Ladybirds and Daisies

Over at Allsorts this week there is a theme of Blossoms, butterflies, bugs. I have had a bit of a trawl through some of my very old stash this week, and from some of it came up with this. The stamp is Penny Black Lazy Daisies, stamped onto watercolour card and coloured with zig clean color markers. I have always loved this image. It reminds me of those warm spring days where suddenly there is a ladybird everywhere you look in the garden! The paper was from a very old Provo Craft Bitty Scrap pad - all blues, greens and purples, and I loved every one. What you can't see is the shine on the ladybirds and the shimmer on the centre of the daisies, from a gelly roll glaze and a gelly roll stardust pen. I also added the white marks on the ladybirds' faces with a white gel pen.
I am also entering this into the Penny Black and More challenge, where the theme is Spring.
I hope you are having a good week and thanks for your lovely comments.

Something New

Here is a card I made with my new spectrum Noir sparkle pens and two new stamps from Bee Crafty. I am loving that sparkle! I might have moaned about breaking up from school so late, but it has been wonderful to have some crafting time after all the festivities have ended. It is back to work tomorrow so I am cramming in an extra post today.
I think this has to be one of my favourite quotes of all time and I intend to try and follow that advice this year!
As the challenges at Allsorts this week and Penny Black and More this month are to show new things, I am entering this card into both challenges.
I hope your New Year has got off to a good start and thanks for looking and for your lovely comments x

In Bloom

When I saw the theme for Allsorts this week I was quite pleased, as I had this card nearly finished. After my trip to Doncaster, where I bought this beautiful Hydrangea stamp from Inkylicious, I have been itching to have a go at a background dusted on linen look card stock with my ink dusters. I got out the Spring distress inks (LOVE these colours!) and made the background, adding a little detail with the text stamp and some sequin waste. I stamped the Hydrangea in black and added a line of white gel pen around the edge. I saw one of Deby's cards where she had done this and loved how it made the image pop. I added an embossed panel, some ribbon, some flowers and leaves cut with a Marianne Designs die, and a few spots of diamond Stickles. All stamps are from Inkylicious. I'd also like to enter this into the challenge at Penny Black and More where the theme is Summer blooms. Thanks for looking!

Several snippet makes

It is going to be a very quick one today as it is Meg's Birthday. She is 15. I can't believe how quickly time has flown! All of my cards on this post are destined for Di's Crafty snippet challenge. Whilst tidying my craft space last weekend I found all sorts of things. I was in the middle of making a birthday card for a colleague, and went in search of scraps. I found several coordinating pieces and ended up making this.

 My workmate loves her caravan, her dog and is very musical, so hopefully she will love this. I also found a scrap of Stella and Rose paper from My Mind's eye. It was a perfect backdrop for this pair of Penny Black ducks that have also been lurking for a while on my desk.

I used some scraps of green shimmery parchment to make the border and mat the image. The flowers were  made from punched scraps of coloured parchment. I am also entering this into Penny Black and More @Allsorts where the theme is 'Oh so cute!' . Here is a close up of the flowers...

and you can see my faux stitching.  I don't do real stitching on cards, it is all done with a pen, and sometimes a poky tool too. I have a Distress ink marker in picket fence and it does look quite realistic from a distance. If I did get my sewing machine out more, I guess I wouldn't still have three pairs of trousers waiting to be turned up, lol!
My last snippet make is another using pink petticoat papers (yes, again!). You will be pleased to know there are no more snippets of these left in my drawer now, so I will be using something different for the next few weeks!

The border is a tonic punch, the frame is a Waltzing mouse stamp and the butterfly is a hero arts digi. I do have this stamp both in rubber and clear versions, but the idea of making it resizeable was irresistible! Here is a close up of the butterfly too.

I coloured it with promarkers and added a tiny bit of glitter. So, I'm off to the snippet playground with three makes and a bag of pear drops - maybe I'll see you there.Thanks for looking!