Surprise Gifts

I have been waiting for a while now to share a card that I made using a surprise gift kindly sent to me by Claire at WMS and now that she has released it I'm guessing it's finally okay to do just that - well I hope so anyways.

 

I purchased the simple sprig mini stamp set some time ago and in fact have purchased several more of this cute set since for workshops.  I go back to it time and again too.  It makes a perfect 'intro' set for anyone who hasn't tried Waltzing Mouse stamps before and was so easy to teach and design with.

 

I emailed Claire and said if she ever made the die for this set I was most definately going to have to buy it.  If you don't yet know what kind of sweet lady Claire is - let me tell you.  She tucked the die in with a back order item that I was waiting for as a wee gifty.  Isn't that just the sweetest?  She has done sweet things like this ever since I have known her. 

 

There is no need between friends to feel you have to immediately return the gift with another offering but every now and then when I think about it I send something along her way 'just because'.  I will wait a while and surprise her out of the blue.  Isn't that just so exciting?  The thought of putting together a package, of how surprised someone might be when it gets delievered to the door, the excitement of opening it up - oh I love the whole package thing - getting them AND giving them.  My family joke that I get more excited about the packaging but really it's that someone thought kindly of me - enough to put together a paqckage for me and send it.

 

 

Okay, enough waffing on and mushy stuff, back to the card in hand.  I can't explain just why I like black inked images on coloured card stock but I do.  There is just something so strikiing about all the detail when you use black ink.  I actually die-cut the small sprig leaves and then stamped them up afterwards.  I used just two sprigs on this card and spread them out across the width of the card.  The background 'chicken wire' stamp is also from WMS.

 

 

I added some 'bling' gem swirls and used my tracing wheel to add faux stitch lines.  I also chose to have a pretty scalloped edge to the front of the card so I trimmed ther front a bit shorter than the back, stamped up using a further WMS round stamp from the 'Rescue Remedies' set on a strip of pink, cut it out by hand creating the scalloped strip and adhered it to the inside of the front of the card level with the back so it would stand nicely.

 

 

And then I took a shot to show off some of the lovely 3D going on here.  I stamped up a few more leaves on the scraps of green paper left over from the first run through with the die.  Next I clipped them off individually and 3D'd them behind a few of the leaves in the sprig.  Once I'd 3D'd the flowers the whole thing was popping off the card.

 

I've already given this card away so it's now long since gone but I did enjoy looking at it for a while at least before letting it go and it did go to someone really special so that made it much easier to part with it.

 

Blessings

 

Suezie

Brotherly Love

The gap in years between our first Grandson and our youngest Grandson couldn't be more wider - 13 years difference but it only takes a few moments watching them together to see how much they love and adore one another.

Zacheriah has always been good with babies and young children.  He loves to entertain them and care for them and seems to have a really natural and nurturing flare.  In fact Charlie cries every day wehn Zach leaves home to head off to school - aawwwwww.

 

We recently got a new car - well new-ish, it was never going to be a brand spanking new car but it is a 7 seater and we are so very grateful to have it.  We can never quite take everyone out together unless hubby makes two trips which means we can never go very far either.  Up until now we've had to take them out in smaller groups to go any great distance.  Now that that's changed we decided to surprise the kids by dropping by, picking them up and taking them for our very first ride altogether.  It gave us a chance to see how we all fit, including mummy.

 

It was too late to go very far so we ended up in MacDonalds for icecream.  Charlie had to make do with his baby biscuits.  We can't eat now if he's not eating too.  He is still very much on baby foods at only 10 months old but we didn't think it would hurt if he tried a little bit of icecream.

 

 

As we all watched to see what his reaction would be it pretty soon became clear he wasn't at all sure about icecream.

 

 

And doesn't this face just say it all?  LOL!  That icecream stuff is really COLD!!!  We all had great fun at Charlie's expense - shame on us - but we just couldn't help ourselves.  Every time Zach gave him a taste he screwed up his little face at the cold and we just sat around in fits of laughter being most amused!  Poor ol' Charlie, weren't we awfully wicked.

 

We are celebrating our youngest daughter's birthday tomorrow and can you guess what we will be eating?  If you guessed icecream you'd be spot on.  This time around Grandma has some baby fromage frais in the fridge especially for Charlie so he can eat with us and not have to have that yucky ice cold icecream LOL!

 

Here's hoping everyone enjoys the bank holiday weekend.

 

Hugs

 

Suezie

New Release!

I always watch with great anticipation (and much drooling) during the few days before a new release from Waltzing Mouse Stamps when all the DT gals share some incredible samples.  Claire Brennan herself shares some incredible creations too.  I'd love to see inside her mind when she dreams up these fabulous designs and die sets LOL!

 

I try to be very restrained and not let myself get carried away with it all.  Besides I can collect and collect and yet not find time to craft with all my stuff so these days I buy only what I think I can use and I try to stick to a budget.  I don't drink or smoke, don't spend money on loads of clothes or anything else so a little treat now and then is okay I think.

 

But I do enjoy the excitement of seeing all the fabby creations unveiled day by day and for this new release Claire is running a bit of a competition to win several goodies.  With that in mind I'm entering into the spirit of things and sharing a couple of my favourite samples here so I can enter it..

 

I love the idea of this folded tag that opens up into a sewing kit by Karin Akesdotter - how cool is this?  Wouldn't this just make the most perfect tag pinned on to a bundle of pretty sewing fabrics for gifting?  I 'sew' might have to copy this idea.  In fact I've pinned it to my Pinterest boards for future reference.

 

 

 

This one from Laurie Schmidlin is perhaps my other favourite - maybe because I've always had a thing for brown paper sacks (so, so cute), maybe because of those pretty die-cut felt flowers and button or maybe because it all looks so perfectly pretty tied up with string and this adorable tag - I like it all.  Quick, clean and simple packaging but oh so pretty all at the same time, what more do you need?

 

I will be out and about all day tomorrow with our two eldest grandsons and then at my mother's crafting in the evening which has been long overdue so I'm likely to miss the actual release but I don't doubt it will be fab.  If you've never seen any Waltzing Mouse Stamps before why not hop on over to Claire's blog and check them out.

 

Now I'm off there myself so I can leave a comment and be in with a chace to win - you gotta be in it to win it right?

 

Enjoy!

 

Suezie