Rainbow Bridge 🌈

Hi everyone, a lady who I know from a social group I attend told me earlier in the week that her cat had passed away, and she was naturally feeling very distressed so I thought I would make her a “rainbow bridge” card to let her know I’m thinking of her. I decided to keep it simple, with just a focal silhouette cat gazing into the distance as he/she sits at the end of the rainbow.

I scored a piece of 30cm * 15cm Pink Frog super smooth card so that I could make a one layer card and stamp and ink blend directly onto it. First I created the landscape by blending Pine Elements ink using a Lavinia Mini Hills Mask, then created a soft cloudy sky by blending Della Blue Elements with a cloud stencil by My Favorite things. (I actually bought the cloud stencil months ago and have never used it until now! ☺️)  

I had to get my thinking cap on to create the rainbow as I don’t possess any rainbow stamps or stencils, so I created a home made 2 part paper stencil and blended rainbow shades of Elements through it one by one. I then stamped Mooch the cat sitting at the end of the rainbow, and 2 small butterflies which I coloured with Sakura Stardust pens in rainbow hues. I added Stardust pen lines between each rainbow colour,  and finished with a sentiment stamped onto separate card, fussy cut and attached.

Stamps: Lavinia Mooch, Mini Butterfly; Penny Black Hugs (sentiment);

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Della Blue, Paprika, Russet Orange, Sundance, Pine, Blue Lagoon, Dark Denim); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pens (red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, purple, clear);

Tools: My Favorite Things cloud stencil; home made rainbow stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (January) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Classic Design Challenge #1 2025 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (January) - Use a Stencil (3rd entry)

Creative Crafters #84 - Anything Goes

Fab ‘n’ Funky #609 - Include a Stamped Image

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #1 2025 - Sympathy

Krafty Chicks #753 - Anything Goes

Let’s Craft and Create #215 - Anything Goes with option Use a Sentiment (2nd entry)

Little Red Wagon #792 - Anything Goes 

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

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

Hugs,

Simon Says (Monday) - Have a Heart

Hi everyone,

I can scarcely believe it, but January is almost over and today is my 4th and final week as Guest Designer for the  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. As they say, time really does fly when you’re enjoying yourself!

This week’s theme is

Have a Heart

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $25 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz  on the challenge blog post!  You can enter 5 times so that's 5 possible chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance - good luck everyone!

Here’s my final Designer Spotlight card for this week’s challenge (links to my supplies are below the description). 

I was delighted to discover that Simon Says Stamp stocks products by one of my favourite UK designers, Tracy Evans Boutique Designs, so I just had to use them for this make which was inspired by some techniques used by Tracy herself in recent designs.

I cut a 5 1/2” square of stamping card, drew round the heart mask from Tracy Evans Snippet Stencil SS12 “Heart” onto masking paper to create an adhesive mask, then spritzed the card with water and daubed Distress Oxide inks around the mask with a fine paintbrush. I continued to daub and spritz until I was happy with the colour distribution, then I flicked water droplets onto it using my Tim Holtz distress splatter brush and dabbed with kitchen roll to create a mottled effect. I dried the panel and removed the mask, then stamped the large and small flowers from TE5 Clematis using Twilight Versafine Clair. 

I coloured the flowers using watered down Distress Oxide inks and added highlights with a fine white Posca pen. I then added some 2nd generation background stamping using TE16 Artsy Alphas/Numbers in Very Peri VFC and TE11 Background Elements in Twilight. I stamped some hanging hearts in the top left corner from TE6 Branched Heart and some teeny hearts in shades of purple from TE10 Quirky Birds, then added more white Posca highlights and also drew around the heart with a grey pencil and blended out with a water brush to add a bit more depth.

 I stamped a sentiment frame from TE32 Alpha Florals onto a separate snippet of white card and stamped part of a sentiment from TE5 Clematis inside the frame, then attached with 2 little birds from TE30 Garden Elements sitting on top. To finish I added some white Posca spatters and matted onto black and lavender card stock and a 7” square card blank.

Here are links to what I used:

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE5 Clematis, TE6 Branched Heart, TE10 Quirky Birds, TE11 Background Elements, TE16 Artsy Alphas/Numbers, TE30 Garden Elements, TE32 Alpha Florals;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Villainous Potion, Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac, Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean); Versafine Clair (Twilight, Very Peri, Lilac Bloom, Monarch, Nocturne); Posca pen PC1M (white);

Tools: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Snippet Stencil SS12 - Heart; Tim Holtz Distress splatter brush.

Don’t forget to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time (EST), 1pm UK time (GMT), 2 pm CET to join in.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

613 Avenue Create (January) - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #25 - Anything Floral Goes

Classic Design Challenge #1 2025 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #285 - Anything Goes with option Love Is In the Air

Festive Friday (January) - Use Blue (3rd entry)

Love to Craft #84 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Paper Funday #72 - Anything Goes with option Monochrome

Snippets Playground #498 - Use Snippets with option Love Is In the Air

(Sentiment stamped onto small snippet of white card, and larger snippets used for black  (my last large snippet!!) and lavender matting)

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

Word Art Wednesday #683/684 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I’d like to finish off today by saying a huge thankyou to Lols and all on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for having me in the Designer Spotlight for January - it’s been amazing and a huge amount of fun!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Simon Says (Monday) - Fun With Foil!

Hi everyone,

January is flying by, and I’m here again for my third week as Guest Designer for the  

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week’s theme is

Fun With Foil

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $25 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz  on the challenge blog post!  You can enter 5 times so that's 5 possible chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance - good luck everyone!

Here's my card for this week - everything used on this card is new  (links to my supplies are below the description). 

This was an interesting challenge for me, as I have only used foil once before in a very simplistic way and have no equipment for hot foiling, so I decided to try a simple cold foiling technique. I used Therm O Web Transfer Gel Duo, which is a gel paste for use with deco foil that can be set either with heat via a laminator, or with pressure via a die cutting machine. I cut a 6” square of white stamping card and applied the gel through a Simon Says Stamp Geo Leaves stencil, and allowed it to dry. I then rubbed over a sheet of Therm O Web Rainbow Deco Foil and ran through my die cutting machine, then peeled off the foil sheet to reveal the foiled panel. The key to this technique is to ensure you let the paste dry until it is clear before foiling, otherwise you don’t get a crisp result - I found it’s best to leave it for a couple of hours. 

I stamped a sentiment from the Therm O Web OH HELLO  stamp and die set using Versamark and heat embossed white, then die cut with the matching die. I attached the sentiment to a blank portion of the foiled panel then matted onto black and gold mirror card stock and a 7” card blank.

Here are links to what I used:

Stamps/dies: Therm O Web OH HELLO stamp and die set;

Media: Therm O Web Transfer Gel Duo, Therm O Web Rainbow Deco Foil Transfer Sheets; Versamark; WOW Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder;

Tools: Simon Says Stamp Geo Leaves stencil.

Don’t forget to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time (EST), 1pm UK time (GMT), 2 pm CET to join in.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Cardz 4 Galz #241 - Use Stencils (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Colourful Options (January) - Rainbow Inspired

Crafty Catz #685 - Anything Goes

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

Daisy Chain #92 - No Designer Paper (2nd entry)

Die Cut Divas (January) - Use Something New  (3rd entry)

Dream Valley #328 - Something New (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #608 - All Things Bright and Beautiful

Love to Craft #84 - Anything Goes

Love To Scrap #171 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - TOP PICK

My Time to Craft #551 - Use a Sentiment (2nd entry)

NBUS #70 - Use Your Never-Before-Used-Schtuff

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Clean and Simple

We Love 2 Create #1 2025 - Anything Mixed Media/Papercrafting Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #683/684 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) 

Word Power (January) - Focal Sentiment

Quite a different card today from my usual style, but it’s good to get outside our comfort zone sometimes! 😀 I found the rainbow coloured foil particularly suited to lend a wow factor to a simple design, so am pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

Take care, and thanks for visiting my blog today.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #22

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month, so following from our month off over Christmas it’s time for the first I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge of 2025 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 

*** Something With Feathers or Fur ***

So think animals and birds - realistic, cute or whimsical! 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  Amy as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous feathered creation.

Here’s my card for the challenge.

I have owned the lovely AALL & Create stamp set “Robin and Nuthatch” for quite some time, but I have always used the robin stamp and never the nuthatch so I thought it time to remedy that.

I cut a 13.5cm square of stamping card and created a circle by blending Elements ink through a circle mask. I stamped the nuthatch inside the circle then masked him and stamped the large branch from Tracy Evans’ set Branched Heart. I coloured the nuthatch with watered down Elements inks and added a few white Signo highlights, and added some background text stamping using Stormy Sky Distress Oxide. I stamped the Lavinia sentiment in Twilight VFC then  matted the piece onto blue card stock and a card blank. I still felt it needed something else, so added a couple of stamped dangling hearts and a few random pieces of torn script washi tape.

Stamps: AALL & Create #690 Robin & Nuthatch, #457 Background Voices; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE6 Branched Heart; Lavinia Let Your Spirit Take Flight;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Russet Orange, Della Blue, Graphite); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Portobello, Twilight); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Stormy Sky); Signo pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate circle masks;

Other: washi tape from The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More! #484 - Any Occasion

C.R.A.F.T. #746 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #131 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals #90 - Include an Animal

Inspiration Station #69 - Inspiration Photo

(I was inspired by the colours of the bird)

Let’s Craft and Create #215 - Anything Goes with option Use a Sentiment
My Time to Craft #551 - Use a Sentiment 

Path of Positivity #127 - Anything Goes Positive (2nd entry)
Triple B (January) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #683/684 - 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 February 16th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday February 19th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Simon Says (Monday) - Add Some Texture

Hi everyone,

The past week has flown by, and it's time already for my second week as Guest Designer for the  

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

This week’s theme is

Add Some Texture

The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $25 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz  on the challenge blog post!  You can enter 5 times so that's 5 possible chances to win! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance - good luck everyone!

Here's my card for this week (links to my supplies are below the description).

I needed to get my thinking cap on for this one, as I don’t usually include a lot of texture on my projects. I had selected a beautiful Sizzix and 49 and Market stamp and die set “Floral Mix Cluster” for my focus which I bought from Simon Says Stamp before Christmas, and had the brainwave of adding some background stamping using a Lavinia stamp called “Texture 2” (did you see what I did there)?? I then felt emboldened to also reach for my neglected Tim Holtz Distress texture paste, having identified a stencil that I felt coordinated with the overall look of the card, and finally I used some scrunched thread, making 3 textural elements in all.

I cut a square of white stamping card, and created the background by lightly dragging Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac and Stormy Sky Distress Oxide ink pads in straight lines across the card. I stamped the focal flower using Morning Mist Versafine Clair, then stamped again onto separate card using Nocturne VFC, coloured it with watered down Distress Watercolor pencils topped with Wink of Stella, and cut out with the matching die. I added background 2nd generation stamping in the corners using the Lavinia texture stamp with Hawthorn Rose and Very Peri VFC, then stamped a couple of random background numbers from retired AALL & Create set #455 “Seasons”, and added some grey pencil shading around the stamped flower.

 I used Distress texture paste with AALL & Create stencil “Lotza Dotz” to add some random textured stencilling and allowed to dry, then covered the stencilling while I added some silver Posca spatters to the piece. I matted the inked panel onto dark blue and pink borders and a 6” square card blank, then attached the die cut flower with scrunched holographic silver thread behind it. To finish I added a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker as a sentiment.

Here are links to what I used: 

Stamps: Sizzix and 49 and Market Stamp and die set - Floral Mix Cluster; Lavinia Texture 2; 

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac, Stormy Sky); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Very Peri, Hawthorne Rose); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor pencils set 1 ( Picked Raspberry Peeled Paint); Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste (Opaque); Posca pens (silver, white); Wink of Stella (clear); 

Tools: AALL & Create stencil #124 Lotza Diamondz;

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk Stickers.

Don’t forget to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

You have until Monday 8am Ohio time (EST), 1pm UK time (GMT), 2 pm CET to join in.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Cardz 4 Galz #241 - Use a Stencil/s 

C.R.A.F.T. #746 - Anything Goes

Craft Rocket #121 - Something New (2nd entry)

(floral stamp and die set)

Crafty Calendar (January) - Add a Die Cut (3rd entry)

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

Creative Inspirations (January) - Something Old/Something New (2nd entry)

(new floral stamp and die set, old background stamps and sentiment sticker)

Cut It Up #321 - Something New + Use a Die 

Die Cut Divas (January) - Use Something New (2nd entry) 

Dream Valley #328 - Something New - TOP 3

Festive Friday (January) - Something New (2nd entry)

Outlawz (January) - Project submitted to an Outlawz challenge (Festive Friday) - WINNER

Path of Positivity #127 - Anything Goes Positive

Pearly Sparkles #103 - Something Old, Something New (2nd entry)

Sweet Stampin’ - New! (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #681/682 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting my blog today.

Hugs,

Snippets Blogoversary

Hi everyone, this fortnight the Snippets Playground is celebrating a special Blogoversary - 13 years since Miss Di took over the reins and the thankless task of keeping us all on the straight and narrow … aided latterly by her partner in crime craft Sarn, whose legendary Treehouse parties will still be talked about by future generations! So in honour of this auspicious occasion I decided to make a card entirely inspired by the need to use up snippets! 

Before Christmas I purchased a popular new AALL & Create die set as part of some challenge winnings over at Simon says Stamp - but hadn’t used it until now as I wasn’t sure what to do with it. However it was clear that it was perfect for using up some of my mountain of white card snippets - I even took a picture for once!

Here’s the resulting card - I decided to make my first Christmas card of 2025 using a variety of Lavinia stamps. 

I die cut all the pieces from the die set, and edged all the inner pieces with blended Distress Oxide ink in Mowed Lawn. I stamped tree branch  onto the largest rectangle using Pinecone VFC then perched Bobby on top with Sand Dune VFC and Mini Mistletoe using  a mixture of Avocado and Shady Lane. I stamped Holly and Mini Holly onto the 2 smaller rectangles using Rainforest VFC, and the word “Joy” from Seasonal Words onto the small square surrounded by mini stars stamped with Brilliance ink.

 I coloured Bobby with Zig pens and Signo white pen, the holly berries with red Signo pen topped with Sakura Stardust pen, and the mistletoe berries with white Signo pen topped with clear Sakura Stardust pen. I added highlights to Bobby, the holly and mistletoe with white Signo pen, and outlined the greeting with clear Stardust pen to add sparkle. I added white Posca snowflakes and snowfall on the branch of the largest panel, then attached all the pieces to the outer frame and matted onto a piece cut from a large snippet of dark green linen card stock which I had distressed with my distressing tool. 

Stamps: Lavinia Bobby, Holly, Mini Holly, Mini Mistletoe, Seasonal Words, Mini Stars 1;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Mowed Lawn); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Sand Dune, Pinecone, Rainforest, Shady Lane, Avocado); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Signo pens (red, white); Sakura Stardust pens (red, clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create #57 Parallel Rectangles dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #118 - Anything Goes Christmas

ABC Christmas (January) - A is for Anything Christmas

Crafty Calendar (January) - Add a Die Cut (2nd entry)

FarmQuest Country Christmas #16 - Anything Outdoorsy Christmas

Jingle Belles - Something Old, Something New

(New die set, old Christmas sentiment and mini holly stamps) 

Krafty Chicks #750 - Christmas - TOP PICK

Merry Little Christmas #60 - Anything Christmas Goes

Peace On Earth #79 - Anything Christmas Goes

Snippets Playground #497 - Use Snippets

Word Art Wednesday #681/682 - Anything Goes (3rd entry) 

I’m just about sick and tired now of staying indoors due to the snow and ice - it has lain in our side road all week now, making going out completely treacherous either on foot or in the car.  It’s supposed to be starting to thaw today … fingers crossed, so long as it doesn’t cause more flooding! Hope everyone is staying safe. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

.