WLS July#2 - summertime

Good Morning everyone

Time for some mid month inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

SUMMERTIME

Or we also have the anything goes option as long as you use stamps

Here in England we have alot of old houses and stately homes run by the national trust or English Heritage and lots of people like to visit them for a day out in the summer as they often also have very large gardens to explore as well as enjoy the historic house, some even like to take a picnic and make a day of it.  So my card today is loosely based on this summer outing.

Ive used window/door stamp set from Katzelkraft stamped in grey and die cut into an arch to give the feel of an oldie worldie home, looking at it from the garden through the flowers.  All stamped in grey with soft watercolour colouring onto cream linen card.  I think it ended up with the vibe of the end of a long hot summer when everything feels tardy and bleached out😁

Approx size 5x7"

I stamped the window onto cream linen card in grey versafine clair ink and die cut into an arch.  I added some text stamping in grey around the panel to add texture and feel of stone walls and then softly watercoloured with distress inks.  Lightly inked the edges in grey and matted onto cardbase die cut from more cream linen.

I then stamped the flowers in grey, watercoloured with distress inks, cut out and got arranging.  To make the flowers look more natural I cut the heads of some and glued back on the stems at different angles so that they weren't all facing the same way.  Stamped the quote onto more cream linen and added among the flowers.

Just a close up of the flowers, i added shape to the heads and adhered with pinflair glue gel for dimension which also made it easier to tuck the quote inbetween them.

Version 2 using a different door stamp from the set

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamps 'les portes'

Katzelkraft stamps 'carpe diem quotes'

aall&create stamps #851 'rise & shine'

Distress Inks - cracked pistachio, evergreen bough, shaded lilac, iced spruce, dried marigold, wild honey, ripe persimmon, 

Versafine Clair Ink 'Morning mist'

Crealies XL arch dies

CraftUk Ltd cream linen card

We have this lovely prize from Lavinia for the lucky winner so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in with your stamped makes and be in with a chance of winning

I hope you are all coping ok with the heat here in the UK, just not use to it are we, my MS hates it so Im hibernating in front of the fans.  The farms are getting desperate for some rain now, I expect when it does start raining it won't know when to stop!  Keep cool everyone and carry on crafting. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-flowers-challenge.html

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/2026/07/neglected-july-2026-challenge.html - haven't used all 3 sets of stamps for years

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https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/miucb-84-anything-goes-optional-shape.html

 

WLS May#1 - All creatures great and small

 

            Good Morning all

Its the first Sunday of May so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme is 

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

So lots of choice there but you can always go with our anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Having hundreds of stamps suitable for the theme I decided to go literal and use some of the smallest and largest animal stamps I have and to lessen my choice even more I decided to use old stamps not seen for a while, this made choosing much easier for me, so to start with we have a little happy mouse

                              Card approx 5x6" Made from black card.  I decided to use this very old paper pad as the camera paper went with the mouse perfectly, so everything is from the paper pad apart from black and white cardstock.  

I stamped the mouse onto yellow paper from the pad and cut out.  I stamped the nose and camera again onto different colours and paper pieced onto the main image.  I used a pink alcohol marker to add colour to the tail and ears and a white gel pen for his teeth and eyes.  I then die cut the polaroid frame from white and the inner section from a blue paper, on this blue paper i once again stamped the mouse so that i had his whiskers in place, over this i adhered the yellow mouse.  Matted onto black cardstock.

I matted and layered various papers from the pad and added to the base card, adding the polaroid on top with foam pads at a jolly angle.  I cut the sentiments/speech bubbles and arrows from another paper in the pad.  

                                               

Just a close up on Mr Mouse.  Sadly Katzelkraft stamps are another stamp company that is no more.  

A Jolly bright happy card for either children or those young at heart cheerful adults and I smiled all the time while making it so its win win😁🐭

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamps SOLO179 'La Souris photographe'

Echo park 6x6 paper pad  'Here&now' by Lori Whitlock (very old)

Sizzix polaroid die set (old)

Black and white card

Pink alcohol marker

White gel pen

Hop over to We Love Stamping to join in where we have these fabulous stamps from aall&create for the lucky winner

                             

                                                  

My blog is like buses at the moment, nothing for weeks and then 3 posts all at once😀 Im still waiting on the next appointment to fix my eyes and my mojo gone on a round the world cruise I think - luckily I was ahead on my DT makes but hopefully mojo comes back soon!

Thank you all for stopping by once again.  I hope you all have a good month of May. Big hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/2026/04/569-april-16-2-or-more-pattern-papers.html

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https://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-636-use-colours-pink-blue-or.html

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2026/05/critter-crazy-challenges-110-anything.html

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https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/03/pinspirational-challenge-337-may.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2026/05/atg-love-those-pretty-papers-may-2026.html

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Alice is 10 - cats & books

Good Morning everyone

My middle niece Alice is 10 this month.  She loves reading and cats so ive combined the two with these fab katzelkraft stamps and made a tri fold card which contains 2 bookmarks to Alice to use

The front of the card.  Its A4 folded 3 times so each section is 4x8.25" .  I stamped the cat images onto white card and coloured with alcohol markers.  I stamped the sentiment and then lightly stenciled on pawprints with cracked pistachio oxide ink, I then die cut into a panel and matted onto rainbow printed cardstock. 

I founded a printed paper in my stash that had a subtle blue pattern, matted onto blue holographic and then the card front.  I tied a double bow from the 2 ribbons ive used on the bookmarks.

I used blue holographic for my mat layer as when the light hits it it is rainbow colours to tie in with the image and every girl loves a bit of sparkle.

Showing the card opened up.  I made the bookmarks the same way as the front topper, this rainbow card is double sided so looks as great on the back of the bookmark as the front.  

I made pockets for the bookmarks using the same paper as the background and adding foam to the sides and bottom, leaving the top unstuck so the bookmark can slide in and out

So that when the bookmarks are removed it still looks good I stamped the cats a 2nd time, coloured in with alcohol markers and cut out, I adhered them to the pockets to line up with the bookmarks.

I doodled a line under the books with fineliner and shaded with grey alcohol marker to 'ground' the books and stop them floating in mid air

and the bookmarks front and back.  This rainbow card came in a pack from Lidl and is nice and stiff so ideal for bookmarks, I haven't laminated them as you know how childrens tastes change yearly but I know Alice will enjoy these bookmarks for as long as they do last.  I added stamped cats and pawprints to the back of the bookmarks for a little interest.  Punched a hole at the top and threaded with ribbons.  

Items Used:

Katzelkraft cat stamp set

Creative craft stamps 'fur babies'

Clearly besotted birthday stamp 'something to say'

DL stitched edge dies

Pawprint stencil

Oxide ink 'cracked pistachio'

Alcohol markers

Rainbow cardstock from Lidl

Blue holographic card 

Thank you all for stopping by.  Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2025/08/challenge-97.html

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2025/08/ccc-101-return-to-regular-theme-of.html

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https://girlzcreativefunartofscrap.blogspot.com/2025/07/challenge-12-new-challengeblog.html

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https://dragonflydreamschallenges.blogspot.com/2025/08/august-challenge-lots-of-layers.html

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/08/challenge-829.html

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https://showusyourpussies.blogspot.com/2025/08/challenge-114.html

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https://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/08/challenge-128-animals.html

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Thank Moo tag

Good Morning everyone

Today I have a little tag I made for my brother which I added to some beer and chocolate to say thank you for running me to hospital and back

I had this cow stamped out from a previous project, she was stamped in navy ink onto cream, I added a little more colour by watercolouring with distress inks and then cut her out.  Yes she is a she as she looks like my dads old cow noddy with her tongue stuck out😁 and yes female cows can have horns, naturally they have horns so they can protect their young, although these days they are usually de-horned as calves which I think is why many think only the males (Bulls) have horns

In my scrap drawer I found a blue tone and soft green tone paper which I die cut with a smaller tag, i then tore the edges of the green paper to give a grass like effect and added to the bottom of the blue.  All edges inked with stormy sky distress ink.

I added the cow into place with pinflair glue gel.  The sentiment is a mix of 2 different stamps, one said happy birthday to moo, so i added tape over the part of the stamp I didn't want, inked up, removed the tape and stamped, so I got a clean crisp 'Moo' I then did the stamp with a Thank you stamp, masking the 'you' with tape, inking up, removing tape and stamping next to the 'moo'

I punched a hole and added some bakers twine to finish

On the back of the tag I added a pocket using a piece of the green paper used on the front, i cut it to size, inked the edges and then added glue to the bottom and two sides only, leaving the top adhesive free.  This allowed me to add a little fuel money in for my brother as well.  A gift card would also fit nicely in this little pocket.

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamp SOLO180 'Portrait de Vache'

Sentiment stamps

Tag dies

Distress Inks - peacock feathers, stormy sky, dried marigold & wild honey

scraps of patterned paper

CraftUk ltd cream cardstock

Thank you all for popping by today. Start of the summer holidays now so will be getting some crafting in with my nieces hopefully. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://tag-alongandatc.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-in-gardenag.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2025/07/atg-using-pretty-patterned-paper-july.html

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https://girlzmakesguyzcards.blogspot.com/2025/07/challenge-29-alles-mag-mannen-anything.html

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https://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com/2025/07/challenge-180-masculine.html

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WLS #2 Feb - CAS

Good Morning everyone

Its time for the half way post for We Love Stamping

Where the theme this month is CAS (Clean & Simple)

But if thats not for you we always have the anything goes option as long as you include stamping - either traditional stamps or digi stamps.

approx size 5x5"  I found this cat in my previously stamped and coloured drawer - It had been watercoloured with my inktense pencils and cut out.  I die cut a piece of white linen card and stamped the cat image off centre in black and also stamped the cat-i-tude stamp just beneath so it looks like the pot is stood on it.

On the base image i watecoloured the leaves and then added the cat in pot with glue gel after gently curving it in the middle, also decoupaging the leaves.  I then die cut my base card from kraft card and adhered the white panel. Glossy accents added to the cats eyes to finish.

Showing it side on so you can see the dimension of the cat and leaves.  I curved the leaves and glued part on flat so that the tips curve upwards - giving a lovely shadow and adding a bit of interest to a simple card. 

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamps KTZ295 'Cats on books'

Funky fossil stamp 'Feline magic' by Olga Heldwein ('Catt-i-tude stamp')

Nesting dies

Derwent inktense pencils

CraftUK ltd white linen card

Kraft card

These gorgeous stamps are the prize this month so do hop over to join in at 

We Love Stamping

Thank you all for popping by once again and all your amazing comments on my mums birthday card last week - she loved it. Its half term this week so im sure i will be crafting up a storm with my nieces at some point. I hope you all have a good week.  Keep warm. Hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://scscards.blogspot.com/2025/02/february-2025-love-andor-hearts.html - anything goes option

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https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/02/creative-inspiration-challenges-23.html

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https://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/2025/02/challenge-610-stitching-real-or-faux.html - stitched effect dies

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https://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2025/02/challenge-91.html - #2

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2025/02/challenge-95-anything-goes-with.html

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