Penny Black Stuck on You Valentine's Day Card + Essentials by Ellen Bear Hugs Felt Bear

 

Hi everyone 😊

Today I am sharing the Valentine's Day Card that I made for my daughter as well as a little felt Bear that I sewed:

If you have been a regular visitor to my blog, you know that I just adore the Penny Black critters.  They are so fun and easy to colour.  I stamped the cat using Versafine Onyx Black Ink onto Ranger Watercolor Cardstock and coloured him/her using Lyra and Faber-Castell Watercolour pencils + Derwent Inktense pencils and my #4 round paintbrush.  I went over the black lines of the image with a Black Copic .03 Multi-liner to crisp them up after my watercolouring.

I diecut the cat with a Lifestyle Nesting Circles Die and my Big Shot then layered it onto Light Teal Cardstock that I diecut using a My Favorite Things Pierced Circle Stax Die-namics.  The Rose Cardstock was diecut using a Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Small Circles die.  This main panel was popped up on scraps of cardstock.

The Rose Cardstock across the middle was dry-embossed using an old embossing folder by Cuttlebug from a set called 'With Love' which has 5 embossing folders - all borders.  I love to use old supplies from my stash.  I still get such a kick out of using my Cuttlebug embossing folders.  The Swiss Dots folder was the first one that I ever bought and I still use it on a regular basis.  

The sentiment is by TPC Studio - Hugs and Kisses which is long retired.  I bought it from my local scrapbooking store here in Australia many years ago.  I stamped it using Versafine Onyx Black ink onto the same Ranger Watercolor Cardstock then diecut it using a Spellbinders Labels Trio die.   I went around the edges using Versacolor Raspberry Ink as it just needed a little something to match the rest of the card.  I popped the sentiment up on dimensionals.  

The designer papers are by Simple Stories - Love and Adore - from 2016 and therefore long-retired.

The light teal cardstock on the card base was trimmed to 1/16" using my We R Memory Keepers Perfect Layers Guides.  The rose cardstock was trimmed to 1/8".  

I used an EK Success Arrows Border Punch to punch tiny hearts from Rose Cardstock.  They are the leftover punchies after using the punch and look like tiny hearts.  Again, if you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know that I use these leftover punchies all the time for my tiny hearts.  I glued 3 around the image and 2 around the sentiment using Tombow Mono Aqua Glue.  I added Kindyglitz Crystalina Glitter Glue to those hearts as well as the cheeks on the cat and the heart on the envelope.

Lastly, I glued the card front to a White Card Base.  Finished size is 123mm x 123mm or 4-13/16" x 4-13/16".

***************************

I made a cute Felt Bear to go with the card:

Isn't the bear just soooo darned ADORABLE?!!   I used a die from Essentials by Ellen called Bear Hugs and Wool Felt from my stash.  I sewed everything using 3 strands of DMC Stranded Cotton and it was super-easy to put together.  The leaves and flower were diecut using some free dies that came with an order from Sunny Studios and were glued on with Helmar's Fabric Glue.  Here is a close-up:

The eyes and nose are part of the Essentials by Ellen die set and were also glued on using Fabric Glue.  I embroidered the mouth using Black DMC Broder 25 Thread.

I stuffed the bear using Fiber Fill.

I am sure I will be making more of these bears as this die set has a present in the set which you can use for Birthdays or Christmas.

Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day!  Thanks for visiting my corner of the world😃

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Stuck on You' 30-062 clear set, TPC Studio 'Hugs and Kisses' ST94019 clear set (retired)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versacolor Raspberry Pigment #156

Designer Papers:  Simple Stores Love and Adore #7614 6" x 6" pad (from 2016 - retired)

Accessories:  Big Shot, Cuttlebug With Love Embossing Folder 37-1171 (retired), Dimensionals, Scraps of White Cardstock, Rose + Light Teal Cardstock, Ranger Watercolor Cardstock, WRMK Perfect Layers Guides, #4 Round Paintbrush, Lyra + Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils, Derwent Inktense Pencils, Tombow Mono Multi + Mono Aqua Glue, Kindyglitz Crystaline Glitter Glue, Copic .03 Black Multi-liner

Dies:  Spellbinders Labels Trio S3-147 (retired), Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Small Circles Nestabilities S4-117 (retired), My Favorite Things Pierced Circle Stax (retired), Lifestyle Nesting Circles

Punches:  EK Success Arrows Border

*************************

Felt Bear Recipe:

Accessories:  Wool Felt in various colours, Fiber Fill, DMC Stranded Cotton, DMC Black Broder Cotton, Big Shot, Helmar's Fabric Glue, Sewing Needle

Dies:  Essentials by Ellen - Bear Hugs by Julie - EEDIEJ-097-17, Sunny Studio Flower and Leaf Dies (free with order)

The More the Merrier Shaker card

Hi blogging friends

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  We had Christmas Day at home for the first time in the 25 years that we have been married - which was absolutely wonderful!  We had my Mum, my brother plus his wife and their daughter over for lunch and it was such a lovely and relaxing day.  Boxing Day we always stay at home and just relax and play with our new toys.  You won't find me at the Boxing Day Sales - the last thing I want to do is drive to somewhere crowded, fight for a parking spot and go shopping - I just don't understand all the hype about it as the shops have sales throughout the year anyway!  Each to his own I suppose.......

Today I am sharing the Christmas card that I made for my 11 yo DD which I couldn't share here on my blog until it had been opened on Christmas Day:

I haven't made a Shaker card for ages but as I have seen alot of them around Blog-land recently, I thought I would make one as they are really fun.  I used a Large Round Shaker Card Pouch which comes in a pack of 10 by Impression Obsession.  You can get many different sizes and shapes of pouches but I only have the circles.  They are really cool because you just peel off the adhesive and stick it down - although I did actually add some Stampin' Up Fuse Fast adhesive which is super-strong as I was a little afraid the adhesive on the pouch wasn't really strong enough. The shadow at the top part of the pouch from taking the photo out in the sun looks a little odd but if you look at the IO website, you will get a better idea of what the pouch looks like.

The main image is from the Stampin' Up set - The More the Merrier - which I bought second-hand on EBay a few months ago as it is retired.  I fell in love with this image when I saw a card on Splitcoastampers made with these snowmen.  If you are a regular reader of my blog you will already know that I am crazy for any stamps that have a snowman on it!  It must be genetic because my DD is nuts for snowmen too!

I stamped the image onto Ranger Watercolour cardstock and coloured it with a variety of mediums:  Tombow pens plus Lyra and Faber-Castell watercolour pencils using a paintbrush.   I stamped a couple of snowflakes from the Stampendous set - Winter Warm above the snowmen using Soft Sky ink then chalked around the image with blue chalk for the sky.  I had meant to add glitter to the snowmen's hats and scarves but only remembered about 5 seconds after I attached the pouch to the image.....oops.....sigh...... :-( 

I added Cotton White Fun Flock mixed with fine Crystalina glitter to the ground for the snow and to the cuffs and pom-poms on the Snowmen's hats using Tombow Mono Aqua glue.  You can see a bit more detail in this close-up:

I added sequins, stars, glitter and gemstones from my stash in various colours for the Shaker contents and then diecut the burgundy and blue cardstock circles and attached them over the top of the Shaker pouch using Tombow Mono Multi glue.

The designer paper, twine, tag and large brad are from My Mind's Eye - Winter Wonderland which has been a favourite of mine this Christmas season.  The blue and burgundy cardstock layers on the card base were trimmed to 1/8" and 1/16" respectively using my Perfect Layers Tools.  I then popped this up on thick doublesided tape on my white cardstock base. 

The next card I am sharing is the amazing Christmas card that my 11 yo daughter made for me:

My daughter and I had a good laugh when we opened our cards because we both used the same image AND made a Shaker card!  This was my DD's first-ever Shaker card too.  Such a funny coincidence!  And this is the handmade felt snowman that my daughter gave me:

SQUEE!  Isn't my snowman just soooo adorable??!!  My DD didn't use a pattern and designed it all herself and it stands about 15cm - 6 inches high.  Oh my gosh, I ♥love♥ it so much!

And now here are some gorgeous handmade cards that we have received this Christmas season:

From my Stampin' Up Demonstrator

From my beautiful friend Y who first introduced me to cardmaking

From my SCS friend Sabrina in Ireland

From my blogging friend Shaz

An Easel card from our dearest friend C

In an era where alot of people use Social Media to send their Christmas greetings, we feel very blessed to receive such beautiful handmade cards in the mail.  

Lastly, as I haven't shared photos of Ruby for a while, I thought I would post some photos of her playing around her little carpeted scratching post and tunnel:

Of course, having the sun come through the window makes you sleepy so once Ruby had a bit of play, it was time to catch up on some zzzzzzzzzs!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!  Hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampin' Up The More the Merrier (retired), Stampendous Winter Warm SSC262 clear set

Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black, Stampin' Up Soft Sky dye

Dies:  Lifestyle Nesting Circles and Nesting Scalloped Circles

Designer Paper:  My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland (2012) 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Big Shot, twine + tag + brad - MME Winter Wonderland set, Fray Stop, Stampendous Cotton White Fun Flock mixed with fine Crystalina glitter, Tombow Mono Multi + Mono Aqua glue, SU Fuse Fast adhesive, X-Press it thick doublesided tape, Impression Obsession Large Round Shaker Pouch SHP02, Kaisercraft blue chalk, #2 round paintbrush, Faber-Castell + Lyra watercolour pencils, Tombow Pens, Perfect Layers Tools, assorted sequins + gems, Ranger Distress Watercolour cardstock, other cardstock - burgundy, blue, white

Knitted Cat Bookmark and Felt Owl Egg Cosy

Hi blogging friends

A special welcome to my new Followers!  Thank you for following my blog!

As promised on my last post, I am sharing my knitted cat bookmark and felt owl egg cosy which I made for my daughter's 10th birthday (in July).  I adore knitting and find time to knit most days as I find it so calming and relaxing.  I haven't shared my knitting before on my blog as I am not really sure how to take photos of my projects but anyway, here goes:

 

The Cheshire Cat pattern is from the UK Knit Today magazine - Issue 84 - April 2013, and was designed by Tina Barrett.  The cat was knitted using DK yarn and 3.25mm (UK size 10) knitting needles.   I did my face a little differently to the instructions as I used black beads for the eyes instead of embroidering them.  The remainder of the embroidery was done using black DK yarn.   The head is stuffed with polyester fiberfill.  The legs and tail were knitted on double-pointed knitting needles which made them a tube eliminating any sewing of a seam making life easy.  Here are some more photos:

 

 

As you can see, the body is flat which lies in the book and the head, legs and tail hang out the end.   In case you are wondering what the book is that the cat is lying on:  it is Simon's Cat.  Here is a close-up pic of his sweet little face:

 

 

 And now, here is the Felt Owl Egg Cosy:

 

 

The pattern is from a book called Super-Cute Felt by Laura Howard which is published by CICO Books.  The edition I have is dated 2011 and I just checked around and it is still readily available.  I really LOVE this book - so many cute projects including Christmas and the instructions are easy to follow:  I highly recommend it if you like playing with felt like I do. 

 

I embroidered my eyes a little differently to the book and used my Big Shot and Lifestyle Nesting Circle dies to diecut the eyes - so much easier than handcutting them.  I also diecut the Chevron felt pieces using a Chevron Stripes Die-namics die by My Favorite Things.  The original pattern had embroidery in that part but I thought it would be fun to use my dies instead.  That's the great thing about dies:  they are not just limited to cardmaking!

 

Here is a pic of the back of the egg-cosy:

 

 

The heart was also diecut using a heart die from the MFT Die-namics Notched Tag (and stamp) set - and all the embroidery was done using 3 strands of embroidery floss.  The outside of the owl was sewn using sewing thread.

 Hope you like my little projects.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Jocelyn