More Be Creative products

 Hi There! I am here with a few more cards using Be Creative papers and embellishments. When I opened the Nature themed papers from Be Creative and saw the fish, I knew the Inkylicious Create a scene: Boating stamps would go perfectly. I added a few highlights using a copper sharpie pen (not as carefully as I would have liked. Note to self - wear your reading glasses!) If one of the men in your life likes fishing, then you definitely need this paper pad! There are some gorgeous deer and birds in there too.

My second card uses another paper pad. this one has some lovely florals, polkadots and hearts in pinks greens and beiges with a vintage feel. I topped it with a diecut (Spellbinders) stamped with Inkylicious Lazy Daisy and coloured with Alcohol based markers. The pearls, tag and buttons are from Be Creative too.

My third card is an easel card. The papers from this pad are beautiful shades of purple blue and green. At 160gsm the papers are stiff enough to not have to pre-mount them on card for the top part of the easel card. The stamp is a very old Sugar Nellie one, coloured using distress inks and a water brush. Again the tag, buttons and pearls are from Be creative too.
Are you going to Happy Stampers at Port Sunlight? If so you will be able to lay your hands on some lovely goodies, as Once upon a Stamp will be stocking these wonderful products.
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf day for September or Santa Real Estate!

Hi there! It is Rudolf day for September over at Scrappy Mo's and I have 3 cards to share with you this month. I think I have now caught up on not entering in July! The first two cards are both using Inkylicious stamps. The cottage stamp is called Winter Lodge. I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle and coloured with promarkers. I added glitter and a sentiment stamped in Memento Nautical Blue.

The same goes for my second card, but I used some fluffy puffy stuff to make the snow - not very effectively, though! I added snow drifts and sky shading with my ink dusters and mountain valley stencil.
My third cottage is a Chocolate Baroque stamp. I stamped it in Adirondack Stream onto watercolour paper and used a water brush to add shading. Once it was dry I added lots of stickles. The stamp I used in the sky is an Inkylicious Christmas tree and the sentiment is a very old one from Stamporium, that I seem to use every year.

Meg was happily settled in her new home last weekend and has spent the week finding out about what is on offer at the university. She has joined a couple of martial arts clubs - Judo and jiu-jitsu, hoping to find something to complement her Karate. The house seemed very empty for a couple of days, but I am coping, lol! I am suffering with the first of the seasons colds, a sinus based thing that makes me look very seasonal - I could give Rudolf a run for his money with this glowing nose! Thanks for looking!

A Sneak Peek!

Hi There! I am popping in today with a card made using papers and embellishments from 'Be Creative', a new company who will be launching their range of craft products later next month.

The papers are 180gsm and double sided, so you get two different designs per sheet. There are 24 pages and 4 different double sided papers (that is 8 different designs) per 8"x8" book. They are made from recycled paper, but ooze quality and elegance! Can you tell I am impressed? At 180gsm they are stiff enough to make easel cards with, and I will be back with one of those soon! The flat backed pearls and buttons are self adhesive and each pack contains a range of sizes. I used inkylicious stamps and distress markers for the main image.
This weekend we are busy helping Meg to move into her student flat. The house has been full of boxes for the last few weeks and it will suddenly seem very empty once she has gone! I am looking forward to exploring new craft shops in Sheffield when I visit her! I have had one or two slightly tearful moments as she had her last karate classes in Notts for a while, and both Sensei spoke of their pride in her achievements and wished her luck - More proud mum moments!
I will share some more of the gorgeous products from 'Be Creative' very soon, and let you know a bit more about them.
Thanks for looking!

Male Birthdays

 Lots of people struggle when it comes to ideas for male birthdays, especially teenagers. In times of need I will often opt for digi images, and Mo Manning has quite a few, especially if you are looking for a computer or gaming theme. With this one I began by stamping a panel of white stamping card with a twinchie stamp from Inkylicious in Kaleidacolor Creole Spice. I dusted over using the same ink pad and my ink dusters. I trimmed this and attached it to the base card, popping a turquoise stick on nail head at each corner.
I sprayed a snippet of card using blue and purple dylusions. When it was dry, I ran it through the cuttlebug inside a birthday themed embossing folder, before rubbing over some treasure brass to highlight the embossing. The sentiment is from Little Claire and was also stamped on a snippet. I made both of these cards a while ago. This first one was made for Meg's godmother's godson (Meg's godbrother?), who is also off to University in Sheffield.

 Here is another male card for you.This time I found some snippets of black card, and paper pieced the Woodware clear singles Sneakers stamp, using a white gelly roll pen on the laces and eyelets. I used ice grey 1 and pastel blue promarkers to shade around the stamp and a little ivory to add some shape to the sneakers. This stamp is great for paper piecing and for girls or boys from about 12 upwards - So versatile!
As I used snippets on both, I am off to Miss Di's snippet playground with them. I will be behind the bike sheds where the chocklit is, hoping the tag game is finished and no one else gets a tail pinned on them. Poor Mrs A! Hope Miss Di is feeling a bit better and her back is behaving itself.  Thanks for looking!

Snippet makes

I have been having a little play with some snippets, Card-io stamps and memento inks (tuxedo black, cantaloupe, dandelion and elderberry). The stamped and inked panels are offcuts when you cut a square from an A5 piece. The matting and layering is also snippets, as is the ribbon.

I am off to Miss Di's Snippet playground with these, and absolutely no chocolate whatsoever...nod, nod, wink, wink. Better be careful as Sarn is prefect and she knows what I am like, lol!
Before I go, if there is anyone out there who would be able to gather some seeds from the flowers in their garden and post them for us to grow in the school grounds or allotment, please email me: sallyholmes66@virginmedia.com
Thank you, and thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations for September

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new Challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month our theme is Sew Special.It can be sewing real or faux, sewing related images or embellishments or how about a 'Sew Special' sentiment, the choice is yours to interpret as you wish.

Usual rules apply, you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges, use any make of stamp......but can I please remind you.........we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image, sentiment or quote as the focal element of your artwork. It so upsets us to see names come out in the draw who are not eligible for the prize because they have not read the rules.  
 I dug deep into my stash for my card this month! The buttons and daisy lace are probably older than Megan, and the DP and kraft card are also quite old. I used stamps from the Inkylicious set Corsetiere (Tape measure and Dressmakers dummy) and Inky Doodles (sentiment, bee and stitching). All stamped images were embossed with detail white embossing powder. I then added a little faux stitching with a white gel pen and a walnut stain distress marker.
Our Sponsors for this month are Stamp Addicts who are offering  a £35 store voucher as first prize. We also have a second prize of a pair of tickets to the November Hobbycraft show at the NEC. Stamp Addicts is a family run business based in Bedfordshire and have been in business since 1992. They have watched the popularity of rubber stamping and all papercrafts steadily increase over time and now manufacture their own branded rubber stamps which frequently feature at craft shows across the UK. 
Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the gorgeous creations from my lovely teamies, and I hope to see lots of lovely entries.
Thanks for looking!