Getting really inky

I had a bit of time to play yesterday, and after rooting through some old stash I found a few scored pieces of astralux to make A6 cards. I've never used them because a whole astralux card was a bit scary. I decided to cut them up to make some panels instead. I stamped my new Hero Arts leaf flourish with versamark and then masked a 1.5" circle. I sponged distress inks in broken china, faded jeans and dusty concord over the whole piece. After removing the mask I sponged a bit more broken china over the circle. The blue leaves, ferns and Nigella seed heads are all Lavinia stamps and stamped in versafine. This isn't the only thing I made, but you won't be seeing the others for a little while...My fingers are still a bit blue - looks like they have been trapped in a door!
Anyway, just thought I'd pop on before I get tea ready to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Cake and a card

This is a Hummingbird Cake. My version isn't very pretty, but I prefer to just have the cream cheese frosting in the middle and not all over it. I got the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cook book (brought by Santa), but there is a very similar version here. If you like banana cake and carrot cake you will love it. It is very moist and has bananas and pineapple in it. I made it yesterday, but by teatime there was only half left!
The card is another using the Funky flowers rubber stamp plate from The Stamp Man. It's my MIL's birthday next week, so this one is for her. The rose is covering a blob of glue that was in the wrong place! The leaf punch was another pressie. The flowers are coloured with sakura stardust pens and a water brush... oh yes and a touch of pastel blue promarker.

By the Cute and Girly Challenge - Let's go to the movies

Here is my entry for the December 'By the Cute and Girly' Challenge. The theme is 'Let's go to the Movies' I was having a flick through the TV listings and found 'The Little Polar Bear'. I bought this lovely digistamp yesterday from Delicious Doodles and thought it would be perfect. I stamped and embossed the background using Art Impressions T-2773 and layered onto silver mirriboard. The digistamp is coloured in places with just 3 shades of promarker - grey green, pastel blue and ivory. I  did contemplate using some stickles too, but decided to go with 'less is more'.
It is going to be a winter wishes card for a friend who didn't get her christmas card from me, thanks to the state of our road in the snow last week- I'm feeling rather guilty! Thanks for looking x

Brother's Birthday

We have several family members who have birthdays very close to Christmas and the New Year, and my brother is one of them. I saw this lovely image of a Golden Eagle when I took part in the Tuesday Taggers Blog Hop and thought it would be perfect for him. It is from Delicious Doodles by Teresa Sherman - isn't he stunning?  I coloured it with promarkers. I used shades of warm greys on the rocks and Mustard on his feet and beak. Then I used a mixture of sandstone, tan and caramel for the paler areas and cocoa, cinnamon, burnt sienna and walnut for the darker feathers. I used my blender pen to lighten the area at the edge of his wings too. the background papers have been in my stash for at least 5 years and I didn't have much left, but I think the one on the left is a PSX one. I used a martha stewart punch, my oval nesties and a sentiment stamp by Clarity stamps. Those Christmas presents are getting some good use! Thanks for looking!

My best project of 2009?

Oooh, it was a tough choice, but I think this is my best project of 2009. I made my first easel card using a photo of a lovely lady who is 91 this week, but the photo was taken when she was 18 or 19. If you would like more details the original post is here. I took ages to get round to making one when they seemed to be all the rage in blog land, but when I did I received some really lovely comments. Thanks everyone!
Now I've posted this I can display the award in my side bar - hope you can join in too!

Some challenges I've been meaning to enter

I've finally got round to doing something creative that doesn't involve food! I've made a little photo album for a friend and I'm going to print some photos out to put in it later. The stamp is by Pink Gem and coloured with promarkers in the colours shown.
I'm entering it for Passion for promarkers (anything but a card on a Christmas or New Year theme) and Tuesday Taggers (let it snow). I'm guessing it is too late for Allsorts (anything but a card). Not sure if they are having a fortnight on this challenge as it would've been due on boxing day, so I'll pop it on anyway! I now need to go and think about the film theme on Cute and Girly...I'm drawing a complete blank so far!

Don't Forget!

Don't forget that tomorrow is the start of the Stampman Blog Hop. It will be lovely to spend a few hours in front of the computer rather than the cooker!!!

Grab a plate...

...and help yourself to a mince pie fresh out of the oven. My mince pies aren't the prettiest, but they taste fine! You could have some ginger cake too, although some is a gift for a friend. The hamster card (featuring a Mo Manning digistamp) is for the same people - we 'hamster sit' for them a few times each year. The Turkey card (Dustin Pike) is for my dear friend Julie who came to my rescue when the oven packed up on Christmas day last year and I had the whole family coming over on Boxing day and a gigantic turkey to cook! The last card (also Dustin Pike) is for Julie's daughter and Meg's best friend, Sam. I've done all my cards, but time is running out and I won't have time to post Meg's and Steve's cards. I had intended entering Allsorts and Tuesday Taggers, but cooking is going to have to take priority!
So, here's wishing each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas. I hope you are surrounded by those you love and that Santa brings you everything you want!
Merry Christmas Everybody!

A magical day!

What a magical day I've had! This morning was spent crafting and waiting for the postie (who brought my Allsorts goodies!). The two cards were made after I was inspired by Chris, to look at my Inkadinkado inchie stamps. On the Butterflies and Birds plate I found the lovely dove which I stamped and embossed with, yes, more Kaleidoscope embossing powder.
Just before 12 we set off for a bowl of soup and a wander round Rufford Park. It was truly magical! We had many close encounters with the robins, chaffinches and squirrels in the park who were busy feeding on the grain the rangers had left for them. The ducks and geese were skating beautifully and the sun was just strong enough to give everything a lovely glow! Meg took some fantastic photos too that you can see on her blog 'My Little World'. I don't know how many Robins live in the park, but everywhere we looked there were so many! Hope you have had a great day too!
P.S. On behalf of the animals you might want to check this out!

A card for Lynne with more roses!

I've been looking forward to posting this one, but didn't want to put it on the blog until I'd given it to Lynne. I took my inspiration from Brenda who made this lovely card and box. I loved the colour combination and of course the beautiful roses. I saw it 'for real' at the Sir Stampalot demo day on 5th December, and it is even more beautiful than the photo suggests.
I stamped the pine branch (All Night Media) in versamark onto the green paper and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder. The greeting was stamped in versafine and embossed with some cinnamon scented red embossing powder.
I was shown how to make the lovely roses by my friend Brenda. She has since put a very clear and easy to follow tutorial on her blog here. I used kaleidoscope embossing powder on my roses too. These are made using a 1 inch six petalled flower punch. I added some punched leaves too.
With the snow showers yesterday the light was very variable, so the top photo was taken with a flash. It is probably the best representation of colour, but the rose detail is lost. The other photos were taken in daylight.
I have been very lucky in the past week. My Christmas tree card for Tuesday Taggers won me a guest slot on the Design Team in January, and on Saturday I won the Allsorts Challenge for Pearls and Swirls. Mr Random.org has favoured me despite the fact I was number 13! I am really looking forward to the postie bringing my goodies, and thanks to the wonderful Design teams on both challenges for providing such wonderful inspiration!

Dare U 2 Digistamp? - last minute Christmas cards

It has been a while since I've managed to enter DU2DS challenge. It isn't that I haven't had a go. I know for a fact there are two half finished cards on my craft table! Anyway, I couldn't let last minute christmas cards go by without making an effort to post some!
The two mice are from Digistamp Boutique and coloured with promarkers. the patterned paper is from Funky fairies. These two doubled as money wallets with a flap on the inside with notes tucked in! The first snowman was a freebie from Dustin Pike some months ago. Again I coloured with promarkers. The Paper was some from my stash (Dovecraft I believe) and the sentiment was from Craftwork cards.
The second snowman was another freebie, this time from Cuddly Buddly Crafts. The backing paper is more old stash from Dovecraft and I used my nestie snowflakes and another Martha Stewart punch. I'm on a roll now... about 7 more to go I think! Thanks for looking!

Tuesday Taggers - St Nick

Here is my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers. Now I have a confession to make...not a single one of my Christmas stamps featured the man himself! What an embarrassment! I nipped off down to the local craft shop (who stock very little in the way of stamps) not holding out much hope. I was delighted when I found the Habico clear stamp set featured on Michelle's DT card, and they were only a fiver!
The text in the corner is a Hero Arts Winter stamp and I decorated his beard and moustache by putting extra swirls of clear gelly roll glaze and sprinkling glitter whilst it was still wet. I coloured St Nick with a mixture of promarkers and Distress inks (Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Antique Linen). I finished it off with some snowflakes punched from glitter paper.
Thanks for looking!

AAAaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Here are the last few remaining birthday cards I had left to do for December. I can get on with finishing the Christmas cards now! I am only managing to blog these because a friend has lent me her dongle. I have no landline and no broadband at the moment. It went off yesterday and it won't be back on until tomorrow night at the earliest. I'm not a happy bunny. On the up side my boss has returned to work and this week is a lot less stressful.
The cards are all digistamps except for the 3rd. The top one is from CraftsUprint, the second is from Dustin Pike, the third has stamps from the Funky flowers plate (available from The Stampman) and the last is from Christine Dark. They were all coloured with Promarkers except for the 3rd which was coloured with sakura stardust pens and a water brush. Off to do more Christmas cards now - Thanks for looking!

Allsorts Challenge - Pearls and swirls

Hooray! I've finally made an easel card! I must be the last person in Blog Land to make one! My friend asked me to make a birthday card for her Mum who is 91 at the end of December. She had seen my nesties frames card and got hold of a picture of her Mum aged 18 to use in the centre. I was intending to use my Crafty Individuals flourish and some flat backed pearls, so it fitted perfectly with the Allsorts theme for this week. the two later pictures I managed to take in daylight, but wanted to add a sentiment and didn't manage it until much later, hence the varied colours! The script stamp is also Crafty individuals. The Sentiment and small damask block are from Graphicus. The lace stamp is Impression Obsession. Most stamping was done with antique linen and tea dye distress inks. The papers on the frames are K & Co and DCWV. I managed to include more roses a la Brenda and used my Martha Stewart punch again! I'm rather pleased with the result. Why is it I have most mojo when I have least time?!
Thanks for looking!

Tuesday Taggers - Oh Christmas tree

Here is my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers where the theme is Christmas Trees. I've done it again - I've made something very difficult to photograph! I stamped the tree (Stampin' Up!) in brilliance Mediterranean Blue and Colorbox Chalk Warm Green. I then used Kaleidoscope embossing powder on it, part of my Sir Stampalot goodies.  I stamped the Fir branch (All Night Media) in Versamark onto navy card stock and used the same embossing powder on it. It is a gorgeous effect, but capturing it on a photo is very difficult indeed! The colours range from copper through yellow and green to blue and purple - incredibly iridescent, honest!  I hope you can get enough of an impression from these photos. Thanks for looking!

More cute ones!

I'm still making Christmas cards, although I haven't got the brain power or inspiration to do anything other than cute, I'm afraid. Panto is over and I have had what was probably the most important meeting of my career. The Head has been off sick for two and a half weeks so I've been really acting up ;o) !!! I thought I would be able to relax a bit after Tuesday's meeting and Wednesday's Nativity and Carols, but no. I won't say any more other than I will really enjoy Karate on Friday night!
Anyway, onto my cards. The reindeer is a Pink Gem stamp and the mouse is from Digistamp boutique. They are both coloured with promarkers. The blue paper is from Dovecraft and the tartan paper is from Funky Fairies. The mouse one brought back memories of a dress I had when I was a little girl. It was red tartan, with bodice that had two lines of lace down it, and a sash that tied at the back. Crickey, I'm really rambling now! Maybe I'm cracking up... or hallucinating on promarker fumes!!!

A lovely award

I've been awarded this lovely award by the very talented Elaine and Janet over at Crafticious! Thanks both of you! Lynne has also passed it on to me - thanks, Lynne! As part of the award I have to answer some questions using one word only - a bit hard!

1. 
   
   Where is your cellphone?....................pocket
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Your hair?........................................straightish
   
   
   
   
3. Your Mother?...................................passed
   
   
4. Your Father?.....................................healthy
   
5. 
   
   Your favourite food?..........................Chocolate
   
6. 
   
   Your dream last night?........................unmemorable
   
7. 
   
   Your favourite drink?..........................Tea
   
   
8. 
   
   Your dream/goal?...............................retirement!!!
   
   
9. 
   
   What room are you in?........................lounge
   
   
10. 
    
    Your hobby?..........................................Craft
    
    
11. 
    
    Your fear?..........................................bees
    
    
12. 
    
    Where do you want to be in 6 years?........countryside
    
    
13. 
    
    Where were you last night?...................Bed
    
    
14. 
    
    Something that you aren't?.....................tall
    
    
15. 
    
    Muffins?...............................................Apple
    
    
16. 
    
    Wish list item?......................................Time
    
    
17. 
    
    Where did you grow up?.....................Notts
    
    
18. 
    
    Last thing you did?................................drink
    
19. What are you wearing?.........................slippers
    
20. 
    
    Your TV?................................................on
    
21. 
    
    Your pets?............................................snails!
    
    
22. 
    
    Friends?................................................wonderful
    
    
23. 
    
    Your life?..............................................hectic!
    
    
24. 
    
    Your mood?..........................................determined!
    
    
25. 
    
    Missing someone?..................................Vicky
    
    
26. 
    
    Vehicle?.................................................Skoda
    
    
27. 
    
    Something you're not wearing?..........Pyjamas (yet)
    
    
28. 
    
    Your favourite store?.............................Craft
    
    
29. 
    
    Your favourite colour?...........................Peacock
    
    
30. 
    
    When was the last time you laughed?......Today
    
31. 
    
    Last time you cried?.............................Thursday
    
32. 
    
    Your best friend?....................................Steve
    
33. 
    
    One place that I go to over and over?........Work
    
34. 
    
    Facebook?...............................................No
    
35. 
    
    Favourite place to eat?..............................Home!
    
    I now need to nominate some people, so I'm nominating Lynne, Lisa, Barbara, Brenda and Jules 
    Hope you feel able to play along, but don't feel you have too!
    

Allsorts Challenge - Purple advent

There's a bit of a theme going on here, principally because back in September I bought a pack of these purple Christmas sentiments (Craftwork cards) and then discovered a pack of papermania 12 x12 papers that I bought thinking they would be pink and purple only to find they were more like pink and grey!
I saw the theme on Allsorts and coloured these over the weekend. The first is a Mo Manning Digistamp and the second and third are Pink gem design stamps. I used promarkers, cos I've got the whole set now thanks to Brenda's husband! If I had to choose one for Allsorts, it would be the last one (even though it is a bad photo). That snowman is so jolly!
Thanks for looking - I hope you're Christmas preparations are going well!

A Wonderful Day!

I must be on a roll - this is my second post today! Yesterday Lynne and I went to the big Demo Day at Sir Stampalot. We went to meet Brenda and pick up my lovely promarkers (and shop of course!). We got there just after eleven and then spent the next three hours going between the demo room and the shop. Such wonderful inspiration, such talent and great ideas! We had such a brilliant day! Brenda is such a lovely lady and we chatted as she demonstrated some lovely little metal boxes and her beautiful roses. There were seven very talented ladies demonstrating a variety of techniques and they were all so friendly and obliging. If you are able to go to one of the demo Days I would urge you to go. I came home buzzing with ideas and with a lovely warm glow! I also came home with a very empty purse, but we'll not dwell on that!
So here is my first card featuring a rose (using stamps from The Stamp Man). It isn't as perfect as the ones Brenda made, but I am sure I will improve! I've made 6 now, Brenda, and I'm really getting into the swing of it! Thank you my dear friends Lynne and Brenda, for making my day week!