comfortably on the floor when you're only in your 20s, or 30s.

 

So that's why I made this card and why it is in support of Arthritis Research UK. :)

 

The challenge will run for a month and you don't have to use a Sweet Pea Stamps product to enter - though obviously we would love to see your Sweet Pea creations and entries using a Sweet Pea product will be given an extra chance in the prize draw.

I'm going to enter this card into a couple of challenges:
Passion for Promarkers - Cut Out Your Image
 

 

Sweet Pea Stamps Challenge

Have you seen the fabulous new challenge at the Sweet Pea Stamps blog?

 

It's all about using Sweet Pea Stamps images for scrapbooking and all you have to do to enter is create a 12x12 scrapbook page using photos and using a Sweet Pea Stamps image as a focal point. The winning entry will win a whopping $50 to spend in the Sweet Pea Stamps store!

 

Some of the Design Team have been making scrapbook pages with Sweet Pea Stamps to help give you a bit of inspiration and I knew straight away what stamp I wanted to use:

 

 

I got this stamp a while ago and have been dying to use it. It's by Valarie Wade and it's called Mia. Given that that's my DD2's name, I just had to have it, didn't I? :D

 

And when Mia dressed up in a fairy dress last weekend (she just loves dressing up and often spends most of the day wandering round with a tutu on over her clothes, or wearing a hat, or wellie boots! :D) I snapped a quick photo on my phone and knew it would be perfect for a scrapbook page using the Mia stamp. :)

 

 

I coloured the image to match with the colours in the photo and fussy cut around it. I used some scrummy Basic Grey papers from the Pink Lemonade collection and layered lots of blossoms and foilage before adding the cut-out Mia image on top.

 

 

I used a border punch on the photo mat and my Stampin' Up! Simply Scored embossing plate to emboss the edges of the patterned papers. I also added some Kaiserkraft wooden flourishes.

 

 

For the title I used wooden letters and some teeny tiny alphas that I printed myself on the computer using the BabyBlocks font.

 

You've got until May 6th to enter the competition - an InLinkz will be added to the Sweet Pea Stamps blog on April 30th and the winner will be announced on May 15th. So get creating! :)

 

P.S. If you haven't got any Sweet Pea Stamps yet, now's the time to buy - until Friday there's 25% off all rubber stamps and if you spend $30 on digi stamps, you'll get a gift voucher for $6 to spend in store.

 

WOYWW 201

Ooops. The mess is starting to encroach a little again!

 

 

In my defence, it's been a crazy busy couple of weeks, with Easter and then my DD1's birthday (and birthday party). So much so that I've not done much crafting for the past few days... although I have spent this evening finishing up a scrapbook page (woot, an actual paper scrapbook page - I never seem to get around to doing those much anymore!) which is sitting on the desk while some silicone glue dries. It's not something I can share just yet though, hence why I've haphazardly covered it with a random instruction leaflet (from the kiddy digital camera I got DD1 for her birthday! :lol:)!

 

Ooh I did do one other bit of crafting in the past few days though... I managed to find time in the day before DD1's birthday to make her a birthday card!

 

 

I was struggling for inspiration at first but she had been banging on for weeks about wanting an Octonauts birthday cake for her party so I thought, why not go with the same theme for her card? :) I googled for the image and used a SU stamp (it reminds me of bubbles!) for the background and cut the name and number 4 on my Cameo. Simple, but effective - and she loved it.

 

Oh and the Octonauts cake? Was. Awesome.

 

 

I'd never had a cake professionally made before but I googled for local cake makers and called Sara's Celebration Cakes. I'd left it a bit late to order but, bless her, she said she could squeeze us in. She'd never heard of the Octonauts (it's an animated show on the pre-schoolers cBeebies channel, for those not in the know!) but she went away and googled it and came back and suggested that she could make the Gup-B ship with the 3 main characters sitting in it. And that's exactly what she did. I was - and, quite frankly, still am -  amazed by it! It totally exceeded my expectations. The level of detail was incredible (down to teeny tiny icing Octonauts logos on the tailfin of the ship!) and it also tasted great! DD1 *loved* it. :)

 

 

So thank you, Sara, for helping to make my little girl's first proper birthday party absolutely brilliant. :)

 

And on that note, I shall sign off and head to bed. Hope you enjoy your skip around the craft desks of blogland and that Wednesday is good to you.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I love working with Sweet Pea Stamps... not only because of the gorgeous stamps I get to create with, but also because of the awesome team of creative ladies I get to work with and the fabulous inspiration I get from seeing their creations.

This week I have taken a bit of inspiration from one of my fellow-DT members and done my own take on Milo's gorgeous, super-detailed style:

 

I have to admit that I love how this turned out. :)

I've used Ching Chou Kuik's beautiful Red Rose digi stamp. I love the Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls influence of this image. I coloured her with Promarkers, using red and gold colours and keeping her skin super-pale.

 

 

I teamed the image with a red and black colour scheme and lots of texture and detail for a rather gothic/baroque feel.

 

 

I cut a card shaped card blank with My Cameo and layered some gorgeous Basic Grey paper (from the Boxer collection) onto it. I then added lots of texture and dimension with flowers and lace and fabric and trinkets, cutting out the image and layering it over the top of it all:

 

 



I added lots of little decorative touches like a little metal pendant which I filled with more of the patterned paper and layers of UTEE, into which I set a paper rose, and a little shrink plastic butterfly.

 

Other additions include a little wooden key with I coloured black with my Promarkers and coated with Glossy Accents...

 

And some heart-shaped decorative pins and a ticket stamped onto kraft card.
 

You can buy this gorgeous image in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store. Hope you like my card and that Milo doesn't mind me "borrowing" her fabulous style. :)

 

Butterflies and Bling

Time for another challenge at One Stitch At A Time and it's our most popular theme - Anything Goes! No restrictions - you can make anything you like, using anything you like! :D

 

For my card this week I chose to work with this lovely Butterfly Frame image by Floppy Latte Designs:

 

 

I love this image so much, it's so versatile! Every time I look at it I get another idea for how I want to use it. :D (I'm currently thinking of cutting around the aperture and layering patterned paper behind it! :D).

 

For this card I printed the digi stamp 3 times in the same size and used my Promarkers for colouring. I also printed the stamp again on copy paper and cut out a mask for the section of leaves/butterfly inside the frame and masked that area while I stamped my sentiment (a Tim Holtz stamp) inside the frame:

 

 

I coloured one image as the base image (and stamped my sentiment onto it) and then with the second image I coloured just the butterfly and leaves, and cut them out, and finally I coloured and cut out just the butterfly from the third image. I then bent up the leaves/wings for a bit of dimension and layered the sections on top of each other:

 

 

I decorated my card (a cream card blank) with some gorgeous paper from DCWV's Mariposa stack and border punched a sqaure of orangey-gold card using Martha Stewart punches.

 

 

I finished things off with lots of lovely bling from some gemstone flourishes:

 

 

As ever, you don't need to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter the OSAAT challenge - but if you do you'll be entered into the draw to win the main prize of a bunch of fabulous Stitchy Bear stamps! Entries without a Stitchy Bear product will have a chance to win a $3 gift voucher for the Stitchy Bear digi outlet. :)

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create - Spring Fever
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Spring Into Spring
Lacy Sunshine - Anything Goes
Robyn's Fetish - Anything Goes
Scrappy Frogs - Think Spring
Allsorts - Spring Has Sprung

 

My birthday girl

Yesterday was DD1's 4th birthday. Still can't quite believe it... my little girl is getting so grown up! :)

 

I took some really lovely photos of her yesterday - my mum bought her a gorgeous floaty, flowery dress and she just looked adorable in it.

 

So I just couldn't resist doing a quick scrapbook page last night:

 

 

I used paper and elements from the Elegance kit by Valentina's Creations and used Photoshop Elements to put it all together.

 

I know I'm biased - as is every mum - but she really is just beautiful. :)

 

The celebrations continue this afternoon with a birthday party with some of her pre-school friends. Should be fun. :D

 

And I'm sure I'll come away with some more great photos to scrap.