Challenged to Inspire, Part 2

Happy Mothering Sunday, everyone! It's a beautiful morning here, hope the sun is shining for you too. I've just watched a pair of buzzards fly past the kitchen window, and a pair of exceptionally cute baby bunnies are keeping the grass tidy at the back!

Here is the card I made from the second kit which the Stampalot DT were given for this month's "Take Inspiration" Stampalot Challenge. This kit (details of which are on the Challenge Blog) is entitled "A Krafty Affair". I loved these DPs (by My Mind's Eye), which were chosen by Janice, and they and all the items in the kit are available from Sir Stampalot. The papers are double sided, so I took photos to show each side.

I made an easel card, and turned the diecut hinges into posts to hold the bunting, which I cut with Whimsy dies.

I decided I wanted to use the celebrate sentiment, which was a Craft Stamper freebie (I masked off the border which surrounds it), and then searched through my stamps for something suitably celebratory. The only one which seemed to fit the bill was my one and only House Mouse! (Inherited from my late MIL  - as you know, I don't do cute!) The Happy Birthday is by Papermania. The scalloped borders were cut with Nestabilities, and the one around the Happy Birthday was cut by hand.

 Anyway, that's the second part of this month's Challenge. If you haven't entered yet, there's still plenty of time, and Janice has now revealed the prize, which is as stunning as usual!

And I can also let you in on the exciting news that was hinted at earlier. The 1st of April will be Stampalot Challenge's 2nd birthday! It's been a fantastic two years, and the fact that the DT has remained substantially the same since the beginning says a lot about what a great challenge it is, and I'm honoured to be part of such a fab team. However, much of our success is down to Brenda's inspirational leadership and the tremendous amount of work she puts into it. So thanks, Brenda,  and here's to many more Stampalot Challenges. We're going to be celebrating, so don't forget to look in on April 1st and join in the fun!

Quick update!

Ages since I last posted anything, I know, but things have been moving pretty quickly here! The house hunting was very successful, I'm glad to say! We found just the sort of place we wanted, with wonderful views across the countryside (pics to follow!), and couldn't believe our luck when we found we could actually afford it! We hope to be able to move in by the middle of October. In the meantime, I start my new job up in Scotland next week! So I'm now staying with my daughter and family, but will be travelling backwards and forwards for a while until we have got our things packed up ready for the move. Blogging will have to take a back seat for the time being, I'm afraid, but I will try to keep in touch as often as I can. I managed to bring enough stash with me to keep me going (I hope!!), not that I will have much spare time to craft, but should be able to cope with cards for family & friends and my DT work.

I had a couple of cards to make before I came up north, a wedding anniversary card for my daughter and son-in-law, and a birthday card for my niece, so here's a quick share of those.

For the anniversary card I used my new cameo stamps from Waltzing Mouse, cut out with Nesties. The papers are some I've had in my stash for years, not sure now who made them. I used a Martha Stewart border punch to trim them, and then inked around the edges. It wasn't until I looked at the photo that it occurred to me that the two cameos and the greeting made a face!

 

For my niece's card, the dog stamp and patterned papers were all freebies from magazines. I coloured the dog with Promarkers, and framed it with Nestie diecuts. The ticket stamp and die are by Whimsy Stamps. Now, I know this is cute, and I don't do cute, but my niece likes cute, and dogs, and pink, so I gritted my teeth and did it!