Sending Hugs

Hi everyone, I have another card to share using my (current) favourite new stamp set by AALL & Create - this time I have gone for a different more CAS look, and felt inspired to have a rare colouring session with my Promarkers so that I could enter Passion For Markers’ special 14th birthday challenge!

I cut a piece of Neenah Crest Solar white card (which I always use for colouring with alcohol markers), stamped the flower and then coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. I added some white gel pen highlights, and stamped some additional spatters randomly with Distress Oxide ink. I added some sparkle by colouring over the circle with my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, edged the panel in black and matted onto lilac card stock and a 7” x 5” card blank. Finally I stamped the sentiment onto separate card, fussy cut out and attached popped up on foam squares. 

Here is an angled shot to capture the sparkle.

Stamps: AALL & Create #904 Flower Journey; Visible Image Christmas Red Robin (spatters); Uniko Simply Said Blocks II;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Shaded Lilac); Memento ink (black); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Spctrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Challenges I would like to enter:

Art Impressions #352 - Fabulous Flowers

Beautiful Blossoms #5 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Double D - Flowers (3rd entry)

Little Red Wagon #706 - Flora or Fauna

Passion For Markers #691 - Anything Goes (14th Anniversary Challenge)

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

Try It On Tuesday - Keep It Simple

We Love Stamping (May) - Anything Stamped with option In the Garden (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #597/598 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope everyone based in the UK will enjoy the long Bank Holiday weekend ... the weather is supposed to be good, so fingers crossed!!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Through the Mist

Hi everyone, today’s make is a birthday card for a male friend, which was inspired by Jo Rice’s recent tutorial, though I made a few changes by using Distress Oxide inks (as I don’t have Elements inks) and adding a reindeer and birdie into the picture .. plus of course a birthday sentiment! 

I cut a 6” square of stamping card, and stamped and heat embossed a reindeer in the corner.   I then placed a square stencil mask over the card and blended Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks round the edges, then created my sun with a circle mask and more Antique Linen  + Fossilized Amber DOX, and hills with a hill mask and Vintage Photo DOX. (On a previous attempt I inked my background square first, but you could really see it through the reindeer when stamped on top, so i discarded that one!!).  I removed the stencil and masked off just the base of the card, then stamped the fir trees using a mixture of 1st and 2nd generation in brown and black.  I stamped the birds and then the sentiment, which I coloured with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Watercolor Pencils, then I replaced the stencil and spattered the coloured panel with water.  I “grounded” the reindeer with a watercolour wash of Hickory Smoke DOX, then added my wisps of mist using a white pastel pencil, then edged the finished piece in black and matted onto a 7” square card blank.

Stamps: Lavinia Fairy Fir Tree (small), Reindeer (large) , Birds, Bird Collection; Woodware Made For You (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke); Distress Watercolor Pencils (Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Crafts Too Press to Impress square stencil, Lavinia hill and circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #729 - Anything Goes (14th Birthday Challenge) (3rd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #5 2023 - Anything Goes 

Craft Rocket #103 - For the Boys

Make My Monday - Masculine

Simon Says (Monday) - Watercolour (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add a Sentiment

Stamping Sensations (May) - Anything Goes with option Use a Stencil (3rd entry)

We Love 2 Create #4 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #597/598 - Anything Goes

This card was also custom designed to enter this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge Through the Mist, so I am entering a version of it there without the sentiment as that is not Lavinia.

That's al for today - take care and thanks for looking.

Hugs,

Golden Rose

Hi everyone, today I would like to share another make using my new AALL & Create stamps - this time using the beautiful rose in set #831 Sent With Love.  The general concept of this was primarily inspired by the current Tracy Evans FB Challenge monochrome with a pop of colour, and I think this rose suits it particularly well.  

In my recent haul I also got a little background stamp half price which I thought would be very useful both for cards and ATC's ... what I really love about it is that amongst the script there are little dots which are actually tiny little hearts - so great for any romantic or love-related theme, and I thought it would make a perfect background for the rose.  Although the sentiment on this card doesn't say so explicitly, I am thinking this is an anniversary card.

I cut a piece of stamping card 6.5" x 4.5" and created a smoosh background with grey Distress Oxide ink spritzed with water. I stamped and heat embossed my rose, then stamped the background stamp in grey Versafine Clair.  I stamped the rose again onto separate card, coloured the flower head and circle with Cosmic Shimmer mica watercolour paint and Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen for extra sparkle, then fussy cut out and attached to the base image. I stamped and heat embossed the birdie and quill pens, fussy cut out and attached (I think I'm obsessed with that little bird and quill!!), , and extended the "R" in the rose circle by masking the word "Rose" from the same set.  I realised I should have done this before colouring the circle with the Cosmic Shimmers as it went a bit smudgy, but I was in deep by this point so I kept going regardless!!   I stamped, cut out and attached my sentiment, matted onto black card stock and my card blank, and finished off with Posca pen spatters and Glossy Accents on the pen nibs. 

Stamps: AALL & Create #831 Sent With Love, #304 Heartfelt, #908 Quill Ends, #531 Textured Florals (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Hickory Smoke); Cosmic Shimmer paint (Tropic Yellow); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Posca pen (white); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #729 - Anything Goes (14th Birthday Challenge) (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #5 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Crafting Happiness #142  - Anything Goes with option Flowers (3rd entry)

Double D - Flowers (2nd entry)

Get Creative #121 - Flower Frenzy (3rd entry)

Sheepski #74 - Flower Power (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Watercolour

Triple B (May) - Birds, Blooms and Butterflies (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #595/596 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs, 

Sent With Love

Hi everyone, during the week I managed to bag three new to me AALL & Create stamp sets and a stencil in a flash sale at Create & Craft, and they were delivered a couple of days ago so I just had to have a play.  It was a bit naughty of me really to buy them as I haven’t yet played with all the stamps I bought from Tracy Evans’ April release .. but hey I do love a sale that enables me to build up my stock more than I could usually manage - who doesn’t?? 

I created a background by brayering two colours of Distress Oxide inks, then stamped my focal flower and coloured it with Distress watercolor pencils.  I did a bit of background stamping with another A&C stamp, plus some stamps from an unbranded grungy background set I recently bought from Amazon.  I stamped the ticket portion of the main stamp onto a separate piece of brayered card, edged with black and attached on top of the original image, then stamped a couple of sentiments (including one from my other newly delivered stamp set 😍), edged the card with pink DOX, spattered with white Posca pen and matted onto black linen card stock and my card blank.

Stamps: AALL & Create #753 Delight In Flora, #906 Art Notes, #831 Sent With Love; unbranded grungy background stamps (Amazon);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Fossilized Amber); Distress Watercolor Pencils sets 1 and 2 (Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #729 - Anything Goes (14th Birthday Challenge)

Beautiful Blossoms #5 - Anything Floral Goes

Crafting Happiness #142  - Anything Goes with option Flowers (2nd entry)

Double D - Flowers

Get Creative #121 - Flower Frenzy (2nd entry)

Path of Positivity #112 - Anything Goes Positive with option Inspired By Nature (2nd entry)

Sheepski #74 - Flower Power (2nd entry)

Sisterhood of Crafters - Flowers

We Love Stamping (May) - Anything Stamped with option In the Garden

Word Art Wednesday #595/596 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

That’s all for today but I hope I’ll be back soon with a make using my other new stamps 🥰. Hope everyone is having a great weekend, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Regal Purple

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap over on the Visible Image FB page has the theme regal purple in a nod to the coronation of King Charles III  - you can only use the colours purple, gold, silver, black and/or white in your makes, plus of course only VI stamps, stencils and dies. It is the second anniversary swap with some great prizes for entrants, so I needed to get my thinking cap on to make the most of the VI supplies I have got. I came up with the idea of a 3D butterfly on a “butterfly ink” gold background, and here it is.

I cut a piece of stamping card 3.25” x 2.25”, stamped my background butterfly with Versamark and heat embossed in gold. I added a little background stamping in purple, then created a smoosh background using Wilted Violet and Villainous Potion Distress Oxides, which the heat embossed butterfly resisted. I stamped a small butterfly twice onto separate card, coloured it with a mix of Sakura Stardust and Posca glitter pens, fussy cut and stuck the 2 shapes back to back. I then attached to the main panel by the body only so the wings could “flap” and are stamped and coloured both on top and underneath. I stamped and heat embossed the word “Butterfly”, cut it into separate letters and attached. To finish I edged the card with gold Posca pen and matted onto purple glitter card, and added some random purple and gold gems.

Stamps: Visible Image VI Minis #1 (butterflies), Where Flowers Bloom (background), Butterfly Effect (wording);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion); Versafine Clair (Monarch); Versamark; detail gold embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pens (purple, clear); Posca glitter pen (yellow); Posca pen (gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #10 2023 - Anything Goes - TOP 3

Addicted to Stamps and More #446 - Make Your Mark

ATC Around the World - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafting From the Heart #1 - Anything Goes (no cards)

Creative Crafters #64 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #294 - Make It Sparkle

Inkspirational #289 - Word Prompt - Mini

Kraftin’ Kimmie #668 - Glitter/Foil, Flowers and/or Purple

(I have used glitter card and purple)

Love To Craft #74 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Paper a la Mode (May) - Use Embellishments (no cards) - TOP PICK

Papercraft Challenges #94 - Things With Wings

Here is the matching card I made to go with the ATC.

The methods used were very similar to the ATC, except that the large background butterfly was made by sponging Versamark through the Butterfly Ink stencil and then heat embossing, I used a larger butterfly stamp, and I stamped the wording directly onto the card in purple.  My matting turned out a little different by necessity … my gold Posca pen broke part way through this project, so I edged in purple and matted onto gold card!!  here is an angled picture to show the 3D effect.

Stamps: Visible Image Butterfly Effect (large butterfly and wording), Where Flowers Bloom (background);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Wilted Violet, Villainous Potion); Versafine Clair (Monarch); Versamark; detail gold embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pens (purple, clear); Posca glitter pens (yellow, purple);

Tools: Visible Image Butterfly Ink stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #728 - Anything Goes with option Embellish It (2nd entry)

Cards 4 Galz #199 - Backgrounds

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (May) - Use a Stencil (2nd entry)

Creative Crafting Uncles #41 - Butterflies (2nd entry)

Happy Little Stampers: Stencils (May) - Anything Goes With Stencils

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2319 - Anything Goes

Sparkles Forum #164 - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (May) - Anything Stamped with option Use a Stencil (2nd entry)

Triple B (May) - Birds, Blooms and Butterflies

Word Art Wednesday #595/596 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope everyone has a great weekend, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #3

Hi everyone, I'm back after a couple of non-crafty weeks due to being away in Derbyshire for 10 days over the Coronation period (which also included my birthday), followed by a week of trying to catch up with myself whilst partaking in Eurovision fever which was sweeping Liverpool where I live last week … but more of that later! So grab a cup of tea - it's going to be a long post!!

Today is the 3rd Wednesday of the month already. so it's time once more for a new I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  This month's theme was chosen by me, and it is...

I Spy With My Little Eye ... Something With Wings

There are lots of options that you could choose, so we hope you will be able to join us. We also have two brilliant guest designers joining us this month - Gundi from Papierelle and Katrina from ScrappyHorses, so please do visit the challenge post and get some more inspiration.

I made a conscious decision  with this card to use an older stamp for a change, and I remembered I had this lovely Woodware vintage style butterfly.  Having decided on that I also felt motivated to use a number of snippets so that I could complete my homework for the Snippets Playground, including a small one of white stamping card, a large 6" x 6" snippet which I had previously used to create a faux woodgrain background, and a couple of larger snippets of coloured cardstock for matting. I even found a small snippet of lace to use on the front ... do I get extra brownie points for that??

Here's the result.

I previously made my background on a 6" square piece of card by dragging Distress Oxide inks over it to form a "faux woodgrain" effect, then softly stencilling with more DOX through my Lavinia "Divine" stencil (it's actually so soft that you can hardly see it on the finished card!!). For this card I added some 2nd generation sepia background stamping of a woven burlap pattern, then stamped my "vintage" wording also in sepia ink. I die cut a deckled rectangle shape from my white card snippet, and stamped the butterfly in sepia and heat embossed. I then created a smooshed background with Antique Linen and Old Paper DOX, and blended Vintage Photo DOX round the edges, before colouring the butterfly with Stormy Sky DOX. 

I matted the image onto my background panel, then added lace and twine before matting onto three layers of card stock which all had their edges distressed with my distressing tool. I stamped the birthday sentiment (which I masked off to spread over 2 lines) with Pinecone Versafine Clair and coloured the letters with Vintage Photo DOX, and added a couple of pieces of washi tape. Finally I added a die cut flower to the right of the main image, and matted the finished piece onto a 7" square card blank.

Stamps: Woodware Butterfly, Made For You (birthday sentiment); Indigo Blu Sarah's Choice (background stamping);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Stormy Sky, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo); Versafine (Vintage Sepia); Versafine Clair (Pinecone);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Divine; Spellbinders Nestabilities - Deckle Rectangle die; unbranded flower die (Amazon); Tim Holtz distressing tool;

Other: Washi tape - Craft Sensations at The Range; lace and twine from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #728 - Anything Goes with option Embellish It

C.R.A.F.T. #677 - Birthday

Crafty Catz #637 - Anything Goes with option Add Ribbon, Lace or Twine

Creative Crafting Uncles #41 - Butterflies - TOP 3

Let's Craft and Create #195 - Anything Goes with option Use Ribbon, Lace and/or Twine

Snippets Playground #454 - Use Snippets

Sparkles Forum #164 - Things With Wings

Stamping Sensations (May) - Anything Stamped with option Add a Stencil

Use your Stuff #484 - Use a Technique 

(faux woodgrain inking)

Word Art Wednesday #595/596 - Anything Goes

The I Spy challenge starts on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, and will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23;39 US Central Time - so that's Sunday June 18th.

Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see the fab creations of her and our guest designers, and link up your winged creations here.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I've had a busy couple of weeks with holidays and Eurovision fever. Here are a few pics of the adorable animals we encountered at Yorkshire Wildlife Park while we were in Derbyshire, the and last but not least .... Liverpool does Eurovision!! I went with my husband into the city centre twice - one evening to see an English National Opera performance of Eurovision hits in the Eurovision "fan village" in front of the historic Liver Building on Liverpool waterfront, and the second time we just wandered around the city on the afternoon of the Eurovision final. It was absolutely teeming with people, the busiest I've ever seen it.! The general consensus in the media seems to be that Liverpool hosted a fantastic two week music festival, and it is projected to boost the Merseyside economy by £250 million over the next 2 years!!

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Eurovision comes to Liverpool

Phew! I think that's enough for today ... I'm getting back into the swing with crafting now so hope to  be back soon with more makes.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Beautiful Flower

Hi everyone, I’m currently on a bit of a roll with my new AALL & Create stamps .. I absolutely love them! I’ve been watching quite a few of Tracy Evans’ Youtube “snippets” videos (short 15 minute compilations of ideas and techniques) over the past couple of weeks, and whilst I haven’t actually been making any of the snippets, I have been inspired by various ideas for how to combine stamps, colour schemes and/or techniques and have used one or two here. Here is my first card with my favourite (I think) stamp from my new purchases … the helenium in set #904 Flower Journey. 

This card was nothing like what I imagined my first card with this stamp would be, but I had a large snippet of brayering mop up out on my desk, and before I knew it I started stamping and it all went from there!

My background was made previously by brayering Distress Oxide inks randomly onto a large snippet of stamping card then spritzing with water and dabbing with textured kitchen roll. I stamped my helenium flower in black, then decided I didn’t want to colour it so I tried a technique I saw in a snippet video which was to “bleach out” the colour from the flower head using a water brush. This was only partially successful as the background wasn’t newly stamped, but it was ok for me to continue. I coloured the flower petals with Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, and the centre with a purple Sakura Stardust pen. I stamped some background circles with blue and violet DOX, then added some white harlequin stencilling on the left. I stamped the “Quill Ends” stamp onto a small snippet of lighter weight card (Neenah Solar White) as I find it easier for fussy cutting, then cut out the bird, nib and circle, shaded the circle with DOX, coloured the birdie flower with sparkly purple pen and attached. I stamped my sentiment words in blue onto a snippet of normal weight stamping card, cut out and attached then stamped a Lavinia bird sitting on the sentiment. Finally I rooted round for a couple of large snippets of suitable coloured card stock for matting, and added Glossy Accents to the pen nib.

Here is an angled pic to show (not very successfully) the sparkly flower and glossy pen nib.

Stamps: AALL & Create #904 Flower Journey, #908 Quill Ends, #531 Textured Florals; Lavinia Bird Collection;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versafine (Majestic Blue); Brilliance pigment ink (Moonlight White); Sakura Stardust pen (purple); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear); Ranger Glossy Accents;

Tools: Darkroom Door  - Diamonds stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

As You Like It - Favourite Flower (and why)

 (Right now it has to be the helenium because I just love this stamp 😀)

Crafting Happiness #142 - Flowers  (2nd entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (May) - Use a Stencil plus option Flowers

Make My Monday #199 - Flowers  (2nd entry)

NBUS #50 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff

(mine is the focal helenium flower)

Path of Positivity #112 - Anything Goes Positive with option Nature

Sheepski #74 - Flower Power

Snippets Playground #453 - Use Snippets

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

Try It On Tuesday - Use a Stencil - TOP 5

While I had my new stamps on the table I also decided to make a pair of ATC’s. I have seen various pictures online of creations that use the Quill Ends bird with flowers, and I thought these would work perfectly with the small scale of an ATC. 

I cut a piece of stamping card and created a smooshed background with Distress Oxide inks to give an aged parchment effect. I then cut it into 2 pieces each 3.25” x 2.25”, and stamped each one with Quill Ends in sepia. I stamped the flowers, birds and pen nibs onto separate card, coloured the flowers with watercolour brush markers and the pen nibs with DOX, then fussy cut, arranged onto the background and attached. I matted each piece onto standard ATC size shimmery brown card stock, then finished by decorating the pen nibs with my habitual Glossy Accents and adding some white Posca pen spatter.  

My main problem with this project was fussy cutting the flowers, as they had internal cutting as well as round the edges which I normally try to avoid. I normally fussy cut using fine scissors, and I found that my rarely used craft knife wouldn’t cut through the card cleanly so I ended up fussy cutting them without the stems and hand drawing a couple of stems afterwards which was definitely not ideal!! Any hints or tips on this would be warmly welcomed!!

Here is a closeup of one of them

Stamps: AALL & Create #904 Flower Journey, #908 Quill Ends;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap); Versafine (Sepia);  Watercolour brush markers (The Works); Posca pen (white); Ranger Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #9 2023 - Anything Goes

ATC’s Around the World - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #635 - Anything Goes with option Things With Wings (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Daring Cardmakers - A Bunch Of …

Love To Craft #74 - Anything Goes

Mix It Up #65 - Anything Goes

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2317 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Paper a la Mode (April) - Plant Some Ideas (not a card) (2nd entry) - TOP PICK

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #593/594 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Eryngium

Hi everyone, and happy May Day!! Today I would like to share the first card I made with my latest purchase of AALL & Create stamps. I absolutely love the new set “Flower Journey” and was eager to have a play, but strangely the first card I made wasn’t with my “favourite” flower from the set (the helenium) but with this eryngium … somehow it just called to me!!

I created a background by daubing Distress Oxide inks onto a large acrylic block, spritzing with water and then “stamping” onto a piece of stamping card. The block I used is wasn’t quite the right shape so I taped down one side when I inked it up. When I stamped the ink spread a little down the right hand side of the rectangle .. I rather like that! I stamped my flower and coloured the leaves with Distress watercolor pencils, then did a little second generation background stamping. I stamped my bird and quills onto separate card, coloured with DOX, fussy cut and attached, then stamped my sentiment. After matting I finished the card by applying  sparkle pen to the flower heads and Glossy Accents to the pen nibs, and spattering with white Posca pen.

Stamps: AALL & Create #904 Flower Journey, #908 Quill Ends, #906 Art Notes, #340 Paint Your Dreams (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks ( Salvaged Patina, Twisted Citron, Broken China, Antique Linen); Distress Watercolor Pencils Set 1 (Peeled Paint); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Warm Breeze); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); Ranger Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafting Happiness #142 - Flowers

Crafts Galore Encore #111 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #635 - Anything Goes with option Things With Wings

Get Creative #121 - Flower Frenzy

Make My Monday #199 - Flowers

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2317 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Mark (3rd entry)

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

We Love Stamping (April) - Anything Stamped with option Real Birds or Animals (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #593/594 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday if you are in the UK whatever you’re doing … take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,