A Little Bit of House Mouse!

I've had this image sitting on my desk, all coloured up, for some time - just waiting to be inspired to put it together! I've really been struggling with my mojo and finding time lately for my stamping "therapy". I can't believe I was inspired by my 10yo old son's friend who did some stamping for his mum! This image is my friend Deb's who loves House Mouse! She kindly let me stamp it off and I sat colouring at the ice rink while our daughters trained. Unfortunately the rink lighting isn't the best but it's such a great opportunity to colour! Am thinking of dragging along a lamp next time!! This stamp appealed to both of us as our hubbys and kids - and OK us!!! - are often sitting at the computer for long periods at a time - although I've NEVER managed to be THIS bad - LOL! I've added a little Crystal Effects to the computer screen, the bear's nose and the coffee mugs which gives them a shiny dimension IRL.

These are the projects that inspired me to finish my card! Leigh is Deb's 10yo son and it looks to me that he has a real artistic flair! Deb is a librarian so this image really appealed to her - and what a great job Leigh has done with it!! Look at the details - the hand cut heart, the hand cut shaping of the main image, the torn paper inside and he's designed his own logo for the back!!!






Leigh also made Deb her very own HM bookmark with another of her images - once again he's hand coloured and cut the images by himself!! Deb came home from work to be presented with these by her proud son!! Think I'll have to show them to young Toby - do you think he'll take the hint ;)

I think I'll have to get young Leigh his own catalogue and some SU punches for his birthday - LOL

Great job Leigh - your mum is one lucky lady!!!

A House Mouse Birthday

Yesterday I was madly getting the washing done and trying to organise my packing for Convention - am out the door early tomorrow - woohooooo!!! I did pop into my stamping room for a quick break and put this card together. It really didn't take long as the image was already coloured up - and I needed to have this done for a friend's birthday next week so it was a good excuse to play!!! My friend was actually watching me colour these guys as I was doing it at the ice rink while our daughters trained. When she mentioned it was her birthday soon I thought it would be nice to use the image she had seen come to life for her card.

Now I really must dash and get this packing finished - am out all evening at the rink again and the suitcase is still empty - everything has just been throw on the bed - LOL!!

Will catch up with everyone after convention!!!! Have a fabulous weekend - I know I will.....

A House Mouse Birthday Card for my Sister

When my younger sister popped over to visit me a couple of weeks ago I had a couple of my cards lying around waiting to be put away - my sister very rarely sees what I get up to as her internet service isn't great. It was lovely to hear her exclamations when she saw what I was doing with my time - I think she was impressed, that's always great to hear!!!!

Anyway - she is a bit of a nutter about anything "cute" so she fell in love with House Mouse stamps! So much so that I had her oohing and aaahing at the House Mouse Challenge Blog and telling me which new stamps I should get - just wish she'd offered to pay for them - LOL. She LOVED this stamp that I had so it was a natural choice for me to use it for her birthday card. I'd never inked it up before - it's size always made me a bit nervous! I was really happy with how it turned out - and so was she!! My mum lives with my sister so this was the first card of mine she'd seen in a LONG time - so I think I impressed her too! It's amazing how when you tell people you make cards their perception of what you are actually creating can be sooo different from the reality!

House Mouse Challenge #28 - One for the Men

The House Mouse Challenge for this week is to make a masculine card - and it has to be for a grown up male and not a little boy - but do little boys ever really grow up - LOL. I haven't joined in this challenge before but as my stamp collection is growing these are some of my favourite images and I decided it would be fun to play along. I also find masculine cards a little hard to work on so it was an even bigger challenge for me.

I love this image, it's just soo sweet! I've added some Crystal Effects to the sun and to add ripples in the water. The cardstock colours I've used are Chocolate Chip, Basic Black and Very Vanilla. The DP is from SU Designer Prints Series - this one is the 2 sides of one sheet in the Close to Cocoa set.

Midnight Madness Inspiration Challenge #8

Paula from Precioso Designs has set a wonderful challenge this week - a theme I feel really at home with - Asian Gardens. I was lucky enough to live in Singapore for 2 1/2 years and this time in Asia gave me a love of Asian art and the meditative atmosphere of Asian inspired gardens. Recently the father of one of my son's friends told me my house was more Asian than his - he's Chinese!!!

Paula's garden is Japanese - but the feel of reflection and relaxation is symbolic in most Asian gardens. I decided this little fella looked like he was enjoying a nice quiet mouse moment. He went soo well with the fabulous sentiment from Artfully Asian. I popped him under some "cherry blossom" branches - these are from the Embrace Life set, as is the "bamboo". These elements are often found in Asian Gardens, there is even some bamboo in the inspiration picture. I haven't used all the colours Paula suggested, but then an inspiration is just that - and this is what her picture inspired me the create. Hope you like it!

The colours I've used are Regal Rose, Old Olive, Basic Black and Whisper White.

Nicole's Sweet 16

I have a good friend who loves House Mouse stamps (Hi Deb!) - so when her lovely daughter turned 16 there really was no other choice but to use one of their stamps on the card. I had also told Leigh at 'Cause I'm Me that with her and Jean's gorgeous House Mouse cards I was almost afraid to post one - LOL. She sent me an email letting me know she'd love to see one on my blog, so this is for her too.

I decided to make it teenage friendly with some bright colours and funky flowers. I used Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant and Lavender Lace. Of course my Cuttlebug got a work out too - I cut all the flowers and numbers using Cuttlebug Dies, and the main image was cut and layered using my Nestabilities. The background was also embossed using my Divine Swirls folder. I blinged it up with some coloured rhinestones and Dazzling Diamonds frosting on the cupcake.

I was really happy with how it turned out - and got a lovely text from the birthday girl - so it was smiles all around!!!

HAPPY SWEET 16 NICOLE