Alter It

Polkadoodle day again and this week Ruth would like us to Alter It.

Now before I go any further, I have to explain the odd picture and the fact my project looks a bit distant. Have you ever tried to photograph a long zigzag project ? Believe me it was difficult trying to show all of it and in the end I decided the only way it worked was to lay it over a dish, but it does fold down into a square when closed.

I have used the back card pages from a couple of old spiral notebooks, cut them into 6x6 squares and covered with a mixture of Bazzil cardstock and papers from the new All Around and Everywhere Polkadoodle CD. I pounced holes with the Zutter, used co-ordinating ribbons to tie it together and decorated with flowers and hearts from the CD, plus brads and punched borders.

Blossoms and Blooms

Hello all, hope you are all having a good Tuesday.

My latest crafty exploits have been my attempts to prefect the tunnel card, well at least my version. A long way to go still but they say practice makes perfect so two for the price of one her. At least it's given me the opportunity to get some of the long overdue samples done for Sir Stampalot in the process and the second on also fits this weeks new ABC challenge with theme theme T is for.

The first one uses an unmounted Magenta set CS-043 which has some really lovely corner elements as well as flowers and fauna. I cut an aperture in the front of the card with Nesties through the Big Shot. I used the same piece for the dangling element but cut it a size smaller then stamped with versamark black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with a mixture of Copics and Marvy pens, stamped the flowers a second time coloured and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl and decoupages. I fixed the main image in place with an eyelet and jump rings. The DP is Kaiser and that's about the card really, oh and some dots of liquid pearls, but actually quite quick to make.

My second card.........sorry the piccies a bit dark despite sunshine and taken in the garden on the gazebo steps.........was created in exactly the same way, but this time I fixed the main image to the rear section of the card. The image is Hero Arts S5362 Dogwood which I absolutely fell in love with when I saw Lynda using it on some of her wonderful artwork........I'm sure they kept this stamp hidden from me at Stampaot because I really had not seen it before, but Janice soon put things right, hence the samples.

The flowers are decoupaged after stamping onto some Kaiser DP, which I also used to cut the corners with a Sizzix die and the spotty revers on the back of the card. The thank you sentiment is Art Impression G463 which I fixed onto one of the inside folds.

Spring Blossoms

Good Morning peeps, what a lovey day it is here in the Fens, sunshine no wind the smell of prunus blossom in the air and just lovely. Hope it's the same your way.

At last our eldest son and his wife eventually got home from Thailand yesterday after their enforced extended holiday. But I hear there are lots of people still stranded outside Europe, so that are lucky to have got booked onto flights.

Just the one share today for this weeks Tuesday Taggers with the theme Memories, mine are childhood ones as this lovely stamp reminds me of apple scrumping........goodness knows whey we used to do it as we were surrounded by orchards......I guess picking the ones available was no fun. And it is also my entry for Everybody Art Challenges who want cards based on a Song Title........mine is Your my Best Friend by Queen of course and Creative Card Crew April Showers bring May Flowers......I've got nothing resembling rain so have gone with the flowers and blossom element.

My stamp is the one I used a week or so back Hero Arts K5353 In the Garden stamped very simply with Big and Juicy soothing sunset. The DP is Crate Paper, the punch Martha Stewart eyelet lace and eyelets, ribbon, flowers and pearls to embellish.

Sunflowers

Before I launch into the card I have to share with you today, a quick reminder that you still have until noon Wednesday if you have not already entered our Stampalot challenge where this months prize is a Cricut Create machine.

So a card for two challenges, Penny Black have a recipe: three flowers, two buttons and a bow. I did have a bit of a senior moment after it was all put together because theoretically there are more than three flowers, but checking the DT samples it looks as though the three flowers are embellies rather than those of the image, so hopefully it's OK. And you PB girls might need your specs for the buttons, but they are there as part of the foliage growing up the trellis........artistic licence OK ?

And the second challenge is this weeks Cupcake challenge whose them is "Don't be Square" no square cards allowed. So I should be OK here, the base cards is a 5x7 with a shaped top section which I created on the Cricut welding a square and oval together on the DS using Plantin Schoolbook.

My DP is Kaiser, the punch Martha Stewart garden trellis and the image Penny Black 3874K Hello Sunflowers stamped twice and decoupaged onto a background stamped with Penny Black 2410K Penmanship. The image is coloured with Marvy pens and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl to make the flower heads pliable. My Hubby commented "Sunflowers are yellow".......my answer - "more artistic licence" and anyhow, I had to try and make them match the three ready made ones.

The swirl is a Sizzix die, the mats Nesties all cut through the Big Shot and the three sunflowers were lurking in a box from I don't know where or when.......just proves, never throw anything away.

Circle of Butterflies

Saturday morning again and that means we have a new challenge for you at Allsorts. And this week Emma is our host who has provided a picture of a rather nice bracelet for her theme Photo Inspiration.

And I was so pleased to be able to take the picture of my card in the garden amidst one of the Spirea bushes that is full of beautiful heady blossoms. the pictures a bit lopsided, but you can't reason with nature and the way the branches lay. But what beautiful weather we have had this week and apart from the Camellias which are suffering from the nightly frosts, everything else is bursting into leaf and blossom. This really is my favourite time of year and I can't wait for the lilacs to come into flower filling the air with their perfume.

So the challenge.........I admit I got a bit confused with this one at first.....I know, par for the course and spent a morning making a lovely project based on a photograph. Silly me, I had not seen Emma's bracelet picture. No problem though as you get to see that one next Saturday as it fits that theme nicely........of course I can't say what it is yet, you have to wait and see.

It's no secret that I love playing with anything remotely connected to butterflies so it was no hassle making a card with them and I literally followed the circle of butterflies on Emma's bracelet. I created a background by inking a silicone sheet with Brilliance thyme, orchid and silver, spritzing with water and squishing a piece of carstock around in it. I them stamped Hero Arts H2356 Old French Writing using black stayzone, but used the third stamping to achieve a subtle image. I inked Penny Black 4040K Sparklers with Tim Holtz distress inks peeled paint and Victorian velvet, added some yellow Marvy pen to the centre of the flower heads and spritzed with water before stamping to achieve a watercolour effect.

I placed punched fern leaves around the edges of the Nestie circles, then some pounced butterflies. The background DP is Crate Paper, the corners are made using Martha Stewart around the page eyelet lace and finally pearls and gems added to embellish.

Floral Fantasy

It's Friday morning and that means a new challenge at Polkadoodles and this week Nettie has chosen the theme of Monochromatic.

As the DT have been playing with the lovely new All Around and Everywhere CD which launches on Create and Craft today so my DT card for this week is using the Floral Fantasy........how apt is that I ask you......section.

The butterflies stamped onto the border and the sentiment are from the new Meechelle and Gracie Fairy Flutterfly stamp sets and the pounced border is Martha Stewart round the page eyelet lace.

Daisies and Dragons

Crafting still seems on go slow, the ideas are there, they just seem to take forever getting all put together. It does not help that for three days I've been plane spotting........or rather keeping an eye on any changes to the flight situation where it seems the whole world has gone crazy.

Our eldest son and his wife are stranded in Thailand and been told the earliest they can be re-booked on to a flight is 1st May. We have tried every computation to try and get them home, but at the moment coming up against brick walls. They flew via Dubai with Emirates who are still flying into Malta so if they can get there, could get home via ferry and train. A tortuous journey but possible, but Emirates want a Kings ransom to change their original flight arrangements.

Back to crafting, two cards for two challenges. The first for this weeks Everybody Art Challenge who have a lovely sketch created by Jenny, the second for Tuesday Taggers who would like to see Dragons.

An easel card for the first challenge using Kaiser DP's. For the main image which is Penny Black 4042 Daisy Fields I created a background with Brilliance inks olive, gold and yellow, water and Glimmer Mist pearl. I then stamped over the piece with Magenta 3940M crackle background, then the main image using versafine sepia and detail clear embossing powder.

I stamped the flower heads a second time, coloured with Marvy pens, inked with versafine frost as this bleeds and softens the colours, then spritzed with the same GM, moulded whilst still wet and decoupaged. The sentiment is Penny Black 3940 Life. The border is punched with Martha Stewart eyelet lace, punched butterflies and some Magnolia gem leaves........I'm sure they have a proper name, but I threw the wrapping !

The second card which I confess I am non too keen on, is made with the only dragon stamp I possess and it probably not the sort of dragon St George would have associate with, but artistic licence and all that. I stamped all over the card itself with JudiKins 2201J using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, then inked all over with Tim Holtz rusty hinge, dusted with Perfect Pearls and moved the colours around with a baby wipe to create a more aged look.

I used the same TH distress ink to create a background for the main image, plus a smidgen of TH dusky concord, then embossed the edges with gold. I stamped the dragon image which is Rubber Stampede 3006F with versafine imperial purple and embossed with detail clear. The sentiment is Stamp Barn kanji cube and purple cord to finish.

Red and White for St George

Update: I always said Hero Arts should make the codes bigger on their stamps as I have probs reading them........somebody has very kindly pointed out to me that I got it a bit wrong for the above stamp, so I have amended it below and it is K5353.

There's a new challenge at Rosie D's which our teamie Lyn is hosting and has given us the theme of England/St George or just Red and White.

This card is also my entry for this weeks Cupcake challenge which has the theme Red and White.

I confess that the patriotic side of it stumped me a bit and I have gone down the easy route of red and white. I had a new Hero stamp yet to be inked up and as it is a nice shadow stamp thought it would work well with red and some bleaching.

The stamp is Hero Arts K5345 In the Garden which I stamped with versamark and embossed with detail clear onto some red matt cardstock. It's always difficult to be sure how well bleach will take and on this occasion I ended up with a brownish colour, so when it was dry and coloured the beached areas with a white Prismacolor pencil which lightened it enough for what I wanted.

I mounted the piece onto white cardstock and embossed a piece of red Bazzil using the script Cuttlebug folder. The wavy edges is EK Success Dotted Wave punch and some ribbon and pearls added to embellish. A fairly quick and easy card.

Hues of brown

A very good morning peeps, it looks like another fab day in the making here in the fens. We had a glorious day yesterday, the sun was actually warm enough to sit in without a jumper.......believe me, it takes some doing to part me from my my top layers. But am I glad of the dry weather, I was dreading rain as soon as that digger arrived and had visions of muddy paw marks for days.

I have one quick share today which is for this weeks Penny Black challenge which has the theme 'Monochromatic Brown'. I starting with a background of Tim Holtz distress inks rusty hinge and tea dye, blending them onto a piece of pearlescent card to achieve a softer finish, first masking a moon, then spongin in some hills. The images are all from Penny Black 30-038 stamped with a variety of inkpads, then glittered here and there. The border edging is Martha Stewart 3 dot scallop and all mounted onto dark brown cardstock.

A box of Spring flowers and butterflies

This week at Allsorts it is the turn of our new teamie Fleur to host her first theme which is "In Stitches". The DT have all been given images from this weeks sponsor Fred she Said, there were some lovely images and as I could not make up my mind used all four of the spring flower, one on each side of the box I made from bazzil cardstock.

I repeat stamped inside and out of the box with one of the floral images from Penny Black 30-048 using Memento lettuce. I printed off two of each of the images, coloured with Copics and decoupaged, adding glitter to the snowdrops. I was a bit stumped where the stitching would fit at first, but decided to chain stitch down some of the flower stems which adds definition.

Each image has been matted onto a coordinating piece of Bazzil cut with a Nestie through the Big Shot. I stamped three butterflies from the same Penny Black set, coloured them with Marvy pens, and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl and stuck them to some acetate strips so they bob when the lid is removed. Finally, added some punched flowers over the base.

Flopsy Bunny

Our tamie Claire has selected the them of Animals at Polkadoodles this week.

Now I am not one for large pink bunnies, only in my dreams and the only ones I normally come into contact with are the wild ones in the paddocks. But I thought this would make a fab get well card and although I was a bit hesitant how it would be accepted by a seventeen year old, it brought a smile to her face when she was in hospital.

All of the elements and the checked paper are from the Paper Boutique CD and I have to say after I had made it up and decoupaged him I rather fell in love with Mr Flopsy and his over sized carrot. I thought the Martha Stewart bunny punch matched really well across the top. The letters are cut with a Sizzix die through the Big Shot.

Purple Butterflies

Progress at last, I have actually managed to make a whole card in 'one sitting'. Must be the sunshine which is just breaking through and promising a nice afternoon. Probably just as well as a digger has just been delivered for hubby to do some footing work for his new greenhouse........apparently we did not have enough tomatoes and produce last year and need more space.......and tomatoes for the County this year, not just the village.

My card is for this weeks ABC challenge which is 'S for Sparkle' and I am hoping, a bit tongue in cheek that it will do for this weeks Penny Black challenge as well which is 'Buttons Galore'......now I know the collage image is not PB, but the three others I have used are. If it's not appropriate, sorry girls and count my entry out. I am also entering for the first time Flutterby Wednesday, I have no idea why I never found this one before seeing half of what I produce has butterflies or fairies on it.

So, the card itself has been stamped all over with Penny Black 2410 Penmanship using Tim Holtz crushed olive, then down the side with Penny Black 3857 Footnote. The sentiment is Penny Black 4070F Dreams and the collage image is Magenta 40301P. The background for the collage stamp and sentiment have been coloured with the same TH crushed olive and dusky concord, with a liberal helping of Glimmer Mist sweet clover and pearl. The edges have then been inked with versamark dazzle champagne and embossed with iridescent embossing powder which I also used on the sentiment and collage.

The flowers and butterflies have been coloured with Twinkling H2o's and stickles added. I tied purple glitter cord across the card and made a rose from paper spritzed with Glimmer Mist rum raisin. Finally spotty buttons added to the flower centre and the corner.

A misspent childhood

A semblance of normality is returning and I have even managed a bit of crafting............the shingles in the derriere..........I mean literally.........are hampering things a bit so sitting in short burst, but I've had an overdose of C&C and bursting with ideas I have to get onto paper. Apart from that all patients are progressing nicely.

This week the new 'Fairy Flutterfly' stamps landed from Nikky at Polkadoodles. I have to say I am totally impressed by the quality and wonderful funky feel to the images which are very finely cut and stamp beautifully. At £6.49 a set they brill value........all sets have the fairy, her wings.......which Nikky has very cleverly drawn as butterflies so they have dual use, plus several co-ordinating elements.

My easel card creation fits three challenges, Stamping for the Weekend who would like to see 'Ribbons and Bows', Creative Card Crew who have the theme 'Birthdays' and Cupcake which has the theme of 'Childhood Memories'........this is where the misspent childhood comes in as mine was spent in a fantasy word believing fairies really did live at the end of the garden.........so what's changed, I still do and then as now I talk to butterflies.

This stems from three of my Great Aunts who used to walk with me through the gardens of the beautiful thatched cottage where my maternal grandparents lived and talk to butterflies as we went, referring to them by name. When I questioned this I was told they all had a very special purpose in life and represented the spirits of departed relatives. One of the aunts, Mirrie, was a spiritualist healer and radiated incredible peace and tranquility and from a very young age she always had a very special place in my life.

When she died I was given her engagement ring, it is too fragile to wear regularly but I believe it has a special purpose in my families life and in times of 'need' such as recent events and also special family occasions, Mirries ring comes out and I wear it and place it on a finger of the loved one who is suffering. When our eldest son married last year I gave it to my DIL to wear for their wedding and will do the same to the fiancee of our second eldest son for their wedding next month.

So you will understand why butterflies hold a special meaning to me and why they feature so often on my artwork. You could call me unhinged, but we all need something to believe in, to give us strength and for me this in part is where I draw mine from.

I have used what is probably my favourite of the new stamps of those I have to play with which is called Gracie. I stamped her twice colouring with Copics and stamped her wings onto fantasy film. The DP's are all from Polkadoodles new Paper Boutique CD. The borders are punched with Martha Stewart embossed zig zag, the fairies mat a Nestie run through the Big Shot and the butterfly also a punch with some tied matching ribbon for the thorax. Roses, ribbons, pearls and sickles added to embellish.

Petals and Pearls

Happy Saturday peeps and another challenge at Allsorts.

And this weeks it's my turn to host the challenge and I have come up with the theme of "Petals and Pearls" a perfect way to think about all the lovely Spring blossoms that are bursting into flower. But you all know me, any excuse to use flowers on a project........the guys at Stampalot don't call me 'Botanical Brenda' for nothing I guess.

My card has been created using a new stamp from Magenta 40301P Butterfly Garden which I stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear onto a background created with Glimmer Mists sweet clover and tutti fruitti, two of the new limited edition colours. I coloured the blossoms with Marvy pens and stamped the larger butterfly again to cut out and decoupage. The left wing is not actually part of the stamp, so I drew it it to match the other side which seems to work OK. I tore the edges of the piece and distressed with Tim Holtz peeled paint.

The border is Martha Stewart eyelet lace and the swirls a Sizzix die cut through the Big Shot and finally pearls added to embellish.

Update and candy winner

Thanks for bearing with me folks, sorry this is a few days later than promised, but there have been so many things going on the last few weeks. But there is good news and I am so pleased to tell you that Anysia came home from hospital yesterday.

She has a long way to go, they say 9-12 weeks before she can walk unaided..........yep, that means crutches for the wedding next month, but things will be so much easier for her home with family and more conducive to a speedy recovery and hopefully things can begin to get back to normal for us all.......whatever normal is ?

So, better late than never, I am pleased to announce the winner of my Blogaversary candy is:

Anita

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1 Max: 315

Result: 269

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Congratulations Anita, please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk so I can get your goodies off to you.

Friends and followers candy

Due to current family issues explained in recent posts I am unlikely to have time to deal with drawing the candy as planned so am leaving it to run until 9th April.

To add your name click here:

This is a 'sticky' so please scroll down for new posts.

More Fantasy

Good Morning everyone, it actually looks like Spring 'proper' today, a frost to start with but sunny, so hope it's the same your way.

This is a really quick share of a couple of cards using Lavinia and Art Impression stamps and Tim Holtz Distress Inks and subtle reminder of our Fantasy theme at the brand new Stampalot challenge where the winner of April challenge will receive a Cricut machine.

And an update on Anysia who is doing really well in hospital and had her first test run on crutches yesterday. What a difference a week makes, it's really wonderful. She has been so brave and we are hoping she will be home really soon. Azaria is also OK now, apart from stitches, the only down point........apparently there has to be one, is that I have shingles !

Hedgies and flowers

I have decided I ought to issue a public health warning to anyone reading my blog. As if we were not already spending enough time at hospital, last night saw another visit to A&E. This time granddaughter Azaria (who lives next door) came down the stairs in her usual Olympic gymnast style (despite being told repeatedly for years to slow down) and this time landed a bit too hard. Six stitches to her forehead and a bandaged finger, but she's fine.

I feel a bit guilty doing this post, but we are back to normal visiting hours now that Anysia is stable so can't visit until this afternoon but I can't really get my head round crafting and have been aimlessly wandering round the house, so decided to trawl my gallery to see what I have that might fit some challenges. And have come up with two.

The first is for this weeks Penny Black challenge which is "Check it Out". The hedgie is Penny Black but I don't have the code I'm afraid, coloured with Copics and decoupaged. The border is Martha Stewart doily lace trim, the corners and letters all Sizzix dies. I think this card also fits the current ABC challenge which is "R for Red".

The second card is for this weeks Stamping for the Weekend who have the theme "Ribbons and Bows" and Cupcake challenge who would like to see "make your own flowers". So this card uses a favourite image from Stamps Happen Paris Socialite with the slightest addition of watercolour, some DP from stash which I also used to make the roses, plus ribbons, pearls, a feather and lace added to embellish.

Spring Blooms

Really sorry this is so late folks, what with all that's going on right now and being at the hospital so much blogging has fallen by the wayside.

The last five days seem to have lasted forever and I can't begin to explain how traumatic it has been for the whole family, but most of all our lovely Anysia. But she is stable now and we are just taking things a day at a time. It's going to be a very long road to recovery, but we are so thankful that we still have her, things were nearly so different and does not bear thinking about.

The following blurb was prepared last week, but for whatever reason did not publish yesterday for our new challenge at Allsorts. I have to admit to a certain amount of plagiarism with my card, it's a take on one created by my mate Chris, but as it was her who insisted I 'needed' this stamp Hero Arts CO141, I figure we are quits.

The background was created by randomly stamping the flower with versamark and embossing with detail clear, then distressing with Tim Holtz Wild Honey. I coloured the main flower with Prismacolor pencils, cut the mats with Nesties through the Big Shot and a border using Fiskars threading water punch. The squares are punched out of Bazzil cardstock then buttons and thread added.

By the Cut and Girly April Challenge

Update: Thank you all for your kind comments and mails about Anysia. The op was more complicated than they envisaged and she was in surgery a good part of the day and needs another op, but when she is stronger. She is receiving transfusions and like a robot with all the machines she is linked to, but when we left last night had come round and recognised us all......and asked where her mobile phone was, so we saw that as a positive move in the right direction. Am away to the hospital again now, as although visiting is restricted they are allowing us pretty free access to be with her.

This month at By the Cute and Girly we have several new DT's, so welcome to you all. The theme this month is "Fairytales", a chance for you to get all those fairy any mythical stamps and products out.

Still in 'box' mode I have created yet another box/easel project and a really mystical card with a unicorn. Both use a selection of stamps from Lavinina (link on sidebar), including the unicorn and steps which are amongst their new releases.

The background for the box card was created with Tim Holtz distress inks marigold, sage and mustard seed and the stamping done with versfaine sepia and Big and Juicy spice. The fairy image has been stamped twice and embossed with iridescent powder, cut out and decoupaged. The flowers and leaves are all from Magenta CS043 set and the toadstools are from the Magnolia Tilda range. DP's are My Minds Eye.

The unicorn card has a brayered background using eggplant and Big and Juicy Spice, more Lavinia stamps for the trees and leaves plus a few Art Impression ones and the fence has been drawn in with a fine line black marker pen.

Stampalot challenge April

Good Morning everyone, it's seemed ages coming but at last the day has arrived when we launch our Sir Stampalot challenge.

Our very talented Design Team have come up with some awesome projects for our theme of "Fantasy". And as promised Sir Stampalot are providing a very special prize for our winner........a Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter no less plus a Pooh font cartridge......... plus we will be selecting our Top 3 who will be able to display our special blinkie.

My project is a box card, using shades of blue, a colour I don't work with that often, but somehow I felt it matched what I was trying to depict. The background was brayered and masked with Big and Juice waterfall. The fairy called Fairy Dust is from Lavinia stamps inked with versamark and embossed with iridescent. I rolled the brayer over the stamp to pick up the image and create a reflection in the water. The cherry blossom and flowers across the bottom are from Magenta CS-043 and the grass and reeds Art Impression. DP is Basic Grey. The tiny fairy at the bottom flap - which folds down - was stamped onto shrinky and colored with Brilliance inks.

A footnote: As you might guess this post was scheduled but though I would add this bit to tell you that this little box has just found a home. Anysia who is studying Equine Husbandry at Cambridge.........I have shared pictures of her riding.......had a bad fall yesterday and has a broken femur.

They could not operate until the swelling reduced and bleeding stopped. But she is in surgery now and they say it will be about three hours before she comes back up, so have popped home to get some bits for her and collect the fairy box which will give her something to look at instead of flowers.......the hospital does not allow them. She is going to be in hospital most of Easter, so I may not be about much, but there are a few scheduled posts to go up.