I Spy With My Little Eye #35/36

Hi everyone, once again it’s the third Wednesday in the month which can only mean one thing … 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. 

This time we have got double the fun for you, as we are running a two month long challenge with two themes, so you have got both plenty of time to enter, and plenty of choice of subject. So … our two themes for this challenge are

*** Spring Flowers***

and

*** Spring Showers ***

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 be joined by a guest designer - Jolanda - so please do click on her name to visit her blog and view her beautiful creation.

Here’s my card for the challenge - as you can see I decided to go with spring flowers.

Last autumn I bought a fabulous extra large background “spatter” stamp by Inkylicious at a craft fair, but for some unknown reason I had never inked it up until now. It is VERY big, so I decided to make a one layer card to give maximum space to accommodate it! I scored a piece of 30cm x 15cm Pink Frog super smooth card to make a square card blank, then dabbed various colours of Distress Oxide onto the stamp and spritzed with water then stamped - it acted rather, like a gel plate! I stamped the daffodils, then stamped again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Zig pens and Wink of Stella, fussy cut and attached. I stamped two bunnies in the corner which I highlighted with white Posca pen and pastel pencil, then stamped the sentiment - job done! 

Stamps: Inkylicious Spatter Circle XL; Visible Image Golden Daffodils; Lavinia Wild Hares (large); Uniko Spring Botanicals Snowdrop (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Broken China); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Medieval Blue); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (white); pastel pencil (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #39 - Anything Floral Goes with optional Mood Board

Craft Rocket #134 - No Designer Paper

Crafty Calendar (March) - Spring

Creative Crafting Uncles #75 - Spring and/or Easter - WINNER

Creative Moments #280 - Bunnies and Blooms

Daisy Chain #105 - Flowers

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #13 - Anything In or From a Garden

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

Girlz Creative Crafts #66 - Flowers

Papercraft Challenges #128 - Joy of Spring

Passion for Markers #829 - Make It Bloom

Path of Positivity #139 - Anything Goes Positive

Simon Says (Monday) - Beautiful Blooms

Sparkles #198 - It’s Springtime!

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

Try It On Tuesday - Spring

The I Spy Challenge will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23:59 US Central Time - as our challenge runs for two months this time that is Sunday May 17th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday May 20th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Let It snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow ❄️

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a fairly CAS (for me) Christmas card,, which brought out to play a gorgeous but much neglected Visible Image grungy snowflake stamp.

I die cut a wavy stitched square of white stamping card, stamped the focal snowflake using Versamark, then heat embossed using WOW Midnight Dream embossing glitter. I stamped spatters from the same stamp set using Arctic VFC, then matted onto a border of dusky blue glitter card (my last piece!). I stamped a Uniko sentiment around all 4 edges of a 6” square card blank, then attached the stamped panel. To finish I added a large sparkly crystal gem to the snowflake centre.

The embossing glitter really is very sparkly - here is an angled picture to show it.

Stamps: Visible Image Let It Snow; Uniko Background Builders - Winter Wonderland;

Media: Versafine Clair (Arctic, Medieval Blue); Versamark; WOW Midnight Dream embossing glitter;

Tools: Craft Addictions UK Wavy Double Stitched square die.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (December) - Anything Goes with option Sparkle and Shine (3rd entry)

A Place to Start (December) - Anything Goes with option Winter Things (3rd entry)

As You Like It - Festive Creations (2nd entry)

Cardz 4 Galz #265 - Christmas Sparkle (2nd entry)

CAS on Friday #324 - Snowflake

C.R.A.F.T. #770 - Christmas

Creative Crafting Uncles #72 - Christmas/New Year

Everybody Art #591 - Christmas and/or New Year

Krafty Chicks #798 - Christmas

Make My Monday #267 - A CAS Quickie Christmas Card

Papercraft Challenges #125 - Festive Sparkle

Shopping Our Stash #563 - My Sweet Embossable You

Simon Says (Monday) - Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Sparkle and Shine (2nd entry)

Tic Tac Toe #285 - Tic Tac Toe

(I chose Texture/Free/Sparkle)

Word Art Wednesday #728/729 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

Again I made two of this design. Yesterday was in fact a mega productive day by my standards, as I managed to make 10 Christmas cards in total. This was the only ‘new’ design though - the others were all variations on other cards I have produced over the past month or so. Nonetheless I am finally getting there: not only are all my posted cards done and dusted, but I’ve very nearly finished all my hand delivery cards too - I’m actually further ahead than normal!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

CAS Traditional Christmas

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a quick traditional Christmas card. As I mentioned I previous post I very recently acquired a couple of new sets of Craft Addictions UK dies - one of them is the wavy double stitch squares, which I absolutely adore and think is going to be incredibly useful. I die cut one out to have a look at, and immediately thought of making a CAS holly wreath - here it is.

I die cut my wavy stitched square, and created a circle by softly blending Pine Elements ink around a circle mask. I then stamped Lavinia holly to make a wreath, interspersed with 2nd generation Mini Holly and then added Mini berries. I coloured the berries with red Signo pen topped with red Sakura Stardust pen, then added fine white Posca highlights to the leaves. I stamped a Uniko sentiment inside the wreath, then matted the finished panel onto a 6” square card blank - job done! 

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Stamps: Lavinia Holly, Mini Holly, Mini Berries; Uniko Christmas Wishes;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Pine); Versafine Clair (Rainforest, Strawberry, Nocturne); Signo pen (red); Sakura Stardust pen (red); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Craft Addictions UK Wavy Double Stitch Square dies; Lavinia acetate circle mask.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

ABC Christmas - X is for X-Stitch (or any stitching)

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards 2025 - Day 21: CASE Yourself

(My holly and berry wreath is along the same lines as a previous card here)

Crafty Gals’ Corner #272 - ‘Tis the Season

Creatalicious #295 - Anything Goes with option Christmas in Traditional Colours

The Holly and Ivy #196 - Anything Christmas Goes

Krafty Chicks #795 - CAS

Outlawz Twisted Thursdays (November) - All About Words (3rd entry)

Paper Funday #82 - Anything Goes with option Merry and Bright (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Masculine

Simply Clean and Simple (November) - Holidays/Winter (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Get Ready For Christmas (2nd entry) - END OF YEAR SPOTLIGHT

Word Art Wednesday #726/727 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

The Christmas card pile is gradually getting bigger now, though I can feel a few batch makes coming on! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #30

Hi everyone, wow we’re nearly 3/4 of the way through the year already and autumn is almost here - when did that happen? It’s the third Wednesday of the month, so it’s time once more 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 

*** Something Clean and Simple ***

Clean and Simple, (CAS) projects can often be made pretty quickly, so hope everyone will find time to join in this month!  Please don’t forget to pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

Here’s my card for the challenge - the CAS theme was an absolute Godsend to me this time, as I didn’t have a lot of crafting time available! I’m not sure it’s really CAS in the true sense, but it was simple to make and is about as CAS as I get! 

I stamped and heat embossed the focal flower and sentiment, then coloured the flower using watered down ink from my Posca sparkle pens - for some reason I always feel the urge to colour this particular image in rainbow hues, which guided me to use this sentiment which I felt suited it well. Unfortunately my red sparkle pen had dried up, so I improvised with an old Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paint for that. I then added some  background stamping of grungy squares and scribbles, and some faux gold Posca spatter. When dry I matted onto black, then satin gold card and my card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle a bit better,

Stamps: Visible Image Creative Chaos (flower); Uniko Spring Botanicals Daffodil (sentiment); unbranded background stamps;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); clear embossing powder; Posca sparkle pens; Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paint; Posca pen (gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More! #501 - Make Your Mark 

Ally’s Angels #98 - Anything Goes

Alphabet Challenge - K is for Keep It Simple (2nd entry)

Colourful Options (September) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Fingers #307 - Anything Goes

Path of Positivity #133 - Anything Goes Positive (2nd entry) - MOST INSPIRATIONAL and TOP PICK

Simon Says (Monday) - Add Some Metal

(gold mirror card and gold metallic Posca pen)

Tic Tac Toe #279 - Tic Tac Toe

(Large Sentiment / three or more colours / stamped image)

Sparkles #192 - Single Flower - TOP 3

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

Word Art Wednesday #716/717 - 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 12th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday October 15th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Try It On Tuesday Guest Designer 🎈

Hi everyone, I was thrilled to be asked to be a guest designer for Try It On Tuesdays challenge, a brilliant challenge I enter as often as I can.  

This fortnight the challenge theme is

*** Keep It Simple ***

A lovely easy theme, so I hope you will all consider joining in.

As regular visitors will know, my projects don't usually tend to be CAS, but for this one I really did manage to keep it about as simple as it gets. This design was inspired by some cards I saw when I recently visited a small artisan craft fair in Bakewell, Derbyshire, and met a lovely lady called Sharon who had a stall selling her handmade cards. We had a really lovely chat about designs, techniques, and the knack of making cards for sale where you need a striking design but which is relatively quick to make. Sharon had some lovely balloon cards, and I said I would have a go at something along the same lines and would mention her inspiration on my blog! 

I scored a 30cm x 15cm piece of Pink Frog super-smooth card to make a one layer card, and created the balloons by blending Distress Oxide inks through a Uniko stencil which I remembered I had in my stash, and added white Posca highlights. I added balloon strings with a black fine liner, then stamped a sentiment using two colours of ink. I added some stamped silver grungy stars to give a bit more interest, and finished off with a teeny pink heart gem on the sentiment - job done!

Stamps: Visible Image Birthday Wishes;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress oxide inks (Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Broken China); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Hawthorn Rose); Brilliance Pigment ink (Platinum Planet); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Uniko stencil - Balloon Bash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #73 - Anything Birthday Goes (2nd entry)

AAA CAS #290 - Anything Birthday Goes

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

Double Trouble #91 (7th Anniversary Event) - Birthday (pink ticket)
Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #5 2025 - Birthdays (2nd entry)

Let's Craft and Create #219 - Anything Goes with option No Patterned Paper (2nd entry)

Love to Craft #86 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Love to Scrap #173 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - TOP PICK

Mix It Up #77 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Neglected Stuff (May) - Use one or more old neglected supplies

(my stencil - I had completely forgotten I even had it!)

Word Art Wednesday  #698/699 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

I look forward to seeing your CAS makes over at Try it On Tuesdays - thanks so much for the GDT invite.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Time to Celebrate 🎉🎉

Hi everyone, as many of you will know there are currently not one but TWO big and exciting celebrations going on in blog land right now … and  I’m also having a little celebration of my own as this is my 1,200th blog post!

First of all, Bev over at Uniko is celebrating 13 years of Uniko stamps - what an amazing achievement! She has a Birthday Card themed challenge using Uniko products with an amazing prize on offer of a £25 voucher, plus a couple of grand prize giveaways of a year’s worth of stamps and stencils - wow! 

Secondly - and equally amazing - Di and Sarn are celebrating the 500th challenge at the Snippets Playground with a special Celebration themed challenge and 2 mystery bumper prize bundles for a couple of lucky winners! 

It seemed pretty clear to me what we all need to do, so without further ado I went ahead and did it … and here’s the result.

I rounded up a couple of white card snippets and a small black one, and created the background by smooshing and spritzing Elements ink using acetate, then spattered with water using my Tim Holtz spatter brush. I stamped the Uniko snowdrops, then die cut the panel using a stitched square die. I stamped the snowdrops again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Zig pens and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I added some silver Posca spatter to the background then attached the fussy cut snowdrops. I stamped the word “Celebrate” directly onto the image panel, then stamped the smaller words onto a small snippet of black card, heat embossed white then cut out and attached. Finally I added a few white Posca highlights and a little more silver spatter to the flowers, and matted the finished panel onto my card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle on the snowdrops and the silver spatter - I love snowdrops, they are so pretty and delicate and a rare winter flower!

… and here’s a pic of my snippets part way through the project . Originally I had a snippet that was a pre-cut stitched square but sadly the ink smooshing went a bit wrong on that one, so I ended up with a different mid-project pic of my eventual snippets (in the end I didn’t actually use the 3rd stamping of the snowdrops).

Stamps: Uniko Spring Botanicals Tulips, Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW opaque white fine embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, silver); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #70 - Ink Smooshing (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Feminine or Masculine theme (and why)

(I love feminine themes as I love florals, fairies and butterflies … and I have much more feminine stash to choose from!)

Craft Rocket #122 - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #610 - Stitching, Real or Faux

Four Seasons (February) - Winter (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #335 - Mood Board - TOP PICK

(I was inspired by the cool blues and greens and the white bell shaped flowers)

Snippets Playground #500 - Celebration + Use Snippets

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

Uniko 13th Birthday Challenge - Birthday Card using Uniko Products

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

So it’s warmest congratulations to Di and Sarn for 500 Snippets challenges, and to Bev for 13 years of Uniko stamps - both are amazing achievements and well worth celebrating!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Birthday Celebrations

Hi everyone, unusually for me I’m back with a second post today as I have made a card for some special birthday celebrations in blogland. If you would like to see this morning’s Tracy Evans floral card, please go here.

Bev at Uniko is celebrating the brand’s 12th birthday so has a special celebration challenge and blog hop here with some superb inspiration and fabulous prizes. I have made my card using only Uniko stamps and stencils.

It is also a 10th birthday celebration at Time Out, so this card was also made with that in mind.  Here it is.

I cut a square of white stamping card and blended Versamark through the balloon stencil (one balloon at a time!) and heat embossed with 3 colours of embossing glitter. I stamped the balloon strings in grey so they would not look too harsh, then added the stamped sentiment in blue. A few little stamped stars, edging of the panel in blue and matting onto silver mirri card, and it was job done! I love how easy it is to create CAS cards with Uniko designs. 

Here's an angled pic to show the extreme glitteriness (is that a word??).

Stamps: Uniko Balloon Bash, Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Versafine Clair (Morning Mist, Medieval Blue, Charming Pink); Versamark; WOW embossing glitter (Midnight Dream, Fruit Tingle, Silver Sparkle);

Tools: Uniko stencil - Balloon Bash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA CAS #259 - Anything CAS Goes with option Birthday Card (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Time Out #257 - Time Out 10th Birthday

Uniko - 12th Birthday Celebration

Word Art Wednesday #637/638 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Congratulations to Bev on reaching 12 years with Uniko, and to Time Out for 12 years of challenges!!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Anyone for Bubbles?

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a card I made yesterday for a friend's "special birthday".  This was actually a bit of a rush job, as I knew this friend (who I don't see very often) was having a birthday at the end of the week but I only discovered by chance on Sunday that it is a "special" one ... and that she will be away on holiday so I needed to get a card made and in the post yesterday! Even so, knowing the current woeful state of postal deliveries there is no guarantee that it will arrive before she goes, but at least the thought was there!

This gave the perfect excuse to break out the celebratory Visible Image stamp set "Anyone For Bubbles" that I selected as part of my winnings for the second anniversary VI ATC swap back in May, specifically to cater for occasions just such as this one!

I cut a 6.5" square of white stamping card, and stamped the champagne bottle in green then coloured the foil with watered down gold Posca pen and the label with Distress ink. I stamped the glass in grey and added the champagne using Distress Ink and coloured the glass with pale grey Distress Oxide. I then added stamped bubbles and spatters to the bottle and glass using 2nd generation grey stamping.  I stamped my main sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, then stencilled some "bubbles" here and there using Versamark and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder. I added die cut gold numbers and a further small sentiment in black, then added lots of sparkle by painting over the bottle and champagne in the glass with Spectrum  Noir sparkle pen, and applying holographic glitter to the spatters and bubbles using a Quickie glue pen. Finally I edged the panel with gold Posca pen and matted onto dark green card stock and a 7" square card blank. 

Here's a picture to capture the sparkle.

As this was a "special" card I also stamped on the envelope and inside the card.

Stamps: Visible Image Anyone For Bubbles, Birthday Wishes (inside card); Uniko Birthday Sentiments (gold embossed on card front);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress inks (Antique Linen, Tea Dye); Distress Oxide ink (Lost Shadow); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Rainforest, Morning Mist); Versamark; embossing powder (gold, holographic); Posca pen (metallic gold); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear); holographic glitter;

Tools: Provocraft "Hippie Chick" dies (numbers); stencil - Craft Sensations at the Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #52 - Anything Birthday Goes

Crafty Addicts #3 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crazy is our Fame, Stencils Are our Game (August) - Use a Stencil

Creative Moments #247 - Let it Shine (2nd entry)

Inkspirational #295 - Use Stencils

Love to Craft #75 - Anything Goes

Moving Along With the Times #157 - Embossing Wet or Dry

NBUS #53 - Use Your Never Before Used Schtuff

(mine is the champagne related stamps)

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

Word Art Wednesday #605/606 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

I may do a bit more crafting this afternoon, as the weather is just so dismal it does not encourage getting out and about! Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,