Midsummer Meadow 🌻

Hi everyone, I’m sure you won’t be too surprised to hear that I’m still playing with my new Lavinia stamps from last Saturday’s visit to the Dreamatorium. When I first saw the array of new sunflower stamps, I immediately imagined a profusion of them bobbing around in a summer meadow scene, so that’s exactly what I made!

I cut a piece of stamping card 6.5” x 4.5” and created a soft inky background by brayering Elements inks directly onto the card (having run off the excess first on spare card) then spattering with water. I stamped the sunflowers at various heights and coloured them with Zig pens, then added sparkle with Wink of Stella and accents with white Posca pen. I stamped some meadow flowers, field grass and a couple of dragonflies to fill the scene, and coloured the flower tips with white Posca and Wink of Stella. I stamped the sentiment onto separate card, cut out, edged and attached, then matted the finished piece onto a teal border and 7” x 5” card blank.

Once again this card is quite sparkly, which the photos don’t capture very well.

Stamps: Lavinia Open Sunflower, Sunflower 1, Sunflower 2, Wild Summer Flower, Field Grass, Fairy Bugs, Heartfelt Verses;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Atoll, Green Parrot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado, Sand Dune); Kuretake Zig Clean Color pens; Wink of Stella (clear); Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #496 - Make Your Mark (2nd entry)

C.R.A.F.T. #759 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #269 - Fill In the Blanks: “… in July”

(Sunflowers)

Creative Aunts #103 - Summer (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #5 - Anything In or From a Garden

FarmQuest General Store #30 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

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

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #7 2025 - Birthday (2nd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Once Upon a Time (2nd entry)

(Once Upon a Time a girl visited a Fairy Festival in a Dreamatorium … she fell under a spell, purchased magical sunflowers … and crafted happily ever after lol!)

Love to Craft #87 - Anything Goes 

Mix It Up #78 - Anything Goes with option Mixed Media

Outlawz Monday Greetings (July) - Happy Birthday

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #264 - H is for Hot, Hot, Hot!

Try It On Tuesday - Summer Blooms

Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I’m really enjoying playing with these sunflower stamps as they really are the essence of summer …and I also bought all the sunflowers in the new collection  I can’t promise that I’m done with sunflower cards quite yet! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Berry Branch

Hi everyone, here I am again with another card using one of my new Lavinia stamps, from my visit to the Dreamatorium on Saturday(more info and pics here). Initially I wasn’t going to purchase the ‘Berry Branch’ stamp, but then I saw that amongst Jo Rice’s gorgeous demo samples she had made a couple of Christmas cards with it, so I was inspired by that. Here’s my card, using the new stamp with some older Christmas stamps.

I cut a 6.25” x 4.25” piece of stamping card, and stamped the street lamp. I masked the lamp then created my snowy landscape with Mini Hill masks and blended Elements ink, and blended more ink using a circle mask to create the twilight sky. I stamped the branch several times using Pinecone VFC then stamped berries here and there, and also added Annie and Edward looking up at the lantern. I coloured the berries and lantern with Inktense pencils, and  the branches with Zig pen, then added some Wink of Stella to the lamplight for sparkle. I stamped the sentiment then added white Posca snow to the branches, lamp and sentiment, and highlights,, to the berries and figures with Posca and Stabilo pencil. I added some spatter Posca snow and when dry, matted the finished piece onto a red border and 7” x 5” card blank.

Stamps: Lavinia Berry Branch, Street Light, Annie and Edward, Christmas Greetings;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Della Blue, Dark Denim);  Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone); Inktense pencils; Kuretake Zig Clean Color Watercolor pens; Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Wink of Stella; Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #124 - Anything Goes Christmas

613 Avenue Create (July) - Anything Goes with option Any Holiday

Art Impressions #407 - Spritz, Spatter and Paint

Aud Sentiments #327 - Christmas In July + a Sentiment 

Craft Rocket #127 - Christmas In July

Creative Artiste #117 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Daisy Chain #98 - Christmas In July

Double Trouble #195 - 3-2-1 Recipe

(Thing 1: Include AT LEAST 3 colours, 2 hard stamped images and 1 sentiment

Thing 3: Include shimmer/spatter)

Everybody Art #582 - Christmas in June

Fab ‘n’ Funky #620 - Christmas In July

FarmQuest Country Christmas #22 - Anything Country Christmas Goes

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #7 2025 - Christmas In July

The Holly and Ivy #187 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Once Upon a Time

Merry Little Christmas #63 - Anything Christmas Goes

Outlawz Festive Fridays (July) - Christmas

Peace On Earth #91 - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says Monday - Fun With Paint

(I don’t have much in the way of paint media, but I DO love to spatter with my Posca paint marker!)

Sparkles Christmas #174 - Sparkle and Bling

Sweet Stampin’ - Christmas In July

Unicorn #111 - Christmas In July

Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

More Sunflowers and Fairy Festival 🌻🧚‍♂️

Hi everyone, yesterday I had a fabulous day out in Ruthin, North Wales, visiting the Lavinia Dreamatorium for their summer Fairy Festival. It was another magical experience, chatting with the staff and other customers, and watching demos by Jo Rice, Sarah Anderson, Emma Jo, Mona and Tracey Dutton. Of course I also had a good browse in the shop - I really like the latest release with the sunflowers and quirky tea pot fairy houses. The whole shop was decorated with sunflowers (as were the design team!) so everything felt summery and joyful! 

I’ve already had a play and made a couple of cards this afternoon, and as the fairy festival had an overriding sunflower theme I thought my first share should feature one. To be honest I bought all the new sunflower stamps (I didn’t need them but couldn’t resist!) and have a number of ideas, so I foresee a profusion of sunflowers in the coming days and weeks! 

I cut a square of stamping card, positioned a hexagonal stencil then stamped the focal sunflower. I masked the flower then placed my Lavinia Honeycomb stencil over the hexagon stencil, and blended Sahara and Russet Orange Elements inks. I removed the stencils and stamped the bee on the edge of the stencilled area, then coloured the sunflower and bee with Zig pens, topped with Wink of Stella. I took the opportunity to try my new Zig blending pen, which definitely moves the colour around better than water when used on non-watercolour card (I use Pink Frog super smooth). I did a little texture stamping in two corners and a white on black stamped sentiment, then added some doodling and matted onto a black border and 6” square card blank. To finish I added some Glossy Accents to the flower centre.

Stamps: Lavinia Open Sunflower, Bumble and Hum, Texture 1; Uniko Simply Said Blocks II;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sahara, Russet Orange); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Golden Meadow); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; black fineliner pen; Wink of Stella; Glossy Accents;

Tools: Press to Impress hexagon stencil; Lavinia Honeycomb stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #496 - Make Your Mark

As You Like It - Favourite 2 Colour Combo (and why)

(I have a number of favourites but I do like yellow and black)

Beautiful Blossoms #30 - Anything Floral Goes (6th entry)

Cardz 4 Galz #253 - Welcome to Summer

CAS on Friday #312 - Botanical

Colourful Options (July) - Summer Picnic Moodboard

(I am showcasing yellow and orange plus the sunflowers)

Crafty Catz #697 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

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

Creative Aunts #103 - Summer 

Creative Crafting Uncles #66 - Summer (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (July) - Use Polygons

Dream Valley #340 - Anything Goes

Little Red Wagon #814 - To Boldly Go

Paper Funday #78 - Anything Goes with option Fun with Stencils

Path of Positivity #132 - Anything Goes Positive (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Sending Flowers

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

Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - Anything Goes

Here’s a few photos of me and the Fairy Festival.

The Dreamatorium!

Me with the lovely Jack

Tracey and a lady in fab costume!

Jo in demo mode

Emma Jo mid demo

Me in the magical lighting room in the shop

That’s all for today, though I’ll be back soon with another make using the new release.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

AAA Birthday #75 - Guest Designer

Hi everyone, I was thrilled to be asked recently to be guest designer for this month's 

AAA Birthday Challenge #75.

 where this month the challenge theme is

An ideal theme for right now, I’m sure you’ll agree, and open to many interpretations - I can’t wait to see what you create! There’ plenty of great inspiration from the Design Team so please do pop over to the challenge blog to check it out and link up your entries here.

Here’s my card for the challenge - summer invariably makes me think of sunflowers and bees, so I have combined them on this project using Visible Image stamps and dies.

I die cut a large stitched square of stamping card, and stamped a background of small sunflowers and spatters using Golden Meadow Versafine Clair. I stamped and heat embossed the larger sunflowers onto a 9.5 cm square of stamping card, stamped the script and additional spatters, then coloured the sunflowers with Zig pens overlaid with Wink of Stella. I stamped and heat embossed the bees onto separate card stock, coloured with Zig pens and Wink of Stella, then die cut with the matching dies. I assembled the card with the coloured sunflower square placed behind the stitched frame then attached to the sunflower background and a card blank. I stamped the sentiments directly onto the sunflower background, then finished off by adding white Posca highlights and Glossy Accents to the flowers, and attaching the die cut bees.

Stamps: Visible Image Sunflower Grunge, Bee Happy, Sketched Tulips;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Golden Meadow); Versamark; clear embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Wonk of Stella (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched square dies; Visible Image Bee Happy dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #495 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

Crafty Catz #697 - Anything Goes

Die Cut Divas (July) - Birthday

Four Seasons (July) - Summer

Paper Players #744 - Tic Tac Toe

(Flowers / die cut / embossing OR something that flies / die cut / layers)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2526 - Sunshine - HONORARY MENTION

Papercraft #119 - Summer Vibes

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

Try It On Tuesday - Add Some Text

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - Anything Goes (6th entry)

I'd like to say a big thanks to Jane and the Design Team at AAA Birthday for having me as this month's guest designer.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Snowflake Grunge

Hi everyone, I don’t generally make tags, but I was sitting at my craft table after completing another project when I spotted a die cut grungy tag in my bag of offcuts and a Christmas tag idea popped into my head. It spurred me on to gather up various card snippets and have a play … here’s the result.

I die cut a tag from white stamping card, and created a smooshed background using Blue Lagoon and Violet Chalk Elements inks. I then stamped a large grungy snowflake off the edge and heat embossed with Snowflake Tinsel embossing powder, then stamped a couple of smaller snowflakes and grungy wording in Medieval Blue VFC. I cut a second tag to form the back of the finished tag, and stamped with a grungy Christmas greeting and more small snowflakes. I die cut  a larger matting tag from dark blue card stock and attached the stamped panels. To finish I punched a hole, edged both front and back with a die cut silver mirror card ring, then threaded with silver tinsel twine.

Here’s an angled pic to show the sparkle …

… and for once I have even captured a picture of my snippets!

Stamps: Visible Image Let It Snow, Poinsettia Grunge (sentiment); 

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Lagoon, Violet Chalk); Versafine Clair (Medieval Blue, Very Peri, Lilac Bloom, Arctic); Versamark; Snowflake Tinsel embossing powder; 

Tools: AALL & Create die set #30 Taggletastic.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #123 - Anything Christmas Goes

Art Impressions #406 - LEON Day

Everybody Art #582 - Christmas In June

The Holly and Ivy #187 - Anything Christmas Goes

Heart’s Quest for Shaped Cards and Tags #6 - Anything Goes

Peace On Earth #90 - Anything Christmas Goes

Rudolph Days (June) - Anything Christmas Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Snippets Playground #509 - Use Snippets

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - Anything Goes (6th entry)

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

Hugs,

Keep Moving Forward

Hi everyone, today I would like to share my July Lavinia calendar page. The illustration for July is a gaggle of geese, and I actually bought the stamp before Christmas so that I could use it for this! I was struggling to think what to create, and I was inspired by Jo Rice’s idea of using the geese with a sunset, though my page turned out very differently from her example.

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and created the background by blending Sundance, Russet Orange and Paprika Elements inks, starting in the centre. I created a horizon and hill line by placing hill masks and blending Graphite Elements, then created a reflected hill line in the water by reversing the mask and blending ink more gently, to give a softer finish. I stamped the geese, then created a riverbank in the foreground by blending more Elements with a hill mask, and stamped some bulrushes and meadow flowers. 

I masked the hill line and stamped a line of trees, then stamped their reflections in the water using 2nd generation Morning Mist. I have to confess that I didn’t bother “mirroring” the trees with the exception of the row on the left, as they were too asymmetrical. I then created my sunset by blending  Paprika Elements round a circle mask. To finish I coloured the flower heads with white Posca, highlighted the scene with yellow and orange Stardust pens, white Posca and white Stabilo pencil, then attached a sentiment sticker which I outlined in black. 

Stamps: Lavinia Gaggle of Geese, Tree Scene, Forest Scene, Trees, Bulrushes, Wild Summer Flower, Ducks;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sundance, Russet Orange, Paprika, Graphite); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Sakura Stardust pens (yellow, orange, clear); Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate hill masks and circle masks;

Other: Lavinia Sentiment Stickers 6.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Craft Rocket #126 - No Designer Paper (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #136 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Catz #696 - Anything Goes with option Use Hot Colours

Creative Crafters #89 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafting Uncles #66 - Summer

Four Seasons (June) - Anything Goes Summer

Lavinia Creative Challenge (June) - Flower Festival (3rd entry)

Let’s Craft and Create #220 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Outlawz Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (June) - Anything but a Card

Papercraft Challenges #119  - Summer Vibes

Path of Positivity #132 - Anything Goes Positive (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Going Round In Circles (3rd entry)

Sweet Stampin’ - You Are My Sunshine

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

I’m nearly there with my calendar now … only 2 pages left to complete! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Forest Flowers

Hi everyone, this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge is Flower Festival, and what’s not to like about making floral creations? I seem to have found a bit more crafting time than usual, so here is my second entry for the challenge.

I cut a 5 1/2 inch square of stamping card, and stamped and heat embossed the focal flowers. I then blended Elements inks from the centre outwards, then spattered with water. I coloured the flowers with coloured Wink of Stella pens and added white Posca accents. I| then stamped the two fairies and coloured their wings with Sakura Stardust pen, and added stamped foliage in various shades of Versafine Clair. I stamped Pipin gazing up at the flowers, then added highlights to the scene with white Posca and Stardust pens., and gold Posca spatters. Finally I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached with a teeny heart gem, then matted the finished piece onto black card stock and a card blank.

It's another very sparkly one, so here's an angled picture.

Stamps: Lavinia Forest Flower, Leaf Creeper, Vine Flourish, Fairy Foragers, Tree of Courage, Pipin, Heartfelt Verses;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Lemon Drop, Pink Elephant, Flying Fig); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Hawthorn Rose, Lilac Bloom, Blue Belle); Wink of Stella (pink, blue, gold); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, purple, yellow, clear); Inktense pencil (grey); Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Alphabet Challenge - E is for Embossing

Beautiful Blossoms #30 - Anything Floral Goes (4th entry)

Crafts From the Fairy Den (June) - Anything Fantasy Goes with option Fairies

Daisy Chain #97 - Birthday (4th entry)

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #6 2025 - Anything Fantasy Goes with option Fairy

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar - A = Anything Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (June) - Flower Festival (2nd entry)

Little Red Wagon #812 - E is for Embossing

Moving Along With the Times #179. - Birthday (4th entry)

Paper Funday #77 - Anything Goes with option Embossing (heat or dry) (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Spritz and/or Spatter (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,