Micing On The Cake

I've been on one of those trails again, where one thing leads to another.

This is how this one goes...

In the beginning, I didn't have a clue what I was doing with card making and bought lots of craft stuff and had no idea what to do with it when I got it home. But during the course of this year, a certain amount of wisdom has begun to seep into my little overactive brain. So now, as I said before, each time my copy of Cardmaking and Papercraft arrives, I sit and thumb through it, and decide which projects I am going to make. Then I buy only the materials required for that project, whether it's stamps, papers or whatever. This way I save waste, and hopefully save a few pennies.

Because of this, I saw the stamps required to make these cards and decided to have a go.

I just couldn't resist the little mice.

Same idea, different colours.

Another idea, using just one section of the stamp.

I've been dying to use some corrugated paper, so this was the perfect opportunity.

They put in some free peel-offs, and I couldn't resist doing something with these, too,

but I had to wait until my grey Promarker arrived first. So cute.

The stamps for these were from the Little Claire Designs website. I ordered the stamp and made the cards above. They sent me a set of peel-offs as a freebie, which I thought was mighty generous and encouraged me to investigate further.

On the website I noticed you can join their club for 7.50 a month and they send you some stamps and all the instructions and papers to make a set of cards. This really caught my attention. As you may know, I've been going to a craft club on a Tuesday night, and I really do enjoy it, but it costs eight pounds a session (which made me gasp when she first told me!) and I don't always come out with a card I can use. On the two occasions when we've done stencilling, my efforts have been pretty poor, and I've struggled to get a decent card out of them. I think eight pounds is quite a lot to spend to have nothing to show for it at the end.
So I discussed my plan with Mr O and have decided to stop going to the craft class (even though I will miss the company of fellow paper loving obsessives!) for thirty-two pounds a month, and pay seven pounds fifty instead, and actually have something to show for it afterwards.
So last week I sent off my hard-earned cash, and the products promptly arrived. They are Christmas themed, and as a nod to Christmas I have started 'playing' with them (grown-up word, honest!) and will show you the results very soon.
I am very impressed with the Little Claire website. They have a good gallery for inspiration and loads of video tutorials showing you what to do with the items they send you for the monthly club. I will be dipping in and out of it quite a bit I think.
But now I'm off to pick blackberries in the rain, as I can't let them go to waste, and am thinking of the crumble I'll be making with them later.
Mrs O.
(who sincerely hopes you're having better weather than we seem to be able to muster up at the moment!)