A couple of challenges and Candy news

Well it's still snowing on and off and by the look of the news it's pretty bad in some parts. Here in the Fens we had a heavy fall this morning which compounded by the hard frosts we've had almost every day on top of the Christmas snow which is still laying around, it's pretty treacherous out there. Whatever your weather, keep warm and safe.

A mixed bunch here and might be a long post so grab a coffee first. Two cards, candy news, some challenges, another tutorial and the first of some very overdue samples for Sir Stampalot using one of the new releases from Hero Arts. And for those of you on the look out for a bargain, their mega sale starts on Saturday 9th January, but if you cant wait there are already some sale goodies to be grabbed right here.

Just had a quick nose myself and there are some real bargains to be had - Alphametal Stamp Kit - £29.95 down to £9.95, Tim Holt stamp sets half price, Rubber Soul stamp sets £12.50 down to £5, Ladybug and friends £10.99 down to £6. Me thinks I need to do some serious shopping......................

Now the candy news. I have said many times that I have been overwhelmed by the friendship I have received here in blogland and the wonderful friends I have met. I realised this week that my followers are close to reaching 200.......this just astounds me it really does, so as a thank you I am offering some candy. It is a bit of a mixed bag, stamps, ribbons, cardstock, flowers, DP's and lots more, I am just waiting for a decent bit of daylight to take some photos, then I will get it posted up over the next few days.

A few people have asked me how I do the messy aceate, glue and foil technique like the one above, so working on a tutorial for that, but again need better weather before I can bag some decent photographs.

On to some challenges. My first card is for this weeks Creative Card Crew which had a theme just made for me "Distressing" and Everybody Art Challenges wants us to use our favourite colour combo. Well I love all colours so it's a hard call to decide on my favourite, but as I repeatedly drift back to autumnal colours and getting all stressed out.......some days that's not just my cards either I can tell you.........so I guess these colours must be some of my favourites.

For this card I started with Glimmer Mists pineapple, copper, gold terracotta, vanilla breeze and iridescent gold to create a background piece. I then stamped onto this with Hero Arts G3316 Harlequin, F5042 Leaf Flourish and H2365 Old French Writing using a mixture of versafine sepia, versamark and detail gold embossing powder. To add a bit more interest I sponged some brilliance gold through a piece of mesh and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy. Next I stamped good old favourite Stampendous P107 Agapanthus Cluster onto a piece of acetate using versafine black and heat embossed with detail clear and the same Hero swirl down the side and embossed with gold.

After joining the acetate the the base piece with some brads, wrapped some gold cord round and mounted it onto a piece of Crate Paper DP, again distressed around the edges. Finally I added a flower, some gold gems and a journaling tag.

Tuesday Taggers (and a Stampalot sample) has the lovely theme of Black and White, always a pleasure to work with and I love the crispness of the combination. I stamped some swirls onto the card itself with Inkadinkado 97632 then stamped one of my new Hero stamps CG165 Silhouette Bells onto white linen cardstock using versafine black and embossed with detail clear. I cut nested mounts on Cricut Storybook and cut a central oval with nesties through the Big Shot Express. More roses I'm afraid, this time with black vellum, white pearls for stamens and some punched leaves.

My rose tutorial can be found here for anyone who fancies a go at making them, believe me they are very simple and much cheaper than the commercially produced ones.........plus you can make them from your DP's so you get an exact colour match.