Crochet Stegosaurus

Confession: I've never really got "into" dinosaurs. They've always felt scary and not caught my interest. Dragons on the other hand? Love them. Metallic scales, huge wings, breathing fire and jewel encrusted stomachs? Awesome.

Anyway. This dinosaur I do love. He's cute and friendly, and loves roaming through overgrown grass. He has four cute tubby feet and amazing pink spikes. I crocheted him using Stylecraft DK (still leftovers from my rainbow blanket!), following this pattern by The Button Ship. The pattern works in a new way to me, as it requires you to break your yarn and restart in a different place. But I think the finished look is worth it.

Rawr.

Summer Brights Birthday Cards

I recently went through a pile of Craftseller magazines from a couple of years ago, and found in them a whole selection of craft papers I had forgotten about! It's lead to some experimenting of mixing patterns and colours I wouldn't normally use, inspired by the graphics provided. It's been a lot of fun :)

This gorgeous tag with the red polka dot balloon was included in the range. I was even more impressed that I had a pink paper in my stash that (nearly!) perfectly matched the pink edge of the tag. I raised the tag with 3D dots, and added a little ribbon bow so it would appear tied on.

I loved this Birthday Wishes graphic, and how it had matching floral papers. I stuck with the red and white theme, mounting it on some hammered white card and red paper. I'm not used to using a graphic as bold as the red and white zig zags (or chevrons, as they're called these days!) but I think I made the balance of pattern work, and raising the graphic off the background helped.

I used some of the floral papers in this card too, for a friend who has a sweet tooth! The colour combination is so bright and fresh, but the empty space balances out the amount of pattern. Although I have to admit to finding these off shaped graphics awkward to work with!

I love this polka dot balloon, and used it to make a smaller card. The graphic uses off white rather than pure white, so I reflected this in the hammered ivory paper, and then picked up the red again in the "gingham" paper. I love the turquoise and red together!

Cute Dinosaur Card

Confession time. I'm not a big fan of realistic dinosaurs, I much prefer dragons with their amazing wings and jewel-encrusted bellies. Cute cartoon dinosaurs though? Those I can get behind! This card was lovely and quick to make. I drew a simple dinosaur shape, added spikes and an eye, and mounted it on a card with a background of various yellow circles. I love my circle punches for things like this - it makes such a fun and vibrant background for kid's cards.
 Yay for cute dinosaurs! This dinosaur told me his favourite food is Birthday cake, and who can argue with that?!

Floral Cards || Mother's Day

Included in the large stash I inherited last year were an array of stickers. Now, I don't normally like using stickers on cards as I think they look cheap, but these stickers are printed on fabric and I think they look absolutely beautiful.

I mounted this sticker on some cream card, cut around it and attached a small pink brad, so it almost looks like a hanging gift card, before mounting on some complementary green card too.

This sticker I mounted on some dark green card before cutting out. I also had this beautiful white and gold tissue paper in my stash which I glued to the main body of the card for some extra texture and interest. I like the combination of gold and green, and the lace and script. I wanted the flowers to pop slightly, so I added some detail with gold Liquid Pearls paint - another new addition to my stash which I think will be getting more use!

Stamped Fox Card

A friend recently celebrated her Birthday. With it being so near Christmas and such a wintery time, I wanted to freshen up her bedroom with a card full of spring time and fresh colours. I layered this fox stamp over a water colour wash, adding some extra colour with a Whispers Strokes pen (I need more of these!) I then mounted it on cardstock. I don't think I've used this colour combination before, but I really love it.