Cards for teenage girls

A couple of Meg's friends have birthdays this month. The first has a digistamp from Christine Dark and the papers are my Mind's Eye. The sentiment and card are from Craftwork Cards.
The second card is (apparently) for a Goth guitar player. The papers are from my Artylicious Butterfly Bliss cd (Graphicus) and the stamp is from the Inkadinkado Clear set 'Rock Star'.
It is approaching the end of the 6 week holiday far too quickly and I'm going to have to do less crafting and more work very soon (Boooo!).

Dare you to Digistamp challenge 20 - a recipe

This is my first entry for a DU2DS challenge. The recipe was:

• one ribbon (a rare pink one from my stash)
• Two patterned papers (both from the cupcake crazy set on Funky Fairies)
• Three flowers (Prima with Papermania brads)

The cheeky monkey is from Dustin Pike. I've bought a couple of images from him recently with certain people in mind (particularly younger people). I coloured him with promarkers. The sentiment is a stamp from Graphicus. Thanks for looking!

Do you remember Ivor the Engine?

Isn't it funny how accents trigger things in our memories. I had no idea that Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent was so bad as a child, but I could recognise a welsh accent (not sure if they were bad too!), thanks to Ivor the Engine! There was Jones the Steam, Owen the Signal, Dai Station and Evans the Song (choir master). I couldn't remember the name of the Dragon, but managed to find out on one of our train journeys. It was Idris, and from what I can remember I think he looked a bit like this!
The photo at the top is of course the Snowdon Railway. We weren't lucky enough to get a ride on it that day. We arrived before ten to find the first available ticket was for ten past five in the afternoon. I guess we should have booked!

Fabulous Blog candy from The Stamp Man

Have you seen the wondeful blog candy available from the Stampman's blog? If you want to be in with a chance of winning it, click here and have a read of what you need to do. There are all sorts of things including some starburst stains which are really wonderful!

Passion for promarkers- Lilac, lavender, amethyst and aubergine

Passion for promarkers challenge this week asks us to use at least two of the four purples currently available. For the first card I used lilac and lavender, along with two very small amounts of aubergine (The handbag clasp and the rainbow drop on the shoe). Stamps are from Stamporium. It was ok, but I thought I could come up with something better, so I looked what else I could colour and found this quirky digistamp that was another freebie from Dustin Pike. For this one I used all four shades of purple with pastel blue and pastel pink in addition. Papers on the first are from my stash and for the second are from a papermania creative tones pad.
So, the second is my entry for this weeks challenge. I know, it is a bit of a strange colour for a bee! Hope you like it and thanks for looking!

Inspired by Robert

Last Friday we visited Once Upon a Stamp. Meg wanted some scrapbook supplies and I was interested in trying out the new Justrite stamp range. Needless to say I bought some, and this first card is a very simple make using the friendship set. The backing paper was from K & co. As you can see they fit beautifully into the nesties. On the walls and the counter at OUAS were some of Robert's works of art using Nesties as frames, and I had been meaning to have a go. Here is my effort.
The papers are from K and co, the sentiment is from Graphicus, The picture is from a Crafty individuals book (People and places) and the lace stamp is by Impression Obsession. I used antique linen and tea dye Distress inks to stamp with and to age it all. Thanks for the inspiration Robert!

A place for Fairies

This is another photo from our holiday, a place called Fairy Glen, not far from Betws-y-Coed. A bit magical, isn't it? I have a few fairy stamps, but this one from Lavinia stamps looks like the most likely to live in a place like Fairy Glen.
All of the stamps are from Lavinia Stamps, they are stamped on a brayered background in Adirondack Winter sky I think (the most perfect I have ever done, and am unlikely to manage ever again!)The background paper is made using Adirondak colour wash sprays (Stream, Lettuce and Eggplant), sprayed on to craft mat and spritzed with lots of water.
What sort of fairy do you think would live here?

Graphicus August Challenge - Complementary Colours

It's a while since I did the Graphicus Challenge, but, after reading Glenda's article I think this meets the complementary colours theme.(Sorry, Glenda. I couldn't bring myself to do anything on a Christmas theme yet!) I used distress inks in Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Dusty Concord and Worn Lipstick. I swiped them across my craft mat and spritzed with water before laying white cardstock on top. When it was dry I stamped it with my favourite stamp of all time - the Fern from the Wild Meadow theme plate. The darker ones were stamped in versafine imperial purple, and the ones in the background are stamped with Adirondack Cool Peri. I finished it off with a dragonfly brad that I coloured with my promarkers. Hope you like it!

Passion for promarkers - Pumpkin and Prussian with a Halloween theme

Here is my entry for Passion for Promarkers this week. I was quite happy with the colours for this one, but I had no suitable stamps on a Halloween theme. I found this digi stamp on Dustin Pike's blog as a freebie download. Check him out - loads of cool pics. I used Prussian, Pumpkin, Saffron, Terracotta, Dusky Pink, Lemon, Pastel Blue and Grass. Not sure what to do with it now... can't see it selling, they are more of an American thing.

Getting inky

I've been having a play with backgrounds. This first one uses Adirondack colour wash sprays in stream and lettuce sprayed onto a craft mat and diluted with lots of water. The stamps are from Crafty Individuals. I stamped on the base card with veramark and brushed Blonde Moments pigment powders over the top.
This second one was inspired by Brenda. I swiped Distress inks in Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade across my craft mat and sprayed with water. Then I laid my cardstock on top. The stamps on this one are Elusive Images(Graphicus) Wild Meadow themeplate. The skeleton oak leaf and bumble bee sticker were in my stash - puchases from Lakeland some time ago.

A little bit of our holiday

Wales in sunshine, just in case you didn't believe me! We spent a day at and around Caernarfon, including the castle and a boat trip along the Menai Strait.
For someone who isn't keen on heights I did pretty well that day! The views were spectacular from the tops of those towers.
Caernarfon Castle is one where you can lose people. There are 3 different levels and loads of spiral staircases up and down. If you were to split up you might not find each other again for days!
We finished the afternoon with an ice cream sitting by the river... bliss!

New stamps

Last time I went to Honeypot Crafts I spotted a stamp that Phill had used. He said it was from the Wild Aspapragus set by My Mind's Eye. I asked him if he could get me some and he rang, there and then to order them. I popped in last Sunday to pick them up and this is my first play with them. I used distress inks in antique linen, tea dye, vintage photo, spiced marmalade and dried marigold on the top one. I used a white gel pen to highlight a few bits, but I went a bit mad!
This second one I used the same colours except for the spiced marmalade and dried marigold, and I added a few dots of gold glitter glue. Main images were stamped with dark brown chalk ink on the first and vintage sepia versafine on the second. Not sure which works best.

Passion for promarkers - Cocoa and Rose Pink

Here is my offering for this weeks passion for promarkers. I can't believe it is week 12 already! Anyway, I used big flower stamps (Graphicus - big flowers unmounted theme plate) and coloured them in in Rose Pink and Cocoa, using just a bit of henna in the middles. I used Funky fairies paper (free download), a bit of copper tulip paint and a hint of diamond stickles.
I had just put the tulip paint on the first time when my craft knife rolled across it and spread it, so I had to start again. Second attempt is much better! Thanks for looking!

Flowers and Ducks

I stamped some flowers (Graphicus - Big Flowers unmounted plate) and took them on holiday to colour with promarkers. The patterned paper is from the Artylicious damask delights cd, and the other piece is cuttlebugged with the retro floral embossing folder.
I had forgotten I had this little stamp (Rubber Stampede) and thought it would look good coloured with promarkers. I was going to make them into baby cards, but then made them a little more ambiguous with a sentiment of 'with love'. The gingham papers are from funky fairies.

Thank you!

Whilst I have been away 3 of my lovely blog friends have given me these lovely awards. The first is from Lynne and Lisa, my very good blog friends. They inspire me with their art and encourage me with their comments. The second is from the lovely Lyn (Spyder), who leaves me lovely comments and makes some super cards too.
I want to give both to:
Brenda, who makes so many lovely cards in so many different styles
Lyn (Spyder), who regularly puts a smile on my face with her fun cards and lovely comments
Lesley (craftimamma), a fellow graphicus addict who regularly inspires me
Lisa, the multi-talented cake/ tag/ card maker
Lynne, my wonderful friend and partner in crime (the shopping variety)
and of course Megan, who takes a cracking photo and is my lovely daughter

Got a confession to make...

I've been in North Wales for the last two weeks, so the last four posts were done by Mr Blogger. Thank you everyone for your fabulous comments. I was a bit worried that if I didn't post for two weeks you would all forget who I was! Believe it or not we had mostly good weather, and I will post the odd picture as proof over the next few weeks! I took my promarkers with me and lots of stamped images, so there are lots of cards to come. I have to admit though, I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms from my craft table and my blog. I am so sad, lol! I will be getting very inky in between doing loads of washing over the next few days, I am sure.
This waterfall was close to Dolwyddelan Castle, between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed. That day it did rain, but low light meant I could play with exposure times. It isn't perfect, but I'm quite pleased with the result. Thanks for looking!

Butterflies

I bought the Aspects of Design 'Daisy Flutters' sheet on the way back from holiday a couple of years ago. We popped in to The Stampman and I bought quite a lot of stash... Steve claims it was half the shop. Anyway, it has been well used. I thought I would show you a few of the cards I have made using the butterflies on it. The first has a vellum overlay stamped with daisies that were embossed with a moonglow embossing powder - not sure which one. I used my tombow pens to colour the butterfly and added a few flat backed pearls.
For the second I stamped the base card with versamark and applied chalk in diagonal sweeps across the card. The square behind the butterfly was done with H2Os, with antenna made out of wire.
This one had layers of stamped acetate, torn vellum and silver embossed butterflies coloured with Tombow pens.

I think the fourth one is pretty self explanatory, so I won't bore you with the details. Finally I used starburst stains (Victorian Bouquet) on some scrunched and some flat paper, layering with stamped acetate and pearlescent card.

Bleach!

I've been having a little play with some bleach. I used a clarity stamp and made myself a makeshift ink pad with some kitchen roll and some bleach. I was trying to create the impression of elephants stampeding!
Next I stamped a flower panel (Stamporium) in chalk ink and bleached out the petals. I then painted them with Sparkling H2Os.

For the third card I used a flower stamp (Stamporium) that I stamped and embossed onto darker paper that would turn much paler when painted with bleach - I use economy thin bleach as the thick ones don't tend to work. You can buy paper and card specifically for this, but I tend to try darker pieces from my stash.When the bleach was completely dry I coloured it with my Tombow pens.