In the Spring Meadow 🐝

Hi everyone, I went out for a country walk with my dear husband at the weekend, and we saw our first coloured butterflies of the year along with lots of beautiful bumble bees in the spring meadows, so I felt inspired to make another spring card for this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge. I also tried a technique I had seen demonstrated at the Dreamatorium by Jo Rice, to make clouds in the sky using ripped cotton wool pads on the gel press (tutorial here). Here’s the result.

I brayered Blue Lagoon and Green Parrot Elements ink onto my Roland gel press, spritzed lightly with water, then placed some ripped pieces of flat cotton wool pads on top. I dabbed the cotton wool with my fingers then lifted off to lift some of the blue ink, before taking a print directly onto my base card. I masked the circle and stamped my flowers and grasses in various shades of Versafine Clair, then added Bumble and Hum. I coloured the flower tips with white Posca pen, and the bees with gold Wink of Stella and Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen on the wings. Finally I added a little doodling around the circle with a black fineliner, and a stamped sentiment.

I also blended a couple of soft inky lines across the “clouds” as I felt they looked a bit stark … Jo’s definitely had a softer more wispy look. Still, practice makes perfect as they say, so I’m sure I’ll give it another go in the future. 

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Wild Summer Flower, Wild Poppies, Field Grass, Bumble and Hum, Heartfelt Verses;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon, Green Parrot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Shady Lane, Avocado, Sand Dune, Blue Belle; Wink of Stella (gold); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);  Posca pen (white); 

Tools: Lavinia Roland gel press.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (April) - Anything Goes with option Splash of Colour

Addicted to Stamps and More #491 - Make Your Mark

Beautiful Blossoms #28 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Moments #269 - CAS

Do All Kreatives #100 - Spring Birthday (2nd entry)

Dream Factory #138 - Magnolia (use flowers)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #2 - Anything In or From a Garden (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #615 - Use Your Favourite Colours

(I love blue and green)

FarmQuest #70 - Ladybugs or Other Insects

FarmQuest General Store #27 - Anything Farm or Country Goes (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (April) - Anything Goes Spring (3rd entry)

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 2025 - Birthdays (3rd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (April) - The Joys of Spring (3rd entry)

Let’s Craft and Create #218 - Anything Goes with option Add Flowers (2nd entry)

Make My Monday #250 - Things With Wings

Simon Says (Monday) - Blooming Blooms

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

We Love 2 Create #4 2025 - Anything Mixed Media / Papercrafting Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #696/697 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Dreamatorium Challenge

Hi everyone, following from my recent visit to the new Lavinia Dreamatorium for the opening weekend, I was keen to dream up a creation (or hopefully more than one!) for the special Dreamatorium celebration challenge which is taking place until the end of April, with the lovely team at Lavinia offering some very generous prizes. Entries must use ONLY  stamps from the new Dreamatorium collection so this was quite a challenge for me, as I bought a moderate selection of the new stamps and will normally combine them with my existing stamps. However I do love a challenge, so I started thinking about what other permitted Lavinia supplies I could bring into play to fill the space on my card. I decided to use a few new stamps along with a sticker stencil and a sticker sentiment, and I also used one of the Scenescape cards I treated myself to in the shop. Here’s the result.

I created the dome using a sticker stencil -  first I created the base using blended Black Soot Distress Oxide, then I created the dome using Dark Denim Elements ink. The dome stencil is pretty big, so I shortened it so it would fit onto the 15cm square Scenescape card - this was pretty straightforward as the dome stencil has straight sides so is easy to align with the inked base. I stamped the pixie, swing, foliage and bottles inside the dome with the mask still in place, then removed it and stamped the hanging lightbulbs. I edged the dome with clear Stardust pen and added white Posca highlights, coloured the lightbulbs with Stardust pens, then added liquid to the bottles using coloured Wink of Stella pens. Finally I added a sentiment sticker and matted the finished piece onto a black border and 7” card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Pris, Swing, Silkweed Hops, Wild Foliage, Tonic of Health, Light Bulbs;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Black Soot); Lavinia Elements ink (Dark Denim); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado, Shady Lane, Rainforest); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, clear); Wink of Stella (blue, pink, gold); Posca pen (white, yellow);

Papers: Lavinia Seascapes - Tranquility;

Tools: Lavinia Sticker stencils set 9;

Other: Lavinia Sentiment Stickers 6.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Alphabet Challenge - A is for Alphabet (choose a letter)

(D is for Dreamatorium, Dream and Dome)

Addicted to Stamps and More #490 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

Ally’s Angels #93 - Anything Goes  

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

Creative Crafters #87 - Anything Goes 

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #4 2025 - Anything Fantasy Goes

Lavinia Dreamatorium Creative Challenge - Use only Dreamatorium Collection stamps

NBUS #73 - Use Your Never-Before- Used Schtuff

(3 of the new Lavinia stamps, pink & blue Wink of Stella pens, Scenescape card & sentiment sticker)

Path of Positivity #130 - Anything Goes Positive

We Love 2 Create #4 2025 - Anything Mixed Media / Papercrafting Goes

Word Art Wednesday #694/695 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Bluebells and Bunny

Hi everyone, today’s card is a fairly simple one I made for this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge - “The Joys of Spring”. I love bluebells so I decided to incorporate some into a little scene, along with a cute bunny being as it is nearly Easter!

I took a pre-cut 30cm x 15cm piece of  Pink Frog super smooth card, and scored it to make a one-layer card suitable for blending inks directly onto the card base. I masked the card so that I could create an inked vertical panel blending Elements inks and using my acetate Mini Hill and Circle masks. I then removed the masks and stamped my scene using various shades of Versafine Clair. I highlighted the bird and bunny with white Stabilo pencil, and added white Posca accents here and there. I also outlined the sun with Stardus pen and highlighted it with Wink of Stella to add a little sparkle. Finally I stamped the sentiment directly into the card base.

Stamps: Lavinia Bluebells, Trees, Grass, Gate and Fence, Wild Hares (large), Bird Collection, Birds, The World Is Full of Beauty;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Lagoon, Pixie Green, Lemon Drop); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Blue Belle, Very Peri, Medieval Blue, Shady Lane, Portobello); Sakura Stardust pen (yellow); Stabilo pencil (white); Posca pen (white); Wink of Stella (clear);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #28 - Anything Floral Goes

Creative Aunts #100 - Spring

Double D - Springtime Flowers (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #2 - Anything In or From a Garden

Fab ‘n’ Funky #614 - Think Spring (2nd entry)

FarmQuest General Store #27 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Four Seasons (April) - Spring (2nd entry)

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 2025 - Spring Season (2nd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (April) - The Joys of Spring (2nd entry)

Let’s Craft and Create #218 - Anything Goes with option Add Flowers

Moving Along With the Times #177 - Spring Flowers (2nd entry)

Outlawz Festive Friday (April) - Bunnies/Birds

Paper Funday #75 - Anything Goes with option Things Beginning With “B” (2nd entry)

(Bluebells, birds, bunny)

Shopping Our Stash #545 - Hippity Hop

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

Try It On Tuesday - Oh So Sweet

Word Art Wednesday #694/695 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter weekend, whatever you’re doing.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #25

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month again, which means that it’s time for another 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 

*** April Showers / May Flowers ***

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 again welcome two guest designers - Carrianne and Lia - so please click on their names to visit their blogs and see their fabulous creations.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I decided to go with a floral theme, and that I would allude to the concept of April showers with the wellingtons! It also gave me opportunity to play with my lovely Tracy Evans primula stamp which I bought a while ago but haven’t inked up until now, as I was inspired by the primulas currently in our front garden. 

I have a confession to make … only after I made this card and posted it did I realise that although the background, shading and details are different, the basic concept of wellies and primula is the same as Ellie’s “I Spy” card from last month… I have had an incredibly busy and quite stressful few weeks so the memory of Ellie’s lovely card from last month had completely gone from my mind … (it may also be an age thing as my memory isn’t the best!). Sadly I didn’t have time to make another one but Ellie was lovely about it when I told her of my mistake .. so let’s just say this is a tribute to her gorgeous card.

I created a smooshed ink background on white card with Distress Oxide inks, then stamped the background leaf on the left using 2nd generation and a mixture of Avocado and Shady Lane VFC. I stamped the wellingtons onto separate card, shaded with DOX then fussy cut and set aside. I stamped the primula twice onto card snippets and coloured with Zig pens, topped with Wink of Stella on the flowers, then fussy cut out. I added a little more background stamping on the right in Bali Blue, then attached the wellingtons and flowers. I added a couple more background stamped words, a little bee and hare, then stamped the main sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached. I edged the finished piece with black marker pen then matted onto yellow card stock and card blank.

I  actually made a bit of an oopsie with this card … I decided last minute to add some shadow shading underneath the wellies with a grey Zig pen, blended out with a water brush. Unfortunately the brush was sparkly (no, I don’t know why!!) so my shadow ended up sparkly which I don’t think happens in nature! ☺️ I got so distracted by this sparkly shadow that I then forgot to “ground “ my bunny, which I only realised after I had photographed the card… I’ve rectified that now!

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE31 Nature’s Beauty, TE32 Alpha Florals; AALL & Create #370 The Great Outdoors, #449 Through the Meadows, #756 Miniatures; Lavinia Heartfelt Verses;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Twisted Citron, Salvaged Patina, Tumbled Glass,Bundled Sage); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Avocado, Shady Lane, Bali Blue); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Stabilo pencil (white); Posca pen (white); Wink of Stella (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

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

(I just love flowers, especially in springtime as they really lift my mood)

Craft Rocket #124 - Layer It Up

Double D - Springtime Flowers

Four Seasons (April) - Spring

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 2025 - Spring Season

Fab ‘n’ Funky #614 - Think Spring

Moving Along With the Times #177 - Spring Flowers

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2515 - Anything Goes

Snippets Playground #504 - Use Snippets

(I used snippets for the base layer, stamped wellies and primula, sentiment & yellow mat)

Word Art Wednesday #694/695 - 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 May 18th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday May 21st.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

The Joys of Spring

Hi everyone, not sure where the past couple of weeks have gone to, but they have been so busy I’ve not done any crafting at all. However a good friend’s birthday is almost upon me so I thought I’d better get busy, and of course I also took the opportunity to play with a few of my new stamps from my visit to the Dreamatorium last Saturday.  As I mentioned in my previous post I only bought a moderate selection of the new Lavinia stamps which I thought would work with my existing stash, as I preferred to focus on getting more inks and sparkly pens! However I must admit I’ve already got my eye on a couple more which I managed to resist (temporarily!). Anyway, here is the birthday card for my friend, using a mixture of old and new stamps.

I created a large circle by blending the new Lemon drop Elements ink around a circle mask, then I stamped flowers around the edge of the circle. I masked the flowers then added Pris sitting on a swing which I coloured with Zig pens, and stamped a variety of the new Wild Foliage in 1st and 2nd generation Avocado Versafine Clair. I coloured the flowers using watered down Posca sparkle pens and edged the borders with Wink of Stella gold pen, then stamped the sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached (the sentiment set is also new to me from the weekend). Finally I added a teeny stamped butterfly coloured with Sakura Stardust pens, and matted the finished piece onto black and yellow card stock and a 6” square card blank.

Here is an angled picture which attempts to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Pris, Swing, Moss Flowers, Wild Foliage, Fairy Bugs, Heartfelt Verses;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Lemon Drop); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado); Posca sparkle pens (pink, orange, yellow, purple); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, orange, purple); Winknof Stella (gold); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #72 - Mythical

Ally’s Angels #92 - Anything Goes - RUNNER UP

Beautiful Blossoms #27 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #3 2025 - Anything Goes with option Bunnies, Blooms and/or Butterflies

Colourful Options (April) - Colour Inspiration (pastels)

Crafts Galore Encore #134 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (April) - Feminine

Crafty Catz #691 - Anything Goes

Creative Aunts #100 - Spring

Do All Kreatives #100 - Spring Birthday

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 2025 - Birthday 

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #4 2025 - Anything Goes Fantasy

Lavinia Creative Challenge (April) - The Joys of Spring

Let’s Craft and Create #218 - Anything Goes with option Add Flowers

Little Red Wagon #802 - C is for Circles

Love to Craft #85 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Love to Scrap #172 - Anything Goes

Mix It Up #76 - Anything Goes

Paper Funday #75 - Anything Goes with option Things Beginning with “B”

(blooms, butterfly, birthday greeting)

Sweet Stampin’ - Female Cards

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

Word Art Wednesday #694/695 - Anything Goes

Here’s hoping I’ll manage to crack on now and get a few more cards made. I’m hoping to get one or two entries in for the special Lavinia “Dreamatorium” challenge using only stamps from the Dreamatorium collection, though as I have only a few of them that Will indeed be a bit of a challenge, and regular visitors here may have to put up with a bit of repetition!!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Every Dream Begins With a Wish

Hi everyone, I’ve not been around much crafting - had a very busy week plus as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve just not been enjoying crafting as much recently. So yesterday I went on a little adventure which I hope will kickstart my crafty mojo, with a visit to Lavinia’s new Dreamatorium in Ruthin for their opening weekend and Spring Extravaganza.

What an amazing place it is! The building itself is beautiful and it has been decorated in the most magical way with huge attention to detail. As well as plenty of space for both crafty supplies and home/giftware, there is also a huge new workshop area where the DT were demonstrating. It was absolutely wonderful to watch a few demos, chat with Tracey Dutton and some of the lovely DT including Jo Rice, Sarah Anderson, Emma-Jo and Amanda Branston, and say hello to staff old and new including Annja, Noni, and of course the obligatory hugs from Jack! 

So far as craft goodies were concerned I was really bewildered by choice. I was actually reasonably restrained in buying new stamps, as this time I focussed on getting the new colours of Elements inks which I decided I needed only after they had sold out online … but happy days the staff had reserved some for the new shop’s opening weekend! Of course I did also buy a few new stamps … and a couple of pens … and a couple of glues and paper products! 

All in all I had a fabulous day, and congratulated Tracey on this amazing event which is clearly the result of a huge amount of hard work by her and her team.

Here are a few pics - I’m not in any of them, but I do actually appear incredibly briefly in Emma- Jo’s 4pm “live” on FB yesterday, so I was definitely there!! Hope I’ll be back before too long with something I make with my new stash!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Spring Has Sprung!

Hi everyone, I haven’t been doing much crafting recently as I really haven’t felt in the mood, but I thought I’d better get a wriggle on as it is nearly time to turn over the April page on my Lavinia calendar, which is one I hadn’t yet completed. I really wanted to develop the theme of my March page here, using similar but different stamps including some of my recent purchases. I also took inspiration from my husband’s birthday card which I made a couple of weeks ago, so here is Herbalum Bob watering his pots in the spring meadow!

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5 cm, and created the landscape by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. I then built up the scene gradually using different shades of Versafine Clair, and masking on the wheelbarrow and pots and around the tree base where necessary. I coloured the tree and pots with Zig pens, then added white Stabilo pencil shading and white Posca highlights to the scene and also highlighted the sun and flowers with various colours of Sakura Stardust pen, to add a little sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Herbalum Bob, Tree of Hope, Tree Scene, Skeleton Tree Scene, Spring Trees, Oak Leaves, Wheelbarrow, Flower Pots, Thyme Pots, Dill, Bluebells, Bird Collection, Birds, Words of Spring;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pine, Olive, Blue Lagoon, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Portobello, Acorn, Avocado, Shady Lane, Bali Blue, Paradise, Blue Belle, Baby Pink, Lilac Bloom, Cheerful); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (clear, pink, yellow, turquoise, blue); Posca pens (white, yellow); 

Tools: Lavinia Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

2 Sisters on the Blog #95 - Spring/Easter (2nd entry)

Ally’s Angels #92 - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz #246 - Springtime

Crafts Galore Encore #133 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #265 - Fill In the Blank: Fairy Tale … (pixie)

Creatalicious #287 - Anything Goes with option Easter/Spring

Creative Crafters #86 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafting Uncles #63 - Spring/Easter (2nd entry)

Daring Cardmakers - Celebrate Spring

Dragonfly Dreams (March) - Gardening (2nd entry)

FarmQuest General Store #26 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Heart’s Quest Fantasy #3 2025 - Anything Goes Fantasy (2nd entry)

Krafty Chicks #761 - Masculine

Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone (March) - Anything but a Card

Outlawz Festive Friday (March) - Spring

Papercraft Challenges #117 - Spring Blooms (2nd entry)

Pearly Sparkles #105 - Anything but a Card

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

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

Try It OnTuesday - Spring Fling (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #3 2025 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #692/693 - Anything Goes

Having made this spring scene has put me back in the mood again for crafting, so hopefully I’ll be back with another make soon.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #24

Hi everyone, March really is flying by for me, and already it’s the third Wednesday in the month so it’s time for another 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. 

Ellie chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** The Dawn of Spring ***

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 welcome not one but two guest designers - Rosi and Gerrina - so please click on their names to visit their blogs and see their fabulous creations.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I have recently made a couple cards featuring vibrant spring flowers, so I decided to go in a different direction with this one and create it with a more vintage mixed media vibe.

First I took a mid sized snippet of white card and created a soft vintage background by smooshing 3 shades of Distress Oxide, then I stamped my tag onto it using Portobello VFC. I angled the tag how I would want it on the finished card and stamped the daffodil onto it, then fussy cut the tag, attached a snippet of twine I saved from some packaging, and set aside. I cut a 6.5” x 4.5” panel from another white snippet for my background. I blended patches of DOX over the panel, spritzed with water and blotted, then lightly brayered  more of each colour over the top plus some gold metallic acrylic paint. When dry I added some background text stamping in Arctic VFC, 2 lots of stencilling using DOX and Distress Texture paste, blended shades of brown DOX round the edges and distressed with my Tim Holtz distressing tool. I stamped the daffodil again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Distress Watercolor pencils topped with gold Wink of Stella on the flower, then fussy cut and set aside. I assembled the card by attaching the tag at an angle on the background panel, then attached the coloured daffodil. I stamped the tiny hares in the corner, then stamped the sentiment onto an off cut from the original smooshed card, cut out and attached. Finally I matted the finished panel onto a 7” x 5” card blank.

Stamps: AALL & Create #623 Spring Florals, #756 Miniatures; Visible Image Sketched Tulips (background text & sentiment); Woodware Old Paper Tag;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Speckled Egg, Bundled Sage, Frayed Burlap, Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Portobello, Arctic); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils (Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint); Tim Holtz Distress texture paste; acrylic paint (gold); Wink of Stella (gold);

Tools: Visible Image stencil - Off the Grid; Darkroom Door stencil - Diamonds.

Challenges I would like to enter:

2 Sisters on the Blog #95 - Spring or Easter

Beautiful Blossoms #27 - Anything Floral Goes

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

Creative Artiste #113 - Anything Mixed Media Goes - TOP 3

Creative Crafting Uncles #63 - Spring/Easter

Papercraft Challenges #117 - Spring Blooms

Snippets Playground #502 - Use Snippets

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

Try It On Tuesday - Spring Fling - TOP 5

Word Art Wednesday #691/692 - 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 April 13th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday April 16th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,