Rudolf Day at Scrappy Mo's

It is 25th of January and time for the first Rudolf day of 2015. I had printed out a whole load of Christmas birds from Nicecrane designs and hadn't used them before Christmas, so I set to making some into cards for Rudolf day. It seemed particularly apt as it was the RSPBs big garden birdwatch this weekend.

I used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder that was also in the sale at The Range, a sentiment from Inkylicious and snippets of coloured card and ribbon from my stash. I used my ink dusters to add a tiny bit of colour to the dry embossing and all of the dies are from Spellbinders. the border on the robin card was made using a Martha Stewart punch. Oh yes, and oodles of stickles!
Do pop over to Scrappy Mo's and join in the fun for Rudolf day. I am also taking these along to Miss Di's Snippet Playground as I have used up some snippets too. I'd like to say a big thank you to Di, as she is posting my gorgeous prize of some wonderful stamps as I type this. I was lucky to win at the playground last week, despite some 'horsing around' lol!

Thanks for looking!

The last Rudolf day for 2014!

As it is the last Rudolf day for 2014 and the last with the Lovely Sarn at the helm I thought I'd better pull out the stops and go for more than 2 Christmas cards this month. It also makes up for the fact that I missed doing Rudolf day in July. I am quite pleased that I have managed 10 out of 11 and made at least 2 cards for each - never been this well prepared before! I will definitely join in next year with Scrappymo in charge!
My first card is a scene using inkylicious stamps.  the sky and shading was created using my ink dusters, and a combination of ink (Adirondack peach bellini, memento grape jelly and impress lemon yellow).A few dots of various stickles finished it off.

My second card also uses inkylicious stamps (twiggy branch and winter bough) and is very much a case of one that Deby had on her stand at Doncaster. I dusted a few pale colours over the background and then stamped in a circle with memento tuxedo black. I filled in all the berries on the winter bough with liquid pearls, fluffy puffy stuff and stickles. Remember to heat your fluffy puffy stuff before the 'berries' are applied.

Here is another very old digi snowman that I think was a freebie from Cuddly Buddly, coloured with promarkers.

This next one is a Chloe's stamp (starry wreath) with a pine branch from inkylicious in the corners and matted and layered onto Holly paper from a Joanna Sheen CD (Victorian Christmas, I think!)

Finally here are two more that I have done very similar ones before -  This first has a Christmas bird image from Nice Crane

 And the second was made with inkylicious stamps and a sentiment from Chocolate baroque.

Before I sign off I want to say Thank you once again to Sarn for getting me organised and for hosting the challenge. Promise me you won't be a stranger next year! Do pop over to Sarn's blog and take a look at her wonderful cards.

Maple leaves

Here is another of those beautiful Nicecrane images from the Incredible Jessie Willcox collection. I loved the blue dress contrasting with the autumn leaves and so layered the image on snippets of copper and blue papers and mounted on a card base. This had been dusted and stamped with the Inkylicious maple leaves in Kaleidacolor Autumn leaves ink. The sentiment is from Inky Doodles. I am off to Miss Di's snippet playground with this one. Hope it is a bit drier than it is here - might need a hot toddy to keep me going! Steve went out to fill the bird feeders in time for this weekend's big garden Birdwatch, and it was rain that hurt! Great big spots that were cold and blown at you with force!
I also needed another thank you card for a male, so I used the larger of the maple leaf stamps and Kaleidacolor Creole Spice.

The Sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque and fit perfectly in the stripe where I put the masking tape. This ended up less clean and simple than I'd intended - another 'save' where my fingertips had left their little smudges! I do love this ink pad!
Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations mid month inspiration

Welcome! It is time for a bit of mid-month inspiration at Stamping Sensations. I have made another card using the incredible Jessie Wilcox images from Nicecrane. I love them because they are such delightful images of children reading and take me back to my childhood. I had an Andy Pandy fancy dress outfit very much like the one this child is wearing (but blue and white)!

Mrs A said my last card using these gorgeous images reminded her of Milly-Molly-Mandy, which took me right back! I read them all! Does this one remind you of anyone or a book character? I used the delicate vine stamp to add some interest to the backing paper and used scraps of various papers to matte and layer.

Over the next few months our lovely DT are going to feature some of their favourite cards and projects on the challenge blog that they have made over the years. This month it is my turn, so here it is.

Back in August I created this card after seeing some amazing sunsets whilst on holiday in Wales.(See my post here)  Meg persuaded me to make a tutorial for it on youtube, which she filmed and edited for me, and you can find it here.

Ink duster tutorial #2

There is still plenty of time to get your entries in for this months challenge. We are really enjoying seeing your superb cards featuring ribbons, buttons and bows. Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments

Ribbons Buttons and Bows at Stamping Sensations

Hi There! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new Challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month our theme is Ribbons, buttons and/ or bows. We are sponsored by the wonderful Ignacio from Nicecrane Designs, and he very kindly gave us some images to use. The gorgeous set of Jessie Wilcox images appealed to me instantly as it seems so rare to see images of children reading these days! It took me back to the days of Janet and John reading books! I added some snippets of paper from some magazines and stamped the main background papers with Vintage flowers (Inkylicious) in Tea Dye DI.

My second card used stamps from Inky Doodles 'Happiness is...' set, stamped in memento inks.This gorgeous set of stamps was a Christmas present from my lovely hubby.  I used the Victoria Cuttlebug embossing folder and some buttons and ribbon from my stash.
Now onto the prize - Thirty-Five Pounds worth of goodies from the Nicecrane website!!! How marvellous is that? There are so many fabulous images to choose from too. Thanks, Ignacio! Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to see the fabulous inspiration from my lovely teamies. They have done themselves proud once again!
Both of my cards have gone a little way (not that you can tell!) to using up my snippets, so I am off to the snippet playground with them, where there has been a bit of wild weather. Think I will take my bucket and wellies too!
Thanks for looking!

Yet more Christmas cards!

I'm dashing into blogland with more Christmas cards. I have managed to make quite a few cards this weekend and a few even tie in to some challenges too!
First up I have snowflakes (and owls) for the challenge at Allsorts this week.

The stamp is from Little Claire's and it is coloured with promarkers and stickles. The snowflake paper was a freebie from 'Quick cards made easy', I think. I used a spellbinders die and a craftwork cards sentiment to finish it off.

My next is very similar, just a different colour way and papers were from a 12 x12 pack I bought (possibly dovecraft?) that I don't know if I will ever see the end of!!! Poinsettia die is from Marianne designs and the leaves are a Britannia Die from Pink Frog which I bought at Doncaster. These are both stamped last-minute Christmas cards that will be stuck in envelopes and posted as soon as the glue is dry! I am entering them into the challenge at Sweet Stampin'

Next I have another Nicecrane Robin from the Christmas birds sheet. I've added some glitter, some snippets of DP and some snippets of pearlescent card. Again the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards. I think the Holly DP is from an Artylicious cd from Chocolate baroque, but this is a bit left over from last year.
All three of my cards are using up snippets so I'm taking them to Miss Di's snippet playground, where someone got a bit excited with the chestnut roasting and set fire to the bike shed! Off to see if I can help sort it out. 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!

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!

Nicecrane Christmas Birds and a Baby

With so many bird lovers amongst friends and family, I saw these Christmas bird images at Nicecrane designs and had to have them! The Bullfinches are some of my favourites, and it is especially nice to have birds other than robins on there too! I've printed the images onto matte photo paper, then mounted on scraps of card. The base card has been dusted and stamped with Distress inks in Festive berries, Chipped sapphire and tumbled glass, using Inkylicious background stamps (worn paint and Damask).

This second card is much the same, but this time I used the Inkylicious holly panel, and Memento inks in Cottage ivy and Ladybug. I dusted the background with Shabby shutters Distress ink and used distress markers to colour the Holly. I am entering these into Sarn's Rudolf  Day challenge, which I am going to try and follow more religiously next year so I am not behind on my Christmas cards! I am also entering them into the anything goes challenge at Penny Black and More
After the success with the Easel calendar I made yesterday, I thought I would try it with Spellbinders and another of Ignacio's gorgeous images, this time from the colourful nature sheet. 

I love the colours on this one, and the bluebells and daisies are so pretty. Weasels always remind me of some of the fabulous descriptions of the 'wild wood' from 'Wind in the willows'.
I am also going to show you the baby card I have made for my new Great Nephew (crikey that makes me feel old!) Elliot was 8lb 14oz and arrived a little later than expected!

I love the vintage feel of Ignacio's gorgeous images by Bessie Gutmann, and used antique linen and tea dye distress inks to age my papers to match the image.
I hope you are all okay out there. Did you have a dreadful stormy night? If we did, I am afraid I slept through it, and there is not a lot of evidence to say we did either! It was fairly wet and windy yesterday afternoon, but nothing noteworthy. Hope you are keeping warm and dry. Thanks for looking!
P.S. If you haven't done it yet, I have blog candy for followers here

All Creatures Great and Small at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! Here are my cards for the latest Challenge at Stamping Sensations, where our theme for this month is All Creatures Great and Small. Our Sponsors for this month are the wonderful Penny Black, so I chose to use my slapstick paisley swirl all over my base card in memento Danube blue. I then used a lovely set of woodware stamps for the owl, the branch, the flowers and the sentiment and coloured them with promarkers. I added three buttons to finish off.
After this fun card my eye was drawn once more to those lovely images from Nicecrane designs, and the pile of gelli print papers I had made a little while ago. This is what I came up with.

Two tiny creatures on this one! The leaves were cut with a joy crafts die, and the gelli papers were created with Docrafts paint and Inkylicious stamps.
What is the prize this month? Feast your eyes on these wonderful goodies...



I do hope you will find the time to join us this month. Pop over to the challenge blog for lots of fabulous inspiration from my very talented teamies. Thanks for looking!

Another card for the playground

After a very hectic week, I am staggering back to blogland with a final entry for Di's snippet playground challenge. 

Is this a bit bright for a Friday night?! I loved the colours in the topper, which is another from Nicecrane designs. You can find this on the colourful nature Collage sheet, which I love! I found a snippet of yellow card that matched the yellow Hammer and the blue snippet was the right shade of stormy sky. To dull down the yellow a little I over stamped it with the worn paint stamp from Inkylicious in Stormy sky DI. Two more snippets to mat and layer and a snippet of ribbon too. This is my third time in the playground in a fortnight - put the flag out Miss Di! Fingers crossed that I am in with a chance of winning that water drops stamp! Thanks for looking!

Nicecrane Designs

After seeing Brenda's post here and Lynne's post here, I thought I'd better go and check out Nicecrane Designs...what a lot of gorgeous images there are! I spent a bit, but the lovely Ignacio gave me some freebies too. They are instant downloads, so very quick and great when you want a card in a hurry!

The images on these two cards are from a sheet called 'Colorful Nature'. I just loved the vintage feel and the gorgeously crisp images. I know I love stamping, but using images like this still means you can stamp the background or base card. I used the worn paint stamp and the delicate vine from Inkylicious. The inks were bundled sage, shabby shutters and rusty hinge DI, with memento olive grove to stamp the vine. The various scraps of paper and card used to mat and layer were all from my snippets drawers, which are very full at the moment!
I am entering these into Di's crafty snippet challenge (Sorry I have been away so long!)