Rudolf day for April

After missing Scrappy Mo's Rudolf day for March I was trying to get four cards made for April, but I messed one up, so I'll share three this month and three next 😄 Note to self: A rolling pokey tool doth spread liquid pearls for miles!!!!!!

 For my first two cards I used the Hobby Art Holly and Ivy set, embossed with gold embossing powder and coloured , the forst with liquid pearls and the second with watercolour markers

 I used glossy accents on the berries of the second one.

My third card was stamped with Inkylicious stamps and dotted with liquid pearls.
Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look at all the lovely inspiration!
I hope you have a wonderful bank holiday weekend. We are going to have a walk in the peak district at some point, depending on the weather. 
Thanks for looking!

Meg's Birthday Card

It was Meg's birthday on Monday, and I decided to make her card using Oliver the Owl from Hobby Art. I used ink dusters to create the background and stamped grasses and seed heads from the set for the background. I coloured the owl with alcohol markers. Later I decided to try and create more of a night time scene using the same stamps. After hubby told me it wasn't straight, I added some ivy to Oliver's perch in order to disguise the wonkyness 😁

I am quite pleased with the result. As the challenge at Allsorts this week is  I spy and needs to begin with B, a Barn owl (also a bird) would seem a reasonable choice, so I'm entering it there.

We had a lovely meal in Sheffield at a place called the Italian Kitchen. Before I go here is a photo of the cake I made to take with us 

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Couple of Digis from Dora

Here are two DT offering for Dora's Digis which are here on her blog. I coloured them with Be Creative Alcohol markers. They are a few days late, I'm afraid! I was supposed to post this before I went to stay with Lynne, but completely forgot!
My first is Dora's lovely Elephant teamed up with Chocolate Baroque papers and a die cut bow

 My second is Dora's Seagulls and Crafty individuals paper from their Seaside pad.
Both Images were coloured with Be creative Alcohol markers.
As I said, I have just come back from a little break at Lynne's house. We had some good walks and there were lots of photo opportunities. I thought I would share some of my bird photos here. First we have a lesser Redpoll

 a tree sparrow

 A pair of siskins

A pheasant

a Buzzard

 A yellow Hammer

 and Goldfinches

 As you can see, Lynne gets a wonderful array of birds on her feeders, and the Buzzard is a regular visitor to the field next to her home.
Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great weekend. We will be seeing Meg as it is her 20th Birthday on Monday - where did that time go?!
 Happy Easter!
 

A few photos

We had a lovely walk today around a relatively new RSPB reserve in Notts - Langford Lowfields. It was quite breezy and cloudy at times, but we  really enjoyed it. Here are a few photos...

 I always called this flower Lady's smock, but it is also known as Cuckoo Flower.

 A great crested grebe

 Greylag geese

 I love the reeds against the water...

 There were hundreds of cowslips

 lovely reflections when the wind dropped

A male reed bunting making the most at one of the bird feeders
Thanks for looking!

Moonlight, Willow trees and a walk

Since I got my Inkylicious Moonscape stamp and mask I have been playing with it quite a lot! For this scene I used memento inks in Elderberry, Lulu lavender and Cantaloupe. I stamped the moon in lulu lavender then masked it and dusted the cantaloupe ink over the area. I then continued to dust with the lulu lavender and the elderberry ink. After removing the mask, I dusted the moon lightly with lavender and cantaloupe ink in a circular motion, giving it a pink tinge. I added the hills with a mountain valley stencil and stamped the willow trees (also from inkylicious) in Elderberry ink. Finally I added spots of clear stardust gelly roll pen to the trees and their roots and stamped the birds. This was such an easy card to make and I am very pleased with the result.
Before I go I will share a few photos. Meg came home for a few days and we went for a walk in Derbyshire - the Tansley and Matlock area. There was beautiful sunshine and lovely scenery along the Lumsdale Valley.
Here are a few photos...

April at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is...........

***Anything Goes***

As the title suggests we want to see your projects  - no theme this month, but please remember we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image, sentiment or quote as the focal element of your artwork. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. And please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.
 For my card I used Woodware Large fennel in the foreground and Indigo Blu tiny backgrounds for the inky layer. These stamps, and the distress ink used for the background are all bought from PDA (our lovely sponsors this month), along with the liquid pearls and the lovely black paper used for matting and layering.
So what is the prize I hear you ask... A whopping £40 online voucher to spend with PDA! I can easily spend that every time I visit, lol, so if you need any help....😉
I just wanted to say I'm sorry I haven't been around much recently. The run up to the end of term has been so full on this last two weeks. I have been buried under assessments, Data and record keeping as well as observations, a class exhibition, a trip and some student reports. I have now finished for a full two week holiday though, so I aim to have some me time! Apologies for the lack of blogging. I even missed March Rudolf days! Not like me - hopefully normal service should now resume!
Thanks for looking!