Autumn at Tuesday Taggers

Good Morning and yes, it's Tuesday again!

Here is my card for this week's Tuesday Taggers where the theme is Autumn, chosen by my lovely teamie, Teri. A while ago I made some chipboard tiles with Brilliance mineral, clear UTEE and some chalk inks. after stamping into the UTEE I put another layer of clear powder over and heated again. The leaf stamp is a Judikins cube. The miniature tags on the left were from Stampourium (no longer available) and the leaf shapes on the brown panel were made using punches and pearlescent powders. Do pop over to Tuesday Taggers and have a look at some of the amazing projects our DT have created.Also we have aprize of a £15 voucher from the wonderful Craft Barn up for grabs, so I hope you can join us!

My second card is another using the judikins cube and chalk inks. this time more simply with just a little clear embossing powder. I mounted the mini tags on some coloured wire and sticky pads this time. The cream base card has just a few leaves sponged on with brilliance ink using a punched stencil. As this is fairly clean and simple I decided I would enter it into this weeks Allsorts challenge where the theme is ...Plain and simple! They are being sponsored this week by 'One stop card crafts' and the DT have produced some amazing cards.
Thank you so much for dropping by. I really appreciate your comments. I only wish there were a few more hours in the day so I could blog more regularly and visit you all!

Tuesday Taggers - Anything goes!

Good morning! This week at Tuesday Taggers our theme is 'it takes all sorts', chosen by the lovely Emma. I made this a couple of weeks ago and didn't use it for it's intended purpose, so I thought I would blog it now.

The main image is one of our lovely Teri's delicious doodles, coloured in promarkers. I coloured around it with antique linen distress ink and stamped in the same ink with Hero arts old French writing. The edges of the papers were distressed and inked with walnut stain. The little butterfly was stamped on to shrink plastic and coloured with pencil crayons. The papers are MME and the pearls and lace are from my stash. Pop over to the TT blog to see some fabby inspirational work from our lovely DT. You can also find out about our new sponsor, Ribbon Oasis too!

Three Challenges - a bit of a record for me!

This is my entry for this week's Allsorts challenge, where the theme is 3 or more punches, this month's Penny Black at Allsorts, where the theme is punches and this fortnight's Stampman challenge, where the theme is 'distress'.
I used Penny Black letters and flowers for the main image and paisley swirls for the backgrounds. I stamped and distressed with stormy sky, antique linen and walnut ink distress inks. I am loving this colour combo at the moment. The punches I used (3 different leaves and the little flowers) were from woodware and x-cut. My big flower was made using shapeabilities flower creations 3 held together with three brads. I creased and sprayed the petals before I assembled them with a combination of starburst stains and creative colour sprays. Here is a close up of the flower...

 The Sponsor at Allsorts this week is Stamp Addicts, and of course the Stampman have a wonderful voucher on offer for their winner and Penny Black have some fabulous stamps available for their winners.
Thanks for looking!

Lovely trees

When I saw Glenda's new stamp sheet from Elusive Images I couldn't resist. I'm sure I've said before that I'm addicted to trees and the new essence of nature sheet has plenty! This is the first stamp I cut out and used. I brayered a background with Big and Juicy spice, masking the moon. I removed the mask and sponged Adirondack butterscotch lightly across the moon. matted on to black paper I mounted it on to a plain white card stamped with the sentiment (Personal impressions).

This is the blue version, brayered with big and juicy waterfall. They are very very simple, but I think in this case less is more. I've spent today doing lots of stuff for work and jobs at home, so hopefully I should manage some play time tomorrow. Thanks for looking and I hope you are having a great weekend!

Diamonds are forever at Tuesday Taggers

Good morning! This week at Tuesday Taggers our theme is Diamonds are forever, picked by the lovely Pat. After a brief mojo-less moment involving me thinking about lots of bling, I finally came up with this.
Not sure what this fold is called, and I bodged it a bit, but a bit of matting and layering covered up the problem!
The backing paper is from my Artylicious Essence of Nature cd, the stamp (Stamp to your Art's Content) is stamped in versamark and covered in blonde moment's pearl pigments. The gorgoeus little leaf die is by Joy Crafts. My desk looks like miniature Autumn, lol!

Here's a photo of it stood on the table - sorry it looks a bit wonky! Pop over to Tuesday Taggers and see the fab DT projects. We would love you to join us this week with your interpretation of diamonds.
The theme this week at Allsorts is Colours of Autumn, so I'm entering it there too.Thanks for looking!
P.S. I thought I would give you a quick update on why I've not been around in blog land so much. On Friday it was the funeral of my dear friend Julie, who passed away  two weeks ago. As well as 'being there' for her hubby and 13 year old daughter, I'm trying to do what I can to help out. Did you know that if your wife dies and the Child Benefit was in her name they stop it and you have to reapply on a seven page form? What idiotic bureaucracy is that? As if the poor guy isn't suffering enough. Sorry, but I needed a rant!

Books galore at Tuesday Taggers

When our lovely Teamie Michelle chose the theme of Books at Tuesday Taggers I knew exactly what I was going to do. For several years I've had the Garden Fantasy sheet of Non Sequitur stamps, and there is a girl on it that always reminds me of the ghost of Cathy from Wuthering Heights. I got out my stamps, my brayer, a big and juicy pad (Hydrangea) et Voila!

The tree stamp is one I picked up from Encaustic art plus at Elsecar heritage centre. With clear embossing the outline of the girl the brayered ink wouldn't go right to the edge, but I think it makes her look quite ghostly. I finished it off with a quote.
Thanks for looking and I do hope you can pop over to Tuesday Taggers and join in the fun. Whilst you are there check out the amazing examples for our fabby DT!

All Distressed at Sir Stampalot

Good morning. It is the first of September and that means it is time for another challenge at Sir Stampalot. The theme this month is All Distressed, and I did get rather inky and messy creating this one! My background papers are MME and Cappella, distressed around the edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool and my scorebug, and of course lots of Walnut stain DI. The script (Hero arts old french writing) was stamped in Tumbled glass DI and the ornate corner (Elusive images) was stamped in Walnut stain DI. The border was made with a Martha Stewart Doily lace punch. My central flower was made using 3 layers of each of 3 shapabilities dies (Flower creations 3) the flourishes are a Marianne Designs die, and the roses and small flowers are woodware and x-cut punches with a few gems.Here is a close-up.

Now on to the prize. Take a look at these lovely goodies.

Fabulous prize, eh? So, if you want to be in with a chance to win this lovely lot, put your thinking caps on a pop over to the Sir Stampalot challenge. There are lots of fab projects this month by my wonderfully talented teamies.

Houses at Tuesday Taggers

The theme at Tuesday Taggers this week is houses and we are sponsored by the Craft barn. The paper is from my Mind's eye, the stamp was borrowed from a friend, and I forgot to write down the make. The flower was made from shapabilities flower creations 3, coloured with moonglow sprays. Thanks for looking. Do pop over to the TT site for lots of inspiration.
I just wanted to say thank you for all your words of support at this time. It is appreciated.

An angel called Julie

 

This is my dear friend Julie. She passed away this afternoon at the age of 46 after losing her battle with cancer. She leaves a husband and a 13 year old daughter. We have been friends since we went to antenatal class together and our daughters are best friends too. You couldn't wish for a kinder more selfless friend. She will be missed by so many. Rest in peace my friend.

Music for a man

Here is my entry for the Stamp Man's 4th challenge, where the theme is musical. I am also entering it into the last ever Rosie D's challenge where the theme is 'for a man'.
I started off with a sheet of white card, colouring it with Broken china and Dusty Concord distress inks applied with a shaving brush. I stamped music (Stampourium), notes (Aspects of design) and swirl (Paper artsy) in Weathered wood over the background then sprayed it with hydrangea blue and lucky shamrock green starburst stains. I stamped the notes again in Chipped sapphire DI, before stamping the Guitar (Aspects of Design) in Versamark and embossing with detail white EP. The background card was staped with versafine and brayered with big and juicy Waterfall (blue end) and soothing sunset (Purple end). I added a couple of ribbons and mounted onto a white square card. Here is a close-up where I tried to capture the sparkle from the Starburst Stains.

I also get to display this for using Aspects of design stamps!
Thanks for looking, and I hope you get some sunshine today!

Allsorts Challenge - inspired by a garden or park

When I got back from holiday I decided to treat myself to a couple of cute stamps from Sugar Nellie. I saw this one used on a card in a recent challenge and instantly fell in love with it. It's called Searching by Kathy Hare. I'd stamped it in Versafine sepia and watercoloured the image with distress inks. When I saw the Allsorts challenge this morning I thought it would be perfect! Their sponsors this week are one stop cardcrafts. I teamed it up with some very old papers from my stash - a Bitty Scrap pad called windswept from provocraft. I just love the blues and greens on this pad. they go so well with the distress ink colours.

My easel card was finished with punched flowers, some rainbow drops (Crafty Notions) die cut flourishes (Marianne designs) and some sticky ribbon.
Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

Woo hoo and Karate!

You'll never guess what! the card I made for the Stampman Challenge for easel cards got me a top five place! Here is the card:

If you want to know how I made it my original post is here.

  Thank you so much Jill and teamies. I really appreciate it and feel very honoured! I will sport my blinkie with pride!


I also want to share with you that I was Student of the week at Karate this week for excellent kicks! I was incredibly surprised as I always feel I am not very good at kicking. I think it is something to do with my short stature and equally short legs! Anyway, Sensai was impressed and I'm chuffed to bits. I wasn't even cross with anyone, lol!
Off to have a hop around a few blogs now. Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your evening!