Special Birthday

An old friend who I don’t really see nowadays had a special birthday this week, so I thought I’d better get busy!

First I cut a large rectangular stitched frame using stitched rectangle dies, then I stamped a floral panel stamp (which was the cover gift with a recent craft magazine) onto a snippet of white card and coloured it with Zig markers with Wink of Stella added to the flower petals for a little sparkle. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold then attached the flower panel behind the aperture and matted onto gold card and a home made card blank. To finish I added die cut numbers for the age, and a die cut butterfly from copper glitter card (which actually looks more orange than in the photo). I also stamped a greeting inside the card.

Stamps: Flower panel free with Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine issue 283 (May 2026); Visible Image Birthday Wishes;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Versamark; WOW gold embossing powder; Wink of Stella;

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Rectangle dies;  Craft Addiction UK Essential Number dies; Joy! Crafts Vintage Flourishes Butterfly die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #519 - Any Occasion

Aud Sentiments #338 - Embossing (wet or dry) and/or Flowers + a Sentiment

Crafts Galore Encore #148 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #715 - Anything Goes

Creative Colour Girlz #5 - Flowers

Die Cut Divas (June) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #16 - Anything In or From a Garden

Fab ‘n’ Funky #639 - Summer Flowers

Girlz Rebel #53 - Butterflies

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #30 - Birthdays 

Love to Craft #92 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Love to Scrap #179 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Make My Monday #279 - Dry/Heat Embossing

NBUS #87 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(Flower panel stamp and number dies)

Papercraft Challenges #30 - Botanical Beauty

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add a Sentiment (2nd entry)

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

Try It On Tuesday - Flying High (2nd entry)

Unicorn #121 - Flowers

Word Art Wednesday #756/757 - Anything Goes  (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #16 - Guest DT

Hi everyone, I was delighted when my bloggy friend Ellie picked my May calendar page as  a top pick for her Ellibelle’s Garden Party challenge, and asked me to be a guest designer this month. Of course I said yes!

The challenge is always

*** Anything In or From a Garden ***

Plenty of choices there, so there’s really no excuse not to join in! Please do visit Ellie’s blog to see more fabulous inspiration, and to link up your entries here.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I decided to go with a dragonfly, and my choice of this particular image was heavily influenced by the fact that I thought it went well with my new grungy frame dies, which I was absolutely desperate to play with!

I cut the grungy frame (AALL & Create Film Drip) - outer frame from black cardstock and inner panel from white stamping card. I then created a smooshed background on the white panel using Distress Oxide inks. I stamped and heat embossed the focal image, then stamped and heat embossed again onto a separate snippet of card. I coloured the dragonfly wings with metallic watercolour paints to give an iridescent sheen then fussy cut out. I added some faint deep blue stencilling around the edges of the image, then attached the painted dragonfly on top of the original image. I added a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment then attached the finished panel to the black frame and a 6” x 4” card blank (one of the few I had as I don’t normally make cards this size!) I finished off with some faux white spatters.

The background actually has a bit more colour than the photos suggest, but it is very dark here today so not the best for photography. Here’s an angled picture to show the iridescent sheen on the dragonfly wings. 

I used several card snippets on this project, and unusually for me I even remembered to take a photo of them!

Stamps: Visible Image Dragonfly Dreams; 

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Cracked Pistachio, Blueprint Sketch); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight); Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints (Jade Mint, Sapphire Sparkle); Luminarte watercolour paints (Bolivian Blue); Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create Film Drip dies; Visible Image stencil - Off the Grid; 

Other: Tim Holtz Ideaology ‘Small Talk’ word stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Colourful Options (June) - Tiffany Blue

(Aqua, teal, turquoise, blue/green)

Creative Artiste #127 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Die Cut Divas (June) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut

Girlz Creative Crafts #68 - Die Cuts and/or Punches

Make My Monday #279 - Add Texture - Dry/Heat Embossing

{PIN}spirational # 338 - Blue  and Green

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add a Sentiment

Snippets Playground #534 - Use Snippets

Try It on Tuesday - Flying High

Word Art Wednesday #756/757 - Anything Goes

The Garden Party will end on Monday July 6th, 11:59pm US Central Time …. We look forward to seeing your entries! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Floral Butterfly

Hi everyone, yesterday I spent the afternoon making a special card for a friend’s milestone birthday which I can’t share just yet, but I also managed to sneak in another very quick CAS card using a few bits and pieces I had lying around!

I cut a large stitched square from a large snippet of white card, and die cut an aperture using my new Craft Addiction UK dies which I had my eye on for a while - they arrived yesterday and I had them out of the packet almost before they landed on the doormat! I then created a smooshed background on a smaller snippet and stamped the floral butterfly by dabbing with various shades of Versafine Clair - my colour scheme was inspired by a current colour challenge. I attached the butterfly panel behind the aperture then stamped the sentiment and attached the finished panel to a card blank. To finish I added two teeny gems to the butterfly’s antennae - job done! 

Unfortunately this card illustrates the main crafty problem I’m struggling with at the moment - my die cutting machine is a CC Gemini A4, and the plates are now so warped that they are wrecking my die cuts by causing creasing and waviness on the card. I really need new plates and shims but they are incredibly difficult to get hold of (quite apart from the price!) I’ve currently got my eye on some and hope to get them within the next week as I can’t carry on the way things are! To flatten this card out I had to place it under a heavy pile of books overnight!

Stamps: Chloe’s Creative Crafts Summer Florals (free with Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine issue 283 (May 2026));

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Violet Chalk); Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink (Pale Fig); Versafine Clair (Medieval Blue, Very Peri, Lilac Bloom, Monarch);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched square die; Craft Addiction UK Stitch Craft Fusion Frames (square).

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Colourful #28 - Colour Board

Addicted to Stamps & More! #518 - Birthdays

Die Cut Divas (June) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut

Double Trouble #217 - Birthday

Girlz & the Art of Letters #28 - B is for …Butterfly

Just Us Girls #826 - Use a Die

Krafty Chicks #823 - Birthday

Paper Players #788 - Tic Tac Toe

(Die cut / free / happy sentiment)

Simply Clean & Simple (June) - Anything CAS Goes

Snippets Playground #533 - Use Snippets

I’m hoping to get another craft session in this afternoon as I have to stay in for a BT Outreach engineer to survey our property for installation of full fibre broadband. Last time I stayed in for 5 hours and they never showed up, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed the visit will be more successful this time! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Indra

Hi everyone, wow it’s June already … where does the time go to? As usual for this year, I am sharing my new Lavinia calendar page on the first of the month, which I actually made a few days ago. I was very lucky last month to receive a Lavinia gift voucher from a friend for my birthday, so I treated myself to a couple of older stamps which I have often admired but never purchased until now. The main one is Indra, a gorgeous and very large intricate moth whose wings really remind me of a Zentangle. Having got this stamp last week I decided I just had to use it on my calendar page.

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and stamped Indra at an angle in the centre. I then created a stencilled brick wall background with Elements ink. I stamped the honeysuckle and coloured it by painting with watered down Posca glitter pens, which I also used to colour Indra. I masked Indra and stamped xxx down the right side, again colouring the hearts with Posca glitter pen. Finally I added a sentiment word masked off from a larger sentiment, then attached the finished panel to my blank calendar page. I was a bit disappointed as I made a bit of a mess of the grungy script stamping, but my husband kindly said it was looked like part of the overall grungy effect (bless him!)

Stamps: Lavinia Honeysuckle, Indra, Background Script, Deeper than the Ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Confetti); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Posca glitter pens (pink, red, yellow, green, orange); Sakura Stardust pens (red, clear); Posca pen (white); fineliner pen (black);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Red Brick.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Place to Start 202606 - Anything but a Card

Crafty Catz #714 - Anything Goes

Fab ‘n’ Funky #638 - Use a Stencil or Embossing Folder

Heart’s Quest #86 - Anything with a Heart Goes

If You Give a crafter a Cookie #217 - In the Garden

Just Us Girls #825 - Stencil Week

Little Red Wagon #860 - Create Your Own Background - FEATURED

NBUS #87 - Use Your Never-Before-Used-Schtuff

Outlawz Anything but a Card (June) - Anything but a Card

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin’ - Flowers

Word Art Wednesday #754/755 - Anything Goes

I’m looking forward eagerly to receiving another order of crafty goodies from AALL & Create, as I was very lucky to also receive a birthday voucher for them from a dear friend - hoping the new stuff may make me feel inspired to do a bit more frequent crafting. 🤞🏻

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Flower Spirits

Hi everyone, I’ve still not been around much for the past couple of weeks as my mojo is still on holiday in Outer Mongolia, but I felt compelled to try to make another entry for this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge - “Flower Spirits”.  Here it is.

I kept this one very simple, making it as a one layer card. I created my card blank by scoring a 30cm x 15cm piece of Pink Frog super smooth stamping card, then created a circle in the centre by sponging Elements ink through a circle mask then spattering with droplets of water. With the mask still in place I stamped various silhouette flowers and teeny fairies. I coloured the fairy wings and lantern with Sakura Stardust pens, then added white Posca accents to the flowers. I finished off with a sentiment stamped in the corner and highlighted with purple Stardust pen.

Stamps: Lavinia Foxgloves, Wild Poppies, Buttercups, Dandelions, Fairy Foragers, Believe In Magic;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pink Elephant, Russet Orange, Flying Fig); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pens (clear, yellow, purple); Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (May) - Anything Goes with option May flowers

Ally’s Angels #106 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #41 - Anything Floral Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #147 - Anything Goes - DT FAVOURITE

Crafty Catz #714 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #100 - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #821 - CAS

Lavinia Creative Challenge (May) - Flower Spirits (2nd entry)

Love to Craft #92 - Anything Goes

Make My Monday #278 - Say It With Flowers

Mix It Up #83 - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations (May) - Anything Goes - WINNER

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

Try It On Tuesday - Keep It Simple

Word Art Wednesday #752/753 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting,

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #37

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month so it’s time for a new I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner - back from our little break last month. 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. 

This month it was my turn to choose the theme, which is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something Monochromatic ***

We would love to see your makes in shades of any colour, and of course black, white and neutrals are also fine! 

Please don’t forget to pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

We are also delighted to welcome back Gerrina as guest designer -  - so please do click on her name to visit her blog and view her beautiful creation.

Here’s my card for the challenge. My start point for this project was to select a colour I wouldn’t normally choose for a monochrome card - in this case orange - and then think what kind of image would suit that colour scheme. I decided on a butterfly, and off I went…

I die cut a scalloped square of white stamping card, and created a large stencilled butterfly using a Visible Image stencil and two shades of orange Distress Oxide inks which I then spattered with water. I stamped the smaller butterfly onto a separate small snippet of white card, coloured with an orange Sakura Stardust pen and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I stamped some background script in 2nd generation Nocturne VFC, using part of a much larger floral stamp by AALL & Create which I have cut down into separate bits. I also stamped some Visible Image butterfly-related words onto the butterfly wings,, then matted the white panel onto a square cut from a large snippet of orange cardstock, and onto a square card blank. Finally I attached the smaller butterfly and bent up its wings.

Stamps: Visible Image Minis #1, Wings of Change; AALL & Create Daisy Elegance;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon; Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pen (orange); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Visible image stencil - Butterfly Ink; Craft Addiction UK die - Scallopstack Square Frames.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Colourful Options (May) - Black & White with a Pop of Colour

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (May) - Use a Stencil - TOP 3

Fab ‘n’ Funky #637 - Monochromatic - TOP 3

Love to Scrap #179 - Anything Goes

Pearly Sparkles #119 - One or More Butterflies

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Use Craft Dies

Snippets Playground #532 - Use Snippets - TOP PICK

Sweet Stampin’ - Things With Wings

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

Word Art Wednesday #752/753 - Anything Goes

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 June 14th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday June 17th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Celebrating May

Hi everyone, it’s May Day already … where is the year going to? April has flown past, so it’s time for a new Lavinia calendar page. This month’s calendar illustration was the cute mice celebrating and generally having a good time, so I thought I’d go with that. It’s also my birthday this weekend, so the celebratory vibe is also a nod to that! Also after nearly a month without a post on here they are suddenly coming along like buses - that’s two in a couple of days!

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and stamped Teapot Cottage and the Fairy Path. I then masked them and created the landscape and sky by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. With the masks still in place I stamped flowers sprouting from the teapot and Tilly the mouse emerging - I always think she looks so joyful! I then removed the masks and stamped the meadow flowers, bench with a birdie perched on top, and more dancing mice. I added some background trees on the hills and stamped foliage and blossom on them using the tiny stamps which come with the Spring Trees. I coloured the teapot and path with Zig pens, and dotted the meadow flowers with white Posca topped with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I added some bluebells and yellow poppies to fill out the base of the scene, and added various white Posca and pastel pencil highlights to the scene. I finished off with  a butterfly and flock of birds in the sky. 

Confession time … the swirling mist coming from the teapot spout is to hide a few marks where my pink blossom somehow ended up in the sky as well as on the trees!

Stamps: Lavinia Teapot Cottage, Fairy Path, Bench, Tilly & Tango, Summer Flower, Wild Poppies, Garden Poppy, Bluebells, Dandelions, Tree Scene, Small Trees, Spring Trees, Magical Mist, Fairy Bugs, Bird Collection, Birds;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Olive, Pine, Lime Pinch, Blue Atoll, Lemon Drop, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Shady Lane, Avocado, Very Peri, Baby Pink, Golden Meadow, Portobello, Acorn); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, yellow, clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia Hill, Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More! #516 - Make Your Mark

Ally’s Angels #105 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #147 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #276 - Anything Goes with option Spring

Creative Artiste #126 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Double D - Tea or Coffee

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #14 - Anything In or From a Garden - TOP PICK

Four Seasons (May) - Spring

Lavinia Creative Challenge (May) - Flower Spirits

Love to Craft #91 - Anything Goes

Outlawz Anything but a Card (May) - Anything but a Card

Paper Funday #86 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - 4 Legged Friends

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #750/751 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope if you’re in the UK you enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend, whatever you’re doing.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

The Wanderer Returns!

Hi everyone, I’ve been MIA for most of April, as my mojo has been on a long exotic holiday, and I just couldn’t seem to get motivated or inspired to make anything! Yesterday, however, I had to sit down to make my latest calendar page, so while I was in the mood I also made a card using a statement sentiment stamp that I picked up in a charity shop a few weeks ago, but which I haven’t inked up until now!

I cut a 14.5cm square of white stamping card, and stamped the Inkylicious Spatter Circle XL, which I had inked with bright pink, orange and yellow Elements ink and spritzed with water. I stamped the sentiment towards the right using Nocturne Versafine Clair, then die cut a black mesh panel and a couple of white daisies to place on the left. I coloured the flower centres with the same pink Elements ink, and added some gold Posca brush pen highlights both to the flower centres and the text. I matted the stamped panel onto a black border and card blank, then attached the die cut pieces.

Stamps: Inkylicious Splatter Circle XL, Stampendous sentiment;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pink Elephant, Russet Orange, Lemon Drop); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Posca brush pen (gold);

Tools: Visible Image Broken Mesh die; flower dies from Amazon.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

As You Like It - Favourite Brights or Pastels (and why)

(I love both depending on my mood, but I particularly love how the vibrancy of bright colours can make black and white elements ‘pop’)

Beautiful Blossoms #40 - Anything Floral Goes with optional Mood Board

Crafty Catz #712 - Anything Goes

Daisy Chain #106 - No Design Paper

Girlz Creative Splash It With Colour #20 - Yellow and/or Pink - WINNER

Girlz Rebel #51 - Flowers

Paper Funday #86 - Anything Goes with option Die Cuts/ Punches

Path of Positivity #140 - Anything Goes Positive - TOP PICK

Pearly Sparkles #118 - Something Old, Something New

(Sentiment is new to me, flower and mesh dies are old)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make It Feminine

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

Unicorn #119 - Use Dies

Word Art Wednesday #750/751 - Anything Goes

Word Power (April) - Sentiment as Focus

I’m still not feeling massively inspired, but I did enjoy making this so hopefully I’ll be back before too long with more new makes.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

C.R.A.F.T. #777 - Guest Designer

Hi everyone, I’m here again with another guest designer card for this fortnight’s C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - that’s twice on the trot! The theme for the next two weeks is 

*** Seasons / Weather / Anything Goes ***

The fabulous sponsor for this challenge is Polkadoodles 

.. who are offering a fab prize of 3 Digi images from their store.

The design team have made some gorgeous projects to inspire you, so please do visit the challenge blog to check them out, and to link up your own entries. 

Here is my card for the challenge - I decided to make a cheerful spring card, using a beautiful Tracy Evans spring floral stamp which I bought last year but hadn’t inked up until now. 

I took a snippet of white stamping card and stamped the focal flower, then stamped some coordinating script beneath it from an older large Tracy Evans stamp. I coloured the flowers and background with Zig pens , blending out the background with my Zig blending pen, then added Wink of Stella on the flower petals and white Posca spatters. I die cut a large frame from a snippet of green gingham paper, then cut my image snippet to size and attached behind the aperture. I stamped the sentiment onto separate card then die cut, edged with green ink and attached, and attached the finished panel to a card blank. I felt it still needed something else, so I retrieved an experimental coloured flower from the bin, fussy cut it out and attached in the top right corner. I then added a couple of stamped bunnies to finish and highlighted them with white pastel pencil.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE47 Wild and Free, TE32 Alpine Florals; AALL & Create #266 Daisy Elegance; Penny Back Spring Magic (2852C);

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne): Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Lavinia Elements ink (Line Punch); Wink of Stella (clear); Posca pen (white); pastel pencil (white);

Papers: from my stash;

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo- Stitched square dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #39 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Card Concept #225 - Spring Flowers (2nd entry)

Creative Moments #280 - Bunnies and Blooms (3rd entry)

Paper Players #779 - Tic Tac Toe

(Die cut / Flowers / Layers)

Papercraft #128 - Joy of Spring (3rd entry)

Passion for Markers #831 - Dies and/or Punches

Sparkles #198 - It’s Springtime! (3rd entry)

Snippets Playground #529 - Use Snippets

Sweet Stampin’ - Spring or Easter (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Word Art Wednesday #746/747 - Anything Goes 

Thanks very much to the C.R.A.F.T. challenge Design Team for asking me to be guest designer again this time.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,