July 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 with a stamp and ribbons********

 I used my ink dusters to create the scene above.  All stamps are from Inkylicious and the inks were Memento Dandelion, Cantaloupe and Rosebud, oh yes, and Tuxedo black of course! The finishing touch is a luxurious black satin ribbon 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. 
Our sponsors this month are Crafty Ribbons who have supplied this wonderful prize 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. Also please say a big welcome to our new Teamie, Marlies. There are some stunning DT cards again this month! Hope you get the chance to join in and I'll look forward to seeing all your lovely creations!
Oh, yes, and if you aren't too busy today do try and catch one of the Be Creative shows on Hochanda - they have some great gadgets to help with all your crafting! 

Rudolf Day for June

June has flown by and now it is well into this month's Rudolf days. I am here with a couple of cards using the flourish Deer stamp from Inkylicious. The first uses the faux parchment technique and flitter glu and flakes from Indigi Blu for the deer

look at that sheen! These flakes are called chocolate box.

For my second card I sprayed my ink dusters with a little water and dragged across the silk art card to make the background. I then stamped the deer in Versafine Majestic Blue and embossed with Titania Wonder embossing powder from Be Creative.
Thanks for looking and don't forget to pop over to Scrappy Mo's for a look at the DT cards. Also I have follower candy on my home page if you want to pop your name down. Thanks!

Another of Dora's delightful digis

 It is my turn again to post a photo of a creation made with one of Dora's digis. I coloured it with Be Creative alcohol Markers and then die cut it. I wanted to make the dragonfly stand out so I covered the first one in glossy accents. I noticed some creases around the edges to tried to iron them out... did you know that glossy accents melts under heat?.. I ended up making a second card after cleaning the iron, lol. You can see the original on the digi shop, but I prefer the second ;)... take a look at the close up...

For this one I went over the dragonfly using a versamarker and then applied some of the new embossing powders from Be creative. This one was fairy wings. It took two coats to get the finish, but can you see that glitteriness? (Is that a real word, lol?) Perfect for insect wings as well as fairies!

Do take a look at Doortje-digis shop. You will find this and lots of other Digis there too! You could also pop over to the Once Upon a stamp website to get your hands on bargain Be creative alcohol markers (£60 for the whole set!!!). The wonder embossing powders are available from Hochanda and will be in OUAS's online store in due course.
Thanks for looking and I hope you have put your name in Mr Linky for my follower candy.

Some inky magic

I've managed an hour of Inkylicious inkiness! After finally catching up with Emma and Deby's shows on Hochanda, I took my inspiration from them and created a few cards this weekend. I should have been writing reports, but I needed my father's day cards and an anniversary card!

 This first one is for my Dad for Father's day. He is 87 and used to love walking in the Lakes. He still does a little walking when he can, but has been troubled by pain from his spondilitis recently.

 This is a 30th Anniversary card for our friends Jane and Mark (Parents of my God Daughter). They have border collies so I added the dog walkers (Hobby Art)

Finally I made another similar to the first, adding the lovely sentiment, one of the new ones I picked up from Stamp Magic at Doncaster Dome last weekend. All stamps and Ink dusters are available from Inkylicious
Sorry it is a brief visit. Meg has been home, gone back to Sheffield for her results (She has passed her first year comfortably!) and home again.
I need to sort out a photo of the stamps I bought for my blog candy and then I will post it. Thanks for looking!

June's challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our Theme is Feature a Creature and we are sponsored by Be Creative. Your creatures can be furry, have wings, have 6 legs, eight legs or no legs if you like! They can be real or mythological (Everyoneloves a unicorn, lol) - it really is up to you.
 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.
 For my card I used a Crafty individuals stamp, CI-225. I stamped the image on to silk art card with Archival ink and coloured with distress markers and a water brush.The background layer was stamped with Inkylicious old wood floor stamp and memento rich cocoa ink.  the backing papers come from the Be Creative Natures Portrait paper pad. The lacy border down the paper is also from Be Creative.
'What is the prize?' I hear you ask. You get a big stash of the new wonder crystals and embossing powders, in fact some brand new colours that Justin and Gordon have been busy creating! Take a look on the Hochanda Website and Once Upon a Stamp's Website for Be Creative goodies.
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!
As this post goes live I am off to Doncaster Dome for Stamp Magic and a chance to spend some birthday money! Sadly I am going alone as Lynne hasn't been able to come down due to a nasty virus. I have her shopping list though, and  I am also going to select some blog candy, because after all of Mr Blogger's shenanigans, I now have 300 followers again! Come back soon for more details. Hope your Sunday is a good one!
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf day for May and In the Pink

 It is time for another Rudolf Day over at Scrappy Mo's, and for this month I have gone with two digis. The first is a freebie I found online by Inger Harding. You can find it here. The papers are from my stash and the base card was stamped with a holly border stamp from Inkylicious in old paper distress ink.

 My second card is another digi, this time from Digistamp Boutique. The embossing folder is by Sheena Douglas and I used another snippet to make the bow and fake ribbon. Do pop over to Scrappy Mo's and take a look at the inspiration and lovely prize. As I have used snippets on both of these I'm taking them to Miss Di's Snippet playground, where there is more lovely inspiration for using up those snippets

When I saw the Challenge at Allsorts this week was 'in the pink' I had the perfect card for it. I am god mother to a lovely young lady who has pink hair from time to time! It is her birthday this week, and when I saw the digi from Lavinia it reminded me of her so much! Take a look and see for yourself!
All of the digis in my post are coloured with Be Creative Markers and a range of glitter glue and liquid pearls. The papers on the pink card are from PDA, and the bright pink ribbon was a gift from a friend.
I hope the bank holiday weekend brings you good weather and the opportunity to do what you love. Hoping to do some serious gardening myself.
Thanks for looking!

A taste of Africa

After seeing Emma and Deby of Inkylicious on Hochanda last week, I got my ink dusters out to have a play, and decided to use the Serengeti sets of stamps.

I used memento inks and a mountain valley stencil to create the scenes. For the second one I put a few dots of clear stardust sakura pen for stars in the sky. I used white gel pen to highlight the stamped images.

I'm entering this second one into the current challenge at Allsorts, where the theme is Happy Birthday.

I used the off-cuts from the first card to make my last card, and think it might be the best of the lot! Definitely as far as the white pen goes! I am taking my Elephants to the snippet playground as I used snippets. Don't let the elephants near the hooch, Sarn!!!!
Thanks for looking!

A New Design Team

I am delighted to tell you that I have joined my lovely friend Dora's DT for her digi blog, Doortje-digis shop. I used Dora's beautiful Rosebay Willowherb in the foreground, coloured with Be Creative alcohol Markers. Behind I created a little scene of hills and mountains behind using inks, ink dusters and stamps from Inkylicious. I used tartan papers from Craftwortk Cards and some ribbon from my stash.
Do take a look at the digi shop. There are lots of beautiful digis there.
Thanks for looking!

A card, a walk and a milestone!

 I hope you are all well and enjoying the warm weather! I can't believe the difference from a week ago! I am sharing a card I made using an indigo blu stamp and distress inks in fossilised amber and abandoned coral. I am taking this to Miss Di's playground, as I every bit of card I used except the base card was snippets. The stamp was one of four bought for me by a good friend for my (50th shhhh!) birthday last week. We started the celebrations last weekend with a lovely walk around Langsett Reservoir...

 and ended up as Banks End Cafe for lunch and a pudding (Jam roly poly and custard was just the ticket, lol)! At the time there was still snow on the hills and we wrapped up warm. Don't you just love their polka dot wall?

 My celebrations continued with a visit to a craft shop, another tea room and my Karate grading this weekend. I may be doing a pretty good impression of a beetroot, but I was awarded my first Kyu (brown belt with two black tags). The next time I grade it will be for black belt. I also got a lovely surprise as Meg and her boyfriend, Grant came down from Sheffield to support me. Here I am below with Sensei Alex, Meg and Sensei Richard

 The guy on the left here is Sensei Karl, who is the Area Sensei, and Sensei Richard is from my Dojo. I think they find the height difference amusing too! Everyone here has played a huge part in my karate journey and I really appreciate their help and support over the years.

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Same stamp and die, different looks

A couple of weeks back I had a lovely parcel arrive from Justin and Gordon at Be Creative. It had the new wonder crystals (embossing crystals) in it and I just didn't have time to play! I managed some time last week and this is what I came up with.
The scene behind the trees was created using inkylicious stamps and ink dusters. I then cut the tree die from a wonder sheet. I peeled one side of the wonder sheet off and covered it in the crystals before heating. Once melted the crystals are so flexible. I then peeled off the backing and applied over the scene.  I wouldn't have thought of doing it that way round but it worked a treat and meant no buckled card from the heat underneath! The base card was covered in Be creative paper from the Nature's portrait pad. I rather liked this, so decided to have a go with a different colour scheme.

For this one I stamped the base card with leaves. I think this colour for the silver birches might work a bit better over a dark blue or purple scene.
Then I tried purples and peaches...

 The papers behind this one are from an Artylicious CD from Chocolate Baroque. The small leaves are a Joycraft die and have been rubbed over with gilding wax.
The crystals are lovely to use and with all of these gave a great coverage with one sprinkling. You won't need to triple emboss with them. Double embossing will be thick enough.
I am still experimenting, and will try to show you more soon. Look out for the crystals on the Hochanda website and at shows. More colours will also be available soon.
Thanks for looking!

May Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our Theme is Anything goes, so a nice easy one for you and we are sponsored by Crafty Individuals. 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. For my card I used two Crafty individuals stamps, CI-430 and CI-387. The background was stamped in Stormy sky and dried marigold DI. I stamped the main image on to silk art card with Archival ink and coloured with distress markers and a water brush.

Crafty Individuals is an exciting web based venture into the creative world of crafts and altered art products and produce an eclectic range of unique and top quality art rubber stamps, cutting dies, masks/stencils and paper craft products. One very lucky winner will win a £35 voucher to spend in their store.
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 this month! With a theme like anything goes, it would be rude not to join in, lol, so I'll look forward to seeing all your lovely creations! 
I'm entering my card into the Crafty Individuals blog challenge too, where the theme is anything goes as long as you use one Crafty Individuals product .
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf day for April

Happy Rudolf day! I managed to make two cards this month! Both cards used stamps from Inkylicious. The first using a white tag and card, inked with Memento Paris Dusk. I covered the base card in panels embossed with a Sheena embossing folder.

My second card used the faux vellum technique, dusting white ink onto craft card. The edging thistle is a hobby art stamp from the Highland cattle set and I added a tartan ribbon to continue the Scottish theme.
Do pop over to Scrappy Mo's blog and take a look at the wonderful Christmas cards there! Thanks for looking and for all your wonderful comments. Hopefully I will manage some time in blogland this weekend. I am giving myself some me time :-D