Yet more poppies

Good morning everyone, I've been a bit missing from blog land for a few days as I'm struggling with the dreaded flu and as it is normally the case my compromised immune system means it takes me forever to shake it off. So apologies I've been rubbish at visiting lately, hopefully I will feel up to it in a day or so.

But I do have a couple of shares for you, more of the samples I created for the Create and Craft show with Stamp Addicts this coming Thursday at 4pm and 7pm. Don't forget to watch out for the show as I know there will be lots of inspiration from Sarah and Vicky.

Apart from the coredinations die cut frame and swirl and a bit of sanding down, I did little more to the top card as the poppies which I coloured with Copics says it all. The poppies around the side were made using the TH tattered floral die.

It seems ages since I made an easel card so I thought it was time I did, stamped music randomly on the background then stamped the poppy and coloured with Pan Pastels. The base has the smaller poppy stamp which is part of the set stamped with versafine and dusted with the same colour Pans. Some ruffled ribbon, the same swirl and a Magnolia butterfly............... and that is as close as I'll ever get to a Tilda.

Hope you have a good Tuesday.

Troubled skies

It is time for me to share my second piece for the month at Craft a Scene challenge were our theme is troubled skies. 

There are lots of ways you can depict a troubled sky, but for me it immediately said lightning, initially I found it difficult to get the lightning to show up but after the fourth type of white pen it eventually worked reasonably well.

Stamps used are a mixture of Art Impressions, Andy Skinner, Inkylicious, Chocolate Baroque and Memory Box and all colouring and shading has been done with Pan Pastels. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everybody.

Bring on the bling and winners

It's all about glitter and sparkle at Allsorts challenge is week where the theme is 'Bring on the Bling'.

I'm not really big into bling and the closest I usually get is a few gems down the thorax of a butterfly although I do rather like my Frantage which I guess is blingy in its own way so that's the basis of my card, along with stamp from this weeks sponsor Flonz Craft.

I stamped the vintage birds and embossed with detail clear and place them inside a spellbinder die from the Chateaux Gates set. I randomly added Frantage around the frame and also the background piece which I also stamped with Baroque corners also from our sponsor. The great thing about Frantage is you can't really go wrong with it in fact the more random is the better it looks. The branch is a TH Alterations die as are the pinecones.

And as promised the four people who have won a set of the beaded pins in my post last weekend:

Eline -Elines Blogg

Laura - Lozadoodle

Lorraine - Colwaters 2

Cebelica - My Little World

Congratulations to your all, please mail me with your full names and postal addy so I can send you gifts off to you.

Have a lovely weekend everybody.

Poppy Passion

Good morning everybody.

Thank you for your very kind comments about my Pan Pastel Q & A post earlier this week and pleased some of you found it useful. I was a tad thrilled to receive a mail from Pan Pastels themselves asking if they could use it on one of their mixed media artist sites, so I figure it must be OK. I think I've answered all your e.mails about them, but if I have forgotten anybody just give me a dig in the ribs to remind me. 

I fully intended sharing a few more cards that I made yesterday using Pans, but the weather has been so atrocious it's been impossible to get decent photos as even in the middle of the day it's been like midnight. So instead here are a couple of samples I made for Stamp Addicts next programme on Create and Craft TV a week today, that's 29 November at 4pm and 7pm.

I've actually had the stamps a few weeks as Sarah gave them to me when I did my last demo there and it's been so hard keeping the poppies in particular under wraps, you know how much I love my poppies and I know it's a passion shared with lots of my crafty friends, so I'm taking no blame if you 'have' to buy them.

The card at the top of my post has been simply stamped twice with black archival ink and coloured with Pan Pastels, Bo Bunny DP. seed beads in the centre of the poppies and some ribbon and bow to embellish.

The second card is a bit of inky indulgence, background stamping, colouring with watercolours and rather a lot of Frantage around the edges, I think this one is Aged Spice. I also threw in a Tim Holt's clock die cut from coredinations and sanded down.

Have a good Thursday and many thanks for dropping in to see what I'm up.

Pan Pastels questions answered

Good morning Peeps, although looking out the window is not so good out there, it's been throwing it down all night and the winds been "blowing like a good un" as we say here in the Fens.

Welcome to my new followers and thank you to everybody for your comments and don't forget everyone  who leaves a comment this week (or comments - each one will go in the draw) will all be going into the pot for my draw at the end of the week for the four sets of beaded pins here. 

I had a very indulgent crafty weekend and thought I would share a couple of the finished projects. With the exception of the Lavinia bulrushes and Art Impressions geese, everything else is Stampscapes and all colouring has been done with Pan Pastels.

On the subject of Pan Pastels, I've had an awful lot of questions about using them and whilst I don't confess to be an expert by any means, I thought it might help if I try to cover a few which seem to come up frequently, based on my own experiences of using them.

(Note added, you will also find my Pan Pastel Q&A on the company's web site and Facebook page).

Q) Do you need to seal/set them ? 

A) As far as I'm concerned the answer is no and I know that's also the view of Kay from Indigo Blue which is good enough for me. I've been using them in both demos and for personal use for several months now and not one of my samples has shown any sign of the Pans shifting and they have been well handled in that time. In fact when I finish a piece I always rub over it with gentle pressure using a piece of kitchen roll and that seems to help fix them in place.

Q) What cardstock is it best to use ?

A) Although they will work to some degree on most surfaces, those with a little texture are preferable in my experience. To give an idea the top card was done on to the reverse side of Centura Pearl which has enough texture to grab the Pans nicely and the bottom card is Lavinia mat card stock and because it has a much smoother surface you get a softer feel from the Pans. Watercolour card also works very nicely and I think the only card stock I found which doesn't is very smooth stock such as Clarity card because there is no surface to hold them.

Q) Do they work for resist techniques ?

A) Absolutely beautifully and this is where smooth card stock is the exception to the rule above as the ink provides a surface to grab the Pans. When I do resist technique I still give the finished piece a wipe over with a piece of kitchen towel.

Q) Aren't they just like chalks ?

A) This is probably the most common question I been asked and the answer is most certainly not, although I'll admit before I tried them I was guilty of thinking the same. They are highly pigmented, very hard and extremely smooth and that is why they blend so seamlessly.

Q) If I add to much and the colour is too dark have I ruined my piece of artwork ?

A) Absolutely not and this is again where they differ from any other medium because you can just rub it out  with a regular rubber and start again and there are no tell-tale marks left from the error.

Q) Can they be applied with make up sponges ?

A) I thought so initially, but have since invested in the proper Sofft sponges and although they are not cheap allow you to achieve the seamless blending effortlessly. 

Q) How long will they last ?

A) An awfully long while, I have used mine repeatedly over several months now and there is not even a visible dent in the surface. An inkpad given that volume of use would be fading by now.

Q) What process do you follow to create your cards ?

A) I stamp the main elements of my card or scene with archival ink, much the same as when brayering and then add the pans.

Q) Is it an easier technique than brayering ?

A) In my view most definitely as there is less chance of error and as explained above they can be erased. I still follow the same technique creating hills, clouds and shading using the torn paper technique but you have far more control adding Pans than with a brayer.

I'm sure I haven't covered everything by any means, I have just tried to think of the questions I get asked most often so if there is anything specific you want to know please just drop me a mail and I'll be happy to try and help.

Take flight

A very good morning to all, first of all welcome to my new followers and of course all of the existing ones who regularly pop in, I really do appreciate your visits. 

In case you didn't see my post yesterday, I've got some little giveaway's up for grabs, all you need to do is leave me a comment on this or any of my posts during the week and I will be announcing the winners next Saturday.

I've got three shares for you today with my mid month pieces for Stamping Sensations where this month's theme is 'Traditional Christmas' and Penny Black and More where it's 'Any Die Will Do'. You really all seem to be enjoying these themes and we have some fabulous entries at both challenges.

The card at the top of my post uses two of the yummy colours from the summer limited edition distress inks, salty ocean and mowed lawn which I randomly added to a piece of white card stock and then over stamped using the the lacy stamp in blue. Butterfly and sentiment are also Penny Black and you will find all links on the picture thumbnails below. The little faux pearls are dots of cosmic shimmer pearl PVA.

Now a rarity for me, I'm going to join in a few challenges....................

I would like to enter this card into:

Hotshot Crafts - Butterflies

ABC challenge - B is for Butterflies

My second card above has the lovely Ella Bella stamp from Indigo Blue, it's not a Christmas image but I thought with the right colours I could give it a seasonal feel. So I added a few red gems around her, a frame made from coredinations which I ran through an embossing folder, cut out the centre and added lots of Frantage round the edges and finished off with a Spellbinder poinsettia and Marianne holly.

I would like to enter this card into:

Paper Creator challenge which is new - All about Chrismtas

Card Crafters - Textures

My final piece is a fairly straightforward one with a Nesite frame and a Stampendous sentiment, a Spellbinder holly border as is the poinsettia and holly sprig is a Marianne die which I inked whilst still in the die.

I would like to enter this card it to:

Polkadoodles - Square card with round element

Have a lovely Sunday.

Lady Crawford

Good Morning from a rather foggy Fen, seems the weatherman got it right for once because this is exactly what was promised for the latter part of the week.

I would like to say welcome to my new followers, lovely to see you and I hope to pop along to say hello shortly. 

 

I have a couple of shares of the samples I made for this weeks Stamp Addicts Paper Clinic show on Create and Craft TV, this time using Lady Crawford, I just love her name it's so fitting.

On both the image is paper pieced onto a background with a little stamping and inking and on the second a couple of flowers and some feather which I think seem fitting for the era Lady Crawford comes from. The sentiment is from the same stamp sheet.

Hope you all have a good Thursday.

Storm clouds brewing

Good morning Peeps, hope everyone is having a good week.

I'm a bit behind showing you my mid month DT inspirational cards, so apologies to my team mates at Craft a Scene and FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping challenges. The delays all stem from my computer problems last week when several of my schedule posts were deleted along with some of the images in my gallery, so it's been back to basics as I've had to start again with a lot of my work. 

The card at the top follows this months theme at Craft a Scene where it's all about 'Troubled Skies'. I wanted to achieve a really brooding stormy sky and used the cumulus stamp from Stampscapes along with several others to create the scene and coloured with Pan Pastels. 

My second card following our 'Traditional Christmas' theme uses another of the lovely vintage style images from FlonzCraft which are paper pieced with Kaiser Craft DP and I use the coordinating ones for the background and poinsettia which is a spellbinder die.

As anyone who visits regularly will know I really enter challenges nowadays as my eyes can't cope with all linking up, but today I'm going to have a go as I've seen a couple on my DT rounds which I think these cards would work for. 

The first is the top card which I would like to enter into:

An Oldie but a Goodie - Anything but Christmas (all stamps are oldies by a good few years)

Speedy and Friends - Add a fence

and he second card:

J&C Creations - Floral delights - I am hoping my poinsettia will fit the bill

Stamp and Create - Lace

Have a good Tuesday and is always thinking so much for visiting.

Shrinky fluterbys

Good evening to you all, I hope you've all had a good weekend.

I promised to share some more of the butterfly samples I made for Stamp Addicts program which is on Create and Craft TV tomorrow at 11am, it's a two hour show so don't forget put it onto record........note to self !!

Both of these two cards have the large butterfly from the set stamped onto shrink plastic and coloured with Pan Pastels before shrinking. I think this is one of the most enjoyable butterflies I've ever used on shrinky, because it's such a large stamp with fabulous detail none of that is lost when it's reduced in size. And of course as with any colouring medium the colour of the Pans intensifies when shrunk.

The card at the top has a simple border created with an Imagination Craft stencil and sparkle medium and the butterfly coloured to match. I bought a couple more stencils and colours at the NEC on Friday and I'm quite looking forward to having a play with them.

The frames on the bottom card were created with one of the little corner silhouette stamps shown on a previous program, but all are still available from Stamp Addicts here.

Enjoy the rest of your evening, soon be time for the result shows of both Strictly and the X Factor.......... despite all good intentions not watch this year I was hooked from the start, mind you there are so few decent programmes lately the choice is limited.

Fairies at the end of the garden

Good Morning to you all and I really must start by welcoming my new followers this week, it's lovely to see you and thank you all so much, I always love reading your comments and I do try to get round visiting when I can, even if sometimes my wonky body won't let me do that as often as I might like.

As some of you may have seen in my last post, yesterday I had a surprise trip to the NEC. We were there bright and early for when it opened but by linchtime I was shattered and ready for home, although not without a good haul of goodies. If you're reading this Sal, then I confess to a couple more tree stamps..........as we both agree, a Treeaholic girls can never have enough of them.........some Lavinia stamps along with a few more Panel Pastels, rather a lot of card stock, some more Imagination Crafts stencils and glitter as well as a few Christmas presents.

I have to say though that in some ways I found it a little disappointing, it's two years since I last went and I found this time there seemed to be an awful lot of paper products and the like and rather less stamps than I remember before. And as I said to hubby on the way home it must be a sign of age as I was utterly disappointed to find not a single wood mounted stamp.

So now for Allsorts this week where my lovely teamie Tracy is feeling 'Young at Heart', a theme that can be interpreted in so many ways.

I dibbled and dabbled what to do and in the end I decided on a LOV fairy one of my bloggy friends sent me for my birthday, thank you Tracy,  I figured anyone of my age who still believes in fairies has to be a little bit young at heart still............well doesn't everyone have them at the end of the garden ?

I coloured the image with watercolours, the DP is from stash which I think might be Bo Bunny, a Nestie frame and die cart flowers and leaves, liquid pearl fairy dust and in one of my favourite colour combos.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Flutterbys and footie

Quick seems to be the order of the day this week, but Sarah at Stamp Addicts just said it's OK to share some of the work I've done for next week's programme............... Create and Craft 11am through 1pm Monday 12th November.

I'm off to the NEC tomorrow, wasn't planned but hubby asked if I would like him to drive me there so you can guess I jumped at the opportunity. So my scooter is on charge to make sure I've got plenty of 'wheelpower' because although I can walk a while, no way will I get through the morning let alone a whole day without it and a girl has to make the most of things.

Both my cards in this post feature the butterfly set which includes a large and small one, the large one really is quite big but it makes a card on its own and it shrinks down fabulously. And I learned something new as one does..............and that is Pan Pastels work beautifully on shrink plastic and I made several which I will share another day.

The card at the top features lots of inky indulgence using picked raspberry and mowed lawn from the limited-edition summer distress inks and various Frantage colours embossed round the edge. The second card is quite simple with a background resist stamped using the small butterfly and a frame made with some DP's from stash.

Have a good Thursday evening everyone, I plan making a quick carbonara for dinner because footy is an early kick-off tonight as we..............the Anfield Reds of course.........are in Moscow playing Anzhi Makhachkala in the Europa League. 

Vintage Stamping

Hello Peeps, this really is going to be a mega quick post because I've almost lost my voice and my voice recognition program is typing all sorts of bizarre interpretations of what it thinks I'm saying............I won't even go there, but I certainly won't chance any commenting at the moment !

This is a very belated post due to a couple of days of blog problems............. of my November piece for our Flonz Craft Vintage stamping challenges where we have a traditional Christmas feel to this months theme. You shared some lovely creations with us during our first month and two very lucky people have won online vouchers to spend at the store, so make sure you check out to see if you were one of them.

That's it folks, have a good week, I'm off for some honey and lemon........... probably with a dash of whiskey thrown in for good measure, the bizarre thing is I don't have a cold or anything just this croaking voice.

November themes

The first Sunday of the month again and time for new challenges at Craft a Scene with the theme 'Troubled Skies', at Penny Black and More it's all about dies 'Any Die Will Do' and  in case you haven't heard the news that change is afoot, we have a relaunched challenge called Stamping Sensations, same DT, same great themes and some fabulous new sponsors and this month the theme is 'Traditonal Christmas'.

It's a bit of a photo heavy post so I will try and keep the blurb to a minimum. The card above is the first of two DT pieces for Penny Black and More using Penny Black 4035K Letters and Flowers which I inked with distress markers and spritzed with water before stamping on to an oval cut from a new Marianne die which I inked whilst it was still in the die. Bo Bunny DP's, some lace and pearls to finish.

Initially I was a little bit uncertain about the troubled skies theme at Craft a Scene challenge but I knew I wanted to see some lightning, so I started by stamping some Stampscape images then added colour with Pan Pastels and drew in the lightning with a white marker pen.

My second Penny Black and More piece uses FlonzCraft Umbrella Girl which I paper pieced with Penny Black Madison DP's which are also used behind the Marianne dies. The sentiment is also Penny Black. 

Note added: I'll forget my own head one of these days, I need to tell you that both Flonz Craft and Indigo Blue are offering discounts to those who enter Penny Black and More and Stamping Sensations, full details on the respective challenge blogs.

My next piece is using a stamp from one of our new Stamping Sensations sponsors Indigo Blue called Lollipop Three. I heat embossed the image with detailed gold, then created a background using Pan Pastels and added a mixture of frantage colours to the bottom. I know this one is not particularly traditional Christmas, but I base my idea on a visit close to Christmas to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Basilica Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, when at dusk everything looked purple, so you couldn't get much closer to the true meaning of Christmas I figure.

My final piece use a mixture of dies including the new Marianne holly one which I just 'had to have'. Sentiment is another from Penny Black.

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday and that you will join in with our challenges this month.

One for the guys

Time for another challenge at Allsorts and this week my great teamie Sarah wants us to create something 'For Men Only'.

This is one I made for one of the girls boyfriends who is a farmers son and loves his tractors both old and new so this old Massey Ferguson from Stamp Addicts fitted the bill perfectly. These are the tractors I grew up with, now they're more like mobile homes on wheels complete with air conditioning of stereo systems.

I masked an oval on a piece of gloss card stock, brayered with Adirondack inks, stamped the images with black archival and added a little colour to the tractor and trees.

In case you didn't know, we have a DT call going at Allsorts so if you think you might like to join us please do pop over to the blog to see what you have to do to apply.

Whatever you are up to I hope you have a good weekend and as always many thanks for dropping by. 

Stormy skies all round

A very good morning to you all, I know I've been a bit quiet but we've had a few stressful days as daughter number one has been in New York on a school trip and we've been on grandparent duty. Thankfully she and the whole party of about 64 are all OK and we actually got to see them, we had a message via one of the newspapers that they would be in Times Square doing a TV interview and saw them on the live web came there and even got a wave. Modern technology certainly can be wonderful.

I have also had my head down busily beavering away sorting everything ready for some changes which you can read all about here , it''s not a new challenge just a re-vamp. There's a new sidebar badge to match our new image and I hope you will grab it and help us spread the word. 

My card above is a little scene I made using Stampscape stamps and my current favourite colouring medium, Pan Pastels. Not a lot more to say about it really, other than It was fun to make.

My apologies I've not done a lot of blogging the last few days or got round to many of you, but I am going to try and rectify that over the next day or so. Meanwhile, have a good Thursday.