Stamping Sensations October Challenge

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

*****Autumn*****

  For those of you that know me you will know of my addiction to tree stamps, and the latest trees from Inkylicious were a must buy as soon as I saw them! They are called Midnight trees, and I used them with a range of Memento inks onto smooth stamping card.  The background tones were created with memento inks and ink dusters. 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.
Our sponsors this month are  Penny Black who have supplied a wonderful prize for us to offer to you - take a look.
                          

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! 

Mussel Shell pendants

 If you managed to catch the Be Creative shows on Hochanda at the end of August you may have seen my Mussel shell pendants. I used Be Creative wonder crystals then added some micro beads and charms (from PDA). To get the crystals to stick before heating you can use a be creative glue wand or a  versamarker. The one on the left was embossed with Turquenite and Verdite Green wonder crystals. The one on the right was embossed with Imperial Blue, one of the limited edition colours.

 I got some pinch bails from a bead store and used ribbon to hang them from

I've already had orders for several, but I'm not sure how much to sell them for. The one above has been most popular so far. Hoping the shells I collected on holiday last until I go to the beach again!
A word of warning, be careful if you make them yourself. Heated shells take a very long time to cool down, and you can easily burn yourself on the shell or the melted crystals...You don't want to know about the mess I made when I dropped one because it was too hot!
You can see more that I made for the shows here on the Be Creative Blog.
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day for September

Who stole September then?! Where did that go? I can't believe it will be October next week! Let me tell you about my cards for Rudolf day this month. I fell in love with the latest tree stamps from Inkylicious and had to have them before Stamp Magic. As soon as they arrived I whipped them out of the packets and set to work. My first card uses the set Midnight trees A7 with fence posts, A moon stencil and memento inks. I made the shadows of the trees by swishing a damp paint brush below the stamped image. The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards

My second card is a digi stamp (not sure if it is still online, but it was a freebie from Cuddly Buddly). I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers and mounted using coordinating scraps. I used snippets on both cards so as well as Scrappy Mo's Rudolf days I will take these to Miss Di's snippet playground too.
I do want to apologise for not getting round to visiting your blogs as much as I would like. This term is very busy so far, but I am hoping it will calm down soon. I have a lovely class of 31 5 year olds, but it is very tiring. Thanks so much for your lovely comments. I hope to catch up soon!
Thanks for looking!

An Elephant Card

It's time for a card made with one of Dora's beautiful digis. This month her theme is elephants and she drew this gorgeous lifelike elephant! I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers and created the background in the oval with ink dusters. I stamped the base card with a very old stamp by Katy Widger from Rubber  Poet(I don't think you can get them any more). I used Kaleidacolor creole spice ink. This reminds me so much of the colourful fabrics I saw in Rwanda, so is an ideal backdrop for an African Elephant. You can find Dora's Digis here on her blog.
Thanks for looking!

A couple of cards for Campers

 First of all I would like to say a huge welcome to my new followers, Tex, Debby L, Pat and Valerija. Great to have you here and thanks so much for following! Next onto my cards...

When it was my friend, Lesley's birthday, I knew straight away which stamps I would use to make her card. She regularly goes camping and is also Forest Schools trained. I love taking her on school trips as she has so many wonderful ideas. Most of the stamps are from 'the Great Outdoors' set by Inky Doodles. The grasses are from Inkylicious. I used a combination of ink dusters, memento inks and be creative marker for the colouring. She loved it so much she asked me to make another for a friend she goes camping with. This one needed a deckchair, a dog and a camper van too...

The dog is a twinchie from Little Claire, but it was too big and so I stamped it onto shrink plastic coloured and shrank. I was well pleased that it was the perfect size for the deckchair at that! Additional leaf stamps are by Inkylicious on this one too.
 I have returned to work after the summer hols and Megan has taken her stuff to her new flat in Sheffield. She starts her second year as a student doctor next week. The house is feeling a little empty again, but we will be able to visit and have somewhere to sit down this year! Her flat last year was tiny! Hopefully I will be back soon with a few other projects that I have been working on.
Thanks for looking!

September at Stamping Sensations

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

********One for the Boys********

 I used a waterbrush and distress inks to colour the little scene above.  The image is called Harbour Scene and is a grey rubber cling mounted stamp from Hobby Art. I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle onto watercolour paper.  To colour it I used Walnut ink and Vintage photo Distress inks -  great for a sepia effect! The finishing touch is a few flat backed pearls coloured with an Alcohol marker. The sentiment is from Inkylicious and the tartan paper is from Craftwork Cards. 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.
Our sponsors this month are Stamp Addicts who have supplied a wonderful prize for us to offer to you - take a look.

                                 
 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!

Snippets, Rudolf days and a few photos

 I've been very good using up snippets this week. I made some Christmas cards with a stamp from Indigo Blu that fell into my basket and some Be creative embossing Crystals.

 Three very similar DL cards but none with a traditional feel

 This third one has a lot more contrast in real life, but I couldn't seem to capture it in a photo. The embossing Crystals are from the more recent Be Creative  sets. I used Winter Wonderland, Pistachio and Summer Berries. There are more lovely exciting colours coming next week on Hochanda on Wednesday 31st August.

My final card is a mixture of imagination crafts sparkle medium on  Kraft and a very old sentiment from Stamporium. I did some faux blanket stitch in Sakura Jade stardust pen around the sentiment.
Four this time makes up for the fact that I didn't get round to doing Rudolf days cards for July. I am entering these into August Rudolf days with Scrappy Mo and Miss Di's Snippet playground.
Finally here are a few more photos from our holiday in Wales. I've kept it to Butterflies, Birds and a rather handsome beetle this time.

 First we have small tortoiseshell on some Hemp Agrimony.

 Next is a common blue,

Followed by a Wall Brown,

 and a Gatekeeper,

 Anyone know their beetles? I love his turquoise sheen! 

Finally we have a Fritillary, possibly a Dark Green, but I can't be sure - they all look so alike! He had definitely been in the wars too.
If you are ever near a Pembrokeshire Falconry Display I highly recommend it! Here is a photo of Meg with a Harris Hawk and sporting her new short hair do, not that you can see it very well through the rain!

I'm finishing off with a photo of me, which I very rarely do, but my companion was so cute! He went by the name of Frodo and I really wanted to bring him home!

Thanks for looking and all your lovely comments. Back to work next week so I may be around a bit less.

Wild Roses

I've been having a little play with the Wild Rose 1 stamp from Inkylicious. I went traditional for my first card and coloured it much like the Sally Holmes rose in my garden.Here's a photo of it...

To colour the stamped image I used a waterbrush and Distress inks in dried marigold, squeezed lemonade, Victorian Velvet, Mowed lawn and crushed olive.
 I saw a fabulous colour combo of Distress inks on Pinterest so decided to experiment on a tag after stamping the rose in Versafine black. This was twisted citron, peacock feathers, salty ocean and blueprint sketch. After inking I used the waterbrush to go over the rose, blotting as I went. I was rather pleased with the results.

I am entering them into the Challenge at Allsorts where the theme is Fabulous florals. I used snippets for both so I am off to Miss Di's snippet playground. The tag and the peach paper have been in my snippets drawer for eons, lol! Do pop over to the playground and join in the fun!
Thanks for looking!

A taste of Pembrokeshire

We spent a couple of weeks in Pembrokeshire once I had finished at school. Meg came with us and we all enjoyed the fresh air and exercise! The first week we were near the North Pembrokeshire coast not far from Newport. We walked about 8 miles of the coastal path between Newport and Dinas Head.
Here are a few photos...

As you can see it was a beautiful day!
Our second week was on the Marloes peninsula and we had fairly good weather for most of the week.  Here are some more views...

Hope you enjoyed dipping your toes in with me! I'll show you some more photos another day. Before I go, if any of you can help me with some Welsh pronunciation I'd appreciate it: the place name Eglwyswrw... it is the last three letters that are causing me puzzlement!
Thanks for looking!

A couple of Butterflies

I needed a couple of cards and the Bigz butterfly from Inkylicious had been on my desk for a few days waiting to be inked up, so here is the result. I ink dusted and stamped the backgrounds with Tiny Text onto Silk Art card. For the first card I used bundled sage and dried marigold. To colour the butterfly I used the same colours of Distress ink marker and also tumbled glass.

My second card used the spring set of distress inks (Peacock feathers, Shaded lilac and Squeezed lemonade). For both I used the Weathered Wood Distress marker to make a shadow around the edge of the butterfly, blending the edge with a water brush. Once it was dry I added a few highlights with a Sakura clear stardust and a glaze pen. All stamps and inks are from Inkylicious.
Can't believe my luck that the Challenge this week at Allsorts is Butterflies so I am entering them there! I also used snippets to mat and layer with so I am skipping off to the snippet playground with them, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the mention of empty bottles! I am just back from a break in south Wales, so I am bringing some Welsh cakes with me. I'll be back with photos to share very soon. 
Thanks for looking!

More cards with Large Fennel

 

When I made my card for Stamping Sensations I didn't just stop at one. I made three cards using the stamp. These two are less colourful than he first. The top one has a background of Memento Elderberry, Bahama Blue and Grape Jelly blended with ink dusters. Once it was totally dry I stamped the image in Elderberry and embossed using one of the chameleon embossing powders (Unicorn) from Be Creative.

My Second card was made in the same way but this time I used Rich Cocoa and Bahama Blue inks and stamped the image in Espresso Truffle. I used one of the small fennel stamps on this one too. I added three strips of the narrowest Be Creative wonder tape and brushed with coordinating mica powders.

Thanks for looking  and for all your lovely comments.

August Challenge at Stamping Sensations

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

********Anything goes********

 I used my ink dusters to create the background above.  The stamp is called Large Fennel and is from Woodware and the inks were Memento Dandelion, Bahama Blue and Lilac Posies, oh yes, and Tuxedo black of course! The finishing touch is a few spots of glue and some beautiful blue/black glitter on the seedheads. 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.
Our sponsors this month are Foil Play who have supplied a wonderful £35 voucher for us to offer to you.
 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!
Thanks for looking!