Doodle Card

Do you like to Doodle? This is a quick and easy card idea. I made this for my friend, you won't be surprised to learn her name is Liz!

You will need:

a blank card (mine is 5"x7" but any size will work)

an envelope it fits in!

a black fine liner

colouring pens (I've just used the kids felt pens but more about that later)

First write your message in bubbly writing using the fine liner. Just be brave, use bold strokes and try not to stop mid line. (you can see where I didn't follow my own advice on the y of happy - never mind, no one will notice once it's finished)

Then add a few large flowers in the bigger gaps.

Next start filling in the smaller gaps with leaves, flowers, hearts, swirls. Don't worry if some elements are a bit wonky or uneven, there's so much going on no one will ever spot it but you.

Now just keep filing in the gaps with whatever you like.

I have tried to sneak in a few little personalised things - Liz has several greyhounds/learchers, supports Coventry City Football Club, and is always making me tea at work! The little greyhound was a bit tricky, I practised on a scrap of paper a few times and then did it in pencil first on the card before inking it over.

You could stop here and leave it black and white.

I love a bit of colouring in!

The hardest thing is knowing when to stop - just do as much or as little as you want. You can use a really limited colour palette (I used 5 colours here) or go crazy and use loads, it's up to you - there is no right or wrong!

(what can go wrong) I do own some very lovely Promarker pens which are so lovely to colour with. Unfortunately this is what happened when I used them for this card.

 Luckily I checked the inside after I coloured in the football in the top left corner and switched to the kids felt pens which didn't bleed through at all. 

I've used this idea for a few friends recently. (these photos are from my phone, hence the terrible quality)

For Gabbie I crocheted a little heart brooch, attached it to the card and doodled around it.

Angela likes to sew and we drink a lot of tea together!

You might also be interested in:

Birdcage Cards

Quick Clock Makeover

School Reunion Cake Toppers

Pretty Garden Planters

Did I mention that I quite like a bit of gardening too?
Earlier this year I planted up these lovely old dishes with little viola plants.

The blue and white dish had been used for plants before, it belonged to my Mum and I think I remember her putting bulbs in it. The pink and white dish is an old casserole dish that was my Nan's. The lid was broken years ago and it has a couple of chips and a small crack so I didn't want to use it for food.

I put a layer of little stones and pebbles in the bottom to stop the plant roots sitting in water then added some ordinary potting compost. These pretty viola plants were on sale at our local DIY shop as they were getting a bit leggy. I just trimmed off the dead bits.

I was really pleased with how pretty they look and will definitely do something similar with them again next year.

(what can go wrong) A word of warning though, if you go on holiday for 2 weeks, no one is watering your garden and it's not that rainy, then this happens:

The pink one is beyond hope but I've done some radical pruning/dead heading of the other one and have high hopes that it can be saved for a little while longer.

Hello!

Hi and welcome to Sum of their Stories.

I have always loved making things, I like to sew, knit, crochet, embroider, papercraft ....... My favourite thing is reusing or recycling something that was heading for the bin.

Some time in 2012 I discovered craft blogs and a whole world of lovely ideas, inspiration and tutorials. I have loved looking at other people's ideas and feel it's really time I gave a little something back.

I'm hoping to show my creations, with the hope you might be inspired too. I am not especially computer minded so even setting this blog up and adding a header has been a little challenging. At the moment tutorials seem a long way off but that is what I'm hoping for at some point. 

I come from a long line of crafty people, both my Nans and my Mum were prolific crafters (more about them later I'm sure) and I grew up in an environment where you thought "can I make one myself" before buying anything. 

I have a lot to learn about this blogging malarkey but here goes.....