A Winter Digi from Dora

Hi there! I m here with my DT card for Dora Knutselhoekje. 
The  theme the DT are following this month is Winter. I used the Winter Wren image, printed onto card and coloured with alcohol pens. The splatter stamp on the base card and the sentiment are from Inkylicious.  There are lots beautiful samples on Dora's blog from the rest of the DT. Do pop over there and take a look at Dora's fabulous images.
Thanks for looking!

Butterflies from Dora

Here is my DT project for Dora this month. Our theme was bright colours and butterflies. My card was made with digis drawn by Dora, which you can find on her blog here. I printed them onto super smooth paper and coloured with alcohol markers. I then cut them out and attached them to a box frame painted with chalk effect inks. Not sure what I will put in the frame yet, but I did enjoy making something other than a card. Thanks for looking!

Dora's Digis for March

Carrying on with the African theme I have been playing with my ink dusters to create a background for Dora's fabulous Elephant that you can find here. The background stamps are all from Inkylicious and the inks are Izinks. I coloured the elephant with alcohol based markers.

I also made a card with one of the squirrels which you can also find on the realistic animals page. It was a sunny morning for once so the base of the easel card is a bit too washed out in the photo.

I'm hoping it got to it's destination on time.
Here is a photo of our resident squirrel during the recent snow

 
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Spring Flowers

 Here are my DT cards for Dora this month. Our theme was spring flowers and the magnolia and snowdrops are some of the first spring flowers in the garden. My card was made with  digis drawn by Dora, which you can find on her blog here.

I coloured both with alcohol markers and used papers from the Dovecraft Bohemian pad. Tag sentiments are from Craftwork Cards.
We had a lovely Burn's Night supper last night and did our bit for citizen science with the Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday morning. We got 13 species in an hour, but no starlings or sparrows at all! There is still one more day to join in if you can. We learn so much about our garden birds when we do. It is the first time Steve and I have done it together, now he has retired and is home on Saturdays.
I have finished Steve's Birthday card and made 2 baby cards for colleagues at work today which I will share with you in due course.
Thanks for looking and I hope you have had a wonderful weekend.

Rudolf day for January

 

Hi there! It is already approaching the end of January and so it is time for another Rudolf day over at Scrappy Mo's. For my Cards for 2018 I am kicking off with a wintry woodland scene using stamps from Inkylicious and my faithful ink dusters. I added red berries with garnet liquid pearls and added some snowflakes with fluffy puffy stuff and clear spectrum noir sparkle pen. I added a little to the snow drifts and the deer footprints too. 

My second card was made with an Artful Stamper wood mounted stamp bought many moons ago. It has been about 10 years since I last used it, but as I was having a clear-out I rediscovered it. It makes a very simple and quick Christmas card. I coloured it with alcohol markers and added liquid pearls as the berries. The sentiment is from a Honey Doo set.
I hope you have managed to stay warm in the recent cold snap and the snow or thaw hasn't troubled you too much.
We are looking forward to the weekend as we will be hosting a belated Burns night supper with some old friends and also taking part in the Big Garden Bird Watch.
Happy Crafting and thanks for looking!

Happy Father's day

Here are the two cards I made for Father's day this year. The first is for my Dad. We were chatting about a holiday he took some years ago where he visited Skomer in June. There were puffins everywhere! This was the ideal opportunity to use my new puffin stamps from Hobby Art , the current monthly special. I coloured them with a mixture of Zig clean color markers and distress markers. I am entering this one into the current challenge at Penny Black and more where the theme is anything goes

For my Father-in-Law I used one of Dora's digis - a squirrel drawn from one of my photos. I used a woodgrain embossing folder and made a circular aperture in a piece of Kraft card. The leaves are from a stamp set by Hobby art. You can find Dora's digis here on her blog.
I do hope you are having a good weekend and not suffering too much with the heat. Do forgive me if I don't visit so much for a couple of weeks as I am writing reports at the moment - five done, 22 to go!

Dora's Digi and a Bluebell Walk

Hi there! I'm here with a card that is my DT offering for Dora's Digis which are here on her blog. I coloured it with Be Creative Alcohol markers. Again I am a few days late, I'm afraid! The papers are from an Artylicious CD rom (Chocolate Baroque - not sure if they are still available) I do love a dragonfly 😊
Whilst I am here I thought I would share some photos from my belated birthday lunch and bluebell walk with my Sister and Brother in Law, last weekend. It was a beautiful day!

 A lovely view across Linacre reservoir. There are three dams and three lakes all surrounded by woodland on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

 Marsh Marigolds (a member of the buttercup family), affectionately known as May Blobs by my grandfather

 And lots of Bluebells

 Don't you just love the contrast of the fresh greens, the old beech leaves and the bluebells?

 Ransoms (Wild Garlic) in amongst the bluebells

 These two trees remind me of a Lavinia stamp....
I hope you enjoyed the stroll in the sunshine. Apologies for not making it into blog land as much as I'd like at the moment. It is pointless government test time in primary schools. Don't let anyone tell you that we don't have to do them any more, because we do and they are making them harder and harder. There are questions on the KS2 paper that are like the ones that were on O level papers in my day. I'd better get off my soapbox and go and cook tea.
Thanks for looking!

Some more Samples for Be Creative

Here are some cards made with the Be Creative paper pads for Gordon and Justin's appearances on Hochanda a little while ago. For the first I used a Digi from Hero Arts (I also have this as a clear stamp and a red rubber wood mounted stamp, but the possibility of resizing the digi made it a must have as well!)  I coloured it with Be Creative alcohol markers, shaped it with spray 'm' boss, and mounted on a Nellie Snellen die cut. The border is a spellbinders die and the gems are also from Be Creative, coloured with an alcohol marker. I added some Be Creative glitter glue to the butterfly too.

For my second card I used a stamp from Inkylicious over some card washed with Distress inks and water. I added a skeleton leaf and popped them on the front of a card covered in paper from the Be Creative Nature's portrait pad.

My final card was made with the time flies pad and a Digi from Digistamp boutique, again coloured with alcohol markers. The sentiment was stamped then placed into the flattened bottle cap before mounting with 3d glue gel.All Be Creative products are available from Once Upon a Stamp. You can find their website here.
Sorry I haven't been in blog land much recently. There has been lots happening at work and Steve's Dad has been in hospital all week after a fall caused by very low blood pressure. He had a nasty knock to the head, but no broken bones, and after transferring him to another hospital he had a pacemaker fitted on Friday...not bad going for a 95 year old, and to be honest he seems more lively now than he has in months! He should be home by the middle of next week, but is still a bit wobbly walking.
I will leave you with a photo or two of our wildflower meadow in the allotment at work. So pleased it came into flower just as we were judged for the Nottingham in Bloom competition!

Thanks for looking! 

More Aurora Wings Colouring

 Back in February I entered this card into an Aurora Wings Challenge on Facebook. Amazingly, I was lucky enough to be a winner! As a part of my prize I chose this image called Calla Lily Sprite.
The first one I coloured with be Creative markers and used papers on my card from the Artylicious cd Butterfly Bliss and Filigree fusion (I think - it is a while since I printed them out!) The pale gold card is pearlescent, and I used a  gold gelly roll stardust pen for the centres of the lilies.

My second card is one that I did as a sample for Be Creative's Hochanda shows last Friday. I used paper from their Nature's portrait paper pad. The bottletop and glitter glue are also from Be Creative.
Hi there to my new followers, Teri, Kate, Jo and Trudi. Great to have you here! I aim to have some Follower candy soon, as I head back to 300 followers (I got there just before Google had the clear out and wiped 14 off my total (Grrrr!)
Today I have enjoyed my belated Mother's day, with Meg being home for her Easter Holiday. I was treated to breakfast in bed, a beautiful bunch of flowers...

and some amazing home baked biscuits called Gypsy Creams (I think these might be a Dumfries and Galloway delicacy, taken from the cookbook we bought from New Abbey tea Rooms last summer)


I consider myself a very fortunate Mum!
Thanks for looking!

March Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month, so time for our March challenge at Stamping Sensations, where this month we have a great theme of........

********Flower Power********

Perfect for Mother's day, and spring! For my first card I used a stamp by Honey Doo Crafts, coloured with Be Creative markers and decoupaged  over an ink dusted oval. I used the same pens to make a coordinating layer before mounting on a base card covered in paper from the pastel inspirations pad. I added a stamped sentiment framed using a Be Creative  bottle cap. 

 For my second card I used a digi (girl) from Digistamp boutique and a flower woodware singles stamp. All images were coloured with Be Creative alcohol markers. The paper on this card is from the Vintage Collage pad, and I also used be creative glitter glue.
The 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 and stamping must be the focal/predominant element of your work. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. 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. 
Now onto the sponsor and prize this month 
We are being sponsored by Be Creative who have put together a great prize! Feast your eyes on these goodies!  

 Paper pads, pearls and gems galore! You can see loads of ideas of how to use Be Creative products on the design team blog. Do pop over and become a follower!
Also don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fabulous inspiration from my multi-talented teamies too! 
It will be a very strange Mother's day for me as Meg is not able to come home this weekend and I'm the only Mum left in the immediate family. We are postponing Mother's day here until 20th March, when Meg will be home for her Easter holidays.
Thanks for looking, and if you are celebrating Mother's day today, I hope you have a great day!

Colouring faces

 I've been colouring some different images over the past couple of weeks. Different  in that I don't normally go for this style of image!  I downloaded the flower maiden from Aurora Wings etsy shop and gave her a pastel look with my be creative alcohol Markers. I added glitter glue and liquid pearls to her hair too - here's a close-up...

 The base card is covered in paper from Be Creative's Vintage collage paper pad. I have to say it was a joy to colour her and I will definitely be buying more of Mitzi's images. There is a sale on at the moment too!

 My second image is another digi download, this time from Lavinia. Again I coloured her with Be creative alcohol markers and added liquid pearls and glitter glue. The base card was covered in a gelli print made some time ago with pearlised paints and a stencil. Here she is at a different angle so you can see the sparkle on the glitter glue.

Whilst I am showing you digis, can I please make a plea to you all. If you want a digi, go to the artist and buy it! Please avoid those sites that seem to think it is okay to steal,  or give away images without the artist's permission. I know several artists who spend hours, sometimes days producing images to sell for a very small price compared to rubber stamps. They need to sell at least 15 to 20 of those images to buy their child's next pair of shoes, or pay for that guitar lesson. If, like me, you teach workshops involving colouring, it is common courtesy to ask permission too. I have found artists are very obliging when it comes to letting me use their images at workshops, and if it helps to spread the word on how lovely their images are then all the better. Just keep in mind they need to make a living too. Rant over - thanks for listening!

Masculine cards

There have been several male birthdays in our family and friends recently. First up was Steve's birthday...

As a duck fan, this stamp from Crafty Individuals was perfect and I stamped it on silk art card and coloured with distress markers. The base paper was one that was a very pale gelli plate print, so I washed over it with distress stain to make it fit the colour scheme. The snippet of paper under the stamped image has to be at least 15 years old and I am not sure where it came from!

Next was my Dad's birthday, so a little scene was called for. All stamps are from Inkylicious, except the stag (stampscapes) and the scene was created with inkylicious stencils and ink dusters. 

Finally it was Meg's boyfriend's birthday. He is a 2nd Dan Black Belt and Sensei, so when I saw this Kenny K digi it was perfect! I coloured it with be Creative Alcohol Markers. the Paper is from Canon Creative Park and the sentiment is a very old one from Stamporium.

A Glass Frame and Be Creative Exciting News!

If you watched the last Hochanda shows that Justin and Gordon from Be Creative did, you will have already seen my photo frame. It is one of the white glass frames priced at £2 from Wilkos.  I used the narrowest of their wondertape around the aperture and stuck foil to it. I then coloured the frame using my Be creative alcohol markers trying to create a Clarice Cliff type of feel to it. It took just a few minutes.
Now for my news. We have a brand new DT blog at Be Creative and we would love you to come over and follow us. Justin has promised a blog candy draw when we reach 100 followers, so do tell your crafting friends!
Thanks for looking!

A couple of Be Creative floral cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made for Be Creative, using their wonderful paper pads and their alcohol markers. Did you see their shows on Hochanda? If so you may have already seen these. For the first I coloured a woodware singles rose. I covered the front of the card with the paper (I think it is from the vintage memories pad) and then coloured the rose border to match my rose and the one on the corner of the paper. I used a cream marker to add a little colour to the pearl and finished with an organza bow and a bit of tea dye DI around the edge.

My second card was made using paper form the floraella pad and a digi image from Teri Sherman's Delicious doodles etsy shop, coloured with Be Creative alcohol markers. The gems were also coloured with the markers and I added a pale blue bow and ribbon.   I am quite proud of these two bows. I really need a bow maker, but managed these without. I haven't tied a decent bow since though, lol!
Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my last post. I am more or less recovered now, although it has taken a week to get rid of the worst of the cough. That has been the most tiring thing. Time really doesn't seem to be on my side at the moment, and I am sorry I am not able to comment in blog land as much as I would like.
Meg went back to uni on Friday ready for her first placement in a hospital. I am hoping that the snow doesn't affect her too much as she is relying on trains and buses to get her to and from Barnsley each day for a fortnight. How is the snow where you are? We have had about an inch, but no more than that, and I don't think it will affect me getting to work.
Justin and Gordon have three more shows tomorrow on Hochanda. Do tune in and watch if you can at 11am, 3pm and 6pm.
Thanks for looking!

Stamping Sensations Challenge

Happy New Year and time for our first challenge of 2016 at Stamping Sensations!

Our theme this month is......................

********Anything goes with a die********

A nice wide open theme this month and I think most us have a die or two or three. 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. This can be a digi stamp, but not a pre-coloured image. 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. 
My card above is one that welcomed my great-niece into the family. I used Inky Doodles stamps and a spellbinders scalloped rectangle die.
As I have had the time between Christmas and new year to relax a little, I managed a second card this month.

 The border is a spellbinders die and the stamp is a hero arts digi, coloured with alcohol markers and a few spots of starlights paint. The embossing folder with enclosed die is from Marianne designs. 

We are pleased to welcome Tonic Studios back as this months sponsor and what a fabulous prize they are offering to one very lucky winner.........................

I look forward to being able to purchase some of these beauties myself as they look wonderful! 

Do pop over to the challenge blog and check out the wonderful inspiration from my lovely team mates this month, and I look forward to seeing your entries soon.

Thanks for looking!

Creative Stamping Magazine

 

The latest issue of Creative Stamping Magazine is now on sale.  Here are some cards that I made for it using Be creative papers, markers, buttons and gems. If you want to know how I made them there are step by step instructions in the magazine.

 The paper pad is called Time flies, and is perfect for New Year wishes.