Rudolf Day for May

 It's time for Rudolf day (25th of every month) where lots of us make a couple of Christmas cards in readiness for the festive season. I love the fact that it gets me organised, although the last two months have been a bit of a disaster organisationally! Anyway, to make up for short falls I am posting three cards this month.

 

I don't know about you but I received quite a lot of monotone cards with a hint of red both last year and the year before. There were some M&S ones with the same colour tones and lots of glitter too.  I used memento grey flannel (London fog would probably have been better, but I only have a dewdrop pad that needs replacing) on my ink duster and a mountain valley stencil to create the background. I hadn't put away the Inkylicious birch trees stamps and thought they would make a great snowy woodland scene.The trees in the background are just second generation ink.I finished them with more inkylicious stamps and stickles in frosted lace and star dust. The red berries are garnet liquid pearls.

Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look at the fabulous DT cards. I love the Rudolf Community - everyone is always so friendly!

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!

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!

May at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is.....

***Butterflies, Fairies and Fantasy*** 

As the title suggests we want to see your projects with one of these items as a MAIN FEATURE. The perfect opportunity to ink up all those butterflies, fairies and other magical images, the choice is up to you but we do need to see something stamped and associated with the theme focally on your artwork.......a small punched or die cut Butterfly will not suffice. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. And please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.
 For my card I created a distress oxide background (smooshing technique), then stamped with the Bigz Butterfly 1 from Inkylicious in versafine black, embossing in clear embossing powder. I added glossy accents over the butterfly to give some dimension and it helped to highlight the colours too. I used a grey pencil rayon aroundthe betterfly to gibe the impression of a shadow. My verdict on distress oxides? I NEED all the colours!!!
What is the prize I hear you ask? Feast your eyes on this lovely lot! 

I wish I could enter!  

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the fantastic creations by my lovely teamies. There is some wonderful inspiration again this month! Hope you get the chance to join in and I'll look forward to seeing all your lovely creations!  
Before I go I want to share some photos from Last Sunday's walk at Whyming Brook Nature reserve, a 20 minute drive from Sheffield. It really is a most beautiful place...

Thanks for looking! 

Rudolf day for April

After missing Scrappy Mo's Rudolf day for March I was trying to get four cards made for April, but I messed one up, so I'll share three this month and three next 😄 Note to self: A rolling pokey tool doth spread liquid pearls for miles!!!!!!

 For my first two cards I used the Hobby Art Holly and Ivy set, embossed with gold embossing powder and coloured , the forst with liquid pearls and the second with watercolour markers

 I used glossy accents on the berries of the second one.

My third card was stamped with Inkylicious stamps and dotted with liquid pearls.
Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look at all the lovely inspiration!
I hope you have a wonderful bank holiday weekend. We are going to have a walk in the peak district at some point, depending on the weather. 
Thanks for looking!

Meg's Birthday Card

It was Meg's birthday on Monday, and I decided to make her card using Oliver the Owl from Hobby Art. I used ink dusters to create the background and stamped grasses and seed heads from the set for the background. I coloured the owl with alcohol markers. Later I decided to try and create more of a night time scene using the same stamps. After hubby told me it wasn't straight, I added some ivy to Oliver's perch in order to disguise the wonkyness 😁

I am quite pleased with the result. As the challenge at Allsorts this week is  I spy and needs to begin with B, a Barn owl (also a bird) would seem a reasonable choice, so I'm entering it there.

We had a lovely meal in Sheffield at a place called the Italian Kitchen. Before I go here is a photo of the cake I made to take with us 

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Couple of Digis from Dora

Here are two DT offering for Dora's Digis which are here on her blog. I coloured them with Be Creative Alcohol markers. They are a few days late, I'm afraid! I was supposed to post this before I went to stay with Lynne, but completely forgot!
My first is Dora's lovely Elephant teamed up with Chocolate Baroque papers and a die cut bow

 My second is Dora's Seagulls and Crafty individuals paper from their Seaside pad.
Both Images were coloured with Be creative Alcohol markers.
As I said, I have just come back from a little break at Lynne's house. We had some good walks and there were lots of photo opportunities. I thought I would share some of my bird photos here. First we have a lesser Redpoll

 a tree sparrow

 A pair of siskins

A pheasant

a Buzzard

 A yellow Hammer

 and Goldfinches

 As you can see, Lynne gets a wonderful array of birds on her feeders, and the Buzzard is a regular visitor to the field next to her home.
Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great weekend. We will be seeing Meg as it is her 20th Birthday on Monday - where did that time go?!
 Happy Easter!
 

A few photos

We had a lovely walk today around a relatively new RSPB reserve in Notts - Langford Lowfields. It was quite breezy and cloudy at times, but we  really enjoyed it. Here are a few photos...

 I always called this flower Lady's smock, but it is also known as Cuckoo Flower.

 A great crested grebe

 Greylag geese

 I love the reeds against the water...

 There were hundreds of cowslips

 lovely reflections when the wind dropped

A male reed bunting making the most at one of the bird feeders
Thanks for looking!

Moonlight, Willow trees and a walk

Since I got my Inkylicious Moonscape stamp and mask I have been playing with it quite a lot! For this scene I used memento inks in Elderberry, Lulu lavender and Cantaloupe. I stamped the moon in lulu lavender then masked it and dusted the cantaloupe ink over the area. I then continued to dust with the lulu lavender and the elderberry ink. After removing the mask, I dusted the moon lightly with lavender and cantaloupe ink in a circular motion, giving it a pink tinge. I added the hills with a mountain valley stencil and stamped the willow trees (also from inkylicious) in Elderberry ink. Finally I added spots of clear stardust gelly roll pen to the trees and their roots and stamped the birds. This was such an easy card to make and I am very pleased with the result.
Before I go I will share a few photos. Meg came home for a few days and we went for a walk in Derbyshire - the Tansley and Matlock area. There was beautiful sunshine and lovely scenery along the Lumsdale Valley.
Here are a few photos...