February at Stamping Sensations

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. For February we have a nice easy theme for you :

********Anything Goes********

 It doesn't get much simpler than that does it? Our sponsors this month are the wonderful team from Little Claire. As always you can enter up to three different pieces of artwork and combine with other challenges.

Here is my card

I created the background with my Inkylicious ink dusters and mountain and valley stencil, then stamped the Little Claire silhouette meadow girl stamp in black over the top. 

'What is the prize this month?' I hear you ask. Well, if you win you get to spend £35 in the shop at Little Claire.

-What a great prize, eh?

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see all the fab projects from the DT and then you can follow the links to see how they made them. I am looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful projects this month. 

Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day at Scrappy Mo's

It is 25th of January and time for the first Rudolf day of 2015. I had printed out a whole load of Christmas birds from Nicecrane designs and hadn't used them before Christmas, so I set to making some into cards for Rudolf day. It seemed particularly apt as it was the RSPBs big garden birdwatch this weekend.

I used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder that was also in the sale at The Range, a sentiment from Inkylicious and snippets of coloured card and ribbon from my stash. I used my ink dusters to add a tiny bit of colour to the dry embossing and all of the dies are from Spellbinders. the border on the robin card was made using a Martha Stewart punch. Oh yes, and oodles of stickles!
Do pop over to Scrappy Mo's and join in the fun for Rudolf day. I am also taking these along to Miss Di's Snippet Playground as I have used up some snippets too. I'd like to say a big thank you to Di, as she is posting my gorgeous prize of some wonderful stamps as I type this. I was lucky to win at the playground last week, despite some 'horsing around' lol!

Thanks for looking!

Some snippet makes

Here are a couple of cards that I made from snippets. The first is a small card, using a snippet of cotton braid and leaves (Inky Doodles) stamped on snippets of white card and coloured with promarkers. I picked up the embossing folder in the Range sale for £3.00 I think - a bargain!

My second card used all snippets apart from the base card. The dylusions sprayed paper was left over from a crafty individuals card I made last year, and the snippets of black may well have been there for decades, lol! I added stickles to the top of the chloe stem die cut (Memory box). Unusually for me there is no stamping on this one, although a sentiment could be added as needed.
I am off to see Miss Di in the snippets playground for a huddle round the stove with the girls. It is way too cold and slippy to skip, and I am not chancing the slide in case of frostbite in the derrière!
Hope you are all keeping warm and dry. Thanks for looking!

Creative Stamping Magazine

 If you haven't got your copy of Creative Stamping magazine yet, here are two of the cards I made using ink dusters and the free cover stamps. They really are a very useful set of stamps called 'New Beginnings'. I am also chuffed to bits to see that Laura the editor chose the card below as her favourite card in this month's issue! The magazine has lots of great inspiration for using the stamps too.

Now I have seen the inspiration from the other designers I am looking forward to another play with them. Please forgive me if my visits to blog land are a bit spasmodic at the moment. We are pulling out all the stops at work as we are due to have Ofsted soon. I will try and get round to visit you all next week hopefully.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Never before used stuff and very different for me!

I decided it was time to break out the brushos and have a play. Then I couldn't decide what stamps to use, until I remembered 'Banksy Girl Balloon' that Deby included for me in my last parcel from Inkylicious. If you would like this stamp, do ring and ask for it to be added to your order.

 I also used a freebie sentiment stamp from the Craft stamper, which I think was a visible image design, and looked like it would suit the style of the card. I used memento Luxe ink (available from Inkylicious) which is very black and perfect for stamping over bright colours.
This is such a different and unusual card for me, but I think I like it! I feel a little more confident with the brushos now and will have another play soon, hopefully.
For this card I used a snippet of black card for the  matting and layering. I also used a snippet of centura pearl which I used the back of with my brushos. I am off to play with the girls in the snippet playground and hoping the wind hasn't played havoc with the tree house. Maybe have a little sing with the playground choir too, if Miss Di doesn't mind. Hoping that Parsnip has got over his new year hangover too!
I am also taking this over to Darnell's NBUS (never before used schtuff) challenge, as all the stamps and the brushos have not been used before.

 

Thanks for looking!

Punches and Dies at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations- our first challenge of 2015 !

After all the seasonal festivities I hope you are all set for some crafting, and if Santa was kind with the crafty goodies what better opportunity than to give them their first outing with this months theme..........

********Dies and Punches********

With such a vast selection now available I don't think there are too many of us who don't have at least one or two in our crafty arsenal, so we hope lots of you will join us this month and get those dies and punches into action.

 I used a framelits iron work die that I picked up as a real bargain! The central panel was stamped with tiny text (Inkylicious) in tea dye distress inks. I then used flitterglu and Chocolate box mega flake(indigo Blu) on the flower(inkylicious). I used the same gilding flakes on a strip of double sided tape down the left hand side

Now onto the prize.We have the perfect prize of a great collection of Sizzix dies as well as a pretty collection of ribbons to add the finishing touch to your artwork.

 How cool is that? Looking forward to seeing all your fab entries! Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and see my teamies' wonderful creations!
Thanks for looking!

My Top 5 of 2014

Good morning! Still plenty of the crisp and even stuff here. Hope you are managing to stay warm. I am joining in again with Debby's Top 5  for the year. I had to go back through very carefully and had completely forgotten some! It was so hard! I think my choices are based on the reaction of the people who received them more than anything. Here goes then. My first card was inspired by a photo and stamped with Inkylicious stamps- the post about it (and the photo) is here.

 My second card was for a dear friend and colleague. Softy that I am, the sentiment on this card was so pertinent that I it made me cry. All stamps on this one are from Inkylicious and the original post is here

 My third card, using Inky Doodles stamps, was for another dear friend who loves foxes.

 My fourth card was the one I gave Steve for our Silver wedding Anniversary

 My fifth card was Steve's Birthday card

I couldn't just choose 5 though, so I have three runners up!

 First is Meg's birthday card using a mixture of Inkylicious and Crafty Individuals stamps. Find out more here. I was pretty pleased with the realistic shadows and waves breaking on the shore!

Next is one of the cards that I produced as a part of my third video tutorial

and finally a play with my dylusions, treasure gold, distress markers and Crafty individuals stamps which was a DT card for Stamping Sensations. More details here. Do pop over to Debby's blog and take a look at her lovely top 5 (+)!
Welcome to my latest followers Joey, Desire, Rita,Barbara and Viv. Sorry it has taken a while to welcome you! It is great to have you here. Thanks for looking and I will see you on Sunday for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations!

A bit of an adventure and my favourite 5 Christmas cards

Well, Boxing Day didn't finish the way we expected it to! It is the day we host family and cook our proper Christmas Dinner. We had a lovely day and were just enjoying our tea when Steve decided to check on the weather, only to discover that it was starting to snow. We quickly got both Dads organised and then set off to take them home. Steve's dad (now 94) was safely delivered home, but after a 3 hour 11 mile round trip we arrived back home with my dad still with us. Steve was a hero, pushing six cars up a hill with two other complete strangers so we could all get back home. It was a much improved picture this morning as you can see from the photo above and we did get Dad home safely and in time for his next medication. After a bit of slipping and sliding on our road we finally got home too. I think I will stay at home tomorrow!
I wanted to join in with Debby and share my favourite five Christmas cards with you for 2014. Several of these are getting their first airing today as I didn't get round to posting them before Christmas.
First is the card I made for Meg using all Inkylicious stamps.

My second was the card I made for Steve, using Inky Doodles stamps (including the background).

My third was my Dad's Christmas card, using Card-io stamps. When I saw this set I just had to buy it - love the bird feeders, tables and boxes.

 

My next card was made with Inkylicious stamps and a Chocolate Baroque sentiment

I am struggling to decide on my fifth card. It is another scene using the Inkylicious stamps, but I can't choose between these two:
The card I made for Lynne, using the thistle stamp to make a wreath...

 or Deer in the snow

some of these are quite similar and use the same colour inks and stickles etc, but I loved the variety I managed with just a few stamps.
Do pop over to Debby's blog and take a look at her favourites too.
Thanks for looking and stay warm xxx

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just a quick visit to blogland before I start baking. I wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas and say a huge thank you for all the wonderful support and comments you have left me this year. I can't put into words how much I appreciate them. I will be taking a short break, then I will be back before new year. Many many thanks xxx

A couple of cards and a little bit of News!

My first card is the one that I sent to Lynne this year. As it was heading to Scotland I used the Inkylicious thistle stamp, curved onto the acrylic block, to make the wreath. The stag (silhouette deer) and trees (create a scene - trees) are also from Inkylicious. These stamps are not on the website yet, but you can always ring Deby in the new year and ask for them. I will be making some less Christmassy cards with these stamps soon! Here is a close up of the snow effect acheived with a clear stardust gellyroll pen and a waterbrush.

 It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me with School Panto, parties, trips (58 children to see Santa and learn about Victorian Christmas traditions)  and Christmas fair, and I also have about 7 colleagues with birthdays in December!!! I needed a card quickly, so got out some favourite ink colours, ink dusters and some inkylicious stamps (Summer Morn) and made this.

The flowers are actually two shades of purple (memento grape jelly and Elderberry) rather than the brown they look in the photo. Even my daylight lamp doesn't seem to show the true colours.
On to my news. A couple of months ago I was contacted by the editor of Creative Stamping and Creative Card making magazines to see if I would complete some commissions for them. It fell perfectly during half term and so I said yes! My first set of cards will be featured in issue 22 of creative Stamping (on sale 16th January) and the second lot in issue 23 (on sale 27th February). I will show you a sneaky peek nearer the release date and a few of the cards I made.
Spare a thought for Santa this year. I witnessed children asking for a wand that does real magic and a real life unicorn, not to mention the real rainbow pony and a gerbil that can talk!!! Not a single child asked for anything electronic, and there were the very modest requests too, such as a snakes and ladders game, a pink teddy and some football socks. It was magical the way that Santa appeared on the roof of Beaumanor Hall in Leicestershire, and every child believed (and maybe one or two adults too, lol)!!!

Right, I am off to enjoy the first evening of my two week holiday.
Thanks for looking! 

Snippet Birthday Card

I made this card for a friend using lots of snippets. The leaves and framed parts were stamped onto snippets of white card before colouring with promarkers and cutting out. The pale green snippet at the bottom was run through my cuttlebug with a stencil and my no shims mat before dusting with crushed olive Distress ink and stamping with the tiny acorn in the same ink. the faux stitching was drawn with a distress marker. All stamps are from Inky Doodles using the Woodland Walk set. 
I am popping over to Miss Di's snippet playground with it, and hope Parsnip has something warming stashed in the tree house ;). I think I have finished the Christmas shopping apart from food, so I'm ready for a hot toddy x
Thanks for looking!

Winter Wonderland at Stamping Sensations

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our theme this month is Winter Wonderland - perfect for any last minute Christmas cards, or winter birthdays. I have made a couple of scenic cards - no surprise there, lol! This month we are being sponsored by Chloe's Creative cards. I have used their Starry wreath, embossed in holographic silver, as a frame for my little scene (Deer -Stampscapes, Tree- Making Tracks, Inc.). I used my ink dusters to make the sunset with Memento inks.
I used the same colours (Grape Jelly, Dandelion, Tangelo) to make the little scene below.

 All stamps except the sentiment are from Inkylicious for this one.

 Here is a different angle so you can see the glittery snow.
The prize is this lovely lot of stash and stamps!

 

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fabulous creations that the DT have made this month. There are so many beautiful creations! It has been a whirlwind weekend for us. Megan had her black belt grading yesterday. I am delighted to say she passed and here is a photo of her sporting her shiny new belt alongside two other successful students, Heidi and Stuart, who are also from GKR region 30.

Here is an action shot or two!

 

Our form of Karate practices minimum contact, so Megan didn't land a punch on this young man's chin, but it was definitely on target! I would be scared, lol! In a couple of hours we are off out to celebrate Steve's Dad's 94th birthday with some of the family.
Thanks for looking and I hope to pop over and see you soon!