A couple of Birthdays

Well, here is Steve's Birthday card. I got the Brayer out, but had 4 attempts before I managed this one! I managed to smudge a couple, and then wasn't happy with the ducks flying over. I used Adirondack inks in Butterscotch, Terracotta, Purple twilight and Eggplant. The moon was coloured with scattered straw distress ink. The stamps are from stampscapes (bulrushes), Hero arts (Silhouette grass) and Lavinia (Ducks). The sentiment is from a clear set by personal impressions. The theme for Stamptacular Sunday this week is 'Whateva!' so I'm entering it in their challenge.
My next card was for a lovely blogging buddy who celebrated her birthday last week.

The papers are from my Artylicious Essence of nature cd, The ribbon was a gift from Lesley aka Crafty Mamma and the Sweet pea fairy Stamp was from the lovely Brenda. I coloured the stamp with promarkers and added quite a bit of glitter with my quicky glue pen. Here is a shot from a different angle so you can see the glitter a bit better.

All that glitter should meet the requirements of the sweet pea stampers challenge blog where the theme is glitz and glamour, so I'm entering this one there too.

Dad's Birthday

It is my Dad's birthday in early February, so as I had the inspiration I made him this.

The main image is Winter Scene from Simply stamps, coloured with promarkers and a little glitter. The boots stamp is from an Aspects of design sheet from the Stampman. I stamped it on to water colour paper and coloured it with distress inks. The swirl background on the brown bazzil is from Art impressions, and was stamped in versafine and then embossed in clear. Finally the sentiment is a See-D's stamp. As it is a theme of Male cards this week at Allsorts I'm entering it into their challenge. Now I need to get on with Steve's card, as his birthday is tomorrow! Thanks for looking!

Scrap Sunday

I looked at the mess on my desk yesterday and there were some lovely coordinating scraps of paper and card on there, so taking a leaf out of Jules's book I decided to make a quick card out of them today.

I really wanted to put something else on it, like a leaf, but I couldn't decide where, so I left it as it was. The only stamping on it is the sentiment (Personal Impressions) and the swirly background (Art impressions). Hope you like it - I'm still not sure!

A bit distressed!

I made a welcome to your new home card for a colleague. the stamp is from Galerie Vernissage by Inkadinkado. I coloured it with promarkers and mounted it on a torn terracotta coloured panel. I distressed the edges of this and the backing papers (Kaisercraft Devonshire collection 6x6 pad) with a Tim Holtz distressing tool and some Wild Honey distress ink. The pleated flower uses paper from the same pad.
As it is all distressed I'm entering it into this months Stampman challenge where the theme is all distressed. I might just manage another challenge this week as I need to make Steve's Birthday card and my Dad's too. The theme at Allsorts is Male, so it fits a treat- let's hope I find the time!
BTW I'm thrilled to bits that I won a stamp from 'An oldie but a goodie' last week with my house mouse in a teacup.  Thanks for looking!

Who stole the weekend?

Where have the last two days gone? I have managed to squeeze a couple of cards in, but I can't say I have much to show for the rest of it!

My first card has been on my craft table unfinished since before new year, so I thought it was really time I did something about it. The stamps and papers are all Elusive images/ Artylicious Essence of Nature cd. The main image was embossed with blonde moments fresh gold embossing powder, which is green with a lovely gold sheen.

My next card is for a young lady who has Cystic Fibrosis. Her little brother was one of my pupils a while ago. About 8 years ago she had a lung transplant at Great Ormond Street. She will be eighteen on Tuesday, a milestone we wouldn't have seen had it not been for the wonderful Team at GOSH.The mandala stamp is Creative Expressions and the paisley is Funstamps. As I used my brayer with B&J hydrangea ink I am entering this into the last Lots to do challenge for a while. I've only recently discovered Lots to do through Zoe, and I have really enjoyed their fabulous themes. I will miss seeing the fabulous DT creations.

My final card is a cute one- some Penny Black Hedgehogs. I coloured this image with promarkers ages ago, but couldn't decide what to do with it. When I saw the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the challenge is to use four things from the card Buffet, I thought I would give it a go. The papers are from Pink Petticoat, and I used patterned paper, purple twine three flowers and three gems.

You might have gathered that I found a few things on my craft table this weekend, and I was trying to make it tidier. I have to admit I failed miserably! It looks worse now than it did before I started! Ah well, there's always next weekend. Thanks for looking x

Blog hop winners and another winter's tale

Well, It's time to announce the winner of the set of MSE stamps from the blog hop, and the winner is...Shaz! Thanks for your lovely comment Shaz. Email Brenda  - brenda@ibas.co.uk with your postal addy and she will get your prize to you. The overall winner of the Hop was Cheryl. For other winners take a look atr the Sir Stampalot Challenge blog.
Now here is another wintry scene to remind you that the challenge still runs until 28th of January.

It's those penny black snowy trees embossed in white over a creative colour spray background in iridescent vivid blues and HA old French writing again! The sentiment is from Elusive images.
And the prize this month? feast your eyes on this little lot!

Fabulous! Well, off you go and get making a lovely winter's tale inspired creation so you can be in with a chance of winning. Thanks for popping by!

Sir stampalot Blog hop and January Challenge

 This is a sticky - scroll down for newer posts.
 Hi there and welcome to this months Sir Stampalot Challenge and Blog Hop. As it is the first one for 2011 I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year. You should've arrived here from the lovely Chris's blog, but if not, don't worry. Just start at the Sir Stampalot Challenge Blog and follow the fun from there. First I will show you my card.Our challenge theme for January which will run for the the whole month as usual is 'A Winter's Tale'.

The main image (Simply stamps) is coloured with promarkers and mounted on a green panel over a base card stamped with snowy trees (Penny Black). The swirl and flower dies are Marianne designs and the border punch is by EK success. The prize on my blog is a lovely set of MSE stamps.

So, the letter you need from me is M and don't forget to leave me a comment too, so you can be entered into my draw and the one on the challenge blog. All that remains now is for you to have a play with the letters you got, put them in the right order and email your answer to Brenda at brenda@ibas.co.uk. The lucky overall winner will get this fab punch around the page set.

  I will tell you all about the Prize for this month's challenge at the end of the blog hop on 10th January. Good luck, and don't forget to join us making a card based on 'A Winter's Tale' so we can come and visit you too!

A quick post before bedtime

I've had another go at one of those snow scenes with trees (Inspired by Chrissie).

The trees are from the Stampin' up! set 'Lovely as a tree', and this time I used scattered straw, tattered rose and Victorian velvet distress inks. The sentiment is a clear set from Personal Impressions. Don't forget to crack on with your Winter's tale creations and get them on the January challenge at Sir Stampalot Challenge blog.
I've also made a card for a friend and colleague who has been off ill for a while.

The flower is one of the few magnolia stamps that I own, and I love it. It is so easy to decoupage and colour. I used promarkers and some glitter on this one. The ribbon on the left was some I bought to put in some booties my mum knitted for Megan when she was a baby. I bought far too much, and decided it was about time I put the rest to good use (14 years later!!!)
Thanks for looking!

It's been a while...

Well hello there, remember me? No sooner had I wished everyone a Happy New Year with the Stampalot Blog Hop (You have till Monday  to join in if you haven't already!) than I was hit by some sort of flu. Although the symptoms were quite mild for proper flu, it was still unsafe for me to go near a craft knife with the shivers and shakes I had until Wednesday night. I managed a few tiny comments on blogs here and there, but then it would all get too much again and I'd have to wrap myself in a duvet to alternately sweat and shiver. I am now officially recovered and returned to work today. It was that or I might have started cleaning the house! I have managed one little card since my recovery, inspired by the lovely Chrissie. I visited to see her entry for the Sir Stampalot challenge and just had to have a go myself.

This was my third attempt as I tried to find some trees the right size for this A6 card (These are a Whispers/ Docrafts stamp). I love the fact there are no mats or layers - just ink! I am definitely going to try some more DI colour combos with this technique.
I'm popping this over to Once upon a Stamp tomorrow so it can be passed on to Rob and Gordon. Gordon is in hospital at the moment. you can read all about it on their blog.
Well, I'd better not stop up any longer. it has been a long day! Thanks for popping by, and it's good to be back!