I've got all these free stamps from the front of Craft Stamper that I have hardly used, so I thought I'd have a play. The leaf swirl stamp on this one is a clear Inkadinkado stamp from the 'fall season' set. I coloured it with mustard seed, spiced marmalade, fired brick and tea dye distress inks. I coloured the owl with promarkers.
This flower was coloured with promarkers too, and a bit of stickles. The greeting is from Craftwork Cards. the base card was run through the cuttlebug using a border embossing folder followed by the flower folder.
Finally I used the owl again. I found the background paper as a free download on Mel Stampz. I coloured the trees with pencil crayons. The yellow border was cut using an xcut border cutting die.
Parts of this were going to be my entry to Phil's challenge at Honey Pot Crafts that closed about a week ago! The pieces were in danger of having tea spilled on them or getting ink on them, so I managed to grab a few minutes when I got in after governors meeting. The stamp is from penny black and the paper was in my stash for about 7 years! As it was no longer the challenge I used my cuttlebug anyway!I coloured it with my promarkers in lime green, ruby and canary and finished with a touch of stickles.
If you look closely at the bottom picture you will see Brian is giving a piggyback to his/her son/daughter (they are hermaphrodites), about 3 weeks after it hatched.
They are also very entertaining when given a 'shower' under the tap. You can see Brian's brother, Gary here. My three snails live at school in term time, and are a big hit with the children, particularly when we race them and give them a shower! They are fascinating creatures, honest!
I decided to go for something a bit different this week - a bit of serenity when everything around me is feeling a bit manic at the moment! It also needed to be reasonably quick because I have work commitments at the moment. The stamp is from Stamporium and I used lemon, meadow green, cool aqua and pastel blue. There is quite a bit of diamond stickles too. The background paper is from an artylicious cd. Thanks for looking!
A huge 'Thank You' to Lisa, who has given me these two awards. She is such a wonderful blog friend and her lovely comments are such an encouragement! I in turn want to pass them on to Lynne K, June, Lottie, Sue, Papoosue, Lisa and Guzziesue, who are all such lovely bloggers, and make blog land a better place!
This first one is for Steve's Dad. It is very similar to one of the panels I did for my Dad's 80th card, which you can find the details of here.
The second card is for my Dad. I don't own this stamp, but Lynne K very kindly let me stamp a few using hers! It is from Innovative Stamp Creations and I think it is called 'a walk in the woods'. I coloured it with distress inks in shabby shutters, tea dye and peeled paint.
A workmate asked me to make a 60th birthday card for a friend. I asked for some ideas as to what she liked. She said she trusted me to do my own thing, as she loved all the things I have made for her before. Her parting comment was 'She makes a lot of cards herself'. Oh boy! Where to start?!!! Anyway, after much thought here is the finished article. I only hope it lives up to her expectations! The rose stamp is from Innovative Stamp creations friendship plate. The seedhead stamp is from Stamp to your Art's Content. The tag had direct to paper chalk ink in burnt sienna, with a few sprays of creative colour sprays in bronze, gold and Jaffalicious. The paper was from K and co.
Here is my entry for this weeks Passion for promarkers challenge. The stamps are by Hero arts and the sentiment is computer generated. I used berry red, royal blue, Cinnamon, Saffron, Ivory and Blush. Oh, yes, and my trusty Blender pen! The background paper was from Funky Fairies - a free download. Thanks for looking x
Now I can't tell you the story about it without showing you what I put inside, which is here.
It was the card I made for Steve on our 15th wedding anniversary. I thought I'd better put a bit more effort in as the 2 years before that had been very 'last minute'. It is our 20th this year... I guess it's time to start thinking! Now I need to nominate 6 people to have a go too. They are:
I've finished my reports! I am so happy! I will probably have to tweak a few, but they are essentially done! There is still a heap of work to do before we break up for the summer, but I can spare a bit of time to indulge my addictions!!! 
The stamps are from crafty individuals. I normally rush for my distress inks with these stamps, but went for Kaleidacolor Fresh Greens instead. The daisy was stamped onto a brayered piece, then I painted the petals with bleach to whiten them. I added a hint of pink with distress inks when it was dry.
After tea I had a quick stroll down the garden again and spotted a few more buds still damp from the shower we had. 
'Pumpkin and Cinnamon for a baby card?' I hear you cry! Well I did use a fair bit of blender pen in a bid to make it peachy! Here is my entry for the passion for promarkers latest challenge. I also used cool aqua, canary, pastel pink, Saffron, satin and dusky pink. The stamp is from Pink Gem Designs. The background papers were from my stash, and they were on a pad, but the cover was missing, so I'm not sure who they are by - hope you like it!
The rain here has been torrential for most of the day, although it has just stopped. I decided I would not pop down the road to pick up a copy of Craft Stamper, that's how bad it was, lol! I am feeling virtuous though, because I have done 7 reports today! If I can do a couple more this evening I will only have ten left to do! There is an up side to rain!
The second card is a result of me going through my stash again. Did you know you can cuttlebug suede effect paper? It goes through beautifully! The paisley paper is from an artylicious cd and the stamp is from Stamporium.
I've been playing with my butterfly collage stamps from Graphicus again, along with the mulberry paper I found. The top one was coloured with distress inks. For the second I coloured the background with distress inks and then used watercolour pencils on the butterfly. When I finished I gave the butterfly a layer of glossy accents. They really didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, but I'm not trying again yet. I think my lack of inspiration is because I know I should be getting on with writing reports... I'm a bit like those youngsters who watch Songs of Praise on a Sunday when they're not really interested, but they have homework to do!
Here is my entry for the next passion for promarkers challenge. The challenge is to use predominantly two colours - Apple and pastel pink. I've also used canary, pumpkin, saffron, cool grey 1 and pastel blue . The stamp is a Messy Rabbit one from Joanna Sheen. This is another cute stamp I really didn't need, but it was pointed out to me by the ladies at 'A bit more than...' and I just had to buy it!
I was going through some stash at the weekend and discovered a pile of mulberry paper. I was looking for something to back this image with, and I think it works... The stamps are from Graphicus (butterfly poppy and butterfly daisy theme plates), and I coloured it with promarkers in apple, meadow green and pastel blue.
