Floral Fantasies

Love is in the air

2012-01-28T08:00:00.027Z

Helene is our host at Allsorts this week and preparing us for Valentines day as she would like us to use one or more hears on our work. I do hope you will be able to join in, just pop over the the challenge blog to find out more and see what's on offer for this weeks prize.

My first DT make is using one of the new stamps from Hero Arts S5601 Newspaper Background, it's quite a biggie but stamps out beautifully.......I used Versafine black to pick up all the fine detail. I stamped it twice, once for the background piece which I tore down one side and mounted onto a piece of heat embossed red satin cardstock and from the second piece and more of the red, I cut out four hearts with Nestabilites and matted them up. I tied some red cord and bakers twice down the side and added a heart button.

My second make is an engagement card I made for some friends earlier this month using the prospective brides favourite colours. Unusually for me there is no stamping involved and the card was quite a quick and easy one to make. I cut the hears from bazzil and Kasier DP, tied some ribbon across the centre and added three rosebuds. I embossed the background cardstock with a Sizzix harlequin folder and added tiny pearls. The sentiment is computer generated.

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for popping by.

A walk in the Country

2012-01-26T12:32:00.003Z

So how's everyone doing today ?

I'm a happy camper this morning, last night my boys in red made it through to the Wembley final and now I can't want for February 26th when Stevie lead the lads out onto the pitch. They all did a great job and played with real belief and conviction and Craig Bellamy, the best 'free' ever, got a well deserved Man of the Match award. Well done boys.

I know, how sad am I that I love footie almost as much as crafting, but I think the brayer's still got the edge. Although I sponged all the colour onto this one which I made recently for Sir Stampalot using a mixture of Art Impression stamps, Stampscapes plus a few others thrown in for good measure, a masked sun and Adirondack dye inks. The fences are part stamped and part hard drawn.

Thought I would enter another one into Create a Scene challenge as it's so my kind of thing.

Have a god Thursday and thank for visiting.

A pretty little box and tutorial

2012-01-25T09:41:00.000Z

Good Morning one and all, I thought I would share a little box I made following the inspirational idea of Maria Simms demonstration on C&C a few days ago when as well as lots of lovely card, she made a very pretty box which I just has to try.

Maria was using Spellbinders and took one of them as her template to create a five sided box, but as I don't have any that shape I used my scoreboard...................just a cheap and cheerful one, not one of these fancy ones that have instructions for all sorts................to create a eight sided box as I thought this shape would be easier to work with. As well as Spellbinders to decorate I cut some little panels with Ruth's new Lily of the Valley Image at A Passion for Stamps.

And I thought I would get a step ahead of you before I get the inevitable questions about sizes etc., and do a little tutorial on how I made my version of Maria's box.

Here's what I used:

1 sheet A3 cardstock (but you could use all A4 and join the lengths for the sides)

1 sheets A4 cardstock

Black cardstock to decorate
Dries clear glue

I cut two lengths from the A3 sheet to 9cm x 34cm. I scored one at 4cm intervals to create 8 panels plus a 2" one at the end to fix into a octagon shape. I did exactly the same for the bottom of the box, but scored the sections a fraction smaller to allow the lid to fit over.

I used the assembled shapes as a template to cut two pieces slightly smaller than the assembled boxes to use as inner bases to give the box more rigidity and two further pieces 1cm larger to act as the top and base of my box.

I snipped a 1cm cut into each scored edge on one end of both pieces, then folded the little flaps inwards and glued the smaller pieces inside both pieces onto the flaps.

Next the top and bottom larger pieces can be glued into place.

You are now ready to decorate you box as you like.

I used Spellbinder Parisien and Fleur de Lis accents and the flowers mentioned above. And you can of course adjust the box to other sizes, I have done a second one cutting the two main section to 11cm high.

You now have an assembled box to

I hope all of this makes sense and do let me know how you get on as I would love to see your boxes. Also thanks to Maria for the inspiration.

Some candy to cheer things up

2012-01-25T07:00:00.004Z

I think there's been enough negativity this week with the the nasty goings on, so some candy which I will split two way for my lovely followers to cheer things up.

Same rules as always,

1) Be a genuine follower and not just a candy hunter.

2) Post the candy picture on your sidebar with a link back here.

3) Leave you name with Mr Linky.

Closing time is midnight on 24th February. Please note, although I will post anywhere, delivery to some parts of the world are subject to Customs regulations and local postal services over which I have no control.

Artwork theft and Royal Mail updates

2012-01-24T12:00:00.001Z

Were' watching................

Well it pouring with rain so all I am going to say is Morning to you all and miss out the good.

A few things to say and share, first of all I am so grateful to everyone for their message of support over the 'incident' in my last post, so many of you left comments and I received lots of many mails as well. I think we are all pretty united in our views over this one.

I did mail the culprit on Monday to offer her the opportunity to explain herself but am not too surprised that she has not bothered to reply to me, although I do detect a slight 'tidy up' of her blog and a few posts have gone missing.

I know the majority of you have asked me to name and shame so you can protect your own work and of course I also believe this is the best policy, but checking on all the implications I'm afraid this is not really an option due to...........and I am really sad to say this..............I design for one of the same companies as her and the fallout could be unpleasant. For avoidance of doubt, I don't mean any of the challenges I am on, all my teamies on those are lovely peeps.

I am awaiting further developments to decide on any action required going forward, but I will of course keep you all posted in due course.

Now on to my other burning issue, one wonders if I will get time to craft this week, the Royal Mail and postal service.

Needless to say because I am unable to send them the packets in question.............all explained here rather that go over it all again..............they can't help me any further. But and this speaks multitudes, they have assured me they have requested the scales at our local PO are checked for accuracy as it does appear there is a problem. They said it, I knew it.

And.......................my lost October package of Stamp Addict samples for TV has now been found. No coincidence there, but I bet it would have been lost forever if I'd not kicked up a fuss. Mind you they could not even get that bit right, despite having Stamps Addicts address clearly on the front in large bold type, they returned it to me.......my addy being in small print at the bottom of the label.

I'll bring them along to Stamperama Sarah, better late than never as they say.

What sort of person steals the work of others ?

2012-01-23T09:00:00.005Z

Good Morning Peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend.

Mine was soured somewhat by a Blogger who seems unable to conduct herself in a fair and honest way and is part of a teeny tiny minority faction that makes us all sad. I refer to a person who not only copies and uses the work of others, but has even used for submission to a competition...............and won.

An incident happened with this person in September and I really hoped it had been sorted then and she would refrain from doing it ever again. Apparently not, as it's happened again at least twice in the last ten days and when it's the girls on one of my Design Teams being directly targeted I take great offence.

Having spent some time reading this persons blog I have little doubt the incidents I know about are not isolated ones as she has several posts where she claims to be posting very old work and for this reason is unable to give any details of the products used. Yeh, right....could it be because she never made the piece ?

And to add insult to injury she consistently sings her own praises on her blog about her quality of work and high profile in the crafting industry. I guess if you are small minded and devious enough to post other peoples work on your own blog you eventually believe all you write.

I thought long and hard about doing this post and initially was all for naming and shaming, but I know this person will see this post and I truly hope that she does have a concience and will see the error of her ways and quit blogland, as there is no place for her in a genuine and friendly environment.

I know the issue of watermarks on work will be raised, well some of the work did have them and has been cleverly concealed.........it's apparently possible if you know how. And other recognisable publicly displayed pieces have I believe, been photographed and then used. I will add at this point, this is NOT the person who did something identical to a friends work a couple of years ago.

Not a nice way to kick start the week and for that I apologise, but it has to be said.

Needles and Pins

2012-01-21T08:00:00.003Z

This week at Allsorts the lovely Jo is hosting her very first challenge with the theme "Needles and Pins".

I thought this card which I made for Ruth a while ago but never blogged was ideal for this theme, using her mannequin image which you will find here at A Passion for Stamps. I printed the image onto Fabriano card and coloured lightly with Copics, used some Cosmo Cricket DP and added some lace ribbons and pins to embellish.

A bit of a quick post I'm afraid as struggling with the dysfunctional body a bit, but will hopefully be back with some more work again in the next few days.

Have a lovely weekend and my appreciation for your visits, they always mean so much.

Candy winner

2012-01-21T07:48:00.002Z

Good Morning peeps, I really am running all behind here and didn't realise I had forgotten to post the winner of my candy as selected by Mr Random Org.............................

Wendy

Congratulations Wendy, please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full postal addy so I can get your goodies posted to you. Should I not hear from you by Friday 27th January I will re-draw the prize.

Country paths

2012-01-18T09:04:00.004Z

Morning Peeps...........take note I missed out the good because the weather here today is atrocious, it started raining in the night and it's been throwing it down ever since.

So lots of muddy paw marks this morning and no airing in the paddock for the horses whilst they are mucked out, something they love if it's frosty. Ben is a good boy and stands so quietly outside their stables watching and munching hay, but Heskey is a real fidget and dances constantly and can't want to get back in his stable as he knows there will be some carrots hidden amongst the fresh straw...............just like children really.

It been a long time since I could muck out, so thank heavens for hubby and Anysia. My day holds another acupuncture session which I have been trying as an alternative to osteopathy to try and get my legs a bit more mobile and pain free after their latest hissy fit. I am open to giving anything a try which might work.................within reason that is !!

A share of a card and also the winner of the little offering on my Monday post who is................

Marja from the Netherlands

Congratulations Marjo, please mail me with your full postal addy.

Now onto my shares for today, for the one at the top I stamped the Inkylicious trees using Archival sepia ink, then brayered the sky with Adirondack dye ink watermelon masking a sun where I wanted the horizon. To create the paths across the fields I removed the roller from the brayer and twisted a rubber band round the roller, just twice, pushed the roller back into the brayer handle and ran it across the area where I wanted the fields using Adirondack lettuce and meadow. Finally I used a piece of town copier paper to act as a mask and added the hedges using the edge of the tree stamp.

Have a good day everyone and as always, thank you so much for popping in, I really do appreciate your visits.

Edited: I have been encouraged by a good friend in Oz to enter this for a brand new challenge Create a Scene and as I love doing just that it seems to make scene, even if I don't really do challenges due to the eyes, much as I enjoy taking part.

My Lion King and some goodies to win

2012-01-16T16:18:00.002Z

Good Afternoon peeps, are you getting a bit of this sunshine ? It's been really lovely here today after a -8 frost last night, but that's fine if it means we get some nice daytime weather.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the Royal Mail saga, my letter is underway and will let you all know what they have to say, although I am not expecting any quick response judging by their usual activity.

I thought I would share one of the samples I did for Stamp Addicits with their new lion image which went on sale today, I like to call him the Lion King, although I know that's not his official name he really does remind me of that character. He's quite a large fellow and I simply stamped him and coloured with Aquamarkers, added some sky and background grasses and some palm trees cut on the Cricut. I know you don't really associate palm trees with a lions habitat, but this lion is a bit of a dandy and on his holidays............you all know I live in fantasy land.

And here's a little giveaway of some Nitwits DP's and embellishments from Sir Stampalot who's sale is still on and bargains to be had here.

Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner before my next post later this week.

Gotta get this one off my chest..............................

2012-01-14T08:00:00.084Z

I am absolutely seething with the latest reply received from Royal Mail.................a good number of you saw my post last weekend here and kindly left me your thoughts which were very helpful.

On Monday I wrote a concise letter to Royal Mail outlining my areas of complaint, provided copies of the receipts from the PO and also gave them the link to my post so they could read the various comments. They replied on Wednesday stating their system could not gain access to my blog so could I mail them the comments and also provide them with full details of the packages and recipients addresses which had been subjected to surcharges.

This I did the same day and yesterday received this answer.......................

I'm sorry to hear that you feel you've been incorrectly surcharged for a number of items - and for the further distress this caused you. I would therefore like to inspect the items to determine whether or not they have been correctly surcharged, and to identify why you may be experiencing repeat problems. Please could you send the surcharged items, together with a copy of this email, to the FreepostT address below, and I'll be in touch again once my enquiries are concluded.

Clearly the conduct their business on a Parallel Universe....................how on earth do they think I can obtain and return the packages some of which were sent several weeks ago to various recipients in the UK. I'm absolutely sure they realise that and their crazy suggestion gives them the perfect cop out.

They also suggest that a certain degree of "customer education is necessary"..................the steam just turned to thick smoke at this point. Not a mention of the Post Office making any mistakes in their weighing at either end of the postal process, or of course the package of cards they lost in October.

I'm not bothering with any more minions, my next letter goes to the top and by luck a good friend just happens to be the Consumer Editor for on the the National newspapers. So you can guess what activity my weekend holds.

OK, got that out of my system a bit so onto some craft and a Celebration of Nations which is the theme Nicola has chosen for us at Allsorts this week and what a perfect one with the Olympics on the horizon.

My card is pretty simple, but I had visualised it in my head weeks ago and I wanted to make the Olympic symbol the focal point along with the Tennyson verse which has been selected as the London motto for the event.

I cut the five circles in the appropriate colours on the Cricut and interlinked them, mounting them onto a piece of white card embossed with a cuttlebug folder. I printed the verse on the computer and cut with a Nestie. As I said a very simple card but which I hope makes a statement.

Enjoy the weekend.

Be my Valentine

2012-01-11T13:50:00.003Z

Hello peeps, two post on consecutive days is a bit of a rarity for me nowadays, but the sun was shining and I got some decent photos of a batch of cards I've been waiting to take photos of for days, so thought I would share one.

I have used Ruth's A Passion for Stamps Stargazer Lily..............when I first went on her DT she asked if there were any flowers I particularly like, well I love all flowers as you know, but lilies have to be one of my favourites and a few days later Ruth had drawn this lovely image.

I had lilies for my wedding bouquet much to the horror of my elderly aunts......... in those days you most definitely did not have them for weddings. As we married in October they had to be sourced from France as they were out of season, now they are available year round as standard and our daughter had them for her bouquet when she married on the same Saturday in October as us.......not 'the' same Saturday of course, twenty odd years later.

I used a sheet of Bo Bunny DP to create the pleated rosette, which I mounted onto a doily, then used another smaller one to mat the flower onto.......these pretty little ones are available from Sarah at Pretty Little Ribbons, as are the pins and seam binding. I printed the lily out a second time onto the same DP, cut out and decoupaged. Two hearts using an MS punch and corners using Spellbinder Fleur de Lis.

Now this bit really is more than a rarity, I am going to enter my card into a challenge, it's almost a year since I did so as these dodgy eyes of mine have great difficulty dealing with all the links, but as I seem to have used several of Sarah's products I am going to give it a try and enter it for:

Be My Valentine theme at Pretty Little Ribbons challenge

Have a good day everyone and as always, thank you so much for popping in, I really do appreciate your visits and kind words.

A little brayering and a lucky win

2012-01-10T14:31:00.004Z

Good Afternoon peeps, it's gone all quite in the office the last half hour so though I would do a quick post, but I bet as soon as I start to type the phones will warm up and e.mails will start pinging in, so it might be dinner time this evening before this posts.

Just the one share of a card I came up with for Stampalot. I masked the edges of a piece of gloss cardstock then stamped with black archival ink using Art Impression stamps masked the images and brayered and sponged with Adirondack due inks eggplant, black and butterscotch. After removing the masks I added the little robin and coloured his breast with Aquamarkers.

And a little bit of exciting news, I was one of the three winners of Stix 2's........the glue and essential craft accessories people.......... Christmas competition and this morning received a fabulous package of goodies from them as my prize. But afraid I can't share a picture of my work as I don't have a picture of it, I tend to take these things rather in my stride and didn't think for a mo I would be a winner and in any event my entry was more of a sample for one of their demo days than an intended competition entry.

No more news on the Royal Mail front apart from an automated response to my complain yesterday morning, I guess they work at pedestrian pace and it might be a while yet, but I will be sure to let you know the outcome.

Thanks for popping in and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.

More samples, CHA & TV on the horizon

2012-01-09T12:30:00.003Z

Good Morning peeps, I hope you had a good weekend. Nothing too exciting to report from this end, it was mainly crafting and cooking and all the usual mundane things we have to deal with. Hubby spent hours outside trying to mend the tractor that we use to pull the mucking out trailer, but so far not a single spark of life, so looks like a new one might be on the cards and they don't some cheap.

I know some of you have been asking and itching to know what I decided about the big CHA trade show. Well, much as I would love to go and it would be a real honour to demo there and I was of course thrilled to be invited, I figure a ten hour flight for someone who is terrified of flying and is supposed to be taking life calmly means it's not really an option.

But there are still my local demos and workshops to keep my hand in, plus I have been asked if I would do some TV work, I'm still thinking on that one but will be sure to get back to you when I have made up my mind and let you know when and where !! I guess I sound a bit of a fussy mare, but none of these things come without some degree of stress and if I overdo things, it's my family who are left picking up the pieces......and me !

Well, enough gabble, time to share a few more samples I made for Stamp Addicts using their lovely new floral stamps, along with the new sentiments. Click on the link and then follow the button to the New section.

The top card has been made very simply with nesties, dies DP and one of the Birthday sentiments as the main image.

The second card has a background created by blobbing...............I did say the other day this was a very special technical term............Pearl Acrylic Dabber onto a piece of cardstock and when dry rubbing TH distress ink over, in this case I used tea dye and vintage photo. I then stamped the main flower image with archival black ink. The little disk is the same flower stamped onto a circle of shrink plastic.

Before I go, thank you to everyone who left their thoughts on my post yesterday, I will be contacting Royal Mail again this week and share any feedback I receive.

Is it a postal scam ?

2012-01-08T12:30:00.002Z

Morning Peeps. Nothing to share today, just scouting for a bit of feedback to see if others are experiencing problems with Royal Mail extorting extra fees to deliver items which they claim have been sent "underpaid"?

I have read one or two comments about a scam and am now beginning to think there is some substance to it after experiencing the same problem on a number of occasions in recent weeks/months.

Running a few challenges means I need to post off a good few prizes and packages and as our Post Office is a drive away up in the village, I try and wait to hear from all winners with their addresses each month and then make one trip to the PO to dispatch everything in one go.

The lady in our PO is a bit of a 'jobsworth' and insists on weighing everything and double checking before passing across the stamps or labels for each item.................there are always more than a few tuts in the queue when I am there as it takes ages, but at least I know everything I send has been properly weighed and stamped. They provide a combined receipt, but when I asked about individual ones but they say it takes too long for multiple postings and you need to use a signed for delivery option to get that........more money. I have no doubt their scales are accurate as I usually have a quick weight at the office to get an idea of how much it will all cost and the two always seem to correlate closely, something the PO lady commented on recently.

So how is it that in the past few months I have been made aware by several recipients of packages I have sent, being charged an 'underpayment' fee and of course each time they add "£1 handling fee', a nice little earner if you ask me. And those are just the ones I know about which leaves me wondering if there are more.

One such example which I find impossible to comprehend are the packets I sent early December, all identical contents and packaging to seven of my DT's (all in the UK). Five were delivered fine and two had cards left by the postie claiming extra fees. And to add insult to injury, two of the recipients were in the same town, one delivered OK and one charged a fee.

Back in October, I sent six identical packages, two overseas (USA and New Zealand) and four to the UK (second class). The USA one arrived in three days (unbelievable) before the UK ones and of those four, one was charged an additional fee for delivery.

And the final straw for me is I heard yesterday that one of the packages I posted on Tuesday to a UK address (as always weighed and stamped at the PO) was charged a fee to collect her package.

Back in December I wrote to Royal Mail about this and got a wishy washy reply that unless a letter/package is sent by Special Delivery there is no way of checking anything.................how very convenient. And of course that takes me to my other hobby horse...........how did they manage to lose my package of 20 odd cards for Stamp Addicts Create and Craft TV programme back in October ? Oh sorry Royal Mail, you did say I could "pop along at your convenience to our lost property centre"................where is it I asked, Northern Ireland. No problem then, just a quick two day trip from Cambridge !!!!!!!!!!!

And judging by our incoming post at work this is on the increase, whereas one of the underpayment cards used to be an infrequent event, now we get several every week. So I am really beginning to think there is something dodgy going on with our postal service.

I am going to take this up with them yet again, but I have little evidence other than my combined receipt and copy of one of the underpayment cards because when you collect your item they retain the card, again covering their own backs.

In conclusion, I can only apologise again to anyone who has received something from me and been charged to get their package. And to anyone reading this who may in the future get an underpayment card for anything they receive via Royal Mail from any source, make sure you copy it before you collect your item and give your delivery office grief.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this as I am sure I am not alone here.

Floral delight to kick start the New Year

2012-01-07T08:00:00.031Z

Happy New Year everyone.

And what better start than our first Allsorts challenge of 2011 and it's my turn to host the theme which is "Paper Piecing".

Lots of you will know it's a technique I rather like and lends itself so well to Ruth's flower images over at A Passion for Stamps........................you MUST pop over to the blog as Ruth has a giveaway at the moment of some images and Promarkers.

The image I have used here is the Acidanthera printed onto Nitwits DP which is a fabulous weight for running through the printer, plus it's A4 in size so perfect. I created the square effect by placing a post it note on the centre of the main piece and inking the edges with TH Victorian Velvet. The background is a piece of Coredinations embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and sanded down a little. The sentiment is Penny Black 3419D.

Ooooops, nearly forgot, here is the lucky winner of the Nitwits DP giveaway I posted the other day..............

Kizzy

Unfortunately the link to your blog seems to be blocked Kissy, so I can't add the link or mail you, so I hope you see this and mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full postal so I can post them off it you. If I don't hear from you by 10th January I will re-draw the candy.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Little giveaway and new wild flower stamps

2012-01-03T13:34:00.000Z

Sarah and Vicky at Stamp Addicts have just released two of their new stamp sets, the Wildflowers and Special Wishes, you can find them both here in the 'new' section.

Above is one of the samples I created for them using both sets. The base background was created by distressing a piece of cardstock with Tim Holtz broken china and stormy sky, then stamping with bleach using Judikins 3345F to list the colour and reveal the swirls.The main piece has a background onto which I 'blobbed'................a very technical term.................Adirondack pearl dabber, dried and then rubbed over the same two TH inks.

Next I used Adirondack gold dabber and inked through a piece of mesh just here and there and also round the edges (although I did that bit after stamping) and randomly stamped the wild flowers with TH stormy sky and Versamak and embossed with detail gold. The fence is TH which has been inked with versamark and embossed with Stampendous aged gold enamel. To finish a tag and a TH chain/bolt.....no idea the proper name for it, I just thought they looked fun when I bought them.

And a little giveaway of a collection of Nitwits DP's and some ribbons. To be in with a chance of winning them just leave a comment on this post and I will ask Random Org., to select a winner before my next post goes live later in the week.

If anyone is reading this who won my last candy or prizes at Penny Black at Allsorts, the packages all went off in the post today. Sorry it was all a bit delayed, I thought our PO was open between Christmas and New Year, but apparently not !!

Have a good day everyone and thanks for popping in.

2012-01-01T08:00:00.104Z

Happy New Year to you all !!

And what better way to kick start 2012 than with two new challenge themes and perhaps an opportunity to use some of your new crafty stash that Santa delivered ?

At Stampalot Challenge our theme in Monochromatic which gives you plenty of scope to create whatever you fancy and at Penny Black at Allsorts it's 'Love and Hearts' so you can make a head start n all those Valentine cards.

My card at the top is my DT piece for Stampalot and uses the lovely Penny Black 4035K Letter and Flowers which I inked up with a combination of TH Vintage Photo distress ink and Aquamarker sepia, before spritzing with water and stamping onto a piece of Fabriano watercolour card which I pre-stamped and distressed with Hero Arts G3316 Harlequin and F5042 Leaf Flourish. The DP is Cosmo Cricket and I inked a piece of cheesecloth with the same TH ink and made a little pendant from Shrink Plastic.

My second piece for Penny Black and More was more of a challenge as I struggle a bit with the whole love theme....................I freak every time I am asked to do a wedding as I'm not a fan of the repetitiveness of multiple cards....................having just finished the stationery for one rather large and high profile wedding this Spring with close to 400 guests, up pops another.........I don't actually seek out wedding work, it sort of finds me via friends, then I hate to say no.

So I opted for the same technique of inking the stamp and spritzing with water, this time with Penny Black 3796K Words Sweet and just Aquamarkers. I mounted it onto a mat created with MS round the page three dot scallop, added some ribbons and gems and a sentiment Penny Black 3322D I Love You.

Enjoy the rest of the New Year break and I hope you can join in our challenges.

New baby, New Year

2011-12-31T08:00:00.012Z

It's Saturday peeps, which must mean it's time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week the lovely Emma is hosting the theme which is "New Beginnings", what better theme to start off the New Year.

So I figured a baby card would fit the bill along with a recent order I needed to fulfil and as is so often the case nowadays they knew it was a little girl well in advance.................I really do have mixed feeling on that, call me old fashioned, but to me waiting for the birth to know the sex was always part of the excitement.

I used the pretty little bootee image from A Passion for Stamps printing it first onto the base card and again onto some DP from stash, but pretty sure it's Daisy Bucket. After cutting out the bootees, I ran a ball tool over the back of them to give a bit of dimension and added some lace. The background is embossed with a Sizzix folder, a bow using seam binding and the sentiment is Darkroom Door.

Happy New Year to you all and I hope you enjoy whatever you have planned this evening.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-12-23T14:58:00.001Z

Hello again peeps, two posts in one day, quite rare for me these days.

But I wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Very Happy Christmas and Wonderful New Year.

I've had another fabulous crafty year with oodles of cards, some on TV, demos, classes and even had my work in a few magazines, but most importantly it's been made all the better by all the lovely people out there in blogland whose friendship I really appreciate and cherish. Lots of you will know I don't enjoy the best of health at times and am not able to get round blogland as much as I would like thanks to my light sensitive eyes, but despite that, my blogland friends are still there and have given me wonderful support and I thank you all most humbly.

So I think I had better share a couple of cards, both of which use the same Floral Bouquet stamp which you will find under the 'new' section at Stamp Addicts. I have been having a whale of a time the last couple of weeks working on samples for them using some really yummy stamps which will be released in the New Year and on Create and craft, so not able to share those yet, but when I saw Sarah and Vicky yesterday they said I can let you have a peek at these two.

I'm not big on colouring in, I'm more of a get down and get messy girl, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed colouring this image............could be the fact it's floral has something to do with it ?

For both of these cards I used Aquamarkers, the top one I coloured the stamp direct with the pens, then spritzed with water before stamping onto Farbiano watercolour card. I dragged a little coloured out with a damp brush and matted onto Bo Bunny DP. The second card has been stamped with versafine black and heat embossed with detail clear powder, then simply watercoloured with the same pens and cardstock and the DP is Nitwits.

Whatever you have planned, have a super holiday season.

New Year candy

2011-12-23T14:26:00.000Z

Good Afternoon peeps, nearly there only one day to go before Santa arrives !!

I've a little New Year candy for my lovely followers, same rules as always.........................

1) Be a follower...............one that stays, not just a candy hunter.

2) Post the above picture on your sidebar with a link back here to help spread the word.

3) Leave your name with Mr Linky below.

Closing time is midnight on 19th January. Please note, although I will post anywhere, delivery to some parts of the world are subject to Customs regulations and local postal services over which I have no control.

Good luck everyone......................and keep a look out as I will be having a few more 'spot' candy prizes in normal posts here and there over the next week or two.

I 'need' to make Spring cards (and candy winners)

2011-12-22T08:36:00.004Z

Good Morning everyone.

Only three days to go until 'the' day and today's "Turkey" day................and gammon and several other things. My daughter and I will be popping off to collect it this morning, seemed a bit early to me but today is the day the farm shop allocated for collections, so I figure it might be heaving there.

My share above is just a little bit of inking and brayering using Stampscapes stamps inking and Adirondack inks and a Summer scene to help ward off these bleak winter days. Funny how all I have wanted to do craft wise this last week or two is make bright Spring and Summer cards, did I say how much I dislike Winter ?

And of course I need to tell you the names of my candy winners, so here they are.

Winner of my December Walnut Hollow goodies is...................

Julie

And winner of the mini DP candy from Tuesday is.....................

Spyder

Congratulations to you both, please mail me with your full postal addys by 27th Decmeber (will re-draw any not claimed by that date).

DP giveaway as a bit of a celebration

2011-12-19T13:26:00.005Z

Good Afternoon peeps, are you all ready for Christmas?

I think things are sorted at this end, although I would really love this lingering flu and cold to take a hike, it's on my chest now, all the benefits of that missing immune system, never mind, hopefully it will be on it's way shortly.

That all means not a lot of crafting has been happening these last few days, so a share of another one I made a couple of weeks ago for Stampalot using the Andy Skinner stamp set, along with some Glimmer Mists and stickles.

And I have another rather special share, this is what's on the shoulders of our eldest son following his promotion earlier this month to Chief Superintendent. It's a tad scary really as he seems so young to have reached these dizzy heights in just a few short years since he joined as a regular bobby on the beat. And it seems he's set to go further as they are sending him off to Cambridge to do his Masters in Criminology..........are we proud, you bet we are ! We are so blessed as all the children have done so well for themselves, been through Uni and into great jobs and every one makes us mega proud in their own way.

So a little blogland celebration, I have a collection of 12x12 DP's to give away, they include October Afternoon, Kaiser, Bo Bunny and a few pretty ribbons. All you need do to be in with a chance of winning them is leave a comment on this post and I will ask Mr Random Org., to draw a winner in a couple of days time.

Have a good day and thank you for popping by.

Hero 2012 debut stamps hit town

2011-12-17T08:00:00.118Z

Hello peeps, time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Fleur is our host and it will be a two week challenge to tide us over the Christmas holiday period. The theme is 'Blue and Brown' a really lovely colour combo which I love working with, so afraid this post is a bit picture heavy.

I had my DT cards all done ages ago, but then the Hero Art 2012 Debut stamps hit Sir Stampalot a couple of days ago so of course I was straight into demo samples and had to share a couple of the gorgeous new images...........doesn't take a lot to get me excited. They are already shipping from the shop so you can go here and be amongst the first in the UK to get your hands on them.

So first off with the card at the top of this post which uses Hero Arts K5576 Newspaper Tulips. I inked the stamp with Aquamarkers, spritzed with water and stamped onto a piece of Fabriano watercolour card and lightly distressed the edges with TH broken china and tea dye. The DP is Kaiser.

My second card used another of the newbies, Hero Arts K5540 Spring Dream this time inked with hero Hues Latte. The frame cut with Nesties and the background DP are all Bo Bunny. The border are corners are Spellbinders Parisien Accents, plus some flowers and leaves cut from a Marianne die and a piece of cheesecloth which I inked with TH broken china to tone down the colour.

Next up my original DT cards, the one above uses the beautiful Hero Arts S5362 Dogwood stamp which I stamped onto a base piece using versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear, then stamped a second time onto some DP from stash to cut out and decoupage. The sentiment is a section on Penny Black 2695J and lots of pearls to embellish.

And finally, my fourth card uses a quite old stamp from Penny Black which I always think makes a perfect male card. I masked a piece of Fabrinao watercolour card round the edges and two central section to create three panels. With the masking in place I sponged the panels with TH broken china, then stamped stamped Hero Arts S5364 Antique flower background using Hero chalk ink latte. I then removed the two centre piece of masking tape and stamped Penny Black 2827K using versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear before removing the remainder of the masking tape. I embossed a piece of Coredinations with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and sanded lightly to use as a background piece.

Have a good weekend peeps and hope you all get you final Christmas preparations done and dusted in time to enjoy a wonderful Christmas.

Giveaway winner

2011-12-16T12:00:00.000Z

Hello all, just a quick post as promised with the winner of the little giveaway I posted a couple of days ago. Mr Random org., has picked out number 103 who is.........................

Claudia

Ciao e complimenti Claudia, si prega di mail con il tuo addes postale, brenda@ibas.co.uk.

I will be back tomorrow with the new Allsorts challenge.

A little giveaway and a bit more brayering

2011-12-14T10:44:00.003Z

Hello peeps, afraid I have been a bit neglectful of my blog the last few days, the new pill regime is making me feel a bit queasy and I've also got a cold, so not been doing a lot.

So just a quick post with a card to share and a little giveaway of some ribbons, beaded pins, flowers and gems. All you need do to be in with a chance of winning is leave a comment on this post and I will ask Random Org., to select a winner on Friday. Now closed

I made the card for our very horsey girl using brayering, Adirondack inks and a host of stamps from Art Impression, Inkyicious, Stamp Addicts and Andy Skinner. The fence is hand drawn with a fine nib permanent pen.

Have a good day everyone and thanks for dropping by.

It Takes Two

2011-12-10T08:00:00.044Z

Good Monring peeps, how are your Christmas preparations going ? I think I am just about there and tomorrow we have a big family day with about twenty coming, so quite a bit of preparation to be done although I confess M&S are taking a good bit of the effort out of it.

It's my turn to host the theme at Allsorts this week and I would like to see creations on the theme "It Takes Two".................basically use just two colours on your work, but you can use white as well as your base colour.

Two DT cards for me, the one at the top of my post............yellow and black...............uses Ruth's A Passion for Stamps Narcissus image which you will find here, coloured with Aquamarkers and decoupaged onto a mat cut with Nestabilities, stamped with Hero Arts H2635 Old French writing and inked round the edges with TH mustard. The DP is Kasier and the sentiment is Penny Black 3096F.

For the second card I have used one of the Christmas stamps from Stampendous JGS157 which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it and ended up making quite a few with it as it lends itself to all occasions apart from Christmas, in fact I'm not sure I actually made a Christmas card with it.

For this one I stamped the image onto vellum using versafine black and embossed with detail clear. I coloured the image from behind with Copics and decoupaged some of the flowers. I machined round the edge of the Bo Bunny DP and tied a simple seam binding bow at the side. I love the fresh colours of this one, make me think of Spring...................

Our sponsors this week are A Passion for Stamps and Scotch Tapes whose restickable tabs I used on my both my cards....................you will find a bit more about them on the challenge blog and also here on a post I did last week where I also used them.

Have a good weekend everyone and as always, thank you so much for popping by.

A challenge for the Terminator

2011-12-07T10:20:00.002Z

I thought I would share a little challenge that I was set by my friend Sally over at Crafty Salutations. You see we discovered a long while ago that we share a fetish for sky's and trees along with Adirondack dye inks and tree stamps, both of which neither of us have enough...............yeh, right ! Details of the ingredients and where to buy are further down.

Sally knew I was stressing waiting for my hospital results (I'll tell you about them in a mo) so Sunday evening rang me to say she was mailing me a picture she had taken at the weekend and we then went on to identify the Adirondack inks in that sky........................I know we are just a tad sad.............and she challenged me to re-create that picture, so what more could I do than obey. Above is my take on the picture which is below.

A very quick and simple make really, I used archival black ink to stamp the trees which are from the Andy Skinner A Winters Tale set................it's a fab set with trees, a farm barn, a fence and gate and some birds, you can find it here, Art Impressions and Inkilicious and the inks which I sponged on with cut and dry are: eggplant, denim, mushroom, pitch black, pink sherbet, watermelon, sunset orange and mountain rose. I couldn't get the lower clouds quite how I wanted and they are a bit out of sync with the photo, but call that a bit of artistic licence.

The hospital visit for results of my 'Terminator' day.............that's the nickname Mandy has given me since the hospital stay with me all wired up to machines........... went better than could have been the case. The main concern is my heart rate at resting is about 109, considerably higher than it should be, although it did a sudden dip to 55 at one point during the two days of tests.

The ideal regulator would be a pacemaker, but because of my other medical issues, one they prefer not to use as a first option. So loads more pills and oxygen at times, as if I don't take enough already. And of course I have to go through all the same again in a month to see if things have improved. But as I say, it could have been far worse.

The most important bit is my crafting addiction can resume normal service and I want to say a HUGE thank you to every one of your for your messages and wonderful support over recent weeks which really has helped keep me going.

Have a good day everyone.

Candy winner and a new lantern image

2011-12-05T10:08:00.009Z

Good Morning Peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend.

As promise the winner of my weekend candy is..........................

Ciacchina

Please mail me with your full postal addy brenda@ibas.co.uk.

And I thought I would share a couple of my recent makes for Ruth, you will find all the images at A Passion for Stamps.

The top card uses Ruth's new Christmas lantern image which I printed onto inkjet acetate and glittered on the reverse, cut a bracket from Cricket Christmas Solutions and mounted them over some branches stamped with a Stampendous stamp. The sentiment is Penny Black.

The circle card uses the Christmas rose image, printed out twice, coloured with Aquamarkers and the flowers decoupaged.

Have a good day everyone and thanks for dropping by.

Birthday Bingo

2011-12-04T08:00:00.023Z

Good Morning all, it's the first Sunday of the month so that means new challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More.

In case you missed it, I have a little weekend candy giveaway details here, just leave a comment to be in with a chance.

At Stampalot we invite you to play Bingo with us and at Penny Black and More we are celebrating "Birthdays".

The card at the top is my Penny Black DT card using Penny Black 4164K A Rose stamped simply in black versafine, embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics.Matted onto bazzil, a punched border with some added pearls and a sentiment from Darkroom Door. A really quick and simple card.

On both of my cards I had a play with the new tabs from Scotch which are so effective and as the name suggests they really are re-stickable, how cool is that. They are double sided, easy to use, will stick to any surface, remove cleanly and because they are clear you don't see them when they are used for such things as hanging Christmas decorations. Best of all, when you are finished with them you can simply wash them in soapy water and they are as good as new.

For my Stampalot DT card I selected the Bingo row "Pearls, Flowers and Punch". The base card is some really nice ribbed Kraft cardstock, swirls cut with a Marianne die and accented with pearl drops, a flower cut with TH tattered floral die from the same DP as I used along the bottom of the card.............it was scraps from stash and I am note sure of the make, but could be Doodlebug. I stamped two butterflies with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear.........they are Hero Arts ones but unmounted which typical me means I have no idea of the code as the packing has long since been lost.

Have a good Sunday everyone and thank you so much for dropping by.

Going round in circles and candy

2011-12-03T08:00:00.023Z

Before I tell you about our new theme at Allsorts a little reminder that I have a weekend candy on the go, all you need to do is leave a comment over the weekend either here, on tomorrows post or yesterdays which also has a picture, to be in with a chance of winning.

At Allsorts Debs has us all going round in circles this week so I thought I would share another of my Christmas wreaths (instructions here) which I created for the demo day at Sir Stampalot a few weeks ago.

The Christmas rose in the centre was stamped with Woodware JGS256 onto Studio 490 Modelling Film, coloured with Aquamarkers and then heated and moulded into shape. D0n't know if you have tried this film out, but it really is something a little bit different and real fun to work with and unlike shrink plastic stays the same size but allows you to mould it when warm. And if you don't like the finish, you just warm it up again.

For this one I used the gorgeous December 25th DP's from Kaiser, I really do think these are one my favourite Christmas DP's for years, there is something about the rich traditional colours that never fail to please.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Weekend candy

2011-12-02T09:37:00.000Z

As promised I have a little giveaway for you over the weekend, all you need to do is leave a comment on either this or one of my other two scheduled posts over the weekend and I will select a winner from those on Monday morning.......well Mr Random Org., will.

A huge thank you to all of those who have been so kind and sent messages and comments the last couple of weeks during my wait for test results. I received the dreaded call from the hospital yesterday and been summoned to see them Tuesday morning, I am trying hard to convince myself that if it had been mega urgent they would have hauled me in today. I will report back later in the week !!

Jelly belly and a stormy sky

2011-11-29T08:01:00.001Z

Good Morning, it's a wee bit blustery here and a coat colder, we had a minus 4 frost again which goes against the grain of what the weather men forecast.

I am still waiting for my test results, but we are close to the ten days they said and my tummy turns to jelly every time there is a phone call for me. I just hope they don't keep me waiting much longer because I just can't concentrate and everything I try and create ends up in the bin at the moment, so this is a share of a sample card I did for Stampalot a couple of weeks ago using the Andy Skinner A Winters Tale set.

I stamped the tree with black archival ink and brayered another in reverse for the reflection in the water................this tree is really a bit big for that technique I think as the water looks to be a bit excessive to me. Next I sponged Adirondack eggplant and sunset orange and TH tumbled glass and finally stamped Art Impression worker stamps along the shoreline.

Have a good day everyone and thank's for dropping by.

Molly Blooms ready for Christmas

2011-11-26T08:00:00.006Z

Saturday morning can only mean one thing, a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Helen would like us to use Pennants on our work.

Now this did create confusion with one or two of us as it seems Pennants in Sweden where Helen lives are what we call bunting, which in Sweden are larger flags. But I think we got there in the end.

I have used some of the lovely Kaiser December 25th DP to create a frame using my Nesties Fleur de Lis squares and a sentiment in the centre Stampendous CRQ146. I have coloured Molly with Aquamarkers and stamped the Molly Blooms bunting onto the same DP and cut out. The back panel is Coredinations embossed with a Sizzix folder and sanded down.

Fishing in the moonlight

2011-11-24T10:08:00.001Z

Good Morning peeps tis I, released from captivity and so nice to sleep in my own bed, how you are meant to do so in hospital I shall ever know, the place never rests. They have told me it will be ten days until I get my results as it takes that long for the recordings to be analysed and the cardiologist to asses, so a little bit of a fretful wait.

Just the one share today of something I made a few weeks ago, using Stampscape stamps a the little boat from Stamp Addicts on the water set and Adirondack dye inks which I sponger rather than brayered this time. I also added a little white with a pen here and there to highlight the trees and grasses.

Hope you all have a good day, I need to get my head together at work and clear my desk of a few files, then hopefully later some crafting.

December Candy

2011-11-24T08:56:00.003Z

Hello again everyone, some candy for you, a full set of Walnut Holly materials and tools plus some Promarkers which colour the soft metal beautifully. It's something that's really great for making cards that are a little bit different and sooooooo good for male cards where you want something a little less 'frilly'.

Here are the simple rules and as you will know from the winners post below, I DO check that the names pulled out have followed them.........................

1) Be a follower...............one that stays, not just a candy hunter.

2) Post the above picture on your sidebar with a link back here to help spread the word.

3) Leave your name with Mr Linky below.

Closing time is midnight on 21st December. Please note, although I will post anywhere, delivery to some parts of the world are subject to Customs regulations and local postal services over which I have no control.

Good luck everyone......................and keep a look out as I will be having a few 'spot' candy prizes in normal posts here and there over the next week or two.

Candy winners

2011-11-24T07:00:00.029Z

Good Morning peeps, a rather overdue post to announce the names if the names of the people who came out of the hat for a share of the remainder of my re-cycling candy.

Sadly several of those Mr Random, Org., selected didn't seem to have followed the simple rules and didn't have a picture of my candy on their blog and/or were not a follower................after all, the candy is for my lovely followers, so I had to pass on those names and select more.

So without further ado, here we go...................

Congratulations all of you, please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with you full postal addys so I can get your goodies off to you. Any unclaimed will be re-drawn on 30th November.

Beautiful new digi image printed on vellum

2011-11-22T12:44:00.000Z

Hello all, another scheduled post as I don't anticipate being allowed to cut and run from hospital for a couple of days, but I really wanted to make sure I shared this beautiful Christmas Rose from the pen of my friend Ruth. You will find it here at a Passion for Stamps.

It is such a delicate flower and as they are usually white, sometimes with a ting of pink and with a yellow centre, vellum immediately came to mind. So with detail clear embossing powder at the ready, I printed the images off onto Pergamano and tossed the powder on as it came through the printed and hey presto, it worked a treat.

All I did the was colour with Aquamarkers on the reverse and run a ball tool over the back and quite like the soft feel of it. I printed out a second image for the top card and cut out just the flowers, used a Spellbiner frame, the border is also from Spellbinders, the holly motifs set, the DP Nitwits and I added some Liquid Pearls to the flower centres.

The second card is also on vellum and coloured the same way, I used an old JudiKins stamp on the base card and cut out the image with Nesties Fleur de Lis square.................yep, the vellum did tear, hence the seam binding bow and pin.......what do they call it, a 'happy accident'.

Do pop over to Ruth's store as she has several new Christmas images.

A crane takes flight

2011-11-21T10:00:00.025Z

Good Morning everyone, well I hope it will be when this pops up as I am scheduling it as by now I should be checked into hospital and become robotic linked up to machines and a "probe".....don't much like the sound of that bit.........monitoring my hearts activity for a couple of days. To say I am petrified is an understatement, not so much by the tests, more by what they may find, although they have already told me it will be a few days before I get all the results as they need to be "analysed". And being removed from my craft desk and computer will be a huge wrench, so I guess I will have to be a virtual crafter and dream cards for a while.

My share for today is one of the samples I have just finished for Sue of Animal Spirit stamps, this one uses the lovely Crane stamp and I have combined it with a bit of inking and brayering. I stuck with two colours of Adirondack dye ink, butterscotch and hazelnut. The trees are Inkylicious as is the sentiment. I stamped the crane onto Copic cardstock and coloured with Copics.

Hope you all have a good day and as always, thank you so much for dropping by.

Winter sunset in the Fens

2011-11-19T08:00:00.062Z

A very Good Morning to you all, it's time for me to share my DT card for our new challenge at Allsorts where the theme is 'A One Layer' Project.

The theme was chosen by Amanda who recently left the team, so I have picked it up and although I didn't choose the theme it's one I really like as it gives me the perfect opportunity to do a bit of masking an inking and create one of the little scene I so enjoy creating. In fact I made two, hubby preferred the one with the vivid orange sky which is typical of a winter sunset here in the Fens when the sky looks almost on fire at times, in fact it could be the scene right outside my kitchen window many evenings right down to the gate and barn. I was split between the two so am sharing both.

For both cards I masked the edges of a piece of Fabriano watercolour card before stamping and colouring to give the effect of matting but maintaining the one layer requirement.

The one at the top uses the Andy Skinner A Winters Tale set, plus some Art Impression grasses which I stamped with Archival Sepia ink, then added the colour using cut and dry and Adirondack dye inks sunset orange, eggplant, pebble and pesto. Finally a bit of glitter here and there...................it's a very frosty evening you see.

My second card uses one of Sheena Douglass's new waterside stamps, plus some Art Impression worker stamps all stamped with Archival sepia, the sponged over with Adirondack dye inks butterscotch, denim and pesto. The little man and his dog are a Stampscpaes stamp.

I hope you all have a good weekend and thank you so much for popping by.

Penny Black candy and another DT challenge

2011-11-17T08:00:00.028Z

I'm back again with the second of the challenges I set the Design Team at Penny Black and More.

Before I tell you about that, I need to tell you that we are having a little mid month giveaway. A name will be selected from all the new followers to Penny Black and More who sign up between today and 4th December. I have popped a picture of the lovely Penny Black giveaway on the challenge blog.

I called this kit "Merry Christmas" and thought it would be an ideal theme as we roll along................rather quickly it seems...............towards December.

Again the DT came up with a wonderful array of inspiration and so many different takes on the the me and I think it's fair to say they all really enjoyed the challenges and it's definitely something we will do again.

Kit included 3 sheets Echo Park DP (various patterns but all from the same colour family), Bazzil Basic, 1M red organza ribbon, 2 decorative pins, MS punched holly, 1 vellum roses cut with a Marianne die, Card base cut with Grand Nesties Labels 23, Red nailheads.

In addition to the kit items, I used Penny Black 4208K Christmas Narrative as my image which I stamped onto a piece of my DP and stamped the flower again onto another piece and decoupaged. I ran the piece of Bazzil through the Big Shot Pro using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and distressed it with a sanding block.

Hope was Born

2011-11-14T15:00:00.004Z

Good afternoon peeps, I hope everyone is OK and had a good weekend.

I am trying to play catchup here, get all my office files up to date and schedule some posts for next week as Monday is the re-scheduled date for me to go into hospital for them to check out my heart. Not looking forward to it one bit and needless to say more than a little terrified, but I can't stay in my comfort bubble forever and need to get it done.

Both of these shares are using Ruth's new Poinsettia image which you will find at A Passion for Stamps. They really are one of my favourite Winter flowers so the ideas just came rolling when Ruth sent me this one and I've made quite a few with it so far and more to come.

The black and white on is one of those you make and ticks all the right boxes, so I ended up making about of dozen for special people at Christmas. I printed the image out twice and covered with Stamp 'n Bond, heated then added crystal glitter, cutting some petals away from the second image to decoupage. The panel are embossed with a Sizzix trellis folder and black gems added here and there. The fancy mat under the flower is from the Spellbinders Holly set and the card itself and mats cut with Nesties labels 23.

For the flower on the second card I printed the poinsettia twice onto the reverse side of the Echo Park DP and threw detail gold embossing powder onto it literally as it came through the printer before the ink could dry properly.................bit of a dodgy manoeuvre and I am certain one day I will miss the paper and it will all disappear into the printer mechanism. But until then I quite like the technique.

The sentiment is my favourite this Christmas, Penny Black 3227K Hope ...............I did give advance warning weeks ago that this one would keep popping up, embossed in gold and the sponged with TH broken china to carry the colour of the reverse of the DP. The holly border is from the same Spellbinder set as the card above and the leaves also Spellbinders. The frame is Nestie Fleur de Lis.

Not another easel card..............

2011-11-12T08:00:00.017Z

..........I hear you say............I really wonder if I will ever tire of them.

Anyhow, I had better tell you about our new challenge at Allsorts and this week my teamie Nicola would like to see Black and White plus One.

I love using pink with black and white, you need so little to really make your card pop. I have used all Hero Arts stamps and stamped the main image twice, one onto black cardstock and embossed with detail while and again onto white cardstock using verafine black and detail clear embossing powder....I find that option gives a much cleaner look than using a clear ink and black embossing powder which invariably shifts to places you don't want it. Next I cut both in half and used one of each and butted them together to get the two tone piece. I stamped the flowers a second time and decoupaged. The DP is from stash and no idea whatsoever the make.

Enjoy your weekend and thank you so much for popping by.

Yet more inky fingers

2011-11-09T10:41:00.005Z

Good Morning Peeps, just having a coffee break so thought I would do a quick post with a couple of shares and some inky fun.

It's pretty miserable weather here in the Fens still, typical November and getting decent photos is almost impossible as that glimmer of sunshine never arrives so these piccies are not as I would like, but I know we are all having the same problems.

For the one above I sponged Adirondack dye inks sunshine yellow and watermelon and TH distress ink broken china and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl, then lifted some of the ink to create a watery sun and stamped over that with a Clarity stamp using Adrondack pebble to give a soft feel. Next I stamped some grasses in black from the Andy Skinner Winter Tale sheet and then Penny Black 3381K Aspire using versamark and detail gold embossing powder. I cut the finished piece into six and mounted onto gold mirri card.

The above card is one I did at my Stampalot demo last week and very similar to one I shared a couple of weeks ago, but this time using Art Impression trees and Hobby Art cows. The background is brayered with Adirondack shy blue, denim, lettuce and meadow. The poem is computer generated an the fence hand drawn with a fine nib black pen.

New challenges and mega prizes

2011-11-06T08:00:00.025Z

Good Morning Peeps, it's the first Sunday of the month and for those of you who missed the announcements last month, it's the day we are launching challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More in future.

Plus it's also the first month of the new style challenge at Penny Black and More where we have opened up the entry criteria to enable more of you to join in the fun. Do pop over to the challenge blog and check it all out. And of course, there are super prizes on offer at both challenges.

The them at Stampalot this month is Blue and Green................despite my Granny always telling me "blue and green should never be seen", I have to disagree as I think the two colours coordinate beautifully. So much so that I made two cards for my DT pieces this month. The one at the top used the lovely Fairy Queen Stampandous SSC1123, stamped onto a brayered gloss card background and coloured with Copics. The roses are made from hand cut spirals and the DP is from stash.

How's this for service.........I saw the Fairy Queen stamp pop up on Sir Stampalots What's New section, so immediately rang Janice to say please keep me one and the answer I got was "already reserved, ordered it because I knew you would want it". I came up with a good few samples using this one, it's right up my street.

My second blue and green card used more old DP from stash, a poinsettia cut using the new Spellbinders dies, the holly Spellbinders Christmas accents and the sentiment Penny Black 3227K Hope is Born ...........I did warn you this one would be popping up time and again.

Two DT pieces for Penny Black and More as well, the one above using this so cure little lad and his dog Penny Black 40-020 , coloured with Aquamarkers, some Kraft card and DP also from stash.

And finally, another image I love, mine is, as you will realise from the code, a really old PB stamp 1380K although this year they re-introduced it as a cling stamp. Coloured with Aquamarkers, Nitwits DP and MS garden trellis punch along with a Sizzix corner die.

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for popping my, I really do appreciate all your comments.

Animal Spirits share

2011-11-05T08:00:00.011Z

Good Morning peeps, this weeks theme at Allsorts has been chosen by my teamie Jill and she would like us to make 'Anything but a Square'.

So I thought I would share one of the samples I recently did for Sue, the talented artist behind Animal Spirits Stamps. You can buy the stamps direct from Sue's US website or in the UK from Sir Stampalot.

Out came the Grand Nesties Labels 23, I just love the shape of these ones and now I have my Bog Shot Pro cutting the large ones is a doddle.............I probably didn't mention.............dare not really as I recently killed off my second Big Shop Express, so I decided to go the whole hog and go for the Big Boy.

My image is stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, then coloured with Copics. The DP is October Afternoon, the roses cut from the same DP using a Marianne die and the leaves cut from hessian and coloured with TH inks. The sentiment is computer generated.

If you are having a fireworks party, enjoy and take care.

A Passion for Stamps new Christmas images

2011-11-02T07:18:00.001Z

Good Morning, it's a tad chilly here and I can see white tips on the grass so another frost by the look of things which is sure to bring more leaves tumbling off the trees, but the Autumnal colours are still so beautiful and I could make cards on that theme all year, but I need to get a grip on Christmas.

So it's just as well that my good friend Ruth at A Passion for Stamps has been busy with her pencil again and created some lovely new images, here are a couple I came up with using her new Poinsettia and Holly images.

The red and green one uses the holly and poinsettia images printed twice onto Farbiano watercolour card, coloured with Aquamarkers and decoupaged. The sentiment is Stampandous CRQ146 and the DP Kaiser 25th December collection.

For the blue card I printed the poinsettia image onto pearlescent cardstock and pored detail gold embossing powder over it quickly so I could heat emboss and was really pleased with how well it showed up the lovely detail of the image. The DP is Magnolia and the sentiment Penny Black 3995F.

Off to climb Everest

2011-10-31T07:50:00.006Z

Well I'm not, but one of our Son's and his girlfriend are, so I thought I would make them a card to wish them good luck on their journey.

They are flying out to Delhi this week via Dubai, then moving on to Agra to see the wonderful Taj Mahal...........that's one still on my wish list and I have told them I want a text picture from that famous seat synonymous with the picture of Princess Diana. Then they fly up to Kathmandu and the trek to Everest Base Camp.

One of my friends asked why my kids don't do normal things like visiting the Lake District.........good question !

The card above follows a very similar design to the Everest one and is one of my samples from the Demo day at Stampalot on Saturday which was a really fun day and as I suspected I met lots of new and familiar faces.......a big thank you to everyone who came and helped make it such a great day.

The stamp.....only the one repeat stamped, on the Everest card is Stampscapes and very simple brayering and sponging with Adirondack dye inks. The sentiment which is computer generated is a quote from Sir Edmund Hilary and I thought so apt as our son and his girlfriend are professional photographers..........they met at Uni doing the same course.

My second card uses Art Impression stamps, a hand drawn fence and again simple brayering. The sentiment is Penny Black 3227K Hope.

Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate all your visits and kind words.

Christmas easel and a little bit sad

2011-10-29T06:00:00.004+01:00

I am preparing this post Friday evening after a really rotten day, we lost Abbey the eldest family lab, so the whole household is pretty miserable as you can imagine. She's been poorly for a while with a tumour at the fore of her head, but jogging along with medications. But this morning she was very poorly and we knew the time had come. The vet was really lovely and came out within half an hour so she died in her own sitting room in familiar surroundings, but it's still so so hard to accept.

So I will tell you very quickly about this weeks theme at Allsorts, where my lovely teami Emma wants us to make a Christmas Easel card...............did she play into my hand or what. I thought the easel novelty might have worn off by now, but oh no, I am still totally addicted........does it show just a tad most weeks ?

I have used some of this scrummy 25th December DP from Kaiser and made the card shape using Grand Nesties 23. The image is Magenta 43032L which I stamped with versafine sepia, embossed with detail clear and coloured with Aquamarkers. The poinsettia is another appearance of my new Spellbinders Christmas die set.

Hope you have a good weekend and thanks for dropping by.

An awesome FREE prize draw, demo day and turorial

2011-10-28T11:36:00.005+01:00

Good Morning Peeps, I really really quick post to remind you that tomorrow is the Fourth Ultimate Rubber Stamping Day at Sir Stampalot in Peterborough. There will be seven of us us demoing throughout the day from 10am through 4pm.......................we will be in a large unit right opposite Stampalot's shop, so all nice and convenient.

At the risk of becoming really boring, I am soooooooooooo looking forward to it, there's always lots of fun and laughter, free refreshments............it's the one day of the year my hubby gets crafty and seems to really enjoy overseeing the eats and drinks whilst chatting to (I did say to not up) the ladies and putting the world to rights with their other halves. And this year there is a really fabulous FREE PRIZE DRAW........you can check out the photo of it here............believe me it's an awesome prize.

Above are a couple of the Christmas decorations I have made for tomorrow. The idea came from one of my workshops recently when two crafty sisters brought along a beautiful Christmas wreath they had made. I think they said the original idea came from a magazine, but as I don’t know which one I set about creating one .......or several as it turned out.

So here we go with my version with thanks to the girls for giving me the idea.

Ingredients:

3 x 12x12 sheets double sided co-ordinating DP
1 x 12x12 sheet coordinating bazzil
1 x sheet coordinating glitter paper (or could use a second sheet bazzil)
6 x bells or embellishments
1 x length sturdy ribbon
Decoration for centre

Cut the three sheets of DP and one sheet Bazzil into 11” scalloped circles (I used the Cricut). Smaller wreaths can be made in exactly the same way, using smaller circles (for mine I used Nesites/Grand Nesties cut through the Big Shot)

Cut the three DP circles into halves, then quarters so you end up with twelve pieces. Don’t cut up the Bazzil circle as this is the base of your wreath.

Take six of the small pieces and cut apertures in the front of each using a circle Nestie or punch (see picture for placement). Using the glitter paper or second sheet bazzil, cut a frame for each circle using the same circle and a larger one, then stick onto the six pieces so each aperture is framed.

Roll each of the twelve pieces into a cone and secure with strong glue (I find the red backed ultra strong tape is best). When you have made all twelve cones, arrange onto the base circle so they fit snugly against each other, when you are happy with the placement fix the ribbon to the base then stick down all twelve cones. Don’t worry if the centre looks uneven as that will be covered.

Thread cord through each bell and fix one into each circle aperture…..this is best done when assembled and hanging so the bells dangle at the right angle. Decorate the centre as desired.

Thanks for popping in and perhaps see some of you tomorrow.

Lost in translation...........

2011-10-27T06:59:00.023+01:00

........or to be more specific in the Royal Mail postal system.................I can't believe that my package of 20 samples to Stamp Addicts for the new shows on C&C at 10am and 1pm tomorrow has not been delivered more than a week after it was sent by Special Delivery................and RM's records can't even tell me where it was last tracked in their system. And to add insult to injury, they can't................or should that be their intransigent system won't investigate until fifteen days after the "expected" delivery date.

And as I said the other day, I really loved making these ones and spend hours and hours on them and could have gone on forever with those gorgeous tree stamps. So the best I can do is share a few more pictures of some of those samples.

Another of the new stamp stamp is this one with arched windows and curtains which were fun to work with.

And the On the Water stamp set.

Another of the trees.

Have a good day everyone, the weathers non too bright here so it looks like some crafting will be in order after work.

Brayering into Autumn

2011-10-24T15:27:00.007+01:00

When you check out the new Stamp Addicts stamp sheets here which will be featured on the new Create and Craft TV programme at 10am and 1pm on Friday 28th October, it will come as no surprise that I have totally enjoyed playing with them.

These two cards have been made using the Trees and On the Water sets, plus I have used a few elements such as the sheep from the Scenery sets feature earlier in the year but still available to buy on Stamp Addicts web site.

For both cards I used the good old Speedball Brayer and Adirondack dye inks onto glossy cardstock and the fence is just drawn in with a fine nib permanent pen. The poem on the top card was sourced on the Internet and is the first verse of 'Autumn' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning which sums up the season beautifully.

A little bit Vintage DT challenge

2011-10-23T08:00:00.011+01:00

A very Good Morning to you all.

Now this is a tad different but has been real fun and we want to share it with you all. To celebrate the changes we are making at Penny Black and More Challenge, I decided to set the Design Team a challenge of their own. A couple of weeks ago I sent them all two kits with separate themes and asked them to come up with a project for each.

Today we are sharing the 'A Little Bit Vintage' challenge, you can see them all over at the challenge blog here. Above you can see my take on it along with the kit I sent to the DT. I was thrilled to see all the variations they came up with and next month we will share the second challenge.

Each kit contained 3 sheets Basic Grey DP (all slightly different but from the same family), 3m white seam binding, TH clock and hinges cut on Coredinations, 2 white flowers.

In additional to the items from the kit, I used the following stamps..............Penny Black 4040K Sparklers, 3860 Pointella, 4857 Footnote and Hero Arts 3316 Harlequin Background, plus brads and a chain embellishment.

More recycling candy

2011-10-23T07:30:00.000+01:00

Hello again peeps, I'm back as promised.

As I said yesterday, my crafty clearout has continued which comes about mainly from buying things that jumped into my shopping basket but never got used......we are all guilty of this one.........or provided for demos by companies who I no longer work for who have since ceased trading or didn't want the items back and have just stock piled in my spare bedrooms.

The above picture is the same one I used last month, so many of the items will be different this time round, but it still gives you a good idea what's up for grabs.......such things as stamps which have been only been inked a few times, part sets of stamps, part used reels of ribbon along with other items some of which may not be brand new. I realise some peeps won't like the idea of receiving 'second hand' goodies and I quite understand, but if you know of someone who would benefit, then please let them know.

I will do the same as last time which seemed to work well and the fairest way to deal with things and pick one winner from each 100 entries as they come in..............but please do not enter more than once just to up the numbers, only your first entry will count. Here's what you need to do.....................

1) Be a follower...............one that stays, not just a candy hunter.

2) Post the above picture on your sidebar with a link back here to help spread the word.

3) Leave your name with Mr Linky below.

Closing time is midnight on 22nd November. Please note, although I will post anywhere, delivery to some parts of the world are subject to Customs regulations and local postal services over which I have no control.................I tell you this as recently I had a returned item from the Far East which had been months making the return journey although the address was correct and another to Russia has still not made it through their postal service after three months.

Some lucky winners

2011-10-23T07:00:00.003+01:00

Two posts in one day is a real rare event nowadays, but I need to announce some winners of my recycling candy which seems mega popular and that means there are six lucky winners spread from Canada to Russia who are, in no particular order:

Contratulations to you all, plese mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your full postal addys by 29th October when I will re-draw any unclaimed candy.

And as my tidy up and clear out has continued, it means I have some more goodies so will repeat the same post all over again to make life easier and will pop that up later today.

Booooooooooo

2011-10-22T08:00:00.006+01:00

My how the weeks seem to be flying by, Halloween is almost upon us which means fireworks night is not far behind, then Christmas will be well and truly on the horizon.

Over at Allsorts Fleur is hosting the challenge this week and wants us to get all spooky with 'Halloween', a great opportunity to use that colour combo of orange and purple that I so love. My main image is Penny Black 3716K Apprentice, coloured with Aquamarkers and some stars stamped into the background. For the back panel I ran a piece of coordination's cardstock through the Big Shot using my Sizzix argyle embossing folder and sanded it down and matted onto a piece of DP from stash. The frame is Nestie Fleur de Lis and the sentiment computer generated.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Passion for Stamps Giveaway

2011-10-19T14:31:00.016+01:00

Good Afternoon peeps, just popping in to let you know about a Free Giveaway........................Ruth at a Passion for Stamps is giving away five images of the winners choice.

If you have never visited Ruth's on line store, do pop over and have a look and check out what you need to do to be in with a chance of winning the images. Ruth has a great collection of images, most of which she has drawn herself ranging from Florals, to Christmas to Butterflies and Birds.

Both cards have been made using Ruth's images. The card at the top was made by printing the Horse Chestnut image three times and colouring with Aquamarkers.

The second card was made using the Toadstool image, printing it onto October Afternoon DP and paper piecing. The corn in the background is Hero Arts Silhouettes Grass stamped with TH Tea Dye.

Bali, a surfers paradise

2011-10-18T07:13:00.010+01:00

Good Morning peeps, is it cold or what here in the Fens today, the heating kicked in during the night again so a sure sign colder days have arrived.

I thought I would share the card I made for one of our son's Birthdays. I know I am safe to show it as he and his wife went off to Bali at the weekend and I have no doubt that by now his surf boards have been well and truly tested in the Bali Sea which sits within the Indian Ocean waters. He's been a keen surfer since he was a teenager and Bali has always been one of his dream destinations for surfing.

The stamps are a mixture of Stampscapes, art impression and I had the silhouette surfer with his board specially made for this card. Inks are of course Adirondack dye inks and I also used the Speedball brayer.

Have a good day everyone, I'm not likely to be about for a few days now due to the medical tests etc., I mentioned Saturday.

Penny Black and More

2011-10-16T07:27:00.022+01:00

A very Good Morning to everyone, a scheduled one here so fingers crossed Mr Bloggers not having a day off as I need to tell you that there are exciting changes afoot over at Penny Black at Allsorts. I will tell you the basics, but you will need to pop over there and get the full low down.

We are opening up the challenge entry criteria.

There will still be lots of prizes, but also an extra special prize section.

A monthly “Who’s in the Spotlight” feature every month, a chance for those peeps to write their own crafting bio to go on the challenge blog.

A change of start date of challenges to the first Sunday of each month.

Please grab our new sidebar button and add to your blog to help spread the word

The current Autumn themed challenge is being extended to accommodate the new start date and will run until 31st October. So there is still plenty of time to join in the fun.

And of course there has to be a little share of a PB card, this one using one of the 2011 Christmas stamps Penny Black 4205L Village Christmas and looks like a little bit of brayering crept in too, funny how that keeps happening.

Note added: For those who read my post yesterday and came up with various suggestions.........it was Arsenic and Old Lace - it was still bugging me so in the end I did a Google search........should really have done that before yesterdays post............it was apparently a 1944 movie with Cary Grant. How I remember that I have no idea as it years before I was born, but my Mum and Granny loved him so I guess I must have heard them talk about it and it stuck.

Whatever you have planned, have a good Sunday everyone.

Arsenic or Lavender ?

2011-10-15T08:00:00.022+01:00

Good morning one and all, afraid I've been rather quiet this week and not even been able to get round my DT commenting. Had a burst blood vessel in my left eye, that led to a few tests and now I need to go in for some heart checks, so that's really clipping my wings.

Anyhow, something more fun as it yours truly's turn to host the theme at Allsorts this week and I would like to see 'Lavender and Lace', sort of has a nice ring to it I thought. I kept thinking there was movie with that name, but I'm sure I am thinking of Arsenic and Old Lace.......similar I guess but less lethal !

Two cards for me because typical me, I went into crafty mode before I navigated my mind, made a card following the theme then remembered my friend Ruth the artist behind A Passion for Stamps is our sponsor this week, so I could hardly forget to make a card using one of her lovely images, especially as I am lucky enough to be on her design team !!

And as Ruth's Cosmos flower is one of my favorite images, that had to be the one I used. I ran off the image once onto normal cardstock, then twice onto some lilac DP from stash. I masked the first image and stamped over with Hero Arts H2365 using TH Pumice Stone. When cutting out the images on the coloured paper, I cut the second slightly smaller to give more dimension when decoupaged. The frame is from the Nestie Fleur de Lis set and the little rose a Marianne die.

My second share uses Penny Black 3227K Hope was Born as the main image, I think this is such a beautiful Christmas verse and a card on it's own. The DP is from stash, but I have an inkling it might be Kaiser. The poinsettia and leaves are cut from one of the new Spellbinders Christmas die sets and I confess it's been pretty overworked this last few weeks. I usually stamp by poinsettias and cut out several to decoupage, so this set was a real must have and oh so quick by comparison. The colours non too good in this picture, but promise you it is lavender in the flesh.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Brayering.............again !

2011-10-11T08:00:00.010+01:00

Good Monring peeps, a really quick share of some brayering I did the other day.

No sooner had I mentioned toadstools to my friend Ruth of A Passion for Stamps, than the image was making it's way to my computer. I did a couple with them last week, but wanted to try one with a fairy........the two sort of go together in my fantasy world.

So I brayered a background with Adirondack dye inks........the colours do look a bit intense in the picture, but are not that bad in the flesh. I stamped and heat embossed a fairy, cut her out and glittered her wings then mounted her in the sky. I printed out the toadstools three times, coloured with Aquamrkers and placed behind a fence cut out with a TH die and embossed with some yummy new Frantage embossing powder from Stampandous............it's a sort of a cross between normal powder and UTEE.

My second share is using the same toadstools, but printed out larger, again coloured with Aquamarkers, some Bo Bunny DP, a TH hinge and a Marianne die rose. The leaves are also Ruth's images, coloured with the same medium and covered with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you have a good day.

Happy bear day to you..........

2011-10-08T08:00:00.014+01:00

Couldn't resist that one...................... and anyhow it's all about bears at Allsorts this week as Debs would like them to feature on our work.

My cute little fellow is Penny Black 4050K Bearing Gifts stamped onto Fabriano watercolour card and coloured with Aquamarkers and a few inked colours added for good measure. The DP is Nitwits and I made a couple of sort of quilly swirls to hold the card up which I think works quite well and a change from flowers or sentiments. The greeting is computer generated.

Thanks you so much for visiting and hope you have a good weekend.

By the light of the silvery moon

2011-10-06T20:00:00.000+01:00

Hello Peeps, hope your week is going well, it seems to be flying past here, almost the weekend again before I know it. So as tomorrow if Friday it means there's the opportunity to pick us some free stash from Sir Stampalot !!

Because it's Freebie Friday again.......

Which means you can choose either of these Art Impression sets value £18.95 absolutely FREE when you place an order on line for £35 between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow 7th October. Either one will be fabulous for all those Crimbo cards still waiting to be made.

I had a bit of inky fun this week making some more sample cards ready for the 'Fourth Ultimate Rubber Stamping Day' at Sir Stampalot on 29th October, grief that means it's only three weeks away now, so I need to get my skates on.

For the background I brayered Adirondack dye ink denim on gloss cardstock, masking a moon........there has to be a moon, then spritzed water and immediately blotted with a piece of kitchen towel to create the snow effect. I then stamped the main image Hero Arts K5524 Winter Scene and sponged the same inkpad to create snow drifts. Finally I sponged more ink using the edge of a piece of copy paper to give the impression of light coming from the moon. As always plenty of fantasy going on.

Contrasts of Nature

2011-10-04T10:54:00.009+01:00

Nature never fails to amaze me, here we are into October, leaves are changing colour by the day, yet my roses continue to flourish as though it were June. In fact the floribunda in the picture below...........and that's only part of the bush.......was a present on my birthday last year, so has has only been in a year, yet has flowered constantly like a mature bush since May.

Note a lab lurking in the background

My Autumn card up top is using Ruth's new pumpkin image at A Passion for Stamps which I have coloured with Aquamarkers and covered with Glossy Accents, although that's not to clear in my picture. The corn on the nestie mat is Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grass. And the embossed panel is coredinations and new Sizzix folder, sanded down to reveal the core colour.

I also had a little play to see if it was possible to print digi images onto shrink plastic and it seems it is. I had been wondering about it for ages, but despite reading through the packaging on every make in the shop at Stampalot, none suggest it's an option. So I decided the worse case scenario was I wasted a sheet of shrinky. It would not feed through my printer at first as it was too slippery, so I sanded the leading edge both sides and it went through a treat. I blotted the images a couple of times to get rid of the excess ink, then coloured with Aquamarkers and shrunk it down to gets some tiny pumpkins.

And this one a bit more playing with the Speedball brayer, Adirondack dye inks and as assortment of Art Impression stamps. The fence against the cows is a a bit out of context size wise, but hey ho, it's all fantasy.

Lot's going on..............

2011-10-01T08:00:00.027+01:00

Good morning peeps, I'm not sure where to start here, so much going on today, three new challenges to tell you about................Stampalot and Penny Black at Allsorts monthly challenges as well as the weekly one at Allsorts..................and it's my wedding anniversary so there just might be a meal out tonight, but that rather depends on how hubby is feeling as he's still not 100% plus my MS seems to having a bit of a hissy fit again.

So it's going to be a bit of a heavy post, but at least it's Saturday so some of you might be able to grab a coffee and have a leisurely read.

I will start with the little gift set above which is my make for Stampalot Challenge theme is 'Food Glorious Food', basically your project can be anything with an association to food. The poinsettia is a pretty old image from Penny Black 1289J Grand Poinsettia, which I stamped onto Nitwits DP twice and decoupaged. The sentiment which I really love is Stampendous CRQ146 here here and the band around the jar is stamped with Prickly Pear HH0065 here. And is anyone wondered what's in the jar, preserved Victoria plums from the orchard - well that''s what we call it.....about 30 trees in total, so not a proper orchard in the run of things here in the Fens.

Next up is my DT piece for Penny Black at Allsorts where we have some Autumnal photo inspiration on offer, I could happily make cards with this colour way all year so I was totally at home with this one. The main image in Penny Black 3231K Snowy Park......yes it is a Crimbo stamp but I figure there was no reason why it can't not double up for other times of the year with the right colours. I masked a piece of gloss cardstock round the edges so I left a piece in the centre about the size of the stamp, added a sun and brayered Adirondack butterscotch, sunset orange and meadow and added a bit more depth by sponging ginger through the trees.

And last but by no means least at Allsorts Helene would like us to 'Use at least five flowers' on our work. So out came this gorgeous stamp from the new releases from La Blanch called Wandering Amongst Daisies here. I fell in love with this image the moment I saw it and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, in fact I made quite a few using her. For this one I stamped onto Fabriano watercolour card, coloured with Aquamarkers and added background colour and a little fence, some swirls and five punched daisies and finito !

Enjoy your weekend whatever you have planned.

A little bit Autumn

2011-09-29T07:26:00.010+01:00

Good Morning peeps, a mega quick post before that thing called work takes hold of my day.

This week seems to be rolling by all too quickly and it does not seem possible that tomorrow is Freebie Friday again at Sir Stampalot. If you sign up to Smudges their newsletter, you will get advance notification what you can grab for free this week.

We have had a couple of days of beautiful weather and the colours of Autumn are appearing day by day and looking absolutely stunning against a backdrop of sunshine, so I thought a couple of shares taking on those rich colours.

The top one is using Penny Black 3817K Tigress, stamped onto a background created with acrylic paints and vaseline, if you've not used this technique it's brill. Paint on a darker colour first (you can dry with a heat gun), then dab the vaseline where you want to reveal that colour after painting on your lighter colours, when that's dry (don't use a heat gun here as it will melt the vaseline) then rub away the vaseline and it reveals the under colour paint. The DP is appropriately October Afternoon and the roses were made using a Marianne die.

My second share is this beautiful Stampendous stamp SSC1123 Fairy Queen, stamped onto a brayered background and coloured with Copics. The DP is as above.

Recycling candy

2011-09-28T09:55:00.020+01:00

Hello again peeps, I'm back as promised.

Now this is not strictly candy, more of a redistribution of an excess of crafty goodies. The benefits of working for different craft outlets/companies over many years is that you get an awful lot of products to work with, but when those companies cease trading or change direction and don't want the items back, you are left with more goodies than you could ever use. Then there are those items you just 'had' to buy but never use...........we are all guilty of that one I know.

So last weekend I had a long overdue clear out of my craft room and the spare bedrooms I was spilling into and decided I had be be firm with myself and put to one side all those items I knew I would not use and those of which I had duplicates.

The above picture represents just some of those items and I would love to give them away to anyone who does not mind receiving stamps that have been inked one or twice or part sets of stamps, part used reels of ribbon along with other items some of which may not be brand new. I realise some peeps won't like the idea of receiving 'second hand' goodies and I quite understand, but if you know of someone who would benefit, then please let them know.

I figure the fairest way to deal with this is to pick one recipient from each 100 entries as they come in and share the goodies between those names and announce all on 23rd October.......but please do not enter more than once just to up the numbers, only your first entry will count. Here's what you need to do.....................

1) Be a follower...............one that stays, not just a candy hunter.

2) Post the above picture on your sidebar with a link back here to help spread the word.

3) Leave your name with Mr Linky below.

Closing time is midnight on 22nd October. Please note, although I will post anywhere, delivery to some parts of the world are subject to Customs regulations and local postal services over which I have no control.

A real Passion for Stamps

2011-09-26T11:26:00.012+01:00

Hello peeps, did you all have a good weekend ?

Mine sort of passed by in a flash, hubby's has been poorly for the last week and somehow all those things I planned to do never quite got accomplished. Never mind, I can at least share a couple of my sample cards I made using more of Ruth's lovely artwork which you can buy here at A Passion for Stamps.

The top card..................yet another easel I know, is Ruth's Acidanthera flower. I have made one or two cards with it, but each time it said to me "try making me into a Poinsettia" so I had to give it a try and I think it's quite effective. I printed the image out several times, cut the flower heads out in decreasing sizes so I could decoupage them, after colouring with Aquamrkers, inking with versafine frost the spraying with Glimmer Mist pearl to make them flexible to shape and of course give a lovely sheen to them.

The sentiment is Penny Black 3227K Hope is Born, I really have fallen in love with this sentiment and it's popping up on quite a few Christmas cards this year. A bit of distressing with TH fired brick and the easel was cut with Go Create dies.

My second card a leap from my comfort zone but when Ruth sent it to me and said she understood if I didn't use it, there was my challenge.............so I lightly coloured the Mannequin image with Copics, used some Cosmic Cricket DP, pins, bits of ribbon and lace and there was my card. The measuring take is also from the DP stack.

Thanks for visiting and hope you have a good week................and get some of the sunshine they forecast in the UK...............I'm a bit of a sceptic when it come to the weather forecast so shall wait and see.

Keeping it clean and simple

2011-09-24T08:00:00.007+01:00

Happy Saturday everyone, are you ready for a new challenge at Allsorts ?

Amanda is hosting this weeks theme and she would like us to be 'Clean and Simple' so I thought this one would fit the bill, it a sample I recently created for Stampalot using one of the new stamps from La Blanch called Wild Flowers here.

I masked a piece of Fabriano watercolour card and sponged three squares using TH wild honey and broken china, then stamped sections of the floral stamp with the masks still in place. The sentiment is a section of Penny Black 2695J.........to use a portion of a stamp I lay a post it note over the sections I don't want to use whilst inking.

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for popping by.

Freebie Friday looms again

2011-09-22T08:16:00.022+01:00

Good Morning peeps, hope everyone is OK.

The days seem to be flying by as tomorrow is Freebie Friday again at Sir Stampalot. Not sure what this weeks free give away will be, but it's been pretty awesome the last couple of weeks, so why not sign up to their newsletter Smudges here.

Did any of you see the new POW Spellbinder egeabilities on C&C this week ? I'm sure they said they were were the first to get them in the UK, but not quite true because they are all here and have been for the last weeks or so, all ready for dispatch including the gorgeous Spring Blossom dies..........that one with the cut out edge is already on my wish list.

I got so carried away I almost forgot to tell you about my two cards here. The top one has been brayered through a circle mask with Adirondack Sunset Orange and simply stamped with Art Impression U3095.................which I only just noticed says DEMO in the side which means it must of snuck home in my bag by accident.......sorry Janice.

My second share has been brayered with Big and Juicy Spice and the scene created with various Stampscape stamps.

So who runs this show ?

2011-09-19T17:16:00.009+01:00

Clearly Buffy and George think they do, but I've got news for them..............but I feel a bit to jaded to argue after my busy weekend................so perhaps they know better than me right now............which means just a couple of doggy pictures and a brayered share with apols for not going into details on this occasion.

But it was a really great weekend, a fabulous workshop on Saturday and I met lots on new faces, some of who travelled a good few miles to get to Stampalot.......a big thank you to each and every one of you all for coming and helping make it such a fun day.

Then yesterday we spent the day in London with one of our son's and DIL and had a great trip to the new Westfield shopping centre....is it big or what !! And they have a champagne bar right in the middle of the complex............before you ask, yes of course we tried it out......it would have been rude not to ! I can recommend the Kiri Royal.

The terrible twins, Daisy the Duracell dog in front and Lily..........they do have their own baskets of course, but why use them when you can steal Georges ?

Thanks for visiting and I will catch you all again in a day or so when I am feeling a bit more human.

Inky workshop and reminder about C&C

2011-09-17T07:00:00.001+01:00

Good Morning all, hopefully Blogger is behaving and this will pop up on time as I am taking yet another workshop at Sir Stampalot today for some blog buddies, plus a few more ladies as well, so an inky session is planned as usual.

A final little reminder that you can see Stamp Addicts programme on C & C at 10am and 3pm tomorrow (Sunday). It's the last Christmas programme................how scary is that............ so don't forget to tune in or remember to record the show for lots of inspiration.

This week at Allsorts Nicola is hosting her first challenge with us and has come up with the super theme of "Alter/recycle something", one that fits nicely into my comfort zone. And Nicola will be at my workshop today so it will be wonderful to get to now her.

So for my project out came the corrugated............. much to hubby's annoyance I have a habit of ripping pieces off boxes and packaging and have a growing stash of it, but you never know when a piece will come in handy and it's so useful for vintage feel projects. Here I have used it as my base for the piece distressed with TH tea dye, then randomly stamped with various worker stamps and Penny Black 2827K Song Bird as my main image.

Another share of this cute little Gnome which is on one of the stamp sets from Stamp Addicts. I so enjoyed working with these cute little fellows. And what a fun sentiment on this one as well, They are designed for New Home cards, but I did some in reds and they become Santa's little helpers very nicely.

Enjoy your weekend and whatever you have planned, lets hope the weather is kind.

Inspiration from the most unlikely places

2011-09-15T07:07:00.011+01:00

Good Morning peeps, hope you are all having a good week.

'Puter' problems seem sorted I am pleased to say and I've got so much added virus protection now I should withstand all comers, I can but hope. So a couple of shares, both much of a muchness using a stamped image and a digi image just to try and prove to myself that I can be versatile if I really try.

Before I launch into my cards, a heads up that it will be Freebie Friday again tomorrow at Sir Stampalot, so if you have not already signed up for Smudges newsletter, click here to be sure of getting advance details of this weeks freebie offer.........remember, whatever it is will only be available for that one day.

Now I'll tell you the same as I told Ruth of A Passion for Stamps about how the idea behind both these cards came into being...........last Friday evening as it was getting dusk I was collecting acorns in one of the paddocks.........as you do............ a big full moon was just rising and a pair of pheasants strutted out from the headland of the adjoining field in front of me............and there was my card !!

In both I have used simple masking and brayering to create a background using the good old Speedball brayer and Adirondack dye inks slate and pitch black. I used the slate first to create a misty look, then went over the top section with the black to create more shadow.

The sentiment on the top card is Penny Black 2905H and on the second from a Sheena Douglass set. The grasses are Penny Black 3381K and the the bird at the top is one of Sue's newer Animal Spirit images which you can purchase here, stamped very simply with versafine back and embossed with detail clear.

The pheasants on the second card were drawn by Ruth and were printed out in two sizes onto Neenah cardstock, I was really quick the the old detail clear and was able to emboss them then added a bit of grey here and there with a Copic pen.

Gnome time

2011-09-12T14:54:00.012+01:00

I've been a bit absent the last few days as my computer was targeted big time with some vicious viruses last week and it's taken forever to get it sorted and it's still not 100%. I though I was there Friday after they installed new spyware, but oh no, nothing that simple as that then messed up other things and I was unable to do a new post or access or send mails.................and it's still not sorted properly so will keep this short so our IT guy can do a bit more tweaking.

Thankfully my Allsorts post was scheduled, but that's been pretty much it until last evening, so very belatedly a share of a couple of the samples I have made for the new Stamp Addicts programmes which you can see on Create and Craft TV on Sunday 18th at 10am and 3pm.

I will keep this post short as they want to do a bit more fiddling with my computer so hopefully I am all set to go. The card at the top is made using the Gnome stamp sheet.........I really surprised myself here because as self confessed non cute crafter, I so enjoyed working with this set and made quite a few with them.

My second card used the new Front Door stamp set which is very versatile adn lends itslef to Chrismtas, new home and so on. You will find them under the All New Products section here.

Flowers and Swirls

2011-09-10T08:00:00.012+01:00

Saturday Morning peeps, so it must mean a new challenge at Allsorts and this week week we welcome Jill hosting her first challenge with us and her theme is "Flowers and Swirls", what a fab combination.

Two shares, the first using one of Ruth's new pieces of artwork at A Passion for Stamps, which I coloured very simply with Aquamarkers and made into an easel card................I know, again...........made a swirly flower from the Magnolia DP which is also on the base of the card and some swirls cut from a Sizzix die. The sentiment is Penny Black.

My second share is another card with a stamp I love Penny Black 40-025 Thinking of You stamped and embossed and coloured with Copics. The DP is Nitwits, the swirl a Sizzix die and the flower made using a Cuttlebug quilling die.

'Freebie Friday again'

2011-09-07T08:13:00.008+01:00

An early post ahead of work with a couple of shares and a reminder about 'Freebie Friday' at Sir Stampalot.

To be 'in the know' and ahead of the rush you need to sign up to Smudges newsletter here or by clicking on the icon on the left hand side of the home page sidebar here and you will receive their newsletter telling you what freebie you can receive each week.

My card at the top was created through a bauble shaped mask which I cut on the Cricut, brayered with Adirondack denim, butterscotch and ginger and stamped with Hobby Art XM3/05 E Three Kings and QT801A Star. The sentiment is Penny Black 3995F.

This one is a sample I made using one of the new releases from Prickly Pear HH0082 Winters Glow. I cut out the image, coloured with Aquamarkers and mounted it onto a Marianne holly circle die and Magnolia circle die.

American seam binding.......you just have to try it......

2011-09-05T08:00:00.013+01:00

Good Morning peeps, hope everyone had a good weekend.

I had planned on posting this one last evening until I discovered Sky Arts had a whole evening dedicated to Queen..............today would have been Freddies 65th birthday........so of course I ended up glued. Seen lots of it before, but you can never have too much Queen !!

Apart from that my weekend was a bit crafty and I even managed to fit in a trip to Sir Stampalot as there were a few bits and pieces I was in urgent need of'................as if, but any excuse goes.

And I also received a package from Sarah at Pretty Little Ribbons with some American seam binding and bakers twine. I've been wondering for ages what the seam binding was like and boy, is it gorgeous. It's soft and flowy and comes in several pretty colours, but I also tried colouring the white with distress inks and it works brilliantly and still retains the lovely soft feel.

The card above has some of the green and the one below using A Passion for Stamps new thistle has the white coloured with TH dusky concord - dab some direct from the inkpad onto a silicone sheet, spritz with water and scrunch the ribbon about in it, then dry with your heat gun.

So my shares, well it's another with Penny Black 4210K Floral Story. To begin with I painted a frame cut with Nestability Fleur de Lis with copper acrylic paint and also a piece of mountboard. When dry (I used a heat gun) I smeared vaseline round the edge of the mountboard and painted white acrylic all over, dried then wiped away the white paint from the edges...............the vaseline acts as a resist. I then masked the edges and stamped the image into the centre and coloured with Copics.

On to my second share using the thistle. I re-sized it and printed out a border to compliment the main image, did some zig zag stitching along the edges and colours this and the main image with Aquamarkers.

Thanks for visiting peeps, have a good Monday.

Blue and green should ever been seen..........

2011-09-03T08:00:00.009+01:00

................well at least that's what my Granny always told me, but I think I have to differ as I love the colour combo of blue and green......which is the theme Emma has come up with for this weeks Allsorts challenge, I love it Emma.

The card up top uses one of the lovely Crafts and Me fairy images which I stamped onto gloss cardstock, masked and added some background colour with the Speedball brayer. I coloured the image with Copics and mounted into some DP from stash, some lace, feather and a butterfly to embellish.

My second share is a nice bit of messy inking. To create the block background I dabbed TH broken chine and olive onto an acrylic block, spritzed with water and stamped onto a piece of Fabriano watercolour card. I then overstamped with Hero Arts H2365 and G3316 using the same inks and finally Penny Black 4042K using Hero chalk cerulean. The hinges are TH dies which I embossed here and there with detail gold along with the torn edges of a piece of Core-dinations cardstock.

Enjoy your weekend peeps.

Decoupage and distressed in the frame

2011-09-01T08:00:00.011+01:00

Hello peeps, It doesn't seem possible that it's the 1st September does it, where did the summer go, oh that's right, it never actually arrived in the UK did it ?

I guess we did have some good weather, but the warm days were so few and far between it's difficult to remember exactly when they were. So Autumn is all but upon us and I noticed when I was out the other day that some of the leaves are already taking on an Autumnal hue. But I love crafting with the lovely rich Autumn colours so at least I will be seasonal for one.

Enough of my blathering, I know you want to know about the new challenges but first some HOT news .................... watch out for a new weekly feature that Sir Stampalot are promoting, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and it’ll be sent to you via their email newsletter so if you haven’t already signed up, you’ll need to sign up before end of day today, here :

So the challenges and first up is Stampalot Challenge where we have the theme "It's a frame up', pretty simple and a chance for you to get creating lovely apertures and frames with your nesties and other die cuts.

My card at the top of the post is using one of the gorgeous new Christmas released from Penny Black 4210K Floral Story which I stamped and coloured with Aquamarkers and made a frame with Nesties using one of the new Kaiser DP's. A bit of distressing with TH vintage photo and borders punched with MS cornice edge.

Moving on to this months challenge at Penny Black at Allsorts we are inviting you to 'Get ahead for Christmas'.

I have used another new stamp from Penny Black 4208K Christmas Narrative , stamped onto a background of distress inks and Glimmer Mists. The flowers have again been coloured with Aquamarkers, they really are my favorite colouring medium.

On both of the above cards I stamped the flowers several times and after colouring inked with Versamark frost and spritzed with Glimmer Mist Pearl to allow me to mould the petals before decoupaging.

Thanks for visiting and hope you will join in this months challenges.

Inky fingers again

2011-08-31T07:56:00.006+01:00

Good Morning all, a rather early post before work as I wanted to share this and I think I should be safe now as the card should have reached it's destination.

My good friend Sally very kindly presented me with a set of Inkilicious stamps when we met up at Stampalot last week for the blog girl classes. Sally explained the reason behind the gift was that she knew I was in need of more trees and an excuse to get inky.........as if, but thanks so much for the kind gesture. So of course I set to work and created a few cards.

This one uses just two coloures of Adirondack dye ink, sunset orange and hazelnut. A brayered sun of course, trees from the Inkilicious set, a little fence and some Art Impression sheep. I sponged some rays of sun coming down the hill, although they don't show up too well on the photograph.

And one more share of one I did a while back, again brayering and stamping poppies from Hero Arts CL449. The small piece with the Penny Black 2905H sentiment was created by laying over the main piece to line up the masks, then brayering using the same masks to carry the flow of the hill and sun.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all have a good week.

A Passion for Stamps

2011-08-29T14:00:00.003+01:00

Hello peeps, how's everyone doing ?

The weather this weekend has certainly been pretty typical for British Bank Holiday hasn't it, but it's provided the perfect opportunity for some crafting without the pull of the garden. We had a bit of a bash yesterday for the girls birthday which is actually today and tonight we are going to Jamie Olivers Italian restaurant in Cambridge as an extension to the birthday celebrations, so really looking forward to that.

Ruth at A Passion for Stamps has created some lovely new floral images so I have been having a little play. The one above is a Nasturtium and I have coloured it with Aquamarkers in the traditional orange colours that we used to have in the garden, some DP from stash that matched rather well and a border cut with Spellbinder Fleur de Lis.

My second share is using the new Thistle and I just love this one and of course I had to colours do it in purples, again with Aquamarkers, although I know you can get hybrid varieties in other colours nowadays. I embossed the two panels with a cuttlebug die adn some corners using Spellbinders Parisien accents.

First day at school

2011-08-27T07:20:00.001+01:00

We have a new challenge for you at Allsorts where Fleur has chosen the them 'Starting School/back to school'. Now I know there are loads of lovely stamps out there that fit this theme perfectly, but none are here in fantasy land, so I was a little bit stumped.

After much head scratching I decided to use one of my Sarah Kay images, she is a bit of a Country girl and has no school uniform and unsure what to expect on her first day at school, so is taking a rather large picnic basket to share with her new friends and some flowers for the teacher.........................I know, fantasy kicking in big time.

I coloured her with Copics , used Doodlebug DP from which I made the pom pom flower, added some swirls cut with a Sizzix die and added a computer generated sentiment.

Enjoy the weekend whatever you have planned.

La Blanch in the meadow

2011-08-24T19:20:00.021+01:00

Hello peeps, scheduling this one as I wont be about for a day or so due to a hastily arranged 'secret mission'............can't share details for a bit yet I'm afraid............. but it's very crafty.........so a really brief post with a share I made for this weekends Christmas launch at Sir Stampalot.

Now I realise this one's not actually Christmas, but when the new Le Blanch stamps arrived at the shop I couldn't resist a couple more of that fabulous floral stamps, this one is called simply 'Meadow Flowers' and is available here.

I distressed a piece of Fabriano watercolour card with TH sage and rusty hinge then stamped Hero Arts silhouette grass using TH tea dye. Next I inked the main stamp with Aquamarkers and spritzed with water before stamping, then added a little more colour here and there with a paintbrush. I was really pleased with how the colours worked on this one and felt it needed little more than simply matting up onto the base card.

Catch you again soon.

Brayers certainly rolled.............

2011-08-22T09:38:00.011+01:00

Well, what can I say !!

A really fabulous weekend in the company of seventeen lovely crafty girls at Sir Stampalot and wow, what fabulous work they all created. Lunch was pretty good as well and two of the girls played right into my hands with cheese scones.................as Dorcas would say "cheese scones are my one weakness" (I'm in Lark Rise to Candleford mode there).

Several had their own brayers and would you believe five were still in the box and had never seen the light of day, but I managed to change all that. There were one or two horrified faces when I went through the projects they would be making and especially the little scene with a brayered background and lots of Art Impression stamps.

But each and every one of them created the most beautiful scene................. and of course masked suns and moon as well.............. and already I have spied some popping up in blogland. In fact they all made three cards using different techniques with the good old Speedball plus several other less challenging pieces.

So a huge thank you to all of those who joined me, it was great fun and a pleasure to work with each and every one of you. And thanks to Andy and Janice for putting up with the giggles and girly chatter.

And I am pleased to say my eyes behaved themselves and didn't play up once all weekend, I'm feeling a bit jaded today and know I need to take it easy for a day or so, but so pleased I was able to do the full weekend with my crafty friends.

Two card shares, the top using Stampscape stamps and the one above using Hero Arts dogwood, but forgive me not going into detail on them, have a bit of a manic Monday ahead of me.

Have a good week everyone and thanks for dropping by.

In the frame

2011-08-20T06:00:00.004+01:00

By the power of Blogger, at least I really hope so because I scheduled this well ahead as I will be teaching all weekend at Stampalot. More of the special Blog Girl days and lots of new faces from as far afield as Australia via Newcastle, as well as some familiar ones as well, all of whom I am so looking forward to seeing.

Lots of laughs, lots of chatter a lovely buffet lunch.....did I forget anything ? Oh yes and a bit of inky crafting.......and brayers will roll, although they don't all know that yet !

On to our new challenge at Allsorts where I have chosen the theme "You've been Framed", basically I would like to see you incorporate a frame somewhere on your work.

I did have two DT shares but now it's three as I thought I really should have one with Molly as our sponsors are Sir Stampalot who are giving away two Molly stamps to the winner of this weeks challenge. And it does have a little frame as Molly is painting a picture on her easel. I have paper pieced this one using some of the super Scribble Scrabble DP's. You can find all the Molly Blooms stamps here.

My second card is using Ruth of A Passion for Stamps Cosmic flower which you can buy here. I love to paper piece this image and have used Bo Bunny DP for both the flower and the frame which is cut with a Nestie. The little row of butterflies is the border/bar code edge of the sheet which I thought was too pretty to throw away. The sentiment is computer generated and I tied some of the lace and made up a pin with coordinating beads.

And finally my third share uses Penny Black 4039K Candid, stamped twice and decoupaged and framed with a nestie. The DP is Bo Bunny and the scalloped border EK Success.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Hairy bikers meet the secret garden

2011-08-16T11:26:00.011+01:00

Morning folks, hope your week is going well.

Play here was interrupted by bad light yesterday when my vision went AWAL for a couple of hours, happened before but still scary stuff, but seems to be back to normal this morning, so will share what I intended to yesterday.

I was totally certain after seeing a lovely card Janice made last week that I definitely needed the TH fence and chains, although I am yet to be convinced that heavy grunge fits with my floral style.................so lets pretend the chain open the door to the Secret Garden.................well there has to be a bit of fantasy in there !!

The image is one of the gorgeous new La Blanch stamps called Wild Flowers which I stamped onto Fabriano watecolour card and coloured with Aquamarkers. I cut the fence and lock from Coredinations purple cardstock, inked with versamark and embossed with TH distress powder milled lavender..................after recovering the contents of the pot from my trouser legs and desk........no idea how that happened.

My second share is another Stampalot sample using one of the new Christmas stamps from Hero K5524 Winter Scene. I brayered through an oval aperture using the Speedball and Adirondack denim dye ink, then stamped the scene in black archival ink and added corners and border punched with Spellbinders Parisian Accents.

All of the new Christmas stamps and goodies will be on sale for the Christmas launch over the Bank Holiday weekend, lots of demos lined up including Lindsay Mason on Sunday 28th August.

Anything but a card

2011-08-13T08:00:00.011+01:00

Good morning one and all, it's time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Debs would like us to create 'Anything but a card', but before my DT work a few bits and pieces of news.

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who has joined in at Stampalot Challenge this month despite the little 'problem' earlier this week. And a little heads up that that there is a very special weekend coming up at Stampalot shortly, more details further down this post.

And lots of you have been so kind and asked about the post holiday saga so just to update you, no joy with my jewellery I'm sad to say. The concierge from the ship got back to me to say they had done a thorough search of our cabin just to make sure the box hadn't got pushed under the bed or something like that, but nothing turned up. Our cabin steward was a lovely lad from Mauritius and was so thrilled to have just been promoted to being a suit steward and their jobs are so precious to them that honesty is second nature and I have no doubt if found he would have handed it in. So I can only conclude it was stolen from my case in Paris at some point.

Fridges and freezers still empty but sparkling clean...........at least it forced a well needed job to be done............. as I've just not had time to shop since we got back as work and files up to the ceiling sort of took over, but it's high on my agenda for the weekend. And after all the indulgence on holiday a lean diet won't hurt us for a few days.

On to my DT piece for this week and I have come up with a Christmas tag book which I cut on the Big Shot Pro (thanks for the loan Stampalot), distressed each page with TH fired brick and sage, then spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl. I stamped round the edges of the pages with Inkadinkado 98396 and the birds on two of the page are from the same Christmas set. The sentiment on the middle page is Art Impression J1674.

Finally, I added red Stickles, some punched poinsettias and tied the spine with ribbons.

I am off to Stampalot tomorrow, new Hero Arts and Le Blanch stamps beckon, so all going to plan I should have a few shares shortly as I need to get cracking with samples for the big Christmas launch weekend starting on Saturday 27th August. Some of the goodies are already available and can be found here.

Thanks for visiting and hope you have a good weekend.