Off to climb Everest

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

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

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...........

........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

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

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

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.

Booooooooooo

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

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

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

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 ?

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 !

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..........

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

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

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.