Creative in the Kitchen

Well, the mojo is still a bit lacking, so I've stopped looking at the craft table and made a few cakes. This first lot I made last week, and they are Peach and Basil Muffins. I know it sounds a bit odd, but the flavours work brilliantly together. It is a great way to use up those peaches and nectarines that go from solid to overripe in a few hours, too!

This weekend they look a bit less healthy. First up we have the Mocha Cupcake...

That is a mini chocolate finger on the top. Now I'm normally not thrilled by chocolate cake, but with the light coffee frosting I found them very tasty! I need to have another go at the frosting, as although it tasted great it looked a bit dodgy! Finally we have the apple and cinnamon cupcake...

This one has a lovely light golden sponge made with light brown sugar, cinnamon, and grated apples from our Bramley apple tree in the garden. It is topped with honey and cinnamon flavoured frosting.
I've finished off the afternoon by watching Barbara Gray, and I feel a few ideas coming on now! Hopefully I'll be back with a card or two before too long. Thanks for looking (Wish you could smell them too!)

Flowers and swirls at Allsorts

Well, I was wondering if I would make it this week! I am a bit lacking in the mojo department and didn't know what to do for this week's Allsorts, where the theme is flowers and swirls. Then I remembered a card that I made in the summer and didn't blog. Here it is:

I'm just hoping that embossed background is swirly enough! The sweet Pea stamp is an old one from Stampourium (no longer available, I'm afraid - about 14 years old!) I used distress inks to colour the sweet peas. The background is stamped with Hero Arts Antique flower background and the gold embossed leafy swirl is from Inkylicious. The flowers are a mini poinsettia die from Marrianne designs. They make a rather good clematis I think! Here is a close up of my crackle background.

Thanks for stopping by and your comments are much appreciated!  Hopefully I will find my mojo soon!

Green and Blue

Just a very quick post this evening. Thanks so much for all your well wishes for the new term! I have a lovely new class (if a little lively) who are very excited to be back at school. I am working with a wonderful TA too, who is very skilled and an asset to our classroom. Some sunshine at playtime wouldn't go amiss, but apart from that it's great!
The card is my entry for this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is Green and Blue. Stamps are from Hero Arts, Paper Artsy and Crafty individuals, and all inks are distress inks - bundled sage, pine needles and broken china. I used a spellbinders label die cut in half for the hinges. Have a great rest of the week, and I'll hopefully manage another post at the weekend.
Thanks for looking!

Quiet Reflection

This week seems to have raced by, with several trips into school and planning and prep very much in hand. We did manage a day out on Tuesday though, to Old Moor, an RSPB reserve in South Yorkshire. It was a mostly dry day, but the sun didn't show itself much. The dull day didn't lend itself to detailed photos of birds, but I enjoyed trying to capture a few reflections.

This young heron posed perfectly for us.

A tufted duck...

 clouds reflected in water...

and a great kingfisher perch with no kingfisher, but a couple of ducks in the background!

Finally there was a great crested grebe that was looking at us looking at him.
It was a very peaceful, restful and calming day. I hope to capture a little of this atmosphere in a card soon. Thanks for looking!

Freebie Fridays at Sir Stampalot!

Sir Stampalot are promoting a new weekly feature, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and will be sent via their email newsletter, so if you want to join in, you’ll need to sign up for the newsletter before end of day, today !

Follow  this link

Alternatively, you can go to the Sir Stampalot web site and sign up at the "Stay in Touch"  "Sign up to Smudges" link on the left hand side of the home page.

It's a frame up at Sir Stampalot!

Hi there! This morning sees the launch of the latest challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our lovely sponsors at Sir Stampalot have provided us with a wonderful prize this month, and here it is.

Gorgeous stash isn't it? 

Our theme this month is 'It's a frame up!' and we want to see a frame on your project - not just a border, but a frame 'feature'. Here is mine.

The papers are from My mind's eye - the Stella and Rose collection. The scalloped base card was stamped with Hero Arts old french writing and antique linen distress ink. The frame around the flower was cut using labels 18 , classic square and standard circle nesties. The flower is a magnolia stamp, coloured with promarkers and layered up to create a 3d image. 

I do hope you will join in this month. Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous makes from the DT. Thanks for looking!

Less is More - take three challenges

I had a session getting very inky last night and came up with two cards for this week's Less is More challenge. I selected the following three challenges:
Three Squares (Week 4)
Use ink (week 28) - I swiped distress ink across my craft mat and sprayed with Iridescent gold glimmer mist before laying my paper on top
Embossing (week 15) - I stamped in black and heat embossed in clear. I also dry embossed borders across both cards.

Both sets of squares came from the same sheet. The colours I used were Mustard seed, Worn lipstick, Broken china and Spiced marmalade. I had forgotten how vibrant these colours were, and had hardly used the worn lipstick and Spiced marmalade.
I haven't added a sentiment, because I will use them as and when. I suppose I didn't need to mat them onto the black metallic card, but it made it easier to get them straight that way. The squares on the stamp are not quite equal in size!
thanks for looking!

Photos from my holiday

Well, I've been back from holiday for 3 weeks and have realised I haven't shared many photos with you, so I'll do a quick post today and then maybe share some cards with you tomorrow.
Whilst in Suffolk we visited Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, and got up close to some beautiful birds of prey. There was the Red Kite...

and the Buzzard...

and so many owls!

Great Grey owls,

Eagle owls,

barn owls

and spectacled owls, that have the most beautiful soft hoot you could imagine. Thanks for looking!

Brayer or dusters?

I know there are lots of  people who prefer either dusters or brayers, but I have to say I love both and have no particular preference. I love the way I can create shafts of light in woodland using a brayer, like these two examples a la Barbara Gray, but inspired by Crafty Linby's cards here.

For the first I used the Clarity silver birch and 2 sizes of Birch leaves with big and juicy waterfall. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

For the second, I used the same stamps as above, but also added two Lavinia ferns. The ink was Adirondack Butterscotch, Lettuce, Meadow and Bottle. Both examples were done on Silk Art card.

However, I also love the versatility of Ink Dusters with which I find I can create softer landscapes and add patches of colour and shading. I've had another play with my ink dusters and 'flight of dreams' stamps from Inkylicious, using my Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad.

I am entering this card into this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is 'You've been Framed'.  

I've also had another go at a beach scene, this time trying for a more sunset/ evening feel - I don't know how successfully though!

 I used a mixture of Big and Juicy soothing sunset, Memento desert sand and rich cocoa, and a touch or two of walnut stain and dusty concord distress inks. I used the Seascape memories and essential grasses stamps (Inkylicious). I used white gel pen to add a few little highlights where the sun is catching the water. The lovely little shells on the base card are also from the seascape memories set, stamped in chalk ink and brilliance inks. I'm entering this card into the latest challenge at Stamping for the Weekend where the theme is holidays.

So, there is definitely room in my crafting world for both brayers and dusters. Thanks for looking!

A lovely day

Yesterday Meg and I went to another Blog Girl day at Sir Stampalot. We met some lovely new people like Nikki, Lynn, and Tracy and really got to grips with our brayers, led of course by the lovely Brenda. Here are a few of my cards.

It is always lovely to meet up and enjoy a bit of social crafting whilst developing those skills, and trying new things. Thanks for a fabulous day!

Less is More - one layer and ink

The challenge this week at Less is More is a one layer card using ink, preferably in a way that is new or different to usual. I've spent several days thinking about it, and finally came up with this:

I stamped and clear embossed the agapanthus cluster (Stampendous) and then 'swiped' memento ink in angel pink, lulu lavender and summer sky. I've not done much swiping before, and to be honest, that random edge of ink makes me feel just a little bit uncomfortable! I then ironed the image using a sheet of kitchen towel to remove the embossing and leave a batik effect image. Finally I added the sentiment (Inkylicious).
Thanks for looking!

A quiet Sunday

Well, I've been indulging myself a bit today, and this is the result.

The card was the first thing I made. I began by colouring a piece of card with a mixture of distress inks in mustard seed, dried marigold and spiced marmalade. I stamped the daisy (Inkylicious) onto the coloured card with versafine and then bleached the petals. I was quite please with how the petals were left with a hint of pink - much like real daisies. The background was created with my ink dusters and big and juicy soothing sunset, which I overstamped with a script stamp (Inkylicious) and the sentiment is from a set by Hobby Art called Scene-it sentiments. Here is a close up of the card.

I'm entering this into the Stampman challenge where the theme is Anything goes with summer colours.
Now here is a closer look at the box.

I covered a 21cm square piece of thin card with colour (Soothing sunset B&J) using my ink dusters and the script and a small daisy stamp all from Inkylicious. I followed Elaine's fabulous origami box tutorial. for the folding and then decorated the lid with the stamped daisy, this time masked whilst I used cut and dry with distress inks to make the background. I finished it off with icicle stickles on the centre of the daisy. I'm entering the box into the challenge at Allsorts where  the challenge is anything but a card and Stamptacular Sunday, where the challenge is Fancy folds (Hope my origami box fits the bill).

Finally I'm going to share with you a card that very nearly ended up in the bin.

There I was happily stamping the base card with the leaves (Inkylicious) when I dropped the inked stamp, which seemed to bounce about 4 times and leave marks and splodges all over! I walked away and left it for a while, as it was going so well up till then! I decided to use part of a die cut to cover it up in the end and thankfully it doesn't look too bad. The main image was one of those I created and painted whilst on holiday with Hobby Art stamps and aqua markers. Thanks for looking!