Crafty Individuals Samples for Hochanda

 I thought I had better share the samples I made for the latest release of Crafty Individuals stamps, designed by our lovely Sandma Cards. 

I will just post the pics and a link to the stamps. Any questions as to how I did it, feel free to ask.

You can find the new products on the website here

Thanks for looking!

September at Stamping Sensations

 

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month our challenge theme is 

***The Great Outdoors***

I used stamps from Bee Crafty  in their Beautanical range to make my tree scene. I do love seeing the heather turn the hills purple at this time of year!

Please remember we are a stamping challenge and the focal element of your work must reflect the theme (i.e. makes suitable for boys and men). Whist we prefer conventional stamping, digital images are allowed. You can check out the challenge rules here.

Do go to the challenge blog to check out the breathtaking creations from my multi-talented teamies. You can also find details of the fantastic prize! 

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! 

Lolly Stick Wall Art

After seeing Sandra's (Sandma Cards) wonderful lolly stick wall art as a sample for the last inkylicious show, I decided to have a go myself. I've been posting plenty of them on facebook but realised that I hadn't put any on my blog yet, so there are a few to see.

Here is how I secured the back and how to hang it

Each plaque is made by sticking large lollysticks together using hot glue. I painted them with either black or white acrylic paint then used ink dusters and inks over the paint. With the black one I used oxide inks and colourbox white pigment ink. For the white ones I dusted with distress inks and used watercolour markers, as well as stickles.   For all of them I used inkylicious stamps, ink dusters and stencils. If you want to know more feel free to leave a question and I will get back to you.
It is report writing season so I am spending all my spare time on those. I hope I will be able to see the wood for the trees by the end of the month and get more time in blogland after that.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments xxx

May Rudolf Day and Lea Gardens

 The end of the month is approaching fast so it is time for Rudolf Day once again over at Scrappy Mo's. I have created two little scenes using Inkylicious stamps and my ink dusters. The first has a sentiment from Honey Doo Crafts and on the second  I used a Sheena Embossing folder. I might add a sentiment eventually - for now it will do.

Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look at the fabulous inspiration from her and the DT. Now spring is finally here, we have had a couple of outings recently, one of which was to Lea Gardens in Derbyshire, where there is a fantastic collection of Rhodedendrons, Azalea and Camelia. There is also a lovely tea shop! Here are some photos (I took lots!)

 The colours, scent and variety were a feast for the eyes!

 

By the pond we spotted lots of red damselflies

 and in the pond were lots of newts!

 Finally, take a look at the cakes!

Thanks for looking!

Meg's Birthday

Today my wonderful daughter turns 21! We had a meal out at the weekend and tonight we are having an evening together before she returns to Sheffield tomorrow.

She has grown from this....

 to this...

and we are so proud of her and love her to bits!
Here is the birthday card I made for her. I took lots of inspiration from Marianne Lait, who worked some amazing magic with this stamp set for her Hobby Art DT samples. Do pop over and see Marianne's blog. She designs for both Hobby Art and Lavinia and her project are stunning!

I used glossy accents on the dragonflies and added some liquid pearls to the stamens of the cellandines. All of the flowers and the dragonflies are attached with 3d glue gel and the card is 8 x 8". the scene was created using ink dusters and distress ink with some stamping in memento. 
Thanks for looking!

Fishing in the Moonlight...

The moonscape stamp and mask has been out again! This time I teamed it up with other inkylicious stamps to create a boating scene. I just dampened my blue ink duster and swiped it across the lower half for the water. I used a mixture of mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch and faded jeans for the sky. I am very pleased with how the moon in the sky came out - it looks quite 3d when you dust around the inside edge of the stencil with the blue. The moon was stamped and dusted with Memento Canteloupe and Dandelion yellow.
I thought I'd share this now to serve as inspiration for father's day next weekend, although I don't think it will be my Dad's card... I'd better go and try and make his card so I can get it in the post mid week.
Happy Crafting!

Stamping Sensations Challenge for March

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is...........

***Close to Nature***

As the title suggests we want to see your projects inspired by the natural world this month..........

 I feel closest to nature when I am out walking in the countryside, so I am sharing the card I made for my Dad's birthday with Hobby Art Stamps (Country Ramble Scene-it set). I water-coloured it with a mixture of Zig clean color markers and aqua markers.

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image, sentiment or quote as the focal element of your artwork. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. And please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.

 Here is the fabulous prize this month.....



                       
I wish I could enter myself!
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fantastic creations by my lovely teamies. There is some wonderful inspiration again this month! Hope you get the chance to join in and I'll look forward to seeing all your lovely creations!  
Before I go I want to share a photo with you. Last Tuesday I got my accreditation to be a Karate Sensei for GKR! I'm still pinching myself 😀😀😀

Thanks for looking!

Hearts for Valentines day

I've been busy working on my Valentine card for Steve. Inspiration for a valentine card for a man who doesn't do cute are few and far between, so I resorted to a scene in a heart shaped aperture. I used my ink dusters and distress ink to create the background, then stamped with memento ink. The one job Steve has done outside in the torrential rain this morning is feed the birds, so it seemed apt to add his feathered friends. All stamps are from Inkylicious. I added dots of stickles and liquid pearls for the buds and water droplets on the branches that make up the border.
The theme at Allsorts this week is hearts and/or flowers, so I am entering this one there.
This is my thousandth post - I can't quite believe it! 
I will leave you with a few photos of buster the squirrel who is enjoying our bird food so much, lol.

Merry Christmas!

I've been crafting and baking so hard I've sweat glitter for the past two days 😁
Here is the result...

First is the card I made for Meg, using a mixture of inkylicious, Hobby Art and Lavinia stamps. It was a bit of an experiment and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I am pretty happy with it. The only thing I would change if I did it again would be to not use my largest circle die for the apperture as I had to hand cut the semi circles from  the white card on the front.
Next are two cards using various hobby Art stamps and inspired by the one that Lynne (Creative Lynks) made me.

I used Zig Clean color markers to colour them all and versafine to stamp them. The sentiment on the last one is from Inkylicious.

I just want to say that I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and I will no doubt be in blog land again once Boxing Day is over. Hope Santa is good to you all! I'd offer you a mince pie, but Tescos were all out of mincemeat, so its Spiced apple muffins instead and a drop of Gluwein!

Merry Christmas!