Jelly belly and a stormy sky

Good Morning, it's a wee bit blustery here and a coat colder, we had a minus 4 frost again which goes against the grain of what the weather men forecast.

I am still waiting for my test results, but we are close to the ten days they said and my tummy turns to jelly every time there is a phone call for me. I just hope they don't keep me waiting much longer because I just can't concentrate and everything I try and create ends up in the bin at the moment, so this is a share of a sample card I did for Stampalot a couple of weeks ago using the Andy Skinner A Winters Tale set.

I stamped the tree with black archival ink and brayered another in reverse for the reflection in the water................this tree is really a bit big for that technique I think as the water looks to be a bit excessive to me. Next I sponged Adirondack eggplant and sunset orange and TH tumbled glass and finally stamped Art Impression worker stamps along the shoreline.

Have a good day everyone and thank's for dropping by.

Molly Blooms ready for Christmas

Saturday morning can only mean one thing, a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Helen would like us to use Pennants on our work.

Now this did create confusion with one or two of us as it seems Pennants in Sweden where Helen lives are what we call bunting, which in Sweden are larger flags. But I think we got there in the end.

I have used some of the lovely Kaiser December 25th DP to create a frame using my Nesties Fleur de Lis squares and a sentiment in the centre Stampendous CRQ146. I have coloured Molly with Aquamarkers and stamped the Molly Blooms bunting onto the same DP and cut out. The back panel is Coredinations embossed with a Sizzix folder and sanded down.

Fishing in the moonlight

Good Morning peeps tis I, released from captivity and so nice to sleep in my own bed, how you are meant to do so in hospital I shall ever know, the place never rests. They have told me it will be ten days until I get my results as it takes that long for the recordings to be analysed and the cardiologist to asses, so a little bit of a fretful wait.

Just the one share today of something I made a few weeks ago, using Stampscape stamps a the little boat from Stamp Addicts on the water set and Adirondack dye inks which I sponger rather than brayered this time. I also added a little white with a pen here and there to highlight the trees and grasses.

Hope you all have a good day, I need to get my head together at work and clear my desk of a few files, then hopefully later some crafting.

December Candy

Hello again everyone, some candy for you, a full set of Walnut Holly materials and tools plus some Promarkers which colour the soft metal beautifully. It's something that's really great for making cards that are a little bit different and sooooooo good for male cards where you want something a little less 'frilly'.

Here are the simple rules and as you will know from the winners post below, I DO check that the names pulled out have followed them.........................

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 21st December. 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.

Good luck everyone......................and keep a look out as I will be having a few 'spot' candy prizes in normal posts here and there over the next week or two.

Beautiful new digi image printed on vellum

Hello all, another scheduled post as I don't anticipate being allowed to cut and run from hospital for a couple of days, but I really wanted to make sure I shared this beautiful Christmas Rose from the pen of my friend Ruth. You will find it here at a Passion for Stamps.

It is such a delicate flower and as they are usually white, sometimes with a ting of pink and with a yellow centre, vellum immediately came to mind. So with detail clear embossing powder at the ready, I printed the images off onto Pergamano and tossed the powder on as it came through the printed and hey presto, it worked a treat.

All I did the was colour with Aquamarkers on the reverse and run a ball tool over the back and quite like the soft feel of it. I printed out a second image for the top card and cut out just the flowers, used a Spellbiner frame, the border is also from Spellbinders, the holly motifs set, the DP Nitwits and I added some Liquid Pearls to the flower centres. 

The second card is also on vellum and coloured the same way, I used an old JudiKins stamp on the base card and cut out the image with Nesties Fleur de Lis square.................yep, the vellum did tear, hence the seam binding bow and pin.......what do they call it, a 'happy accident'.

Do pop over to Ruth's store as she has several new Christmas images.

A crane takes flight

Good Morning everyone, well I hope it will be when this pops up as I am scheduling it as by now I should be checked into hospital and become robotic linked up to machines and a "probe".....don't much like the sound of that bit.........monitoring my hearts activity for a couple of days. To say I am petrified is an understatement, not so much by the tests, more by what they may find, although they have already told me it will be a few days before I get all the results as they need to be "analysed". And being removed from my craft desk and computer will be a huge wrench, so I guess I will have to be a virtual crafter and dream cards for a while.

My share for today is one of the samples I have just finished for Sue of Animal Spirit stamps, this one uses the lovely Crane stamp and I have combined it with a bit of inking and brayering. I stuck with two colours of Adirondack dye ink, butterscotch and hazelnut. The trees are Inkylicious as is the sentiment. I stamped the crane onto Copic cardstock and coloured with Copics.

Hope you all have a good day and as always, thank you so much for dropping by.

Winter sunset in the Fens

A very Good Morning to you all, it's time for me to share my DT card for our new challenge at Allsorts where the theme is 'A One Layer' Project.

The theme was chosen by Amanda who recently left the team, so I have picked it up and although I didn't choose the theme it's one I really like as it gives me the perfect opportunity to do a bit of masking an inking and create one of the little scene I so enjoy creating. In fact I made two, hubby preferred the one with the vivid orange sky which is typical of a winter sunset here in the Fens when the sky looks almost on fire at times, in fact it could be the scene right outside my kitchen window many evenings right down to the gate and barn. I was split between the two so am sharing both.

For both cards I masked the edges of a piece of Fabriano watercolour card before stamping and colouring to give the effect of matting but maintaining the one layer requirement.

The one at the top uses the Andy Skinner A Winters Tale set, plus some Art Impression grasses which I stamped with Archival Sepia ink, then added the colour using cut and dry and Adirondack dye inks sunset orange, eggplant, pebble and pesto. Finally a bit of glitter here and there...................it's a very frosty evening you see.

My second card uses one of Sheena Douglass's new waterside stamps, plus some Art Impression worker stamps all stamped with Archival sepia, the sponged over with Adirondack dye inks butterscotch, denim and pesto. The little man and his dog are a Stampscpaes stamp.

I hope you all have a good weekend and thank you so much for popping by.

Penny Black candy and another DT challenge

I'm back again with the second of the challenges I set the Design Team at Penny Black and More.

Before I tell you about that, I need to tell you that we are having a little mid month giveaway. A name will be selected from all the new followers to Penny Black and More who sign up between today and 4th December. I have popped a picture of the lovely Penny Black giveaway on the challenge blog.

I called this kit "Merry Christmas" and thought it would be an ideal theme as we roll along................rather quickly it seems...............towards December.

Again the DT came up with a wonderful array of inspiration and so many different takes on the the me and I think it's fair to say they all really enjoyed the challenges and it's definitely something we will do again.

Kit included 3 sheets Echo Park DP (various patterns but all from the same colour family), Bazzil Basic, 1M red organza ribbon, 2 decorative pins, MS punched holly, 1 vellum roses cut with a Marianne die, Card base cut with Grand Nesties Labels 23, Red nailheads.

In addition to the kit items, I used Penny Black 4208K Christmas Narrative as my image which I stamped onto a piece of my DP and stamped the flower again onto another piece and decoupaged. I ran the piece of Bazzil through the Big Shot Pro using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and distressed it with a sanding block.

Hope was Born

Good afternoon peeps, I hope everyone is OK and had a good weekend.

I am trying to play catchup here, get all my office files up to date and schedule some posts for next week as Monday is the re-scheduled date for me to go into hospital for them to check out my heart. Not looking forward to it one bit and needless to say more than a little terrified, but I can't stay in my comfort bubble forever and need to get it done.

Both of these shares are using Ruth's new Poinsettia image which you will find at A Passion for Stamps. They really are one of my favourite Winter flowers so the ideas just came rolling when Ruth sent me this one and I've made quite a few with it so far and more to come.

The black and white on is one of those you make and ticks all the right boxes, so I ended up making about of dozen for special people at Christmas. I printed the image out twice and covered with Stamp 'n Bond, heated then added crystal glitter, cutting some petals away from the  second image to decoupage. The panel are embossed with a Sizzix trellis folder and black gems added here and there. The fancy mat under the flower is from the Spellbinders Holly set and the card itself and mats cut with Nesties labels 23.

For the flower on the second card I printed the poinsettia twice onto the reverse side of the Echo Park DP and threw detail gold embossing powder onto it literally as it came through the printer before the ink could dry properly.................bit of a dodgy manoeuvre and I am certain one day I will miss the paper and it will all disappear into the printer mechanism. But until then I quite like the technique.

The sentiment is my favourite this Christmas, Penny Black 3227K Hope ...............I did give advance warning weeks ago that this one would keep popping up, embossed in gold and the sponged with TH broken china to carry the colour of the reverse of the DP. The holly border is from the same Spellbinder set as the card above and the leaves also Spellbinders. The frame is Nestie Fleur de Lis.

Not another easel card..............

..........I hear you say............I really wonder if I will ever tire of them.

Anyhow, I had better tell you about our new challenge at Allsorts and this week my teamie Nicola would like to see Black and White plus One.

I love using pink with black and white, you need so little to really make your card pop. I have used all Hero Arts stamps and stamped the main image twice, one onto black cardstock and embossed with detail while and again onto white cardstock using verafine black and detail clear embossing powder....I find that option gives a much cleaner look than using a clear ink and black embossing powder which invariably shifts to places you don't want it. Next I cut both in half and used one of each and butted them together to get the two tone piece. I stamped the flowers a second time and decoupaged. The DP is from stash and no idea whatsoever the make.

Enjoy your weekend and thank you so much for popping by.

Yet more inky fingers

Good Morning Peeps, just having a coffee break so thought I would do a quick post with a couple of shares and some inky fun.

It's pretty miserable weather here in the Fens still, typical November and getting decent photos is almost impossible as that glimmer of sunshine never arrives so these piccies are not as I would like, but I know we are all having the same problems.

For the one above I sponged Adirondack dye inks sunshine yellow and watermelon and TH distress ink broken china and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl, then lifted some of the ink to create a watery sun and stamped over that with a Clarity stamp using Adrondack pebble to give a soft feel. Next I stamped some grasses in black from the Andy Skinner Winter Tale sheet and then Penny Black 3381K Aspire using versamark and detail gold embossing powder. I cut the finished piece into six and mounted onto gold mirri card.

The above card is one I did at my Stampalot demo last week and very similar to one I shared a couple of weeks ago, but this time using Art Impression trees and Hobby Art cows. The background is brayered with Adirondack shy blue, denim, lettuce and meadow. The poem is computer generated an the fence hand drawn with a fine nib black pen.

New challenges and mega prizes

Good Morning Peeps, it's the first Sunday of the month and for those of you who missed the announcements last month, it's the day we are launching challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More in future.

Plus it's also the first month of the new style challenge at Penny Black and More where we have opened up the entry criteria to enable more of you to join in the fun. Do pop over to the challenge blog and check it all out. And of course, there are super prizes on offer at both challenges.

The them at Stampalot this month is Blue and Green................despite my Granny always telling me "blue and green should never be seen", I have to disagree as I think the two colours coordinate beautifully. So much so that I made two cards for my DT pieces this month. The one at the top used the lovely Fairy Queen Stampandous SSC1123, stamped onto a brayered gloss card background and coloured with Copics. The roses are made from hand cut spirals and the DP is from stash.

How's this for service.........I saw the Fairy Queen stamp pop up on Sir Stampalots What's New section, so immediately rang Janice to say please keep me one and the answer I got was "already reserved, ordered it because I knew you would want it". I came up with a good few samples using this one, it's right up my street.

My second blue and green card used more old DP from stash, a poinsettia cut using the new Spellbinders dies, the holly Spellbinders Christmas accents and the sentiment Penny Black 3227K Hope is Born ...........I did warn you this one would be popping up time and again.

Two DT pieces for Penny Black and More as well, the one above using this so cure little lad and his dog Penny Black 40-020 , coloured with Aquamarkers, some Kraft card and DP also from stash.

And finally, another image I love, mine is, as you will realise from the code, a really old PB stamp 1380K although this year they re-introduced it as a cling stamp. Coloured with Aquamarkers, Nitwits DP and MS garden trellis punch along with a Sizzix corner die.

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for popping my, I really do appreciate all your comments.

Animal Spirits share

Good Morning peeps, this weeks theme at Allsorts has been chosen by my teamie Jill and she would like us to make 'Anything but a Square'.

So I thought I would share one of the samples I recently did for Sue, the talented artist behind Animal Spirits Stamps. You can buy the stamps direct from Sue's US website or in the UK from Sir Stampalot.

Out came the Grand Nesties Labels 23, I just love the shape of these ones and now I have my Bog Shot Pro cutting the large ones is a doddle.............I probably didn't mention.............dare not really as I recently killed off my second Big Shop Express, so I decided to go the whole hog and go for the Big Boy.

My image is stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, then coloured with Copics. The DP is October Afternoon, the roses cut from the same DP using a Marianne die and the leaves cut from hessian and coloured with TH inks. The sentiment is computer generated.

If you are having a fireworks party, enjoy and take care.

A Passion for Stamps new Christmas images

Good Morning, it's a tad chilly here and I can see white tips on the grass so another frost by the look of things which is sure to bring more leaves tumbling off the trees, but the Autumnal colours are still so beautiful and I could make cards on that theme all year, but I need to get a grip on Christmas.

So it's just as well that my good friend Ruth at A Passion for Stamps has been busy with her pencil again and  created some lovely new images, here are a couple I came up with using her new Poinsettia and Holly images.

The red and green one uses the holly and poinsettia images printed twice onto Farbiano watercolour card, coloured with Aquamarkers and decoupaged. The sentiment is Stampandous CRQ146 and the DP Kaiser 25th December collection.

For the blue card I printed the poinsettia image onto pearlescent cardstock and pored detail gold embossing powder over it quickly so I could heat emboss and was really pleased with how well it showed up the lovely detail of the image. The DP is Magnolia and the sentiment Penny Black 3995F.