One for the girls and one for the boys

Afternoon Peeps, I'm not even going to mention the bank holiday weather, suffice to say I was more than a little pleased that I had a Tattered Lace delivery Saturday to get stuck into ready for next Tuesdays shows on Create and Craft.

I can't share yet, but as always there are some yummy new products and not just dies either, so in the meantime I have a couple of cards to share for the Snippets Playground..............I know Di, twice into the playgound in less than a week, can it last I wonder or will I fall off the swing, time will tell.

The card at the top uses a Nicecrane image, I so love these art deco ladies with their stylish dogs. The DP's are all scraps of G45 DP, I don't remember the name of the design set but I can never bring myself to part with the bits and pieces of any G45 and have an increasing mound of them. I made some roses using a TL spiral rose die along with some die cut leaves which I lightly inked whilst still in the die and looped ribbon - the inside loops from a summer top...........the ribbons been used but the top is still waiting for Summer !

My second card uses scraps which I think might be Kaiser DP's, I cut lots of hexagons using a Sizzix die and arranged them into a pattern across the card, I saw something along these lines on Pinterest once and thought it made a great card for the guys. Next I stamped a Penny Black sentiment and cut the banner shape with dies, tied some twine and fixed to the top. A really quick card to make, in fact cutting the hexagons is the most time consuming part but it's a great way to use up scraps.

Have a good week all.

Recycled roses, Rudolph and Snippets

Morning Peeps,I think we are nearly back to normal after our holiday and for once my mojo came home with me so I have been getting back into some crafting. Plus hospital were pleased with me this week and the infections all seem under control which is a real bonus.

It's my turn to host the challenge at Allsorts this week and I have chosen the theme of Recycling. Our sponsors are Scrappers Delight and Crafty Ribbons. And further down you will also find my entry to this month Rudolph Day and Snippets challenges.

I actually made this card some time ago using a stamp set from Jo's Lets Create designs and was one of the samples I created for her, but am hoping I am now OK to blog it as it's one I rather liked. I have used a nice 'chunk' of corrugated from some old packaging, it's something I tend to hoard much to hubby's annoyance. I have also used a couple of pages from an old book.

One of the book pages has been sprayed with Dylusions and then the rose images stamped onto it and cut out and the offcuts used to make a rose using a punch for the petals. The base layer of corrugated has been liberally edged with Frantage, some cord tied round it and then another page of the book inked with DI round the edges then matted and layered and the cut out rose fixed centrally, plus a sentiment stamped onto another of the offcuts.

OK, now to offload some guilt, I keep making these promises to join in at Mo's Rudolph Day and Di's Snippets challenges but somehow I never quite get there. So here goes and it's a two in one...............you did say that would be OK Di's so hope I'm not going to get a rap on the knuckles and that I managed to link up by the skin of my teeth.

I've had this piece of Christmas DP hanging about for ages so cut a base card down to accommodate it and matted onto some gold mirri card. I cut the Tattered Lace sentiment from an offcut of the same colour mirri.......I always hoard the offcuts of mirri as it's expensive and comes in useful for sentiments. The mistletoe is cut and embossed from offcuts of pearl paper using TL Mistleto Trio set and I lightly inked with DI to give a greeny hue. Finally a gold organza bow.

Happy weekend all.

Some news I've been bursting to share and holiday photos

Good morning Peeps, as requested here are a few photos from the holiday which was great and I have returned feeling much better. I also have some exciting news to share which I have been keeping under wraps for ages..................I have been invited to join the new Guest Design Team at Chocolate Baroque.

I have been a fan of their stamps for many years right back to the days when Glenda used to appear on C&C doing all things inky.................I think it was her that started my inky obsession. Glenda and Adrian have recently moved on and started an exciting new art venture and Lesley who has been part of the company for some time is now the owner and running things. The new team's work will be displayed on the Chocolate Baroque Blog and I am looking forward to the new challenge of creating with their stamps.

My card above is one I created using the lovely Indian Elephants, Indian Textiles and Decorative Edges stamp sets, along with Dylusions, bleaching, gold foiling plus a bit of colouring using the same Dylusions.

And here are a few of the holiday photos...................

Montenegro - one of the pretty lakeside villages

St Marco Venice taken from our balcony on the ship as we sailed down the Grand Canal

Bridge of Sighs Venice taken from a gondola

Il Colossoe Rome, always so atmospheric

Trevi Fountain Rome

Dubrovnik Croatia - one of the pretty side streets in the old town

Dubrovnik Old Town taken from the cable car

Pompeii steeped in history

Pisa - I didn't take this one, it's actually a postcard

And a few of the ship.............

The main atrium which stretches upwards for eight decks - not sure what the balloons were for

The Solarium pool, one of three on the ship

The main dining room which covers three levels

Have a good week all.

The Quintessential Summer Rose

Good morning Peeps, today we should be just back from our hols so this was scheduled before we went just in case but all things going to plan I should now be doing the unpacking before having a mega catch up with you over the weekend.

So, time to tell you about our new challenge at Allsorts where Helene would love to see Roses on our work. They are the most beautiful quintessential summer flower and for a second week running my card is based on them. Our sponsor is Marianne Designs.

My elegant lady has a rose in her hand as well as on her hat and I used a few more to decorate my card. The image is a really old wood mounted stamp, I actually reaslied the other day when we were talking about various family events that I must have had her for eleven years as she was in a box of stamps selected for me one Christmas by hubby.............that was way back in the days when family used to buy me crafty goodies with no worry of repeats, now they think I have far too many.

I stamped her with black versafine and embossed with detail clear powder and coloured her very lightly with Specrtum pencils, some Trimctaft DP and silk crush ribbon bow and pearls to embellish.

Happy weekend all.

An Orchid or Hibiscus ?

Morning all and hoping this scheduled post knows it's Saturday and time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Jo would like us to share our favourite colour and we have a lovely prize from Sizzix.

The flowers are from Sheena's Orchid set. I stamped it out some time ago and forgot which set it came from and as it doesn't really look like a conventional orchid to me have to confess when I did the coloring in with Spectrum Pencils I actually thought it was a Hibiscus and coloured it accordingly, so will put this one down to artistic licence.

It's a corner stamp which I stamped four times to create a frame/wreath...........over at TL they think I have a bit of a fettish for floral wreaths as I seem to make one with every new set of dies I am sent to work with.............and they could well be right as I get great comfort from using flowers in this way. I have yet again used Penny Black Sing, Dance, Love in the centre and added an organza bow and ribbon slide...........I found a supplier on the internet that is aimed at the wedding market but sells some lovely ribbon adornments at reasonable prices.

My second share uses lots of Tattered Lace dies, I have written the details up on another scheduled post over at the Tattered Lace bog so please do pop over there if you would like to know what products I have used.

Happy weekend all and as always many thanks for your visit.

Inspired by Summer

Yep, it's scheduled yet again and hopefully popping up on the right day to tell you about our new challenge at Allsorts where Tracy would like to see work inspired by Summer. Our sponsor is Whimsy Stamps.

Naturally my mind went to flowers and the quintessential Summer Rose and a beautiful Emily Dickinson short poem.

I printed the poem onto white linen cardstock............although it looks far from white in my photo............inked the Penny Black wood mounted stamp with distress markers and spritzed with water before stamping twice. I then simply matted and layered onto coordinating cardstock and added an organza bow and glittery ribbon slide.

Happy weekend all, I'm still on my hollybobs so see you all towards the end of the month.

The tortoise and the Hare

Good morning Peeps, I scheduled this one before we went away to hopefully it will pop up on the right day to tie in with the Tattered Lace Pick of the Week launching on Create and Craft on 7th August.

The top card uses TL large hearts, TL essential hearts, TL all over flourish embossing folder, TL clematis and ribbon strip from the TL essential book die set.

This is TL Mary, isn't she gorgeous, I found myself making quite a few with her. The sentiment is computer generated and I added some blossoms at the top using TL cherry blossoms and TL rose bunch embossing folder for the background.

Here we have the new TL tortoise, my mind went immediately to the tortoise and hare nursery rhyme, so I printed the rhyme for the backgound, stamped a hare........actually it's a rabbit but with a bit of artistic licence for the purpose of my card I think those big ears could make it a hare and added the tortoise who you can see is just ahead in the race.

And this is the new TL penguin, he's a real cute fellow. I used the TL holly embossing folder for the background and the TL Christmas lights across the bottom panel of the TL side stepper card. And finally a bow using the pretty silver TL glitter ribbon.

As always my appreciation for your visit.

Hollyhocks

Before I tell you about our new challenges I must add a few words to my previously scheduled post and again thank you all so much for your kind words, e.mails and understanding in response to my previous post, I have drawn great comfort from them.

When this pops up we should be on our way to Barcelona for a few days ahead of sailing to Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and a couple of days in Venice and I am hoping it will be the tonic my body needs to get me back on track.

Our monthly challenges at Penny Black and More and Stamping Sensations have nice and easy themes of Summer Flowers and Anything Goes, as always lots of lovely prizes to be won including a mega £50 store voucher from Tattered Lace.

So needless to say it's looking all rather floral here this month, I didn't set out with that intention and it was only when I came to write up my post that it occurred to me as both cards were made some weeks ago, but c'est la vie and you all know I love my florals and need little persuasion to use them on my work.

Another Tattered Lace centre stepper card for my Penny Black make at the top, these dies sets with all the matting and layering dies included in the set make them a breeze to make. The image is the gorgeous............and wood mounted............Penny Black Hollyhock stamp, stamped and coloured with Spectrum pencils three times to give the focal image and some decoupaged flowers on the side panels. The leaves are TL Sophie Trio set and I added some ribbon and sparkly slide across the bottom section.

And for my Stamping Sensations DT piece it's one of the new TL essential book cards along with lots of TL dies and a Penny Black floral stamp and sentiment. The DP's are all G45 with a real summery feel and I inked the focal stamp with coordinating DI colours. A rather OTT organza bow made on the EA bow maker and another gemstone ribbon slide.

Happy Sunday all and hope you will join in our challenges. See you all when we come home.

Pearls and gems

This post was scheduled, but I felt I had to add a few words after receiving so many touching e.mails following my post yesterday saying I had switched off the comment option on my blog. I did that because I felt rather ashamed that in recent weeks I have been struggling to visit your blogs yet you continue to visit me. 

As many of you know I have been suffering ongoing infections which the medics have been unable to get under control and although they started as dental problems created by my general health and medications, being immune compromised it has led to other problems. 

I have now had quite a few teeth removed but the knock on affect of the infections is that my diabetes and MS took a downturn and this week I was referred back to the pain clinic for more dorsal root ganglion spinal injections. The timing of all of this is not ideal as we are due to go on holiday this weekend, but with the infections now under control I am hoping I can go with pain relatively stable again, albeit my face looks like I've done a few rounds with Tyson following the extractions ! 

So in answer to so many requests to do so, I am switching the comment option back on and pray when I return from holiday I will be up to visiting you all again. Thank you all for your kindness and also my fellow DT members for their understanding.

Today sees the start of our new challenge at Allsorts and Wendy would like us to use Pearls and/or gems on our work this week. Our sponsors are DigiStamp Boutique and our very own Jo of Lets Create.

Since Tattered Lace released the center and side stepper cards I have made quite a few of them, both as DT pieces for TL and for other occasions as it's such a quick and easy process with all the matting and layering dies included in the sets.

The focal flower is from Chocolate Baroque coloured in with Spectrum pencils, the papers from stash and the decoupaged flowers are made from TL Trio sets, as you may have gathered I use these quite a lot. I dotted some pearls here and there and in the center of the flowers on the side panels.

Happy weekend and I will see you all when we return.