Northern Lights

I've spent many an inky hour trying to recreate the Aurora Borealis using brushos like watercolours on watercolour card. All stamps from Inkylicious and dots of white posca pen for stars. 

This round easel card was for Lynne's birthday (Creative Lynks) who gets to see the phenomena occasionally from where she lives. Short and sweet today and I will be back on sunday for the next Stamping Sensations challenge

March Rudolf Day

Hi there! It is time for another Rudolf Day over at Scrappy Mo's. This month, like last month, I have two Kraft offerings for you...

 My first uses stencils and stamps from Inkylicious on the main panel with additional snowflakes on the base card from Hobby Art. Some were stamped in white ink and some in Brilliance gold. Here is a close up...

 My second is a digi from Teri Sherman (Delicious Doodles Etsy shop), printed onto Kraft paper and coloured with watercolour pencils. I thought I'd made a bit of a mess on the lettering, but managed to rescue it with a white posca pen and some random dots 😀

Thanks for looking and do pop over to Mo's blog  - there is some lovely inspiration on show!

Feathered Friends

 At half term I was able to sit and watch a Crafty Individuals show on Hochanda and as always, I was inspired by Jean to make some cards with the stamps on the show I already had, whilst waiting for the ones I ordered to arrive! Here is the result...

 The first card has a Distress oxide background stamped with another Crafty Individuals stamp. The background behind the bird stamp was made with spectrum noir sparkle pens. One of the sparkly sequins is hiding a little smudge very effectively!

The second card's background was made using clingfilm, which was sprayed with ink sprays before placing a piece of silk art card into it. the cling film was wrapped around the edge and then the card was turned over to ensure coverage and a good arangement of creases. It was then left to dry. Again the bird was stamped with versafine clair over a spectrum noir sparkle background.  As this week's challenge at Allsorts is 'Feathered Friends', it would be rude not to enter, lol, so I'm taking these along to play. I was delighted to find I had been picked for the top 5 for my rainbow tree entry last week. Many Thanks to the DT!
I have since received the stamps I ordered from Crafty Individuals, so will share the cards I have made with them soon. Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Mid month inspiration for March Stamping Sensations Challenge

Here is my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is Somewhere over the Rainbow. For the first card I used the Inkylicious XL splatter circle and inked up with distress oxides. I also used the same inks and stamped the base card with Inkylicious worn paint background stamp. Both had a spritz of water before stamping. Once the splatter circle was dry I stamped Woodware 'Going to Seed' in Versafine Clair. I have added a few bits of sparkle with a gelly Roll clear stardust pen, but you can't see it here.

You still have plenty of time to enter the challenge, so do pop over to the challenge blog for more inspiration. Don't forget to check your entry against the challenge rules!
Thanks for looking!

My Favourite Stamp...or is it?

The Challenge over at Allsorts this week is to use your favourite stamp... now that is a tricky one! I've ummed and ahhed  and thought about hares (my latest favourites), moons, leaves and trees, and finally came up with this tree from Inkylicious. The splatter circle is also a stamp and a very useful one too.

I stamped the Inkylicious splatter circle with second generation oxide ink in candied apple, fossilised amber, cracked pistachio, tumbled glass and wilted violet, sprayed with water. Once dry I stamped the inkylicious tree with versafine clair in Morning mist, grounded it with a little sponging and added buds with gold and green liquid pearls. The base card was sponged with the same distress oxide inks through an inkylicious stencil. You will be able to see the first generation stamping of the splatter circle on my mid month card for stamping Sensations Rainbow themed challenge, tomorrow.
A close contender for favourite stamp has to be one of my new purchases from Pink Ink designs. Here is my first inking of the lovely Meadow Hare.

 I stamped him onto a piece of watercolour card left over from another project and coloured him with Zig clean colour markers. I cut him out then stamped his tail again onto a snippet of white card, cut out and stuck in place with 3d glue gel. I did the same with the butterfly wings. I then stamped it once more onto a piece of smooth white card dusted with wilted violet, peacock feathers and citrus zest distress ink using a moon stencil. I coloured with the same pens and added dots of liquid pearls and glitter glue to the hare and the background. These stamps are such a joy to work with! I am taking this card to a couple of challenges. There is Cardz 4 Galz where the theme is March Hares or Rabbits and Miss Di's Snippet playground.

    Thanks for looking!

A card and some news

Hi there
Thought I would share a card I made a couple of weeks ago with you. It is very plain and simple. The teasel is a woodware stamp and the sentiment is from Bee Crafty and I LOVE it. I did the background with brushos. As the hexagons were cut from snippets I am popping over to the snippet playground. Sorry I have been absent for so long Miss Di! Onto my news...
  This summer marks thirty years since I became a teacher. Round numbers are good aren't they? I have decided that thirty is enough and it is time to stop being envious of my lovely hubby and time to join him in retirement.  I am looking forward to more baking, more walking, more card making, more blogging and more karate. I am also looking forward to watching TV instead of marking, being able to go to the loo when I need to and drinking more water (those last two are linked lol).  I might not be able to afford as many stamps as I can now but I will have the time to use what I have already got. Hoping to get a few more magazine commissions to get some spending money and maybe some DT work too. What I do know is that I will be happier, less stressed and not constantly guilty when I have 'me time'.
 Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments

March at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for our March challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

****Somewhere over the Rainbow****

As the title suggest we would love to see your hand stamped creations that reflect that song or the colours of a rainbow. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs.

My first card this month features gorgeous teasel stamps from Woodware. I created the background with Distress Oxide Inks on to a craft mat, spritzing with water, then laying over a piece of watercolour card. Once it was dry, I stamped with Versafine Clair in Nocturne.The sentiment is from Crafty Individuals, and is much straighter IRL than it appears in this photo!

 My second card was a respray and second 'dip' onto the same craft mat. I stamped the gorgeous Pink Ink Design hare onto the background once dry, along with the grasses and teasels from the same set. I stamped it a second time onto some smooth white card, cutting out and matting into place with a little 3d glue just under the ears. I am very impressed with the quality of these gorgeous stamps and I definitely need more!
Our prize this month is a selection of fabulous dies, which you can find more details of on the challenge blog.

Please ensure you check our challenge rules before entering, it may save you embarrassment and make sure your entry receives comments from the team and is entered into the prize draw. We run our challenge for fun in our spare time. It is your responsibility if entering to make sure you check our challenge rules. It is not our responsibility to read your posts and remind you if you fail to comply. If you do not follow the rules we will simply ignore your entry.

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the gorgeous designs from all my talented teamies! They really have made some beautiful rainbow cards this month! 

Thanks for looking!

February Rudolf day

It is time for February Rudolf Days! Here are two very similar cards, inspired by one I received from Deby and Emma at Inkylicious. All stamps and Inks are from Inkylicious. Take a closer look...

I spattered with my paint marrker and a spray bottle with diluted blue starlights paint, so they are quite sparkly!

I coloured the scarves with some paint markers I've had for a very very long time! Amazing what you uncover when you have a good tidy!

Thanks for looking and do pop over to Mo's blog if you can xxx

Hares

Here are some cards I have made using Hobby Art Lino Cut Hares stamp set, designed by Janie Burnett-Bleach. I used Izinks and memento inks to dust the backgrounds onto silk art card, before  stamping with memento ink. 

The moons were stamped in versamagic ink and dusted with mica powders, which was then sealed with hairspray.

I love these stamps and the cards were so quick to make. I have a funny feeling that I may have a bit of an addiction to hare stamps, lol. Just bought another two sets this week, when I already own 4 other sets! At least it isn't as bad as my tree addition!
Thanks for looking!

Mid Month inspiration for Stamping Sensations February Challenge

Here is my mid-month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is All things Bright and BEAUtiful. I made another background with Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens and stamped the Ground Elder in Versafine Clair Nocturne. The fern leaves are stamped in Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac and Spun Sugar. You can find all of the BEAUtanical Stamps on the Bee Crafty website here.
You still have plenty of time to enter the challenge, so do pop over to the challenge blog for more inspiration. Do check your hand-stamped entry fits our rules, please!
Thanks for looking!

A few birds in the Garden

Hi There
I've been a bit quiet but it's half term this week so I am going to be a frequent visitor to blog land this week! Thought I would share some photos of the birds visiting our bird feeders at the moment. Spring seems to be in the air and the blackbirds are busy chasing off their rivals. Mrs Blackcap has made an appearance - the first female we have seen here, so hoping we will get youngsters this year. Here she is with her brown cap.

There has also been a little flock of long-tailed tits. They are such beautiful birds!

Thanks for looking and I will be back tomorrow with some mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations.

February at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

****All things Bright and BEAUtiful****

As the title suggest we would love to see your hand stamped creations that reflect that hymn or celebrate the beautiful wonders of nature. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs.

My Card this month features gorgeous tree stamps from our lovely sponsors,  Bee Crafty. I created the background with spectrum noir sparkle pens first, then once it was dry, stamped with Versafine Clair in Nocturne and Morning Mist. A few dots of silver pen and a sponged hill or two finished the picture. The sparkle is fab but very hard to see in photos! The base card was stamped with another stamp from the set in Distress inks in Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac. I think this has to be my favourite sentiment at the moment - so true! 

Please ensure you check our challenge rules before entering, it may save you embarrassment and make sure your entry receives comments from the team and is entered into the prize draw: We run our challenge for fun in our spare time. It is your responsibility if entering to make sure you check our challenge rules, it is not our responsibility to read your posts and remind you if you fail to comply. If you do not follow the rules we will simply ignore your entry

As I mentioned above our sponsor is Bev from Bee Crafty. She is offering the lucky winner £25 worth of gorgeous goodies from the Bee Crafty store! There are gorgeous stamps, stencils, inks and all sorts of other goodies just waiting to fall into your basket!

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the gorgeous designs from all my talented teamies! They really have made some outstanding cards this month! 

Thanks for looking!