Rudolf day for April

Rudolf Day has snook up on me this month, but I remembered I had this little used Penny Black stamp and so made three quick one layer cards. I stamped in versamark and embossed in silver. This also gave me the opportunity to have a play with the new Distress ink colours, and for this one I used abandoned coral and cracked pistachio, before adding a bit of sparkle with jade and red sakura stardust pens and a water brush. The sentiment is a printed one from Craftwork Cards, perfect for sticking over dodgy stamping!
Here is a close up of the sparkle - you can just about see it

Next I had another go, this time managing to get the sentiment stamped straight (it is a very old one from stamporium, and no longer available), but without the sparkle.

And finally I tried another using mermaid lagoon and Cracked pistachio with a sentiment from Inkylicious

I like the new colours, but they are quite similar to some of those already out. Cracked pistachio is a paler version of evergreen bough, mermaid lagoon is similar to salty ocean and abandoned coral is quite like festive berries. These are all quite small cards - 4" square. I picked up a pack of these at the Range when I went to visit Lynne. With postage priced the way it is, more people will get one layer small cards than in the past.
 I'd better pop these over to Scrappy Mo's Rudolf Days challenge and then make the most of the sunshine. I have student finance forms to fill in later.
Thanks for popping by!

Making a scene or two!

Hello there! Do you remember the Frantic Stamper fern die I showed you a couple of weeks ago? Well, I bought another! This is vertical birch trees. it was a bit more than I would normally spend on a single die, but I loved the size (perfect on a 7x5 card) and I am a tree-oholic!  I made a scene the same size using Inkylicious stamps, my ink dusters and a mountain valley stencil, then popped the birch trees over the top with 3d glue gel. I used a sakura stardust pen to add a bit of shimmer to the birch trees.
My second card was inspired by the lovely fresh greens of springtime that seem to be emerging at the moment.

Again I used Inkylicious stamps, memento inks, my ink dusters and a mountain valley stencil. The blossom around the edge is spun sugar distress stickles and gold liquid pearls.
Thanks for looking! 

All Grown up!

Tomorrow is my gorgeous daughter's eighteenth birthday! I can hardly believe it! Time goes so quickly... Anyway, here is the card I made for her.

The main image was dusted and stamped onto silk art card with inkylicious stamps, memento inks and ink dusters. I then mounted it on some two tone metallic card (Bronze and maroon) that was a bargain from PDA. I embossed a piece of pearlised black card and rubbed over with treasure brass and treasure pewter. Finally I added a sentiment (little claire) some die cut fern leaves (frantic stamper) and her name in scrabble tiles (stamps from Stamporium no longer available)

Here is a view from a different angle so you can see the sakura stardust pen highlights.I have just realised that this card fits with the Birthday theme at Penny Black and More this month, so I am entering it there.
Meg has gone to spend the last few days of her Easter holiday on the south coast, so we are apart on her birthday for the first time! We have a small celebration planned for a couple of weeks time to compensate!
She is currently studying for her A levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, so has put off most things until exams are over and she knows whether she will be able to accept her place at university. I will let you know in due course. I am so proud of her, and even though I will miss her so much I really hope, with all my heart, that she gets the opportunity to follow her dreams.
I will leave you with a few photos...

Thanks for looking!

A little pink creation and some photos

Hi there! I have just returned from a few days away visiting my dear friend Lynne. I needed to make a card for a work colleague who loves anything French, and as I used quite a lot of pink I thought it would be a good time to remind you that Pink is our current theme this month at Stamping Sensations.

I used Inkylicious ink dusters and stamps for all the backgrounds and used Distress inks in Victorian velvet and tea dye. The Eiffel tower (Dovecraft) was stamped on a snippet of card in starlight black brilliance ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I cut the ferns, a rather wonderful little die from Frantic Stamper (available from Once upon a Stamp) from two snippets of burgundy card. I cannot recommend Frantic stamper dies enough. They took one run through the cuttlebug and popped straight out of the die so easily! The sentiment (Little Claire) was stamped on another snippet of card, cut with a spellbinder die, and even the ribbon was a snippet! With so many snippets used I am nipping over to Di's snippet playground with this card.
Before I leave you I will share some photos from my trip to Scotland.

 Mute and whooper swans.

 Whooper swan

 Wild primrose

There is nothing quite like fresh air, sunshine, blue sky, good company and exercise to put a spring in my step! Oh yes, and seeing 47 species of bird in just one day!
Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments. Do bring your pink creations over to Stamping Sensations this month as there is a whopping prize of £40 worth of goodies from PDA to win!

April at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning and Happy Easter! It is the first Sunday of April and time for a new Challenge at Stamping Sensations! I am pleased to say that it looks like our internet issues are sorted, touch wood, just in time to get my post finished for the new challenge! Our theme this month is Pretty in Pink and we are being sponsored by PDA Cards and Craft. I am a very lucky crafter as I live only a 25 minute drive away from PDA at Langley Mill, and visit (and spend lots!!!) often. Their paper and card selection are wonderful and they also stock a wide range of other crafting products. The items used on the card above all came from PDA. The stamp is a Woodware Clear Magic one, and I have paper pieced it to imitate some of the wide range of converse style footwear available. I added white gel pen to the laces and pink sparkle to the eyelets. I also added a bit of shading in ivory and pastel blue promarker.

My second card is a little fairy scene using fairy toadstool and grass stamps from Inkylicious. I used my ink dusters, a moon mask and adirondack inks to make the background. I stamped the fairy and grasses in versafine black and coloured the toadstool with distress markers and white gel pen. The background paper was created using dylusion sprays on copier paper. Once the bright colours were dry I placed a leaf stencil from 'that special touch' over and spayed with the white spray.

I also added a bit of subtle sparkle to the fairy and the night sky using a sakura gellyroll clear sparkle pen. You can see the effect in this photo. If you are going to Ally Pally on 11th and 12th April You can get a closer look at it on the Inkylicious stand.
The prize this month is a very generous £40 voucher to spend in the PDA store.

 I'd be very happy to help you with that if you want, lol!  Be sure to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the stunning pink creations that my talented team mates have created.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments too.

Darn!

Just a quick post to let you know that I am having internet problems, but having bent the ear of someone from virgin media this evening, normal service should resume on Friday.

Here are a couple of cards to be going on with in the meantime, both using the woodware clear magic stamp, Wheat. The sentiment on the second card is from Inkylicious.

Thanks for looking and hope to be back soon!

Rudolf day for March

 It is time for Rudolf day again over at Scrappy Mo's! This month I have made two cards which are both snowy scenes and feature rabbits (or hares) and trees. All the stamps are from Inkylicious.  I have been searching for a particular sentiment stamp but not found it, so at the moment they have no sentiment. Maybe it is time for a spring clean, lol!

I added glitter using a quicky glue pen and some silver liquid pearls for berries on this second one. I am still not sure if the memento Paris Dusk works particularly well (blue hares??). I think I prefer the first card with its more natural colours (Stormy sky distress ink and tuxedo black versafine). I also added a few squiggles of sakura clear stardust pen along the snowdrifts.
Do join in with Rudolf day if you can. All you need to do is make a Christmas card or two for 25th of the month, and by Christmas you will have a lovely stack ready to go!
I am also linking my cards to Merry Monday where the challenge this week is Trees. Thanks for the heads up, Di!
Thanks for looking!

Inky playtime

On Mother's Day I allowed myself a bit of inky playtime with my ink dusters and some inkylicious stamps. I began by making a mask with a cd, cutting out the centre to make an aperture.

I then used ink dusters, Memento and Adirondack ink and a mountain and valley stencil to create some hills and sky. After removing the aperture mask, I stamped the thistle with versafine tuxedo black around the edge of the circle. I stamped the rabbit in the same ink. Finally I inked up the middle-sized northern pine with Memento northern pine and espresso truffle, adding a 'shadow' from the rising sun using the ink duster pinched together at the end. A few highlights were added using a sakura gellyroll clear stardust pen, which you can see a little better here:

 My second card uses the same techniques but different stamps.

The leaves and trees are from one of my oldest sets of Inkylicious stamps, Flight of Dreams. I added tiny punched flowers and dots of distress stickles around the edge of the circle. The birds are from the set 'Prickly shrubs'.
If you aren't sure how ink dusters work, you can check out my video tutorials on Youtube. If you are heading to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC this weekend, be sure to visit the Inkylicious stand and take a look at all the new stamps. I wish I could be there myself!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Flowers and Pearls at Allsorts

 

This week the theme at Allsorts is Flowers and Pearls. I found this DP in my drawer and decided to use it. It is a digi download from Pink petticoat and I love it! I stamped the flowers (Kanban) in Memento Espresso truffle and coloured with coordinating promarkers, adding a tiny bit of sparkle here and there with a sakura gelly roll stardust pen. I also dusted around the die cut and the main card with Tea Dye distress ink. The sentiment is from Woodware and was stamped in versafine black.
After mounting the die cut with 3d glue onto the card front I added some pearls onto the panel.
Thanks for looking!

A snippet make

Hi There!
Here is a card I made at the weekend. I decided to have a play with the Inkylicious toadstools1 set and a grass stamp from Essential grasses. The toadstool was coloured with promarkers and a white sakura gelly roll pen. I also stamped the paper behind the main image with French style script before dusting it with Tea Dye Distress ink. Everything was a snippet apart from the base card, so I am taking it to Miss Di's snippet playground.
 Hope you enjoyed the sunshine today. It was a beautiful day here and I had a lovely 15 minutes out on playground duty this afternoon.
Thanks for looking!

Spring, lambs and Creative Stamping

 Hi There!
I had a lovely trip out with a friend at the weekend to a tea shop a few miles from here. Beauvale Abbey is between Watnall and Eastwood to the west of Nottingham.

There is a wonderful tea shop in one of the farm buildings, and we indulged in a pot of tea and some lemon-iced ginger cake. The pot of tea for two had more than seven cups in it and the cake was delicious (that is high praise indeed from me!)
On our wander around the remains of the Abbey we met some very very new lambs...

They reminded me that the latest copy of Creative Stamping is now out, and there are some wonderful springtime stamps with it. There is a particularly lovely lamb, which I used on this card.

All details of how I made this and several more are in the magazine.
I will leave you with a photo of a beautiful primula that I treated myself to at the garden centre down the road.

Spring wishes to you, and thanks for looking!

March at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! This month at Stamping Sensations our theme is 'One for the boys!'. It was an easy one for me as three out of four males in our immediate family have had their birthday already this year! . The card above was the one I made for my Dad's Birthday. The Garden shelf stamp is from Little Claire, and the stripy paper is a free download from Canon Creative park. I used promarkers to colour the stamps.

I stamped the watering can separately and attached with 3d glue. I also added flat backed pearls for the drawer handles.
My second card was my brother's birthday card.

This was made using a range of Inkylicious stamps, ink dusters, a mountain and valley stencil and memento inks.

We are sponsored this month by Foil Play who are offering a wonderful prize of £35 to spend in their on-line store.
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the stunning inspiration that our DT have created. I am looking forward to visiting and seeing all the wonderful creations you produce this month.
Thanks for looking!