Layered Stencilling Fun

Hi everyone, I haven’t been around for a couple of weeks, as last week we had a little holiday in Whitby, and before we went I was both rushing around and synonymously not too well, so time has flown by! Anyhoo, I’m back now from what was a really lovely break, so I thought it was about time for a crafty session while the holiday laundry whirrs in the background!

I recently bought a craft magazine in WH Smith - the first time I have done so for quite a while - and only when I got it home did I discover it was actually a bundle of 2 old (Spring 2025) magazines and contained a stamp, die and layering stencil die set by Altenew that I hadn’t even known was in the package! I’ve never used layering stencils before so I thought I’d have a go - here’s the result.

 I stamped the flower 3 times onto snippets of white card, then coloured by blending Elements inks through the layering stencil to build up colour. I topped this with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, cut out with the matching die and set aside. I die cut a stitched square, then stencilled two leaf sprays using the layering stencil, blended pink ink around the edges, and matted onto a 6” square card blank. I added some white Posca highlights and attached the die cut flowers, stamped the sentiment and added a few dew drop gems to finish.

Here is an angled picture to show the sparkle.

Stamps: Altenew Dynamic Duo - Always Smile; Visible Image Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pink Elephant, Violet Chalk, Flying Fig, Pine, Olive, Pixie Green); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Altenew layering stencils and die - Dynamic Duo - Always Smile; Hunkydory Moonstone stitched square die;

Other: Crafter’s Companion dewdrop gems.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #31 - Anything Floral Goes

Crafty Catz #699 - Anything Goes

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

Creative Moments #272 - Use a Die Cut (2nd entry)

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

Die Cut Divas (July) - Birthday (2nd entry)

Girlz & the Art of Letters #6 - F is for …

(Flowers, foliage)

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #7 2025 - Birthday (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #346 - Birthday

Just Us Girls #785 - Stencil Week

Let’s Craft and Create #221 - Use a Hand Punch or Die

Outlawz Monday Greetings (July) - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Paper Funday #78 - Anything Goes with option Fun With Stencils (2nd entry)

Seize the Birthday #310 - use Your Favourite Colour

(Pink)

Tic Tac Toe #275 - Tic Tac Toe

(Stencil / Birthday / Square Card)

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

Word Art Wednesday #708/709 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That’s all for today. I’m not getting a lot of time for crafting at the moment due to one thing or another, but hope to be back before too long.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #28

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

Ellie chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something to Celebrate ***

A very wide-ranging theme, we hope you agree, giving everyone plenty of opportunity to join in!

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

I’ve been working my way through playing with my haul from when I visited the Lavinia Fairy Festival two weeks ago, and I desperately wanted to make something using one of the adorable new fairy teapot stamps - so what better than a whimsical “New Home” card? As luck would have it I know a lady who is due to move house soon, so I thought I’d get ahead of the game! So here’s my card for the challenge.

I cut a 6 1/4 “ square of stamping card and stamped the focal teapot, path and sunflowers, then masked them. I stamped Tilly poking her head out of the teapot, and the lid in her hand, then masked the lid. I then created the background by blending Elements inks using acetate masks, then stamped the fence and gate. I removed the masks and stamped the rest of the scene using various shades of Versafine Clair, then coloured the teapot, sunflowers and path with Zig pens. I added white Posca and Stabilo pencil highlights, Wink of Stella on the sunflower heads, then matted the piece onto a green border and 7” square card blank. To finish I stamped the sentiment onto separate card, cut out and attached, and added Glossy Accents to the teapot house window.

Stamps: Lavinia Earl Grey Lodge, Fairy Path, Tilly & Tango, Sunflower 1, Sunflower 2, Foxglove, Falling Ivy, Gate & Fence, Bench, Magical Mist, Bird Collection, Small Robins, Birds, Words From the Heart;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pine, Green Parrot, Lime Punch, Blue Atoll, Undance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Pinecone, Acorn, Shady Lane, Avocado, Medieval Blue, Blue Belle, Lilac Bloom, Hawthorn Rose, Charming Pink); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Wink of Stella (clear); Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white); Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Country View FB Challenge (July) - The Great Outdoors (2nd entry)

C.R.A.F.T. #759 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Crafts Galore Encore #137 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals #96 - Include an Animal

Creative Artiste #117 - Anything Mixed Media Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Fingers #305 - Anything Goes

Dream Valley #340 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (July) - Summer (3rd entry)

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #7 2025 - Anything Fantasy Goes (2nd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Once Upon a Time (4th entry)

Let’s Craft and Create #221 - Anything Goes

Love to Scrap #174 - Anything Goes

NBUS #76 - Use Your Never-Before-Used Schtuff

(fairy teapot, path and foxglove stamps)

Sparkles #190 - Summer Days

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

Try It On Tuesday - Summer Blooms (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #7 2025 - Anything Papercrafting / Mixed Media Goes

Word Art Wednesday #708/709 - Anything Goes

I have to admit this card took over 3 hours to make, but I was very pleased with how it turned out, apart from the small fact that my (fairly new) Glossy Accents turned brown again on the window … no idea why that happens!! The last release of Lavinia stamps is my favourite for quite some time, and I really had to rein myself in to stop myself buying the lot, especially as I visited the Dreamatorium … it would be very easy to fall completely under a spell!!

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 17th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday August 21st.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Pixie Lanterns and Faerie Spells

Hi everyone, today’s card is another mixture of old and new Lavinia stamps - I decided to have a little rest from the sunflowers (though there are more coming along soon! 🌻) as I wanted to play with the new Pixie Lanterns, so I decided to make a simple fairy card. I also determined to use up a few snippets!

I die cut a stitched square from a snippet of white card, and created a soft inky background by smooshing Green Parrot Elements ink using acetate. I stamped the fairy and hanging lanterns, and coloured them using blue and gold Wink of Stella pens. I then framed the scene by creating soft lines of blended ink using the straight edge of an acetate mask. I stamped some background text and a couple of butterflies, added some white Posca and pastel pencil highlights, then stamped the sentiment onto a separate snippet, cut out and attached.

It was only when I came to assemble the card that I realised I hadn’t used my largest stitched square die as I thought - oops! - so I had to cut a larger stitched square for matting - and I JUST managed to cut it from the only snippet I had in the colour I wanted to use! I then assembled the layers onto a 6” square card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle …

… and a couple of pics of my snippets.

Stamps: Lavinia Moments Like These, Pixie Lanterns, Faerie Spells, Butterflies, Deeper Than the Ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements (Green Parrot, Lime Punch); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Blue Belle, Bali Blue); Wink of Stella (blue, gold, clear); Posca pens (white, gold); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafts from the Fairy Den (June) - Anything Goes with option Fairies (2nd entry)

Creative Moments #272 - Use a Die Cut - TOP 4

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #7 2025 - Anything Fantasy Goes - TOP 3

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Once Upon a Time (3rd entry)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2527 - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - Stripes and/or Dots

Snippets Playground #510 - Use Snippets

Sparkles #189 - Fairy Tale or Storybook

Tic Tac Toe #274 - Tic Tac Toe

(Flowers/butterfly/any sentiment OR die-cut/free/butterfly)

Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

That’s all from me for today. Hope everyone is coping ok with the scorching heatwave we’ve been having here in the UK. 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

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)

Country View FB Challenge (July) - The Great Outdoors

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 - TOP 3

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 - TOP 3

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 - TOP 3

(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 - TOP 5

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,