Allsorts Challenge #687

Good morning everyone, and welcome to this week's Allsorts Challenge. Mervi has chosen the theme this time and it is

*** Butterflies and/or Bugs ***

We are looking forward to seeing your fluttery or creepy crawly creations !! (I personally hate creepy crawlies especially spiders, but I'll force myself to look through my fingers lol!!)

This week we have 2 great prizes on offer from Craft Stash:

A beautiful stamp set, and a stencil.

Here's my card for this week.

This is the last stamp I have got round to using from a gorgeous AALl & create set I acquired from the FB UK Stampers' Forum Craft De-Stash site a few weeks ago. It is another really big stamp, which directed me  to make a DL card - except that when cutting down the already finished image panel I slightly misjudged so had slightly to cut down my base card to suit ..it's actually about an inch shorter than a normal DL!!  Oops! Anyhoo ...

I stamped and heat embossed my image, then smooshed on some Distress Oxide inks using acetate ... I particularly had in mind that this image would suit the 2 new DO colours "Saltwater Taffy" and "Uncharted Mariner". I also did a little stencilling with more Saltwater Taffy at each side, though that is a bit difficult to see in the photo, and stamped a background word "butterfly" from the same stamp set. I stamped and heat embossed a portion of the main stamp again on separate card, painted the butterfly with the 2 DO's then fussy cut and attached on top of the original image. I matted everything onto black linen card stock and attached to my card base, added a sentiment sticker, and finished off with Glossy Accents on the butterfly to give it an enamelled sheen. 

This was a really quick card for me! here's an angled pic to show the glossy accents on the butterfly. I have only recently started using Glossy Accents again after not doing so for years (I had to buy a new bottle as my other had seized up completely!!). This is quite a big glossy area and I noticed when it was dry there are a couple of bubbles ...never mind, I'll know not to do it by electric light next time so I can see what I'm doing properly!

Stamps: AALL & Create #449 - Through the Meadows;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Saltwater Taffy, Uncharted Mariner); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight); Glossy Accents;

Tools: Darkroom Door stencil - Polka Dots;

Other: Tim Holtz "Small Talk" stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #434 - Any Occasion (2nd entry)

Colour Crazy Challenge #30 2022 - Anything Goes With Colouring

Creative Crafters #54 - Anything Goes (3rd entry) - TOP 3

Daring Cardmakers - Stencil It!

Krafty Chicks #622 - All Occasions

NBUS #40 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff (3rd entry)

(Mine is my main stamp, and Uncharted Mariner DO ink pad)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #553/554 - Anything Goes (3rd 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,

Creative Chaos

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to share a few ATC’s I have made .. I got on a bit of a roll with some new Visible Image stamps as my ATC stock was really depleted to almost zero. I only started making ATC’s in April but I really enjoy it, as it is a fascinating challenge to tell a story in such a small space 😀

First up … a series of 3 identical ATC’s I have called “Chaos Theory”.

First I created a smooshed background with Distress Oxide inks, then I stamped and heat embossed my focal flower. I did a bit of background stamping with VI motifs and Woodware splodges, and heat embossed “Chaos Theory” with white EP. I stamped some background text in grey onto separate snippets of card, then stamped and heat embossed my flower, fussy cut the flower head and attached to each ATC on top of the original stamping. Finally I coloured each flower head with red Posca sparkle pen - with hindsight I wished I hadn’t done that, but hey it’s done now. 

Here’s a closer look at one of the ATC’s.

Stamps: flower - Visible Image “Accessories”; background stamping and words - VI “Creative Chaos”; splodges -  Woodware “Additions”;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Golden Meadow, Verdant, Green Oasis, Medieval Blue); Versafine (Imperial Purple); Posca sparkle pen (red).

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem Of a Challenge #15 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #7 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Colourful Options (July) - Red, White & Blue

Creative Crafters #54 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Daisy Chain #65 - No Design Paper (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #556 - Anything Goes

Get Creative #113 - Red, White & Blue

Mixed Media Lovers #15 - Anything Mixed Media Goes (2nd entry)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2230 - Anything Goes 

QKR Stampede #448 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Secondly, I made a series of 4 ATC’s I have called “Out of Chaos Comes Creativity”. These were inspired by my idea of colouring the flower in the colours of the rainbow.

First I cut out 4 pieces of card slightly smaller than standard ATC size, and stamped/heat embossed my flowers. I coloured the flowers with Posca sparkle pens then masked the flower heads and created a smoosh background on each ATC in different shades. I did a little background stamping with VI background stamps, then created my sentiment using masking tape to position the sentiment over 3 lines, and to use a mix of black and coloured ink. I edged each image panel with black Promarker before matting onto coordinating brightly coloured card stock, and finished off with a single heart gem on each card.

Here's an angled pic to show the sparkly flowers ...

... and closeups of the individual ATC’s.

1/4

2/4

3/4

4/4

Stamps: flower - Visible Image “Accessories”; background stamping and words - VI “Creative Chaos”; 

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized A,bear, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Lilac, Wilted Violet); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Golden Meadow, ; Versafine (Imperial Purple; Posca sparkle pens (red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, violet)

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally's Angels #60 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Arty Divas (July) - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz #177 - Get Inky (3rd entry)

Colour Crazy #29 2022 - Anything Goes With Colouring

Creative Crafting Uncles #31 - Anything But a Card

Moving Along With the Times #144 - Inky Background (2nd entry)

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

Word Art Wednesday #553/554 - Anything Goes  (2nd entry)

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #7 2022 - Anything Goes

That’s all for today, though I do have a couple more ATC’s still up my sleeve for a future share.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #686

Good morning everyone, it's Saturday again, so it's time already for another weekly Allsorts Challenge. I'd like to start by thanking everyone who joined in with my Christmas in July theme last week ... it was lovely seeing all your entries though rather perverse to be sitting scrolling though them all as the sweat rolled off me in the most extreme temperatures the UK has ever had!!  Hope you all managed to keep safe during the heatwave, and are now things have cooled down a little hope you are all raring to go with a new crafting week!

This week Brenda has chosen the theme and we have gone to the other end of the seasonal spectrum with 

*** Summer ***

So you have lots of scope this week ... think flowers, sunshine, beaches, summer cocktails ... the list is endless!  After the unprecedented heatwave we've been having in the UK this week everyone should hopefully be in the summer mood - if not a little frazzled!

This week we have another 2 brilliant prizes on offer:

First, this fab Stampendous summer  cocktail stamp set from Oakwood Direct (just what's needed when the temperatures get too much!!)

and secondly, three digi images of the winner's choice from Ruth Hamilton Design.

Here's my card for this week - using Ruth Hamilton Design - Honeysuckle. I'm still not very confident when it comes to colouring with my alcohol markers, but I thought I would give it a go this time.

 I printed my digi image onto Neenah solar white card stock, and coloured with Promarkers. I then cut the image into a panel slightly smaller than a 7" x 5" card, distressed the left hand side and round the edges with my new Saltwater Taffy DO, and stencilled the left hand side and bottom right corner with my Lavinia stencil, using a paler colour (Spun Sugar) than the base layer. I stamped my sentiment, added some spatters with my gold Posca pen and a few Sakura sparkle highlights, and matted onto a matte gold card border. I finished off with die cut matt gold card stock filigree corners and some punched butterflies in rose gold metallic cardstock.

Here is a picture to try to capture some of the gleam and sparkle.

Stamps: Ruth Hamilton Design “Honeysuckle” (digi); sentiment - Uniko “Beautiful”;

Media: Promarkers, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Saltwater Taffy, Spun Sugar); Posca pen (gold metallic); Sakura Stardust pen (clear);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Divine; La La land Filigree Corner die; X-Cut punched butterflies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More! #434 - Any Occasion

Ally's Angels #60 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Butterfly Challenge #171 - Colour Wheel + Butterfly - TOP 3

(I have used salmon and sand)

Creations In Pink #48 - Anything Goes in Mainly Pink

Creative Crafters #54 - Anything Goes

Daisy Chain #65 - No Design Paper

I ❤️ Promarkers #515 - Anything Goes with option Summery Colours

Passion For Markers #650 - Something Beginning With "B" 

(blooms, butterflies, beautiful)

QKR Stampede #448 - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations (July) - Summer Flowers (3rd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #553/554 - Anything Goes

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,

In the Post

Hi everyone,

Today I would like to share a set of ATC’s I made for a monthly swap on FB UK Stampers’ Forum on the theme of “In the Post”.  I racked my brains for a while and ruffled through my stash, where I found an old vintage postcard stamp that was pretty much EXACTLY the right size for an ATC … so it all went from there! I love the way that themed ATC swaps really do make you get your thinking cap on! I only started making ATC’s three months ago but I really enjoy it 😀

First I cut a piece of stamping white card big enough to make all 3 ATC’s, and created a  vintage paper effect by smooshing Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress inks using acetate. I then stamped my vintage postcard image 3 times with sepia ink and cut out. I masked a portion of each postcard and 2nd generation stamped my vintage text in grey, then over stamped my flower in sepia and coloured with various shades of pink DI. I was a bit puzzled as to how I could create the address as I didn’t have any suitable stamps … but I found some old vintage style papers in my stash which contained these teeny label images, so I cut them out and attached them. Similarly, another paper pad contained impressionistic images of teeny postage stamps, so my luck was in! I matted each finished panel onto brown linen card stock, and finished off with a couple of dewdrops on each postcard and a little Posca gold pen on the star postmark.

Here’s a closer look at one of the ATC’s.

Stamps: vintage postcard - Lili of the Valley; text - Indigo Blu “Sarah’s Choice”; flower - Visible Image “Accessories”;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet); Versafine (Sepia); Versafine Clair (Morning Mist); Posca pen (gold);

Papers and dewdrop gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem Of a Challenge #15 2022 - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz #177 - Get Inky (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #7 2022 - Anything Goes

Mixed Media Lovers #15 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

NBUS #40 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff (2nd entry)

(Indigo Blu and Visible Image stamps)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2228 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Fabulous Florals (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make Your Own Background  (2nd entry)

Three Room Studio #685 - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care everyone in the extreme heat and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #685

Good morning everyone, I'm thrilled to say that this week it is my turn to welcome you and choose the theme for Allsorts Challenge. I thought I would be kind, and give you all the opportunity to get ahead with things, so I have chosen

*** Christmas In July ***

If you're anything like me, every year I promise myself that I will get a good head start on my Christmas makes .... and here we are in July, and how many Chrimbo cards have I made ??? Errr ... two!! So this challenge has given me a good excuse to get a wriggle on, and I hope it will do the same for you too!!

Once again we have 2 fantastic prizes on offer:

Firstly, a £15 store voucher from Pearlywinks

and secondly this gorgeous Christmassy Sizzix die set.

Here's my card for this week.

A few months ago I won a fantastic £100 voucher in a competition over at Uniko, and amongst other things i chose several Christmas stamp sets. With the hot weather I wasn't really feeling very inspired to make a Christmas card, so I broke out this set in the hope that it would kick-start my mojo, and decided to make a Skandi-style card. 

I stamped my images using a mixture of Versafine Clair, and Versamark heat embossed with silver EP.  I sponged some blue Distress oxides along the top and bottom edges to provide a bit more contrast to the silver snowflakes, and matted the panel onto blue pearlescent card stock. It still seemed to be missing a little something, so I added some holographic peel off snowflakes.

Stamps: Uniko Background Builders - Winter Wonderland;

Media: Versafine Clair (Medieval Blue, Warm Breeze); Versafine (Majestic Blue); Versamark; Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire).

Challenges I would like to enter:

ABC Christmas Challenge - N is for New, O is for Old

(new stamps, old holographic peel offs)

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (July) - Snowflakes

C.R.A.F.T. #645 - Christmas

Creatalicious #239 - Anything Goes with option Christmas In July

Dare 2B Artzy (July) - Christmas In July

Double Trouble #116 - Christmas In July

The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge #119 - Anything Christmas Goes

Krafty Chicks #620 - Christmas In July

My Time to Craft #486 - Christmas In July

Paper Dragonfly #7 2022 - Christmas In July

Papercraft Challenges #84 - Christmas in July

Sheepski #64 - Christmas In July

Taylormadecards4U (July) - Anything Goes with option Holidays in July

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,

Olivia Makes a Wish

Hello there and happy Friday!

I had to have another play with some more of my new Lavinia stash, and this time I decided to break out my new Elements inks and have a go at a gel plate background ... I bought 2 Elements inks especially to try with the gel plate as I've not had a lot of success up to now with Distress Oxides. Here's the result.

I started by brayering 2 colours of Elements inks onto my gel plate, and spattering with water - I also bought a few brushos on Sunday but I could only take so much excitement in one crafty session so I thought I would save them for another time! I would love to be able to say that the results were an unqualified success but I would be lying - I had several failed attempts (including a few with DO's instead of Elements inks) and wouldn't really say I was happy with this one, but it was the best of the bunch! 

I created my sun by blending Distress Oxides around a circle mask, then blended some clouds across the sun with more DO and torn paper. I stamped my new fairy "Olivia" using Versafine Clair in Nocturne, then built up my floral scene using various flower and foliage stamps and 1st/2nd generation stamping in various VFC colours. I "grounded" Olivia with a little blended DO, and added some fairy wording across the sun. I coloured Olivia's wings and the flower heads with Sakura sparkle pens, and added Sakura sparkle highlights everywhere, then finished by blending a little Elements ink around the edges of the image panel before stamping my sentiment and matting simply onto black linen card stock.  Here's a picture to show the sparkle!

Stamps: Lavinia Olivia Small, Wild Summer Flower, Fairy Dandelions, Leaf Spray, Leaf Creeper, Josie (small dandelion seed head); Faerie Spells; sentiment - Crafter's Companion Magical Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements Inks (Della Blue, Pine); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Hickory Smoke, Stormy Sky, Rustic Wilderness); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Morning Mist, Rainforest, Green Oasis, Verdant); Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens (Blue, Gold, Lime Green, Clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More! #433 - Birthdays

Cardz 4 Galz #177 - Get Inky - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

Hero Arts (July) - Birthdays

Make My Monday #178 - Splatters! (2nd entry)

NBUS #40 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff

(Olivia fairy and leaf creeper stamps, Elements inks, Hickory Smoke DO, Green Oasis VFC)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2228 - Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash #474 - Blending In - TOP 3

Simon Says (Monday) - Fabulous Florals (2nd entry) - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make Your Own Background

Try It On Tuesday - Make It Magical - TOP 5

Looks like it's going to be an absolute scorcher this weekend here in the UK, so take care everyone, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Hi everyone,

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to be able to go to one of the Lavinia Open Days they had last weekend as part of their Fairy Fest craft festival. I had a brilliant time wandering around the magical shop, dropping in on one or two demos, and meeting members of the team including Tracy and Jo Rice. I had a good old crafty spend while I was there, so naturally I wanted to have a play with some of my new supplies as soon as possible.

My favourite stamp of the new release is the lovely Wild Summer Flower, so I decided to make a 7" x 5" card where the design was based on this Jo Rice tutorial, but with some adjustments to suit my stash. Jo made her card using pan pastels but I don't have a collection of those, so I made my background with Distress Oxides. I actually watched the tutorial last week, and when I came to link it up for this post I realised I had made my card a lot busier than Jo's by introducing various other flowers as well as my birds and bee!! I also had to introduce my signature "twist" which is lots of Sakura sparkle ...  so here it is.

I created my background sky by blending Distress Oxide inks, then I used a circle mask to create my sun - blending the ink very gently to create a subtle hazy outline.  I stamped several Wild Summer Flowers using Versafine Clair Nocturne, then stamped several leaf sprays 1st and 2nd generation using my new VFC's in Golden Meadow and Verdant. I filled some gaps in the scene with my existing dandelion stamps inked with Versafine Imperial Purple, then stamped my birds and bee.   I coloured the flower heads and bee and highlighted the sun and other flowers using Sakura sparkle pens, then added some pastel pencil wispy streaks in the sky and a little white Posca pen spatter. I matted the panel simply on black linen card stock, and finished off with a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment.

As always there is more sparkle on this card than a standard picture shows, so here is an angled pic. Despite not having a collection of pan pastels, I did actually buy one on Sunday, which was the fine pearl white for making mist and moon auras. I tried it on the first attempt at this card but it didn't work very well - I think I need more practice, plus I was a tad concerned when I opened the package and spotted the warning that the dust is harmful. Whether I will continue to use it, time will tell.

Stamps: Lavinia Wild Summer Flower, Leaf Spray, Fairy Dandelions, Dandelions, Birds, Bee Miniature;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserves); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Golden Meadow, Verdant); Versafine (Imperial Purple); Sakura Gelly Roll (Stardust) pens (Purple, Gold, Copper, Clear); pastel pencil (white); Posca Pen (white); 

Other: Tim Holtz "small Talk" sentiment sticker.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally's Angels #60 - Anything Goes

As You Like It - Favourite Warm or Cool Colours (and why) (2nd entry)

(I love warm colours at this time of year as they give cards such a summery feel)

Colour Crazy #27 2022 - Anything Goes With Colouring

Craft Rocket #94 - Summertime

Creative Inspirations (July) - Summer Sun

Dream Valley #273 - All Occasions (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Crafty Wednesday (July) - Anything Goes

Everybody Art #518 - Sunny Greetings

Fab 'n' Funky #555 - Whatever the Weather

Make My Monday #178 - Spatters!

Shopping Our Stash #474 - Blending In

Simon Says (Monday) - Fabulous Florals

Stamping Sensations (July) - Summer Flowers (2nd entry)

Use Your Stuff #452 - Mood Board

(I saw yellow/orange/pinky purple colours, flowers and a hazy sky)

We Love Stamping (July) - Anything Stamped with option of Hot Sunny Colours

Word Art Wednesday #551/552 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I would also like to share today a very quick ATC I made whilst at my desk.

This was prompted because I was making a card which went wrong, so I rescued and recycled a panel that I had stencilled with DO's and my new Lavinia stencil. I then stamped a little wildflower meadow and sentiment onto the background, matted onto standard ATC-sized black linen card and finished off with Sakura  sparkle highlights, a heart shaped gem and sticker sentiment - pretty quick and easy!

Stamps: unbranded, free with craft magazine;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Mowed lawn, Rustic Wilderness); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Rainforest);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Divine;

Other: Tim Holtz "Small Talk" sticker.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem Of a Challenge #14 2022 - Anything Goes

A Tiny Craft #10 - All Things Tim (3rd entry)

Crafty Catz #603 - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #619 - Stamp Act

Moving Along With the Times #144 - Inky Background

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Before I go, here are a few pics from my trip to Lavinia HQ on Sunday ... my first visit, but hopefully not my last!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,