If Music Be the Food of Love … 🎵 🌹

Hi everyone, the organiser of the monthly ATC swaps in Tracy Evans’ FB group has decided that this year the themes are going to be based around verses from poems, songs or even plays - an exciting development to help us get our thinking caps on! For February the theme is 

If music be the food of love, play on!

As usual I’m pretty last minute but I really wanted to get something done. I envisaged an overall vintage look with a red rose on an old paper music sheet - I struggled initially as I don’t have any music themed stamps by Tracy .. in fact I don’t know if there are any! However fortunately we are allowed to use other branded products in the background - here’s the result.

I smooshed Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Oxide inks onto some cream stamping card, then stamped the music sheet 4 times - this is one of several old background stamps I have which as luck would have it are almost perfect ATC size - then overstamped the rose on each one.  I cut out each stamped panel and distressed the edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool, then blended Scorched Timber DOX round the edges to add depth. I stamped the rose again 4 times onto a separate snippet of cream card, coloured the flower heads with Zig pens and white Posca highlights, then fussy cut out. I coloured the rose stems and leaves on the base layer, then attached the fussy cut flower heads. I stamped the sentiment onto separate cream card, fussy cut and attached, then added mini hearts and a branched heart to each piece. I matted the panels onto brown card stock and added some gold Posca faux spatters to finish.

Here’s a closeup of one of the ATC’s…

… and here’s an angled picture to show the gold spatters.This pic is a much truer colour than the above - for some reason I couldn’t get most of the pics to show the true warm tone of the background!

Stamps: AALL & Create #831 Sent With Love, #453 Heart Grunge; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE6 Branched Heart, TE10 Quirky Birds; music sheet stamp by LotV;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Sand Dune, Portobello, Strawberry); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (February) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Love (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #26 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Colourful Options (February) - Mood Board

(I was inspired by the colour red and roses)

Crafty Calendar (February) - Hearts (3rd entry)

Creative Inspirations (February) - Love Is In the Air (2nd entry)

Double D - The Colour Red

Heart’s Quest #71 - Anything Goes with Pink and/or Red Hearts

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #201 - Hearts Galore (3rd entry)

Little Red Wagon #796 - Tiny Dancer (something tiny)

Neglected Stuff (February) - Use Your Neglected Craft Stash (2nd entry)

(I haven’t used the background music stamp for years - if ever!)

Outlawz Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (January) - Anything But a Card (3rd entry)

Outlawz Festive Fridays (February) - Valentine/Love (2nd entry)

Pearly Sparkles #104 - Love Is In the Air (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - Red or Pink

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #259 - L is for Love (2nd entry)

Sparkles #185 - Love

Word Art Wednesday #689/690 - Anything Goes

That’s all from me for today. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Time to Celebrate 🎉🎉

Hi everyone, as many of you will know there are currently not one but TWO big and exciting celebrations going on in blog land right now … and  I’m also having a little celebration of my own as this is my 1,200th blog post!

First of all, Bev over at Uniko is celebrating 13 years of Uniko stamps - what an amazing achievement! She has a Birthday Card themed challenge using Uniko products with an amazing prize on offer of a £25 voucher, plus a couple of grand prize giveaways of a year’s worth of stamps and stencils - wow! 

Secondly - and equally amazing - Di and Sarn are celebrating the 500th challenge at the Snippets Playground with a special Celebration themed challenge and 2 mystery bumper prize bundles for a couple of lucky winners! 

It seemed pretty clear to me what we all need to do, so without further ado I went ahead and did it … and here’s the result.

I rounded up a couple of white card snippets and a small black one, and created the background by smooshing and spritzing Elements ink using acetate, then spattered with water using my Tim Holtz spatter brush. I stamped the Uniko snowdrops, then die cut the panel using a stitched square die. I stamped the snowdrops again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Zig pens and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I added some silver Posca spatter to the background then attached the fussy cut snowdrops. I stamped the word “Celebrate” directly onto the image panel, then stamped the smaller words onto a small snippet of black card, heat embossed white then cut out and attached. Finally I added a few white Posca highlights and a little more silver spatter to the flowers, and matted the finished panel onto my card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle on the snowdrops and the silver spatter - I love snowdrops, they are so pretty and delicate and a rare winter flower!

… and here’s a pic of my snippets part way through the project . Originally I had a snippet that was a pre-cut stitched square but sadly the ink smooshing went a bit wrong on that one, so I ended up with a different mid-project pic of my eventual snippets (in the end I didn’t actually use the 3rd stamping of the snowdrops).

Stamps: Uniko Spring Botanicals Tulips, Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW opaque white fine embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, silver); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #70 - Ink Smooshing (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Feminine or Masculine theme (and why)

(I love feminine themes as I love florals, fairies and butterflies … and I have much more feminine stash to choose from!)

Craft Rocket #122 - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #610 - Stitching, Real or Faux

Four Seasons (February) - Winter (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #335 - Mood Board

(I was inspired by the cool blues and greens and the white bell shaped flowers)

Snippets Playground #500 - Celebration + Use Snippets

Triple B (February) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (3rd entry)

Uniko 13th Birthday Challenge - Birthday Card using Uniko Products

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

So it’s warmest congratulations to Di and Sarn for 500 Snippets challenges, and to Bev for 13 years of Uniko stamps - both are amazing achievements and well worth celebrating!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #23

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month, so it’s time already for another I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time - please do check over on Ellie’s blog to see if you are one of our top picks. 

I chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** No Designer Paper ***

Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

This month we are delighted to welcome Lynda (Loopyloo) as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous creation.

I am still working through completion of my 2025 Lavinia calendar, so I decided to make a scene for my March page. 

I was extremely lucky to win the Lavinia Creative Challenge in December, and as it was the Christmas challenge the prize was a £60 voucher rather than the usual £40 - woo hoo! Whilst considering my many purchasing options the latest release appeared, and I immediately thought that some of the new collection would be perfect for spring crafting so I ordered some of the new stamps along with a few older ones to help with my scene building and have used some of them on this project - here it is.

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5 cm and created the hills and sky by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. I then stamped the trees using Portobello Versafine Clair and added some spring leaves using the new Dill stamp and the teeny foliage stamp from the Spring Trees set. I stamped the teeny houses on the hill using Morning Mist VFC so they would look more distant, then added the fab new bench, Herbalum Baz and a new-to-me Forest Hare in the foreground. I stamped some poppies in yellow to reflect the illustration at the bottom of the page and coloured their stems with a Zig pen, then framed the bottom half of the piece with 1st and 2nd generation foliage using the new Dill and Thyme stamps. I stamped a little fence, some birdies on the bench and in the sky, then to finish added some shading with a white Stabilo pencil and highlights with white Posca pen.

I’m very pleased with the new stamps, as I think the herbalums (gardening pixies) are just sooo cute and quite versatile, and I’m also impressed by the delicacy and versatility of the herb stamps Dill and Thyme which are lovely for foliage, borders and/or wreaths. 

Stamps: Lavinia - Herbalum Baz, Bench, Spring Trees, Small Trees, Skeleton Tree Scene, Forest Hares, Group Poppies, Gate and Fence, Dill, Thyme, Bird Collection, Birds;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Olive, Blue Atoll, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Portobello, Pinecone, Nocturne, Morning Mist, Avocado, Shady Lane, Golden Meadow); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pen; Posca pen (white); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Hill, Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #486 - Make Your Mark (3rd entry)

Ally’s Angels #91 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Stamping or Digi (and why) (2nd entry)

(I love hand stamping and letting my project develop as it goes along)

Creatalicious #286 - Anything Goes with option Use Green

Creative Crafters #85 - Anything Goes

Creative Moments #267 - Cute 

FarmQuest General Store #25 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (February) - My Humble Abode

NBUS #71 - Use Your Never-Before-Used-Schtuff

Outlawz (February) - Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

The I Spy Challenge will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23:59 US Central Time - so this time that is Sunday March 16th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday March 19th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Daisy Grunge

Hi everyone, today’s card is a birthday card -  the weather seems to have been relentlessly cold and miserable so I was in the mood to make something bright and cheerful!

I stamped the daisy onto a square of card, masked it then daubed some Distress Oxide onto acetate, spritzed with water and smooshed around the image. When dry I added some soft stencilling and 2nd generation script stamping, then stamped the bee.  I removed the mask and coloured the daisy centre and bee with watered down Posca sparkle pens, and the petals and bee wings with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I added some 2nd generation stamped spatters, then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on black card, cut out and attached. 

Here’s an angled picture to show the shimmer a bit better.

I also decorated the envelope to match, though I blended the background as the envelope wouldn’t hold water (don’t ask me how I know!) and coloured the daisy centres with Sakura Stardust pens.

Stamps: Visible Image Daisy Grunge, Sketched Tulips (script), Bee Happy, Birthday Greetings;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW embossing powder (white); Posca sparkle pens (yellow, orange); Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, orange);

Tools: That’s Crafty Dinky Stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #70 - Ink Smooshing

Addicted to Stamps and More #486 - Make Your Mark (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #26 - Anything Floral Goes

Craft Rocket #122 - Happy Birthday

Hallowe’en and Other Occasions #23 - Birthdays

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #2 2025 - Birthday

Outlawz - Monday Greetings (February) - Wonderful Happy Greetings

Outlawz -Twisted Thursdays (February) - It’s a Match (matching card & envelope)

Simon Says (Monday) - Spritz and Splatter (2nd entry)

Triple B (February) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That’s all from me for today. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

You Hold the Key to My Heart ♥️🗝️

Hi everyone and Happy Valentine’s Day. ♥️ Today I would like to share the Valentine card I made for my dear husband … I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but I find it harder with each year that goes by to think of something different for Valentine’s Day without buying new supplies which would subsequently have only a very limited use. I sat down with no clear idea of what I was about to make, but after sifting through my stamps for a short while I got going, and here’s the result.

I cut a 6” square of stamping card and created an inky background by smooshing Blue Lagoon Elements ink onto acetate, spritzing with water then dabbing onto the centre of the card - I then spritzed the edges of the inked area to soften the outline. I stamped the focal heart and various cogs behind, then added 2nd generation background texture stamping in Bali Blue VFC. I stamped the heart again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Zig pens and coloured the cogs in the heart with a Posca gold metallic brush pen. I stamped the key and heat embossed gold, then cut out the coloured heart and attached. 

I stamped my sentiment words onto separate card using individual letters from Tracy Evans’ Alpha Florals, apart from the word “Heart” which was from AALL & Create set #453 and was heat embossed white on black card, then I cut out all my sentiment words and set aside. I added gold Posca spatter to the piece then attached my sentiments, and added the stamped hares and teeny hearts in the bottom corner, and the Feb 14th background wording. I added white Posca accents to the heart, cogs and hares, then edged the finished piece with black marker pen and matted onto black and red card stock and an 8” square card blank. 

I also decorated the inside a little, using more Alpha Florals letters and the word “Love” from A&C #831.

Stamps: Lavinia Heart Large, Cog Set 2, Cog Set 3, Texture 2, Group of Hearts Mini; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE32 Alpha Florals; AALL & Create #455 Seasons, #453 Heart Grunge, #831 Sent With Love;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Bali Blue, Morning Mist, Strawberry); Versamark; WOW embossing powder (white, metallic gold); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour brush pens; Inktense pencil (grey); Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (February) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Love

Addicted to Stamps and More #486 - Make Your Mark

Aud Sentiments #322 - Love plus a Sentiment

Conjurer of Dreams #5 - Anything Goes with option Gothic Hearts

Country View FB Challenge (February) - Romance and Friendship

Crafty Calendar (February) - Hearts (2nd entry)

Creatalicious #285 - Anything Goes with option Love Is In the Air (3rd entry)

Creative Inspirations (February) - Love Is In the Air 

Daring Cardmakers - Be My Valentine

Double D - Hearts

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #201 - Hearts Galore (2nd entry)

Little Red Wagon #794 - Red Alert

Make My Monday #245 - Love

My Time To Craft #553 - Hearts

Neglected Stuff (February) - Use Your Neglected Craft Stash

(I haven’t used the heart stamp for a couple of years, and I’ve had the key for 2-3 years and don’t think I’ve ever inked it up before!)

Outlawz Festive Friday (February) - Valentine

Outlawz Site Wide (February) - Project Submitted to an Outlawz Challenge (Festive Friday)

Pearly Sparkles #104 - Love Is In the Air (2nd entry)

{PIN}spirational #322 - Quilt of Hearts (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Spritz and Splatter

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #259 - L is for Love

Sweet Stampin’ (February) - Love (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Romance

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes

We are planning on having a romantic and easy to prepare “dine in” later - hope you have an enjoyable day whatever you’re doing. ♥️

Hugs,

The North Wind Doth Blow 🌬️

Hi everyone, the theme for the January ATC swap in Tracy Evans’ FB Group was the first verse of a traditional nursery rhyme, as follows …

The North wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing?

Clearly thoughts turn immediately to wintry scenes, and I couldn’t resist using the teeny robin from the older Tracy stamp set “Robin and Nuthatch”. 

The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted that we are already into February … yes, I’m very behind with these, but luckily the swap organiser has given everyone an extension until mid-February due to other commitments she has. Here is what I made.

I cut 4 pieces of stamping card each 3.25”  x 2.25”, all from small snippets. On each ATC I created a frosty background by stencilling Della Blue Elements ink through a Visible Image “Frosty” stencil, then stamped 2 trees from set TE23 using Medieval Blue and Very Peri Versafine Clair. I stamped some teeny background winter wording from TE23 in Morning Mist, then stamped the robin in Nocturne and coloured him with Zig pens and a white Posca tummy. I grounded the robin with grey Inktense pencil blended out with a water brush, and added white Posca highlights to the trees and clear Sakura Stardust pen to add some frosty sparkle. I added some white Posca spatters for snow, then stamped the sentiment from various small white snippets using individual letters from set TE32, cut out, edged in black and attached. Finally I matted each piece onto a 3.5” x 2.5” piece of dark blue linen card stock - again cut from snippets.

Here’s a closeup of one of them …

 … and an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE23 Winter Delights, TE32 Alpha Florals; AALL & Create #690 Robin and Nuthatch;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Medieval Blue, Very Peri, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Posca pen (clear); Inktense pencil (grey);

Tools: Visible Image stencil - Frosty.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #485 - Diecuts and/or Stencils (3rd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Stamping or Digi (and why?)

(I love my physical stamps - never quite got the hang of placement for digis)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (February) - Use a Stencil

Creative Aunts #98 - Bingo  (2nd entry)

(blue/stamped images/handmade background)

Four Seasons (February) - Anything Goes Winter (2nd entry)

Moving Along With the Times #175 - Things With Wings

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2505 - Anything Goes

Papercraft #114 - Winter Wonders (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #499 - Use Snippets

Triple B (February) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms

I’ve pretty much got behind with everything since Christmas as my mojo seems to have gone on a winter holiday, but I’m  determined to catch up with myself this month including both my ATC’s AND my calendar … watch this space! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Birthday Wishes

Hi everyone, today I would like to share the card I made for a good friend’s birthday which falls today.

Right now the latest “thing” over on Tracy Evans’ FB page is thrinchies - little three inch square pieces of artwork - and Tracy has been posting a number of videos for her followers to follow along and/or create their own interpretations. I haven’t made any thrinchies yet (though I am hoping to soon), but this card was inspired by Tracy’s thrinchie #11. I took the idea of the focal flower and ferns on a tag and the colour scheme, and scaled it up using a die cut tag, also creating a mixed media background inspired by some recent AALL & Create samples I’ve seen.

To create the background I blended Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio and Salty Ocean Distress Oxide inks over a large rectangle of white card, spritzed with water then blotted dry. I then lightly brayered the 3 colours of DOX over the top followed by a little white acrylic paint to soften the overall look. I randomly stamped some arty letters using Versamark and heat embossed white, then added some light stencilling using Salty Ocean DOX through AALL & Create Digits Checked stencil. I then stamped some random text using Tracy’s Background Elements stamp with Bali Blue and Verdant Versafine Clair. 

I die cut a tag then stamped the focal flower using the 3 colours of VFC, shaded with watercolour pencils and Stabilo white pencil to add some extra definition, then added fine white Posca highlights. I stamped some small ferns around the base of the tag using 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation DOX then added some random text using Bali Blue VFC. I stamped a teeny hare in the bottom corner which I grounded with grey Inktense pencil, and added the date in 2nd generation Morning Mist VFC. I edged the tag with blended DOX, punched a hole and threaded with some twine repurposed from the packaging of an order I received from Tracy 😀

I created the sentiment by stamping individual letters from TE32 Alpha Florals then enclosed within stamped sentiment frames from the same set, which I cut out ready to attach. I stamped a smaller sentiment onto a tag repurposed from Tracy’s packaging then assembled the finished card onto a C5 card blank.

As this card was for a special friend I also decorated the inside with another stamped and coloured flower and a grungy Visible Image sentiment. 

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE32 Alpha Florals, TE3 Fern, TE16 ArtsyAlpha/Numbers, TE11 Background Elements, TE31 Nature’s Beauty; AALL & Create #455 Seasons; Visible Image Birthday Wishes;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean); Versafine Clair (Bali Blue, Verdant, Morning Mist, Nocturne, Portobello); Versamark; WOW Opaque white super fine embossing powder; watercolour pencils; Stabilo pencil (white);  Posca pen (white); acrylic paint (white);

Tools: AALL & Create die #30 Taggletastic, stencil #110 Digits Checked.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #485 - Diecuts and/or Stencils (2nd entry)

Ally’s Angels #90 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #25 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Cardz 4 Galz #242 - Anything but Square

Crafter’s Cafe #315 - Birthdays

Crafty Catz #686 - Anything Goes with option Blue and Green

Creative Aunts #98 - Bingo

(blue/stamped images/handmade background)

Creative Crafting Uncles #61 - Happy Birthday

Creative Inspirations (January)  - Something Old/Something New (3rd entry)

(New stamp set TE32 Alpha Florals, old stencil #110)

Everybody Art #571 - Anything Goes

Fab ‘n’ Funky #609 - Include a Stamped Image (3rd entry) - TOP 3

Hallowe’en and Other Occasions #23 - Birthday

Little Red Wagon #792 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Shopping Our Stash #540 - Crafty Remnants

(kraft tag and twine - I don’t have a craft desk so they weren’t left out on it, but were with my leftovers in the cupboard ready to be used) 

Simon Says (Monday) - Bright and Cheerful

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (4th entry)

I only realised right near the end of making this that I had mistakenly die cut my tag using the larger matting layer from the die set which is not as detailed as the smaller layer, which of course also meant I could not create a die cut mat for my tag!  Doh!! Never mind … I’m still pretty pleased overall with how it turned out, so onwards and upwards!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,