Sneaking into the playground

Well, I'm sneaking into the playground with a card made with a few paper snippets (Pink Petticoat)  and some very old ribbon. Sorry I haven't been here for a few weeks. I was writing lines - 'Must try harder', lol!
Hope I can managed to boost the numbers this week for our Miss Di, who has reached the Milestone of Head teacher for 100 playtimes! I am afraid I have left it rather last minute to pop into the snippet playground too!
Hope you like it Miss Di. I based it on one of yours from the summer
love, hugs and thanks for looking!

                          Sally x

Last Rudolf Day

It is the last Rudolf Day before Christmas and to be frank I am approaching headless chicken stage now! It is only my second time entering and I've got no where near enough cards yet- I am hoping to join in way earlier next year! Keep nagging me Sarn! Do pop over to Sarn's blog and have a look at her fabby makes
Here are my offerings - 2 CAS single layer cards, now postage is so expensive for anything else!

 First one features an Indigo Blu stamp, stamped and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder. The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  The holly leaves are from Inkylicious and useful for hiding finger prints, lol! Take a closer look at the sparkle and shimmer!

Next I went for more traditional colours...

The second card is made using Inkylicious stamps from the Winter spruce set. I used a strip of masking tape to make the border across the middle and stamped the sentiment (woodware) in memento Rhubarb Stalk (yes, it isn't straight, but IRL it isn't quite that wonky, lol!)
Thanks for looking

Autumn in the garden and a walk

Our beech hedge in the garden was at it's best last weekend, and on Sunday I was tempted out with my camera to try and capture the colours, even though it was a dull day. It is also at this time of year that the Castor oil plant flowers with these beautiful cream lacy pompoms.

I spent a while trying to capture the flowers (in focus) with the colour of the beech hedge behind it.

My Sally Holmes rose has a last bloom too. It always amazes me that it can flower for so long (5-6 months).

 

As the weather stayed fine we decided to take a stroll in Thieves Wood, near Mansfield in the afternoon. Put on a scarf and come with us.

It was great to get some fresh air and enjoy the colours of the leaves, but there weren't many fungi this time.

Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for looking!

And the winner is...

Whoops! I forgot that it was today I was drawing the follower candy! I can't believe it is 23rd November already!
Anyway, withoput further ado the winner of my blog candy is...

                  Paula (PEP)
Congratulations Paula. Please email me with your postal address so I can mail them off to you.Thank you to all who have let such lovely comments too. Wish I could give you all something!
Hopefully I will be back with a card or two soon, as I have a stack of birthday cards to make for December.

More Follower Candy and last week's winner

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Hi There!
I have not had a moment this week, so blog land has had to take a back seat for a few days. Thanks to all the lovely people who commented on my last candy. The winner is....
                                    Sue's Crafty Corner
Please get in touch, Sue and I will send your card and stamps as soon as I get your address.
There is one last lot of candy. This time I have three stamps for you

The same rules apply as before. You need to be a follower through Google friends connect (Not Blog Lovin') and you must leave a comment. This candy will be open for two weeks.
Here is the card I have made to send with it

You really don't want to know how much of a 'save' this was, lol! At one point I said to Meg that I thought I should give up! There is no sentiment as yet, but I may pluck up the courage and add one later, hopefully without dropping anything or getting it upside down!
Thanks for looking!

Nicecrane Christmas Cards

I've been busy with some of Ignacio's Nicecrane Christmas images. I am really enjoying stamping the backgrounds and base cards. this first one is stamped in Sweet plum Memento ink with a range of Inkylicious stamps and one of the Christmas winter scenes

My next two are both from the Christmas birds set, again using inkylicious stamps for the background and spellbinders dies ( Timeless Rectangles and opulent ovals)

Finally I tried another of the Christmas scenes with a mixture of Inkylicious  and Waltzing Mouse stamps  with distress inks

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!

Another new Inkylicious stamp

I needed a birthday card for a very dear friend, so I decided to ink up a new Inkylicious stamp. This one is called Jasmin Garden. I ink dusted the background with Adirondack Peach Bellini, mountain rose, Memento lilac posies and grape Jelly. I then decoupaged the butterflies/ moths and coloured those with gelly roll sparkle pens. This panel was layered on a dark purple panel. The base card was dusted with the same inks and stamped with some similar flower silhouettes from the Summer Morn stamp set. I had intended mounting the panel in the centre, but it didn't look right, so I moved it until the horizons met and decided to stick it there! Off centre, but better than in the middle! What do you think? I went round the jasmin garden stamp frame with a lilac promarker and added faux stitching to the dark purple layer with the gelly roll pen.
Thanks for looking and don't forget to sign up for my follower candy here.

New stamps!

When I was at Doncaster I was handed a voucher for 10% discount from Inky Doodles. I ordered from them and received my stamps very quickly. Excellent service, thank you! Two lots have gone away for Christmas, but I couldn't resist breaking out 'Backgrounds two' and having a play! After randomly filling 3 sheets of scrap paper with a multitude of different patterns I decided I'd better get on with the card I needed to make!

That patterned panel was easy to stamp and although it isn't perfect, I don't think I will ever need to buy papers again! The owl stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. I used a mixture of adirondack (pool, peri) and memento inks(teal zeal, grape jelly). The border and nestie (timeless rectangles) are both from Spellbinders.
Please forgive me if I don't visit and comment very much for a couple of weeks. I am busy at work and bringing lots home too. A few makes here and there plus DT comments are all I am managing at the moment. Don't forget to pop your name on my blog candy above if you are a follower. I am only counting followers on Google friends connect (the default one on my blogger dashboard) as that has been around since I first came to blogland five years ago, and so have some of my followers on here! If you join now, I might even break the 250 mark, and if you leave a comment you will be eligible for the draw, however long you have been following. 
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments

And the Winner is...plus new candy

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In celebration of five years in blog land the winner of my first lot of candy is............

Tracy Harris

Congratulations! Hope you haven't made all your Christmas cards already! Please email me Tracy, with your snail mail address so I can post your goodies off to you. Thanks for all your fab comments. I wish I could send all of you something. Still there are more chances to come!
 Now on to the second lot of candy. Again this is follower candy for you lovely people who leave a comment on this post and are followers of my blog. If you want to be in with a chance make sure you leave a comment and follow this blog via google friends connect on the right there.

Onto the next card and candy then.

 A simple card using three stamps, two of which are up for grabs, the script  and the trees. I dusted and stamped with Kaleidacolor Cappuccino Delight. The two die cut panels are matte card and the base panel is silk art card. One of those 'any occasion' cards I think. Hope you like it.

Here are the stamps on offer this week.

I will draw the winner next Saturday, and with any luck there will be another lot of candy too! I am back at work on Monday though, so the card may be a bit later than today. Thanks for looking!

November Challenge for Stamping Sensations

Well, it is time for our November Challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month our theme is Christmas. We are being sponsored this month by Stamp Addicts and I have used one of their fabulous scenic stamps in my landscape.

I stamped in Chipped Sapphire distress ink onto watercolour paper and then dragged a little colour out using a water brush. I also dusted the sky and some snow drifts using my ink dusters. The trees in the foreground and the sentiment are both Inkylicious stamps. This is a 7 x 7 card using some lovely navy blue cards I picked up from Doncaster at a bargain price.

For my second card I used one of Nicecrane Designs winter scenes and used a combination of inkylicious, Waltzing Mouse and Woodware stamps, trying to pick out the colours in the picture with memento and distress inks.
As I said before, we are sponsored this month by Stamp Addicts and they are offering the lucky winner a fabulous £35 voucher. Think of all the great stash you could buy with that!
Do pop over to the Challenge blog to look at the fabulous creations by my talented teamies. They are such a talented bunch.
Oh yes, before you do here is a quick reminder that I have follower candy here, if you haven't popped a comment on already, and this is new - not the same as last week!
Thanks for looking!

5 years in blog land! who'd have thought it!

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Would you believe it?! I have just realised it is my fifth anniversary of being a blogger! 745 posts and 245 followers later, I don't regret a second of it. First I think I need to say a huge thank you to all my followers and especially to those of you who comment and give me encouragement. Without you I would have given up long ago! Second I need to say thank you to Guzzie Sue and Lynne, without whom I wouldn't have dipped my toes in the water in the first place! Sue explained the process of setting up and Lynne and I took the plunge together, bouncing ideas off each other all the way.
To mark this occasion I decided to have some blog candy for my lovely followers. I am going to give away some stamps along with a card featuring said stamps, and there will be more than one lot. So, here is the first:

And here is the card:

For anyone who is stuck for ideas for Christmas cards, this could be right up your street. The possibilities for this set are endless! There are more cards made with the winter spruce set on this post. The only stamp I haven't included is the sentiment, and hopefully you will have some of those of your own.
I will draw a winner next Saturday 2nd November, by which time I should have sorted a new lot of candy. Just leave a comment below if you are interested and a follower. 
Thanks for looking!