Rudolf days for October

 Good morning! Happy Rudolf day! As it is half term I have been a busy bee and made four cards for this month to take over to Scrappy Mo's for the challenge. I started off by stamping the woodware holly stamp all over an A5 sheet of cartridge paper using versafine. I then used my Zig Clean Color markers to colour it. I dusted tea dye distress ink over the finished sheet and added glossy accents to the berries and spots of glitter glue in between.

 I sliced it up into two long panels and two square panels, matted and layered and popped onto cream card blanks. There are one or two smudges covered by carefully placed ribbon, and a dodgy stamping of a sentiment,but on the whole they worked out fine. I do like the zig pens (one of my purchases from Doncaster), they blend so well!

 Unfortnately I don't think the stamps are available any more. They came out about the same time as the tipsy trees, and I have used them most years since. I do love how Rudolf days challenge helps me to use lots of my old stamps too!

Right, I'd better go as Steve and I are off out for a walk. I have been quite inactive since we got back from Wales other than my Karate classes and a walk round Chatsworth. Will try and post some photos soon.
Thanks for looking!

Sparkle and Shine

 Good morning! Hope you are having a lovely weekend so far! When I saw the challenge at Allsorts this week I knew I had a card that fit the bill! I made this for my lovely colleague Sarah, who keeps me sane every day! I used Visible image and Inkylicious stamps, along with Distress inks in mermaid lagoon, picked raspberries and seedless preserves. I dusted the inks onto silk art card and used a stencil and a baby wipe to remove some colour in places. When it was dry I stamped the rain drops (Inkylicious) in memento black, adding a bit of sparkle with a gelly roll clear stardust pen. When it was dry I stamped the girl and the sentiment (visible Image) in Versamark and embossed with Be creative black sparkle embossing powder. It really was very sparkly, but unfortunately the camera hasn't really picked it up. It didn't help that there wasn't enough natural light either. Here is a close up where you can see a little bit of twinkle, but not half as much as there was in real life!

 I stamped the base card with Visible image stamps in the same inks and dusted with the same inks. The matting and layering was done with snippets so I am nipping off to Miss Di's snippet playground with this too.
We have just returned from a few days away in mid Wales. The rain certainly didn't dull Nature's sparkle. Here is the view from our cottage... Sheep rather than gold at the end of that rainbow!

 We spent a day at Lake Vyrnwy and saw more rainbows...

 There is some beautiful scenery around the lake and there are several waymarked RSPB walks giving stunning views of the lake.

 Here is a close-up of the tower on the lake. It may house various instruments to do with the reservoir's water, but whoever designed it make it look like something from a fairytale!

 The waterfall looked so beautiful surrounded by the Autumn colours and the sun provided beautiful spotlights as we walked.

Thanks for looking!

Clean and Simple and Doncaster

Lynne and I had a lovely time at Doncaster Dome on Sunday. It was lovely to chat with Deby from Inkylicious, Gordon from Be Creative, The lovely flower making ladies at Pink Frog and Jenny Mayes at Hobby Art. We spent a while watching Jenny demo the new Zig pens and had a go ourselves too before they fell into our baskets. We also met the lovely Zoe Sanderson on the Inkylicious stall. Zoe and I met a few years back at a workshop in Peterborough and we have been in touch in blog land ever since. Do pop over to Zoe's blog and take a look at her stunning creations. I am particularly in awe of her jewellery making skills and regularly drool over her necklaces and other creations. 

I haven't had chance to do much crafting in the run up to half term but hopefully will get round to doing a bit more in the next couple of weeks.

Here are a couple of very quick cards I made with the Woodware stamps called small fennel a few weeks back. I used memento and distress inks to dust and stamp with, along with an inkylicious text stamp for the background of the second. These are very simple five minute cards that were inspired by some samples I saw when visiting PDA Cards and Craft at Langley Mill.

As I used some snippets of brown card to mat the images I am taking these to the snippet playground to see Miss Di. I am so sorry I missed your 250th playground, Miss Di, but I am here for 251st!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments x

Another Digi from Dora

Here is my latest DT offering for Dora's Digis which are here on her blog. I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers and created the background in the panel with ink dusters.I added some stamped birds (Inkylicious) The background paper is from Craftwork Cards and the ribbon was in my stash. This reminded me so much of my visit to Rwanda where I walked with the Giraffes in the Akegera National Park.

 We got out of the minibus and walked towards the giraffes, and they walked towards us...
 Here is a photo I took.

Such beautiful creatures! Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations October Challenge

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

*****Autumn*****

  For those of you that know me you will know of my addiction to tree stamps, and the latest trees from Inkylicious were a must buy as soon as I saw them! They are called Midnight trees, and I used them with a range of Memento inks onto smooth stamping card.  The background tones were created with memento inks and ink dusters. 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.
Our sponsors this month are  Penny Black who have supplied a wonderful prize for us to offer to you - take a look.
                          

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! 

Mussel Shell pendants

 If you managed to catch the Be Creative shows on Hochanda at the end of August you may have seen my Mussel shell pendants. I used Be Creative wonder crystals then added some micro beads and charms (from PDA). To get the crystals to stick before heating you can use a be creative glue wand or a  versamarker. The one on the left was embossed with Turquenite and Verdite Green wonder crystals. The one on the right was embossed with Imperial Blue, one of the limited edition colours.

 I got some pinch bails from a bead store and used ribbon to hang them from

I've already had orders for several, but I'm not sure how much to sell them for. The one above has been most popular so far. Hoping the shells I collected on holiday last until I go to the beach again!
A word of warning, be careful if you make them yourself. Heated shells take a very long time to cool down, and you can easily burn yourself on the shell or the melted crystals...You don't want to know about the mess I made when I dropped one because it was too hot!
You can see more that I made for the shows here on the Be Creative Blog.
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day for September

Who stole September then?! Where did that go? I can't believe it will be October next week! Let me tell you about my cards for Rudolf day this month. I fell in love with the latest tree stamps from Inkylicious and had to have them before Stamp Magic. As soon as they arrived I whipped them out of the packets and set to work. My first card uses the set Midnight trees A7 with fence posts, A moon stencil and memento inks. I made the shadows of the trees by swishing a damp paint brush below the stamped image. The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards

My second card is a digi stamp (not sure if it is still online, but it was a freebie from Cuddly Buddly). I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers and mounted using coordinating scraps. I used snippets on both cards so as well as Scrappy Mo's Rudolf days I will take these to Miss Di's snippet playground too.
I do want to apologise for not getting round to visiting your blogs as much as I would like. This term is very busy so far, but I am hoping it will calm down soon. I have a lovely class of 31 5 year olds, but it is very tiring. Thanks so much for your lovely comments. I hope to catch up soon!
Thanks for looking!

An Elephant Card

It's time for a card made with one of Dora's beautiful digis. This month her theme is elephants and she drew this gorgeous lifelike elephant! I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers and created the background in the oval with ink dusters. I stamped the base card with a very old stamp by Katy Widger from Rubber  Poet(I don't think you can get them any more). I used Kaleidacolor creole spice ink. This reminds me so much of the colourful fabrics I saw in Rwanda, so is an ideal backdrop for an African Elephant. You can find Dora's Digis here on her blog.
Thanks for looking!

A couple of cards for Campers

 First of all I would like to say a huge welcome to my new followers, Tex, Debby L, Pat and Valerija. Great to have you here and thanks so much for following! Next onto my cards...

When it was my friend, Lesley's birthday, I knew straight away which stamps I would use to make her card. She regularly goes camping and is also Forest Schools trained. I love taking her on school trips as she has so many wonderful ideas. Most of the stamps are from 'the Great Outdoors' set by Inky Doodles. The grasses are from Inkylicious. I used a combination of ink dusters, memento inks and be creative marker for the colouring. She loved it so much she asked me to make another for a friend she goes camping with. This one needed a deckchair, a dog and a camper van too...

The dog is a twinchie from Little Claire, but it was too big and so I stamped it onto shrink plastic coloured and shrank. I was well pleased that it was the perfect size for the deckchair at that! Additional leaf stamps are by Inkylicious on this one too.
 I have returned to work after the summer hols and Megan has taken her stuff to her new flat in Sheffield. She starts her second year as a student doctor next week. The house is feeling a little empty again, but we will be able to visit and have somewhere to sit down this year! Her flat last year was tiny! Hopefully I will be back soon with a few other projects that I have been working on.
Thanks for looking!

September 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

********One for the Boys********

 I used a waterbrush and distress inks to colour the little scene above.  The image is called Harbour Scene and is a grey rubber cling mounted stamp from Hobby Art. I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle onto watercolour paper.  To colour it I used Walnut ink and Vintage photo Distress inks -  great for a sepia effect! The finishing touch is a few flat backed pearls coloured with an Alcohol marker. The sentiment is from Inkylicious and the tartan paper is from Craftwork Cards. 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.
Our sponsors this month are Stamp Addicts who have supplied a wonderful prize for us to offer to you - take a look.

                                 
 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!

Snippets, Rudolf days and a few photos

 I've been very good using up snippets this week. I made some Christmas cards with a stamp from Indigo Blu that fell into my basket and some Be creative embossing Crystals.

 Three very similar DL cards but none with a traditional feel

 This third one has a lot more contrast in real life, but I couldn't seem to capture it in a photo. The embossing Crystals are from the more recent Be Creative  sets. I used Winter Wonderland, Pistachio and Summer Berries. There are more lovely exciting colours coming next week on Hochanda on Wednesday 31st August.

My final card is a mixture of imagination crafts sparkle medium on  Kraft and a very old sentiment from Stamporium. I did some faux blanket stitch in Sakura Jade stardust pen around the sentiment.
Four this time makes up for the fact that I didn't get round to doing Rudolf days cards for July. I am entering these into August Rudolf days with Scrappy Mo and Miss Di's Snippet playground.
Finally here are a few more photos from our holiday in Wales. I've kept it to Butterflies, Birds and a rather handsome beetle this time.

 First we have small tortoiseshell on some Hemp Agrimony.

 Next is a common blue,

Followed by a Wall Brown,

 and a Gatekeeper,

 Anyone know their beetles? I love his turquoise sheen! 

Finally we have a Fritillary, possibly a Dark Green, but I can't be sure - they all look so alike! He had definitely been in the wars too.
If you are ever near a Pembrokeshire Falconry Display I highly recommend it! Here is a photo of Meg with a Harris Hawk and sporting her new short hair do, not that you can see it very well through the rain!

I'm finishing off with a photo of me, which I very rarely do, but my companion was so cute! He went by the name of Frodo and I really wanted to bring him home!

Thanks for looking and all your lovely comments. Back to work next week so I may be around a bit less.

Wild Roses

I've been having a little play with the Wild Rose 1 stamp from Inkylicious. I went traditional for my first card and coloured it much like the Sally Holmes rose in my garden.Here's a photo of it...

To colour the stamped image I used a waterbrush and Distress inks in dried marigold, squeezed lemonade, Victorian Velvet, Mowed lawn and crushed olive.
 I saw a fabulous colour combo of Distress inks on Pinterest so decided to experiment on a tag after stamping the rose in Versafine black. This was twisted citron, peacock feathers, salty ocean and blueprint sketch. After inking I used the waterbrush to go over the rose, blotting as I went. I was rather pleased with the results.

I am entering them into the Challenge at Allsorts where the theme is Fabulous florals. I used snippets for both so I am off to Miss Di's snippet playground. The tag and the peach paper have been in my snippets drawer for eons, lol! Do pop over to the playground and join in the fun!
Thanks for looking!