I Spy With My Little Eye #27

Hi everyone, the year really is flying by! It’s June already and 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 

*** Vintage Vibes ***

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.

I have had this pretty vintage style Woodware stamp for quite a long time but had never inked it up before, so I thought now was the time! I cut a 6” x 4” piece of white stamping card and created a smooshed background with a mixture of Distress Inks and Elements. I don’t use my Distress inks very often as they are old and not very juicy, but I think they give a softer more vintage look than the Elements, which are generally much more vibrant. 

I stamped the image using Versafine Clair in Portobello, which I also think is an ideal shade of brown for vintage-style projects. I then die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die, and added some soft background stencilling using Distress Oxide. I stamped the image again onto separate card and coloured the flowers, snail and butterfly using Distress Watercolor pencils, added some extra shading to the flowers with Zig pen and white Stabilo pencil, and added some sparkle with my Wink of Stella. I then fussy cut them out and set aside. I smooshed some ink onto another snippet of white card and stamped the sentiment, cut out,  rounded the edges with a punch then edged with brown ink.  

 I die cut a stitched rectangle mat from brown card stock, attached the base panel and then attached to a 7” x 5” card blank. Finally I attached the fussy cut pieces and sentiment to the base image and added a couple of pieces of washi tape and a teeny heart gem.

I couldn’t help but notice while making this card that my Gemini cutting plates are on their last legs  - they have been looking very bowed for some time - but now the die cuts themselves look quite rippled and don’t really lie flat! I’m going to have to try to straighten them out, otherwise here comes yet another crafty expense!

Stamps: Woodware Garden Snail; Lou Collins Typography (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet); Distress Oxide ink (Scorched Timber); Lavinia Elements ink (Soft Cygnet); Versafine Clair (Portobello); Distress Watercolor pencils (Kitsch Flamingo, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Picket Fence, Peeled Paint); Kuretake Zig Clean Color Watercolor pen; Stabilo pencil (white); Wink of Stella (clear);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Rectangle dies; That’s Crafty! Dinky stencil - Reverse Honeycomb Background;

Other: washi tape from The Range.

Challenges I would like to enter:

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

Beautiful Blossoms #30 - Anything Floral Goes - TOP 5

Crafty Calendar (June) - Add a Sentiment (2nd entry)

Creations In Pink #82 - Anything Goes In Mainly Pink

Creative Artiste #116 - Anything Mixed Media Goes (3rd entry)

Daisy Chain #97 - Birthday (2nd entry)

Die Cut Divas  (June) - Colour Challenge (use at least 3)

(I have used the pale beige, 2 shades of pink, brown and a hint of green)

Dragonfly Dreams (June) - Use One or More Butterflies (2nd entry)

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #4 - Anything In or From a Garden - TOP PICK

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #6 2025 - Birthday (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Make My Monday #254 - One or More Butterflies - SPECIAL MENTION

Moving Along With the Times #179 - Birthday (2nd entry)

Neglected Stuff (June) - Use Your Neglected Craft Supplies

Night Owls #49 - Stencil / Punches / Die Cutting - TOP 3

Outlawz Monday Greetings (June) - Any Greeting with a Floral Image

Shopping Our Stash #550 - A Stitch In Time

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Fur, Feather and/or Flowers

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

Try It On Tuesday - In the Garden

We Love 2 Create #6 2025 - Anything Papercrafting/Mixed Media Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - 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 July 13th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday July 16th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Vintage Typewriter

Hi everyone, I mentioned in my previous post that I recently managed to get my hands on a few of the new Versafine Clair inkpads. One of the colours I got was Portobello, as I love stamping Lavinia scenes, and I thought it would give me more colour flexibility for trees, plus it is a smoky brown which I thought may work for vintage style makes. Anyhoo, when I saw it I could see straight away it is a good colour for a vintage look so that was the starting point for today’s card. 

This was one of those makes that wouldn’t seem to go right .. I actually had several attempts before I was halfway satisfied and I’m still not entirely happy with it, but I got there in the end and it’s done now!!

I cut a 5” square of white stamping card and stamped the vintage typewriter using Portobello VFC. I then made a grungy inky background by dabbing spritzed Distress Oxides onto the card with acetate, and added my sentiment stamped with Arctic VFC, and added some arty vintage background stamping in 2nd generation. I stamped the butterfly onto separate card, coloured with a Distress watercolour pencil and added some Wink of Stella for sparkle, then fussy cut out. I blended some Scorched Timber DOX round the edges and matted onto brown then aqua linen cardstock and a 6” square card blank. Finally I attached the butterfly using a vintage style pen nib for its body, then added a piece of torn washi tape to finish.

Stamps: Text{ures} by Lou Collins “Typography”; AALL & Create #906 Art Notes;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Speckled Egg, Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Portobello, Arctic); Distress watercolour pencil (Speckled Egg); Wink of Stella;

Other: Washi tape from the Range; pen nib from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #468 - Birthdays

Allsorts #781 - Anything Goes - Special 15th Birthday Challenge (3rd entry)

C.R.A.F.T. #720 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #123 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafters #76 - Anything Goes

Double Trouble #167 - 6th Year Anniversary Raffle (Birthday - Pink Ticket)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #596 - Square

Love to Craft #80 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Mix It Up #71 - Anything Goes

We Love Stamping (May) - Vintage (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #649/650 - Anything Goes

There is going to be a special challenge next month over at We Love Stamping to celebrate their 15th birthday, and they asking everyone to display their special badge to spread the word. Congratulations ladies on this fantastic achievement!

That’s all from me for today. After a few days of lovely weather the sun seems to have gone into hiding, so I may be doing some crafting later. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Tag It!

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap theme in the Tracy Evans FB group is Tag It - ie. incorporate a tag onto each ATC. The tag could be a stamp, die or even hand cut …. however I happen to own one Tracy tag stamp which is an ideal size for use on ATC’s and which has never been inked up until now, so that was always going to be the centrepiece of my design. 

I stamped the tag 4 times onto cream stamping card and  cut out, then stamped my flowers onto each one. I stamped the flowers again onto separate cream card, coloured the flower heads with distress watercolor pencils then fussy cut and attached to the tags after I had distressed the edges of the tags with Scorched Timber Distress Oxide. I cut 4 pieces of kraft card stock each 3.5” x 2.5” and added background stamping using parts of stamps, then blended more Scorched Timber DOX round the edges before attaching the tag. I stamped and cut out the pen nib 4 times, coloured with watered down DOX then attached. I finished by adding a twine bow to each tag (using twine from Tracy’s stamp packaging😀), white gel pen highlights to the flowers and Glossy Accents to the pen nibs.

Here’s a closeup of the individual ATC’s.

Stamps: AALL & Create #984 Tag O Tag, #904 Flower Journey, #908 Quill Ends, #449 Through the Meadows (background);

Media: Versafine Clair (Pinecone); Tim Holtz Distress watercolor pencils (Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry, Villainous Potion); Distress Oxide inks (Scorched Timber, Antique Linen); gel pen (white); Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

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

(I just love all flowers as they are so pretty and versatile for cardmaking)

Beautiful Blossoms #15 - Anything Floral Goes (6th entry)

Country View Crafts FB Challenge (April) - Flower Power (2nd entry - entered later when I realised this fits the challenge)

Double Trouble #163 - Let’s Get Krafty

Everybody Art #555 - Numbers

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2414 - Anything Goes

Sheepski #85 - Anything Goes

Tracy Evans FB Challenge (March/April) - Vintage (4th entry)

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

We Love 2 Create #3 2024 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #641/642 - Anything Goes

These are now packaged up and ready to go … all I need now is a respite in the appalling rain so I can venture out to the post box!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Rusty

Hi everyone, this month's ATC swap theme over on the Visible Image FB group is Rusty, so the expectation is that that participants will produce either something brown, rusty-looking or autumnal, using only VI stamps, stencils and/or dies. 

The theme immediately suggested to me my VI vintage car line drawing, which I thought I could present in an aged and rust-spattered way. Usually I make a matching card for the swap, but this time I thought a card with this particular image would look a bit too masculine so instead I made a "co-ordinating" card using the same colour palette but different stamps. Here they are.

First the ATC.

I used a snippet of multifarious stamping card in cream, and created a smoosh background with Distress ink. I stamped the car in sepia ink, then added spatter stamping also in sepia and my wording in brown. I edged the card with more blended DI and copper gilding polish, and also spattered it with watered down gilding polish using my new Tim Holtz spatter brush which is fab, but I haven't completely got control of it just yet!! When dry I matted onto a snippet of dark brown card stock and added a couple of Tim Holtz rusty cogs.

Stamps: Visible Image You're A Classic, Christmas Robin (spatters);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo); Versafine (Vintage Sepia); Versafine Clair (Pinecone); Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish (Copper Shine);

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Gears.

Challenges I would like to enter:

ATC's Around the World #105 - Anything Goes

Crafting From the Heart #5 - Anything Goes (no cards)

Creative Fingers #260 - Anything Goes

DL.Art (September) - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks #679 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Little Red Wagon #724 - Small or Large

Paper a la Mode (September) - Anything Goes (no cards) - TOP 3

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

Snippets Playground #462 - Use Snippets

Secondly, here is the card I made.

For this I cut a piece of cream multifarious stamping card and created a smoosh background as before. I then stamped the focal flower using Pinecone VFC and the spatters and grungy circles in sepia. Again I blended more DI ink round the edge, edged with gilding polish and added some spatters. I stamped a sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached, then matted onto dark brown card stock and a 6" square card blank. 

Here is an angled pic to show some of the shine on the gilding polish.

Stamps: Visible Image Where Flowers Bloom, Christmas Robin (spatters), Sunflower Grounge (spatters), Birthday Wishes (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress inks (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo); Versafine (Vintage Sepia); Versafine Clair (Pinecone); Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish (Copper Shine).

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #18 2023 - Anything Goes

Allsorts #744 - Anything Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #8 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Crafty Addicts #4 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #184 - Browns

Incy Wincy (September) - Colours of Autumn

Mix it Up #67 - Anything Goes with option Make Your Own Background

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

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

Word Art Wednesday #611/612 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That's me all rusted out for today - take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Life Begins ...

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is well here in blogland. I have been AWOL for the past few months I'm afraid ... work has rather taken over my life sad to say, to the extent that I haven't really found time for any cardmaking or blogging, nor much even for baking or socialising ... but today I have my first card in over 5 months to show you!

During the past few months I have been raiding my card stash whenever a birthday etc. has come along ... but today one of my good friends is 40 so I thought I really ought to pull my finger out to make her a card - and here it is.

I was actually quite nervous making this, as it has been so long that I could scarcely remember what supplies I had available, and I sat gazing aimlessly at my stamps and papers for a while waiting for inspiration to come. in fact i resorted to flicking  back through my blog for past examples, and that was when I decide to go with this gorgeous vintage handbags stamp .. what could be more perfect for a girly 40th card?  

One of my main worries was colouring after so long ... I did find it to be a bit of a challenge as I am definitely well out of practice, but I wasn't too displeased with the results all things considered.

This is an 8" * 8" card which I always like for special occasions, and gives plenty of room to decorate!! :-)

Normally when I make a 6" * 6" card, if it is very dimensional (as most of them are) I just stick it in a square CD mailer padded envelope .... but this card was too big for that so I also ended up making a  co-ordinating box! The papers don't match exactly as i didn't have enough, but i think the general theme is there.

Stamps:  LotV "handbags" and "Everyday Grungy Sentiments"; Penny Black "To You" (2908F) (on box);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Stampendous "frantage" embossing powder;

Papers: Maja Designs "Sofiera";

Supplies: Various flowers including most from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls and pearl hearts from The Hobby House; lace from John Lewis; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: "Floral Ovals" nestabilities; Joycrafts butterfly die; numbers cut using Cuttlebug "Hippy Chick" die set.

Challenges:

MAWTT - Feeling A Little Vintage

Crafty Ribbons - Celebration With Ribbon

Creative Card Crew #68 - Embossing 

Southern Girls - It's All About The Texture

Papertake Weekly - To Die For

Penny Black & More - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

Bearly Mine (August) - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting today .. I'll try hard not to leave it so long next time!

Hugs,

Papertake Weekly GDT - Sketchie!

Good morning Papertakers, and welcome once again to another challenge at Papertake Weekly. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's Buttons & Bling challenge - don't forget to check out the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

As it's the last week of the month we have a sketchie free for all for you: you can use either the sketch on the main blog or any of our previous sketches (please do let us know which one you've used).

We are sponsored this week by

who are offering a $20 store voucher - woo hoo!

Here's my card for this week ... I think there was a teeny bit of confusion over which sketch was the one for this month so I'm not publishing it here ... but I'd changed it a bit anyway due the extremely large size of my stamp, so that's probably a mercy (call it artistic licence lol!!).

I've gone in a bit of a different direction for me with this card, driven by the yummy vintage-style "Country Lady" papers by LotV. I somehow came over all vintage and non-cute, so I rummaged in the depths of my stamp box and pulled out this Inkadinkado floral stamp with script writing... I really love it but sadly have not used it for a loooooong time!!  This was also the first time in a long time I have broken out my heat embossing powder and Twinkling H2O paints - scary or what?

Stamps: Inkadinkado "Tin Can Mail"; Whimsy "Firendship Tickets" sentiment;

Media: detail gold embossing powder, Twinkling H2O and Cosmic Shimmer paints;

Papers: LotV "Nitwits - Country Lady" (all edges distressed with Tim Holtz distressing tool);

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; lace by Papermania "Vintage Notes"; Woodware crocheted doily flower; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Marianne D Creatables "English Rose and "Branch Forest" dies; La La Lands corner flourish die.

Challenges:

Fab 'n' Funky #159 - Flower Power

Sentimental Sundays #143 - Flowers, Flowers & More Flowers

Sparkles #41 - Lace It Up

Simon Says Stamp & Show - The Stamp You Love ... But Don't Use

Joanna Sheen - Layer It Up

Crafty Catz - Dies & Punches

Crafting For All Seasons #46 - Dies & Punches

Looking forward to seeing your creations this week.

Hugs,

Solitaire

This week's Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge is to stamp without using a traditional ink pad ... so this motivated me to get out my Marvey brushstroke markers which haven't seen the light of day in quite a while, and a Penny Black brushstroke stamp "Solitaire". Here's the result.

Stamps: Penny Black "Solitaire"; LotV "Christmas grungy messages";

Media: watercolouring with Marvey brushstroke pens; edges of image distressed with TH "Antique linen" distress ink;

Papers: Basic Grey "Figgy Pudding";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; gold mesh ribbon and pearlised berries from The Ribbon Girl.

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Stamp Without Ink

Wild Orchid Crafts #63 - A Traditional Christmas
Whimsy #53 - Traditional Christmas Colouring

That's all for today - off out to do a bit of Christmas shopping.

Hugs,

Rushing to catch up

Hello everyone - I'm back again after almost three weeks of non-crafting due to work and having been away for a week in Devon. It was lovely to get a break, though having been back a week it already seems like a semi-distant memory lol! Still, at least we now have the excitement of the Olympics .... I was totally blown away by the Opening Ceremony on Friday night and thought we really did ourselves proud, and managed to show the world that we've still got it when it comes to creativity (even though alas we haven't yet found it when it comes to striking gold in the medal table !!).

Anyhoo, I haven't had much opportunity to unpack my crafty stash recently, but there were a few challenges I really wanted to enter which close today at the end of the month; so here are two cards which I made last night.

First up, a card I made for a fabulous challenge by the lovely Brenda, which is to use poppies or poppy colours on your card.

I had quite a few ideas for this one; but the card I actually made was heavily influenced by my need to use my current favourite Memory Box die, and some vintage style papers I bought from Crafty Devils Papercraft in Barnstaple while I was away.  Not sure whether this is what Brenda is looking for as I see most of the other entries are more traditional poppies, but this is certainly a bit different lol!

Don't forget there is still time to enter for my Penny  Black blog hop candy which is a brand new "prim Poppy" die - you can find the post here

Stamps: Penny Black sentiment from "Salutations" transparent set (stamped in "London Fog" Memento);

Media: butterfly distressed wtih TH "spun sugar" distress ink; 

Papers: August Moon;

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; doily, lace, pearl brad and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large classic circle nestability; Memory Box "Prim Poppy" die (decorated with glamour dust);  Cuttlebug cut 'n emboss butterfly.

Challenges:

Brenda (Floral Fantasies) Challenge - Poppies

Penny  Black & More At Allsorts - Summer Blooms

Shabby Tea Room #125 - Sweet Summertime

(colours from inspiration photo + flowers + a stamped element)

Paper Pretties Monday #50 - Two or More Papers

Stamptacular - Patterns Galore (I have used 4 papers)

Top Tip Tuesday #82 - Focus On The Ribbon
Crafty Pad #181 - Things With Wings

Fussy & Fancy Friday #68 - Vintage With Distressing & Lace

Totally Gorjuss #142 - Pearls

Fab 'n' Funky #131 - No Stamped Image

My  second card today is a Christmas card - still not made too many of those yet (I think a bout 6 in total!!) so this design may form part of my "production line".

Stamps: Hero Arts (background Christmas text);

Media: stamping and distressing with TH Vintage Photo distress ink;

Supplies: gems from The Hobby house; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Flowering Christmas Tree" die; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" edge punch.

Challenges:

A Gem Of A Challenge #51 - Kraft At Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Christmas In July

Creatalicious #36 - Christmas in July

Crafter's Companion #26 - Ho Ho Ho Christmas

Cute Card Thursday #227 - So Distressing

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #94 - Anything Goes

Party Time Tuesday #79 - Anything Goes

J&C Creations #3 - Anything Goes

That's all for today ... hope to manage a bit more crafting this week and that I will be back soon with another card :-)

Penny Black Saturday #185 - Crafty Bargains

Another working week over, so hopefully it's playtime once more, and time to join in with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge :-) Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last week's Anything Goes challenge -we had a good number of entries and a fab variety of projects. Don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you are a winner!

This week we are into the January Sales fever, and would like to see your

Crafty Bargains

Doesn't matter whether you got it in a sale or were given it ... if it was a bargain we want to see it!!

This week we are sponsored by Crimson Cloud,

who are offering this gorgeous PB stamp to a randomly drawn winner.

Don't forget to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work (no backlinking please) which features a Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo as its main focus.

The rest of the DT have prodcued some fab samples with their bargains ... what a thrifty lot we are lol!! Here's what I did.

Now I'm not much of a one for bargains normally, but this week's card features the best crafty bargain I ever had. My local craft shop has a second hand table; and last year I got this beautiful vintage PB stamp which showed no discernible sign of use, for £2!! Given that I couldn't even order this vintage stamp from any UK supplier and would  have had to get it from America, that is one HUGE saving! I really love this stamp but have to admit this is only the second time I've coloured her (blush!!)

Stamps: Penny Black "A Gift of Flowers" (586K); Whimsy ticket stamp; Woodware birthday sentiment;

Media: Promarkers & Flexmarkers; punched flowers edged with fluid chalk ink;

Papers: Papermania Capsule Collection "Blueberry Hill";

Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House; lace from my stash;

Tools: EK Success Whale of A Punch Retro Flower; X-Cut medium & small flower punches; Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Marianne D doily die.

Challenges:

Creative Craft - We're Talking The Colour Blue

My Mum's #40 - Favourite colour

(for crafting it's usually pink, but in all other aspects of life it's blue so I've gone with that)

Little Miss Muffet #27 - Blues & Creams
Marianne's Design Divas - In With The New

(Blueberry Hill papers)

DYSU #55 - Patterned Paper

Truly Scrumptious #72 - Something Forgotten
 (neglected stamp and flower punches)

My Time To Craft #171 - Your Favourite Embellishment (lace)
Hotshot #3 - Flowers
Papertake Weekly - Buttons, Bows, Bling & Blooms (2nd entry)
(this time I've used bow and blooms)

ABC - H is for Happy Birthday
Party Time Tuesdays #51 - Happy Birthday

Fab 'n' Funky #104 - Eyes Down For Bingo!

(Handmade embellishment / neglected stamp / vintage)

Totally Papercrafts - Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says - Sketch
(I had to put the circle slightly to one side so you could see it, as I don't have anything circular big enough to surround my image ... hope that's ok!)

Have a great weekend whatever you're doing, and look forward to seeing your crafty bargains at Penny Black Saturday :-)