Just a few more peeks

As promised, just a few more scheduled sneak peeks of some of the samples I made for Stamp Addicts Create and Craft programme today which is going out live at 12 noon.

All going to plan we are in Barcelona and will set sail tea time today for twelve days sailing round the Med and Black Sea, fingers crossed warm weather and calm seas, although I'm not adverse to a bit of choppy weather, it usually means the shops and dining rooms are quieter...............could be I just have a cast iron stomach, or as has been suggested by those who shall remain nameless, the volume of bubbles I consume balances out my normally unstable gait......could be a remedy there ?

I was running rather short of time when I schedules this one, so hope you will forgive if my descriptions are brief and I direct you to the thumbnails before for the products used.

The yellow and black card at the top is some of my normal masking and inking and the obligatory sun, I rather like the quirky row of buildings which remind me of the Baroque style of so many squares in Venice. 

The blow and brown one uses the same swirly flourish in one my samples a couple of days ago, but used to create a frame, then some little flowers from the background stamp sheet stamped and decoupaged.

The above card uses the lovely Victoriana lady again, this time stamped in black dye ink and coloured with Copics. The side flourish is another from the background set.

And finally, the corner stamp used to created a circle......don't even ask how many trial runs I did to get the spacing right and the patterns to join up. I stamped in black and embossed in detail clear and used some Spellbinders for the background and yet another organza bow.

Sneak Peeks

By the magic of Blogger........................well I am certainly hoping so as we should be on the way to Paris for a couple of days before we get the sleeper train tomorrow evening to Barcelona to board the boat Thursday lunchtime. And I am secretly hoping, as our train arrives in Barca at breakfast time, we will be able to fit in a quick trip to the Nou Camp, it's the largest football stadium in Europe and each trip before nobody has been interested enough to visit............... or perhaps I am just a real saddo ?

I would like to share some of the samples I made for Stamp Addicts next programme on Create and Craft TV which has been moved forward to Thursday 31st May at noon. I thoroughly enjoyed working with these new stamp sheets, there are some lovely Vintage images along with a sheet of lovely background stamps which also fit the same era really well. I only had a few days to make my samples, had I had longer I could have happily kept going.

The grey and yellow one at the top uses one of the beautiful swirly stamps from the background sheet, which I inked with TH distress markers.......I love how they allow you to colour even the finest detail on stamps without the colours bleeding when you spritz with water, as I did here before stamping. As usual all 'ingredients' can be found on the thumbnails below. I am really into this colour combo at the moment and the card was the perfect opportunity to make another of my organza roses............I know quite a lot of peeps have asked for a tutorial and I will get one done as soon as possible as I realise although they make them on C&C sometimes, not everyone has access to the shows.

My second share used this gorgeous Victoriana lady, she is so lovely makes a card on her own. I stamped the upper section of the base card with one of the background stamps using distress ink and the bottom half some DP and an die cut overlay and some die cut roses and leaves. I stamped the main image with archival sepia and coloured lightly with watercolours.

This card is really quite simple, but the chandelier image makes a statement on it's own.  So some simple matted and layered panels and liquid pearls.

My final card.......................you know there had to be some brayering and inking somewhere, used the house image from another of the stamp sheets, it's quite a large stamp which I stamped with archival sepia again, then added a little scene and a masked sun and path using dye inks and sponged rays of sun.

Thanks so much for calling by and I hope you have a good Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Allsorts

Today is our third Birthday at Allsorts, so of course we are Going to have a little celebration. It's hard to believe it's three years, Allsorts was my very first DT spot when I was really new to the world of bloGland and here we are three years on with one of the most popular challenges around and this has only been achieved because of the continued support of our lovely fellow crafters and wonderful sponsors.

For my first DT piece I have Gone all inky.................just for a change I hear you say.............with a backGround created using lemonade and peacock from the Spring TH distress ink set, some Glimmer mist sprayed over to bleed the colours a little, TH stamp set and bird in a cage die. I stamped the text randomly using the third Generation ink to achieve a more faded effect and butterflies from the same stamp set. The birdcage has some Frantage embossing powder added here and there to Get it a bit of an aged feel and I did the same to the butterflies which have been decoupaged. The three labels are taken from the stamp set as well.

My second DT piece is using Ruth at A Passion for Stamps lovely Iris imaGe which I have paper pieced using Bo Bunny DP, along with the pretty lattice, some die cut flowers and a computer generated sentiment. If you would like to buy this or any of Ruth's other lovely imaGes, just click on the picture below.

Now for the bloG hop and you should have arrived here from Debs bloG and now move on to Nicola, but if you Get lost you can always Go back to the challenge blog and start afresh. Once you have collected all the letters include the one 'hidden' in this post you need to sort them into the secret word and mail your answer to Emma (not me this time because I am going on my holibobs) metalicbutterfly@hotmail.co.uk so you are in the draw for another prize. Here is what the winner from my bloG will received.....................

As I am off on holiday in a few days time I won't be able to do the draw for my winner until I get home, so I will post it as soon as possible after 12th June.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thanks so much for calling by.

Running oh so late

Good Morning Peeps, I thought I had better get a quick post done to show I really am still here, I am so all behind where I wanted to be by now and could do with an eight day week. I've had my head down working on samples for Stamp Addicts new Create and Craft show on...........just amended, now a couple of days earlier the 31st May.......can't share just yet, but will schedule some shares for when we are on holiday, so for now just a mega quick post with a couple of shares using Timmy's Papillion stamps set.

The top one very simple using some masking and inking, the second one a bit more messy and grungy again using distress inks and the same stamp set.

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone, hubby assures me the suns going to make an appearance today, time will tell as they say.

Buttons and Bows

Before I tell you about this weeks new challenge at Allsorts I need to apologise I've been so tardy in my blogging this week, but I hope to get to you all over the weekend. Booking late holidays is great but I overlooked how much I would need to pack in, I've spent extra time in the office getting all my client files up to speed along with some late night crafting to get DT work sorted, but I think I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This week my teami Deb's would like to see Buttons and Bows on our work, how lovely is that. My DT card is one of the samples I made for Stamp Addicts latest programme on Create and Craft using the lovely floral stamp sheets along with Timmy's fab distress markers.........well they are mine really but his great idea.

Yes another of my organza bows, I so love making these, some simple matting and layering and finito. All the 'ingredients' I used can be found below.

Whatever you have planned, I hope you have a super weekend and promise I will get to you all shortly.

The sweet smell of May blossom

Well I don't know what to say really because the sun looks to be shining at the moment, but we had rain the last couple of days again and really heavy at times. What a contract to this time last year when it was so dry that the grass just didn't grow and the price of hay went sky high, this year it's growing like a triffid but at this rate it will be wet to cut and turn. Do you get the impression I'm getting paranoid and fed up with the weather ?

So much so that I had a morning of total insanity when the travel agent rang up to say they had a "not to be missed deal" which of course I dismissed until I took a proper look. The upshot is we are off on holiday in two weeks time, never ever have we booked so close to departure, but the travel agent was right and it was a phenomenal deal. There was no choice about cabins, just the one going cheap, but it's a suite in a great deck location and like last year all bubbles included.....yep the ones out of popping bottles. So we head off to Barcelona first, a couple of French ports, Florence, Roma, Athens a couple of Greek Islands and home via Venice. I can never get enough of Roma and Venice and can't wait, not to mention giving my scooter a bit of a challenge.

All of my shares today are DT cards made for Ruth at A Passions for Stamps and there are links to all the images in the thumbnails below.

The one at the top uses the Rhododendron image, printed out quite a few times and cut down to decoupage, an embossed background and a bow and beaded stick pin to embellish. I've only just realised I've used the same PB sentiment on two of these cards, could be I rather like it !

My second card is very simple, the beautiful Hawthorn.........which I just adore when it comes into boom this month around the paddocks with it's heady perfume............printed into linen cardstock, coloured with watercolours pencils and a punched border top and bottom.

And my third share............which I notice has a wonky leaf in the picture but promise it's put right now on the card...............using the honeysuckle image, again coloured with watercolour pencils, a border die and some die cut roses and another PB sentiment.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your Thursday and as always I really appreciate your visits.

Flowers and Footie

Good Morning Peeps, hope you all had a good weekend. At least the rain stopped her for a couple of days but it's back to normal again now and been pouring since the middle of the night.

I had an eventful outing with my new mobility scooter yesterday, we decided it would be sensible to find out exactly how long the battery lasted, I had already used it for a couple of hours last weekend, so set off to Peterborough to do a bit of shopping, upgrade my phone and call into a certain craft shop to drop off some samples and have a coffee..............yes Sir Stampalot of course.

We spent an hour or so in Queensgate Shopping Centre, then headed off across town to the other M&S clothes store. Spent another hour there, hubby went off to another floor to get a couple of new cases and said he would meet me at the checkout. Silly idea, there are five checkouts on the two floors and despite trawling the whole store he was nowhere to be found, at which point the low batter signal came on, so I hastily paid for my goodies and went downstairs to see if he was waiting by the main doors..............sorry it's a long story, hope you are still with me. 

He was nowhere in sight, so next I went to check if he was on the seats outside but came to a halt on the pavement..................you got it, the battery expired. So a quick learning curve on the new phone and I got hold of him and I can only assume he turned into the invisible man as he maintains he was still waiting at a checkout.......in ladies lingerie no less !!!! So the upshot of the story is he had to push me back through M&S, two large cases in tow and leave me at the rear of the store whilst he went back to the other end of town to get the car. At least I know the batter lasts about five hours.

So a few quick shares and I thought I would enter a few challenges for a change. The card at the top is a nice bit of inky indulgence, a mixture of stamps........all listed below, ink dusting for the background and some seam binding. This card is my entry for the following challenges:

Pretty Little Ribbons - Blossoms and Butterflies

Craft a Scene - Spring Flowers
Paper Sundaes - Things with Wings
By the Cute and Girlie - Spring is in the Air

I think the expression on the image of my second card just about sums up our season, somewhat frustrating, but at least we won the Carling Cup so have some silverware on the cabinet and will be in Europe next season. It's one of my recent DT cards for Stamp Addicts using their fun sportsmen stamps. I thought it would be perfect for this challenge:

Pan Pastels - Sports

And finally, one of the sample I dropped into Stampalot yesterday using some lovely new dies and matching stamps which I have been very lucky to be working with the last week, thanks Janice. The stamps are sized to fit the arch doors perfectly, then there is the larger Chateau Gate stamps which also coordinates with the dies, I will share some using that shortly. The vine also come in the set of dies and I made the tiny roses with a punch. I would like to enter this card for the following challenge:

Order of the Opus Gluie - Beyond the Garden Gate

Have a lovely day everyone and thanks so much for visiting me.

Fishing by the moonlight

Good Morning everyone, Saturday means time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Helene would love to see your cards for the guys.

I have had a inky dabble with my Stampscape images, all items are listed below. I stamped the mountains first, then covered with a mask and, another mask for the moon which I laid part way over the mountains to give the appearance it was just rising then brayered and sponged the sky. Next I stamped the trees and rocks, added the fisherman and some fauna at the front and a bit more sponging to create reflections.

Have a super weekend and thanks so much for calling by.

Floral Bloom

How's everyone's week going, well I hope ?

I'm back as promised with a couple more shares of samples I made for tomorrows Stamp Addicts programme on Create and Craft at Noon, this time using the Wildflowers stamp set and the Floral Bloom stamp which is a particular favourite of mine.

The top card was created by masking a piece of watercolour card, the shading the aperture with distress inks and ink dusters. The image was then stamped over, slightly off set with the masking tape still in place.

The second card was created with a mixture of different Spellbinders and the dandelion stamped onto a circle of shrink plastic.

Hope your day goes well.

Quintessentially British

Good Morning Peeps, hope you all are all having a lovely bank holiday weekend.

My new set of wheels got an outing Saturday when we spend a lovely couple of hours at a local garden centre, bought a few more shrubs for the garden..................it's a bit like Pandoras Box, we can always find a hole for a dozen or so and still there is room for more. 

I though I would share a couple of samples I made for Stamp Addicts new programme which you can see on Create and Craft this Thursday 10th May at Noon. I have been working with the Wildflower set and this new Time for Tea set, I will share a few from the wildflowers tomorrow.

You can find all the stamp sets on the What's New section of Stamp Addicts web site by clicking on the thumbnail links below.

Have a good day everyone and as always thank you so much for popping in to visit.

London 2012

A very Good Morning everyone, the first Sunday of the month means time for new challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More and at both we are celebrating the upcoming events here in the UK, the Olympics which is totally global and the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen.

Penny Black launched a great collection of stamps to commemorate the London events and all the stamps I have used for my DT pieces are from that collection.

To create the card at the top I masked a piece of Fabriano watercolour card top and bottom and used ink dusters to achieve the graduated colour and then simply stamped the image and picked out a couple of elements to colour with watercolour pencils.

For my second card I stamped the images and again used watercolour pencils and mounted the three panels onto some red bazzil. The base piece was embossed using coredinations, then sanded down , added some swirls and a flower I made from organza ribbon.

I'm not terrible happy with my third card because I found it so hard to depict the surroundings of St Paul's Cathedral. I looked at loads of pictures I took ages ago when we visited and yes it does have a tree to the left and yes, it does have a wall, but somehow it's not quite right and I have to admit I gave up after the fourth attempt. And of course whilst the spires and parapets are pretty accurate, the front door seems to be missing from the stamp, so this one is very much artistic licence.

I do hope you will join in the challenges this month and show us your version of the London events of Summer 2012.

I am entering the top card into this weeks:

Pans Pastels challenge with the theme Anything Goes

My new 'wheels'

It's Saturday morning which can mean only one thing, a new challenge at Allsorts and this week the lovely Jo would like to see 'Black and White' projects, so I am one happy bunny as I love working with that colour combo.

But first I want to share a picture of my new mobility scooter, is it neat or what ? Certainly not the cheapest on the market, but it's so natty as it folds into itself and fits my little boot a treat...............and there's still room from a bag or two shopping, so what more could a girl ask for.

Daisy seems to think it's a new play thing and had great fun chasing it up and down the path on it's test runs yesterday and took up her place as unofficial guardian of the scooter....or could be she's just a poser. But with her sitting next to it you can get a pretty good idea just how compact it is....................and take note no basket, those silly plastic things on most of the mobility scooters just freak me.

Now my DT card and unusually for me there's no stamping, instead quite a lot of die cuts. I started by sticking a piece of DP onto some white cardstock to give it more rigidity before cutting the aperture. I stuck pieces of very narrow black card onto the reverse to create a lattice effect and mounted onto a piece of white linen cardstock and the a black base card. I added leaves and swirls, a rose made from organza ribbon and stick pin, quite a simple card but quite effective I think.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Shabby Chic ?

Morning to you all, hows' your week going ? Mine seems to have been disappearing before I know it, I'm so behind with blogging, but promise I will be catching up with you all very shortly.

Some of you may have seen the fabulous card Ruth from A Passion for Stamps made at the weekend as her GDT piece for Allsorts challenge. I absolutely loved what she made, the colours and sheer originality and thought I would case the lacy mannequin principal as I knew two of the girls would love it. So I set about making two, a pink and a purple one in their favourite colours, but taking in some inking and stamping to create on of my favourite messy backgrounds.

Two cards finished I mailed them off to Ruth with the firm understanding that they were not for the gallery or blog use, just to say thank you for the inspiration. Ruth however wanted to add them to her gallery so we struck a deal and here I am blogging them.

Two along the same lines, using the same TH Papillion stamp set, distress inks and glimmers mist for the background, roses made using a five petal punch and copier paper and butterflies from the stamp set covered with glossy accents.

I've never been completely sure what fits the Shabby Chic category but thought these may be close, let me know. I am entering this into:

Simon Says Challenge - Anything goes
LEJ Designs - Anything goes

Have a good Wednesday everyone and I really hope those of you in the UK see a bit of sun for a change.