Allsorts Challenge #674

Good morning everyone,

Saturday is here, so it's time for another weekly Allsorts Challenge. This week it's Lynn's turn to choose our theme, and it is

*** Anything Goes with the option of Scenic ***

So all entries are welcome so long as they comply with our simple challenge rules, but we would especially like to see any landscapes, seascapes

 or any other scenic pictures your imaginations can come up with!

This week we have 2 prizes to give away: fIrstly we have a beautiful Indigo Blu stamp 

For a second winner we have 3 digi images of their choice from Ruth Hamilton Design.

Here's my card for this week.

For me a scenic card was always going to have to be Lavinia as I have been collecting their scenic stamps over the past 6 months or so. I created my hills by blending Distress Oxide inks using a mix of Lavinia and home made hill masks, and I had my first attempt at making a cloud-filled sky with more Distress Oxides and a home made cloud mask. The sky didn't turn out perfectly but I kept going regardless!  I then stamped my trees, hares and birds using a mix of black and grey Versafine Clair and 1st/2nd generation stamping, and added a bit of colour by stamping my bluebells with Distress Oxides, as I don't yet have VFC in those bright colours. Lastly I added a bit of watercolour pencil "grounding", sponged a bit of black DO round the edges of my image panel, stamped my sentiment and matted everything onto a black linen border before adding two silver heart gems.

Stamps: Lavinia Forest Scene, Trees, Skeleton Tree Scene, Wild Hares (large), Bluebells, Field Grass, Birds, sentiment (retired - name unknown);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Iced Spruce, Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Black Soot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Misty Morning)

Tools: Lavinia hill masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #9 2022 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

 Crafty Catz #593 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #51 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Dream Valley #268 - Add Embellishments (2nd entry)

Hero Arts (April) - Blend It Up (5th entry)

Krafty Chicks #609 - All Occasions

Simon Says (Monday) - Wild and Wonderful (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Teal and Pink Wishes

Hi everyone,

As I continue on my ATC adventure, I have this week joined a FB group called UK Stampers' Forum. I was not aware of this group before, but a commenter on here recommended it as it has a monthly ATC swap (amongst many other swaps and competitions!) ... sorry I can't remember who made this recommendation, but thank you!!  I really loved this month's swap theme which is teal and pink, so I sat down this afternoon and made a set of 3 ATC's for the swap just (hopefully!) in the nick of time ... and here they are.

I cut three standard ATC size pieces of white stamping card, and created a smoosh teal and pink background using Distress Oxide inks. I then 2nd generation stamped my background words using VFC in Warm Breeze (which is a great shade of teal!), then stamped and heat embossed a white Lavinia dandelion on each card. I surrounded the main flower with 2 other dandelions stamped in Morning Mist VFC using 1st and 2nd generation stamping, then stamped, heat embossed and adhered my sentiment. I finished off by sponging round the edges of each ATC with more DO and highlighting the white dandelions with holographic glitter, before edging each piece with black marker and mounting onto black card stock.

And here's a closer look ...

ATC 1/3

ATC 2/3

ATC 3/3

Stamps: Lavinia "Dandelions" and "Words of Spring"; sentiment - Uniko "Simply Said Blocks II";

Media: Tim Holtz Distress oxide inks (Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers); Versafine Clair (Warm Breeze, Morning Mist); Versamark; white detail embossing powder; holographic glitter.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #9 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (7th entry)

Crafting Happiness #122 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Crafty Catz #592 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2217 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Wild and Wonderful

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Taylormadecards4u (April) - Anything Goes with option The Great Outdoors (3rd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes

As this is my first ever ATC swap I now need to go and look out a suitable envelope to send these to the co-ordinator ... I've got some little poly sleeves to protect each ATC but methinks I need to get organised!!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

ATC Frenzy!

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to share with you a few more ATC’s I have made .. I am so enjoying making these teeny tiny creations, even though they sometimes take longer than a full blown card!!

First up, a single ATC called “Bee Amazing”.

This one may look simple but was actually quite fiddly and time consuming, and required several attempts before I was satisfied. First I cut snippets of white and black card to slightly smaller than standard ATC size. I stencilled my honeycomb pattern onto my black card with Versamark then heat embossed using gold EP ... this took several attempts, I suspect ‘cos my EP is past its best !! I then hand trimmed my embossed panel to create a piece that would form a diagonal across the ATC. I carefully positioned, stamped and heat embossed my wording ... I didn't have any suitable stamps so had to get creative -  the word “bee” was formed by careful masking of the word “because” in my Uniko “Just Because” stamp set 🐝 

I then stamped and heat embossed my bees, and coloured them with black Promarker and gold Posca pen, and used holographic glitter on the wings. I masked off the bees and created some gold spatter on the white background with my Posca pen, then when it was dry I edged my panels with black marker then adhered my honeycomb panel and matted it all onto a standard ATC size piece of gold card.

Here is an angled pic to show the sparkly wings.

Stamps : bee - Woodware “Blooming”; sentiment - Uniko “Just Because”;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; embossing powders (gold and clear); Posca pen (gold); holographic glitter;

Tools : Darkroom Door stencil - Honeycomb.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally’s Angels #57 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Crafting Happiness (April) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Animals #60 - Include an Animal

Creative Crafters #51 - Anything Goes

Creative Knockouts #449 - Wings and Things or Furry Creatures (2nd entry)

Crafty Catz #592 - Anything Goes

Creative Moments #233 - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2216 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Path of Positivity #100 - Anything Goes Positive (2nd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

After all that I wanted to speed up a bit, so I created a larger smooshed distress panel and cut it into several pieces which ended up as a series of 3 floral ATC’s called “Dream, Wish, Believe”.

I created a smoosh panel with pink, orange and green Distress Oxide ink and cut it into pieces slightly smaller than standard ATC’s. On all 3 I did second generation background stamping using a LotV text and foliage stamp with Morning Mist VFC, then stamped a large swirl in pink pearlescent ink and heat embossed with clear EP. I rooted in my die case and selected three floral stems, which I die cut using snippets of white pearlescent card and adhered one to each ATC. For my sentiments I stamped some small LotV  sentiment tags, then cut out the words and edged with black Promarker before adhering. Finally I edged each main panel with black marker to hide the white edges, and matted into black linen cardstock, and finished off with some teeny pink gems.

And a closer look at each individual one ...

ATC 1/3

ATC 2/3

ATC 3/3

Stamps: LotV “Grunge Letter”, “Everyday Tags”; Crafty Individuals “Large Elegant Swirl”;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimon, Twisted Citron); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Brilliance Dewdrop ink pad (Pearlescent Orchid); clear embossing powder; black Promarker;

Tools: ATC1 - Memory Box “Fresh Daisies” die; ATC2 - Joy! Crafts “Vintage Flourishes” 6003/0030 coneflowers die; ATC3 - Memory Box “Prim Poppies” die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #9 2022 - Anything Goes

Alphabet Challenge - B is for Blooms

As You Like It - Favourite: Floral or Cute (and why)

(I love both, but am currently veering towards floral as I explore a more arty style of crafting)

Corrosive Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (April) - Anything But Square (3rd entry)

Day of the Month Card Club (April) - California Poppy Day (ATC 3/3 only)

Dream Valley #268 - Add Embellishments

Hero Arts (April) - Blend It Up (4th entry)

River of Creativity (April) - Anything But a Card (3rd entry)

Snippets Playground #426 - Use Snippets

That’s me all ATC’d out for the time being, though they are so addictive I sure I’ll be back on the case before too long .. I’m even working up to the idea of actually trading some 😀. I really love how they make you think about your stash in a different way … eg. I’m not too well off for appropriate “inspirational wording” stamps, so I am trying to get creative with masking and cutting down of what I do have 😀

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Thanks for visiting. 

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #673

Good morning everyone,

Wow where have the past two weeks gone to?? The Easter holidays have flown by and here we are again with a new Allsorts Challenge. This week Ellie has chosen the theme and it is

*** I spy something beginning with 'B' ***

This week we have two fab prizes on offer:

A £15 voucher from Pearlywinks

and 2 Paper Discovery stencils (designs may vary).

Here's my card for this week.

B is for Birthday, Blooms, Black, Blue, Butterfly

Over Easter my husband has been tackling the unenviable but long overdue task of decorating our hall and stairs, where he has had to strip off all the wallpaper which was put on originally as the plastering is not good. He is currently trying to remediate it (before we decide whether to call   in a professional plasterer) but the whole house seems to be in chaos, plus I am also now starting to think about all the overdue house improvements which were put on hold due to the pandemic ... so all in all I have had little time or inclination for crafting this week!

Due to lack of mojo I decided to revisit a technique I have tried before based on a Jo Rice tutorial - stencilling a scene across multiple layers. As before I made things a bit trickier for myself by stamping across multiple layers, but I learned from last time and this time I stamped from the bottom layer up!

First I cut my pieces of card, and placed them on my base card, held down with magnets using my Press to Impress Art Board. I created my sun and landscape using Lavinia masks and blended Distress Oxide inks using my trusty makeup brushes from Amazon. I stamped my fairy onto the top panel, then positioned my other stamps one by one, removing my card  panels to stamp the base card first, then the second and third layer. I added some clouds across the sun using more DO and a piece of ripped paper, coloured my fairy wings and highlighted everything with Sakura sparkle pens. Lastly I edged each layer with black Promarker lines before assembling the card and adding my stamped sentiment popped up on foam tape.

Stamps: Lavinia Moments Like These, Tree of Faith, Silhouette Foliage Set, Fairy Bugs; sentiment - See D;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust sparkle pens (yellow and turquoise);

Tools: Lavinia hill and circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (6th entry)

Creative Knockouts #449 - Wings and Things or Furry Friends

Creative Moments #233 - Things With Wings

Hero Arts (April) - Blend It Up (3rd entry)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2216 - Anything Goes - HONORARY MENTION

Simon Says (Monday) - Whatever the Weather

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Rain or Shine

Stamping Sensations (April) - I Love ... (3rd entry)

(Lavinia stamps, Distress Oxide inks, sparkle, creating scenes with masks)

Taylormadecards4u (April) - Anything Goes with option The Great Outdoors (2nd entry)

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes

That's all from me for today. Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Three Wishes For Ukraine

Happy Friday everyone !

Today I would like to share my second “series” of ATC’s which I have entitled “Three Wishes For Ukraine”.

Since I made my first ATC’s a couple of weeks ago they have been somewhat on my mind, with a few ideas bouncing around in my head. I thought I’d like to make some Ukraine support themed ones with the obvious starting point of the flag colours, and I was also inspired by the heart stamps in one of the sets I recently won in the Uniko 8th birthday challenge. I am currently also looking at different ways to make random words in an old style typewriter font … I am considering downloading some fonts for computer generated words and phrases, but I also spotted a small wooden stamp set in Hobbycraft at the weekend, and for £2 I thought it would be rude not to give it a try !!

For these ATC’s I cut 3 pieces of stamping card slightly smaller than standard ATC size, and started by stamping the central hearts using Versafine and then heat embossing. For each one I masked the heart and half of the card, sponged the yellow background using Distress Oxide ink, then immediately sponged over it again through a heart stencil. I then repeated for the top half of the card using blue DO and used a different heart stencil on each of the ATC’s, from a pack of 5 I bought specially from The Range. This was actually very fiddly and did result in a few spoiled attempts before I was satisfied !!

For the wording I stamped my letters well spaced onto white card and covered in EP, then carefully positioned my small outline heart stamp over each letter in turn, stamped and heat embossed. I fussy cut all the individual heart letters, then assembled my panel and lettering onto  standard ATC size pieces of bright blue metallic card, and coloured the white space on the focal hearts with a yellow Sakura sparkle pen.  Finally I created a back panel for each in thinner white card to write the details.

Stamps: Uniko Big & Bold - Love; Hobbycraft alphabet set;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Squeezed Lemonade, Blueprint Sketch); Versafine (Majestic Blue); clear embossing powder; Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen (gold);

Tools: Craft Sensations heart stencils from The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #8 2022 - Anything Goes

Ally’s Angels #57 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (5th entry)

Creative Knockouts #448 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #267 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Hero Arts (April) - Blend It Up (2nd entry)

ModSquad - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2215 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Pearly Sparkles #72 - Anything But a Card (2nd entry)

River of Creativity #12 - Anything But a Card (2nd entry)

Hope you are all enjoying the start of the Easter weekend, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Daffodil in bloom

Hi there,

After such a beautiful sunny spring weekend here in the UK I thought I would post another Easter card that I recently made, again using my fab new Uniko daffodil  but trying something different with the background this time.

I cut a square of white card and created a smoosh background with Distress Oxide ink by dabbing it onto acetate, spritzing with water and then "splodging" onto my card. Brenda recommends this and it did seem to give an effect I was pleased with ... my only problem right now is a shortage of suitable acetate!!  

Anyhoo ... I did some 2nd generation background stamping of words with VFC, and some stencilling with my new Lavinia flower stencil. I had seen a video by Corrie stencilling with white acrylic paint on a green background with a statement spring flower, so I thought I'd try something inspired by a similar concept.. I only have a mini tube of acrylic paint which isn't exactly optic white and the stencilling ended up looking a little bit grungy, but I think I actually like that. I stamped my daffodil and coloured with Promarkers, then fussy cut and attached to the background panel. Lastly I stamped a large vertical sentiment (where the letters were well spaced) then cut each letter out separately and edged with a green Promarker before attaching to the image panel, which I then matted onto two colours of green card.

Stamps: Uniko Spring Botanicals - Daffodil; Lavinia - Words of Spring; sentiment - See-D;

Media: Promarkers; Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Mowed Lawn); Versafine Clair (Rainforest); white acrylic paint;

Tools: Lavinia flower mask.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Ally's Angels #57 - Anything Goes

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (4th entry)

Country View Challenges (April) - Spring Is Coming (4th entry)

Creatalicious #232 - Anything Goes with option Easter

Double D Challenge- Easter (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Spring/Easter (2nd entry)

Get Creative #110 - Springtime (2nd entry)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2215 - Anything Goes

Three Room Studio Saturday Challenge #80 - Water Theme

(watercolour distress oxide background)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

 

Hope you all had a lovely weekend with the sunny weather - we had a couple of great walks in the Derbyshire countryside and visited the fab brand new sculpture exhibition in the park of Chatsworth House. This one was my favourite - "Wings of Glory" - its wings do actually move as if it is flying but sadly we didn't see it in action ... I hope I will though!

Take care and thanks for visiting today.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #671/2

Good morning everyone,

It's Saturday again already, so it's time for another weekly Allsorts Challenge. This time we are having a 2 week challenge for Easter - Brenda has chosen the theme which is

*** Masculine ***

For this fortnight's challenge we have 2 great prizes on offer, both from Craft Stash 

An AALL and Create stamp

and a Woodware stamp set

Both of these would be fabulous for making your masculine cards.

Here's my card for this challenge.

This challenge theme fell quite nicely for me, as today is my oldest friend’s husband’s birthday, so this is the card I made for him... it gave me opportunity to play with some new Lavinia stamps I bought recently, specifically for making masculine scenic cards! I really love creating these dramatic moonlit scenes which these stamps suit so well.

First I created my background using sponged Distress Oxide inks spattered with water and Lavinia hill and moon masks. I created a silver "aura" round the moon by sponging with some Versamark and brushing with Perfect pearls - not sure whether this turned out great but I carried on regardless!  I  stamped my owls, trees and flowers using a mix of Nocturne and Twilight VFC and first/second generation stamping, then liberally highlighted everything with my Sakura Stardust pen. lastly I stamped my sentiment and popped it up on foam tape. 

here is an angled picture to show some of the sparkle!

I also went to town and decorated both the envelope and the inside of the card.

Stamps: Lavinia Brodwin and Maylin, Tree Branch, Forest Scene, Trees, Skeleton Tree Scene, Silhouette Foliage Set; sentiment - Uniko Birthday Sentiments; Crafter's Companion Magical Sentiments (inside);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress oxide inks (Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch, Villainous Potion, Wilted Violet, Stormy Sky); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight); Sakura Sparkle pen - Stardust; Perfect pearls powder;

Tools: Lavinia hill and moon masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Classic Design Challenge #4 2022 - Anything Goes (6th Birthday Challenge) (4th entry)

Craft Rocket Challenge #91 - For the Boys/Men

Crafting Happiness (April) - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #590 - Anything Goes

Daisy Chain #62 - Birthday

Daring Cardmakers - A Little Bird Told Me

Dream Valley #267 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Fab 'n' Funky #548 - Masculine

Hero Arts Challenge (April) - Blend It Up

ModSquad - Anything Goes

NBUS #37 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff!

(Owls and most of the tree stamps)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Happy Birthday!

Sparkles #150 - For Men Only

Stamping Sensations (April) - I Love … (2nd entry) - TOP 3

(Lavinia stamps, Distress Oxides and moonlit scenes)

Taylormadecards4u (April) - Anything Goes with option The Great Outdoors

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #3 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you can join us , and I look forward to seeing your entries this time. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team, also that this challenge lasts for 2 weeks rather than the usual one, due to the Easter holidays.. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

You're the Bestest!

I recently spotted that this month's We love Stamping challenge theme is "Stamp of the Moment", and that was what inspired today's card using this adorable Penny Black kitty stamp called "you're the Bestest!". 

So why is this my stamp of the moment?? Well there are three reasons ... he is one of my all time favourite Penny Black stamps as there is something just so joyful about him; secondly he is obviously perfect for spring and Easter cards right now; and thirdly (and critically) ... last week I thought I had lost him!!! I was looking for him to make an Easter card and couldn't find him anywhere - I turned out every box of wooden stamps I've got, and no joy! Only later did I realise my mistake, which is doubtless due to the fact  I only came back to crafting last summer so haven't inked up this little guy for a long time ... I have him not as a traditional wood mounted stamp but as a cling ... and I found him nestling in one of my boxes of unmounted stamps completely by chance! How happy was I?? So I just had to ink him up and here is the result.

I stamped my image and coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, then softened the sky by dabbing with rubbing alcohol and a cotton bud. I die cut my image using a stitched square, and sponged Distress Oxide ink round the edges.  I layered up some gingham paper that I had edged with some faux stitching using my pokey tool and a black fine liner, with some green and yellow card, then decorated with jute and green ribbons. I matted my image panel onto the gingham paper then finished off by decorating with a stamped sentiment,  die cut and punched butterflies and a trio of sparkly gems.

The large butterfly is very sparkly and the small butterflies are gold mirror card which looks very dark in the main photo ... here is an angled pic.

Stamps: Penny Black "You're the Bestest!"; sentiment - unknown;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Mowed Lawn);

Tools: Magnolia Doohickey Butterfly Dreams die; X-Cut small butterflies punch; stitched square die from Amazon;

Paper, ribbons and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Country View Challenges (April) - Spring Is Coming (3rd entry)

Double D Challenge- Easter

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Spring/Easter

Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday (April) - Animals of Any Kind

Passion For Markers #635 - Animal Magic

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (April) - Anything Goes option Easter (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Easter/Spring (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (April) - I Love …

(Penny Black stamps, spring, daffodils)

 Try It on Tuesday - Spring Colours (2nd entry) - TOP 5

We love Stamping (April) - Stamp of the Moment

It's been a pretty busy crafty week with posts coming along like buses ... I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the new Allsorts challenge.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,