Allsorts Challenge #645

Good morning everyone,

It's Saturday so it's time for another weekly Allsorts Challenge.  Thanks to all the other members of the team for their kind welcome last week, and to other commenters both here and on FB for your kind words. 

This week Lolo has chosen the theme and it is

Embellish it

We have 2 great prizes on offer for you: firstly

Crafty Ribbons is offering a £10 gift voucher for their store (winner pays postage and packing)

And secondly we have a sizzix die for you

Tim Holtz On the Edge Butterflight

Back in the day when I was previously crafting regularly I was definitely into my embellies big time - I was something of a "fussy and fancy" girl and went by the motto "more is more"! Now however I try to keep my cards a bit flatter ... not least because the padded envelope size I used to use for my embellished cards is no longer readily available, and this week I needed to post a card I had made in the past laden with flowers and it was a bit of a nightmare!! Nonetheless I still love my ribbons, gems etc. I also felt the time has come when I need to start seriously cracking on with some Christmas cards, so here's what I did.

I've scarcely made any Christmas cards for about 5 years now other than a couple for close family, so I was casting around in my stash for inspiration and found a couple of LotV rubber stamps I had bought 3 or 4 years ago with good intentions of doing some Christmas makes but never used .. how shocking is that? I always loved James the Bear, so I thought it was about time this stamp got inky. I coloured him with my Promarkers and added some glamour dust to his hat; and my embellishments consist chiefly of a triple loop bow (I couldn't remember how to do these so had to make a few attempts with my Bow-Easy!), and a couple of jingle bells! 

Stamps: Lot\V "James Christmas Tree" and "Grungy Christmas Sentiments";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV Nitwits Collection - "Festive Trimmings";

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities "labels one" dies;

Jute and gingham ribbons, pearls and bells from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (October) - Something that Starts with S or T

(T is for tree)

Colour Crazy Challenge #40 - Anything Goes

Crafter's Castle #46 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Animals #55 - Anything Goes including an animal

Crafty Creations #426 - Anything Goes

Critter Crazy Challenges #55 - Anything Goes with a featured critter

Cute Card Thursday #693 - Anything Goes

Get Creative #106 - Anything Goes with optional twist of Holidays

Krafty Chicks #580 - Anything Goes with a stamped image - TOP PICK

MAWTT #135 - Bingo Board (2nd entry)

(ribbon, wording, gems)

Passion For Markers #612 - Use Red - TOP 5

Simon Says ... - Happy World Card Making Day (3rd entry)

Stamping Sensations (October) - Animals, Birds and Bugs

The Holly and Ivy #102 - Anything Christmas Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

One stamp, two ways

On Saturday I shared my first DT card for Allsorts Challenge which used the gorgeous Woodware Stamp "Bold  Blooms - Erica".  Today I would like to show you the same stamp but with a totally different "look": I have now received my new stencils, so I have made my first attempt at a card using both a full-on distress oxide background, masking and stencilling - woo hoo! Having just cottoned on to DO's, stencils and masking after my time away from crafting I am full of ideas and this stamp is pretty much ideal to use with a lot of them!

I stamped my image and coloured it using Promarkers, then masked the image so I could create my background by blending DO's with a mini blending tool, followed by a bit of spritzing and heat setting. I then stencilled using Versamark and brushed with Perfect Pearls .. I absolutely love the effect of this! It being a miserable autumn day it wasn't easy to capture the sheen, so I took a pic in electric light. The stencilling is actually very twinkly!

After setting the Perfect Pearls with more water spritzing, I added some shadow stamping to the corners using a crackle stamp and normal distress ink, and created 1 or 2 random rings by dabbing a pen top into my distress ink pad and then using it to stamp! 

Simple mounting on metallic card, sentiment, twine and a couple of teeny gems and I was done. Once again though this took a long time as I am still in experimental mode. I am absolutely thrilled with this new crafting direction though and can't wait to continue.

Stamps: Main image and sentiment - Woodware "Bold Blooms - Erica"; crackle shadow stamp - Butterfly Kisses clear set;

Media: Image - Promarkers; background - TH Distress Oxide inks - Spiced Marmalade, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron; TH Distress ink - Tea Dye;  stencilling - Perfect Pearls - Copper;

Paper: LotV;

Tools: Darkroom Door small stencil - Honeycomb; Dragon Crafts masking sheets;

Twine, button and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #415 - Die Cuts and Stencils

(I have used my first ever stencil)

As you Like It - Favourite Autumn or Winter and Why

(My favourite is autumn as I love autumn colours and hate winter cold!)

Colour Crazy Challenge #39 - Anything Goes with Colouring (2nd entry)

Country View Challenges (October) - Autumn and /or Hallowe’en

Crafter's Castle #46 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #92 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #566 - Anything Goes with option Autumn Shades - TOP 3

Creative Inspirations (September/October) - Fabulous Fall

Creative Moments #223 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

MAWTT #135 - Bingo Board - TOP 3

(wording, patterned paper, buttons)

Simon Says … - Happy World Cardmaking Day

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Sisterhood of Crafters - Stencils

Sparkles #144 - Autumn Colours

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

We Love Chocolate (Baroque (October) - Anything Autumn

(I have gone for autumn colours)

So that's me done for today ... I had hoped to make two cards but somehow time ran away with me. Thanks very much for visiting and take care.

Hugs,

Exciting news - new DT member for Allsorts Challenge #644

Good morning everyone - I have some really exciting news which I have been bursting to share, and today's the day! I have been asked by the lovely Brenda to join the Design Team for the Allsorts Challenge - woo hoo!!  Having just got back into cardmaking over the summer I am absolutely thrilled to have this new focus to keep me motivated to carry on crafting and try new techniaues, and I'm excited to be working with and getting to know the other talented ladies on the DT.

Allsorts is one of my favourite challenges and is clearly doing something right as it continues to thrive after over 12 years of weekly challenges ... it provides fab inspiration and also offers fantastic prizes from a variety of crafty providers! Sadly the one down side of being on the DT is that I won't be able to enter in hope of winning them any more! ☺️

Anyhoo to business ... Lynn has chosen this week's theme for Week #644 and it is

I love ....

.. so this could be anything you love - eg. favourite stamp, colour, style of crafting .. the choice is endless😀

This week we are offering 2 prizes:

 Helping Hands Craft is kindly offering a £15 store voucher 

Also we are offering a Tim Holtz on The Edge Pennant die

Obviously the main thing I'm loving right now is getting involved in the Allsorts DT, so it seemed only right that for my first DT card I should use a stamp that I won in the recent "Challenge for Kath" that Allsorts held in memory of their dear fellow DT member who recently passed away - and I really do love this stamp! I also love flowers, and the colour combo of pink and green so that ticks a few boxes!

I coloured my stamp with Promarkers and Flexmarkers using a "dotty" technique that was inspired by an image I found on Pinterest (see below) whilst googling to find the exact name of this stamp. The image is from the gallery of Julia Watts Crafts blog for a Hochanda Woodware stamps show broadcast in June 2017.  I just love this colouring technique and will surely use it again in future with bold floral stamps.

As the stamp and DP are so bold I kept the layout of my card simple, and just did a bit of freehand faux stitching with my piercing tool, ruler and fine liner.

Stamps: Image - Woodware Bold Blooms - Erica; Sentiment - Penny Black "Flourish Birthday" (4071F);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Paper and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #20 - Anything Goes (2nd entry) - WINNER

Colour Crazy Challenge #39 - Anything Goes with Colouring

Crafter’s Cafe #275 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #220 - Anything Goes with the option of Favourite Colour Combo -TOP 3

(mine is pink & green)

Creations in Pink #37 - Anything Goes in Mainly Pink

Creative Moments #223 -Anything Goes

I ♥ Promarkers #444 - Anything Goes with option Make it Square - TOP 3

NBUS #31 - Use Never Before Used Schtuff

(mine is the flower stamp)

Passion for Markers #611 - In the Pink - TOP 5

Penny’s Challenge #506 - Anything Goes with Paper

Simon Says … - Happy World Cardmaking Day

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

Hope you can join us for this week's Allsorts challenge and look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team.

Have a good weekend, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Fanfare

I'm feeling really excited right now, as having got back into crafting over the summer I have now decided to get some new playthings to take my crafting in new directions, and have ordered some TH Distress Oxide inks, stencils and masking sheets.  My first order of distress oxides arrived yesterday,  so I just had to have a play with them!  

I have been watching numerous online tutorials recently about blending techniques etc. including one on Craft World which involved layering stamped distressed card on top of a non-coloured image as per the following photograph.

 that is what broadly inspired today's card. 

This was a really simple card - I stamped my main image directly onto my base card, then cut a panel of smooth Neenah cardstock which I distressed with my 3 inks and splattered with water to get some resist effect. I then stamped my image again onto the distressed panel, and sliced it to create the effect where the image beneath can be seen peeking through.  Finished off with a few scattered gems and a simple sentiment - voila! 

I have to say at first sight I am really blown away by distress oxides and will definitely be using them a lot more in future ... I can see why they have taken the craft world by storm over the past 3-4 years when I was pretty much out of the crafting loop.

My main image is an old Penny Black wood-mounted stamp; but I also used my brand new stamp positioning tool to place my sentiment directly onto the base card. On Monday I took delivery of a Press To Impress tool  and it's absolutely fab - don't know how i managed without it! In fact I'm now wondering about converting my old woodblock stamps to unmounted for future use!

Stamps: Penny Black "Fanfare" (3946K); sentiment - unknown;

Media: TH Distress Oxide inks - Picked Raspberry, Kitsch Flamingo, Salvaged Patina;

Gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Time Out #197 - Inspiration Quote

(I have been inspired by the ideas of flowers and friends)

A Bit More Time To Craft #145 - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge #20 - Anything Goes

Crafter's Castle #45 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #219 - Anything Goes with option of Friends

Cute Card Thursday #692 - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers (Watercolour): September - Anything Goes

NBUS #30 - Use Never Before Used Schtuff (2nd entry)

(mine is my Distress Oxide inks and stamp positioning tool) 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (September) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

That's all for today, but I will be back soon with more inky experiments. My question for the rest of this afternoon is ... should I play some more with my distress oxides or tackle my large basket of ironing??  Hmmm ....

'Til next time - thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Rudolph the red nosed dragon

Today I’d like to show you my first Christmas card using a cute Lee Holland Art dragon image … this one was a freebie for newsletter subscribers 😀

For some reason nothing seemed to go right in my crafting session yesterday, and I coloured various images and then threw them away !! Most particularly I tried to colour “Dragon building a snowman” which was my original image choice to go with these papers, but I couldn’t seem to make the snow dragon look right at all so I think I will need to think some more about how best to shade him! Also I seemed to suffer a lot today with bleeding of my markers in the detailed areas … I recently bought new Neenah card stock which I thought was what I had before, but with this it is definitely more difficult to control colour bleeding.

Eventually I decided to go forward with this image even though my colouring isn’t the best … I just needed to move on!

I am still working with just my mini craft tote at the moment, so the coloured image was made into a pretty simple card. Normal service will be resumed at the weekend so I should once again have access to all my stash 😀

Stamps:  Lee Holland - Dragon with sleigh (digi); sentiment - LotV “Christmas Grungy Messages”;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV “Frozen Snowflakes”;

Tools: Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

Challenges I would like to enter:

ABC Christmas Challenge  -T is for Two (2 DP’s)

A Perfect Time to Craft (September) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Colour Crazy Challenge #37 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #91 - Anything Goes - DT FAVOURITE

Crafty Creations #425 - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday #692 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) : September - Anything Christmas Goes with option of non-traditional

I ❤️ Promarkers #444 - Anything Goes with option of make it square

NBUS #30 - use Never Before Used Schtuff

(mine is my main digi image)

The Holly and Ivy #101 - Anything Christmas Goes

That’s all for today .. take care and back soon. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Love dragons

Not long ago I won a gift voucher for Lee Holland Art, and since then I have developed a bit of an obsession for his cute dragon images. I now own several including the adorable "Love Dragons" which I got specifically to be able to make my husband's wedding anniversary card. Today is our anniversary, so here is the card I have given him with love 💕💕

I have also just completed a class in colouring this type of dragon image at Kit & Clowder - it was my first full class and was absolutely fab!! My main reason for completing that class first (as I do have a few others in my inbox!) is so that I could make this card as good as it could be.

I thought that this image would definitely hit the spot this year as it is a bit different from the usual cute teddies, bunnies, hedgehogs etc. ... I really am hooked!

I really did take a long time colouring this image, and did my best to incorporate various techniques I had learned in my class such as drawing dragon scales and giving them some dimension, iridescent shading (on the tummies and horns), and a resist  mottled effect on the sky. 

Outside of that I kept the card fairly simple as I don't think men generally like too much fuss, though the card is quite large (8" square) and very sparkly with sparkly base paper, glitter card and metallic woven ribbon.

I certainly need to practice these techniques more, but it is very satisfying learning something new and then trying to apply it to a real life project.

Stamps: Lee Holland "Love Dragons" (digi); Woodware anniversary sentiment; Me to You husband sentiment;

Media: Promarkers:

Tools: Marianne Creatables heart dies; Provo Craft "Hippie Chick" alphabet and heart lettering dies;

Papers, ribbon and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #641 - A Challenge for Kath : favourite stamps with option of paper piecing

( 2nd entry - this time I  have chosen favourite stamps option)

As You Like It - Round Corners or straight edges and why

(This is an 8" square card which is my favourite for special cards as it gives so much space to showcase an image and embellishments).

Crafty Calendar (September) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Challenges #105 - Anything Goes (no twist)

Creative Moments #222 - Anything Goes

 Cute Card Thursday #692 - Anything Goes

Cutie Pie #163 - 10th Birthday Challenge - Cute Celebrations

Daring Cardmakers (September) - Oh the Romance!

Passion for Markers #609 - Something beginning with B (blue, bow)

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

Stamping Sensations (September) - Stamp of the Moment

We Love Chocolate Baroque (September) - Anything Goes with option of Celebrations (2nd entry)

Hope the weather will be ok today so we can celebrate together ... still not going out to restaurants etc. due to Covid, but we will hopefully have a lovely meal together later 

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs, 

Paper Piecing - A Challenge for Kath

Hi everyone,

Last week when I had my experimental “inky playtime” with distress inks I actually made two splattered background panels … the first I used for a birthday card here, and I put the second aside as I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. However when I saw this week’s challenge at Allsorts, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The lovely ladies at Allsorts have this week a Challenge for Kath - in memory of their friend and fellow team member who has sadly recently passed away. Having just come back to crafting and blogging in the past couple of months after doing none for the past three years (and to be honest very little since 2015 when my dad passed away), I didn’t know Kath; but I have been moved by how her crafty friends have pulled together to honour her memory with a challenge on her favourite themes, and even generously donated prizes themselves for the challenge winners … so it seemed only right to join in.❤️ So here it is.

The challenge theme is Favourite stamps with the option of paper piecing. I only have a limited number of stamps that are suitable for paper piecing and it isn’t something I do very often as I’m so cack-handed with the scissors, but I had a beautiful piece of abstract patterned glittery DP in my stash in the same colour scheme as my previously splattered background, so I thought I’d give it a go.  Also Penny Black stamps were my first love when I first started cardmaking, so that also ties in with “favourite stamps”. 

 I stamped my flowers onto my inky background, then again onto the glittery DP and fussy cut the main flower heads. I did a little text shadow stamping onto the inky panel before adhering my paper pieces, then mounted the panel onto some glimmery card stock. I then adhered the lot onto a larger piece of my DP, attached some twine and a heart shaped button, and attached to my card base. Quick sentiment and again the job was done. 

Even though this is a simple card it was not without its challenges. I have been away for this weekend and I took with me a mini craft tote to enable me to do a bit of basic crafting and/or colouring … but this included only 1 DP and wood mounted stamp (for this card),  a couple of clear stamp sets, very few ink pads and NO dies or die cutting machine.  Part way through making this card I realised I had no acrylic block to stamp my clear stamp sentiment (doh!) so I had to mount it on the top edge of a wooden stamp, stamp and pray! Let’s just say it took quite a few attempts before I was reasonably satisfied😀

Stamps: flowers - Penny Black “Whispers” (3377K); text shadow stamp - Butterfly kisses clear set; sentiment - unknown;

Media: Tim Holtz distress inks - Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold (spattered background).

Challenges I would like to enter: 

A Perfect Time to Craft (September) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Allsorts #641 - A Challenge for Kath - Favourite Stamps with option of Paper Piecing

Colour Hues (September) - Yellow and Orange

Crafty Sentiments (September) - Anything Goes

Creative Moments #222 - Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (September) - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Stamp It! (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Sparkle and Shine

Sweet Stampin’- Colours of Autumn

The Paper Funday Challenge (September) - Anything Goes

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

Hugs,

Splatters and Splodges!

Hi everyone,

I decided to have another inky play yesterday afternoon, this time getting out my distress ink pads and following a Youtube tutorial to create a three-tone splattered effect on a piece of cardstock. This then developed in a fairly organic way into a card ... I allowed the background panel to dry and stamped my flower stamp onto it, then enhanced the spatter background effect by using a "splodges" mini stamp to create additional shadow spatter marks both on the image panel and on my base card using a co-ordinating Versamagic chalk ink and Colorbox Cats Eye pigment ink. I also used a swirly mini stamp from the same set to create a few shadow swirls round the edge of the panel. A couple of simple sentiments and that was it .. job done! It did take half the afternoon though, most of which was taken up by experimental trial runs!

I am having a lot of fun trying a few new things with the stash I already have ... it always brings on a longing for new crafty purchases though!

Stamps: main flower - Unity Stamps "Insightful Meadows"; splodges and swirls - Butterfly Kisses clear set; sentiments - unknown.

Media: Tim Holtz distress inks - Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint; Versamagic chalk ink - Aegean Blue; Colorbox Cats Eye pigment ink - Pistachio.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Perfect Time To Craft (September) - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More #413 - Birthdays

Allsorts #640 - Anything Goes 

(does not include option of "for the love of my life")

Crafter's Cafe #273 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Crafty Calendar (September) - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers (September -Watercolour) - Anything Goes with watercolour

Simon Says (Monday) - Stamp It!

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Stamp It! (2nd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

We Love Chocolate Baroque (September) - Anything Goes with option of celebrations

Hope you're having a great day and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Insightful Meadows

Hi everyone. Since I restarted crafting a couple of months ago I have focussed almost exclusively on cute images coloured with my Promarkers, pretty papers and embellishments .... and long may it continue!!  This week however I have been feeling in the mood to try something different, and fancied trying some inky background blending. Initially I searched out my old Tim Holtz distress ink pads and at the weekend I treated myself to  blending tool, and this afternoon I sat down to have a play.  

Here's the result.

In the end I didn't actually use my distress inks, but instead sponged a background using some Versamagic chalk ink pads I found in my craft box. I also created a stamped wildflower meadow by using a variety of stamps from a couple of different sets of silhouette stamps. I then just matted the result onto two co-ordinating border layers and that was basically it... no papers, no ribbon, no flower embellishments (I needed a lie down after that!). Of course I couldn't completely leave this CAS card alone so I added a bit of glamour dust to the bee's wings and two teeny aqua gems to the sentiment.

I'm not actually tremendously well set up with supplies for this type of project, so I'm seriously thinking about buying one or two stencils and masking sheets so I can take things a bit further. However, despite a little accident right near completion where I got a bit of glue on my background I'm not too displeased with this first attempt.  

Stamps: Flowers - Unity Stamps "Insightful Meadows"; leaves, bee and sentiment - "Summer Meadow", free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine;

Media: background sponged with Versamagic chalk ink - Aquatic Splash, Sea Breeze and Aegean Blue. Image stamped with Memento ink.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Gem of a Challenge #18 - Anything Goes

Allsorts #639 - Clean and Simple

Crafter's Cafe #273 - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations #425 - Anything Goes

Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #218 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Glimmer and Sparkle

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Stamp It in STAMPtember

Sparkles #143 - Monochromatic (2nd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

So that's my crafting done for today. Thanks very much for visiting.

Hugs,

Let it Snow!

Hi everyone. 

Today I had a sudden and unexpected urge to get started with some Christmas cardmaking. I have already made one Chrimbo card this year but that involved using a coloured image that I found in my stash; so this was the first one I made completely from scratch for 2021. 

My first task was to have a bit of a look in my sash to remind myself of what I've got ... that is one of the pleasures of coming back to cardmaking after so long hardly doing any. I found an absolutely fabulous old LotV paper pad featuring snowflakes in funky colours, so that formed the basis of today's card.

This cute Penny Black image is one that I have had for years and don't use very often, but it looks so joyful it just put me in the mood.  My colouring still needs practice, but I guess the only way to get batter is by keeping on trying!

Stamps: image - Penny Black "Let it Snow"(1524K); sentiment - Make Your Mark;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers, Copics (fur); snow decorated with glamour dust;

Papers: LotV "Frozen Snowflakes";

Tools: Martha Stewart “Snow Flurry” Punch Around the Page; Whimsy "Winter’s Jewel 1” large snowflake die; smaller snowflakes - unknown.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted To Stamps and More #412 - Christmas

Allsorts #637/638 - Add Some Sparkle (3rd entry)

Christmas Craft Creations (August) - Non-traditional Colours

Christmas With the Cuties #52 - Anything Cute & Christmassy

I ♥ Promarkers #442 - Anything Goes with option of more than one layer - WINNER

Incy Wincy - Use a Card  Tutorial and/or Animals (2nd entry)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (August) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy #100 - Anything Christmas Goes

So ... that's 2 Christmas cards down, quite a lot still to go ... guess I'd better get busy!

'Til next time, take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,