Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

We have an advantage here in the UK when Papertrey Ink hold its monthly blog hop - we are 5 hours ahead in the day so there is plenty of time to get ready to join in.  This month's inspiration photo from Stone Gable is so pretty too. I'm looking forward to having a good look around Stone Gable later on.

I'm still on my back to basics kick with this card - although there is one extra layer as I wanted to echo the darker background in the photo.

The little hydrangea in the photo is, I think, one I have in my garden.  Its a plant I remember from our garden when I was small - I recognised those little pompom flowers as soon as I saw them at our local garden centre. Its at its best right now and has more flowers than ever this year.  I wish I could remember it's name.

Supplies: PTI stamps - Mehndi Medallion, Beautiful Butterflies, Think Big Favourites #2, Boxes Bags & Tags

Another Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge

Another Papertrey Ink blog hop has arrived - can't believe how quickly the months are passing lately! I've put together this little gift set for my niece's 12th birthday in May, though the Starbucks card will be replaced with something more suitable. For the design I was inspired by this lovely card I saw on Pinterest and the coloured stripes of the inspiration photo Nichole gave us - turning the stripes of colour vertically rather than horizontally.

Its been hard to get anything done in the garden in the last couple of weeks.  Everything is soggy and muddy with all the rain we've been having and the spring flowers and fruit trees' blossom has been well and truly battered by the frequent showers of hailstones.  The Lilac tree is just about to bloom and scent the air with its lovely perfume so I do hope the hailstone showers will stop soon.  And my current seed packet papercrafting craze keeps reminding me I haven't sown a single seed yet. I wish I didn't feel so guilty about it because it really doesn't matter to anyone except myself!

Supplies: PTI Simple Sunflower stamp set & Flower Fusion #10

Seed Packets and New Beginnings

Its the Waltzing Mouse Stamps blog party today so I thought it was about time I did some papercrafting.  The theme is "New Beginnings" and what could be more suitable than a packet of seeds.

I've offered to make wedding favours for a work colleague who is getting married in October and have been toying with the idea of seed packets - they are all over Pinterest and I love the idea.  I don't think the favours have been upon decided yet but lottery tickets were mentioned and seed packets would be suitable for those too.


Here are a few I've been playing with today using Waltzing Mouse stamps.  I used a template I found on line and stamped using colours I associate with Provence to go with the France themed stamp set - blue, green and yellow.  But I wish my photos were more Provence-like - its such a dull day today I just couldn't make them look sunny!


I've got the seed packet bug now and have a few more ideas I want to try for birthdays coming up next month.  These packets are the perfect size for gift cards - something I like to give those hard to buy for teens.

Supplies: Waltzing Mouse Stamps -  French Country, Nordic Spring; PTI Year of Flowers (sentiment); PTI Oval Layers die collection

Papertrey October Blog Hop

If its October its got to be pumpkins, witches and trick or treat - although trick or treat is a very new idea here in the UK. But I have to admit that I absolutely love the shape and colour of pumpkins and have a few favourite Papertrey Ink pumpkin images in my collection.  I used them to make small trick or treat gifts for some of the younger family members who are really looking forward to the 31st.

And I'm looking forward to the Papertrey blog hop tonight. Its always inspiring to see what other PTI addicts have been making and of course I want to join in and offer my treats - especially the pumpkins ones! The lunch box die is perfect as a treat holder and I purchased some fun-size (don't know why they call them fun size - a larger size would be much more fun!) chocolate buttons and bars that fitted in nicely.

My lovely blog friend Theresa is currently holding a Halloween blog party with a giveaway and she wants to know our favourite Halloween memories.  Well, as I said, we don't really have a tradition of celebrating on Halloween here in the UK but I do have a little pottery witch I bring out every October.  She sits on my mantelpiece until its time to put up the Christmas decorations, so to me she is the very beginning of the Christmas crafty season.  I remember buying her at one of those bargain basement stores many years ago.  When my son was small he and I used to go with my Mum and Dad on Saturday shopping trips and on this trip Mum and I both bought a witch - Dad thought we were daft, but I've loved her ever since.  She has decorated my October mantelpiece for at least the last 35 years and is a happy reminder of long ago shopping trips with my parents.

Oh, and I've two blog posts today.  If you are curious to find out what constitutes a good Sunday afternoon outing here in Wales, scroll down and take a look!



Supplies: all PTI -  Lunch Box Note die, Limitless Layers die collection, Tag-Its stamp sets #2 & #7, Friendship Jar Fall Fillers, Autumn Tags 2009

Floral Papertrey Blog Hop

I may have said this here before, but I absolutely LOVE Melissa Bickford's little Floral Fusion series of stamps for Papertrey. The May Papertrey blog hop is tonight and as the theme is anything floral I'm posting the gift tag sets I've been making for my next craft fair using FF#2 and #3. Don't you just love those little blooms!

Another floral project - I'm in the middle of a half dozen eggs I want to stitch from an idea I saw in a brand new craft magazine in the UK - Mollie Makes. I was really looking forward to the first issue and wasn't disappointed. Its full of inspirational people, ideas and projects. I will definitely be getting the next issue and hope it's as good as the first. And I understand its going to be published in the US in a couple of weeks.

My eggs were cut from some vintage hand embroidered napkins I bought in France last year. These two are spicy versions - one has cloves in the filling and the other star anise. I love the smell of star anise - when crushed it gives out the most wonderful strong scent. I'm hoping they are going to repel the clothes moths I've caught flitting about the house recently!

Stamps: PTI Floral Fusion #2, Floral Fusion #3, Polka Dot Basics' Fillable Frames #7; Darkroom Door Gingham Background stamp
Dies: PTI Floral Fusion #2 & #3, Fillable Frame #7, Tag Sale #2 & #4

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Scallops is (?are) the theme of the Papertrey challenge this month and I have to say I have difficulty making anything that doesn't have scallops on it somewhere! This Favor It box has a scalloped top so I added my favourite scallopy Fillable Frame - I think its #7, and one of the rosette clips I've been making this week to add yet more scallops. Its been attached to the box using a mini glue dot and can easily be pulled off and pinned to your lapel, bag, hairband, or anything else you can think of. The box is stuffed with a few of my favourite spiced biscuits. My niece has a birthday on Sunday and adding a gift voucher will turn this into an acceptable birthday gift I think.

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

Its the Papertrey blog hop tonight. I don't usually participate as its in the middle of the night here in the UK! But the challenge this month is to incorporate office supplies into a project and by chance I have been making some post-it note holders to sell in the charity shop where I volunteer - so I thought I would join in..... trouble is its dark and I don't have a good light source at night so the photos are pretty dire. But never mind - I tried! And I might even win something! ;o) Wish I was better with Photoshop.

The stamps are from Take Three Summer (I just love those little birds) and I've bound the card covers together with my Bind-it-All. The Post-it pads can be replaced when used up so I think these are great little gifts for co-workers.

Edited to show the holders packaged and ready for sale this morning!

Waltzing Mouse July Blog Hop

I think I'm late with this again! However here is my post for the July hop. The task this month was a project using the summery colours of green and blue.

I've got a new neighbour - she moved in last week, and after having the house let out to various people (some very unsavoury) for the past few years, its lovely to have an owner who will care for the house and garden at last. And she's so quiet! My wish has been granted!

So I've made this new home gift for her - a bottle of my delicious (if I say so myself) Elderflower Cordial and card to match. What can be more summery, when the sun is shining, than sitting in the garden with a glass of iced cordial - but its not shining. So my photos are rather flat again.

I've just been reading a thread on the Papertrey forum about stamp sets you really, really wanted and then don't use. Well, I'm ashamed to say I haven't used this Very Vintage Labels set very often so I wanted to use it here. The sentiments are from Rescue Remedies Additions again and fit perfectly. I used a Martha Stewart punch and vellum for the butterflies, dragging them through Distress Ink to colour them a bit. Oh, and honestly, that is green ink on the label - Shabby Shutters - but I'm afraid it looks brown here. As Claire says, hope it tickles!

Waltzing Mouse Hop Sketching!

Today's the day of the Waltzing Mouse blog hop - but also the closing day of the second Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge - what on earth are they trying to do to us! So much pressure!! I know I don't NEED to participate but I did want to keep up with my two favourite challenge blogs. It can't be too difficult to make two cards a week you may say, but I've always been a person who will ALWAYS put off till tomorrow what I COULD do today! And I did...... and I've just finished my card..... and its almost dark....... so I had to photograph it in artificial light :o( However, I have made it fit both the challenge (a masculine card) and the sketch.

I started off with an idea I liked, however when I'd made up all the different elements of the card I hated it. But now its all put together I've ended up rather liking it again. I know the colours are weird but I think they give the whole rather a Japanese feel. I'm afraid I had to add the little fish with a non-WMS stamp to make it suitable for my recipient - I hope this doesn't disqualify me! I made it for a certain great-nephew of mine to give to his Dad, who has recently started taking him fishing.

Please accept my apologies for the absolutely atrocious photograph!

A little Waltzing Mouse!

Here is my birthday project for the Waltzing Mouse blog waltz later today. I couldn't wait to make up Claire's A Nice Cup of Tea template for my Mum's birthday even though it isn't for a couple of weeks yet. Mum always has to have a pretty china cup for her tea - she hates thick pottery cups and mugs and says tea just doesn't taste right in them! She even refuses to go to some cafes if she doesn't like the cups! I'm not sure what I'm going to put in it yet but I've got a bit of time to decide. I really enjoyed making up the template - it all fitted together perfectly and really wasn't as fiddly as I expected it to be. I used a roller stamp by SU to decorate my cup and saucer and a gold leaf pen round the edges. I've made a birthday card to match - the gorgeous cup full of pansies is from the new Afternoon Tea Sentiments set - I love it!

Oh, just one more thing - I've been saving this little story especially for the Waltz - I was watering some new planting the other day when a tiny creature hopped by. It was my very own Waltzing Mouse! A Wood Mouse. He was so busy investigating the new plants and nibbling grass stems that he didn't seem to notice me at all. I rushed off to get my camera and amazingly he was still there when I got back and again didn't seem to notice me! Perhaps he'd never seen a human being before so I didn't scare him.

I remember a TV programme about birds in the garden some time ago and someone commented on how they seem to get so tame, coming so close when gardeners are working to snatch any worms and such like that we might dig up - the expert pointed out that our own birds get used to seeing us in our gardens and so feel safe enough to stay close by. I love close encounters with my garden wildlife - its such a privilege!

Papertrey Blog Hop - March

PTI's blog hop for March is tonight and the challenge is to incorporate buttons into a project - easy uh! These up-cycled cardboard tubs for storing my copics were very easy - I haven't wanted to throw away the pretty card bands that package brand new stamp sets and I had the idea to use them to decorate the tubs (which originally contained dried milk powder). Two narrow bands are almost the right size - adding some ribbon or tape easily fills in the small gap. The brown tub uses one large band that packaged the 2009 anniversary set "Everyday Classics" (a very kind lady sold me her extra set last year). I wanted to cover the vertical join on the tub as it wasn't very neat so added the row of buttons. A storage idea that costs almost nothing and utilises something that would normally be thrown away.