Circle of Life

Good morning Peeps, it's the 18th of the month so that means it's mid way inspiration time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations challenges where are themes are 'Anything Stamped' as usual with the option to add 'Wings' at the first or 'A die' ay the second. And for the winners fabulous crafty goodies in for form of an A4 AALL and Create stamp set courtesy of Stampers Grove and a £25 craft bundle from Oakwood Archer.

My card at the top combines stamped from several AALL and Create sets, the beauty of this brand, particularly those designed by Tracy Evans is that they are all designed to work together and can be built up into larger pieces. The key to it all is carrying the colours and here I have stuck with just two Derwent Inktense pencils, orange and green alongside the black stamping.

Another with Wings, this time in for form of Fairies from Fairy Hugs and the Fairy Couple are from the new release showcases on The Craft Store last week.

For this one which was a recent samples for The Craft Store TV uses Oakwood Daisies and Critters stamp set and coordinating dies, an Oxide background using acetate to add the ink to the base piece, a trellis frame using a really old Penny Black die and the Butterflies cut from card inked with the same colour Oxides. The words are also Oakwood.

If you have not already joining in this month I hope you will find time to share a creation with us, the challenges run until Wednesday 2nd February and with those prizes, every reason to do so.

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Fragile Fragments

Morning Peeps, Mervi is our Allsorts host this week and would like us to 'Add a Heart' to our creations. This weeks lucky winner will receive a £15 store voucher kindly donated by Pearlywinks.

Before I move onto my cards, we are looking for a new DT at Allsorts so if you are interested please drop me a mail from the link on the challenge blog sidebar.

For my first card I have used a set called Fragile Fragments, stamped, coloured in parts and the small hearts and number elements stamped a second time in red and decoupaged. I do like the style of these All and Create DL stamps, they are easy to work with and can be left simple or played with to build up more interest as I have done here.

Thought I would share a couple more samples using the new Fairy Hugs stamps which proved very popular at the Craft Store when released this week,  if I have tempted you to take a look they are all available from Julia here.

My second Allsorts card uses a collection of stamp sets from the same source at my first share, sentiment from Blooming Poppies, Arum Lilies from Clocks and Flowers, the tiny hanging heart from Follow your Path, a hear stencil, inked with DI's, a bit of added background interest using worker stamps and the Lilies fixed into position.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

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All new at Allsorts

Morning Peeps, this week Pauline is our host at Allsorts challenge and her theme is 'Anything Goes with the option of Use something new'. Helping Hands Craft are kindly donating a £15 store voucher for this weeks lucky winner.

Initially it was a dilemma where to start with the 'New' element but in the end the decision was made for me as I have been working with new stamps for both Fairy Hugs and Stampendous this week. Been a bit of a mad rush as due to the holidays, products only arrived mid week and the The Craft Store shows are 9th and 10th January so an unusually quick turnaround. 

You can buy Fairy Hugs via the TV shows or from Julia here in the UK and Stampendous again direct from TV or here in the UK. Today I am sharing a couple of cards from both companies, at the top I have used a mixture of old and new releases from Fairy Hugs, I can't give you the links to the new ones yet as they won't be listed until Monday's One Day Special. 

Above I have used the beautiful Stampendous Painted Lady, the Butterfly really lends itself to decoupage which is what I have done here.

Below another for Fairy Hugs, again with old and new stamps, the Fairy Couple being a new one.

And a House Mouse card, an unusual sight from someone who by their own admission doesn't do cute or much colouring in, but relatively happy with the result. This little fellow is called Bumble Bee Fun.

Thinks that's enough for one post, hope you all have a good weekend, stay safe and well and my thanks as always for your kind visits.

 

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Butterfly Meadows

Morning Peeps, it's the first Sunday of the New Year and the start of our new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are 'Anything Stamped' at both with the options to add 'Wings' or 'A Die', all details on the respective challenge blogs. Some super prizes on offer, at WLS there is a fabulous AALL and Create A4 stamp set courtesy of Stampers Grove and at SS a £25 goody bag from Oakwood Archer.

Above I have used one of the three images on Through the Meadow along with words from the same set, it's an A 4 set from AALL and Create. After stamping I picked out some of the elements to add colour and stamped the Butterfly twice more to decoupage. I have to admit I am loving using AALL and Create stamps, it's easy to get set in a rut using images from just one company so it's nice to have freedom to spread your wings and the style of their stamps appeals as I do love using elements of images and combining with others.

As an Oakwood DT I have a second piece for Stamping Sensations, one of my samples for  the Hochanda/Craft Store shows on 8th January. Using a Kraft card base I stamped elements from Oakwood Bunch of Roses stamps and coordinating dies, sentiment from Grunge Words and the gold embossed accents are from Grunge Textures. For those not familiar with Oakwood, as well as their trade website, they also have a retail store here and sell a wide range of their own and overseas brands such as Kaisercraft, Stampendous, Paper Rose, Polkadoodles plus a wide range of needle craft products.

This one uses a matching stamp and die called Friendship, also by AALL and create, stamped, coloured and cut out and added to the matter based card and some stencilling around the edges.  The sentiment is from the same set, cut into two.

It's also share day at the Card Chain Challenge, this month I posted to Pia in Norway and this is what I sent to her following the 'Green, Wish, Die, Animal and White' line of the grid set for the month......

And I received this from Gail, if you have never heard about CCC do check it out, it's not a challenge in the normal format and why I rather enjoy joining in.

I so hope you will join in our challenges this month and look forward to visiting all your entries.

 

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Moments

Morning Peeps, it's our first Allsorts challenge of 2022 and I am your host with the theme of 'Black and White plus one'. This weeks prize is an A4 stamp set from Rare Earth 

Above a box of Fairy cards using a plethora of Fairy Hugs stamps, all are available from Julia here or in the States here. I won't list them all as there are about twenty in total so will just name the Fairies who are called Lantana, Tara and Olivia. I have followed a Black White with Pink as my plus one, although I used crystal white glitter which looks perfectly white irl, but has distinct green hues in the photos which I re-did several times to no avail. 

The backgrounds are all done with Oxide sprays Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry and stamping with Versafine Clair Nocturne. The box was made using an old TL die set, one I probably use more than any other as I love the shape.

For my second plus one above I have gone yellow as I love the striking contract with black and white, plus it gives subtle hints of Spring on the way in a few weeks. The stamp is from AALL and Create, the blooms stamped a second time and decoupaged, some mesh from a greenhouse raid.......one day he may even realise I do this regularly and all sorts of things end up in my craft room!! I also added a few worker stamps into the background, a sentiment from another set stamped onto vellum, the single word 'Moments', some twine and a little metal tag.

Happy weekend everyone, stay safe and well and my thanks for your visits.

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Christmas Wishes

As we draw close to Christmas I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your friendship and support during 2021. It's been another difficult year for the whole World but I like to think our crafting community helps provide a bond of normality amid all the uncertainty.

Here in the Fens we had a very hard hoar frost overnight and everywhere looks beautiful so rather than share a card with you I went out early and took some photos, many of the shrubs and flowers are nearing the end of their current growing cycle, but Spring will offer renewed growth thanks to the wonders of Nature.

Finally I thought I would share a photo of the Christmas wreath I made a few weeks ago for the front door, using a collection of plants and shrubs gleaned from the garden, some  of which I had dried in the Autumn in readiness. It did turn out rather larger than I planned but I am pretty happy with the result.

Sending Christmas Blessings and the hope that 2022 brings a brighter future for everyone right across the World.

 

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Icy cool together

Morning Peeps, this weeks Allsorts challenge with run for two weeks to take us over the Christmas holiday period, Lorraine is our host with the theme of 'Anything Winter'. Ruth Hamilton Design is offering one winner three images from her store and there is also a rather pretty Tonic wreath builder die set.

Today is also mid month inspiration day at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations as well as some shares for this weeks Craft Store TV shows for Oakwood Archer so it's a bit of a photo heavy post. I would normally day grab a coffee, but as it's almost Christmas maybe something a bit stronger 🍾

My top card is for eldest Grandson and partner, he's loved Penguin's since he was little so when I saw this new release from AALL and Create it was a must have. All the Penguins were stamped and cut out, a little colouring to bring them to life then arranged onto a background with liberal helpings of snow glitter.

Moving onto my Stamping Sensations share which uses several Fairy Hugs stamps, for those of you new to the company they are available from Julia here in the UK and in the States here. An Oxide background, Olivia sitting on a toadstool keeping an eye on her Fairy House......maybe she is expecting visitors? And I love the Fairy sentiment, after all, don't we all have Fairies at the end of the garden, I know I do!

Also a couple of my shares for the Oakwood Archer two day special on Hochanda/The Craft Store on Sunday 19th and Monday 20th, there's also a further 'Saver' show on 21st. It's fair to say I've been kept pretty busy the last week or so as packages land on the doorstep with increasing regularity and always contain a wonderful collection of goodies.

Another for Allsorts using Ruth's Snowdrops which I coated with masking fluid after printing to enable me to add the wash of green watercolour around it. The snowdrops left uncoloured apart from the leaves and some crystal glitter added to the flowers. Some subtle background stamping and stencilling, washi tape and a little birdie a la Tracy Evans.

Last but by no means least my WLS share which is semi CAS I think, using an old wood mounted Penny Black Poppy stamp masked out to add ink and then the blooms left uncoloured.

Have a lovely weekend and wonderful Christmas, my thanks for your support during 2021 which has been a difficult year Worldwide and most importantly stay safe.

 

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