Simply vintage and this weeks candy

This week at Allsorts Catherine is inviting us to a spot of Vintage, one that's perfect for me and I am sure a lot of you as well.

I started my card by distressing the reverse side of a piece if Centura Pearl with vintage photo, tea dye, victorian velvet and picked raspberry, spritzed with glimmer mist iridescent gold and then randomly sponged vintage photo through a swirly stencil and finally heat embossed some gold powder here and there.

The birds and birdcage are all TH alterations dies, I threaded some beads onto the bottom of the birdcage and added a couple of words from Stamp Addicts dream stamp set. A few punched flowers, some seam binding and a button from this weeks sponsor Lots of Buttons.

And of course as it's Saturday it's time to show you what you can win this week..............a set of Crafters Companion stamps. As usual a winner will be selected from all comments left on  my blog during the week, if you leave more than one then you get entered again. Simple as that and the only other requirement is that......................

1) Leave a comment and add the logo below to your sidebar

2) I would love if you were a follower (but candy only blogs will be discounted - and I do check)

Jackie, you are this weeks luck winner with your comment on Mondays post, please mail me with you full postal addy so I can get your goodies posted off to you.

I really hope you will join in our challenge this week and look forward to seeing all your fabulous entries.

Wishing you all a lovely Easter whatever you may have planned and if you are out and about in the UK wrap up warm.

Tonic meets Stampendous

Hello craft Peeps and welcome to my new followers and also a big thank you for all your comments on my last post, I think it's fair to say that a good few of us would like to be on that tropical beach right now. How about we charter a flight for a few crafty days in the sun...........now that is a good idea.......and if we are really lucky Captain Jack Sparrow aka Johnny Depp might happen to pass our island and drop in.........you all know I live in a fantasy world so just humour me.

Anyhow, back to reality and I thought I would share a bit of spring through my card above, violets are such pretty flowers with the most amazing scent and when I saw this Stampendous stamp had to have it. I have coloured the image with watercolour pencils and made some violets to embellish using the small petal punch from the Rose stamp and punch set from Tonic. The leaves which I thought reflected those on the image so well are stamped into bazzil using  Ruth's Pick of the Bunch Lily set.

I thought I would have another go with the Flitter Glue and Gilding Flakes, I bought it months ago but have never been happy with the results and usually end up with a  desk full of mess, but I was so pleased that this time it worked and I seem to have mastered it at long last. The frame is another of Ruth's products, the Lilies Window Die....................I am so impressed with these Tonic dies, even the more intricate ones still cut like butter, there's non of this faffing about having to run them through the machine several times to get a good cut. I cute the frame a second time onto black cardstock and cut out the lilies and bee, then overstamped with the matching stamp set using the flitter glue and gilded them. The ivy in the background is from the same stamp set and again gilded as is the central sentiment.

That's it from me today, back to proper work and get my desk cleared before Easter.

Another tropical shore

Good morning to you all, how's the weather your way ? I've seen snow in March before, but never in the volume we seem to have had the last few days and it's not in any hurry to shift. And there was me thinking it's almost Easter so it must be Spring.

I have my mid month inspiration for Craft a Scene challenge where the March them is 'Tropical Shores', I am not actually on the DT any longer as I decided to step down, but I already had this months work prepared so would like to share it and remind people about the challenge.

I would also like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has joined in my Blog Celebration so far, I am totally overwhelmed by the beautiful and varied creations and humbled by the great efforts to which you have all gone to create such special pieces of artwork. I know there are still some of you planning to join in and as I said in my initial post I am going to let it run for another week or two yet.

My card uses in the main stamps from Stampscapes, although the sentiment is from Printworks and the surfer image one I had specially made to make cards for for our second eldest son who is a keen surfer. I first stamped the images and reflection in the water then masked a sun before adding colour with Pan Pastels and a bit of shading with watercolour pencils.

As always thanks for popping in with your kind comments and hope you have a good week.

Deco Delights and this weeks candy

Saturday morning can mean only one things, yep a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Tracy is our host and has the inspiring theme of 'Deco Delights' and our sponsors are The Craft Barn and DigiDarla.

This was a perfect opportunity for me to use one of the lovely Art Deco stamps from FlonzCraft, this one is is called 20's Fashion Girls 6 which I stamped and coloured with watercolour pencils and stamped Art Impression cobbled path to ground them and a few leaves across the top. I was a bit stumped for backing DP as I had nothing that really fitted the geometric style prints of the eara, but I managed to find a free download of a Art Deco inspired William Morris wallpaper. A few feathers and a beaded pin following some jewellery images I found from the 20's.

Now for this weeks candy giveaway, a pack of ten elegant tent cards and envelopes.

And the winner of last weeks candy is Aud - her Thursday comment came out of the hat, please mail me with your full postal addy Aud so I can get your stamps posted off to you.

And for those of you who missed last weeks post, I am giving away a craft item every week with the winner selected at random from all comments left during the week, more than one comment, extra chances to win. here's all you need to do:

1) Pop the logo above to your blog sidebar and leave a comment this week
2) And I would love it you were a follower (but no candy only blogs - I do check)

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and will find time to join in this weeks challenge.

Cherish and Dream

Good Morning to you all and thank you all for your comments on my last post regarding the forthcoming Blogger changes. I think it's one of those things where we all have our preferences how we like to follow other peoples blogs and as far as I can tell if you view through your dashboard as I do, then no need for panic. 

Apologies I've not got round your blogs the last couple of days, it's been a tad busy work wise and I've not had too much chance to do any blogging, but hopefully can put that right today. 

So meantime a couple of shares, again it was playtime with my Tonic Pick of the Bunch stamp and punch sets. The one at the top has a background very lightly distressed with Tea Dye and Olive and a spritz of gold Glimmer Mist. The swirl is stamped and embossed with details clear using part of a Hero Arts swirl stamp and the sentiment is a really old one from Penny Black and sadly long since discontinued. For the roses I stamped a piece of Kraft cardstock with Hero Arts Old French Writing before punching and making up the flowers.

My second card uses Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals, another Penny Black sentiment and flowers from the same stamp and punch set, they are not meant to be anything specific so I shall simply call them fantasy flowers, quite fitting for me. I wouls also like to enter the following:

House of Gilli - Flowers and/or Ribbons
Shabby Tearoom - Anything Goes
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Flowers and Ribbon

By the Cute and Girly - Favourite Things (Flowers)

Thanks for popping in and have a good Thursday.

Google Reader changes ????????

Morning Peeps, there seems to be lots of talk going around blogland regarding Google Reader being disabled on 1st July and as I'm something of a dinosaur with anything outside my normal blogging comfort zone and not a social networker, it got me worried so I've been scouting around the tinternet.

I can see loads of people have already changed to something called Bloglovin but not sure what this would give me because as far as I can tell I don't view blogs in Google Reader because when I see new posts from those I follow pop up on my dashboard there is a button to the right which says "View in Google Reader". If I click that it gives is totally different formal to my norm.................I did say I am a dinosaur, so lots of you might grin at this comment. But I hope I am assuming rightly that means I don't actually use Google Reader.

Anyhow, for those of you who remain as confused as I am about it all, this is what I found from Google Forum:

"Your blog won't disappear. Your followers won't disappear. Your list of blogs that you read now might disappear if you use Google Reader but we all have plenty of time to switch to a new reader and truthfully, it's not as big of a hassle as it sounds

The reading list on your dashboard is based on the feed of the blogs you are reading and their feeds are not going away. If you have items in your reading list on the dashboard that are only there because you added them through Google Reader and they are not Blogger blogs, they might be removed from the list when Google Reader goes away but any Blogger blog that is on your Reading List because you used the "following" gadget on another blog to start following it, should remain intact. 

GFC is already a basically discontinued product, and the removal of Google Reader will not affect its status. So if you clicked "follow" on a bunch of blogs, your blogs will still be on your dashboard after July 1st."

It must have been about this time last year that the dashboard interface changes were imposed on us all and seems to me Google is driving us towards fee based blogs, I'm sure it's only a matter of time. There was also similar talk about following and followers all disappearing and many peeps added a different follower gadget, but nothing actually changed on that front Google wise.

I think there is a good degree of tinternet hype and opinions being voiced at the moment as to what we should all do and this leads to panic reaction, but it worries me how much is actually based on fact and would prefer to be able to make an informed decision.

Your views and thought greatly appreciated........................

Candy and Penny Black and More reminders

Good Morning Peeps, a really quick share before I start work with a reminder that over at Penny Black and More our March challenge 'One for the Boys' still has another ten days to run so plenty of time to join in and today some of the DT are sharing some more of their inspirational work with you.

With Mr Mojo out of town whilst I've had flu I din't get round to making one for that post as the majority of last weeks work ended up on the bin, but here is one really really, really quick card I made first thing just to show willing.

The main image is Penny Black Japanese Maple, the sentiment Penny Black Flourish Birthday and the shading has been done with Pan Pastels.

Don't forget there is a set of Hero Arts stamps to be won in this weeks Saturday candy, I will announce a winner each Saturday drawn from all comments made during the week. All you have to do is:

1) You are a follower (candy only blogs will be discounted)

2) Post the logo above on your sidebar and leave a comment

Have a good week everyone.

Spring Poppies and Saturday candy

Good Morning to you all, time for another challenge at Allsorts and this week Sarah is cooking up a 1,2,3 recipe for us.

But before I tell you about my card I want to let you know about my new Saturday giveaways. When I had my craft room spring clean last month I came across quite a few brand new items that I have never used and I figure probably never will...............impulse buys that seemed a good idea at the time. And realistically there is no point in hoarding when somebody could put them to good use.

So every Saturday I will post a new crafty item and announce a winner the following Saturday from all comments left during the week, if you leave more than one then you get entered again. Simple as that and the only other requirement is that......................

1) You are a follower (candy only blogs will be discounted)

2) Post the logo above on your sidebar

Here's what' up for grabs this week, a set of Hero Arts stamps:

Now onto my DT card and I admit that I was a bit weary of the brief as I don't often mix two different DP's and apart from flowers and leaves and the odd pearl or gem use few embellishments, so I am hoping this will fit the bill. I masked the top and bottom of the reverse side of a piece of Centura Pearl..............I tend to use this a lot for my inky projects as it's so much cheaper than my favourite Fabrinano watercolour card....................but gives equally good results.

Next I sponged Pan Pastles, red, orange, yellow and brown, masking a sun of course...........have to have one of those............the repeat stamped one of the new Spring stamps from Penny Black 4308K Field of Poppies. I coloured the flowers with the red Pan Pastel and the stems and corn with watercolour pencils. I mounted onto some red and black DP's and added three butterflies as my embellishments and liquid pearls for their flight path.

And here's one extra card using the Etched Rose stamp from FlonzCraft who are one of you sponsors this week, the other is My Heart Pieces.

I hope you will be able to join in our challenge this week and will pop in and see you all, meanwhile have a lovely weekend everyone.

More floral play

Morning Peeps and what a chilly one it is as well, we had -6 this morning but it looks absolutely beautiful with a slight hoar frost on the trees and bushes.

I've not been overly active on the craft front this week, somehow I managed to pick up flu yet again and as usual  it's knocked me for six so I have stuck with comfort crafting and more flowers using Ruth's punch and stamp sets.............. links to stockists in the post below.

The card at the top is a little scene created through an overall mask with Stamp Addict stamps and a Clarity Poppy one, coloured with Pan Pastels and a Poppy made from the Tonic Rose set. This could be our own village church as it's set down a lane on the edge of the village surrounded by fields amidst our scenic flat Fenland landscape.

My second card it is a very quick and easy one to make using some coordinating Kaiser DP's, some ribbon and a Rose made from the same set.

Have a good Thursday everybody and as always my grateful thanks for your kind comments and visits.

More Sping flowers

Good Morning Peeps, is it cold again or what and there as I thinking Spring was all but here.

Thank you so much everyone who has joined in my blog celebrations so far with some really stunning creations, but I know lots of you are still thinking on what you will create and there is still plenty of time to take part so no need to panic yet.......you can check it out from the post above.

I have a quick couple of shares for you which have a feel of Spring to them despite the snow which is falling outside, the one above a quite simple and straightforward card using some new Spellbinders and Ruth's Lily punch and stamp set.............. I think I could play with these all day because they are such a joy to work with. Links to stockists on the thumbnails below.

I would like to enter this into the following:

Artistic Inspirations - Flowers
Crafty Passions - 2 colours

My second share is my mid month inspirational piece for FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges, I've used this sweet little girl called Girl on a Windy Hill and paper pieced her to match the backing paper and Roses which are made with a Marianne Die.

I would like to enter this into the following:

Paper Mill challenge - Easter
The Squirrel and the Fox - Spring or Autumn

Hope you all have a good Tuesday and as always thank you so much for popping in, your comments and kind words are always greatly appreciated.

Beautiful spring

Saturday means a new theme at Allsorts and this week another of our new team mates Wendy is hosting her first challenge with us with the very seasonal theme of Springtime.

It's my favourite time of year and I just love making cards with all the fresh and pretty spring colours. The one at the top uses Ruth's Pick of the Bunch rose punch and stamp set and although daffodils are not one of the intended flowers for this set, I found that by turning the petals the other way round I could come up with a reasonable daffodil. I used a Penny Black image in the centre of the Marianne die set and cut some leaves for the daffodils from Bazzil cardstock.

Hubby.......my biggest critic..........suggested the centres of my flowers were not quite right, but after spending some considerable time looking at images on the Internet I found some varieties do indeed have little stamens inside the trumpets.

And I just had to do another card as I wanted to do one with spring bunnies, this pair are a Lavinia stamp, and I created a little scene around them with blossoms and flowers, coloured with Pan Pastels and popped a Chocolate Baroque bird into the corner. And when my 'critic' saw me taking photos of this one he said 'Is the theme Watership Down then'..............I didn't deem that worthy of a polite response !

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Tonic punch and stamp sets

Using the Rose/Pansy set, the veins on the flower and leaves are stamps which come as part of the sets

Good Morning Peeps, thank you all for your lovely comments yesterday about Marianne's work, they were all much appreciated. If you've not seen it yet do check out my prize celebration here and don't forget it's open to all styles and abilities of crafting and the winners will be randomly selected.

Today's is a quick post to share a few more of the card I have made using Ruth's Stamp and Punch sets from Tonic. The new sets were released last weekend and the first two sets are now available n the high street and I have added thumbnail links below for you to check them out.

Using the Lily set

The sets are so versatile and you can really let your imagination run wild with new variations.

Using the Rose set and turning the leaves the other way round to create a Daffodil

I dear, I nearly forgot to add the names that came out of the hat for last weeks stamp re-homing, I have three packages all ready to go if the following will mail me by Monday 11th with their full names and postal addys.

Claudia
(note added 11/02 - I've not heard from Claudia so re-drawn and advised Jenny by e.mail)

Catherine

Susan

Have a lovely Thursday everyone.

Beautiful Buffy

Good Morning to you all, as you will know from my comments on your individual blogs, I am so happy to see you joining in with my little blog celebration and reading your sincere comments know so many of you have your thinking caps on and will be joining in at some point. For anyone who doesn't know about it you will find details in the post above.

Although this was not part of my initial plan to highlight individual creations, a card that was awaiting me this morning told me I had to share it with you all.

It is made by Marianne who is a talented artist and as I told her it brought tears to my eyes, but those of the nicest kind. I have lots of pictures of Buffy and the other family pets at the top of my blog (family friends) but I believe this is the picture Marianne took her inspiration from and think you will agree it's a pretty good likeness and I would be very proud to be able to draw like that.

It was taken about three years ago and remains one of my favourites. It was a lovely sunny day......remember those ?.........and she sat with the garland round her neck most of the afternoon, quite proud of her adornment.

Looking at all of your work so far has brought many smiles to my face as it is clear how much thought you are putting into you entries.........it also tells me that I am pretty transparent in my likes and dislikes, but as I have been told most of my adult life, I call a spade a spade and don't conceal my emotions too well.

So it occurred to me that I should perhaps highlight a few of your entries during the month as they 'jump out at me' adn hope that will be OK with you all.

I hope you all have a good Wednesday and thank you so much for all your kind visits and comments.

Spring is in the Air

Good Morning Peeps, before I move on to today's card I must thank you all for your lovely comments and mails about the little celebratory competition (details in the post above) I have on the go and am so happy to know that you like the idea. And the entries so far have been wonderful and I am really enjoying looking at them all, so again I say thank you for your friendship.

Now on to our new March challenges at Pretty Little Ribbons and FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges where we have the themes of Happy Birthday and Spring is in the Air............and guess who chose that one, am I transparent or what ?

So my card at the top is my DT piece for the Spring theme at FlonCraft using this really sweet little image called Girl on Windy Hill. I know I don't often do cute but I thought she was just perfect for a Springtime card so I paper pieced her dress from the same DP as the background, distressed a strip of coredinations, added some lace and cut the edge of the card with TH butterfly border. Nearly forgot the rose, I made it that with Tonic punches and then dipped into UTEE to glaze.

I would like to enter this card into:

Joanna Sheen challenge - Layer it Up

Sunday Stamper - Something Pretty

When I received my DT kit from Sarah for this month Pretty Little Ribbons theme it contained some gorgeous silk green ribbon and instantly I visualised a lovely flower made with it. For a change it turned out just as I intended and I have made it the focal element of my card above, adding a little tea dye distress ink over the edges to add a little definition and mounting it onto the die cut frame and a butterfly to finish.

I would like to enter this card into:

Gingerloft challenge - Ribbons and Bows
One Stitch at a Time - Green
Hiding in My Craft Rooms - Greens

My final card is another for Pretty Little Ribbons, quite simple really using some dies and embossing and two pansies again made from one of Ruth's Tonic Punch and Stamp sets. The swirly leaves are in the same set as the main dies and I think make a nice change from the Spellbinder leaves I tend to use over and again.

And I would like to enter this one into:

My time to Craft - Embossing

Both themes are nice and easy, but allow you to stretch the boundaries if you wish so I do hope you will find time to join us this month.

Serengeti sunset

Good Morning all my crafty friends, it's the first Sunday of the month so time for some new challenges and at Stamping Sensations our theme is 'The Great Outdoors', at Penny Black and More it's 'One for the Boys' and at Craft a Scene it's all about 'Tropical Shores.

For my Penny Black DT piece at the top of this post I have used one of the new Spring release stamps  40-194 Go Wild because as soon as I saw this set I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it and thought it would be ideal for this months theme. I started by stamping the background using a Judikins cube using two of the images and repeat stamping one of them. Next I masked a sun and coloured the Serengeti sky with Pan Pastels, stamped the focal animals and  coloured the remainder again with Pan Pastels and added a bit of shading with watercolour pencils. Finally I stamped some random branches and grasses to frame the scene. The sentiment is from the same PB stamp set.

For my Stamping Sensations DT piece I have used an image from our sponsor Crafty Individuals CI-367 Flowers and Butterflies repeat stamped simply in black archival ink onto a background created with Pan Pastels. After stamping the images I sponged some sun rays with Adirondack dye ink, then added the bird tucked among the founa which is from Chocolate Baroque and some birds in flight.

My final share is my Craft a Scene DT piece. I stamped the scene using a mixture of Sutter, Inkadinkadoo and Stampscape images and as per usual masked the sun and coloured all with Pan Pastels and watercolour pencils plus some white gel pen to accentuate the rolling waves and grasses in the foreground.

I really hope you will join in our challenges this month, we have loads of fabulous prizes on offer.