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!

Dora's Horses

Here is a card made with one of Dora's new Horse Digi stamps. You can find them on her blog here. I coloured it with promarkers and used that Inkylicious splatter stamp around the edges. The papers came from Canon Creative Park, although this exact colourway doesn't seem to be there now (Some similar ones though). Do pop over to Dora's blog and take a look at all her lovely digis as well as the DT's beautiful creations!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

January Rudolf Day (there isn't one)

I thought I would just pop on to mention to anyone that doesn't know that there will be no Rudolf day Challenge this month because Maureen is having knee replacement surgery.The Rudolf Challenge will be back on the 25th of February 2019.

I'm still here posting a couple of cards as I'd already made them and got them ready. The first is a woodware stamp on a gelli plate background, with an inkylicious splatter stamp round the edge. I made a similar one last year.

My second card is a uniko stamp, watercoloured and then bordered with an inkylicious splatter stamp. The tartan papers are from Craftwork Cards.
Here is wishing Maureen a speedy recovery and a big thank you to the ladies on the DT for everything they do.
Thanks for looking!

Make it Masculine

There is a new challenge over at Allsorts where the Theme is Make it Masculine. It seemed the perfect opportunity to share some makes using new stamps with you. I have been busy making Steve's Birthday card and then I made a second using the same stamps...not sure which to give to him now!

 For both I used Inkylicious stamps - Celestial moons and planets and Reflections Alaskan Pines. I also used watercolour paper and Koh-I-Noor watercolour paints. This first one was a bit of a mistake. It was looking beautiful until I stamped the trees in Versafine clair and then put it through the guillotine before it was dry... More planets were needed to cover the fingerprints and smudges! The second went a little more smoothly!

Here is a close up of the base card - I stamped the planets in Versamark and dusted with a variety of cosmic shimmer powders.

I am also entering it at The Male Room, where the theme is Anything Goes with an optional twist of Beverages (Thanks Faith!) Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

More Inspiration for Stamping Sensations January challenge

Here is my mid-month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is Fabulously Feminine. As you can probably tell, feminine to me isn't pink and floral. It is a theme I struggle with way more than anything masculine!  These stamps are from Acid drops and Whatnots, whose stamps are still available I  believe at Craft Stash. I stamped in Adirondack Rust and used a waterbrush to spread the colour a little. The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Clair  - my new favourite ink! The papers were freebies from a magazine donated to me a while ago and the leaf die is from Pink Frog.
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!

Milestones

The challenge at Allsorts this week is Milestones, and they are asking for anything with a number on it. A little while ago I made this card for a friend's son. He loves listening to live music and so I made a background with a Bee Crafty Stencil and distress inks, before stamping the Visible Image drummer with Versafine ink. The Happy 21st Birthday is a stamp set from Little Clare (no longer available, unfortunately) that has interchangable numbers and greetings and is very useful. It is a very simple card but was well received and considered very 'on trend' by Meg and her friends! I am going to try a few more cards like this but using distress oxides and versafine Clair inks for a more grungy look.
Hope your week has gone well and thanks for looking! Your comments are very much appreciated. 

January at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning and Happy New Year! I feel like I have neglected you rather, but you will be pleased to know that I've had a wonderful time being a domestic Goddess as well as getting inky and painty. You will see the results in the fullness of time! As it is the first Sunday of the month, it is time for our January challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month we have a lovely theme....

****Fabulously Feminine****

For my card this month I used stamps and stencils from Inkylicious and a little glitter glue for the fairy's wings.

  The background was created using ink dusters and distress inks in shabby shutters, mermaid lagoon and seedless preserves. A little memento black was also used to create the hills and dust around the edges. The moon was dusted first with Brilliance white then, once dry, it was stamped with the same ink. Highlights were added with Sakura white and stardust pens.

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 wonderful hand-stamped creations from my talented team mates and to take a look at the fabulous prize! I do hope you will enter and share your lovely hand-stamped creations with us.
Thanks for looking!

Hope you had a good one

 Hi there! Christmas has come and gone very quickly, but I am happy to say a good time has been had by all, here. As usual we had a quiet Christmas day and then lots of family visiting with a full Christmas dinner and tea time treats on Boxing Day.
Anyway, I thought I would show you the last three Christmas Cards I made. The first was for Meg and Grant who had just returned from a trip to the Galloway Forest Park. They spent an evening at the observatory there, where they watched a meteor shower. Stamps are all from Inkylicious and the background was created with Brushos then sections were bleached for the snow

 My second card was for Steve. All stamps on this one were from Card-io and the background was dusted with Blueprint sketch and chipped sapphire distress ink.

My final card was for my Dad. He loves his scenes so I combined inkylicious stamps to create a snowy mountain and lakeside scene for him. this was coloured with watercolour pens.

I am now 'procraftinating' trying to re-organise my craft table (our big dining table that gets cleared every boxing day) and not put as much back on it as I took off! All I have managed so far is to unwrap my Christmas present stamps and find homes for all but two. There is still a huge pile of bits and bobs in the spare room waiting to return downstairs. When I retire I will have to do some serious sorting! 

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments over the past few weeks. I don't intend to be absent from Blogland as much as I have been. My new years resolution is to look after me a little better and not let work take over.