Crafty Salutations

Made it back to the snippet playground

2012-01-30T20:03:00.000Z

It is a while since I joined in with Di's snippet challenge. I've had some carefully selected snippets waiting for me to do something with for well over a week, but I must have been naughty, because I ended up doing extra work with no time for play! Anyway, I'm joining my playmates again with this little number.

I've got a feeling that the stripy paper is K & Co, but I really don't know the other one. I think it could date back to 1997! The text stamp is from Crafty Individuals and stamped in versamark with cosmic shimmer powders brushed over. The Butterfly (Elusive images) is stamped in Currant Adirondack and layered up.

The top layer was heat embossed with kaleidoscope embossing powder. What I do is ink up my stamp with versamark, then apply the Adirondack on top of the versamark, then stamp and then put the embossing powder on. After heating it looks like this.

Very sparkly! I wasn't sure if it needed anything else, but decided to leave it as it is in the end. Hope Miss Di is pleased with my behaviour! Well, thanks for looking and I hope you have a great week!

Steve's birthday and a waltzing Mouse sketch

2012-01-29T16:02:00.002Z

Today is my lovely Hubby's birthday, so we have just been out for lunch. Here is the card I made for him using a Sheena Stamp.

The papers are from a K & Co 6x6 pad kindly given to me by my lovely friend Milena. The fern leaves are hiding where I accidentally dropped the ink pad on the card! I coloured the image with distress inks.

My next card is a little fussy for my taste, but it may well be a wedding anniversary card for my nephew.

I had been experimenting stamping patterns with waltzing mouse stamps and distress inks (Victorian Velvet and bundled sage) I decided to use it for the front of a card when I saw this week's Waltzing Mouse sketch.

All stamps are from Waltzing Mouse except the heart which was from Crafty Individuals.

Well, thanks for looking and I hope to see you again soon.

How long?!

2012-01-27T23:38:00.001Z

I can't believe how long it is since I posted last! Truth is I think Mr Mojo is having a little holiday. I have made a few bits and bobs, but I'm not particularly happy with them. I even resorted to reworking a couple of cards I'd already made for an order. Anyway, here are two that didn't end up in the bin!

This first one uses papers from my Artylicious Essence of Nature cd and an Aspects of design stamp. The sentiment is computer generated.

This second one feels like a bit of a cheat really because the paper was a freebie from Glenda Waterworth and the only stamp was the sentiment from Paula Pascual. The spellbinders border and ornate circle are from the Parisienne accents set.
Thanks for looking and I hope I will come up with something half decent soon. If you happen to see my mojo please send it back here!

Less is more birds

2012-01-15T10:50:00.002Z

The theme at Less is More this week is birds and it needs to be a one layer card. I had a major reorganisation of my stamps over the Christmas holiday and rediscovered a sheet of Elusive Images stamps with lots of birds on, so I used those on my first card.

The ink dusting and stamping were done with big and juicy soothing sunset. I added a tiny bit of cotton candy distress stickles to the berries and the pattern on the bird. Having seen Chrissie's and Mandi's cards this week I decided to take some inspiration from Chrissie's scene card on her blog and came up with this.

The landscape stamp is from stamp addicts and the bird of prey is from Inkylicious. I stamped all of it in Chipped Sapphire distress ink and dragged colour onto the image with a damp paintbrush. I also added a hint of colour to the sky with my ink dusters. This was my second attempt, but I rescued the first by doing this with it (no birds, because I smudged the ink!)

both of these cards would be suitable for the stampalot challenge too, where the theme is monochrome. Have you seen the prize for stampalot this month? Feast your eyes on this little lot!

Isn't it a gorgeous colour combination?

Well, I'd better go as my niece and her boyfriend will be arriving shortly and we are going to go for a walk near Clumber park. Hopefully we will see lots of birds whilst we are out. Thanks for looking and I will hopefully get round to visiting you during the week.

Purple, snippets and paper piecing

2012-01-08T16:34:00.002Z

I have made a few more cards this weekend. Thought I would try and squeeze in a few challenges before going back to school.
First up is my offering for this week's Less is More where the theme is 'predominantly purple' - one of my favourite colours incidentally.

I used ink dusters to make the background with purple twilight and eggplant adirondack ink. I then stamped the plant (indigo blu) with eggplant and added a bit of stickles to the flowers.
Next up is my snippet creation for this week.

I used snippets of snippets from last week's card and a larger piece that has been lurking for a couple of years I think! the flowers (Hero Arts) were stamped and cut from another snippet too, with added stickles.

I coloured the centre of the flower with a promarker. If you want to join in with your snippets pop over to Pixie's crafty Snippets challenge.
Finally I have also completed some paper piecing for this week's theme at Allsorts.

This was done with snippets too. This fabulous Woodware Poppy was a Christmas present from a lovely friend.
Well, it is back to work tomorrow, so don't be surprised if it is a while before I post again! Thanks for looking!

Some snippet makes

2012-01-04T17:32:00.000Z

I have been having a major sort out. My snippets are now all together, lots of my unmounted stamps are in A5 folders and I'm just waiting on a delivery of eze-mount before I continue. I had some lovely images I had coloured in before Christmas and found the perfect papers to complement them amongst my snippets.
First another Hobby art scene coloured with aqua markers and distress inks. Not sure where the papers are from (other than my snippet drawer!)

Next were some stamps I got free on the front of a magazine (Quick cards made easy). I stamped and coloured these on Christmas eve, but hadn't done anything with them. They go pretty well with the snippets of Pink Petticoat papers I found.

These remind me of one of my Christmas presents - a gift box of tea.

Aren't the boxes so pretty?
I'm entering all three of my cards into Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge, who has taken over the keys from the lovely Jules. Hey, Di - do you think those boxes would count as snippets?! Thanks for looking. I'm off to drink some afternoon tea!

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T21:34:00.001Z

We spent yesterday walking through Sherwood Forest blowing a few cobwebs out and getting some much needed fresh air and exercise. The weather was perfect for a stroll, although the wind was a bit chilly, so it was good we were wrapped up. The afternoon sun gave everything a warm glow and I took a few photos of trees and wildlife. I was particularly please with my Nuthatch.

These next photos of the river Meden are so different to how it looked five years ago. Subsidence and flooding have created a permanent lake on both sides of the bridge.

I am sure most of you are aware of my fascination with trees (stamps and real ones), and this area of Sherwood Forest has some beauties. It probably looks much as it did several hundred years ago, with no pylons, telegraph wires or buildings as far as the eye can see. It probably doesn't look that much like a forest to most - more heathland, I suppose.

I love this particular tree. It reminds me of the one on 'Who do they think they are?'
I had a great day, and aim to do more walking (and bird watching) in 2012, with my family. What else, though? I aim to try and lose a few pounds, although I hope to do it by more exercise and more sensible eating, as well as getting a bit more sleep, rather than dieting. On a crafting level I aim to use what I have got more, which may lead to buying a bit less - who knows? I have also decided to share the card making I do for work with another crafter, so hopefully allowing a bit more time for less directed creativity. I want to try and keep my desk tidier and finish more things before I start the next! You wouldn't believe the half made efforts I uncovered during my mass tidy on Christmas eve.
No cards in this post, but I will be back (probably tomorrow) with a few, I'm sure.
Happy New year to you all. May it be healthy, prosperous and full of wonderful things (particularly of a crafting nature) x

Happy Monochrome New Year at Sir Stampalot

2012-01-01T08:30:00.004Z

Good Morning and a Happy New Year to you. Today is the start of a new Challenge at Sir Stampalot where the theme is Monochrome, and by this we mean your choice what colour you work with so long as your card is all in shades of the same colourway (you can of course use white cardstock).

I went for shades of Blue, in fact it is all done with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. The central scene is stamped on to water colour paper and the sky was done with ink dusters. I used a water brush to pull a little bit of colour from the stamped images. The images are all from the Hobby Art Scene it coastal set and the Harbour set. The background was created with Hero Arts Antique flower design block.
The card flourishes were cut with a Marianne Design Die. The card candy and charm were from my stash, but I found this lovely set of Nautical charms on Stampalot's website that I will be buying very soon.

The prize this month is a fabulous surprise... hand selected by the lovely Janice. I am sure you will love it!

I am really looking forward to visiting you and seeing your lovely creations. Pop over to the Stampalot challenge blog and look at the fabulous inspiration from the Design team.
thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Less is More plus a bit of Brayer fun

2011-12-30T11:19:00.000Z

It has been a few weeks since I managed to enter Less is More, but as I am enjoying a few days of crafty play, I thought I'd better turn my thoughts to this week's Challenge where the theme is one word. I have looked through lots of stamps and finally came up with this.

A very simple watercoloured house. The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque and haven't been inked nearly enough!
There are some fabulous CAS cards on show from Chrissie and Mandi, and I am looking forward to spending a little time visiting my fellow LIMettes.

My brother has a birthday in early January, and as a keen bird watcher I thought I would use my pheasant stamp and silver birches from Clarity stamps. I stamped and masked before brayering the sky and stamping the Inkylicious trees in the background. I then used my ink dusters to put a few shadows in the snow and coloured the pheasant with promarkers. The base card is stamped with the clarity small feather stamp in very pale blue. I often make him cards that would double as a Christmas card... well, serves him right for having a January birthday!

Next up is my first play with my Christmas stamps. The Stampscape set is called The light and the sea. The only stamp that isn't from that set is the foliage on the right, which is from the Andy Skinner Winters tale set. It isn't perfect brayering, and there are a few stamps hiding fingerprints (note to self: new handcream and shiny card are not a good combination!) but never mind. I was please with the colour combo. Bet you Brenda will be able to tell you the colours of Adirondack I used in both!
A very happy New year to you all and thanks so much for your lovely comments this year. I really appreciate them. Thanks too, to all of my followers for your continued support.

A bit of a craft fest

2011-12-29T22:17:00.001Z

We had a lovely Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, surrounded by family. Santa was very kind with more shades of Adirondack ink, Waltzing Mouse stamps, Andy Skinner stamps and stampscapes stamps. As well as all these I received, from the lovely Lynne, some brilliant tools called perfect layers. You can find them here. I had lots of images that were waiting to be matted and layered, so I set to. They are very easy to use, so needless to say I made quite a few cards...

These first three were all stamped with Hobby art Scene-it stamps and painted with a mixture of aqua markers and distress inks. The papers were all snippets from my stash, which I spent about four hours sorting through. I have decided to donate a bag full to the Church near school, who hold 'Messy Church' art and craft events every month.I'm also sharing these with Jules Crafty Snippets Challenge - twice in a week - must be the holidays!!!

Next are a few cute ones...

A Milton Teddy from Wild Rose studios, coloured with distress inks, (Waltzing mouse sentiment and Hero Arts little flower stamp)

... 'Searching' stamp from Sugar Nellie, coloured with Aqua markers,

...and a Mo Manning (Mo's Digital Pencil ) Digi coloured with promarkers. These were all coloured during the school holidays in August and in October, and were waiting to be made into a card. Now I feel a little more in control of my craft stuff, I have had a bit of a brayering session, and I will share the results with you tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

See you on the other side!

2011-12-24T19:00:00.003Z

I've spent the last 24 hours making cards and baking mostly, with a few hours sleep snatched in the middle. I haven't made half the goodies I'd intended. Just mince pies from me and mocha cupcakes from Meg. There is a nice piece of gammon cooking at the moment. Shortbread and cookies will have to wait, and I blame the councillor who thought it was a good idea to not break up until the 23rd!
Here are my cards. The first, second and fourth are all made from snippets so I'm entering them into Jules' Crafty snippet challenge. If you want any details about the cards please ask and I'll let you know.

Thanks for looking and a very Merry Christmas to you all!

A different colour scheme for Christmas

2011-12-20T21:43:00.000Z

Well, I am trying to make a bit of space on my desk and found various half finished things. I found a tipsy tree painted with distress inks, some scraps of paper and card left over from a kaisercraft pad and a (shhh!) peeloff in copper colour. This is what I made

I rather like this colour combo and might just try it again next year, but in less haste hopefully! Thanks for looking!

Blue and Brown at Allsorts

2011-12-18T15:35:00.003Z

I sat down yesterday morning to make my Dad's Christmas card as I had suddenly realised I won't see him again until boxing day! I saw some fabulous cards made from three tags on the inkylicious stand at Doncaster, so decided to make a tryptich snowy scene.

The hills are all done with ink dusters and broken china distress ink, and the trees (Inkylicious) are stamped in broken china and tumbled glass DI. The foreground stamp on the right is from Penny Black (Berry red, snow white) added to with promarkers and the tree stump, owl and fence are from a Lindsay Mason set called Build a snowy scene.

The tree on the left is also from Inkylicious and the sentiment from Waltzing Mouse. I used promarkers for the fence, tree, tree stump and owl, before going over various bits with the quicky glue pen and glamour dust. The base card is A4, so it is a fair size.

Only today have I realised that it fits this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is blue and brown. Thanks for looking and I hope your preparations are going well. I still have a week of school left, although parties, a Christingle service, and an achievement assembly are all included in that, so not much to plan! Off to make a few more Christmas cards whilst tidying my desk!

busy, busy, busy!

2011-12-15T22:03:00.004Z

I'm frantically making birthday cards for colleagues at the moment. There was one last week, three this week and two over the Christmas holiday that I need to get done in the next few days. I'm just going to post the cards with stamp and colouring information. I am sure you can work the rest out, but if you have any questions, pop them in the comments and I'll get back to you eventually!

Stamps: Inkylicious colouring medium: colouring pencils and gamusol

Stamp: Stampourium colouring medium: Distress inks paper: artylicious cd

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque and Waltzing Mouse colouring medium: Distress inks

Stamp: Hobby Art colouring medium: promarkers

Stamps: Inkylicious Colouring medium: Ink dusters, adirondack and big and juicy ink

Thanks for looking, and hope your Christmas preparations are going well!

A very quick post

2011-12-12T23:04:00.000Z

Well, I'm sorry I haven't managed a proper post yet with some cards on it . There is one in the pipeline, honest!
Panto went very well, and it's all over for another year. I had to share these photos with you.

Playground duty on Friday afternoon and the sky was looking decidedly dodgy. I was almost expecting it to snow as the clouds had taken on a very unusual colour and a wall of cloud was approaching fast. There were a few drops of ice cold rain and then the most amazing rainbow appeared in an arc right over the school. it was so intense and bright that you could see more colours than usual.

Thanks for looking!

A few more CAS cards

2011-12-08T21:20:00.001Z

I have been busy all week with Panto at school, so tonight is the first time since the weekend I've had enough time to stamp. We have one more matinee to do and then it is all over for another year. The song my class sang is called 'Life is a wonderful thing', and it is the sort of song that gets into your head and is there every waking moment. I found myself singing it as I was pushing the trolley round the supermarket! Anyway, on to my cards. I started with a couple more hero arts wreath cards, but as I had run out of red gems I used red tulip paint and stickles instead, and as I'd not used the tulip paint since last Christmas it had separated a bit and was a bit runny in places. I added a rather large tartan bow to cover a splodge on the next one!

Next I got out my Lavinia Mistletoe stamp and Versafine Olympia Green. I have made quite a few Christmas cards using this design since I first saw Tracy Dutton demo it at Doncaster about four years ago.

I added a bit of icicle stickles to the berries and a sentiment from Hero Arts. I tried to stamp another, but this time it didn't quite meet, so I added a bow in the gap.

The bow and sentiment don't look quite central on this one, but it doesn't look as bad as the photo in real life!

Finally I want to share some photos with you that I took on the way back from visiting my Dad on Saturday.

I thought of Adirondack eggplant and peach bellini the minute I saw that sky!!! I had a chat with Brenda and challenged her to recreate it and you can see the results here. She did an amazing job! Unfortunately the journey wasn't all good as a passing vehicle kicked up a rather large stone that cracked my windscreen, and the crack that was about 3cm long on Sunday was about 20cm long by Tuesday. I am now £75 lighter in the purse. At least it wasn't today it was being replaced - wouldn't have fancied that job in those winds and rain! Talking of the weather, I hope those of you in Scotland have made it through the day without problems caused by those winds, and are tucked up safely in your homes. Thanks for looking!

Playing Bingo at Sir Stampalot

2011-12-04T08:30:00.001Z

Well, it's the first Sunday in December so it's time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. We are having a little game of bingo, and here is your bingo card.

I chose pearls, stickles and ribbon, and came up with these two Christmas cards

The stamps are Woodware Tipsy trees paper pieced with faux stitching added. The papers are from my stash. "What is the prize?" I hear you ask. Well, feast your eyes on these goodies!

I think Santa may have had a hand in this as well as Andy and Janice!

I do hope you will be able to join in with us this month and I look forward to visiting. Pop over to the Stampalot Challenge blog for details of our rules and more fabulous inspiration. Thanks for looking!

Second post this week and it's only Tuesday!

2011-11-29T22:40:00.002Z

Well, my Less is More mojo is on overdrive and I haven't made a mess of anything yet, so I made a few more bling cards. These were all very very quick too, which doesn't always go hand in hand with LIM!
My first uses a previously uninked stamp that I got last year. It is a Hero Arts cling stamp called Wreath of leaves. I just added a few gems and a little Hero Arts sentiment.

After that I remembered some other stamps I bought last year, and didn't really get round to using. These are called Joyful Bubbles by Paula Pascual and were an absolute snip at £4.99. I stamped both cards with versafine (Royal purple and majestic blue) then embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder, adding a couple of gems too. The first is the blue one...

...with a close up of the sparkle...

The second is the purple one...

...and another close up...

I am thinking this kaleidoscope embossing powder is seriously addictive!

Challenges:

Stamptacular Sunday : Anything Christmas

Crafty cardmakers : Heat Embossing

Thanks for looking!

Bling at Less is More

2011-11-27T16:02:00.000Z

It has been one of those weeks at work, which has led to my craft space getting overcrowded and mistakes and spillages a plenty. First of all I have managed a Less is More entry where the theme is Bling. I dug out an ancient Stamporium stamp, embossed in silver sparkle and painted the holly leaves with bleach. I added some red gems and then decided the leaves needed a bit of sparkle too and added diamond stickles. Not my best, I'm afraid.

Last week the theme was silhouettes and I was really trying to join in. Unfortunately I got some really bad ink smudges on the one layer card I had made. I tried to get rid of them with bleach, but the colour of the base card was affected, so I gave up and put it to one side. Suddenly yesterday I had a brain wave and found the Parisienne borderability I had bought but not yet used. I was quite impressed with how well it covered up the mistakes!

I used ink dusters, dusty concord, wild honey and black soot distress inks, and tree stamps from the Inkylicious Winter's tale plate. Thanks for looking. I am hoping to visit a few more LIMettes this week, but with School Panto week rapidly approaching I may well not get the chance!

Age cards

2011-11-20T20:50:00.001Z

I have been busy this week working on a few orders.My First card is for a colleague's son who turns twenty-one next weekend. He is a mechanic, so I went for a cogs and tools look. All of the images on this card were free clip art from the net, as was the font.

The tools are novelty buttons that I've had in my stash for years.
My next card is for a lovely student I have in my class two days a week. She will turn Eighteen on Friday. For this one I used a computer generated number and then a Waltzing Mouse stamp for the fancy circle.

The roses and leaves were made with Marrianne dies, the border was made with my new Martha Stewart Doily lace punch (I wore out the old one) and the circles were cut with nesties. I used the Victoriana embossing folder on this one.
One of our lunchtime supervisors is fifty at the end of next week, so this next one is for her.

I cut out some numbers and used B&J soothing sunset, my ink dusters and a Fun Stamps paisley stamp to decorate them. The flowers and leaves were punches and the background was embossed with a paisley cuttlebug embossing folder, and the background paper is some I had printed out from an Artylicious cd, and just used a corner of it. The sentiment is a Waltzing mouse stamp.

Finally I have a card for which I pieced together a selection of scraps and finished off with a little scene using Hobby art Scene it Tuscany stamps and coloured with Distress inks. I was rather pleased that you can't tell the backing paper was in five pieces and the corrugated card covers a big jagged gap!

The more I look at it the more I think I made a bit of a faux pas, as there is only one glass and two bottles of wine partially drunk! Apart from the first one I made all of these from scraps and snippets, so they are all eligible to be entered into Jules's Crafty Snippet Challenge.

Less is More - one layer and leaves

2011-11-12T12:45:00.000Z

When I saw the challenge was leaves at Less Is More this week I knew straight away which stamps I was going to use. I bought these Chappell Road maple leaves at the first show I ever went to in Leeds many years ago. I stamped them in Big and Juicy Foliage, sponged around the edges with Tea dye distress ink and used a damp brush to spread a little colour across the leaves.
I thought I would also show you yet another triptych card that I would have submitted for last week's challenge had I finished it in time!

The Allium stamps are from Lavinia and I used Copper embossing powder this time. More details about how I made it can be found here.
Thanks for looking, and I hope I will get round to visiting a few more of you this week!

Blog Candy Winner

2011-11-11T22:37:00.000Z

Well, the time has come to announce the winner of my blog candy, and Mr Random Number Generator said 10, which, counting through the comments is Debbie of Fairy Bluebell's Craft Adventure. Check out her blog because she has been creating some stunning Christmas cards lately.
Drop me an email with your address on it Debbie and I will pop your parcel in the post.
Welcome to the new followers who have arrived this week and thanks for the lovely comments you have left for me - much appreciated!

Lest we forget

2011-11-11T17:34:00.002Z

A simple card using one of Teri's fabulous sketch digis from Delicious doodles, coloured with promakers and some papers from an Artylicious CD. Will be back later with the blog candy results.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

BLOG CANDY and changes to the Stampalot challenge

2011-11-11T17:10:00.004Z

This candy is now closed

Thought I ought to let you know that as from November the starting date of challenges at Sir Stampalot will be the first Sunday of the month. That means that most months our challenge will run until the end of the month................unless the first Sunday falls on the first of the month...............but rather than complicate things there will be a list of exact dates on the sidebar to make life easier for all of us. Our current challenge will run until 31st October and the new challenge will start on Sunday 6th November.
Now, on to my Blog candy. If you come here regularly you will know that I have celebrated my third Bloggerversary this week, so as a big thank you to all my lovely followers I am having a bit of Blog candy to celebrate. I have also passed the landmark of my 500th post too. I do love being here in blog land and am amazed by all the lovely people I've met both electronically and in real life through blogging. I want you to know how much I appreciate all your lovely comments and I'm offering this with no strings attached. If you are a follower then pop a comment below. I don't expect you to put anything in your side bar about it, but if you do then thank you. If you are a follower and you leave a comment below by 11th November you will be in with a chance of winning this prize.

I will attempt to add a few more bits to it over the next couple of weeks. Now, forgive me, but I've been to Doncaster and have some lovely new stash to play with so I'm off to have a little fun, probably with my own Inkylicious stamps like you can see in the picture!

LIM - red and orange

2011-11-07T19:00:00.000Z

I had to make a couple of quick birthday cards and so what better than to go for CAS cards, however, there was a fair bit of time and inkiness to get carried away with before I managed to get them finished!
Here is the first:

I used cut and dry to cover a piece of watercolour paper in Distress inks (Fired Brick, spiced marmalade, Dried marigold and Wild Honey), spraying it with iridescent gold glimmer mist. Once it was dry, I used the Hobby art Stamp set 'Anna's collection - Just for You' in the same colours. I added a couple of gold embossed flower heads before cutting the panel into three equal parts. The sentiment is a very old one from Stamporium (no longer available). I am entering this one into the LIM challenge where the colour theme is red and orange this week, and Clean and Simple Sunday where the theme is Flowers.
I enjoyed this one so much I decided to do a very similar one with different colours and different stamps.

For this one I used Adirondack inks in Bottle, stream and purple twilight with the Wild Meadow stamps from Elusive images/ Chocolate Baroque. I will do my best to visit some of the lovely LIMettes during the week. Thanks for looking and for leaving lovely comments x

Blues and Greens at Sir Stampalot

2011-11-06T08:30:00.010Z

Well, it's the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. The theme this month is a colour challenge and we chose Blue and Green.

I began by creating a background using a Woodware holly swirl and versamark ink, then sponged broken china, shabby shutters and pine needles distress ink over the top. I used the same inks, plus forest moss to create a background on watercolour paper which I spayed with iridescent gold glimmer mist. When it was dry I stamped the Poinsettia (Penny black slapstick cling - Christmas pride) and embossed it in gold. The ribbon was recycled from a box of chocolates and the greeting is very old from Stamporium (no longer available). the beads used for the centre of the poinsettia were from my stash. I cut the shaped card using an XL frame Go Kreate die called frilly #1.
I'm entering my card into Allsorts Challenge this week where the theme is 'Anything but a square'.
There's lots more fabulous inspiration over on the Stampalot Challenge Blog, so do pop over and check it out!

What is the prize this month? Well, we are keeping that a secret for a little while, but I am sure I don't have to tell you how fabulous the prizes are from Sir Stampalot, and it will be just as AWESOME as it always is!

I will make a mid week card!

2011-11-03T21:50:00.002Z

I have been doing little bits of this card since Tuesday and I was determined to finish it today.

It is an easel Christmas card. I brayered a background with Eggplant and Peach Bellini Adirondack inks before stamping in Memento Paris dusk. The lovely cottage is Art impressions (T-1221), The fence is from a set by Lindsay Mason called 'Build a snowy scene' and the Fir trees are from Inkylicious. I added a few highlights and shadows with promarkers, white gel pen and glitter.
Here is a close up of the scene...

and here is the poinsettia

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Allsorts - Christmas easel cards
Ladybugs crafts ink challenge - Non-traditional Christmas colours

Thanks for looking! Don't forget there is still time to pop a comment on my candy post here

Last minute creativeness!

2011-10-30T22:39:00.000Z

In a bid to enjoy my last day of holiday till 23rd December, I've done quite a bit today. I watched a couple of hours of Sheena whilst marking some books, (Love the new lakes stamps), finished some planning, tidied my desk a little, made a Carrot cake to take to work tomorrow and made a couple of cards for work mates birthdays next week, oh and did a roast dinner too.

Sheena did a sky using these colours of distress inks this morning, so I thought I'd have a go and used some Lavinia seed heads instead of trees. There is quite a bit of glitter on this one, but you can't really see it in the photo.
My second card is very different, with a Bugaboo digital image coloured with promarkers and used some scraps of papers that have been hanging around on my desk for ages. As it used scraps I'm entering this into Jules's crafty snippet challenge.

The flowers and leaves were also punched from snippets. Well, I'd better go. Thanks for looking!

A bit of fresh air and more craft shopping!

2011-10-29T23:19:00.002+01:00

Yesterday, Steve, Meg and I went for a walk in the woods.

It had started off a bit misty, but the sun came out and the colours were amazing. It seems to be a good year for berries...

and the sun made them look as if they were glowing.

The woods seemed alive with bird song and we saw this little chap. (If you can help me identify him I'd be grateful. I thought he might be a black cap, but when he turned he had a little dark patch beneath his beak, which makes me think he is a marsh tit or willow tit, maybe)

There were also some majestic hogweed seedheads, often covered in spider's webs.

I love Autumn!

Today Meg and I went to Sir stampalot for the demo day. It was great to watch all the ladies demonstrating brayering, stamping, paper piecing and a wide variety of ink techniques. It was particularly lovely to see Brenda and Chris, and also to meet a few more faces from Blog land like Penni - very nice to meet you and hope you didn't have to stop for any trains on the way home! I even managed to exchange a bag of our Bramley's for a box of splendid plum tomatoes from Eddy, Brenda's Hubby.

It was a fabulous day, and the cherry on the cake at the end of it was to see a red kite as we were driving home! I stopped to let an ambulance out of a side street on the outskirts of Helpston and there it was flying in front of us, with that magnificent forked tail! I am sure our facial expressions were not particularly appropriate to the ambulance driver as we whooped and cried 'Red Kite'! Unfortunately my camera was in the boot of the car, so here is a photo of one I took on holiday (in captivity).

Well, thanks for reading my ramblings. I'll be back with a card or two very soon!

Purple mood

2011-10-24T23:48:00.001+01:00

Well, as well as tidying my workspace a little today, I've been ink dusting with egg plant (not something you say every day!). I decided to only use one colour after seeing Deby from Inkylicious demoing yesterday. Meg and I had a fabulous time at Doncaster with Lynn from Crafty Linby. There was lots of inspiration, some of which I will hopefully get around to soon, but here are today's purple creations.
Firstly a tag showing the Inkylicious Santa's sleigh that is available in my Blog candy. The trees are also from an Inkylicious plate called a winter's tale.The night before Christmas text is also from Inkylicious.

Next I made another tag using the Silhouette Town stamp - another one I'm giving away as part of my blog candy. A tiny bit of purple twilight Adirondack crept in on this one to give the impression of approaching dawn.

I added a bit of fine glitter to both. After that I went on to try the same technique with a stamp I treated myself to from Stampalot when I was last there - Penny Black 'berry red, snow white'.

I added a few trees to the hills in the background and glitter to the berries. Well, I'd better be off to bed. Thanks for looking!

A couple of Birthdays

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000+01:00

I'm nipping on here very quickly to show you a couple of Birthday cards which have now reached their destinations. The first is for my lovely friend and colleague, Jenny. We have been working together in the same class since September, but have known each other for years, and she certainly doesn't look fifty! The image is from Bugaboo and has been coloured with promarkers.

My next card is for my dear friend Lynne, and I know she has received it and her Birthday was yesterday.

It is a stepper card featuring a Sheena stamp with sentiments from Hobby Art (The landscape..) and Waltzing Mouse (With love). The main image was watercoloured with distress inks. I used 3 different nesties label dies and a Martha Stewart punch. I rather like this colour combo. Reminded me of heather moorland so perfect for this scene.
Thanks for looking!
Before I go I need to let you know I'll be offering some blog candy very soon as today is also my third bloggerversary. I will put a post up at the weekend although you might have to wait until I've been to Doncaster to see goodies!

Stamptacular snippets!

2011-10-16T20:53:00.001+01:00

Hi There! I am getting to be such an infrequent blogger these days. However, half term, Doncaster stamp magic (23/10) and the 4th Stampalot Ultimate rubber stamping Demo day (29/10) are all coming up, so I'm looking forward to finding lots and lots of inspiration!
Anyway, here is my first offering for today...

I managed to use up all the scraps of paper left over from my boxes I made for cookies and cupcakes (post before last) and came up with this. The cake stand stamp was a freebie from the front of the magazine 'Quick cards made easy' and the sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse. The roses are cut with a Marianne design die and here is one in close up.

The papers are the 6 x 6 pad from Kaiser Craft called the Devonshire collection.

I'm entering this into Jules's craft snippets and Stamptacular Sunday, where the theme is 'You choose!' It would also be very suitable for the Food glorious food theme at Sir Stampalot this month - there are still a couple of weeks left to enter and a great prize on offer!

My second and third offerings are cards requested by colleagues. A baby girl card...

The paper is from Bearly Mine designs and the baby digi is from Squigglefly, coloured with promarkers. I love the fact that this image could be a boy or a girl.

Finally a digi hydrangea from my friend Teri at Delicious Doodles.

again coloured with promarkers. The paper is from an Artylicious CD - Seasons Greetings, but I'm sure you will agree not particularly wintry!

Thanks for looking and I will hopefully get round to visiting you all soon!

I think my Mojo is back!

2011-10-06T21:32:00.000+01:00

I've had a funny old week so far. It has been very busy and I haven't really sat down at my Craft table until this evening. This afternoon I went to a funeral and got there rather early, thinking it would take a good half an hour from work, when it was about fifteen minutes. I drove past some beautiful woodland and parked by some silver birches. Just sitting in the car and enjoying the colours gave me a real sense of peace. Glad I stayed in the car though as it was freezing when I got out - definitely Autumnal! This evening I have given myself time to craft and come up with this.

Stamps - Inkylicious
Inks - Adirondack dye
Technique - ink dusters
plus white gel pen

I wasn't sure if it needed anything else, like a sentiment top left. I even tried some punched leaves down the right hand edge, but in the end I left it just as it was.
There seem to be lots of Autumn themed challenges at the moment. I'm entering this card into:
Moving along with the times - Autumn leaves
Stamptacular Sunday - Photo inspiration
Thanks for looking!

Food glorious food at Sir Stampalot

2011-10-01T08:10:00.009+01:00

Hi There! It's the first of the month again and time for a new Stampalot challenge. Our theme for October is 'Food, glorious food!'. Well, you know me and baking, so I set to and made...

A cupcake box! How do you know a cup cake will fit in it?...

Look carefully...

And there it is!
Now, I'm afraid I got a bit carried away, cos I went on to make...

A cookie bag as well! The gorgeous papers that I used for both of these projects was a 6 x 6 pad from Kaiser Craft called the Devonshire collection. I also distressed all the edges with walnut stain distress ink. I used a variety of nesties and the Hero Arts leaf flourish, along with waltzing mouse stamps on the cookie bag. My rose was made using Brenda's tutorial and the leaves are a woodware punch.
After that I still didn't stop, but made just a couple of tiny additions...

The stamp is a Paula Pascual one from the filled with flowers set (£4.99 - an absolute bargain!) and the nestie is Blossom 3, stuck onto a cocktail stick.
And finally the prize...

What a lot of yummy goodies, eh?

Do pop over to the Challenge blog to see my fellow teamies fabulous creations for lots of lovely inspiration!
Thanks for looking!

A few cards

2011-09-25T22:02:00.002+01:00

Well, I've had several requests for cards and had to just get on with them - mojo or no-mojo. I can't say I'm particularly thrilled with any of them, but I'm posting them any way, as I've nothing else at the moment.
The first one is a silver wedding card using Inkylicious stamps and silver embossing.

The second card is a Mo Manning Digi called 'I love it!'. I coloured it with promarkers and Used some MME papers behind it.

Not sure what happened to his hair - not the colour I wanted it to be!

Next we have a Penny black image, stamped for me by my good friend Jules and coloured with promarkers. I teamed it up with some Pink petticoat papers.

Finally we have some owls (one of my two magnolia stamps). I coloured the owls with promarkers, and did a bit of research on owl eye colour. Did you know that an owl with very dark eyes is normally active at night, an owl with yellow eyes is active during the day, and an owl with orange eyes is active at dawn and dusk? Unfortunately this lot look positively evil now! The papers here are MME also.
Thanks to those of you that wished me well on my course. I have to say I wasn't looking forward to it, but it was surprisingly very good, in that it was focused on the real world and will be useful too!
Well, thanks for looking, and if you see my mojo, please send it back to me pronto!

Made a start on Christmas

2011-09-22T21:14:00.000+01:00

Well, I have finally managed a card that I'm happy with. It isn't brayered and it isn't CAS, and I gave up trying to think of something to fit a challenge this week and started the Christmas cards - a little early for me this year!

I used the Woodware Tipsy Tree set that I was introduced to by Chris at the Sir Stampalot blog girl day last year, and fell in love with! Paper piecing works brilliantly with this set and I'm rather pleased with the colour combo - a new one for me on Christmas cards. I got a bit carried away with my Faux stitching because I have just treated myself to a new very fine pen. I also used liberal amounts of Distress inks in tea dye and walnut stain.

Now, the good thing about paper piecing like this is that you get two for the price of one, so here is the other one.

More stitching on this one too, along with some old and rather temperamental stickles that needs replacing, hence the blobby blobs! I was rather pleased that I could use up some scraps of paper in such an economical way.
Life at work is very busy already, so I'm going to be a bit hit and miss leaving comments, apart from on the stampalot challenge blog for a bit. I am attending a course tomorrow on 'Middle Leadership' that I think will require me to do some extra activities over and above my regular teaching. I'm just hoping I can get my head around it all - especially after lunch on Friday afternoon!
Thanks for looking!

Creative in the Kitchen

2011-09-18T17:49:00.000+01:00

Well, the mojo is still a bit lacking, so I've stopped looking at the craft table and made a few cakes. This first lot I made last week, and they are Peach and Basil Muffins. I know it sounds a bit odd, but the flavours work brilliantly together. It is a great way to use up those peaches and nectarines that go from solid to overripe in a few hours, too!

This weekend they look a bit less healthy. First up we have the Mocha Cupcake...

That is a mini chocolate finger on the top. Now I'm normally not thrilled by chocolate cake, but with the light coffee frosting I found them very tasty! I need to have another go at the frosting, as although it tasted great it looked a bit dodgy! Finally we have the apple and cinnamon cupcake...

This one has a lovely light golden sponge made with light brown sugar, cinnamon, and grated apples from our Bramley apple tree in the garden. It is topped with honey and cinnamon flavoured frosting.
I've finished off the afternoon by watching Barbara Gray, and I feel a few ideas coming on now! Hopefully I'll be back with a card or two before too long. Thanks for looking (Wish you could smell them too!)

Flowers and swirls at Allsorts

2011-09-13T20:49:00.000+01:00

Well, I was wondering if I would make it this week! I am a bit lacking in the mojo department and didn't know what to do for this week's Allsorts, where the theme is flowers and swirls. Then I remembered a card that I made in the summer and didn't blog. Here it is:

I'm just hoping that embossed background is swirly enough! The sweet Pea stamp is an old one from Stampourium (no longer available, I'm afraid - about 14 years old!) I used distress inks to colour the sweet peas. The background is stamped with Hero Arts Antique flower background and the gold embossed leafy swirl is from Inkylicious. The flowers are a mini poinsettia die from Marrianne designs. They make a rather good clematis I think! Here is a close up of my crackle background.

Thanks for stopping by and your comments are much appreciated! Hopefully I will find my mojo soon!

Green and Blue

2011-09-07T22:28:00.000+01:00

Just a very quick post this evening. Thanks so much for all your well wishes for the new term! I have a lovely new class (if a little lively) who are very excited to be back at school. I am working with a wonderful TA too, who is very skilled and an asset to our classroom. Some sunshine at playtime wouldn't go amiss, but apart from that it's great!
The card is my entry for this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is Green and Blue. Stamps are from Hero Arts, Paper Artsy and Crafty individuals, and all inks are distress inks - bundled sage, pine needles and broken china. I used a spellbinders label die cut in half for the hinges. Have a great rest of the week, and I'll hopefully manage another post at the weekend.
Thanks for looking!

Quiet Reflection

2011-09-03T00:27:00.001+01:00

This week seems to have raced by, with several trips into school and planning and prep very much in hand. We did manage a day out on Tuesday though, to Old Moor, an RSPB reserve in South Yorkshire. It was a mostly dry day, but the sun didn't show itself much. The dull day didn't lend itself to detailed photos of birds, but I enjoyed trying to capture a few reflections.

This young heron posed perfectly for us.

A tufted duck...

clouds reflected in water...

and a great kingfisher perch with no kingfisher, but a couple of ducks in the background!

Finally there was a great crested grebe that was looking at us looking at him.
It was a very peaceful, restful and calming day. I hope to capture a little of this atmosphere in a card soon. Thanks for looking!

Freebie Fridays at Sir Stampalot!

2011-09-01T17:07:00.001+01:00

Sir Stampalot are promoting a new weekly feature, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and will be sent via their email newsletter, so if you want to join in, you’ll need to sign up for the newsletter before end of day, today !

Follow this link

Alternatively, you can go to the Sir Stampalot web site and sign up at the "Stay in Touch" "Sign up to Smudges" link on the left hand side of the home page.

It's a frame up at Sir Stampalot!

2011-09-01T08:10:00.010+01:00

Hi there! This morning sees the launch of the latest challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our lovely sponsors at Sir Stampalot have provided us with a wonderful prize this month, and here it is.

Gorgeous stash isn't it?

Our theme this month is 'It's a frame up!' and we want to see a frame on your project - not just a border, but a frame 'feature'. Here is mine.

The papers are from My mind's eye - the Stella and Rose collection. The scalloped base card was stamped with Hero Arts old french writing and antique linen distress ink. The frame around the flower was cut using labels 18 , classic square and standard circle nesties. The flower is a magnolia stamp, coloured with promarkers and layered up to create a 3d image.

I do hope you will join in this month. Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous makes from the DT. Thanks for looking!

Less is More - take three challenges

2011-08-29T11:09:00.001+01:00

I had a session getting very inky last night and came up with two cards for this week's Less is More challenge. I selected the following three challenges:
Three Squares (Week 4)
Use ink (week 28) - I swiped distress ink across my craft mat and sprayed with Iridescent gold glimmer mist before laying my paper on top
Embossing (week 15) - I stamped in black and heat embossed in clear. I also dry embossed borders across both cards.

Both sets of squares came from the same sheet. The colours I used were Mustard seed, Worn lipstick, Broken china and Spiced marmalade. I had forgotten how vibrant these colours were, and had hardly used the worn lipstick and Spiced marmalade.
I haven't added a sentiment, because I will use them as and when. I suppose I didn't need to mat them onto the black metallic card, but it made it easier to get them straight that way. The squares on the stamp are not quite equal in size!
thanks for looking!

Photos from my holiday

2011-08-28T16:03:00.001+01:00

Well, I've been back from holiday for 3 weeks and have realised I haven't shared many photos with you, so I'll do a quick post today and then maybe share some cards with you tomorrow.
Whilst in Suffolk we visited Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, and got up close to some beautiful birds of prey. There was the Red Kite...

and the Buzzard...

and so many owls!

Great Grey owls,

Eagle owls,

barn owls

and spectacled owls, that have the most beautiful soft hoot you could imagine. Thanks for looking!

Brayer or dusters?

2011-08-22T11:11:00.009+01:00

I know there are lots of people who prefer either dusters or brayers, but I have to say I love both and have no particular preference. I love the way I can create shafts of light in woodland using a brayer, like these two examples a la Barbara Gray, but inspired by Crafty Linby's cards here.

For the first I used the Clarity silver birch and 2 sizes of Birch leaves with big and juicy waterfall. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

For the second, I used the same stamps as above, but also added two Lavinia ferns. The ink was Adirondack Butterscotch, Lettuce, Meadow and Bottle. Both examples were done on Silk Art card.

However, I also love the versatility of Ink Dusters with which I find I can create softer landscapes and add patches of colour and shading. I've had another play with my ink dusters and 'flight of dreams' stamps from Inkylicious, using my Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad.

I am entering this card into this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is 'You've been Framed'.

I've also had another go at a beach scene, this time trying for a more sunset/ evening feel - I don't know how successfully though!

I used a mixture of Big and Juicy soothing sunset, Memento desert sand and rich cocoa, and a touch or two of walnut stain and dusty concord distress inks. I used the Seascape memories and essential grasses stamps (Inkylicious). I used white gel pen to add a few little highlights where the sun is catching the water. The lovely little shells on the base card are also from the seascape memories set, stamped in chalk ink and brilliance inks. I'm entering this card into the latest challenge at Stamping for the Weekend where the theme is holidays.

So, there is definitely room in my crafting world for both brayers and dusters. Thanks for looking!

A lovely day

2011-08-21T17:28:00.001+01:00

Yesterday Meg and I went to another Blog Girl day at Sir Stampalot. We met some lovely new people like Nikki, Lynn, and Tracy and really got to grips with our brayers, led of course by the lovely Brenda. Here are a few of my cards.

It is always lovely to meet up and enjoy a bit of social crafting whilst developing those skills, and trying new things. Thanks for a fabulous day!

Less is More - one layer and ink

2011-08-17T13:44:00.000+01:00

The challenge this week at Less is More is a one layer card using ink, preferably in a way that is new or different to usual. I've spent several days thinking about it, and finally came up with this:

I stamped and clear embossed the agapanthus cluster (Stampendous) and then 'swiped' memento ink in angel pink, lulu lavender and summer sky. I've not done much swiping before, and to be honest, that random edge of ink makes me feel just a little bit uncomfortable! I then ironed the image using a sheet of kitchen towel to remove the embossing and leave a batik effect image. Finally I added the sentiment (Inkylicious).
Thanks for looking!

A quiet Sunday

2011-08-14T17:02:00.002+01:00

Well, I've been indulging myself a bit today, and this is the result.

The card was the first thing I made. I began by colouring a piece of card with a mixture of distress inks in mustard seed, dried marigold and spiced marmalade. I stamped the daisy (Inkylicious) onto the coloured card with versafine and then bleached the petals. I was quite please with how the petals were left with a hint of pink - much like real daisies. The background was created with my ink dusters and big and juicy soothing sunset, which I overstamped with a script stamp (Inkylicious) and the sentiment is from a set by Hobby Art called Scene-it sentiments. Here is a close up of the card.

I'm entering this into the Stampman challenge where the theme is Anything goes with summer colours.
Now here is a closer look at the box.

I covered a 21cm square piece of thin card with colour (Soothing sunset B&J) using my ink dusters and the script and a small daisy stamp all from Inkylicious. I followed Elaine's fabulous origami box tutorial. for the folding and then decorated the lid with the stamped daisy, this time masked whilst I used cut and dry with distress inks to make the background. I finished it off with icicle stickles on the centre of the daisy. I'm entering the box into the challenge at Allsorts where the challenge is anything but a card and Stamptacular Sunday, where the challenge is Fancy folds (Hope my origami box fits the bill).

Finally I'm going to share with you a card that very nearly ended up in the bin.

There I was happily stamping the base card with the leaves (Inkylicious) when I dropped the inked stamp, which seemed to bounce about 4 times and leave marks and splodges all over! I walked away and left it for a while, as it was going so well up till then! I decided to use part of a die cut to cover it up in the end and thankfully it doesn't look too bad. The main image was one of those I created and painted whilst on holiday with Hobby Art stamps and aqua markers. Thanks for looking!

I'm here - honest!

2011-08-11T20:30:00.002+01:00

How quickly is this week going? I can't believe it's Thursday already. Well, here is my 'red' card for this week's Allsorts challenge. Hope you like my interpretation! Stamps for the main image from the Hobby Art Tuscany set and the sentiment is an old Elusive images stamp. I coloured it with aqua markers and distress inks. The paper is one I have had a while and it was just a scrap so not sure who it is by.

Yesterday I had a fabulous day with Lisa Jane, Lynne and Megan at Batley. We spent a while in Inkylicious where the lovely Deby demonstrated her fab beach scenes just for us. Needless to say I did add to my stash rather! I came home and had a little go myself and this is the result.

Not bad for a first attempt, but I'm not sure the photo does it justice! I'm entering this into this Month's By the Cute and Girly where the theme is the Sea (Thanks Lisa!). All stamps from the Inkylicious seascape memories set and I used my ink dusters too. After craft shopping we had lunch and then had a wander round 'the Mill' shopping village. It was a great day and we will definitely be doing it again - might need to save up first though!

I have finished off a couple of cards today and made some scones too. Whilst we were on holiday I bought some rhubarb and ginger jam, so we made ginger scones to go with it...

There is nothing quite like a warm scone. Thanks for looking!

Back from my hols

2011-08-07T23:43:00.001+01:00

Firstly can I thank all those lovely peeps who have left me comments over the past fortnight. Sorry I haven't returned them, but I've been enjoying a little break in the depths of Suffolk. I saw my first marsh harriers and bittern at Minsmere, along with butterflies, deer, hares, green woodpeckers, kestrels, buzzards, terns, gulls and avocets to name but a few. Anyway, here are a few photos I thought I would share with you.

I'll hopefully catch up with you over the next week, as well as making some cards from the images I coloured whilst I was away. Yes, I took my aqua markers with me, but I missed my distress inks!!!

A bit of Lavinia

2011-08-03T09:22:00.001+01:00

Now my friend Milena has received her birthday card, I am safe to post it. Back in June I went to Stamp magic at Doncaster and bought a pile of Lavinia stamps. I bought the cat and the owl with Milena in mind as I know she loves both.
I began by using promarkers to make the background like I have seen done by Nikki Hall of Polkadoodles fame. You can see an example in different colours here. then I used chipped Sapphire distress ink to make the surface of the water. All of the stamps are by Lavinia, although it was the owl, the cat and the water lily that were my most recent purchases. I made the reflection of the cat and the ripples nearest the cat with a black promarker. In hindsight I would use a finer tipped marker to do this, although it didn't spoil it.
Finally I added a few spots of diamond stickles in the sky. I will have a brayering session to use these stamps again very soon, but I was quite pleased with the promarker background on this one.Here is a close up of the glitter glue and background.

Thanks for looking!

What ever you fancy at Sir Stampalot

2011-08-01T08:30:00.003+01:00

This month at Sir Stampalot we have a theme of 'Whatever you fancy' . For my DT card this month I used one of the new Woodware singles stamps - a rather lovely rose available here. A bargain at £3.99 I think you will agree.

The background was created with Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet distress inks, over stamped with Old french writing (Hero Arts) in the same colours. The label and corner die (Spellbinders) were cut from ivory pearlised card. The rose was also stamped onto the pearlised card and given a hint of colour using sponges and the same distress inks. I stamped the rose three times, decoupaged it and used pinflair glue to glue it some dimension. The stem was painted with shabby shutters distress ink. The sentiment is from
Rubber stamp tapestry.
Now, on to the prize...

What a lot of lovely stash!

Make sure you are in with a chance of winning it by entering a card, but do make sure you stick to the rules and don't enter more than 6 challenges including Sir Stampalot with that project. Well, thanks for looking and please go and visit the challenge blog for more fabulous inspiration!

Cute!

2011-07-26T23:44:00.000+01:00

Here is a card I made recently for a friend of mine. This is 'Milton with a daisy' (Wild Rose Designs), and although he is a bit too cute for my liking I know my friend will love him. I have watercoloured him with my aqua markers. Although I love my promarkers, I am getting more and more into watercolouring. The papers were some that I bought from funky fairies when the they were closing down. I do love these two colours together! The lace was a donation from my lovely friend Lynne - Thank you! I thought it matched perfectly.

A few hours in the garden

2011-07-22T22:19:00.001+01:00

I just wanted to share a few pictures of the garden that I took today between little showers. It was so lovely to be out there with all the scents and colours.

The insects were very busy and I was pleased with the wide variety of bees and hoverflies that I saw.

The veg plot is a little overgrown, but the beans and peas are full of flower and we have a good harvest of turnips. The rhubarb always gives us a good crop, and the apple tree is laden this year. Lets just hope the Bramleys don't go through the roof of the greenhouse!

I have recently registered our Garden on the 'Big Wildlife Garden' website. Our vegetable production has been a bit hit and miss over the past few summers, and we were getting a bit depressed with it, but by registering our garden and looking at what we are doing for wildlife has made us look at it all from a different perspective. Insect life and bird life in our garden is thriving, and I am sure some of this is down to the herbs and native plants we have. All I'd like now is a resident hedgehog!

Less is More - circles

2011-07-20T22:49:00.001+01:00

Well, I'm almost as late as I was last week with my less is more entry! This week the LIMettes need to come up with something with circles on it. Here is mine

I went for a selection of Waltzing Mouse stamps and citrus colours of memento ink (Cantaloupe, pear tart and tangelo). Reminds me of sliced limes, lemons and oranges!

Thanks for looking. Hopefully I will manage to visit you and comment before the weekend x

A Wedding and an Anniversary

2011-07-18T22:51:00.004+01:00

I've been busy making a whole host of cards for colleagues at work. A couple of birthdays, three people who are leaving and a wedding that will be happening over the summer. Here is the wedding card. I used Bearly Mine designs vintage lace papers, A Waltzing Mouse frame stamp, some punches (Woodware and Martha Stewart) and dies(Marianne Designs), some pearlescent beige brilliance ink (Embossed with clear embossing powder) and some Tea Dye distress ink.

The subtle colours on the papers don't show up on the photo, but they are beautiful! I'm entering this card into these challenges:
Allsorts - Free and easy July
Moving along with the Times - My favourite things (Roses, Tea Dye distress ink and anything with a vintage feel!)
Simon says Stamp and Show - Embossing

My second card is one I was asked to make for a couple celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. My friend had seen a card I had made with the lovely 'Jack and Ginger' image by Mo Manning and asked if I could use that. This is what I came up with.

I coloured it with promarkers and added a panel of pearlised card that I dry embossed in a diamond pattern and added gems. Not sure if I have gone a bit overboard with the bling, but 60 years is some going these days! Well, I'd better go. Thanks for looking!

Better late than never!

2011-07-14T20:16:00.001+01:00

Here is my rather late entry for this week's less is more where the theme is 'legs' and 'one layer'. I used post its to mask off an area of card and then used my ink dusters and distress inks to create a landscape. I stamped it with the tree (Making tracks, inc.) and the stag (Stampscapes). The trees needed a bit of water brushed over them to give them more definition. The sentiment is from Personal Impressions. This one is for my Brother-in-law, whose birthday is at the end of the month.
Only a week left at school now, and I can't tell you how much I am ready for a holiday, but I wish I could hang on to the wonderful class I've had. This year has flown by far too quickly!

Some surprises in my garden...

2011-07-05T23:08:00.001+01:00

When I got home tonight I sat by the patio doors looking out at the bird feeders. I sat with my camera next to me as we had some lovely visitors to our bird feeding station yesterday. I wasn't disappointed.First came the sparrows...

Then the goldfinches arrived. There are at least five that I could see today, and some young ones too. These two are adults (not the best photo I'm afraid)...

Then three young long tailed tits arrived! Two flew back to the trees very quickly, but this little fella hung around for ages!

I'm no expert, and these aren't the best photos, particularly being taken through glass in the rain, but I'm so happy we are getting some different birds and so close to the house too. All I need to do now is find a way of deterring the neighbourhood cats - any suggestions?

Less is More - shades of blue

2011-07-03T10:37:00.002+01:00

Here is my card for this week's less is more challenge where the theme is shades of blue - right up my street! I used my ink dusters and a set of stamps from Inkylicious called Flight of dreams. I used big and juicy waterfall for the 'dusting' and majestic blue versafine for the stamping. I love the effect with the ink dusters, and I will be practising more with them as soon as I get a bit more time.I'm also entering this into the Allsorts challenge this week where the theme is 'Free and easy'.
We had a beautiful day for our school summer fair yesterday, but when I got home I was shattered! I spent Friday evening baking cupcakes (forty five in 3 different flavours) and Saturday morning decorating them before selling them and lots of others on Saturday afternoon. It was a huge success and we raised lots of money for school. here is a photo after we'd sold a few.

Whilst I'm showing you some photos from yesterday I thought I would share with you a photo of our greenhouse on the school field.

It is made from pop bottles and bamboo canes with a wooden frame. you can find instruction of how to make one here. We have six tomato plants in there and they are doing very well! To the right you can see our raised beds - one per class. We should have a good crop of potatoes very soon, our herbs are looking great and next year we should have some rhubarb too!
Thanks for looking!

July Challenge at Sir Stampalot

2011-07-01T08:30:00.006+01:00

Good morning and welcome to this months challenge at Sir Stampalot.This month we decided to ley you have a bit of a free for all so the Challenge is Anything Goes.

I used one of the new Molly Blooms stamps (Flake-tastic Molly) and one of the older ones (Dandelion clock flower) to make the frame, with Distress inks in Victorian Velvet and Wild Honey. The background scene was stamped with the Hobby Art Scene-it clear set called Harbour. All stamping was done with versafine black apart from the frame and all colour was added with distress inks, either sponged or watercoloured and aqua markers. I cut the frame with a Go create die called Large Frames Frilly #5.

As you will see from the super inspiration on the challenge blog, we are all using Molly Blooms stamps showing you just how versatile the new Molly Blooms Summer 2011 collection is, just right for all those Summer creations. You can find all the stamps used in this card at Sir Stampalot waiting to make their way to your craft desk.

And as you might expect, this months fabulous prize has several of the new Molly Blooms stamps along with lots of other summery crafty goodies to keep the lucky winner occupied for days.

Even if you are not into cute there are lots of great stamps to create scenes with, like the tree-house, daisies and beach-huts.
I do hope you can join in with us this month. Just remember - only combine your creation with 5 other challenges - that's six in all. Thanks for looking and I will look forward to visiting you!

Less is more Sketch

2011-06-29T23:13:00.000+01:00

Here is my card for this week's less is More. I masked off a section of the base card and stamped and sponged using waltzing mouse large doily stamps and a variety of ink. I then stamped one of the same stamps three times and cut out with a nestie before positioning on the base card with 3d glue. The sentiment is also waltzing mouse.
Thanks for looking I will try and visit you in return x

By popular demand - Lime and coconut muffins

2011-06-27T17:26:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your lovely comments on my last post.Thought I'd better share the recipe for Lime and coconut muffins, as I'd tempted your taste buds!

Ingredients:

10 oz/ 300g Self raising Flour

1 tsp baking powder

5 oz/ 150g caster sugar

1 3/4 oz/50g dessicated coconut

1 beaten egg

7 fl. oz/200 mls coconut milk

3 1/2 fl.oz/100 mls sunflower or corn oil

Grated zest of 2 limes

1 tablespoon lime juice

topping:

3 oz cream cheese

2 oz butter

2 oz icing sugar

lime juice to taste (2-3 teaspoons)

sprinkle with shredded coconut and a strand or two of lime zest (or a small blob of lime marmalade!)

It is very easy! Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ Gas mark 6. Put 12 muffin cases in a muffin pan. Combine the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ones in another. Carefully add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until just combined. Add to cases and cook for 20 minutes or until golden.
They are yummy straight from the oven, but if you can wait till they cool down try the topping with a sprinkling of coconut and zest shavings/ or a blob of lime marmalade swirled on.

Topping. beat the icing sugar into the butter. Beat in the cream cheese (I use philadelphia) and then add the lime juice and beat again.

Hope you enjoy them!

Weekly Blogging

2011-06-26T22:07:00.000+01:00

Well, there was I thinking things would slow down once I'd done my reports, but I was mistaken. I don't know why it always takes me by surprise, but I can see I might only manage weekly blogging for a couple of weeks as there is so much going on. It isn't like I haven't done any crafting, but getting to post it here is a bit hit and miss. Anyway, here are a few things I've been up to. First is an 8x8 card I made for a friend who's dad turns seventy next week.

He likes music, travelling, reading, walking and red wine, so I used an Inkylicious music background stamp, lots of hobby Art stamps, The luggage label is a clear choice stamp and the boots are from an aspects of design sheet from the Stampman. I watercoloured the lot with distress inks.
My next card is for our assistant site manager who has been doing lots of gardening with the children. This stamp (Personal Impressions) is one I haven't used for a while. The little images around the border are all various See -Dee's collections.

Finally I decided to try a new recipe today - Lime and coconut muffins topped with cream cheese frosting - very tasty, particularly whilst sat in the garden!

We have had a very productive day today with hedge-cutting, baking, marking, and card making too!

Father's Day

2011-06-19T09:49:00.000+01:00

Happy Father's day to all you Dads out there. This is the card I made for my Dad. I thought it was particularly suitable as last time we went out for a walk with him we saw 4 buzzards! The stamps on the main picture are Hobby Art, watercoloured with my aqua markers and distress inks. The Fern (Rubber Stampede) on the base card was stamped in Kaleidacolor Autumn leaves.

Normal service is resumed (Hopefully!)

2011-06-15T22:23:00.001+01:00

Well, I've finally finished my reports and handed them in, so I've had a night of chilling out! I came home and did a bit of creating in the kitchen (made fish cakes with prawns, chilli flakes, lime zest and spring onions) and then made a card whilst watching Springwatch...can you tell?!

This gorgeous stag was one of the Lavinia stamps that flew into my hand at Doncaster on Saturday, along with about 7 others that I am sure you will see in due course! The ferns and leaves are all Lavinia too.
It was great to look around, but the two most inspirational stands for me were Lavinia and Inkylicious. There were some stunningly beautiful cards on display and I came home with plenty of goodies from both. I am now like a child in a candy shop, not knowing what to try next! Whilst we were there Lynne and I bumped into Lesley (aka Craftymamma) and Judith (Poppy Cottage). It was lovely to see you both.
Whilst I'm here I'd like to say a big thank you to all of you who visit and comment, even when I'm a less frequent visitor. I really appreciate it. Hopefully I will get to visit you all over the next few days. Thanks for looking!

Less is More - One Layer in the Frame

2011-06-11T21:13:00.000+01:00

The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a one layer card, incorporating a frame, which can be embossed, doodled, stamped or masked. I used my fleur de lys squares to make my frame, then masked with post-its and sponged a little background in wild honey, Victorian velvet and crushed olive distress inks. I used a stamp from an Inkylicious set called Meadow Breeze with black versafine for the image.

I know, I'm skiving. I took a little break after tea and will get back to the reports after Casualty. I'm skiving tomorrow too, as Lynne and I are off to Doncaster. Thanks for looking!

Less is More - Monochrome

2011-06-09T17:31:00.000+01:00

Here is my card for this week's Less is More, where the challenge is Monochrome. I have had so little time and so little inspiration this week, but I managed to finally have a go at about ten last night. I used a clarity corner stamp and majestic blue versafine. I am getting better at these. It still isn't perfect, but it is a big improvement to the first one I made. Hope this is CAS enough - not as much white space as I normally have!

Thanks for looking! I will try and leave as many comments as I can, but as I still have 12 reports to write and a lot of tweaking to do I might not get round as many as usual. Bear with me. I should have finished them by the end of next week!

Anyone for tea?

2011-06-05T14:35:00.000+01:00

In between writing reports I had a bit of a look at Waltzing Mouse website and came across their sketch challenge. I sometimes find sketches a little too fussy for my liking, but the sketch for this week looked just my cup of tea!!!
I had printed off some gorgeous papers from Summertime Designs called Moments, and they reminded me of some oddments of china my Dad had found in his loft, that originally belonged to my Grandma. I used the Waltzing Mouse teacup (Afternoon Tea sentiments) which I paper pieced.For the sentiment I stamped the tea bag tag (Afternoon tea) and distressed with Tea Dye ink. I am really loving these colours at the moment and I can see so many possibilities for my tea cup stamp.
Thanks for looking!

A couple of challenges

2011-06-02T23:31:00.001+01:00

Here is my card for less is more this week, where the challenge is 'Squares', that is to use roughly 25% of the card front, either centrally or a corner. I opted for the top right corner, as that was what the stamp needed! I stamped the bird on a branch, added a few extra leaves and the sentiment (all Stampin' up! A touch of Nature set) in Memento. I coloured it in with promarkers.
I'm also entering this into the Allsorts Challenge where the theme is Things with Wings.
Thanks for looking!

June Challenge at Sir Stampalot

2011-06-01T08:10:00.003+01:00

Good morning and welcome to this months challenge at Sir Stampalot. We have a photo for inspiration this month, and as you can see I've been very literal!

I stamped the 8 x 8 base card with Hero Arts Old French Writing and Penny Black corner piece in Fired Brick and Tea Dye distress ink. The main image has Hero Arts poppies, Sheena's daisies and Hero arts silhouette grass. It is all coloured with a variety of distress inks including crushed olive, peeled paint, fired brick, tumbled glass and wild honey. Apart from the daisies everything used is available from the fabulous Sir Stampalot shop.

My second project is a little box. The template is the 'cuppie love' template from Waltzing Mouse. I printed it on to white card then sponged and stamped. I used the Hero Arts grass and Sheena's poppies, which I painted with H2Os.

The poppy on the lid was made with shapeabilities flower creations 3 (also available from Sir Stampalot), which were sprayed with cherrylicious creative colour sprays (Crafty Notions) and secured at the centre with a brad. The leaves are a woodware punch.
Now, here is the prize for this month

Fabulous, isn't it? Do visit the Stampalot challenge blog to see the design teams variety of inspiration. You don't have to put poppies on your creation, you may just want to use the vibrant colours as your inspiration. Thanks for looking!

Cake!

2011-05-31T14:31:00.001+01:00

As the weather was so awful yesterday we stayed at home and found time to do a little baking. These are Malteaser cupcakes - a joint effort between Meg and myself. Meg tried her hand at piping the frosting and was looking pretty good!

A malted flavour sponge with rich chocolate frosting and topped with broken and whole malteasers - yummy! EDIT: You can find the recipe here.

Been a bit busy

2011-05-26T20:07:00.003+01:00

It has been a bit of a busy couple of weeks. We have been doing Key stage one SATs, and I've been marking some each evening. The maths and reading are pretty straight forward, but the writing seems to take forever. Two pieces of writing per child (Fifty six altogether) to be checked against fifteen or sixteen points each. Don't get me wrong, I love reading them, but it does take a while. Anyway, I finally got them finished, so I thought I would venture into blog land to see what's happening. I might not be a very good blogger for a while as my next job is writing reports.
Well, I will share my offering for Less is more this week, where the theme is 'Butterflies'. I've got a few stamps with Butterflies on, in fact nearly as many as I have trees!

I stamped the 'Stampin' up!' Butterfly and coloured it with distress inks, before covering it in versamark and triple clear embossing it. I used some green pearl embossing powder on the Waltzing Mouse frame that I stamped on the base card, then stuck the butterfly on with 3d glue. The sheen on the pearl embossing powder is lovely, so I took another photo to try and capture it.

I did make another Butterfly card at the weekend, but I felt it was a bit too much like Chrissie's beautiful creation, but nowhere near as good. Here it is anyway

More distress inks, teeny meadow stamps (Chocolate Baroque) and a Hero arts Butterfly. Wish I hadn't done the faux stitching!

Thanks for looking and I will try my best to get around some of you to comment in between reports, and if Mr Blogger will let me.

Waltzing Mouse 2nd Birthday tea party!

2011-05-17T22:43:00.003+01:00

Waltzing Mouse are having a tea party to celebrate their second Birthday and are asking us to download a free template for a 'tea-bag baggie' and decorate it. I received my latest purchases from Waltzing mouse last week and they were tea themed too, so I set to work.

I used Broken china and tea dye distress inks (tee, hee!)The two main stamps are from Waltzing Mouse and the background is from Hero arts. The small stamp on the cup is from the Chocolate Baroque teeny meadow set.

I had to make a card to go with it too...

I used more distress inks and some backing paper from my Artylicious essence of Nature cd. I Love this tea cup! There is a fab prize on offer, but not for much longer! so pop over to the Waltzing Mouse Blog for more details. Thanks for looking!

Less is more - Embossing

2011-05-15T16:11:00.001+01:00

The theme at this week's Less is More challenge is Embossing - much more within my comfort zone! I used a magenta butterfly stamp.

I embossed it with ranger ultra-fine silver and painted it with distress inks. For once this is the first card I made! Here is a close up to show the shine on the embossing powder.

I have had this embossing powder for quite a while and it is the best I've ever had - Very fine, no static and so shiny. I've been struggling to find somewhere that stocks it though.

Thanks for looking. Let's hope Mr Blogger doesn't do away with lots of your lovely comments this week, so I can read them and leave some for you all too.

Been Baking!

2011-05-11T20:08:00.000+01:00

Thought I would share my latest bakes with you. At work we take cake for our birthdays and I would never live it down if I bought one, so it was Rhubarb and Ginger cake (Jamie Oliver recipe)...

and a Crunchy top Lemon cake (Mary Berry recipe) that I took to school.

Well, you should've heard Steve's protests! He needed cake too, so at the weekend I tried a recipe from a new book called 'Love Bakery' for Rhubarb and Custard cupcakes and made these...

Well, I made 12, but there are very few left now! I was quite proud of my custard frosting and the little decorations I made from ready roll icing.With these you take a core from the middle of the cake with an apple corer and fill it up with jam or stewed fruit - Yum!

Finally I did make a card for a colleague...

I used some Dovecraft clear stamps, coloured with promarkers and glittered. They were stuck onto a gingham 'tablecloth' made with a Martha Stewart punch around the page set.

I'm entering this one into:
Moving along with the times where the theme is Have some cake and
Craft your passion where the theme is Check it out, using gingham, plaids and checks
Thanks for looking, and I hope I didn't make you too hungry!

Less is more - White on White

2011-05-10T22:26:00.000+01:00

The Less is More challenge this week is white on white...Well, it hasn't been easy! I made three cards before this one that all looked more like the royal wedding cake than a LIM card! I started again with a clean slate and came up with this:

I embossed Stampendous ruffled blooms in white on to parchment paper, painted it with indenting fluid (Something that was around years ago before they invented H2Os!) and used an embossing tool on it from the back. Now it looks a bit yellow in this shot, but that is just the light reflecting. Here is a close up to show you the dots of glitter glue.

The leaves were cut with a Marianne die. I finished it off with some embossed lines in the other corner. What? You want to see my wedding cakes?! Go on then...

I'm so glad I started again! Thanks for looking!

Loads of stamps!

2011-05-08T09:33:00.001+01:00

The Allsorts Challenge this week has a theme that is right up my street at the moment - Stamp alot, that is to use at least three stamps. As I've been playing with my Hobby art scene-it stamps it took no time at all to knock a couple of cards together! This first one uses stamps from the 'In the country' and the 'countryside' sets - seven separate stamps, and the leaf swirl on the base card is from Inkylicious.

This little scene was created with the coastal set and uses 9 stamps plus one more from personal impressions for the greeting.The papers are from Summertime designs blog.
Both cards were watercoloured using a combination of Aquamarkers and distress inks.
Thanks for looking!

A bit of this and that

2011-05-05T22:42:00.001+01:00

The last few days of my holiday were spent watercolouring with distress inks using the Hobby Art Countryside, Coastal and In the Country Scene it stamps.

I then tried using my new Aquamarkers to colour these little scenes that I will turn into cards over the weekend.

Besides my Aquamarkers and some Hobby Art goodies, Steve and Meg got me a new camera for my Birthday, so get ready for a lot of photos as I have a play. Here are a couple from the garden this evening...

Before I go I'd just like to say Welcome to my latest followers and thank you for your lovely messages and comments. They are very much appreciated. Thanks for looking!

In Fantasy land at Sir Stampalot

2011-05-02T08:30:00.000+01:00

Good morning friends! Today is the first day of May and that means it's time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our theme this month is"Magical Worlds" and it can be as simple as a single butterfly or full of fairies, unicorns and wizards, it really is up to you.
I went for fairies this time and here it is!

It is a double easel card with squares brayered with Hydrangea big and juicy, and stamped with two Lavinia fairies and Hobby Art (Anna's collection - Just for you) stamps. these and the sentiment are mounted on nesties Fleur de Lis squares. the border along the bottom edge was made with an x-cut corner punch. Here are some close ups of the brayered panels.

You can see I added a little bit of glitter to the flowers.
What is the prize I hear you ask...

More lovely goodies from Sir Stampalot!
Hope you are able to join us this month with your magical creation. Don't forget to pop over to the Stampalot challenge blog and take a look at the fantastic work my talented teamies have created. I look forward to visiting you. Thanks for popping by and for your lovely comments.

A couple of thank you cards

2011-05-01T15:03:00.000+01:00

The theme at Less is More this week is Thank you or Congratulations. I opted for a couple of thank you cards, but I'm not thrilled with either. The first features some Hobby Art stamps with an Inkylicious tree and has been watercoloured with Distress inks. This base card wasn't a great surface to watercolour on, so the shading wasn't how I'd wanted it.

The second card was initially just going to be the inchie stamps (Inkadinkado) stamped directly onto the base card, but I tried and decided it needed some colour. I stamped again onto some glossy cardstock brayered with Big and Juicy spice, then cut out and stuck on. Using Macro on my camera has made it look less straight than it actually is!

The sentiment on this one is from Waltzing Mouse. I might try it again with some other colours. Any suggestions? Thanks for looking!

Did you Guess?

2011-04-30T09:51:00.000+01:00

For those of you who had a little play along with our Birthday photos at Sir Stampalot, this was me aged about 5.

And my card of course was this one...

Hero arts French writing and leafy swirl for the background, lots of distress inks, a triple embossed Stampin' up! butterfly and a gorgeous waltzing mouse frame. I'll be back later with some of the things I've been playing with this week. Thanks for looking!

Less is more - Off Centre

2011-04-26T17:22:00.000+01:00

Hi there! The theme at Less is More this week is 'Off Centre', which means Mandi and Chrissie are
' looking for cards with little or no symmetry but perfect balance, which doesn't necessarily mean gems in all four corners, or any corners for that matter.'
I tried several different designs and finally decided on this one.

Both stamps are Elusive Images (Chocolate Baroque) and the butterfly has been coloured with promarkers.

Yesterday we spent a few hours walking in some less busy areas of Clumber park and saw quite a range of real butterflies. Photos courtesy of Megan (on my camera, because she forgot to take hers!)

A small white and a peacock...

This Comma is looking rather battered and tired, but I'm guessing it has been hibernating until very recently. You wouldn't normally see them until June.

It was a beautiful warm and sunny day, unlike today. I reached for my fleece this morning!

Thanks for all the lovely comments last week and can I say how great it is to be a part of the LIMette community! Thanks for looking!

April Showers

2011-04-24T15:56:00.007+01:00

Did you have a real downpour yesterday? We did in the evening, and this little girl (Mo Manning) would've definitely had enough water to float her boat!

I coloured her with promarkers and used papers from Funky Fairies (no longer available). I also used an EK success half flower punch, a Woodware tiny flower punch and two border punches by EK success and Martha Stewart. The sentiment is an Elusive Images stamp.

Yesterday we had a lovely trip out to Jacksdale Garden centre to take Steve's parents out for lunch. It was sunny and hot, but the fresh air and sunshine lifted all our spirits. The Garden centre and the tea room were very wheelchair friendly and the plants and gifts were all beautiful. Steve's Mum requested a return visit very soon! It was only once we returned home that it started to cloud over.
Anyway, I am entering the card into the following challenges:
Allsorts - April Showers
CES - Spring colours
I ♥ promarkers - Anything goes
Sentimental Sundays - Get Punchy
I did make a card for last week's Allsorts, but with the builders coming to sort out the floor it got packed away and I didn't find it again until it was too late! Here it is anyway.

I've had this Sugar Nellie stamp for quite a while but not used it much. I got some new watercolour paper so decided to have a go colouring with distress inks, and I have to say I'm pleased with the results.The papers are from Pink Petticoat. Thanks for looking. I intend to do a little more crafting over the rest of the holiday!!!

Less is more acetate

2011-04-21T15:15:00.002+01:00

Wasn't sure I'd manage it this week, but the floor is fixed, the furniture is returned and my computer is reassembled, so here I am. The theme at less is more this week is to use acetate.

I used a lighthouse from Chocolate Baroque/ Elusive images and a sentiment from Crafty individuals. I used alcohol inks in denim, stream and aubergine on the acetate and popped it onto a piece of pearlescent card. Unfortunately I had no xyron refil left, so I used tape pen to attach the acetate which has made it a bit streaky. I might try another later if I get the chance...maybe with brads.

Thanks for looking!

Disruption for a couple of days

2011-04-19T17:52:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon! I thought I'd better do a post to let you know that my visits to blog land might be disrupted for a couple of days. The reason is that we have a rotten joist under the front room floor. This room houses my PC and all my craft stuff, so bit by bit I'm having to move it into various places around the house. We did have a piano too, but that was heading towards our cellar so quickly we decided it could go. The keyboard we have will come downstairs in it's place once it is all finished. We have a fab builder who is fairly confidant that he can sort it in a day (two tops) and so normal service should be resumed by the weekend.
Before I disappear I'll just show you a couple of cards.

First up is Meg's birthday card, made using a sweet pea fairy, some Artylicious essence of nature papers and some of the rolled roses I've been making recently. The next are two Easter cards stamped with a wild rose studio stamp called 'sheep for ewe'. I don't do much cute, but I know this will go down a storm with Steve's mum and several friends, so it leaped into my basket on our last visit to Sir Stampalot. The daisy swirl in the background is an aspects of design stamp (Kay Carley) available from the Stampman.

I'm entering these into the following challenges:
Craft your days away - Easter
My time to craft - Easter Wishes

Finally here is another creation from the blog girl day at sir stampalot. This was a project we made with Chris. It is going to sit on my desk and look after the post its I seem to accumulate. The dragon is another Wild rose studio stamp and those gorgeous papers are from Stella Rose.

Thanks for looking and wish me luck with the floor! I'll be back!!!!

A great weekend

2011-04-18T00:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we had a lovely walk with my dad, through woodland and alongside fields not far from my childhood home. It was warm and sunny and the bluebells were coming out almost as we watched. The blackthorn was beautiful too...

Although, I think this photo of Meg's captures it's splendour far more than mine does!

Today my beautiful daughter celebrated her 14th birthday, so I made her birthday cake - a giant strawberry cupcake!

I will share a photo of her card when I have taken a decent photo of it.Thanks for looking!

Another dress

2011-04-14T22:40:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed making my Stampalot Challenge dress card so much that I decided to make another in different colours, so here is the jade green version. The flowers were made from coloured vellum as well as the dress. I'd definitely buy this one to wear myself as it is my colours!
We are half way through April, so you only have a couple of weeks left to enter our challenge where the theme is ladies and fashion.

A fabulous weekend

2011-04-10T21:06:00.002+01:00

Hi There! Well, I have had a fabulous weekend. On Saturday we went to Sir Stampalot for another Blog Girls get together with Chris and Brenda. Here are a couple of my makes...

This first one was one we did with Brenda using a penny black stamp. The flower was made using Tim's tattered flower dies and the melt pot.

This second card was done with Chris. The twisted easel used lots of mini stamps. I have quite a lot of mini flowers and I will definitely be making more of these! The flower was made using one of those quilling cuttlebug kits. I will show you a few more of my makes in the next few days. We took Lynne with us and met Lisa Jane there for the first time, along with Linda, Hayley and some other lovely ladies. Brenda had made us a lovely gift bag which you can see on her blog, and Chris had made us a beautiful bookmark, which I pressed into use as soon as I got home (Lisa posted a photo of hers here). We really enjoyed it and as usual came back with much lighter purses! I felt I'd earned some serious retail therapy after the past few weeks! The food was wonderful too, especially Chris's Cheesecake which was to die for...
Today I've been busy making cards needed for the final few days of this term. Two birthdays and two christening cards.

These two feature Kay Carley's Funky Flowers (Aspect's of design) stamps. The second uses paper from the Artylicious Essence of nature cd.

I hope these fit the bill for christening cards. I've not made any for quite a while and suddenly got asked to make three.

Five more working days to go before we have a fortnight's holiday from school- whoohoo!

Less is more - One layer Sentiment

2011-04-10T20:03:00.000+01:00

Here is my card for this week's Less is More.

I used labels 17 and labels 4 nesties to make a mask, sponged with memento cantaloupe then stamped with some tiny stamps from See-Dee's whimsical garden collection and tropical collection. The sentiment is from an Inkylicious collection called Sentiments 1. I couldn't decide whether to put it straight or at an angle. I went for the angle in the end, because it was easier! What do you think? Thanks for popping by x

Blooming blossoms at Allsorts

2011-04-05T23:16:00.002+01:00

Here is my card for this week's Allsorts. I've made my first twisted easel card. Not sure if it shopuld twist the other way though! The main image is Penny black, the rest are Hero arts and the punch around the page set are Martha Stewart.

I also had a go at the crackle finish using paint and PVA, then coloured the image with distress inks.
I'm also entering this in the Just For Fun Challenge where there is an open theme.(Thanks Zoe!)
Thanks for looking!

Moody Birds again!

2011-04-04T23:11:00.000+01:00

After all the comments from my Less is More friends I decided to have another go, and I have to say, Mandi and Chrissie, you were right!

Now, being me I couldn't manage it first time without a smudge or two which I hid with sponged mountains at the bottom! I had to augment the branch a bit too. After a good wash and cleaning/ tidying up my workspace I managed to come up with this...

The sun is better, the branch and bird placement look better. I am still itching to add something else, but resisting the temptation!

Less is more - a touch of red

2011-04-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

Happy Mothers day everyone. Hope you are having a great day. I have had some lovely crafting time this morning and managed to come up with a couple of cards for the Less is More challenge.
First up is a long thin card (A5 folded lengthways) stamped with a set called tranquil by ISC.

Initially I made it without the sun (or is it a moon?), but I couldn't resist adding it. I'm also not sure about the red flowers at the bottom, but it looked a bit strange without them.
I had been playing with those roses again and there were three red ones on my table, so I quickly embossed a white card, punched the edge and embossed some lines in the gap. This then is my second card.

I was going to put a sentiment on it, but in the end I didn't. What do you think? thanks for visiting x

Happy Birthday Sir Stampalot!

2011-04-01T08:30:00.006+01:00

It's the first of the month again and a bit of a special day for us here at Stampalot Challenge because it's our Birthday.........woohoooooooooo..........we are one year old today.
And what a fabulous year it had been, the support from all of you peeps out in blogland has been phenomenal and of course it's you who have made our challenge such a success. Thank you one and all.
Now as well as our Birthday it's April Fools Day !! So this means not only a brand new challenge, but we've also got something a bit special lined up with a twist or two.

But let me tell you about the April challenge first. The theme has been selected by our very own Lady (Janice) Stampalot who has chosen:

"Ladies and Fashion"

I wonder what you will come up with for this one? I can see so many possibilities and am so looking forward to seeing all your entries. For one lucky winner, this is the prize on offer from Sir Stampalot:

Fabulous isn't it?

My DT card for this month is a little soft and floaty lilac number...

The top and skirt are stamps from a clear set by Art Impressions. The set includes flowers, footwear, a handbag and a rather lovely jacket too. I stamped onto patterned vellum and cut them out, adding ribbon and punched flowers. The punched square was made with a Martha Stewart round the page set, and I added faux stitching to the edge of the base card with a quicky glue pen and glitter.

My roses were my first attempt at this sort of flower (You've already seen my second!) and I have to say they were very quick and easy.

Now, onto the fun and games over on the Sir Stampalot challenge blog. There are a whole bunch of very cute little girls over there and you need to try and guess who is who. There is the added clue of a card that is in each DT member's particular style. There are three prizes on offer for the first three correct entries drawn. More details can be found on the challenge blog along with some exquisite cards, so do pop over and have a guess. Can't wait to see what you come up with for your cards this month too!
I'm entering this in the Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT challenge where the theme is handmade flowers

Finally made it back to less is more

2011-03-31T21:22:00.001+01:00

Well, it isn't one of my best creations, but I finally managed to make a card for 'less is more', where they have a sketch theme this week. I seem to be having a bit of a seaside thing at the moment...my subconscious telling me I need a holiday maybe?! The stamps are all from crafty individuals and the inks are denim, pool and juniper Adirondack inks. Thanks for looking - pop back in the morning for details of the Sir Stampalot Birthday challenge!

Another birthday card and more hospital!

2011-03-30T23:07:00.001+01:00

Here is another birthday card I made for another of my work colleagues this week using the Hobby Art harbour set of clear stamps. I coloured them with promarkers. The DP is from the Joanna Sheen oriental dreams cd.
As mentioned in the post title, we have had another visit to the hospital today, this time with Megan. She has a fracture on her little finger on her right hand. Not the best news as her guitar playing will have to be restricted to just strumming for a few weeks. It didn't look too bad until the bruising started to come out... now she looks like she has been rolling it in Stormy sky distress ink! She has been very brave about the whole thing. It happened in a PE lesson when she tried to catch the basket ball. Bless her, she was more concerned about me having to set foot in 'that' hospital again than her own injury! She says she didn't think it was broken because it didn't hurt that much. I'm putting a photo on, so don't scroll down any further if you don't want to see!

A very quick post

2011-03-24T21:22:00.001Z

Hi everyone
Another very busy week, but I'm okay! Thanks so much for your kind words and for popping on to comment. I have been making a few cards for colleagues at work - March is a very popular month to have your birthday at our place! Here are two I made for the lovely Teaching Assistant I share my class with, one from all the staff and one from me.

This is the one from the whole staff on an 8x8 card using that huge butterfly by Elusive images. I coloured some watercolour paper with a mixture of Twilight and cranberry Adirondack ink, sprayed with glimmer mist and then stamped and embossed the butterfly in Sheena's platinum WOW powder. Not the best photo I'm afraid, and I can say the same about the next one too!

This one was a very quick make as I suddenly realised it was needed the evening before. The freehand cut numbers are a little naff, but I was quite proud of the roses in the top corner. I saw these being made on C&C last weekend and loved them! The bottom right flower is another Elusive images stamp and if you look closely you will see my favourite stamp on the base card. the papers are a papermania capsule collection set. Thanks for popping by. I will try my best to visit you over the weekend.

Long time no post

2011-03-19T00:09:00.000Z

Crikey! It's nearly a fortnight since I last posted. Steve's Mum is now out of hospital and at home with support from carers for getting up, going to bed and one meal a day. It is early days, so we will have to see how it goes.
Last weekend the four of us who had visited the hospital came down with a very nasty bug, so there was no visiting for four days, whilst we recovered. It wasn't very nice! Since then I've been trying to catch up with all the jobs I didn't do at the weekend as well as visiting the hospital.
Anyway, I've managed to find a picture of a card I made a little while ago and hadn't posted yet, so here is is.

I used a Stampendous flower with Adirondack inks in twilight and cranberry to create the background. The central flower used the same backing paper but I embossed the flower in Sheena's platinum sparkle wow embossing powder. I added some seed beads in the centre. I mounted this on a circle cut with a nestie and stamped with a dotty border (Waltzing Mouse stamps). It looks better IRL and that embossing powder is gorgeous!
Here is a close up of the flower.

Hopefully I might find a few minutes to spend at my craft table this weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend with some lovely spring sunshine x

Less is More- pastel colours

2011-03-06T21:04:00.000Z

Here is my card for this week's Less is More, where the challenge is to use pastel colours. I wasn't sure whether I would manage to join in this week, but I managed to squeeze in a ten minute craft moment this afternoon. The flower stamp is from Hero arts and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions.
Steve's Mum is still in Hospital. Her speech is even more mixed up than it was, so communication is frustrating for all involved. Please bear with me if I don't get round to comment much this week, but with work and hospital visits I can see the computer may not even get switched on. Think of me tomorrow. We are having our Book day dress as a character day. I'm going to be the bad tempered ladybird! After school it is parent's evening, so I'll be speaking to parents dressed as a ladybird - do you think they will take me seriously?!

A couple of teenage cards

2011-03-05T17:27:00.000Z

The Allsorts challenge this week is for teenager cards, and it falls at just the right time as one of Meg's friends and a friend's son both have a birthday this week. Thought I would include them both.

The first features a Mo Manning Digi coloured with promarkers and the papers are a free download from Canon creative park. The sentiment is from Creative Expressions. The second card is for one of Meg's friends who has loved pink and girly for as long as I can remember!

This one used the same sentiment, punched flowers and a stamp from Sugar Nellie called 'Searching', again coloured with promarkers. The papers were a freebie from Tinker and Co.
You will have to forgive me if I don't reach blogland much this week. Steve's Mum is in hospital so we are visiting regularly. This is only her second ever stay in hospital in all her 86 years, and she is finding it very stressful. I've also got parent's evening on Monday and Wednesday after school. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Spring colours at Sir Stampalot

2011-03-01T08:30:00.008Z

Good morning and Happy Saint David's Day! It is 1st March and time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. This Month the theme is Spring is in the air and is a colour theme. You need to use blossom pink, fresh green and yellow on your project.

I created the background using shaving brushes and distress inks in Spun sugar, Wild honey and Crushed olive. I stamped Hero Arts Friend definition in Spun sugar over the top and added some sponging through sequin waste using spun sugar and wild honey. The main panel was cut using a Go Kreate die (XL frames frilly #1). I stamped it with Hero Arts Silhouette Grasses in Versamagic tea leaves and embossed in clear . The paper for the flower was made in the same way, but also sprayed with Iridescent gold glimmer mist. The flower was made using Shapeabilities flower creations 3 and an x-cut embossing punch. The border punch is from EK success.

Here is a close up of the flower with some added stickles...

...those silhouette grasses...

...and my background. I really enjoyed making this card, and I'll definitely be trying it in different colour ways too.
So, pop over to the Sir stampalot Challenge and get some inspiration from my wonderfully talented teamies. They have produced some real masterpieces this month. We hope you will be able to join in, because there will be another fabulous prize on offer. What is it? Take a look at this lovely lot!

Happy Crafting!