Pets at Allsorts

I had a little smile when I saw the Pets Challenge at Allsorts this week. I have a pet Giant Africa Land Snail called Brian...  My make is a birthday card I made for my God Daughter who also had a pet Snail called Gary until quite recently. 

I created a distress oxide background on coated card stock, stamped with Lavinia stamps and then sealed with laquer. I wasn't sure it was going to work, but having done some of the stamping in versafine Clair and the chalky texture of the oxides I knew it would need something to stop it smudging. Very happy to say that it worked.

If you aren't keen on snails you might not want to look any further, but just to prove snails are great pets, here is Brian...

He munches his way through the salad drawer, and has a great love of cucumber and sweet potatoes.

He loves having a shower in the sink and doesn't need a great deal to keep him happy. His grandfather (also called Brian) lived to the grand old age of 9 and had many offspring.

Thanks for looking!

January Mid month inspiration (it's another moonscape!)

It is time for my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations, so I've used a moon again and teamed it up with some new Lavinia stamps. The Lavinia berry wreath, crow set and meadow mushroom minature were all christmas presents. The background was created on silk art card using ink dusters, sponges and memento inks, then the foreground was stamped in versafine clair. If you are doing this you need to leave the versafine clair to dry naturally for a long time, or use heat carefully on the coated card stock.  I added gelly roll stardust pen to the berries before adding translucent nuvo drops over the top. White gel pen was added to highlight the mushrooms and the base card was stamped with the inkylicious splatter twinchie.
You still have plenty of time to enter the challenge, so do pop over to the challenge blog for more inspiration. Don't forget to check your entry against the challenge rules and take a look at the fabulous inspiration!
Thanks for looking!

Anything goes at Allsorts

The theme this week at Allsorts is 'Anything Goes' so not too much thinking required, lol. I thought I would share a card a neighbour asked me to make. When she said she liked horses, I remembered I had some by Lavina, so a 'scene' card was the result. The stamps are all Lavinia or Inkylicious, except the sentiment (Little Claire) and the scrabble tiles. I coloured the card with ink dusters and a variety of inks. A fine black pen was used to add grass under the horses and a distant fence.
As this is another card featuring animals, I'm also taking to Penny Black and More for my second entry there.
Thanks for looking!

Badgers

A friend said she needed some cards for friends who like badgers and wondered if I would be able to fit the bill, lol! Little did she know that I had two badger stamps! Both of these cards were made with Lavinia stamps, the inkylicious moon, ink dusters and memento inks.

I added highlights to the badgers with a white gel pen. These are such amazing creatures and should be celebrated.
We are halfway through the month so it is time for a reminder that you still have time to enter the Autumn Colours challenge at Stamping Sensations.
Thanks for looking!

Anniversary

Steve and I have just celebrated our 29th Wedding anniversary and this is the card I made for him. The moon, sentiment and leaves on the base card are all from Inkylicious and the Hares and Grasses are from Lavinia. I added a few highlights with a white gel pen. I'd better start thinking now about next years  - this was very last minute and I wasn't sure if it was dry when I put it in the envelope!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

March at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

********Woodland Friends********

As the title suggest we would love to see your creations featuring any creatures that live in the woods. It could be mammals, birds, insects or invertebrates!

My first Card this month was made with Lavinia stamps. I created the background with inkylicious ink dusters and distress inks.

My second Card was one I made as a commission for Creative Stamping Magazine. More details can be found in Issue 51 (along with the stamps I used)

Please can we remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image as the focal element of your artwork, not just a stamped sentiment or stamping in the background, this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest 

Our sponsors this month are Tattered Lace and they have donated this lovely prize!

 

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the gorgeous designs from all my talented teamies! They really have made some outstanding cards this month! 

Thanks for looking!

Fairies

I'm going to share something with you... prepare yourself for a shock...my new favourite stamp is not a tree!!! I have fallen in love with the inkylicious Moonscape stamp and stencil set, and it seems to be featuring on every card I make at the moment, lol! 

I've made two cards for young ladies who like fairies...

Both feature the inkylicious moon, some Lavinia stamps and lots of ink (Memento, Adirondack and Distress inks) applied with ink dusters.

I've added fairy dust in the form of liquid pearls and glitter glue. The moon is equally effective whether stamped in bold colours or pastels, and with the mask being the perfect size it enables you to get 3d effects! 

Both of these cards would fit the current theme at Stamping Sensations. If you haven't seen the inspiration there then please pop over and try entering this month. There are some lovely goodies to win! 

I will be back soon with more moons no doubt, lol!

Merry Christmas!

I've been crafting and baking so hard I've sweat glitter for the past two days 😁
Here is the result...

First is the card I made for Meg, using a mixture of inkylicious, Hobby Art and Lavinia stamps. It was a bit of an experiment and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I am pretty happy with it. The only thing I would change if I did it again would be to not use my largest circle die for the apperture as I had to hand cut the semi circles from  the white card on the front.
Next are two cards using various hobby Art stamps and inspired by the one that Lynne (Creative Lynks) made me.

I used Zig Clean color markers to colour them all and versafine to stamp them. The sentiment on the last one is from Inkylicious.

I just want to say that I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and I will no doubt be in blog land again once Boxing Day is over. Hope Santa is good to you all! I'd offer you a mince pie, but Tescos were all out of mincemeat, so its Spiced apple muffins instead and a drop of Gluwein!

Merry Christmas!

Feature a Creature at Allsorts

The theme of Feature a Creature at Allsorts seemed like the perfect opportunity to share a card I made for my friend's son, who turned eighteen last month. I used Lavinia stamps, memento inks and inkylicious ink dusters. There is some fabulous inspiration from the Allsorts DT on their blog.
Short and sweet from me today as I have a mountain of things to do this weekend. I will try and visit blogland a bit more soon.
Thanks for looking!

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!

Where has the week gone?

I have had a week off work and it has flown by! I have been busy making but unfortunately I can't show you most of them until August! What I can show you is a cake and a card I made for my lovely God-Daughter who was 24 this week.
The cake was a Carrot cake...

 I adapted the recipe and left out the nuts, decorating the top with some golden sugar sprinkles on the cream cheese frosting.
Here is the card...

Most of the stamps on this scene are from Lavinia Stamps. The cat is so much like one of my god daughter's cats! I created the background with my ink dusters and Distress inks in squeezed lemonade, Dried marigold and Shabby Shutters. I also used memento inks in rose bud, olive grove and tuxedo black.
We have a very beautiful kitten who has begun visiting our garden. It has no collar, so no bell, and is stalking the birds. I will have to resort to the squeezy bottle of water soon as I do not feed my birds so they can end up in a cat's stomach, however pretty he is! If you own a cat, please make sure there is a bell on their collar to at least give the birds a fighting chance, especially at this time of year with so many fledglings around. Please excuse me mentioning this, but I put the same effort into looking after my garden birds as many people do into looking after their pets, and I have seen quite a few casualties recently.
I will leave you with a photo of one of the Dunnocks that lives in our garden and has been very busy this week, flying backwards and forwards taking food to the nest.

 Thanks for looking!

Time flies!

I can't believe it is over a week since I posted! What a bad blogger I am! First I'd like to welcome my latest followers. Not sure when you found me but welcome aboard! I have had a wonderful weekend, as my lovely friend Lynne came to stay and we went to Doncaster together for the Stamp Magic show. I think I can safely say that we shopped till we dropped! We saw Lesley there too and it was so lovely to catch up with  good friends. I have to say I enjoyed the company as much as the shopping, if not more. I am looking forward to having a good play with some of my haul, but I haven't had the chance yet, as today I waved Lynne off and then took my dad to the hospital for a pre-op appointment for his other hip. He will have his second hip replacement in December. The weather was dreadful on the drive back from the hospital. I had the wipers going full blast and the water was across the road in lots of places. When I finally got home Meg made me a cup of tea and I stuffed my face with chocolate!

Anyway, what have I got to show you today? I needed a Thank you card the other day, so I got out my ink dusters and a plain white card. Using Memento inks in dandelion yellow, lilac posies, grape Jelly, Danube blue and Tuxedo black, I made the background,masking the moon. I then stamped the owl and tree ( Lavinia stamps).

The sentiment is a Chocolate Baroque stamp. Very quick and simple! Hope you have managed to stay warm and dry. Thanks for looking!

More trees

There is an area of Sherwood Forest that I drive through whenever I visit my Dad, on the A616 between Edwinstowe and Budby, here (twirl around 360 degrees to see all the trees). I often marvel at the different colours, and Nature provides a feast for the eyes, especially when the sun is shining. At the moment there are so many shades of green, brown and gold, and when I drove up last weekend it inspired me to make a card.

 I didn't quite get the perspective right, as the fir trees look much further away than I intended! The track going into the distance was inspired by Michelle Zindorf. It is something I have seen her do with torn paper a couple of times. All stamps are by Inkylicious except for the dotty ones I used for the leaves on the trees (from Lavinia stamps), and the dragonfly (from Crafty Individuals). The inks were Adirondack, applied with my Ink Dusters and the dragonfly was stamped onto fantasy film.
As it is another tree scene I am entering this into the Craft a Scene challenge (My second entry)
Well, it looks like I'm getting plenty of blogging time this week, but all my posts were half written at the weekend, when the cards were made. I am almost ready to start packing for Rwanda - just a few last minute things to prepare. I will post more details at the weekend about it. I will have my tea now - just got back from a governors meeting. Thanks for looking!

A bit sporadic

Well, where did the last week go? I did intend blogging, and had a couple of cards ready, but starting back to work was so hectic, there were two nights I didn't even switch this computer on! I had a meeting and a meal one evening with the folks I will be going to Rwanda with. Two weeks yesterday I will be boarding a plane to Nairobi and then transferring to Kigali. I am a little more organised than I was on Thursday now, but still lots to do!
I did manage a little bit of time at the craft table yesterday, making a card for Craft a Scene. With a theme like trees I had to have a go this month. I might even have a second go as I have another tree idea inspired by my drive through Sherwood Forest yesterday on the way to my Dad's house.
So, here is my tree card.

I used a mixture of stamps from Lavinia and Inkylicious, Adirondack inks (five different shades - I'll let you guess!) a white distress marker and a black fine liner. I created the background with my ink dusters.
The other things I wanted to share with you were photos of my Dad's dahlias. He lost all of his dahlias in the very snowy winter we had back in 2010, so I bought him some new tubers for his birthday. Here are a few photos of the massive blooms they have produced.

The third one is about 7 inches across! That reminds me. I bought a large Dahlia stamp a little while ago that I really ought to ink up and use!
Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Sir Stampalot!

Good Morning ,crafters! Let me tell you all about a rather special month at Stampalot Challenge. It might be April Fools day,  the surprises are all good ones and you are going to be spoilt rotten this month. There are a total of fourteen prizes to be won because it's our Second Birthday, so the theme this month is:

Happy Birthday

You can make anything you want as long as it's to celebrate a Birthday and this is the prize from Sir Stampalot for this months challenge winner:

But it does not stop there, as we are having a Blog Hop and what great prizes Sir Stampalot are offering in addition the the challenge prize above, one at each of the DT's blogs and another for the winner of the correct blog hop answer. I know lots of you are familiar with what you need to do, but as we are seeing so many new crafters joining our challenge, I had better briefly explain:

 Visit eAch of the DT's blogs listed below And collect the letter - mine should be fAirly obvious!

LeAve eAch one A comment to be sure you Are in the drAw for the prizes on eAch of the DT's blogs

Assemble those letters into two words - both hAve four letters and send your Answers to brenda@ibas.co.uk by noon GMT on 30th April

All correct answers will go into the draw for this super prize of HERO ARTS goodies

Here's the list of names you need to follow, each one will tell you where you should have arrived from and where you need to go next, and don't forget you need to leave a comment at each blog, otherwise you won't be in the draw for all those prizes.

Sally - That's me!
Pinky

Clare

Brenda
Ruth

Tracy
Lynne

Francesca

To get here you should have come from the challenge blog, and your next port of call will be Pinky.

This is the prize you can win on my blog:

And there are yet more prizes, because as this is a special month for us, this month Top 3 challenge entrants will also receive a little prize rather like this which Brenda has put together...........

Now there was something else I had to remember...

Oh yes, my card!

The background paper is from Pink Petticoat, and the Honeysuckle stamp is from Lavinia, coloured with promarkers. The frame is a Waltzing Mouse stamp cut out with a Nestie and the pink border is a tonic studios punch. The sentiment is also a Waltzing Mouse stamp.

Anyway, I don't want you snoozing off so I'd better shut up. Don't forget to go and have a look at the DT's gorgeous samples on the Challenge Blog, where you will also find all the details of the challenge and blog hop, and I look forward to visiting you soon.

Free and Easy February at Allsorts

Allsorts are having another free choice week this week, so it was the perfect opportunity to have a play with more trees, Adirondack inks and ink dusters. This first card uses the Lavinia trees in black, with a landscape sky created using eggplant, pool, denim and mountain rose. The stitching stamp is from Waltzing Mouse and the buttons were from Sir Stampalot.

My second card is an easel card. It features all Lavinia stamps and inks in Sunshine yellow, peach Bellini, Mountain rose and Slate. I used a tonic punch for the border.

I added a few shadows on the leaves in the foreground, some roots on the tree, a little trunk detail  and a few fronds of grass round the bottom of the fence. I could have done with using a pen that was slightly paler, but never mind. There was a rather spectacular sunset here this evening with orange and bright pink in abundance. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo in time.
Welcome to my new followers Mandy, Victoria, Ellie and Louise. Thanks for following and I hope you enjoy looking around my blog.
Hope everyone has a great evening. Thanks for looking!

For my dear friend, B

I have a lovely friend who is as addicted to trees as I am (you probably know exactly who I am talking about). I received a lovely little parcel from her last week containing some Lavinia trees and a pack of their fabulous card. Thank you so much my friend. Very much appreciated. This thank you card has reached it's destination now, so I am safe to post it here. I've sent her a bit of spring sunshine to compensate for that weather they have been having in the fens!

I used Adirondack inks in espresso, lettuce, meadow, sunset orange, sunshine yellow and peach bellini with stamps and ink dusters. The other plants in the foreground are a mixture of Lavinia and Inkylicious stamps. I used white gel pen to highlight the trees and gold to highlight the flowers.
Thanks for looking!

A few more CAS cards

I have been busy all week with Panto at school, so tonight is the first time since the weekend I've had enough time to stamp. We have one more matinee to do and then it is all over for another year. The song my class sang is called 'Life is a wonderful thing', and it is the sort of song that gets into your head and is there every waking moment. I found myself singing it as I was pushing the trolley round the supermarket! Anyway, on to my cards. I started with a couple more hero arts wreath cards, but as I had run out of red gems I used red tulip paint and stickles instead, and as I'd not used the tulip paint since last Christmas it had separated a bit and was a bit runny in places. I added a rather large tartan bow to cover a splodge on the next one!

Next I got out my Lavinia Mistletoe stamp and Versafine Olympia Green. I have made quite a few Christmas cards using this design since I first saw Tracy Dutton demo it at Doncaster about four years ago.

I added a bit of icicle stickles to the berries and a sentiment from Hero Arts. I tried to stamp another, but this time it didn't quite meet, so I added a bow in the gap.

The bow and sentiment don't look quite central on this one, but it doesn't look as bad as the photo in real life!

Finally I want to share some photos with you that I took on the way back from visiting my Dad on Saturday. 

 I thought of Adirondack eggplant and peach bellini the minute I saw that sky!!! I had a chat with Brenda and challenged her to recreate it and you can see the results here. She did an amazing job! Unfortunately the journey wasn't all good as a passing vehicle kicked up a rather large stone that cracked my windscreen, and the crack that was about 3cm long on Sunday was about 20cm long by Tuesday. I am now £75 lighter in the purse. At least it wasn't today it was being replaced - wouldn't have fancied that job in those winds and rain! Talking of the weather, I hope those of you in Scotland have made it through the day without problems caused by those winds, and are tucked up safely in your homes. Thanks for looking!