Tuesday 30 October 2012

More Inkylicious Pines

Here is another card made with my Inkylicious ink dusters, Adirondack ink and Inkylicious stamps, along with a white gel pen. The trees are both from the Northern Pines set and the grasses are from the seascape memories set. The colours of ink are....


Denim, Peach Bellini, Mountain Rose and Eggplant (hope I gave you time enough to guess the colours there!). Does anyone else find themselves describing things in ink colours? Meg and I often discuss the shades of the sky in Ink colours, but when I say things like 'Look at that Eggplant and Peach Bellini sky', or 'Those trousers are very chipped sapphire', I do wonder if I am still sane!
Thanks for looking!

Saturday 27 October 2012

Autumn landscape


It has been a glorious day here, admittedly a bit cold (about 5 degrees) and there was a dusting of snow this morning, but we have had the most wonderful walk at Linacre Reservoirs near Chesterfield. Here are quite a lot of photos!
This Mandarin Duck was so camouflaged in the branches of a fallen tree!
I love to go there at this time of year. The colours of the trees and the reflections are so very beautiful. You needed to be wrapped up, but it lifted the spirits to be out in the sunshine. I might have to try and recreate one or two of those landscapes...
Thanks for looking!

Friday 26 October 2012

A snippet make

Here is a quick birthday card for one of the TAs at work. She loves her shoes and wore some very sparkly ones a bit like this last Christmas - they were higher though!
The quote was generated on the computer. I saw it on a card somewhere and thought it was a good one! The sentiment is from Little Claires. The shoes were cut using a template from cranberry card co.
The roses paper is from Pink Petticoat. All the papers are snippets, so I am entering this into Di's Crafty snippet challenge. I am hoping she is still talking to me and that Henry the giraffe hasn't eaten the tree house as well!
Thanks for looking!

Tuesday 23 October 2012

An Inkylicious playtime!

We had a brilliant time at Doncaster, and Lynne has stayed for a couple of extra days, so we have shopped and crafted too! I probably spent the most money at Inkylicious. They have some fabulous new stamps and as always, Deby's samples were breathtaking.
She has released several new trees (Yes, Brenda!), amongst which is the Northern Pine. I came home and started playing, and ended up with this:
 I used Adirondack inks in Twilight purple, Mountain Rose and Peach Bellini (A fabulous combo used by Shaz in Oz). All stamps are from Inkylicious, including the sentiment and the tiny text I used on the base card. I love this colour combo and will definitely use it again.
Next I had a go at wetting my Ink Dusters to swipe across some card to make a watery background, which we saw Deby demonstrate. The colours are quite subtle and difficult to capture in a photo, but this is what I came up with.
The bullrushes stamp was stamped in archival Black, with the reflection in second generation ink, and the ripples done by hand with a fine liner. The background music stamp was stamped in Adirondack Aqua.
With the dull cloudy days and the added complication of having scaffolding round the house (We are having a new roof) there is so little light in the house, so taking photos is a bit tricky. The forecasters seem to think we will get some sun by the end of the week though so fingers crossed. Just before I go, does anyone know why my followers say I have 201, when the last page of my followers says I have 199 and there are only 199 avatars/ pictures? I am confused!!!
Well, I am off to look at some of my other purchases and admire some of the lovely samples by Brenda on Create and Craft's Stamp Addict's show. Thanks for looking!

Sunday 21 October 2012

Majestic Mountains at Craft a scene

It is the third Sunday of the month and time for my first DT card for Craft a scene - how exciting! This month's theme is Majestic Mountains, and for my card I have created a scene with Hobby Art and Inkylicious stamps. I used Distress inks and distress markers to colour it. The 'berries' on the twigs at the bottom are copper tulip paint.
Pop over to the challenge blog where you will find lots of wonderful inspiration.Why not have a go at creating a scene with us this month?
As you read this I should be on my way back from Doncaster after a shopping trip to Stamp Magic at the Dome. Will share my goodies with you later! Thanks for looking!

Friday 19 October 2012

A Birthday Card for Lynne

Here is the Birthday card that I made for Lynne. I saw this stamp from Woodware and loved it, but hadn't inked it up since I bought it several months ago. I coloured it with promarkers in Lime and pear green, purple and Lavender, before cutting out with a nestie and mounting on some lavender card that has been embossed with the Victoria embossing folder. I added a bit of shaded lilac distress ink and a line of faux stitching round the edge.
 There were some lovely samples done with it on the Which crafts stall at the last stamp magic show. Their next show is on Sunday, and Lynne is coming down to stay for a few days, so we will be off to see what is new.
I am entering this into the 4 crafty chicks challenge where the theme is dry embossing.
Thanks for looking!

Monday 15 October 2012

A snippet card and a little announcement

Woohoo! I've managed to get back to the playground at last! I'm here to join in Di's crafty snippets challenge with another baby card for work. I think this is the last baby card for a while! (they must have moved the chair!)
I used a digi from squigglefly, a stamped sunflower(Chocolate Baroque), snippets of papers from kaisercraft and some very old ribbon. As I'm back in the playground I want to show you what I brought back from Rwanda for you... the Zebra were a bit elusive and kept nipping off into the trees, but this guy was very obliging! Now I know Miss Di is probably having a bit of a turn as to where we are going to put him, but we can get out of the tree house really quickly by sliding down his neck!
Now for my news...
 If you are a regular visitor to Craft a Scene you will have seen last weekend that I have joined their DT. I know that many of you who visit here regularly will know that I was delighted when the challenge started, and have loved making little scenes with my stamps to fit their themes. When Nancy asked if I could join the DT I had to say yes, especially after my top 3 spot last month on the theme of trees! Keep a look out for my DT card on the theme 'Majestic Mountains' on 21st October.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Punch away at Stampalot

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for another Stampalot Challenge. The challenge this month is to use Punches. Here is my card.
I used a stamp from Ruth's Tonic studios chrysanthemum set, coloured with coloured pencils and blended with a versamarker pen. I stamped the foliage in versa mark and then brushed wild Honey, Picked raspberry and festive berries Distress inks over the top. the flower border is a Tonic studios punch. I then used 2 different sizes of daisy punch (woodware) to make the little flower, which I mounted on a punched circle and added 4 punched leaves(X-cut).
Please pop over to the challenge blog and take a good look at the gorgeous creations of my teamies. I think you will agree that their creations this month are so inspiring. You will also find details of the prize, if not straight away, then in the next few days, hopefully. Looking forward to seeing your fabulous creations using punches. Thanks for looking.

Friday 5 October 2012

Another tree

This year at work it is a year for big birthdays - there are 5 40ths and a 50th during 2012! This was the 40th birthday card I did for my boss, just before I went to Rwanda. To be honest I wasn't particularly happy with it, but it has grown on me.
The leaf is a chocolate baroque stamp, the papers are a double sided piece of 12 x 12 from magenta and the tree is from The Artful Stamper. I used my ink dusters to make the background and added two tone fine glitter to the falling leaves. I am hoping to find time and energy to make some cards this weekend. I have been feeling so tired all week, and not been able to get my head around anything requiring thinking!
I'd better go. Pop back and see me on Sunday for the launch of Stampalot's October challenge. Thanks for looking!

Tuesday 2 October 2012

More Rwandan Wildlife

Impala in the Akegera National Park .


Maybe a species of Vulture on the Bank building opposite our hotel
 Definitely related to a blackbird or thrush (Ed - An African Thrush - Turdus pelios - Thanks Paula!)

 Two species of weaver birds

 A weaver bird's nest

 A water Buffalo complete with oxpecker
more giraffes...

and the cutest little gecko! Thanks for looking!

Monday 1 October 2012

More photos from Rwanda

I wanted to share a few photos from my trip. In Rwanda there were many things that made me think, like water for example.
These yellow water containers are an essential part of life in Rwanda. There are not many places that have mains water in the district I visited, and both children and adults take their containers to the local pump or river to fill them. There are some water storage towers  and rain water tanks around but these are not available to everyone. Many of the yellow containers have an unusual stopper in the form of a green banana.
 They are often carried by cyclists when the nearest water is further away, and often several containers per bike. These containers then take the place of taps like this:
Thanks for looking!