Getting really inky

I had a bit of time to play yesterday, and after rooting through some old stash I found a few scored pieces of astralux to make A6 cards. I've never used them because a whole astralux card was a bit scary. I decided to cut them up to make some panels instead. I stamped my new Hero Arts leaf flourish with versamark and then masked a 1.5" circle. I sponged distress inks in broken china, faded jeans and dusty concord over the whole piece. After removing the mask I sponged a bit more broken china over the circle. The blue leaves, ferns and Nigella seed heads are all Lavinia stamps and stamped in versafine. This isn't the only thing I made, but you won't be seeing the others for a little while...My fingers are still a bit blue - looks like they have been trapped in a door!
Anyway, just thought I'd pop on before I get tea ready to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Cake and a card

This is a Hummingbird Cake. My version isn't very pretty, but I prefer to just have the cream cheese frosting in the middle and not all over it. I got the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cook book (brought by Santa), but there is a very similar version here. If you like banana cake and carrot cake you will love it. It is very moist and has bananas and pineapple in it. I made it yesterday, but by teatime there was only half left!
The card is another using the Funky flowers rubber stamp plate from The Stamp Man. It's my MIL's birthday next week, so this one is for her. The rose is covering a blob of glue that was in the wrong place! The leaf punch was another pressie. The flowers are coloured with sakura stardust pens and a water brush... oh yes and a touch of pastel blue promarker.

By the Cute and Girly Challenge - Let's go to the movies

Here is my entry for the December 'By the Cute and Girly' Challenge. The theme is 'Let's go to the Movies' I was having a flick through the TV listings and found 'The Little Polar Bear'. I bought this lovely digistamp yesterday from Delicious Doodles and thought it would be perfect. I stamped and embossed the background using Art Impressions T-2773 and layered onto silver mirriboard. The digistamp is coloured in places with just 3 shades of promarker - grey green, pastel blue and ivory. I  did contemplate using some stickles too, but decided to go with 'less is more'.
It is going to be a winter wishes card for a friend who didn't get her christmas card from me, thanks to the state of our road in the snow last week- I'm feeling rather guilty! Thanks for looking x

Brother's Birthday

We have several family members who have birthdays very close to Christmas and the New Year, and my brother is one of them. I saw this lovely image of a Golden Eagle when I took part in the Tuesday Taggers Blog Hop and thought it would be perfect for him. It is from Delicious Doodles by Teresa Sherman - isn't he stunning?  I coloured it with promarkers. I used shades of warm greys on the rocks and Mustard on his feet and beak. Then I used a mixture of sandstone, tan and caramel for the paler areas and cocoa, cinnamon, burnt sienna and walnut for the darker feathers. I used my blender pen to lighten the area at the edge of his wings too. the background papers have been in my stash for at least 5 years and I didn't have much left, but I think the one on the left is a PSX one. I used a martha stewart punch, my oval nesties and a sentiment stamp by Clarity stamps. Those Christmas presents are getting some good use! Thanks for looking!

My best project of 2009?

Oooh, it was a tough choice, but I think this is my best project of 2009. I made my first easel card using a photo of a lovely lady who is 91 this week, but the photo was taken when she was 18 or 19. If you would like more details the original post is here. I took ages to get round to making one when they seemed to be all the rage in blog land, but when I did I received some really lovely comments. Thanks everyone!
Now I've posted this I can display the award in my side bar - hope you can join in too!

Some challenges I've been meaning to enter

I've finally got round to doing something creative that doesn't involve food! I've made a little photo album for a friend and I'm going to print some photos out to put in it later. The stamp is by Pink Gem and coloured with promarkers in the colours shown.
I'm entering it for Passion for promarkers (anything but a card on a Christmas or New Year theme) and Tuesday Taggers (let it snow). I'm guessing it is too late for Allsorts (anything but a card). Not sure if they are having a fortnight on this challenge as it would've been due on boxing day, so I'll pop it on anyway! I now need to go and think about the film theme on Cute and Girly...I'm drawing a complete blank so far!

Don't Forget!

Don't forget that tomorrow is the start of the Stampman Blog Hop. It will be lovely to spend a few hours in front of the computer rather than the cooker!!!

Grab a plate...

...and help yourself to a mince pie fresh out of the oven. My mince pies aren't the prettiest, but they taste fine! You could have some ginger cake too, although some is a gift for a friend. The hamster card (featuring a Mo Manning digistamp) is for the same people - we 'hamster sit' for them a few times each year. The Turkey card (Dustin Pike) is for my dear friend Julie who came to my rescue when the oven packed up on Christmas day last year and I had the whole family coming over on Boxing day and a gigantic turkey to cook! The last card (also Dustin Pike) is for Julie's daughter and Meg's best friend, Sam. I've done all my cards, but time is running out and I won't have time to post Meg's and Steve's cards. I had intended entering Allsorts and Tuesday Taggers, but cooking is going to have to take priority!
So, here's wishing each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas. I hope you are surrounded by those you love and that Santa brings you everything you want!
Merry Christmas Everybody!

A magical day!

What a magical day I've had! This morning was spent crafting and waiting for the postie (who brought my Allsorts goodies!). The two cards were made after I was inspired by Chris, to look at my Inkadinkado inchie stamps. On the Butterflies and Birds plate I found the lovely dove which I stamped and embossed with, yes, more Kaleidoscope embossing powder.
Just before 12 we set off for a bowl of soup and a wander round Rufford Park. It was truly magical! We had many close encounters with the robins, chaffinches and squirrels in the park who were busy feeding on the grain the rangers had left for them. The ducks and geese were skating beautifully and the sun was just strong enough to give everything a lovely glow! Meg took some fantastic photos too that you can see on her blog 'My Little World'. I don't know how many Robins live in the park, but everywhere we looked there were so many! Hope you have had a great day too!
P.S. On behalf of the animals you might want to check this out!

A card for Lynne with more roses!

I've been looking forward to posting this one, but didn't want to put it on the blog until I'd given it to Lynne. I took my inspiration from Brenda who made this lovely card and box. I loved the colour combination and of course the beautiful roses. I saw it 'for real' at the Sir Stampalot demo day on 5th December, and it is even more beautiful than the photo suggests.
I stamped the pine branch (All Night Media) in versamark onto the green paper and embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder. The greeting was stamped in versafine and embossed with some cinnamon scented red embossing powder.
I was shown how to make the lovely roses by my friend Brenda. She has since put a very clear and easy to follow tutorial on her blog here. I used kaleidoscope embossing powder on my roses too. These are made using a 1 inch six petalled flower punch. I added some punched leaves too.
With the snow showers yesterday the light was very variable, so the top photo was taken with a flash. It is probably the best representation of colour, but the rose detail is lost. The other photos were taken in daylight.
I have been very lucky in the past week. My Christmas tree card for Tuesday Taggers won me a guest slot on the Design Team in January, and on Saturday I won the Allsorts Challenge for Pearls and Swirls. Mr Random.org has favoured me despite the fact I was number 13! I am really looking forward to the postie bringing my goodies, and thanks to the wonderful Design teams on both challenges for providing such wonderful inspiration!

Dare U 2 Digistamp? - last minute Christmas cards

It has been a while since I've managed to enter DU2DS challenge. It isn't that I haven't had a go. I know for a fact there are two half finished cards on my craft table! Anyway, I couldn't let last minute christmas cards go by without making an effort to post some!
The two mice are from Digistamp Boutique and coloured with promarkers. the patterned paper is from Funky fairies. These two doubled as money wallets with a flap on the inside with notes tucked in! The first snowman was a freebie from Dustin Pike some months ago. Again I coloured with promarkers. The Paper was some from my stash (Dovecraft I believe) and the sentiment was from Craftwork cards.
The second snowman was another freebie, this time from Cuddly Buddly Crafts. The backing paper is more old stash from Dovecraft and I used my nestie snowflakes and another Martha Stewart punch. I'm on a roll now... about 7 more to go I think! Thanks for looking!

Tuesday Taggers - St Nick

Here is my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers. Now I have a confession to make...not a single one of my Christmas stamps featured the man himself! What an embarrassment! I nipped off down to the local craft shop (who stock very little in the way of stamps) not holding out much hope. I was delighted when I found the Habico clear stamp set featured on Michelle's DT card, and they were only a fiver!
The text in the corner is a Hero Arts Winter stamp and I decorated his beard and moustache by putting extra swirls of clear gelly roll glaze and sprinkling glitter whilst it was still wet. I coloured St Nick with a mixture of promarkers and Distress inks (Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Antique Linen). I finished it off with some snowflakes punched from glitter paper.
Thanks for looking!