Rudolph Days - July Guest Designer

Hi everyone, I was absolutely delighted when Helen asked me to be Guest Designer for this month’s Rudolph Days challenge - our monthly opportunity to get ahead with making our Christmas cards.  

Like so many crafters I always promise myself in January that I will make Christmas cards throughout the year, but somehow come October I find I’ve only made a handful so a last minute panic ensues! Today’s make is another one to add to the (still small but growing) pile.

I love kraft, white and a touch of red for Christmas crafting so decided to use them with the adorable AALL & Create robin for this card. I die cut a circle from kraft card then stamped the robin and coloured him with Zig watercolour pens and white Posca pen, and also added some white Posca spatters. I cut a stitched circle frame from white pearlescent card, then set aside as I covered a kraft card blank with kraft snowflake papers and white pearlescent card matting, then I attached the image and frame in the centre. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto dark brown cardstock and attached, then die cut a poinsettia from red glitter card and attached with a light brown gem in the centre. I finished off with a touch of Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents on the image, and three sparkly snowball gems.

Stamps: AALL & Create #690 Robin and Nuthatch; Visible Image Grunge Poinsettia (sentiment);

Media: Versafine Clair (Pinecone); Versamark; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; WOW superfine embossing powder (Opaque White); Posca pen (white); Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents;

Papers: LotV Krafty Christmas;

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo Stitched circle and square dies; Marianne Designs Poinsettia die. 

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #112 - Anything Christmas Goes

Allsorts #790 - Anything Goes with option Flowers (3rd entry)

Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmaker (July) - Anything Christmas Goes

C.R.A.F.T. #728 - Christmas

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (July) - Anything Christmas Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #257 - Anything Goes with option Christmas

Daisy Chain #87 - Christmas In July

Dragonfly Dreams (July) - Christmas in July

FarmQuest Country Christmas #10 - Anything Goes Outdoors Christmas

Festive Fridays (July) - Christmas (2nd entry)

The Holly and Ivy #165 - Anything Christmas Goes

Jingle Belles - Dashing Through the Snow

Kerst Christmas FB Challenge (July) - Anything Christmas Goes

Love Those Pretty Papers (July) - Anything Goes Using Patterned Paper

Merry Little Christmas #57 - Anything Christmas Goes

Peace On Earth #68 - Anything Christmas Goes

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

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Beautiful Blooms (2nd entry)

Simply Create Too #202 - Christmas in July

Stamping Sensations (July) - Christmas in July

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

Word Art Wednesday #657/658 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

Please do pop over to the Rudolph Days blog for more inspiration … Hope you will enter the challenge. Thanks again to Helen for asking me to be Guest Designer this month.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Summer Moon Flowers

Hi everyone, this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge is Summer Moon, and I hadn’t yet got round to entering so I thought I’d better get a wriggle on before it closes tomorrow. It also gave me opportunity to play with the new release flower stamps I treated myself to a couple of weeks ago and a new-to-me fairy… I didn’t buy any of the new Lavinia fairy stamps but did get this older one called “Dragonfly Keepers” which I have been wanting for some time.

I brayered three colours of Elements ink onto my square gel press, spattered with water and took a print. I cut the result down to a 13.5 cm square, then blended more Elements ink round a circle mask to create a moon. I stamped my fairy, focal flowers and grasses, and coloured the flowers with Inktense pencils topped with Wink of Stella to add sparkle. I added some hanging foliage at the top, coloured the fairy wings and lantern with Sakura Stardust pens, and added some white pastel pencil highlights to the fairy. I outlined the moon and added silvery moonlight highlights with a clear Stardust pen, and created some yellow sparkly orbs using my White Orbs stencil. Finally I added some gold Posca highlights, stamped and attached a sentiment (masked from a larger sentiment), and matted onto pale pink card stock and a card blank.

This is actually an extremely sparkly card - here is an angled picture to capture some of the shimmer.

Stamps: Lavinia Dragonfly Keepers, Flower Divine 2, Flower Divine Set, Field Grass, Leaf Creeper, Deeper than the Ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Dark Denim, Della Blue, Confetti); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado, Shady Lane, Rainforest, Medieval Blue); Derwent Inktense pencils; Sakura Stardust pens (clear, yellow, pink, blue); Wink of Stella; Pastel pencil (white); Posca pen (gold, white);

Tools: Lavinia Circle Masks, White Orbs stencil; Gel Press square gel plate.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #790 - Flowers (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #125 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (July) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Country View Challenges (July) - Stencil Magic (2nd entry)

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #7 2024 - Anything Goes Fantasy

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Summer Moon

Simon Says (Monday) - Add a Sentiment

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Beautiful Blooms

We Love 2 Create #6 - Anything Mixed Media Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #657/658 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

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

Hugs,

Sunflower grunge

Hi everyone, today’s card is a bright and happy summer floral - I love sunflowers, and really like this grungy vibe sunflower stamp by Tracy Evans. 

I cut a piece of stamping card and created a background by daubing various colours of Distress Oxide onto a large acrylic block, spritzing with water and then “stamping” onto the card. I stamped the focal sunflower and coloured the stem and leaves with Distress watercolor pencils, then stamped again onto a separate piece of card, coloured the flower head then fussy cut out. I added a little stencilling and stamped wording to the background, stamped my birdies on a branch and dangling hearts, and attached my fussy cut flower head and added the stamped sentiments. I matted the piece onto a blue border and a 7” x 5” card blank before finishing off with some white Posca highlights and spatters.

As this card was for a crafty blogging friend I also decorated the envelope and the inside of the card.

Stamps: AALL & Create #648 Friendship Florals; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE6 Branched Heart; Pink Frog

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron); Distress watercolor pencils (Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Warm Breeze); Posca pen (white);

Tools: That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (July) - Anything Goes with option Floral Delight (2nd entry)

AAA Birthdays #63 - Fabulous Flowers

Allsorts #790 - Flowers

Craft Rocket #116 - Summertime (2nd entry)

Crafty Calendar (July) - Add a Sentiment (2nd entry)

Creatalicious #279 - Anything Goes with option Summer (2nd entry)

Dream Valley #318 - Summer Colours (2nd entry)

Everybody Art #561 - We Love Stamping (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (July) - Summer (2nd entry)

Inkspirational #320 - Products from 2 or More Stamp Companies (2nd entry) 

Shopping Our Stash #526 - Summer (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Lots of Layers

Try It On Tuesday - Things With Wings (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #657/658 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Round and around …

Hi everyone, this week’s challenge at Allsorts is to use circles, so I felt inspired to make a card featuring a circular floral wreath using some of my new release Lavinia stamps along with a few older stamps.

I cut a square of stamping card and created a circle by blending Distress Ink around a circle mask. I then stamped an arc of flowers using the new Moss Flowers stamp, which I coloured with Zig pens and Wink of Stella, then I surrounded it with stamped smaller flowers and leaves using a variety of pastel shades of Versafine Clair. I stamped the two bees Bumble and Hum in the centre of the circle and coloured them with Sakura Stardust pens and their wings with Zig pens and Wink of Stella. I then stamped my sentiment in black and some soft honeycomb background using 3rd generation Elements ink. I finished off with some Posca sparkle pen dots, and my first attempt at foiling using Fab Foil and a Quickie glue pen to add some detail to the flowers and the circle. I wasn’t entirely successful as I couldn’t seem to make my dots of glue as small as I wanted, but I’m reasonably pleased for my first attempt and will definitely keep practising as I really love how it makes cards “pop”. 

Here is an angled picture to show the sparkle and shine.

Stamps: Lavinia Moss Flowers, Bumble and Hum, Flower Mini, Mini Leaf 2, Mini Maple; Visible Image Bee Happy;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Spun Sugar); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Baby Pink, Hawthorn Rose, Lilac Bloom, Very Peri, Avocado); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (orange, yellow); Posca sparkle penn(pink); Wink of Stella; Fab Foil (gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (July) - Anything Goes with option Floral Delight

Allsorts #789 - Use Circles

Beautiful Blossoms #19 - Anything Floral Goes

Incy Wincy (July) - Circles

NBUS #64 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff (2nd entry)

(Main flower and bee stamps, Fab Foil)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2428 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add Some Sparkle

Sweet Stampin’ - Things With Wings

Try It on Tuesday - Things With Wings

Word Art Wednesday #657/658 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

I hope I’ll be back before too long with some further makes with my new Lavinia stash. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #17

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

I have chosen the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Summertime Vibes ***

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

This month we are delighted to have Melanie H as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous summery creation. 

Here’s my card for the challenge.

I didn’t really have much other than flower stamps that was overtly summery in my stash, so I sent for a couple of Inkylicious seascape stamps that I have had my eye on for some time, plus a Lavinia sentiment that I thought would be perfect for what I had in mind.

I cut a 5” square of stamping card and blended a mixture of Elements and Distress Inks for the sea, and Versamagic chalk ink for the beach (the closest colour to sand I had available!) I then stamped and heat embossed the surf white, and added a little shading using watered down DI. I stamped the starfish and footsteps (I have concluded that I didn’t really have the ideal ink for this … methinks I need the new VFC in Sand Dune!!) then stamped the sentiment using blue Versafine Clair. I added some ripples and sparkle with my Sakura Stardust pen and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then matted the finished piece onto a dark blue border and card blank, and added a spattering of Dew Drop gems to finish.

Here is an angled pic to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Inkylicious By the Sea - Shoreline; Lavinia Deeper than the Ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Lagoon, Blue Atoll); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Faded Jeans); Versamagic Chalk ink (Wheat); Versacolor (Cement); Versafine Clair (Blue Belle); Versamark; WOW Ultra Fine embossing powder (Opaque White); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Other: Crafter’s Companion Dew Drop gems.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Alphabet Challenge - H is for Holidays (Summer)

Classic Design Challenge #7 2024 - Anything Goes with option Summer Holiday

Craft-Alnica #364 - Sea Card

Craft Rocket #116 - Summertime 

Crafty Calendar (July) - Add a Sentiment 

Creatalicious #279 - Anything Goes with option Summer

Dream Valley #318 - Summer Colours (2nd entry)

Double Trouble #170 - Heat Embossing (2nd entry)

Festive Fridays (July) - Summer / At the Beach

Four Seasons (July) - Summer 

Inspiration Station #63 - Inspiration Prompt

(I was inspired by the beach)

Inkspirational #320 - Products from 2 or More Stamp Companies 

Inspired By -  Seashells

(I was inspired by the starfish, sea and sand in the photo)

NBUS #64 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff

(My seascape stamp and sentiment are both new)

Papercraft #107 - Holiday Time

Shopping Our Stash #526 - Summer

We Love Stamping (July) - Sun, Sea, Sand

Word Art Wednesday #657/658 - 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 August 18th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday August 21st.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Pretty Pastels

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap theme in the Visible Image FB group is Pretty Pastels, so I needed to make an ATC using only VI stamps, stencils and/or dies. As usual I also made a co-ordinating card for my swap partner.

First the card … I cut a 51/2 inch square of stamping card and brushed Versamark through my “Off the Grid” stencil then heat embossed white. I blended various pastel shades of Distress Oxide ink over the stencilling then wiped lightly with a baby wipe to re-whiten the stencilling and blend the colours.  I stamped the large flower using Baby Pink Versafine Clair, then added some dots of yellow Posca glitter pen to the centre. Finally I stamped various words in 2nd generation pastel shades of VFC, and matted the finished piece onto pale yellow glitter card and a 6” square card blank.

Stamps: Visible Image Where Flowers Bloom;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade); Versafine Clair (Baby Pink, Summertime, Lilac Bloom, Very Peri); Versamark; WOW Ultra Fine embossing powder (white); Posca glitter pen (yellow);

Tools: Visible Inage stencil - Off the Grid.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #788 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #18 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Country View Challenges (July) - Stencil Magic

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

Creatalicious #278 - Anything Goes with option Use Pastel Colours

Creations In Pink #71 - Anything Goes in Mainly Pink

Double Trouble #170 - Heat Embossing and Stencil

Inkspirational #319 - Use Stencils (2nd entry)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2427 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #655/656 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Here is a closeup of the ATC.

I created the background onto a snippet of card cut to 3.25” x 2.25” with stencilling and blended DOX as above. I then stamped two flowers in baby pink onto separate snippets of card, coloured with Wink of Stella and sparkly yellow dots in the centre, then fussy cut. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment then cut down and attached the 2 flowers and matted onto pale yellow glitter card.

Stamps: as above;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (as above); Versafine Clair (Baby Pink); Versamark; WOW Ultra Fine embossing powder (white); clear embossing powder;  Posca glitter pen (yellow);

Tools: VI stencil as above.

Challenges I would like to enter:

As You Like It - Favourite non-card Project (and why)

(I love making ATC’s .. I love the small scale of them and the opportunity to connect with other crafters to swap them)

Creative Crafting Uncles #54 - Embossing Heat or Dry

Let’s Craft and Create #209 - Anything Goes

Love to Craft #81 - Anything Goes

Outlawz (July) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone

Sheepski #88 - Anything Goes

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

Hugs,

Floral Explosion!!

Hi everyone, about a month ago my dear bloggy friend Sarn published a pop up floral box card on her blog here, which I really admired as I thought it had a real WOW factor!  The next thing I knew she had been kind enough to send me not only an instruction sheet but also a paper template to guide me! I was really touched and delighted, so I determined to have a go as soon as I was able. 

As regular visitors to my blog will know I’ve not been having the best time over the past month, having had my first bout of Covid which also caused me to faint, fall and injure my head. Just about getting back to normal, and now I have a nasty painful and swollen eyelid which the optician tells me is a stye, probably caused by being very run down! However in some ways that’s good for crafting, as just now I prefer not to go out unless necessary while my face looks such a mess! 

So yesterday afternoon was the time … and here’s the result. To thank Sarn for her kindness I decided to make this almost entirely from snippets, so I could hop over to support her at the Snippets Playground!

I cut and scored the box from a large snippet of white card, in line with the instructions. I punched the edges of the top “flaps”, then cut and attached pieces of designer paper to all the outer surfaces, the flaps and the inside back panel. I cut and attached 2 card brackets inside the box, then it was ready for the flowers!

I die cut a large variety of flowers and foliage from various snippets of white card, then coloured them by blending various Distress Oxide inks. I assembled the bouquet by glueing the die cuts to the back and front surfaces of the box and the inner brackets … I actually found this much trickier than I anticipated, so it was rather pot luck how the arrangement turned out! The instructions give an option of attaching the flowers to card strips which are then stuck onto the inner brackets, and I think that is probably easier so I may try it next time. I also found that for flowers with thin stems my stamping card wasn’t quite heavy enough to support the flower heads so a few of them were trying to flop over - I had to make a few adjustments to make them stand up nicely.  

I finished the box by decorating the flaps with a die cut scalloped oval from another snippet stamped with my sentiment, and two die cut butterflies from a snippet of silver mirri card.

Here’s another view of the box ….

I also took a couple of pictures of some (though not all!) of my snippets!

Stamps: Woodware Blooming (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Kitsch Flamingo, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Shaded Lilac, Iced Spruce, Mowed Lawn); Versafine Clair (Nocturne);

Papers: LotV Bonnets and Bowties, Shabby Shack;

Tools: unbranded flower and foliage dies; Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Ovals; Magnolia Doohickeys Butterfly Dreams die; Martha Stewart edge punch.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #788 - Anything Goes - TOP 5

Beautiful Blossoms #18 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #125 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #318 - Summer Colours

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2427 - Anything Goes - HONORARY MENTION

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Let’s Get Into Shape

Snippets Playground #484 - Use Snippets

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

Unicorn #100 - Not Square

Word Art Wednesday #655/656 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

This project really was extremely enjoyable, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out. Thanks again to Sarn for her support.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Back in the saddle!

Hi everyone, here I am with my first post for a while, and yesterday afternoon was my first crafting session for almost a month as things went a bit off plan the past 3 weeks!

 Three and a half weeks ago I went on holiday to Dubrovnik in Croatia, which is a really wonderful place and well worth visiting (please see further down post for some photos). Everything was going well for the first 5 days, but on day 6 I woke up feeling rough and after breakfast I went back to bed, where I lay all day feeling really ropey and suspecting that having avoided it for over 4 years, Covid had finally found me! The following morning I thought I felt a bit better but then disaster struck … I fainted in the shower, hitting my head (I think on a blunt metal door handle!) and ended up with my husband taking me to hospital in a taxi where I had a CT scan (and a Covid test!). Mercifully the CT scan was clear (unlike the Covid test!) but I had a terrible bang on my head which I could hardly touch, a nasty bruise on my temple and felt incredibly shocked, fearful and wobbly! Ironically the standard Covid symptoms were very mild, and I was up and about after 2 days but I had to take it VERY easy due to the head injury, go back to hospital for a quick check the next day, and also wear a medical grade FPP mask everywhere indoors in the hotel and on the plane home which absolutely drained me! I continued to test positive for nearly 2 weeks, and even now there is a small tender area on my head! I’ve still hardly been out and  I’m still monitoring myself as I have still been feeling wobbly, but hopefully things have started to improve a lot the past couple of days. All in all, a holiday which in some ways I’d rather forget! 

So, back to cardmaking … I feel really out of practice and was struggling to feel inspired, but here’s my first share in a while.

I stamped my image and coloured with Zig pens, blended out with a water brush. I then added some stencilling to one side using Elements ink, and some background word stamping. I then added a stamped sentiment and matted the panel onto black and pale pink card stock and a 6” square card blank. To finish I added some small butterflies punched from glitter card to pick out the colours in the image, and added Glossy Accents to the perfume bottle and some washi tape fragments.

Unfortunately my last minute decision to add washi tape was a classic example of not knowing when to leave it alone, as I smudged my Glossy Accents so had to apply another layer! The end result is a bit thick and bumpy for my liking, but hey it’s done now! Here is an angled pic to show the shine.

Stamps: AALL & Create #841 Le Parfum, #457 Background Voices; Visible Image Birthday Wishes;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Posca pen (white); Glossy Accents;

Tools: Darkroom Door stencil - Diamonds; X-Cut mini butterfly punch;  washi tape from The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #63 - Fabulous Flowers

Addicted to Stamps and More #471 - Make Your Mark

Allsorts #787 - Way to Grow (flowers)

C.R.A.F.T. #726 - Anything Goes

Cards 4 Galz #228 - Inspired By a Book - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

(The Perfume Collector)

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

Creative Inspirations (July) - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #318 - Summer Colours

Everybody Art #561 - We Love Stamping

Inkspirational #319 - Use Stencils

Krafty Chicks #723 - Stamps

Shopping Our Stash #525 - NBUS

(my main image is new)

Sweet Stampin’ - Fabulous Flowers - TOP 3

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

We Love 2 Create #6 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Word Art Wednesday #655/656 - Anything Goes

Going back to our disastrous holiday, on the upside we had already seen most of the sights of Dubrovnik before I fell ill and had my accident. The Old Town is really gorgeous … here are a few photos, including my husband sitting on the Iron Throne!!

So, back to reality, and hopefully back to productivity on the cardmaking front. Apologies but I’m sure you can understand I haven’t done as much commenting as usual over the past weeks, so I probably won’t catch up with everything now .. but onwards and upwards! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,