More 'Make it Colourful' inspiration

It is mid-way through June so time for our mid-month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is

***Make it Colourful!***

Our Sponsors this month are Visible Image. My mid-month creation was made with That's Crafty stamps and stencil with a distress ink background. I simply wet the stencil then layed it over the ink to get the watermark effect. I coloured the flowers with arteza brush pens.
I do hope you get chance to enter the challenge.

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Even More Crafty Individuals Samples

Here are some more samples that were created for the latest release of Crafty Individuals stamps. First up are those 3 birds using this stamp, coloured with giotto pens and matted and layered on to Flo's gorgeous papers

Next up is the tea cups, again coloured with the giotto pens and on Flo's papers

This is the Sewing Machine on a patchwork background of Flo's papers

This version of the Camper Van was attached using a wire spring so it is on a bumpy journey!

And finally another of those cute quirky birds.

Thanks so much for looking and for taking the time to leave a comment. All of the new stamps are so wonderful, I can't seem to put them down!

More Crafty Individuals samples

I thought I would show you some of the 'non-card' creations I made for the recent Crafty Individuals shows on Hochanda. My pin cushion (above) and needle book (below) were stamped with Versafine clair using CI-328

I made a fabric wall hanging with the new sewing machine stamp too (CI-545)

I made a shrink plastic brooch with the new campervan stamp and a broken necklace CI-546

Here is a little ephemera folder stamped with images from CI-328

and finally, here is a small junk journal, stamped with images from CI-391

If you are on Facebook and aren't aware we have a Crafty Individuals Facebook group. It would be lovely to see you there! Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!

June at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! I hope that you are well and doing okay in these strange times.  It is June, and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and the theme this month is

***Make it Colourful!***

My card had a liberal coating of distress oxides in blueprint sketch, peacock feathers, citrus twist and fossilized amber. I then laid a damp mandala stencil over it. Once dry I stamped the gorgeous Leave your fears behind stamp set in black versafine clair.

Our fabulous sponsors and makers of this stamp set this month are the lovely Visible Image who produce amazing stamps and stencils that are unique, original and different. Their samples are often accompanied by colourful backgrounds, hence our theme.

Here is another card using some of their stamps that have sadly been discontinued.

 Please remember we are a stamping challenge and the focal element of your work must reflect the theme (i.e. colourful). Whist we prefer conventional stamping, digital images are allowed. You can check out the challenge rules here.

Do go to the challenge blog to check out the breathtaking creations from my multi-talented teamies. You can also find more details of the fantastic prize!

Thanks for looking!

Brand New Stamps from Crafty Individuals!

Hi There! I'm here with just a few of the samples that will  be appearing on Hochanda on the Crafty Individuals shows today.  Jean will be on at 7am and 1pm. My first is an A6 sized concertina card with  the gorgeous camper van stamp, watercoloured with the giotto pens. These were added to cling film backgrounds, just like Jean created on her facebook live here.

My second card features the beautiful tea cups stamp, which I simply watercoloured with the giotto pens, adding a paper doily (circa 1960!) to the base card. I used glossy accents on each cup.

Next up is the wonderful sewing machine, watercoloured with the giotto pens and mounted onto some of the beautiful papers created by Flo Langley, our lovely and very talented teamie.

Finally, here is a pink teapot that reminds me very much of my grandmothers - both had rather large china collections! Neither of them had one with a robin sitting on the top though! 😄 The paper was a gelli print again using Flo's  fabulous stamps.

I hope you have enjoyed a quick look at some of the fabulous new releases. I will let you know as soon as they are on the CI website, but you can get them for Hochanda in the meantime.

Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day and a Digi from Dora

There aren't many days left in May, so it is time for the Rudolf days Challenge over at Scrappy Mo's. This first card is a little inkylicious scene, stamped in Memento Paris Dusk and watercoloured with Chipped Saphire distress in. I then mounted it on a base card that had been dry embossed with a magazine freebie snowflakew embossing folder.

My second card used Crafty Individuals stamps CI 463, CI 465 and CI 541. The papers were sprayed with mica sprays and the photo certainly doesn't do it justice in all it's sparkliness. Do pop over to Maureen's blog for more Christmas inspiration

Also, here is my DT Card using one of Dora's wonderful new floral digis, tulips, which I coloured with pencils. You can find Dora's fabulous Digis on her website here.
I have been busy beavering away at my samples for the next Crafty Individuals shows which will be on Hochanda on Tuesday 2nd June at 7am and 1pm. I really hope you can tune in and watch. The new stamps are absolutely gorgeous and I love them. I can't wait to show you! I will be posting all my makes with them here on my blog once the Hochanda shows have been aired, so very soon!
It looks like craft shops will be opening again here on 15th June, but workshops and shows will probably be a way off from that as social distancing will still be in place for a while. In the meantime I hope you have plenty of stash to keep you going, and, as we will have missed at least one craft show, you have the opportunity to treat yourself to a little something.
Stay safe and I hope you are well xxx

Green fingers and gardening...

I made this card for my SIL to give to my nephew for his birthday. He has been enjoying his garden recently. Stamps are all from Hobby art and are watercoloured with brush pens. the base card was inked with distress oxides and stamped in versafine clair.
I'm entering it into the Boys and Men challenge over at Penny Black and more and Anything goes at Allsorts. I'm taking it to The Male Room too where the theme is 'in the garden' ( thanks for letting me know, Faith x).
Hope you are all okay. I am fine, if a little green around the edges due to an accident with my brushos!!! I went to pull out the pin on the lid and the entire lid came off. I thought I'd cleaned it all up, but I keep discovering more. It mixes really well with handcream to give an all over green tinge, and I must have sprinkled a minute amount on the bath mat when I went to wash my hands again, as when I got out of the shower this morning I noticed green footprints. I managed to rescue the card I was making, but whether I can rescue the bath mat remains to be seen😂😂😂. Remind me never to try shampooing the craft room carpet!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments

Mid month inspiration for May

It is mid-way through May so time for our mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is

***Say it with Flowers***

 My mid month creation has a sentiment from Hobby art, and two recent woodware stamps - Vetch and Cow Parsley over an ink dusted background. I added a few highlights in white and silver pens. I do hope you get chance to enter the challenge. 

How are you doing? Hope you are okay and staying safe and well. I think we are all on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at the moment. It is important to realise that it is okay to not be okay at the moment, but equally, talking about it can help. I'm keeping very busy with various things including some really amazing new stamps from Crafty Individuals that are going to be on Hochanda, along with shows from Chocolate Baroque on 2nd June.  see if you can catch the shows - you won't be disappointed! I'm continuing with the craft sort out, doing some sewing and crochet, doing karate on Zoom 3 times a week as well as helping to manage the Crafty Individuals facebook group. We would love for you to join us there if you haven't already - just click the link. We have a project of the week award for a stamp prize, a monthly challenge (ATCs this month) for a larger prize and Jean also does giveaways on her Facebook Lives which are at 2.30pm on Wednesdays and Fridays.  

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!

 

May at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! I hope all is good with you, and that you are well.  It is May, and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and the theme this month is

***Say it with Flowers***

Also this month we have two fabulous sponsors, Chocolate Baroque and our very own
Dora, who has her own range of wonderful digital images, as well as designing some stamps for Crafty Individuals. 
My first card features the beautiful honeysuckle from the Chocolate Baroque fragrant honeysuckle stamp plate and was coloured with zig clean colour real brush markers.

 My second card is one of the stunning new digi flower stamps just released by Dora and coloured with pencil crayons.The sentiment and text stamp on this one are from Crafty Individuals. 

 Please remember we are a stamping challenge and the focal element of your work must reflect the theme (i.e. Flowers), a few added flowers as an embellishment will not suffice and not be eligible for the prizes. Whist we prefer conventional stamping, digital images are allowed. You can check out the challenge rules here.

Do go to the challenge blog to check out the breathtaking creations from my multi-talented teamies. You can also find more details of the fantastic prizes! 

Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments. Apologies for the randomly highlighted parts of my text. Not entirely sure what has happened there but after 20 minutes of playing around trying to change it I have given up. 
Stay safe friends xxx

April Rudolf Days and a Digi from Dora

We are quickly approaching the end of April, so it is time for the Rudolf days Challenge over at Scrappy Mo's. I've brought two very contrasting cards this time, made with two stamps/ sets I've had in my stash for a long time. The first uses stamps from Little Clare, who I'm sad to say are no longer with us. I stamped in memento and coloured with alcohol based markers. The 3 geese at the front are on an extra fold in the card.

The second card was made with a wood mounted stamp from Penny Black, with hero arts French script in the background and a greeting from woodware. The paper was made with all sorts of sprays with a fair bit of mica in them, so is quite shiny in real life and the trees were embossed in white.
Do pop over to Maureen's blog and take a look at the fabulous inspiration. No harm in making a start on Christmas cards whilst we have the time if you haven't already. 

Finally, here is my DT Card using one of Dora's wonderful digis with a lovely oystercatcher and it's chick at the water's edge, which I coloured with pencils. You can find Dora's fabulous Digis on her website here.
 I do hope you are all okay, and coping with things. How is your hair? I am defintiely ready for a haircut now. Lockdown ponytail seems to be my style, lol. I am sorry I haven't been around as much as I intended here in blogland. I've done 3 zoom karate classes this week and might pull in a 4th if I can. One I ran myself and although I was nervous at first it went well, and I had 10 students. there will be a few more next week too I think. GKR seem to have put things in place very quickly and it is good to see my training buddies and students again.
 Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments. Stay safe xxx
Oh yes, and if you have time, please give my crochet post below a bit of love 😉 Thanks!

Crochet Lockdown style

Before I show you what I've made you need to understand a bit of background. My Mum was an amazing knitter. She made the most exquisite baby jackets, bootees and hats, jumpers, cardigans and gloves. I remember she came with me to a university interview and virtually knitted a whole cardigan in the station at Lancaster when our train home was late! Although I'm left-handed, I learned to knit right-handed and was incredibly slow and laboured, giving it up as a bad job at the age of about 18. I'd never picked it up again or ever tried crochet. At the beginning of March, one of my crafty friends and another Leftie showed me some basics of crochet. I learned just one stitch, then 2 weeks later she showed me another two stitches. I was worried that I would forget what to do, so kept practising about an hour each day. Let's face it, If I could forget what I went into the kitchen for, forgetting what to do is not outnof the question!  I am loving it and can say I'm definitely hooked, lol.  Some yarn fell into my trolley in Aldi and my first neckwarmer was created...

Then I managed to get more yarn from our local Boyes store and number 2 was made...

And then number 3, 4 and 5...

By now I could crochet with the TV on and it wasn't taking me years to make something, lol. Three of them have new homes to go to as well. I was however running out of yarn. I had walked past a local wool shop on the way to the post office at the end of March, so found their facebook page and discovered they do deliveries and paypal. I asked for Autumn colours and decided to try learning another stitch and make granny squares. I can totally recommend Bella Coco's you tube channel, as she does left and right handed demonstrations. Also, through a friend on facebook I found Attic 24 that has some brilliant step by step photos and patterns. Both of these are British sites with UK terminology which is different to American terminology.  I am hoping to have a nice granny square blanket for cold evenings in the Autumn. I'm 50 squares in and can do trebles now, lol. I'm already planning what my project will be after that. I fancy the Attic 24 moorland blanket - such beautiful colours.

I think my Mum would be doing a happy dance now and I'm adding Yarn to my list of crafty addictions.  It just goes to prove you are never too old to learn a new skill.
Thanks for looking!

Mid month Rainbow inspiration

It is mid-way through April so time for our mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is  

****Somewhere over the Rainbow****

 For my card I used another woodware stamp over a distress oxide background. The sentiment is from Hobby Art. This one is currently on display in my front window, in support of our wonderful frontline workers. I do hope you get chance to enter the challenge. It is certainly cheering me up to see the entries.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving comments. Over the past week on our local walks, we have seen people doing things like washing their driveways and I can't help but be thankful that I have plenty of hobbies to keep the boredom away. I don't think I would ever be bored enough to wash my driveway 😂 May your stash be immense and your mojo be endless in these difficult times.
Take care friends  xxx