A bit of Fantasy

Morning Peeps, at Allsorts this week along with the usual Anything Goes option Ellie has selected the theme of Magic, Myths and Legends. Our prizes come from Lavinia Stamps. 

So happy to tell you that my kidney op was eventually done this week, two days hospital, now back home and the best part stent gone, was becoming part of me! Which explains my lack of visits this week but hopefully normal service is resuming (slowly).

Loads of Lavinia stamps from the Dream Witch collection in both of these plus a few older ones, above uses Tree of Spirits, Marcie, Flittermice, Magical Mist, Hocus Pocus, Arch of Angels, Secret Garden and Fairy Path. A background of Versafine Clair applied with blending brushes and stamping built us using a variety of Versafine and Elements inks.

This one uses what I think is my favourite Witch from the collection Hattie (who you will see in a week or two in a totally different role) along with Bubbling Cauldron, Magical Mist, Tree of Spirits, Hill House and Slender Mushroom. The background created in exactly the same way as above, added colour elements to both using Posca sparkle pens.

As most know I don't really enter challenges, mainly because small print and linking plays havoc with my failing vision so I restrict that activity to my challenges (and why you may get a dodgy comment at times!!) But there's one or two I do like to join in with and The Path of Positivity is one, probably because I've always loved inspirational quotes. This month their focus is on 'Growth and Change' so I think this one from my Moments set should fit the bill nicely.

An inky stencilled background and a now retired AALL and Create stamp set, flowers coloured to create an Autumnal feel, glossy accents on the bottles and the sentiment cut in two with a little birdie to finish.

All rather Autumnal

The first Sunday of October so it time for our new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations and this month our themes are Autumn Colours and would you believe Autumn!!! Well it is a beautiful season even if the weather is not so good, prizes come from AALL and Create and Stamp Addicts.

I love creating Autumn card as the colours of the season are so rich, I'm just not so keen on the cool weather and dark nights. There had to be Squirrel because I very much associate them with this time of year, although they are in the garden all year round, their Autumnal antics stashing food are such fun to watch. As we have a variety of colours, grey, black and and now some red/brown ones from interbreeding it's easy to see whose doing what, one bury's some food, ten minutes another digs it up. 

Above a bit grungy with a base of recycled corrugated, acrylic paint and gesso. Stamps used are AALL and Create are Flower Journey (904) and Key Botanicals (564). 

This one uses stamps from Lavinia's Sunbloom collection, Bumblehums, Twila, Flower Devine set plus a few worker stamps to build up the scene onto an inked background.

Now my Stamping Sensations shares, a lush richly coloured MCS backing paper and Stamp Addicts Swallowtail Butterfly stamped twice, one cut smaller to layer and coloured with Ecoline pens with a pen nib for the thorax. The sentiment is from my Moments sentiment set.... looks crooked, it's not irl so think the base card bowed a bit.

My final Autumnal share using a variety of AALL and Create stamps, Crunched Leafdrops (1109), matching die Leafinately Detailed (25) and Undergrowth stencil (162) onto a somewhat grungy background which I think was a mop up.

I've continued playing with the new Lavinia Witches, really surprised myself how much I've enjoyed working with a style of stamps I'd never have dreamt of buying. This one uses Marcie and several worker stamps from the Dream Witch collection, stamped into the jar from Sticker Stencil 9 and Fairy Web, that and Marcie's skirt have generous coatings of stickles.

Inks are Elements which are new to me, as they are water based I expected them to be similar to regular DI's, but they are so much juicier, so far I've only cracked open about half of the set so more play to come. With DI's one usually has to rub the brush over the inkpad several times to pick up colour, with these one brush either way and loaded, meaning it's a learning curve all of it's own making sure brushes are not saturated with ink. The current Lavinia Challenge is Bewitched so why not join in.

Autumn Leaves

Morning everyone, this week at Allsorts Lynn is going with the season and the theme of Autumn Leaves, this one plays right into my hands!  Prizes this week come from AALL and Create.

Above I've created a tri fold card using AALL and Create Tag It Yourself (27), lightly inked the backgrounds and some base stamping using Foliage (496), then arranged Crunched Leafdrops (1109), Wiggle and Dance (1174) and Floral Flyer (1170). Lots and lots of snippets here so one for The Snippets Playground, there's speculation that Misses Di and Sarn have planned a conker hunt this weekend! We've three Horse Chestnut's in the gardens which are laden this year, the Squirrels are having a hay day.

Note: Those who collect A&C goodies will know that most of the larger stamp sets have or are being discontinued on the company website, but many remain available via on line retailers so a Google search is a good route to source any you may want.

This one again uses Crunched Leafdrops (1109), I really love this set, here I masked a focal panel and simply stamped into stencilled leaves, words, a little Mouse and a computer generated sentiment.

And belatedly (sorry Gail and Jo, you know what my weeks been like!) my September Card Chain Challenge make which went to Greta in Oregon. I used Lavinia Sticker Stencil Bottle Bundle which comes complete with the cork stamp, Large Hares, Moss Cap Mushrooms, Fairy Catkins and Mini Maple Leaf.

I must also send my thanks to CCC's random generator as it selected me as the winner, I won a £30 voucher to Relatively Thoughtful, it's a UK based company but new to me. It's also a new experience choosing a prize, I'm usually on the other side of the fence looking for companies to donate challenge prizes. So I have some new Andy Skinner stamps making their way to me.

Allsorts 800th challenge

Morning everyone, this week sees our 800'th challenge at Allsorts so we are keeping the theme simple with Anything Goes. To celebrate the milestone we have a few extra prizes from AALL and Create.

I've gone bright and zesty with the above card using AALL and Create Floral Flyer (1171), Wiggle and Dance (1174) and die Heart Marks the Spot (46). I cut the base die twice in black, scored one about a third of the way down and glued the two together to create what I think is called a tent fold (sure Liz can tell me). The Butterflies are stamped and coloured, glitter added to the thorax and coordinating rub ons (8) used to create a quick background

This uses one of the new Lavinia sticker stencils and stamps, this stencil is in set 8 but if you buy the bundle of four stencils you also get the stopper stamp. After inking the bottle with Versafine I stamped Leaf Spray in the background, Group Poppies in Orange and lower down Wild Poppies with grey ink and then painted over with white acrylic, an idea I saw a few places on Pinterest. I continued stamping outside the bottle and added Every Dream sentiment.

Kidney op update, it's becoming a work of fiction! Cancelled again, this time because my BP wouldn't play ball, White Coat normal for me in a medical environment but usually settles, not this time. Sent off to GP (shocked to get two face to face appointments in three days), he's reluctant to change meds as they control it (usually). So appointment Monday to see where we go from here as it's become urgent they say.

September Rudolph Days

Good morning, today see the start of the September Rudolph Day's challenge where I am thrilled to be a Guest Designer, thank you Helen for inviting me. As all the regulars will know the challenge runs from the 25th of each month until the end on the month, but if it's a new challenge to you then why not join in the fun.

I've gone with Lavinia stamps and a Christmas Fairy, this one is called Starr and perching on the ground is the small Jaylar from Fairy Foragers, the foliage is Forest Leaf and Winter Berries. Varsafine Clair ink, Posca pens, lots of red stickles and a matching envie.

Simple blooms

Morning to you all, this week at Allsorts Liz would like to see Sympathy or Get Well cards and of course the Anything Goes option. Prizes come from Craft Stash and Highlight Crafts. We have an important note on this weeks post which we ask all entrants to read.

I've used a MCS background and simply stamped the blooms using mini distress inkpads direct to stamp along with a spritz of water and sentiment which is Penny Black.

Below another simple one again using MCS (Highlight Crafts), image printed twice, oblong dies to cut aperture's on one, foam pads to the back and lined up over the second image and  a few Swarovski gems.

Short post, had shoulder and head nerve blocks Wednesday and back in for the re-scheduled Kidney op Wednesday, such a glamorous life I lead.

Four legged therapist and snippets

Morning Peeps, it's mid month inspiration time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are Animal Magic and Hand Coloured Image along with the usual Anything Goes options.

Above I've used the lovely Dog image from AALL and Create Postal Pooch (863), stamped, coloured, then a stencil and crackle paste to create brickwork. The sentiment is computer generated as annoyingly I seem to have lost that sentiment which is on another A&C Dog set.

As we al know I'm not a colourist, so the theme at SS is way outside my comfort zone, I've never enjoyed colouring and it never turns out too well, so I avoid like the plague. But a challenge is a challenge and this is what I came up with, it's the same Lavinia Mermaid I shared in Saturday's post called Althea, this time she is talking to the small Sebastian Seahorse from Sea Creatures and scene built up with Seaweed and Marine Kelp.

There is a new challenge over at the Playground and on Sunday I indulged myself in making a card just for fun to pop in with, in fact I made two almost identical. I even took a photo of all the snippets etc., hopefully I'll get a star or well done sticker or maybe something even tastier up in the treehouse? I am also going to share at the current Path of Positivity.

Using an oblong die I created two frames and stuck together to get more depth, then visited some real oldie stamps from Penny Black and Hobby Art, stamped around the frame with the PB one and used the HA Shakespeare Sonnet 18 on the insert and some A&C rub ons to carry the colours. Added some Gilding Tilsen around the edge of the frame and an A&C flower along with sentiment and Butterfly.

My fascination of the Moon was appeased Monday night, the Harvest Moon was awesome, here rising over the top paddock and close up which I was pleased with. I was hopeful of more photos last night as the partial eclipse started but the sky clouded over and was pitch black.