Boys, Boys, Boys

I find it so easy to make cards for ladies and girls, but the boys in our lives can be more of a challenge. Maybe that's because, as a female, I know what I would like to receive so I have a bit of a head start!

I've really loved all the new silhouette stamps that Clarity Stamp have been producing recently, and they combine so well with lots of different bespoke backgrounds, so I had a little play around with a few different stamp sets, Jo's Bubbles stencil, and the letterbox kit to create a card for my great-nephew's upcoming 3rd birthday.

To create the background I used a range of blue distress and adirondack ink pads, and brushed through the stencil using those wonderful Clarity stencil brushes to create a soft airbrushed effect. Then I stamped Rocco's name using black archival ink and the letterbox kit, and added some blue colour to the boxes using second generation distress ink.

I added the Boy with the Birds stamp, and two of the characters from the Wee Folk 2 set to create some movement in the card, and extended the rope swing using a black pen to match the black archival ink used for the stamping. Finally I added Rocco's age in one of the bubbles, and added the little black bird on top of the number as an extra feature as I felt it provided a better balance and stayed with the bird theme.

Hope Rocco likes his card as I really enjoyed creating it. Thanks for taking the time to look and if you'd like to leave a comment I'd be thrilled to read them, Susan x

My scrappy cushion

Hello there. Well it's June, but still chilly and windy and intermittently rainy up here in the Highlands, so no lovely warm evening walks for me today!!! Instead I thought I'd share a little project I did recently as part of my New Year's resolution for 2015 - Using Stuff Up.

My great niece will be 6 this year, and for her 1st or 2nd birthday I made her a lovely chevron crochet jacket, but there were lots of leftover bits of yarn. You will all understand, I'm a crafter, so I couldn't throw them away, so they were packed into boxes and put into storage for a while, then they moved with us 3 years ago from London to Inverness!!!

Then they sat in a cupboard for a year, then moved to a drawer in the chest in the hallway...then I saw a fabulous stripy crochet cushion cover design, and their time had come....

So now they grace the chair cushion in my hallway - OK, so the colours don't go so well with the floor tiles, but that's not really the point is it? I really love the effect of the random stripes, and so next time I have lots of scrap bits of yarn leftover from a project I know what I'll be doing with them - hopefully the scraps will be pale blue and terracotta and cream!

Thanks for stopping by, and let me know what you think of the scrappy cushion, Susan x