Hot, hot hot!

Hi everyone, this month’s theme for Tracy Evans’ FB ATC swap is 

Use Hot Colours

so I decided to make a series of floral ATC’s in shades of red, orange and yellow, using a variety of both older and newer floral stamps by Tracy. I love this monthly swap as the other participants produce such fabulous little pieces of art, so it inspires me to make more than I normally would for a swap as that way I receive a great variety of other crafters’ work 😍

Allsorts is also having a special challenge this week to mark week #800 - wow that is over 15 years of weekly challenges!! They are offering some awesome prizes to mark this milestone, so that is well worth entering - congratulations ladies!

I cut six pieces of white card, each 3.25” x 2.25”, and created a vibrant inky background on each one by smooshing Paprika, Russet Orange and Sundance Elements inks then spattering with water. I stamped a focal flower onto each ATC, then stamped each flower again onto separate snippets of card and coloured the flower heads with Zig pens, adding highlights with white Posca pen. I decided to add some of Tracy’s small die cuts, and this is where I really got going with my last snippets of some very old distressed gold mirri card!

I added some random background stamping to each ATC heat embossed white, before fussy cutting the coloured flower heads and attaching along with the die cut grungy circles and pen nibs. I then added some teeny stamped hearts and the stamped sentiment before matting the finished pieces onto standard ATC size black cardstock. Finally I decorated the flower centres with Glossy Accents.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE11 Background Elements, TE10 Quirky Birds (hearts); AALL & Create #533 Bring On the Sentiments; 

ATC1: Tracy Evans TE13 Delight In Nature;

ATC2-4: AALL & Create #924 Flower Trio;

ATC5-6: AALL & Create #980 Anemone;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Paprika, Russet Orange, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Tulip Red); Versamark; WOW ultra fine white embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create dies #35 Heartnook.

Here are closeups of the individual ATC’s with the challenges I would like to enter.

ATC1

Moving Along With the Times #170 - Not a Card

Outlawz (September) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone - TOP PICK

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2438 - Anything Goes

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

ATC2

Allsorts #800 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms  #21 - Anything Floral Goes

Make My Monday #235 - Create Your Own Background (2nd entry)

Snippets Playground #490 - Use Snippets

We Love 2 Create #9 - Anything Mixed Media Goes - WINNER

ATC3

Classic Design Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #80 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (September) - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge #19 - Anything Goes

Little Red Wagon #775 - Numbers - TOP 3

ATC4

Love to Craft #82 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity #123 - Anything Positive Goes - TOP PICK & DT DELIGHT

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

We Love Stamping (September) - Hand Coloured Image (3rd entry)

ATC5

Ally’s Angels #86 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #679 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Mix It Up #73 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Paper Funday #69 - Create Your Own Background (3rd entry) - TOP 5

ATC6

The Card Concept #209 - Fall Florals

Love to Scrap #169 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

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

Hugs,

Monochrome Christmas

Hi everyone, today I’m sharing a Christmas card I made when I had a bit of spare time at my craft table after completing another project. 

I cut a square of white stamping card and created a centre circle with Elements ink blended around an acetate circle mask. I then stamped my Fairy Catkins around the circle in Twilight VFC, and coloured them with a blue Sakura Stardust pen. I stamped the stag in the middle of the circle using Nocturne VFC then added some landscaping hills using a Mini Hill mask and more Elements ink. I stamped two large fir trees on the right and then masked the snowdrift and stamped various mini trees using various shades of blue VFC to add depth. I added a stamped sentiment and highlighted the scene with my Sakura Stardust pen, also adding white highlights to the stag.Finally I edged the finished piece with blue marker pen and matted onto silver mirri card and a card blank. 

This is another very sparkly card … here’s an angled picture.

Whilst making this card I managed not only to drop my inkpad on it, but also to have an inked stamp fall off my stamping plaform onto it!! Hence a few additional catkins and some stars!! (possibly a save worthy of David Seaman!! … iykyk!)

I was in a bit of a rush to finish this and I now notice I didn’t add any “snow” … might do that later if I remember!

Stamps: Lavinia Stag, Fairy Catkins, Small Fairy Fir Tree, Small Pine Trees, Red Pine (Small), Stars 1 Mini, Christmas Greetings;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Very Peri, Arctic); Sakura Stardust pens (blue, clear); Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Circle masks, Mini Hill Masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #477 - Christmas (2nd entry)

Allsorts #799 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (September) - Trees and/or Barns (2nd entry)

Crafter’s Cafe #312 - Anything Goes with option Include an Animal

Crafty Catz #679 - Anything Goes

FarmQuest Country Christmas #12 - Anything Country Christmas Goes

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Peace On Earth #72 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Rudolph Days (September) - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Monochrome - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations (September) - Animal Magic (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Black & White + 1 Colour - TOP 5

Word Art Wednesday #667/668 - Anything Goes

I definitely need to start ramping up the Christmas card making for Q4, so I’m sure there will be a few more coming along similar to this!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Sending Hugs … and Holiday Photos ❤️

Hi everyone, today I would like to share my first crafty project for a couple of weeks, due to the fact that I just got back from a holiday with my darling husband to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary which fell last Sunday (I posted the card that I made for him here). I’d also like to share a few holiday photos, so grab a cuppa for a long post! 

As I mentioned on my anniversary post our favourite romantic holiday destination is the Greek island of Santorini … so that’s where we have just spent 9 days relaxing for our special anniversary. It was a very last minute booking due to me losing a lot of confidence following the disaster I had in Dubrovnik (for anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about there’s more info here), but eventually I concluded that special anniversaries only come along once so I should crack on!  In the end we had a lovely time even though we had a day of rain and a couple of very windy days … the hotel was lovely, we had some great meals, and of course we saw some gorgeous scenery and fabulous sunsets! Photos are at the end of this post.

So, on to today’s card. I wanted to get another entry in for this month’s Lavinia Creative challenge plus a few other autumnal challenges. Here is what I made.

I stamped Lavinia Forest Leaf onto a piece of cream stamping card using Pinecone VFC, and heat embossed then coloured the leaves with Cosmic Shimmer iridescent watercolour paints … I haven’t used these for a long time but they give a lovely sheen. I die cut the image using a stitched rectangle die, then cut a larger piece of cream card to cover a 7” x 5” card front, and stencilled it with a Lavinia stencil and Elements inks before adding some background text stamping. I edged my image panel with blended Distress Ink, then added gold Posca spatters. When dry I assembled the card and added a stamped Uniko sentiment.

Here is an angled picture to show the shine of the Cosmic Shimmer paints.

Stamps: Lavinia Forest Leaf, Winter Spice; Uniko Simply Said Blocks II;

Media: Versafine Clair (Pinecone, Sand Dune); Cosmic Shimmer Iridescent watercolour paints; Lavinia Elements inks (Paprika, Russet Orange, Sahara); Tim Holtz Distress ink (Walnut Stain); Posca pen (gold);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Leaf Trails; Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Rectangle dies.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Allsorts #799 - Get Well/Anything Goes - TOP 5

Country View Challenges (September) - Autumn Richness (3rd entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (September) - Use a Stencil with option Fall Frenzy

Cut It Up #313 - Colours of Fall/Autumn

Daring Cardmakers - Leafy Lushness

Double D - Fall Leaves

Festive Fridays (September) - Fall Is Coming (3rd entry)

Four Seasons (September) - Fall (2nd entry)

Hand Stamped Sentiments #447 - Inspiration Mood Board

Lavinia Creative Challenge (September) - Autumn Hues (version without sentiment) (3rd entry)

Little Red Wagon #774 - Sew What?

Make My Monday #235 - Create Your Own Background

Papercraft Challenges #110 - Fabulous Fall

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Make Your Own Background

Simply Create Too #204 - Autumn (2nd entry)

Sparkles #180 - Autumn

We Love Stamping (September) - Hand Coloured Image (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #665/666 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Here are a few photos from our holiday …

Picturesque Scenery

Oia

Oia

Church in Oia

Church in Firestofani with view of caldera (and cruise ships in the bay!)

Wall sculpture of Santorini in Firestofani

Fira 

Bronze Age city archaeological site at Akrotiri

View from the hotel

More glorious sunsets over the caldera

Relaxing nights out

Our anniversary dinner

So now it’s back to normality (sigh!) but the special sights and atmosphere of Santorini will linger in our memories.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #19

Hi everyone, autumn is nearly upon us and it’s the third Wednesday in the month again, 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 chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something Magical ***

So think fairies, elves, dragons, witches and unicorns … indeed any magical creature! 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 Carri as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous garden creation. 

Here’s my card for the challenge.

I’m not as far ahead as I would line with my Christmas cards, so I thought I’d better magic up a Christmas make lol! 

I cut a 6 3/4” square of stamping card and created a circle of blended Della Blue Elements ink, then stamped a Lavinia berry wreath around it. I stamped the Christmas tree to fill the gap in the circle, then stamped Olivia the fairy with some masking on the dandelion clock she usually holds, so she would be able to hold a Christmas bauble instead! I hand drew the bauble with a black fineliner using the White Orbs stencil and hand drawn string, then coloured all the baubles and Olivia’s wings with Sakura Stardust pens. I coloured the berry wreath with white Posca fine tip brush pen then added Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on top, and also added the sparkle pen to the fairy wings, bauble and tree. I  grounded the scene by blending more Elements inks using a Hill Mask, stamped the star on top of the tree which I coloured further with silver Posca pen, then added stamped sentiments and Pipin the hare watching on! 

Finally I matted the finished panel onto blue cardstock and a card blank … originally this was supposed to be a 7” square card, but I forgot (as I always do!) that my 7” card blanks are in fact only about 6 1/2 inches, so my finished panel was too big and ended up being made into an 8” square card!

Stamps: Lavinia Olivia (small), Christmas Joy, Berry Wreath, Pipin, North Star Mini, Christmas Greetings;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Very Peri, Medieval Blue, Shady Lane); Brilliance pigment ink (Platinum Planet); Sakura Stardust pens (blue, pink, clear); Posca pens (white, silver);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Hill Masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

The 12 Months of Christmas (September) - Anything Christmas Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More #477 - Christmas 

Allsorts #798 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Aud Sentiments #317 - Tags and/or Holidays plus a Sentiment

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (September) - Trees and/or Barns

Creatalicious #281 - Anything Goes with option Mythical Creatures

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

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #9 - Anything Fantasy Goes - TOP 3

Krafty Chicks #733 - Christmas

Merry Little Christmas #58 - Anything Christmas Goes

Peace On Earth #72 - Anything Christmas Goes - TOP 3

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Four Legged Friends

Unicorn #102 - Circles - WINNER

We Love Stamping (September) - Hand Coloured Image

Word Art Wednesday #665/666 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

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 October 13th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday October 16th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Ruby Wedding ❤️🌅🦢

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a very special card that I made recently for my darling husband - a card for our ruby wedding anniversary (40 years). ❤️

Earlier in the year I bought the Lavinia swan stamps with a view to using them for this occasion - I thought they would be particularly appropriate as they do say swans mate for life! However I spent quite a while racking my brain as all my ideas for romantic layouts involving hearts seemed to be very similar to previous cards I have made (he has in the past received several romantic moonlit scenes!!). Then suddenly, and quite rarely for me, I had a burst of inspiration … our favourite romantic holiday destination is Santorini which is famous for its sunsets, so I decided to make a water scene with the sun setting behind the hills. 🌅 It also gave me opportunity to incorporate the colour red in a natural way, as that is a colour my husband normally hates! I have called this one “Sunset over the Caldera”…. I’m aware that this scene is really a lake rather than the ocean, but in the magical world of Lavinia anything is possible!! 

I cut a 16.5cm square of stamping card and masked off a square using masking sheet. I used a paper mask to create a horizon and a circle mask for the setting sun, then blended Sundance, Russet Orange and Paprika Elements inks and Bordeaux Spectrum Noir ink to form my sky. I then removed the masks and blended the same colours on the bottom half of the image panel for the lake, but without the circle mask so the reflection of the sun was not defined. I defined the horizon with the straight edge of a hill mask and Nocturne Versafine Clair, then added hills and their reflections using my Mini Hill masks and blended VFC. 

I stamped the bulrushes in the bottom corners then stamped my two swans and a cascade of red hearts. I added some leafy foliage in the top corners, then added some depth to the scene by blending Graphite Elements around the edges. I removed the masking sheet and highlighted the scene with Sakura Stardust pens and white Posca pen; I also added ripples to the water and highlighted them with Wink of Stella. 

I matted the finished scene onto a black border and then an 8” square card, and to finish added stamped sentiments and die cut numbers to show it is our 40th anniversary, plus a teeny “ruby” heart gem. 

Here is angled picture to show the sparkle.

As this is a special card I also added a bit of decoration to the inside of the card and the envelope too.

Stamps: Lavinia Swans, Bulrushes, Silhouette Foliage Set, Vine Flourish, Group of Hearts Mini; Woodware Happy Anniversary; Me to You (husband wording);

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sundance, Russet Orange, Paprika, Graphite); Spectrum Noir Harmony ink (Bordeaux); Versafine Clair (Nocturne);  Sakura Stardust pens (Orange, clear); Posca pen (white); Wink of Stella;

Tools: Provocraft Hippie Chick number dies; Lavinia Hill, Mini Hill and Circle acetate masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #798 - Anything Goes

Alphabet Challenge - L is for Landscape (2nd entry)

Colourful Options (September) - Be Bold - TOP 3

Country View Challenges (September) - Autumn Richness (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore (September) - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #678 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (September) - Anything Goes

A Cut Above (September) - Use a Die Cut

Ellibelle’s Crafty Wednesday (September) - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Fab ‘n’ Funky #600 - Anniversaries

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #9 - Anniversary - WINNER

Love to Craft #82 - Anything Goes

Mix It Up #73 - Anything Goes

NBUS #66 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff

(Swan and bulrushes stamps)

Stamping Sensations (September) - Anything Goes with option Animal Magic (2nd entry)

Paper Funday #69 - Anything Goes with option Create Your Own Background

Simon Says (Monday) - Stamp It

Triple B (September) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Try It On Tuesday - Make It Colourful

We Love 2 Create #8 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #665/666 - Anything Goes

Here is the original image panel without sentiments, which I am entering into Lavinia Creative Challenge (September) - Autumn Hues (2nd entry)

I must say that for once I’m very pleased with how this turned out - indeed it was a labour of love! ❤️❤️🦢

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,