A bit distressed!

I made a welcome to your new home card for a colleague. the stamp is from Galerie Vernissage by Inkadinkado. I coloured it with promarkers and mounted it on a torn terracotta coloured panel. I distressed the edges of this and the backing papers (Kaisercraft Devonshire collection 6x6 pad) with a Tim Holtz distressing tool and some Wild Honey distress ink. The pleated flower uses paper from the same pad.
As it is all distressed I'm entering it into this months Stampman challenge where the theme is all distressed. I might just manage another challenge this week as I need to make Steve's Birthday card and my Dad's too. The theme at Allsorts is Male, so it fits a treat- let's hope I find the time!
BTW I'm thrilled to bits that I won a stamp from 'An oldie but a goodie' last week with my house mouse in a teacup.  Thanks for looking!

Autumnal wandering

Finally I made it back to blog land! I have had a very successful if tiring week, so today I've had a little bit of fresh air and some craft time. First of all my card.

I used distress inks and a range of Elusive images stamps, oh and hero arts old French writing. I also embossed the tree with mirror gold embossing powder. The challenge this fortnight at the Stampman is Autumn, so I thought I'd enter it.
We had a lovely walk on the Robin Hood Way  (a great footpath through Sherwood Forest) this afternoon, with my Dad.There were some fabulous fungi specimens.

 Lots of Fly Agaric from tiny ones like this to some the size of dinner plates.

 Not sure what this one is but there were lots.

This one was quite big - you could pull up a chair and rest your cup on it!

We walked through an area where the only dry land was the footpath. Both sides of the path were waterlogged and swampy. Looking at the trees it has been like this for a while. A little eerie at first, but we saw woodpeckers, ducks, a pair of Buzzards and some warblers too. Further along the rivers Meden and Maun meet and part again, and the view down the Maun from a little footbridge was very tranquil.

I'm sure if we had had a little more time to stand and watch we would've seen a kingfisher or a water vole. Thanks for looking and I hope you get some tranquil moments this weekend. If you manage an Autumnal creation you could add buttons and a bow and enter it into the sir stampalot challenge too!

Three Challenges - a bit of a record for me!

This is my entry for this week's Allsorts challenge, where the theme is 3 or more punches, this month's Penny Black at Allsorts, where the theme is punches and this fortnight's Stampman challenge, where the theme is 'distress'.
I used Penny Black letters and flowers for the main image and paisley swirls for the backgrounds. I stamped and distressed with stormy sky, antique linen and walnut ink distress inks. I am loving this colour combo at the moment. The punches I used (3 different leaves and the little flowers) were from woodware and x-cut. My big flower was made using shapeabilities flower creations 3 held together with three brads. I creased and sprayed the petals before I assembled them with a combination of starburst stains and creative colour sprays. Here is a close up of the flower...

 The Sponsor at Allsorts this week is Stamp Addicts, and of course the Stampman have a wonderful voucher on offer for their winner and Penny Black have some fabulous stamps available for their winners.
Thanks for looking!

Woo hoo and Karate!

You'll never guess what! the card I made for the Stampman Challenge for easel cards got me a top five place! Here is the card:

If you want to know how I made it my original post is here.

  Thank you so much Jill and teamies. I really appreciate it and feel very honoured! I will sport my blinkie with pride!


I also want to share with you that I was Student of the week at Karate this week for excellent kicks! I was incredibly surprised as I always feel I am not very good at kicking. I think it is something to do with my short stature and equally short legs! Anyway, Sensai was impressed and I'm chuffed to bits. I wasn't even cross with anyone, lol!
Off to have a hop around a few blogs now. Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your evening!