April at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

********One for the Girls********

As the title suggest we would love to see your creations featuring all things feminine. It could be flowers, feminine colours, bling or just about anything that would appeal to the ladies in our lives! 
My card was made for my great niece and features a stamp from many, many years ago. I think it was by Sugar Nellie, but I don't think it is available any longer. The background was stamped with an Inkylicious leaf and spritzed using Be Creative mini spritzers. The main image was coloured with watercolour markers and a Be Creative water brush. The whole thing was assembled using Be Creative wondertape.
As you have probably realised, our sponsors this month are Be Creative. Gordon and Justin have very kindly donated a £25 voucher for their web store, and with some new goodies coming to their website this month, we can't wait to see what new, value-for-money products they are launching! 

Please can we remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image as the focal element of your artwork, not just a stamped sentiment or stamping in the background, this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest 

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the gorgeous designs from all my talented teamies! They really have made some beautiful cards this month! 

Thanks for looking!

One Day Special from Be Creative

 Be Creative are launching a great value lovely selection of stamps today on Hochanda.

 These are a few of the samples I have made using them. The first and third sample I stamped with Versafine ink and used zig clean color markers. The second sample was stamped with water-based momento

 This fourth sample was stamped in kaleidacolor ink and then spread with the new be creative water brush

 I love making frames with small stamps and this holly branch is perfect for it, as was the holly stamp I used on the first card.

 I also love making my own backgrounds using stamping and coordinating ink. The small present was perfect for this.

Do tune in and watch if you can at 8pm  - quick - pop the telly on now!!!

Some more Samples for Be Creative

Here are some cards made with the Be Creative paper pads for Gordon and Justin's appearances on Hochanda a little while ago. For the first I used a Digi from Hero Arts (I also have this as a clear stamp and a red rubber wood mounted stamp, but the possibility of resizing the digi made it a must have as well!)  I coloured it with Be Creative alcohol markers, shaped it with spray 'm' boss, and mounted on a Nellie Snellen die cut. The border is a spellbinders die and the gems are also from Be Creative, coloured with an alcohol marker. I added some Be Creative glitter glue to the butterfly too.

For my second card I used a stamp from Inkylicious over some card washed with Distress inks and water. I added a skeleton leaf and popped them on the front of a card covered in paper from the Be Creative Nature's portrait pad.

My final card was made with the time flies pad and a Digi from Digistamp boutique, again coloured with alcohol markers. The sentiment was stamped then placed into the flattened bottle cap before mounting with 3d glue gel.All Be Creative products are available from Once Upon a Stamp. You can find their website here.
Sorry I haven't been in blog land much recently. There has been lots happening at work and Steve's Dad has been in hospital all week after a fall caused by very low blood pressure. He had a nasty knock to the head, but no broken bones, and after transferring him to another hospital he had a pacemaker fitted on Friday...not bad going for a 95 year old, and to be honest he seems more lively now than he has in months! He should be home by the middle of next week, but is still a bit wobbly walking.
I will leave you with a photo or two of our wildflower meadow in the allotment at work. So pleased it came into flower just as we were judged for the Nottingham in Bloom competition!

Thanks for looking! 

June's challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our Theme is Feature a Creature and we are sponsored by Be Creative. Your creatures can be furry, have wings, have 6 legs, eight legs or no legs if you like! They can be real or mythological (Everyoneloves a unicorn, lol) - it really is up to you.
 The usual rules apply, you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges, use any make of stamp......but can I please remind you we are a stamping challenge and stamping must be the focal/predominant element of your work. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not.
 For my card I used a Crafty individuals stamp, CI-225. I stamped the image on to silk art card with Archival ink and coloured with distress markers and a water brush.The background layer was stamped with Inkylicious old wood floor stamp and memento rich cocoa ink.  the backing papers come from the Be Creative Natures Portrait paper pad. The lacy border down the paper is also from Be Creative.
'What is the prize?' I hear you ask. You get a big stash of the new wonder crystals and embossing powders, in fact some brand new colours that Justin and Gordon have been busy creating! Take a look on the Hochanda Website and Once Upon a Stamp's Website for Be Creative goodies.
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fantastic creations by my lovely teamies. There are some absolute stunners again this month! Hope you get the chance to join in and I'll look forward to seeing all your lovely creations!
As this post goes live I am off to Doncaster Dome for Stamp Magic and a chance to spend some birthday money! Sadly I am going alone as Lynne hasn't been able to come down due to a nasty virus. I have her shopping list though, and  I am also going to select some blog candy, because after all of Mr Blogger's shenanigans, I now have 300 followers again! Come back soon for more details. Hope your Sunday is a good one!
Thanks for looking!

Same stamp and die, different looks

A couple of weeks back I had a lovely parcel arrive from Justin and Gordon at Be Creative. It had the new wonder crystals (embossing crystals) in it and I just didn't have time to play! I managed some time last week and this is what I came up with.
The scene behind the trees was created using inkylicious stamps and ink dusters. I then cut the tree die from a wonder sheet. I peeled one side of the wonder sheet off and covered it in the crystals before heating. Once melted the crystals are so flexible. I then peeled off the backing and applied over the scene.  I wouldn't have thought of doing it that way round but it worked a treat and meant no buckled card from the heat underneath! The base card was covered in Be creative paper from the Nature's portrait pad. I rather liked this, so decided to have a go with a different colour scheme.

For this one I stamped the base card with leaves. I think this colour for the silver birches might work a bit better over a dark blue or purple scene.
Then I tried purples and peaches...

 The papers behind this one are from an Artylicious CD from Chocolate Baroque. The small leaves are a Joycraft die and have been rubbed over with gilding wax.
The crystals are lovely to use and with all of these gave a great coverage with one sprinkling. You won't need to triple emboss with them. Double embossing will be thick enough.
I am still experimenting, and will try to show you more soon. Look out for the crystals on the Hochanda website and at shows. More colours will also be available soon.
Thanks for looking!

A Squirrel Card

Whilst photographing the Squirrels last week (see previous post), I remembered that Dora had borrowed my photos from a previous visit to draw some digis. She very kindly let me have them, so I had a lovely half hour colouring and making this card. If you fancy it, you can purchase the digi from Dora's digi shop.

I coloured it using Be creative markers. For the squirrel I used natural oak, light orange and yellow ochre. Mixing the light orange and yellow ochre produced the lighter shade. I used some Be Creative paper too. The little die cut leaves are a Joy crafts die that I absolutely love. The brown card and the gold paper are oth snippets so I am off to Miss Di's snippet playground with this. 
The house is feeling rather empty as Meg returned to uni on Sunday and I still have a week of holiday. I am thinking I will take a trip to a craft shop to take my mind off it, lol! I particularly need some of the lovely whimsical flower stamps from the woodware range. One of them has my name on it, quite literally! Thanks for looking! 

More Aurora Wings Colouring

 Back in February I entered this card into an Aurora Wings Challenge on Facebook. Amazingly, I was lucky enough to be a winner! As a part of my prize I chose this image called Calla Lily Sprite.
The first one I coloured with be Creative markers and used papers on my card from the Artylicious cd Butterfly Bliss and Filigree fusion (I think - it is a while since I printed them out!) The pale gold card is pearlescent, and I used a  gold gelly roll stardust pen for the centres of the lilies.

My second card is one that I did as a sample for Be Creative's Hochanda shows last Friday. I used paper from their Nature's portrait paper pad. The bottletop and glitter glue are also from Be Creative.
Hi there to my new followers, Teri, Kate, Jo and Trudi. Great to have you here! I aim to have some Follower candy soon, as I head back to 300 followers (I got there just before Google had the clear out and wiped 14 off my total (Grrrr!)
Today I have enjoyed my belated Mother's day, with Meg being home for her Easter Holiday. I was treated to breakfast in bed, a beautiful bunch of flowers...

and some amazing home baked biscuits called Gypsy Creams (I think these might be a Dumfries and Galloway delicacy, taken from the cookbook we bought from New Abbey tea Rooms last summer)


I consider myself a very fortunate Mum!
Thanks for looking!

March Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month, so time for our March challenge at Stamping Sensations, where this month we have a great theme of........

********Flower Power********

Perfect for Mother's day, and spring! For my first card I used a stamp by Honey Doo Crafts, coloured with Be Creative markers and decoupaged  over an ink dusted oval. I used the same pens to make a coordinating layer before mounting on a base card covered in paper from the pastel inspirations pad. I added a stamped sentiment framed using a Be Creative  bottle cap. 

 For my second card I used a digi (girl) from Digistamp boutique and a flower woodware singles stamp. All images were coloured with Be Creative alcohol markers. The paper on this card is from the Vintage Collage pad, and I also used be creative glitter glue.
The Usual rules apply, you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges, use any make of stamp......but can I please remind you we are a stamping challenge and stamping must be the focal/predominant element of your work. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. It so upsets us to see names come out in the draw who are not eligible for the prize because they have not read the rules. 
Now onto the sponsor and prize this month 
We are being sponsored by Be Creative who have put together a great prize! Feast your eyes on these goodies!  

 Paper pads, pearls and gems galore! You can see loads of ideas of how to use Be Creative products on the design team blog. Do pop over and become a follower!
Also don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fabulous inspiration from my multi-talented teamies too! 
It will be a very strange Mother's day for me as Meg is not able to come home this weekend and I'm the only Mum left in the immediate family. We are postponing Mother's day here until 20th March, when Meg will be home for her Easter holidays.
Thanks for looking, and if you are celebrating Mother's day today, I hope you have a great day!

Colouring faces

 I've been colouring some different images over the past couple of weeks. Different  in that I don't normally go for this style of image!  I downloaded the flower maiden from Aurora Wings etsy shop and gave her a pastel look with my be creative alcohol Markers. I added glitter glue and liquid pearls to her hair too - here's a close-up...

 The base card is covered in paper from Be Creative's Vintage collage paper pad. I have to say it was a joy to colour her and I will definitely be buying more of Mitzi's images. There is a sale on at the moment too!

 My second image is another digi download, this time from Lavinia. Again I coloured her with Be creative alcohol markers and added liquid pearls and glitter glue. The base card was covered in a gelli print made some time ago with pearlised paints and a stencil. Here she is at a different angle so you can see the sparkle on the glitter glue.

Whilst I am showing you digis, can I please make a plea to you all. If you want a digi, go to the artist and buy it! Please avoid those sites that seem to think it is okay to steal,  or give away images without the artist's permission. I know several artists who spend hours, sometimes days producing images to sell for a very small price compared to rubber stamps. They need to sell at least 15 to 20 of those images to buy their child's next pair of shoes, or pay for that guitar lesson. If, like me, you teach workshops involving colouring, it is common courtesy to ask permission too. I have found artists are very obliging when it comes to letting me use their images at workshops, and if it helps to spread the word on how lovely their images are then all the better. Just keep in mind they need to make a living too. Rant over - thanks for listening!

Masculine cards

There have been several male birthdays in our family and friends recently. First up was Steve's birthday...

As a duck fan, this stamp from Crafty Individuals was perfect and I stamped it on silk art card and coloured with distress markers. The base paper was one that was a very pale gelli plate print, so I washed over it with distress stain to make it fit the colour scheme. The snippet of paper under the stamped image has to be at least 15 years old and I am not sure where it came from!

Next was my Dad's birthday, so a little scene was called for. All stamps are from Inkylicious, except the stag (stampscapes) and the scene was created with inkylicious stencils and ink dusters. 

Finally it was Meg's boyfriend's birthday. He is a 2nd Dan Black Belt and Sensei, so when I saw this Kenny K digi it was perfect! I coloured it with be Creative Alcohol Markers. the Paper is from Canon Creative Park and the sentiment is a very old one from Stamporium.

February at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month, so time for our February challenge at Stamping Sensations, where this month we have a nice and simple theme of........

********Anything Goes********

For my card I created a shaving foam marbled background using Dylusions, and stamped and embossed the Jazz it up saxophonist and the sentiment from the Play it loud set. These stamps are all available from Visible Image (see the link below). The adhesive Music border is from Be Creative.  The Usual rules apply, you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges, use any make of stamp......but can I please remind you we are a stamping challenge and stamping must be the focal/predominant element of your work. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. It so upsets us to see names come out in the draw who are not eligible for the prize because they have not read the rules. 
Now onto the sponsor and prize this month

Visible Image Visible Image is a clear stamp designer and manufacturer based in South Wales, UK. Their stamps are hand poured and hand cut using the finest photopolymer available. Each stamp is deeply etched, 4mm thick, to ensure a crisp clear perfectly stamped image. They are offering one lucky winner a fabulous £35 store voucher. How great is that?
Do pop over to the Challenge blog and take a look at the inspiration from my multi-talented teamies, and I look forward to visiting your fabulous entries!

A Glass Frame and Be Creative Exciting News!

If you watched the last Hochanda shows that Justin and Gordon from Be Creative did, you will have already seen my photo frame. It is one of the white glass frames priced at £2 from Wilkos.  I used the narrowest of their wondertape around the aperture and stuck foil to it. I then coloured the frame using my Be creative alcohol markers trying to create a Clarice Cliff type of feel to it. It took just a few minutes.
Now for my news. We have a brand new DT blog at Be Creative and we would love you to come over and follow us. Justin has promised a blog candy draw when we reach 100 followers, so do tell your crafting friends!
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf day for January

Hi There! It is the 25th of the month and time for the first Rudolf day of 2016. I have made two very different cards for this month. For my first I used a be creative wonder sheet, a frantic stamper die, indigo blu mega flake and some of the narrowest wonder tape on a linen finish card.

My second card is a cute one. For this one I used a digi from Digistamp Boutique, coloured it with Be creative alcohol markers and added Inkylicious fluffy puffy stuff for the fur trim. The base card was embossed with a Sheena embossing folder.

 You can see the dimension of the Fluffy puffy stuff and a bit of the twinkle from the ultra fine glitter that I added below.

Do pop over to Scrappy Mo's and take a look at her inspiration and the prize this month - a rather gorgeous Die from Memory box!
Before I go I thought you might like a piece of my Whiskey Mac Ginger cake that I baked for our Burn's Night celebrations.

It was quite boozy with some single malt drizzled over it! If you fancy trying it for yourself you can find the recipe here.
Thanks for looking!

A couple of Be Creative floral cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made for Be Creative, using their wonderful paper pads and their alcohol markers. Did you see their shows on Hochanda? If so you may have already seen these. For the first I coloured a woodware singles rose. I covered the front of the card with the paper (I think it is from the vintage memories pad) and then coloured the rose border to match my rose and the one on the corner of the paper. I used a cream marker to add a little colour to the pearl and finished with an organza bow and a bit of tea dye DI around the edge.

My second card was made using paper form the floraella pad and a digi image from Teri Sherman's Delicious doodles etsy shop, coloured with Be Creative alcohol markers. The gems were also coloured with the markers and I added a pale blue bow and ribbon.   I am quite proud of these two bows. I really need a bow maker, but managed these without. I haven't tied a decent bow since though, lol!
Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my last post. I am more or less recovered now, although it has taken a week to get rid of the worst of the cough. That has been the most tiring thing. Time really doesn't seem to be on my side at the moment, and I am sorry I am not able to comment in blog land as much as I would like.
Meg went back to uni on Friday ready for her first placement in a hospital. I am hoping that the snow doesn't affect her too much as she is relying on trains and buses to get her to and from Barnsley each day for a fortnight. How is the snow where you are? We have had about an inch, but no more than that, and I don't think it will affect me getting to work.
Justin and Gordon have three more shows tomorrow on Hochanda. Do tune in and watch if you can at 11am, 3pm and 6pm.
Thanks for looking!

Favourite five cards of 2015

Two post in one day, lol. It's just that I'm rushing in last minute to share my favourite five makes of 2015 with Debby over at A Scrap Journey. My favourite has to be Meg's eighteenth birthday card. She loved it so much it went off to uni with her. I used inkylicious stamps to make the scene and a frantic stamper fern die on the right.

Next up was this scene through the trees using a frantic stamper die and Inkylicious stamps.

 I loved this Honey Doo stamp, which was coloured with be Creative Alcohol markers. The papers are from Be Creative too.

 These last two card both used Be creative papers and Inkylicious stamps too!

Do pop over to see Debby's top 5 cards too - so cute! She also has her top 5 crochet projects and scrapnbook layouts to show you.Thanks for looking and for all your wonderful comments. Hope 2016 is a good one for you xxx

Creative Stamping Magazine

 

The latest issue of Creative Stamping Magazine is now on sale.  Here are some cards that I made for it using Be creative papers, markers, buttons and gems. If you want to know how I made them there are step by step instructions in the magazine.

 The paper pad is called Time flies, and is perfect for New Year wishes.