February Rudolf Day and a Digi from Dora

 It's the 27th of February and time is ticking fast for Rudolf Day this time! I am here with my offering. First is a Christmas card using Inky Doodles stamps. The background is stamped and embossed too.

My second card has stamps and papers from Crafty Individuals as well as some rather nice sticky letters that have been in my stash for ever. I'm popping these over to Maureen's blog, for Rudolf Days challenge, where there is some gorgeous inspiration for Christmas cards.

This last card is a wonderful spring digi from Dora's blog that you can find here. I love magnolia and this is so beautifully drawn by Dora - a pleasure to colour with alcohol based markers.

Mid Month inspiration for Stamping Sensations

It is mid-way through February so time for our mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations. My card this month features a gorgeous stamp from our lovely sponsors,  Bee Crafty. It is that flower again from the XL Ladybird set, this time in a different colour combo and on a background of recycled biscuit packaging and crafty individuals papers. I painted it with distress inks and then fussy cut it. The biscuit packaging was sprayed with mica sprays and has a gorgeous sheen.

I also have a second card this month. If you are a regular visitor to my blog you know I love the Bee Crafty sunflowers from the doodle Art range. Well, now I have the large and the smaller one, thanks to their Wednesday Wow promotion. Here is a card using both.

I teamed them up with a snippet of inky stencilled background and layered with more snippets of silver and black. the sunflwers were added with 3d glue.
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!

Crafty Individuals Balloons

Hi there! Although it is wet and gusty outside, I'm thinking of better weather and I'm sharing some more of my Crafty Individuals samples that were on Hochanda a couple of weeks ago. Most of these were made with the new Ellie Mulligan balloon set which you can find here on the Crafty Individuals website

Finally here is a card made with the older Balloon stamp on a shaving foam marbled background.

I loved playing with these and revisiting some techniques I hadn't done for ages! There is a discount on the website at the moment, so pop them in your basket soon. If you join the Crafty Individuals Facebook group you can join in the monthly challenges and benefit from other offers too. (Link in side bar)
Thanks for looking!

An eye-full of the Eiffel Tower

Hi There! I'm here with some of my DT samples for Crafty Individuals. I am starting off with 3 cards featuring the Beautiful Eiffel Tower stamp by Ellie Mulligan, that is available from Hochanda, and will soon be on the Crafty Individuals website too.

First up is a very CAS card. I stamped the large elegant swirl  in bundled sage distress ink, then I used the french script with spun sugar distress ink. I sponged a little around the edge of the card and then stamped the Eiffel Tower in versafine clair black ink. Finally I added a few splatters of silver ink from a posca pen.

My second card was simply stamped in Versafine clair Twilight ink onto a piece of paper from one of the Crafty Individuals background paper books. You can find them all here. The vintage postmark background stamp was stamped in versafine clair Morning Mist.

My final card has a background made using spectrum noir sparkle pens as a colour wash, then stamped when dry with the french script and vintage postmark stamps as well as the Eiffel tower. The same background stamps were used on the base card in memento lulu lavender ink with a little sponged around the edge.
It has been such a delight playing with these stunning stamps. I will share a few more with you very soon.
Thanks for looking!

February Challenge at Stamping Sensations

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

****Feminine****

As the title suggest we would love to see your stamped creations that reflect the theme. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous designs.

My first card this month features gorgeous stamps and stencils from our lovely sponsors,  Bee Crafty. I stamped the gorgeous flower from the XL ladybird set and masked it off, then sponged wilted violet, peacock feathers and blueprint sketch distress oxide for the background. I placed the mandala 4 stencil over the right corner and sprayed with water, blotting after a few seconds. I then did this again over the flower image. I took off the mask and coloured the image with arteza brush markers, but felt it needed more dimension, so I stamped the flower twice again, added a leaf and coloured them, cutting and layering with 3d glue gel. 
I stamped the sentiment in versamark and embossed with white embossing powder, then stuck to the card.

 My second card this month fatures a gorgeous Digi from JMC designs, who are providing us with an additional prize to our main sponsors. This is Cosmo Polly, although I may have forgotten to add the cranberry juice, lol. I really don't know anything about cocktails. A G&T is the most exotic thing on my radar!
 Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:
Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

Our prizes this month are A £25 voucher to spend at Bee Crafty and a whole collection of JMC digis! Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates!
Just a quick mention whilst I am here to let you know that my first DT cards for Crafty Individuals will be on Hochanda on Tuesday at 10am and 4 pm. There are some stunning stamps to feast your eyes on! Thanks for looking! 

January Rudolf Days and a digi from Dora

 Here we are galloping at speed towards the end of January and I almost forgot Rudolf Days! I have two cards that I made earlier that are ready in my box for Christmas 2020 though. The first is a very simple one using a Crafty Individuals image from one of their minature collections called Merry Christmas. I stencilled the background using a Dreamee's snowflake stencil. This literally took less than 3 minutes, lol. My sister-in-law asked for some Christmas cards that were 'simple' and easy for me to make for next year, so this will be for her to look at next time we meet up.

 My next card was stamped with Hobby Art stamps and coloured with arteza brush pens. Don't you love their expressions?
A huge thanks to Maureen for running Rudolf Days again. Hopefully I will be more organised next month. Do pop over to Maureen's blog for some Christmas Inspiration.

Whilst I'm here I will share with you a DT card featuring one of Dora's gorgeous digi stamps. I don't know about you but our snowdrops are on the verge of coming out and we saw some in full bloom the other day. It does seem a little bit early to me, but they are a perfect image for a winter birthday. You can find Dora's digis  and some more beautiful work from the DT on her blog here.
 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!

Stags galore!

I was lucky enough to get the Crafty Individuals Stag for Christmas and it was my first stamp to get inked up. I started off with a 15cm candle...

Then I made a card...

And finally I made a second card with a bit of a Scottish theme, with Burns Night in a couple of weeks

Here are links to the stamps used:
   Stag CI-526
   Baroque splatter script CI-430
   Large Elegant swirl CI-182
   Paisley swirl background CI- 435
The stags were coloured with Arteza brush pens and dots of gold liquid pearls were used to add a little dimension.
Thanks for looking!

Favourite Stamps at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning and Happy New Year! As it is the first Sunday of the month, it is time for our January challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month we have a lovely theme....

****Use your Favourite Stamps****

For my card this month I used stamps and stencils from Inkylicious and a little white gel pen and liquid pearls. My favourite stamps are the inkylicious moon and tree, but I do reach for the splatter stamp and the willow  twigs on a regular basis too!

  The background was created using ink dusters, sponges and inks.  I used memento lulu lavender to stamp the moon and to blend the paler to darker inks. Adirondack mountain rose and peach bellini made the moon shine section of sky. Dusty concord, chipped sapphire and black soot Distress inks formed the darker sky and the hills, using a mountain valley stencil.  

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

Our prize this month is from  our lovely sponsors, Tattered Lace.  Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize! Thanks for looking! 

Happy New Year and a few favourites

So here we are approaching 2020. I am looking forward to starting the new year with crafting, karate, walking, cooking and enjoying nature at the top of my list of things to do.  I thought I would take the opportunity to share a few of my favourite crafty projects with you. It is a very quick and randomly selected top ten, that If I looked again I would probably change, lol.

 First up is one of my favourite Inkylicious tree stamps and that XL spatter,

 Next is a tree from Bee Crafty and that gorgeous sentiment. I made this after a walk in the woods when I'd decided that I was going to resign, so holds a special place in my heart!

 I invested in many hare stamps this year, but this was my first and I loved how well it worked on that background.

 More inkylicious stamps on this one. The wolves are great for male cards.

 This was my first foray into candle decorating, which ultimately led to joining Crafty individuals DT and craft fairs and tables, sales and lots of fun!  

 I've enjoyed having the time to work on my colouring skills, like this 'no-line' Hobby Art christmas wreath coloured with zig clean colour real brush markers.

 Whilst we are on the subject of Hobby Art, this little owl had to be on here somewhere. He flew off to a friend in Japan, and is going to be framed. A little owl is not just for Christmas!!! 😂

 My Crafty individuals robin and kingfisher candles were popular too.

 Here's more of my favourite inkylicious stamps on Meg's christmas card,

and finally this is the plaque I made for my lovely friend Lynne (we met in about 2002 or 3 when we taught together...I think we were boh dragons, lol!)
Thank you all for your continued crafty friendships and support.  I really appreciate each and every one of your comments and I look forward to visiting you all in 2020 to see more of your wonderful creations.
                                   Happy New Year! 

I did it and an entry for Allsorts

                    

Yesterday was Black Belt grading for our Karate club. There were students attending from Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and further north too. It lasted 3 hours and divided roughly into 3 sections: Combinations, Kata  and Kumite. I am very happy to say that not only did I survive, but I was awarded my Shodan Ho black belt at the end of it.

There were 5 of us going for our first black belt from our local class (four pictured above). We all made the grade and passed. I was very grateful to be cheered on by my hubby, daughter and partner and my niece. It wasn't very warm in there if you were sitting down or not moving about!

Meg had my camera and was able to take a few action shots. As you can see, I wasn't getting cold or sitting down 😆

Here I am bowing to our Sensei, receiving my belt and certificate. Edit: I am 4ft 11" and he is 6ft 8"

My lovely niece had bought me a present which she gave me...

Today is a very laid-back day. I have paid a brief visit to one of my training buddies dojos to take her a little gift to say thanks for her support. Other than that I am chilling, watching the squirrels in the garden and contemplating what is left to do for Christmas besides baking.
I can certainly find the time to enter a card at Allsorts this week where the theme is Anything goes. I am sharing the Christmas card I made for Meg. It is one of my usual Inkylicious scenes featuring some of my favourite stamps. I used my ink dusters and a mixture of Distress inks and Memento inks. The tree and deer were stamped in versafine Clair.

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going very well. If I don't manage to pop in again before the big day,  have a wonderful Christmas!

Mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations and a digi from Dora

Good Morning! Here is my mid month inspiration for Stamping Sensations where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. the background was made with distress oxides and shimmer sprays. I added the moon (which could have been rounder!) with gesso and a little starlights paint. Next, I stamped the owl and branch on watercolour paper, colouring with zig real brush pens. Then I added a bit of fluffy puffy stuff (inkylicious) to the branch before cutting both out. I stamped the trees and snowflakes onto the background then added the owl and branch with 3d glue gel. I glazed the owl's eyes and beak with translucent nuvo drops. All stamps are from Hobby Art.

I'm also adding my DT card made with a beautiful poinsettia digi from Dora's blog. I printed it onto recycled card and coloured with zig clean colour real brush markers. You can find Dora's digis here 
It is ten days since my last post.  My spare time this week has been mostly devoted to Karate (71/2 hours altogether since Friday!) as I approach my Black Belt grading. Wish me luck! I will let you know if I pass.
Thanks for looking!