I Spy With My Little Eye #41

Hi everyone, September is really flying by, and 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. 

This month it was my turn to choose the theme, which is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Background text ***

Please don’t forget to pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

We are also delighted to welcome Diane as guest designer -  - so please do click on her name to visit her blog and view her beautiful creation.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I always associate background text with a vintage look, though of course that doesn’t have to be the case. I felt inspired to use an AALL & Create set of border stamps I received for my birthday and hadn’t inked up yet, along with a focal flower I don’t think I have ever used even though it is part of a set I’ve had for a long time!

I cut a piece of stamping card 6.5” x 4.5” and created a smooshed background by applying dye inks using acetate spritzed with water. I then stamped the focal flower using Nocturne Versafine Clair, and the background text and film strip using Morning Mist. I stamped the script and butterfly again in Nocturne onto separate card, then coloured the flower and butterfly using Zig pens, and highlighted the flower with white pastel pencil. I added some background stencilling with Della Blue Elements ink, then added a sentiment sticker with two stamped birdies sitting on top. I matted the panel onto a purple border and a 7” x 5” card blank, then to finish I fussy cut and attached the butterfly on top of the original stamping, and added Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the wings.

Stamps: AALL & Create #648 Friendship Florals, TP-1334 Splatter Film; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE30 Garden Elements;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink (Pale Fig);  Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); pastel pencil (white); 

Tools: Tim Holtz Dot Fade stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally’s Angels #110 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #45 - Anything Floral Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #151 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Crafty Catz #719 - Anything Goes

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

Creative Crafters #104 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspiration #42 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - TOP 3

DL.Art (September) - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams (September) - Monochromatic 

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #19 - Anything In or From a Garden

NBUS #90 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(‘Splatter Film’ background stamp)

Neglected Stuff (September) - Use Neglected Supplies - WINNER

(the main floral image)

Paper Funday #91 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity #143 - Anything Goes Positive

Sparkles #204 - Your Favourite Technique

(ink smooshing)

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

Word Art Wednesday #770/771 - 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 October 18th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday October 21st.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Summertime Blues

Hi everyone, still not been finding much time for crafting, and I’ve also been rather put off by all the hot weather we’ve been having, but I thought I’d just pop by today with a very simple one layer card inspired by the current Simon Says (Wednesday) challenge ‘Summertime Blues’.

I took a 7” x 5” card blank and stamped a scribble background directly onto the front using various shades of Distress Oxide inks, which I then lightly spritzed with water. I stamped the flower and sentiment using Twilight VFC, then added a small scattering of dewdrop gems - that‘s it!

Stamps: Unity Stamps Insightful Meadows; Crafter’s Companion Positive Thoughts ‘Sharing the Love’; unbranded scribble stamp; 

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Speckled Egg, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch); Versafine Clair (Twilight);

Other: Crafter’s Companion Dew Drops.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Colourful #31 - Colour Board

Beautiful Blossoms #44 - Anything Floral Goes

Creative Crafters #103 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (August) - Anything Goes

Inkspirational #374 - Garden

Neglected Stuff (August) - Use Your Neglected Stuff

(all the stamps on this card)

Papercraft #133 - Back to Basics - TOP 3

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Summertime Blues

Simply Clean & Simple (August) - Anything CAS Goes

Word Art Wednesday #764/765 - Anything Goes

That’s all for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with my make for Ellie’s ‘I Spy With My Littke Eye’ challenge.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #39

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in July 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. 

This month it was my turn to choose the theme, which is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something With Wings ***

So think birds, butterflies, bees, fairies, angels … even aeroplanes - the list is almost endless! Please don’t forget to pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here

We are also delighted to welcome Maria  and alice k as guest designers - so please do click on their names to visit their blogs and view their beautiful winged creations.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I make quite a lot of cards that feature winged creatures - butterflies, dragonflies, fairies … I love them all! However I really do love bees - I think they are beautiful and endlessly fascinating creatures, so I decided to let a bee take centre stage with this gorgeous matching stamp and die set by Visible Image.

I cut a square of stamping card, and lightly blended Sundance Elements ink through a hexagon  stencil I placed centrally. With this stencil still in place I then overlaid it with a honeycomb stencil and blended Sundance, Sahara and Russet Orange Elements through both stencils, going darker towards the edges. I removed the stencils and stamped some grungy AALL & Create hexagons in 2 corners.  I stamped the largest VI bee onto separate card, coloured with Zig Pens, Wink of Stella gold on the body and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on the wings, then cut out with the matching die. I stamped my sentiment onto the main panel, matted it onto black cardstock and copper glitter card then attached the die cut bee. The bee is actually quite sparkly but the photo doesn’t capture that! 

Stamps: Visible Image Bee Happy; AALL & Create #383 Scripted Hexagons; 

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sundance, Sahara, Russet Orange); Versafine Clair (Nocturne);  Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Wink of Stella (gold); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Visible Image Bee Happy die; Crafts Too hexagon stencil; Darkroom Door honeycomb stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #521 - Make Your Mark (2nd entry) - TOP ADDICT

Ally’s Angels #108 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #717 - Anything Goes - TOP 3

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (July) - Use a Stencil (2nd entry) - TOP 3

A Cut Above (July) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut (2nd entry)

Cut It Up #360 - Create Your Own Background + a Die Cut

Dream Factory #152 - Beekeeper - TOP 3

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #17 - Anything In or From a Garden  (2nd entry)

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

(Inspired by the bee)

 

Girlz Rebel #54 - Glitter - TOP 3

Love to Craft #93 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK 

Love to Scrap #180 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Mix It Up #84 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday  #760/761 - 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 August 16th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday August 19th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Vintage Daisies

Hi everyone, I’m back again with another card I made using the Francoise Read for Woodware stamp set, which came with this month’s ’Creative Stamping’ magazine. (In case you missed the first one due to Blogger playing silly beggars, it’s here). I’m really loving the vintage vibe of these stamps, and so once again I used a variety of Distress colouring media. 

I die cut a grungy rectangle from a snippet of white card using the AALL & Create ‘Film Drip’ die set, and created a smooshed background using Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Antique Linen Distressed inks. I stamped the large focal image, then stamped again onto a separate snippet where I coloured the daisy heads with Distressed watercolour pencils and the butterfly with Elements ink, then fussy cut. I created a separate smooshed background on an offcut of card using Antique Linen and Tea Dye DI’s, then stamped the tag section of the main stamp onto it, fussy cut out and coloured the flower. I added some background stamping round the edges of the main image using small images from the magazine stamp set, inked round the edges to add depth, then attached the fussy cut tag, flower heads and butterfly. I die cut a grungy frame from a snippet of kraft card using the ‘Film Drip’ dies and matted the stamped panel onto it, then attached to a custom sized card blank. To finish I added a Tim Holtz ‘Small Talk’ sticker sentiment, a teeny fussy cut tag stamped onto a separate teeny snippet, and Glossy Accents to the flower centres.

Stamps: Woodware Fabulous Francoise;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress inks (Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet); Distress watercolour pencils (Kitsch Flamingo, Fossilized Amber, Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint); Lavinia Elements ink (Sundance); Versafine Clair (Portobello);

Tools: AALL & Create Film Drip dies;

Other: Tim Holtz Small Talk Stickers.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More #521 - Make Your Mark

Beautiful Blossoms #42 - Anything Floral Goes (4th entry)

Creative Artiste #128 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

A Cut Above (July) - Anything Goes with a Die Cut

DL.Art (July) - Anything Goes

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #17 - Anything In or From a Garden

Moving Along with the Times #191 - Use a Colouring Medium (2nd entry)

Sisterhood of Crafters (July) - Flowers

Snippets Playground #536 - Use Snippets - TOP PICK

Word Art Wednesday  #760/761 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Midsummer Moon

Hi everyone, today I am dashing through the rapidly closing gate to make a last minute entry for the Lavinia June Creative Challenge - Midsummer Moon. Well … I say “dashing” … given the current extreme heat here in the UK it would be more accurate to say “ambling in a relaxed and apathetic manner” … but I’m sure you get the picture!

I cut a 14.3cm square of white stamping card, and masked off the outer edges with low tack tape to form an inner square. I created the background by blending Elements inks using a circle mask for the moon, then stamped the flowers using 2 colours of blue VFC to add depth. I removed the masking tape and stamped Mooch and the butterflies. I stamped the sentiment by masking words on 2 different sentiments, and oops! - despite being careful I ended up with a small ink blot below the sentiment, so I added some stamped stars to disguise it! I outlined the moon with Stardust pen then matted the finished panel onto midnight blue card and a 6” square card blank.

Stamps: Lavinia Mooch, Wild Poppies, Dandelions, Field Grass, Butterflies, Stars 1 Mini, Deeper than the Ocean, Believe In Magic;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Dark Denim, Della Blue, Pink Elephant); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Medieval Blue, Very Peri, Hawthorne Rose); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Ally’s Angels #107 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Crafty Animals #106 - Include an Animal - TOP PICK

Crafty Catz #716 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #101 - Anything Goes

Girlz & the Art of Letters #29 - C is for … Cat

Lavinia Creative Challenge (June) - Midsummer Moon

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2625 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity #142 - Anything Goes Positive (2nd entry)

Sweet Stampin’ - Anything but a Birthday

Word Art Wednesday #756/757 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

That’s all for today. Hope everyone is coping ok in the heatwave - I’m conserving my energy to urge on the England team later this evening! 😀🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Flower Spirits

Hi everyone, I’ve still not been around much for the past couple of weeks as my mojo is still on holiday in Outer Mongolia, but I felt compelled to try to make another entry for this month’s Lavinia Creative Challenge - “Flower Spirits”.  Here it is.

I kept this one very simple, making it as a one layer card. I created my card blank by scoring a 30cm x 15cm piece of Pink Frog super smooth stamping card, then created a circle in the centre by sponging Elements ink through a circle mask then spattering with droplets of water. With the mask still in place I stamped various silhouette flowers and teeny fairies. I coloured the fairy wings and lantern with Sakura Stardust pens, then added white Posca accents to the flowers. I finished off with a sentiment stamped in the corner and highlighted with purple Stardust pen.

Stamps: Lavinia Foxgloves, Wild Poppies, Buttercups, Dandelions, Fairy Foragers, Believe In Magic;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pink Elephant, Russet Orange, Flying Fig); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pens (clear, yellow, purple); Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (May) - Anything Goes with option May flowers

Ally’s Angels #106 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #41 - Anything Floral Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #147 - Anything Goes - DT FAVOURITE

Crafty Catz #714 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #100 - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #821 - CAS

Lavinia Creative Challenge (May) - Flower Spirits (2nd entry)

Love to Craft #92 - Anything Goes

Make My Monday #278 - Say It With Flowers

Mix It Up #83 - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations (May) - Anything Goes - WINNER

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

Try It On Tuesday - Keep It Simple

Word Art Wednesday #752/753 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting,

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #37

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month so it’s time for a new I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner - back from our little break last month. 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. 

This month it was my turn to choose the theme, which is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something Monochromatic ***

We would love to see your makes in shades of any colour, and of course black, white and neutrals are also fine! 

Please don’t forget to pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

We are also delighted to welcome back Gerrina as guest designer -  - so please do click on her name to visit her blog and view her beautiful creation.

Here’s my card for the challenge. My start point for this project was to select a colour I wouldn’t normally choose for a monochrome card - in this case orange - and then think what kind of image would suit that colour scheme. I decided on a butterfly, and off I went…

I die cut a scalloped square of white stamping card, and created a large stencilled butterfly using a Visible Image stencil and two shades of orange Distress Oxide inks which I then spattered with water. I stamped the smaller butterfly onto a separate small snippet of white card, coloured with an orange Sakura Stardust pen and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I stamped some background script in 2nd generation Nocturne VFC, using part of a much larger floral stamp by AALL & Create which I have cut down into separate bits. I also stamped some Visible Image butterfly-related words onto the butterfly wings,, then matted the white panel onto a square cut from a large snippet of orange cardstock, and onto a square card blank. Finally I attached the smaller butterfly and bent up its wings.

Stamps: Visible Image Minis #1, Wings of Change; AALL & Create Daisy Elegance;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon; Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Sakura Stardust pen (orange); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Visible image stencil - Butterfly Ink; Craft Addiction UK die - Scallopstack Square Frames.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Colourful Options (May) - Black & White with a Pop of Colour

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (May) - Use a Stencil - TOP 3

Fab ‘n’ Funky #637 - Monochromatic - TOP 3

Love to Scrap #179 - Anything Goes - TOP PICK

Pearly Sparkles #119 - One or More Butterflies

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Use Craft Dies

Snippets Playground #532 - Use Snippets - TOP PICK

Sweet Stampin’ - Things With Wings

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

Word Art Wednesday #752/753 - 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 June 14th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday June 17th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Sending Hugs

Hi everyone, today’s card is a complete u-turn from yesterday, from a sepia vintage vibe to a vibrant and bold contemporary card! I’d like to share my first make with a gorgeous new-to-me stamp set by  Julie Hickey, which I bought at Port Sunlight. I’ve admired this vibrant large floral stamp for a long time, so when I saw it on a stall along with some sample cards, I just had to have it! It strikes me as really versatile.

I die cut a stitched square of white card and stamped different parts of the stamp in opposite corners, then coloured it with my Zig pens. I applied some white Posca accents to the flower centres and added sparkle to the larger flowers with Wink of Stella, then stamped the sentiment. To finish I added some gold Posca accents and spatter, then attached the finished panel to a card blank. This is another very sparkly card which sadly the picture doesn’t pick up at all!

Stamps: Julie Hickey - Julie’s Handpicked Blossom & Blooms; Uniko Simply Said Blocks II;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Wink of Stella (clear); Posca pens (white, gold);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (October) - Anything Goes - TOP ROCKER

Addicted to Stamps & More! #504 -  Any Occasion (2nd entry)

Ally’s Angels #99 - Anything Goes 

Beautiful Blossoms #34 - Anything Floral Goes 

Crafts Galore Encore #140 - Anything Goes 

Creative Aunts #106 - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers #310 - Anything Goes

Ellibelle’s Garden Party (October) - Anything In or From a Garden 

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Clean and Simple 

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

Word Art Wednesday #722/723 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

C.R.A.F.T. #765 Guest Designer

Hi everyone, earlier in the summer I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest designer for C.R.A.F.T. Challenge, so here we are with the latest challenge #765. The challenge theme for the next two weeks is

Grandparents / Anything Goes 

There’s a super prize on offer  of 2 Digi images from our sponsor All Dressed Up 

There’s lots of inspiration from the Design Team over in the main challenge blog, so please do pop over to have a look and join in.

Here’s my card for the challenge -  my crafting stash sadly isn’t geared towards grandparent cards, so I went with the option of ‘Anything Goes’.

I cut a 5.5” square of stamping card and stamped the focal flower twice using Pinecone VFC and masking the first flower. I then masked both flowers, masked the edges of the card with low tack tape, then blended a background square with Elements inks and spattered it with water. I removed the tape masking then stamped the background design in Sand Dune, moth in Pinecone and fern leaves in Shady Lane, before removing the flower masks and colouring them with Zig pens. I added white Posca highlights to the flowers and ferns, then stamped the sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached with 2 stamped birdies sitting on top. I matted the finished piece onto a red border and 6” square card blank.

Stamps: Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE3 Fern, TE4 New Beginnings, TE27 Insect, TE30 Garden Elements; AALL & Create #533 Bring On the Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sahara, Russet Orange); Versafine Clair (Pinecone, Sand Dune, Shady Lane); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #33 - Anything Floral Goes with optional Mood Board - TOP PICK

Card Concept #219 - Inspiration Photo - HONOURABLE MENTION

(I was inspired by the rich red flowers, green leaves, gold background and winged insect)

Crafty Catz #701 - Anything Goes with option Autumn Colours (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Creative Crafters #92 - Anything Goes 

Double Trouble #201 - 3-2-1 Challenge SomeThing, AyThing, EveryThing

(3 colours of VFC, 2 flowers and birds, 1 sentiment)

Dream Valley #345 - Autumn Colours (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #7 - Anything In or From a Garden

Love to Scrap #175 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Outlawz Festive Friday (September) - Colours of the Season (2nd entry)

Path of Positivity #133 - Anything Goes Positive (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #718/719 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Thanks again to Jo at the C.R.A.F.T. Challenge for inviting me to be guest designer this time.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,