Rudolf Days for October

 Here are the cards I made last month and forgot to post plus a few more I have made this month. Last month we had a really busy weekend karate wise with 8 of my students at a tournament on the Saturday and another 7 going to grading on the Sunday. They were all amazing and did me proud - 5 gold medals 4 silver and 2 bronze in the tournament, then all acing their gradings too! I was so proud I was euphoric for days, completely forgetting Rudolf Days!  I made chocolate cupcakes for the whole class. 

Anyway, on to my cards. 

I used stamps and stencils from Inkylicious for these three. All very similar with two on cream cards and one on a white card in shades of blue ink. I added a shadow to make it look 3d - Deby has done a wonderful tutorial on the Inkylicious you tube channel if you want to know how it is done.  

The next one is also using inkylicious stamps and a stencil cut using a die at a crafty session at PDA. I might add a sentiment eventually. 

The next two are also done with inkylicious stamps in more traditional colours, but still single layers. 

Very simple but perfect for quick cards.

Do pop over to Mo's blog for more inspiration and to enter if you get the chance! Mo, if you get round to visiting , I am thinking of you and the family. I really hope your hubby makes a full and speedy recovery. Big hugs! 

Thanks for looking!

A few Christmas cards

 I have been very bad with my Christmas cards so far this year, but I have managed to add 3 more to my collection this week. The First is all done with Inkylicious stencils and stamps. This is a style that Deby and Emma demonstrate often at shows.

The second  was stamped with Bee Crafty stamps and an Inkylicious sentiment

and the third was done with Bee Crafty Stamps and lots of different inks

The Bee Crafty stamps for the latter two are in the end of Line section and are a bargain at £5 a set if you fancy them 😉

They would have been my Rudolf day entry, but poor Mo and household are not well at the moment. hope she feels better soon! 
 

January Rudolf Days and a Digi from Dora

As January hurtles to a close it is time for the first Rudolf days of the year. My first card is a digi from Dora, coloured with zig clean color markers and paired up with some very old dovecraft papers.

 My next card is a little snowy scene using speckled egg ink and a combination of Bee Crafty and inkylicious stamps.

Here is a third card using inkylicious stamps and plenty of stickles and liquid pearls.

Finally, and not for Rudolf days, here is this month's DT digi from Dora. Isn't it a stunning dragonfly? I coloured it with ecoline pens and fineliners and used some papers from an Artylicious CD (Now Chocolate Baroque)

Thanks for looking and do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look at the inspiration. it is never too early to start on christmas cards!

                             Sally x

A digi from Dora

 

Hi There!  I am here to share my DT card for Dora over at  Dora-knutselhoekje . Isn't it a beautiful bird image? I printed it onto some white card and coloured it with coloured pencils, hoping to resemble a thrush, although it would be lots better if I had found a picture to model it on rather than relying on memory. The clouds and snowflakes were created using stencils from Inkylicious and Bee Crafty and distress inks with a make-up brush. The sentiment is from Inkylicious too.

Thanks for all your lovely comments. Hoping to spend a little time in blog land this afternoon and leave some comments myself x

Inspired by Sunsets

 Our lovely friend Lynne has taken some stunning photos of sunsets recently. Several of them feature a very beautiful old Beech tree, which Deby at Inkylicious made into a stamp a few years ago. This prompted talk of ink colours and bending brushes, followed by Lynne challenging us to recreate the scene. We had a choice of photos, but this was the one that I chose, and here is my card:

Nowhere near as beautiful as the real thing, but I'm happy. The base card was stamped with Crafty Individuals stamps in dried marigold and versafine black. The sky behind the tree was done with Distress inks and ink dusters, using mustard seed, fossilized amber, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon, rusty hinge and fired brick. I stamped the tree in Archival black and extended the ground and fence to fill the width of the card with a black pen.

Please do take a look at everyone's beautiful art work, inspired by Lynne's gorgeous photos.

I am sure Lynne, Sandma, Viv and Joan would love to have you visit them. These lovely friends are so wonderfully supportive and their creations on their blogs and on facebook are a real feast to the eyes. 

Whilst I am here, I've got a quick reminder for you that Jean Hardy is on Hochanda tomorrow with some stunningly beautiful new stamps designed by Sandma. The programmes are at on10am and 2pm, straight after the lovely Lesley Wharton of Chocolate Baroque (9am and 1pm) I will leave you with a sneaky peek at one of the cards I made for the show 😁

Thanks for looking!

My September card for Dora

 Here is a card I made with the wonderful Dark Turtle designed by Dora. This is available as a digi on Dora's blog here or as a Crafty Individuals stamp here.

I used the Crafty Individuals stamp. I stamped and masked it, stencilling the turtle (inkylicious) and stamping the text (Crafty Individuals) and splatter (Inkylicious). Once the mask was removed I coloured the turtle and fish with my Arteza watercolour pencils, adding a grey shadow around the images. I really am enjoying colouring with pencils at the moment. Practice has definitely improved my blending.

I hope you are keeping well and enjoying some crafty time!

Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day and a Digi from Dora

There aren't many days left in May, so it is time for the Rudolf days Challenge over at Scrappy Mo's. This first card is a little inkylicious scene, stamped in Memento Paris Dusk and watercoloured with Chipped Saphire distress in. I then mounted it on a base card that had been dry embossed with a magazine freebie snowflakew embossing folder.

My second card used Crafty Individuals stamps CI 463, CI 465 and CI 541. The papers were sprayed with mica sprays and the photo certainly doesn't do it justice in all it's sparkliness. Do pop over to Maureen's blog for more Christmas inspiration

Also, here is my DT Card using one of Dora's wonderful new floral digis, tulips, which I coloured with pencils. You can find Dora's fabulous Digis on her website here.
I have been busy beavering away at my samples for the next Crafty Individuals shows which will be on Hochanda on Tuesday 2nd June at 7am and 1pm. I really hope you can tune in and watch. The new stamps are absolutely gorgeous and I love them. I can't wait to show you! I will be posting all my makes with them here on my blog once the Hochanda shows have been aired, so very soon!
It looks like craft shops will be opening again here on 15th June, but workshops and shows will probably be a way off from that as social distancing will still be in place for a while. In the meantime I hope you have plenty of stash to keep you going, and, as we will have missed at least one craft show, you have the opportunity to treat yourself to a little something.
Stay safe and I hope you are well xxx

How is it going?

I hope you are well and coping in these strange times. Three weeks into social isolation here and this week I haven't had a whole lot of mojo. I've sat in front of my craft table and not done anything constructive, card-wise several times. It just didn't feel right to be having fun creating with everything that is going on. On Thursday I knew I had to get myself motivated to make a birthday card for Meg, which needed posting and I will share with you in due course, and finally found a bit of inspiration. After that I decided I should create a scene I'd like to walk through, even though the countryside is a little too far to walk to at the moment.

So here is my riverside scene with stamps mostly from Crafty Individuals except the one at the top, which is from Inkylicious. The background scene is on satin finish art card, brushed with very old adirondack inks. the background stamping was done with memento ink. I stamped the kingfisher in versafine clair onto watercolour card and coloured with zig clean color markers and a bit of white gel pen. Finally I cut her out, shaped her a little with an embossing tool and stuck her on with 3d glue. Did you know the female kingfisher has a black upper bill and a red lower bill?
I'm entering this at Allsorts, where the challenge is something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The old is my adirondack inks in mountain rose, pool and peach bellini, and the blue is my kingfisher.
I'm also entering it at Penny Black and more, where the theme is Anything Goes.
I hope my card gives you the same feeling of peace that I got from making it. Maybe we could have a virtual stroll along the river and spot kingfishers together.
Thanks for looking!

January Mid month inspiration (it's another moonscape!)

It is time for my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations, so I've used a moon again and teamed it up with some new Lavinia stamps. The Lavinia berry wreath, crow set and meadow mushroom minature were all christmas presents. The background was created on silk art card using ink dusters, sponges and memento inks, then the foreground was stamped in versafine clair. If you are doing this you need to leave the versafine clair to dry naturally for a long time, or use heat carefully on the coated card stock.  I added gelly roll stardust pen to the berries before adding translucent nuvo drops over the top. White gel pen was added to highlight the mushrooms and the base card was stamped with the inkylicious splatter twinchie.
You still have plenty of time to enter the challenge, so do pop over to the challenge blog for more inspiration. Don't forget to check your entry against the challenge rules and take a look at the fabulous inspiration!
Thanks for looking!

Favourite Stamps at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning and Happy New Year! As it is the first Sunday of the month, it is time for our January challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month we have a lovely theme....

****Use your Favourite Stamps****

For my card this month I used stamps and stencils from Inkylicious and a little white gel pen and liquid pearls. My favourite stamps are the inkylicious moon and tree, but I do reach for the splatter stamp and the willow  twigs on a regular basis too!

  The background was created using ink dusters, sponges and inks.  I used memento lulu lavender to stamp the moon and to blend the paler to darker inks. Adirondack mountain rose and peach bellini made the moon shine section of sky. Dusty concord, chipped sapphire and black soot Distress inks formed the darker sky and the hills, using a mountain valley stencil.  

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

Our prize this month is from  our lovely sponsors, Tattered Lace.  Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize! Thanks for looking! 

Happy New Year and a few favourites

So here we are approaching 2020. I am looking forward to starting the new year with crafting, karate, walking, cooking and enjoying nature at the top of my list of things to do.  I thought I would take the opportunity to share a few of my favourite crafty projects with you. It is a very quick and randomly selected top ten, that If I looked again I would probably change, lol.

 First up is one of my favourite Inkylicious tree stamps and that XL spatter,

 Next is a tree from Bee Crafty and that gorgeous sentiment. I made this after a walk in the woods when I'd decided that I was going to resign, so holds a special place in my heart!

 I invested in many hare stamps this year, but this was my first and I loved how well it worked on that background.

 More inkylicious stamps on this one. The wolves are great for male cards.

 This was my first foray into candle decorating, which ultimately led to joining Crafty individuals DT and craft fairs and tables, sales and lots of fun!  

 I've enjoyed having the time to work on my colouring skills, like this 'no-line' Hobby Art christmas wreath coloured with zig clean colour real brush markers.

 Whilst we are on the subject of Hobby Art, this little owl had to be on here somewhere. He flew off to a friend in Japan, and is going to be framed. A little owl is not just for Christmas!!! 😂

 My Crafty individuals robin and kingfisher candles were popular too.

 Here's more of my favourite inkylicious stamps on Meg's christmas card,

and finally this is the plaque I made for my lovely friend Lynne (we met in about 2002 or 3 when we taught together...I think we were boh dragons, lol!)
Thank you all for your continued crafty friendships and support.  I really appreciate each and every one of your comments and I look forward to visiting you all in 2020 to see more of your wonderful creations.
                                   Happy New Year! 

I did it and an entry for Allsorts

                    

Yesterday was Black Belt grading for our Karate club. There were students attending from Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and further north too. It lasted 3 hours and divided roughly into 3 sections: Combinations, Kata  and Kumite. I am very happy to say that not only did I survive, but I was awarded my Shodan Ho black belt at the end of it.

There were 5 of us going for our first black belt from our local class (four pictured above). We all made the grade and passed. I was very grateful to be cheered on by my hubby, daughter and partner and my niece. It wasn't very warm in there if you were sitting down or not moving about!

Meg had my camera and was able to take a few action shots. As you can see, I wasn't getting cold or sitting down 😆

Here I am bowing to our Sensei, receiving my belt and certificate. Edit: I am 4ft 11" and he is 6ft 8"

My lovely niece had bought me a present which she gave me...

Today is a very laid-back day. I have paid a brief visit to one of my training buddies dojos to take her a little gift to say thanks for her support. Other than that I am chilling, watching the squirrels in the garden and contemplating what is left to do for Christmas besides baking.
I can certainly find the time to enter a card at Allsorts this week where the theme is Anything goes. I am sharing the Christmas card I made for Meg. It is one of my usual Inkylicious scenes featuring some of my favourite stamps. I used my ink dusters and a mixture of Distress inks and Memento inks. The tree and deer were stamped in versafine Clair.

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going very well. If I don't manage to pop in again before the big day,  have a wonderful Christmas!

A Winter Digi from Dora

Hi there! I m here with my DT card for Dora Knutselhoekje. 
The  theme the DT are following this month is Winter. I used the Winter Wren image, printed onto card and coloured with alcohol pens. The splatter stamp on the base card and the sentiment are from Inkylicious.  There are lots beautiful samples on Dora's blog from the rest of the DT. Do pop over there and take a look at Dora's fabulous images.
Thanks for looking!

A Christmas Card and some Christmas gifts

The Challenge at Penny Black and more this month is Christmas, and with plenty of time on my hands, I am making quite a lot of Christmas things! I got my 4" round gelli plate out and had a little play to make a few backgrounds with distress inks in tea dye and bundled sage. I also used a Bee Crafty Inkables texture disk. I stamped and embossed the Holly (Hobby Art) in gold then coloured with zig real brush pens. The sentiment is a woodware stamp. My card is my entry to the challenge.
I have taken the plunge and booked a table at a local craft fair. If you are interested and near Nottingham, I will be at Woodthorpe Park Plant shop on 1st December (more details here) As well as lots of cards, I have been decorating candles (Crafty Individuals stamps) and mdf baubles (Hobby Art and Inkylicious stamps).

Thanks for looking!

A bit of Silver

The challenge at Allsorts this week is to add something gold or silver. I embossed this lovely Woodware stamp in silver and coloured the background with zig pens. I matted and layered using silver mirri paper and stuck it on the front of a silver grey card. I managed to leave a versamark fingerprint on the base card, so I stamped round it with my inkylicious twinchie stamp in versamark then dusted with silver mica powder. It covered it up nicely 😁 In the past I would probably have cut away the base card or even binned it and started again. These days I try and find ways to cover up mistakes. Well placed sequins, splatter stamps, doodle stamps, liquid pearls and embellishments are all very useful, lol. Do you have a prefered method for covering fingerprints or smudges?
Thanks for looking xxx

Anything goes at Allsorts

The theme this week at Allsorts is 'Anything Goes' so not too much thinking required, lol. I thought I would share a card a neighbour asked me to make. When she said she liked horses, I remembered I had some by Lavina, so a 'scene' card was the result. The stamps are all Lavinia or Inkylicious, except the sentiment (Little Claire) and the scrabble tiles. I coloured the card with ink dusters and a variety of inks. A fine black pen was used to add grass under the horses and a distant fence.
As this is another card featuring animals, I'm also taking to Penny Black and More for my second entry there.
Thanks for looking!

Stag Sunset

Here is a lollystick plaque made using the larger lolly sticks, stuck together with hot glue. I then painted it with Acrylic paints (nothing fancy, just some from Wilkos) and stamped with inkylicious stamps and versafine ink. I am going to try another like this with versafine clair to see if I get a crisper outline. I have a couple of projects on the go at the moment which I will share with you soon. The craft fest is in full swing, lol 😁
Thanks for looking!

Clean and Simple at Allsorts

The new challenge at Allsorts this week is Clean and Simple, a perfect opportunity to share this card. I dusted the background with citrus twist, mermaid lagoon and wilted violet distress inks, placing a moon mask over the top after the first dusting. I stamped Inkylicious tiny script in memento lulu lavender, then stamped the Woodware fennel and sentiment in versafine clair ink.
Thanks for looking. I'm hanging on for dear life as we stampede towards the end of term... just 10 more 'get-ups' to go!