A Summers Day

 Four Seasons CLR014, Wheat Stalks FF0104, Live, Dance,Laugh FF0018

Monday morning and time for my Prickly Pear and Nicecrane DP shares. And before I tell you about today's makes I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for their kind comments on Saturdays post, you are all so lovely and understanding.

As soon as I saw this stamp set I had to have it........well with a tree and a fence there was no decision to make. So I created a little scene with some hills and sky using Pan Pastels, the hint of sun peeping out form the clouds and this lovely inspirational quote.

And here I have made two cards using the new Jeremy Fisher Wind in the Willows designs from Nicecrane and also gave the new sewing machine which hubby bought for Birthday an outing trying out some of the different stitches. I really do like the earthy colours of these designs and the cheeky fellow which to my mind will work for all age groups.

On the first card I one teamed Jeremy up with some NitWits DP's and Obsession Impressions Bulrushes and dragonflies which are all in the same die set, a Timmy clock and message label. For the second I went with Graphic 45, a Spellbinder frame and twine.

Hope you all have a good Monday.

A ride in the sunshine, the photo and long overdue update

Time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Mervi has chosen the theme of 'Summer Girls', our sponsors are FlonzCraft and Buttons for Brains. 

I thought the Penny Black image was perfect with the girl our for a ride in the Summer sunshine, I stamped her and the trees then masked a sun and added Pan Pastels and a Penny Black sentiment.

And another card using some of the new DP's from FlonzCraft along with the Vintage 50's Fashion Girl, one of my favorite FlonzCraft stamps which I paper pieced and created a little garden scene.........my elegant lady is all dressed ready for an evening on the town with the man of her dreams.....................you all know I live in a little fantasy world.

As promised, here's a photo of Ruth (Tonic/Passion for Stamps) which we had taken when we had a lovely catch up just outside Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, if only we lived closer and not across the waters I am sure we would do it far more often as we always have so much to talk about.

And a rather long overdue update, as I said some weeks ago I have been struggling coming to terms with everything and more so talking about it. It looks as though I am still going to need another op due to complications discovered in the more recent scans, so what seemed just a little problem initially which was elevated calcium levels, that was in fact a warning sign of the bigger problem.

Plus apart from the Parathyroid Adenoma's there have been knock on affects from the calcium imbalance including a stomach ulcer which after three months now seems under control with meds and the loss of several teeth, probably that is the part I have found hardest to come to terms with.

So I hope you will forgive the intermittent posts and blogging, it's very much a day at a time, some days I feel up for it, others I just want to curl up and hide. We are due to go on holiday late July and it's the anticipation of that which has kept me going, it looked dubious at one stage but a letter from my consultant enabled me to eventually get insurance cover.

Phew, that seems like an awful lot of garble, but so many Peeps have sent messages of kindness and good wishes and I have kept stum so I felt I had to eventually break my silence and it may even do me good to get it out of my system a little.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Inky, Pinky Monday

Using: CLR001 Butterflies clear set, CLR015A Bobbly Flowers clear set, PPRSD015 Blobbly Flowers die set, EE0131 Flourish stamp and Cheery Lynn lattice die.

Note added - what are your dashboards up to this morning ? Mine will only show the very latest posting of those I follow and although there is a 'view more' button it won't actually show any more. Tried on another computer in the office and the same so unless I sit and watch it all the time no idea who has posted what. What's Blogger up to now I wonder ?

Morning Peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend.

Time to share my Monday morning Prickly Pear and Nicecrane Designs DT pieces. It's all rather inky as I am struggling mojo wise with all the medical issues and treatments and getting inky is what I have found I am most comfortable with lately so apologies if it's all rather samey recently.

The background is Dylusions Bubblegum Pink and Pomegranate Seed................don't you just love the names they give them.............and the requisite spritz of Pearl Glimmer Mist. Over this I inked Picked Raspberry DI through a mask to get the wavy pattern and added some Gilding Wax around the edges, then overlaid the lattice which I painted with chalk paint and randomly tore at the edges and finally some pink Sparkle Medium through another mask, a really useful Timmy one with tiny holes.

Finally after all that messiness I cut the flowers, over stamped them and also he butterfly, all cut from a piece of card sprayed with the same mediums.

I would like to enter this into the current Butterfly Challenge................I don't do challenges as a rule due to the need to minimise screen glare to my dodgy eyes but I do make an exception here as I love butterflies. The current theme is monochromatic.

My Nicecrane creation is also rather pink, I have used the really sweet Children and Birds by N Brisley design sheet which is a newly released one, there are five different deigns in the collection so plenty of scope for a variety of cards. I have teamed it up with Graphic 45 Botanical Tea DP's, no matter which Nicecrane design I use there is usually a G45 DP that matches, they seem made for each other with their Vintage feel. I did a bit of stitching around the edges using the new sewing machine hubby bought for my Birthday, it's not until Friday but I was allowed to have it a bit early to start playing with. Some bunting cut of the Cricut and die cut flowers and leaves.

Hope you all have a good week.

How does your garden grow ?

It's my turn to host the challenge at Allsorts this week so a fairly predictable theme of 'How does your garden grow', all the gardens are bursting with colours right now and I also thought it fitting for this weekends Midsummer's Day and Summer Solstice. There are two prizes this week some nautical stamps and tags plus one from me as it's my Birthday this week !

I thought this Penny Black stamp was perfect for the theme, I stamped the whole image out, cleaned the stamp then repeat stamped just the floral border and coloured with Wink of Stella pens and created a bit of a background using Pan Pastels, not a lot more to say really so as the Meerkats would say "Simples".

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Birds on a wire

Goodness me I really am running late, as with my post over at the Penny Black and More challenge (where we have loads of fabulous prizes to be won) I should have scheduled this but totally forgot and of course Mr Blogger is having a real hissy fit today and taking forever.

But better late than never as they say and here is my mid month card following our theme of 'Use your Favorite Stamp', always a difficult one with Penny Black as I love most of those I have and that's a good few hundred I might add, but those on this card seem to pop up time and again so figure they fit the theme nicely.

The background has been created with Pan Pastels and then the stamping added over the top, I don't always work this way round, it rather depends and if I am creating a landscape I tend to add the trees, fences and so on first, then flowers, birds etc., second. 

Have a good Wednesday all, lets hope the weather improves as it's rather cold here in the Fens this morning.

Shadow stamping with acetate

Good Morning, it's my week to host a tutorial over at Prickly Pear and this is just a short one using acetate and shadow stamping, the technique is fairly subtle but using two contrasting colours gives a finish that's a little bit different.

Here are the products and materials I used: Prickly Pear stamps Floral Silhuettes HH0044 and Flourish EE0131, Distress inks, Black Versafine, Detail clear embossing powder, heat resistant acetate, watercolour card and Pearl mica spray

Distress the piece of base card with your chosen colours of distress inks and spritz with the mica spray. Whenever I create a background with inks or Dylusions I invariably add a spritz if mica spray as it helps bleed the colours, as well as giving a nice shimmer and added interest.

Randomly stamp around the edge of the card with the flourish stamp and then stamp the floral image slightly left of centre. Next stamp the floral image onto the acetate with the black ink, cover with embossing powder and heat. You will find dusting the acetate with an anti static bag or talcum powder really helps to stop your stamp slipping and also prevent powder sitting in unwanted places.

Lay the stamped acetate over the base stamping slightly to the right of the base image so you can see a slight shadow, then carefully glue the corners together with a dries clear glue. Mat and layer onto your base card and embellish as desired. I used some ribbon and butterflies using Mini Butterfly dies PPRS – DO23 and over stamped them with the same flourish stamp that I used around the card edges.

I do hope you will give this fun card a try and please do ask me if you have any questions.

I thought I had better also share my DT card which was on the PPRS store blog yesterday, clean and simple'ish' using the Clear Vase stamp set which you will find here.

Hope you all have a good Tuesday.

Gold and grungy

Helen has set us a colour challenge at Allsorts this week of 'Gold and White plus One', we have two great sponsors A Passion for Stamps and Craft Fairy.

My colours on the top one are perhaps a little bit predictable, gold and white and brown as my extra. This is one of the samples I made for a recent Stamp Addicts Create and Craft TV programme using some of the new Grunge stamps, sentiment and clock with grunge paste and masking in the background and a flower using TH Tattered Floral die.

And a second one in white, gold and yellow using one of Ruth's designs the Stargazer Lily which she drew for me a couple of years ago, I printed three onto Fabriano watercolour card and coloured with Derwents and then Wink of Stella pens and decoupaged one bloom, an embossed background, a triple bow, cameo and Liquid pearls.

I met Ruth in Cambridge today, she is over here for a few days so it was lovely to catch up with her again, there were a few photos taken as we supped coffee in the sun and I know she will be blogging them so will grab one to share here as well.

Have a good weekend all.

Bobbly Flowers and a blue hat

Using: JJ 0038 May your Life,  FF0104 Wheat, EE0103 Flourish, CLR051A Blobby Flowers,  GG0082 Delphinium, PPRS D015 Blobby Flower Die, PPRS D045 Flourish Die

It's a bit of inkiness for my Prickly Pear DT share this week and one I really enjoyed creating. I started with Dylusions and Glimmer Mist onto the reverse of Centrua Pearl, sponged some sunrays using a mask and randomly stamped with a number of Prickly Pear stamps including the lovely sentiment and then from another piece of card also sprayed with the same mediums made some flowers using the matching stamps and die and swirls using the new swirl die.

My Nicecrane DT piece this week uses another new design sheet called All Season Hats, I made a stepper card, some scraps of DP and overlaid them with trellis cut from linen cardstock using a Cheery Lynne die. Some rolled roses, feahter and a beaded pin in coordinating colours.

Happy Monday all. 

Just the one layer

This week at Allsorts the lovely Jo is challenging us to make a one layer card and our sponsors are Craftbag.

I love making this style of card using Pan Pastels, masking a section in the middle and round the edge of the reverse side of a piece of Centura Pearl and stamping the scene which in this case is repeat stamped with a Clarity stamp for the focal element then adding the PP's. The faux layer effect is achieved simply by using Copics and a ruler, I find it easiest to start from the outer edge and work inwards.

And another using exactly the same technique but this time using Chocolate Baroque's lovely Tuscany image and sentiment.

Happy weekend all.

Blossoms

It's time for a new challenge at FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges where our them is Summer Blossoms, what a lovely easy one as we all love our flowers. And as it's Monday I also have my Prickly Pear and Nicecrane DT shares.

For my top card I have used a number of FlonzCraft stamps, Etched Rose and leaves, Buttertfly trio, small butterflies sheet and Floral Butterfly corner and sprayed them all with Dylusions before cutting out and decoupaging. Graphic 45 DP and TH weathered clock cut from Coredinations.

I am again entrering the Butterfly Bingo Challenge (after totally messing up yesterday's one - need more practice) and following the line of Butterflies, Dies and DP.

This one is probably the most difficult card I have ever had to make, when my latest DT package arrived from Prickly Pear I looked at this sentiment and lovely as it is wondered what on earth I could manage to do with it.

Using: GG1096 Loyal Companion

After thinking about it for a few days I decided I would make a card in memory of my lovely Buffy. The design and colours of the card, little UTEE fob and glazed flowers were inspired by Pere Lachaise in Paris, for those not familiar with it, it's the largest cemetery in Paris set on a hill with views of the City where many famous people are buried .......Sarah Bernhardt, Chopin, Colette, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf to name a few........although it is a cemetery it is unlike most and more of a tourist attraction with beautiful marbles, many flowers and ornate glazed photos to commemorate those buried there.

Finally my Nicecrane share is another using the elegant A Dream of Fair Women design sheet........can you tell I really like these, along with Graphic 45 DP's, a bit of paper folding, ribbon and flower.

Happy Monday all.

Some of my favorite things

Time for our monthly challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are Animal Antics and Use your Favorite Stamp.

So for my Penny Black piece I had to go with my all time favorite Penny Black stamp 2695J Dance, Sing, Love along with two favorites from the 2014 Spring releases 4373K Red Tango and 40-282 Twirls, although as you can see my Poppies are blue so I figure they must be the Himalayan variety which are the National flower of the Kingdom of Bhutan which is a land locked Country sitting at the far eastern end of the Himalaya's..........so endeth today's Geography lesson !! The background is Dylusions and Glimmer Mist, a bit of bleaching here and there and a touch of grunge paste and decoupaged Poppies.

Although I rarely enter challenges these days, I have been wanting to join in with Mrs A's new Butterfly Challenge who this time have the theme of Butterfly Bingo and I have gone with the the row, butterfly, wet embossing and flowers.

This one is a rather tenuous link to this months Stamping Sensations theme....two very tiny birds in the sky and butterflies on the embossed panel - not strictly animals I know, but I did want to share a card using a Crafty Individuals stamp as they are our sponsors this month.



My second Stamping Sensations piece is a collection of stamps from Lavinia.......the larger than life bunnies to the fore...... plus some Inkylicious, Sutter and Stampscapes and good old Pan Pastels for all the colouring.

Have a good weekend everyone, hope the sun is making an appearance for you.