Baroque hearts and Roses

Good morning Peeps, it's time for another post over at the Chocolate Baroque DT blog showcasing some more 15 minute creations. 

Also don't forgot that Lesley is launching a new One Day Special at 8am this evening on Hochanda, there are some fabulous new stamps so I do hope you will tune in.

Both of my shares are samples from the shows on Hochanda earlier this month, I thoroughly enjoyed working with the beautiful Rose stamps. And the card at the top, although simple was one of my favourites. I created the background with DI's and an acrylic block with grid lines, inked the block and spritzed with water before 'stamping. I then stamped the Rose Script Background image with archival ink and bleached out the colour and have to say I rather like the sepia affect the bleach gave to the inked stamp.

For this one I created a background with DI's, dabbing them onto a craft sheet, spritzing with water and swooshing the card through it. I stamped the baroque heart from the Harlequin Rose set four times, stamped the sentiment and used TL dies to create the mat and layering.

Many thanks for taking a peek today and I hope you can find a moment to pop over to the DT blog to see what my teamies have created.

400th Celebrations and Rudolph is back

Good morning to you all, before I tell you about our special challenge at Allsorts this week I would like to say a huuuuuuge thank you for all your wonderfully kind messages and e.mails of support following my last post, you are all so thoughtful and your words mean a great deal to me.

So into our challenge and Tracy wants us to 'Celebrate' and with a very good reason as well as it's our 400th Allsorts challenge !! I feel so privileged to have been involved with each one and to be working alongside such a super team. So we naturally have a rather special prize for you this week which comes courtesy of Tattered Lace. And as well as the main prize there will be two further prizes, so lots of reasons to join in this week, do pop over to the challenge blog and check out the super prizes and see the super inspiration from my teamies.

I did panic somewhat as I always have a good backup of work for those 'just in case' times, but most of those have been utilised in recent weeks whilst I have been unwell so I was determined to create something new. My card uses stamps from Altenew, they are some I treated myself to way back in the Autumn and they sat unused for ages, so this is their first outing. It took me the best part of a morning and I am not totally happy with it but at least I feel I am easing back into a little craft.

I was determined to be well prepared for Mo's first Rudolph Day of 2017 and had this stored away ready. The image and sentiment are both Inkylicious, I used a mask and white ink to create the focal shape then stamped with coffee archival ink onto the Kraft card and added glitter to the winery scene. And the two narrow white elements are a couple of pieces from the snippets draw so I am popping over the the Playground with this one

Happy weekend all.

A message to all my blogland friends

Morning Peeps.

Most of you know I suffer long term health problems and in the last year they have not been particularly kind to me. As an extra 'inconvenience' I have been unwell since before Christmas which ended up with me in hospital and recovery is slow going.

It's a harsh reality check and hard to accept that you can't do all you want or used to do and that most things take twice as long as they once did. This means eventually something has to give, not just for the sake of my unwilling body but for the benefit of those around me who at the end of the day are the ones who have to pick up the pieces each time I am unwell.

So I have had to reach a very difficult decision and prioritise what I feel is the most effective way of utilising my time. Also most know that since my relapse last Summer I have struggled typing, doing so just exacerbates my pain so this is another thing I have to take into account.

I love running my three challenges and I know they give pleasure to so many, therefore I believe they must be the focus of my computer efforts. Coupled with my love of crafting, as like so many of us it offers a sanctuary and lifeline to sanity some days, a place where I can lose myself and continue to share some creations which may even offer a little inspiration along the way.

As you will have gathered by now, my limited keyboard time will in future be concentrated on preparing challenge posts and commenting on entries which out of necessity will in part be cut and paste. And although I dislike the idea and much as I cherish your friendship, I am stepping back from daily blogland visiting. All of that said I see many of you through the challenges so not all is lost but as they say in Italy 'il buon senso deve prevalere' (common sense must prevail).

Daisy, Daisy

Good morning to you all, it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Wendy has come up with the theme of 'Daisy, Daisy, a lovely theme that really makes you think of Spring doesn't it.

Wings on things

Good morning Peeps, it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Tracy Mouse would like us to see 'Wings on things'. Our sponsor is Tattered Lace.

My apologies for both a short post and being totally missing from both my craft room and blogland visits this past week but I'm not too well at the moment and may be missing for a bit. Luckily I usually work a few weeks in advance with DT projects so have cards prepared and scheduled to keep things ticking over.

For the one above I created a background with Pan Pastels, all of the stamps are Lavinia, stamped with archival black and especially for Tracy I added a little mouse climbing the grasses in the foreground along with some glitter here and there.

And a second card using Tattered Lace Blissful Branches which leaves the shape within the card allowing you to add colour beneath which is what I did here with Distress Crayons.

My teamies have come up with some super inspiration so I do hope you will pop over to the challenge blog to check out their creations.

A Snowflake is Winter's Butterfly

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Winter and/or Snow' and as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

Lots of inkiness going on starting with a basic frame with a canvas insert, first I gave it all a good coat of gesso, followed by acrylic paint and then crackle glaze and more acrylic paint to the frame. Once dry I stamped with an old Inkadinkadoo leafy swirl stamp with purple adirondack dye ink. I added chipboard corners with liberal helpings of gold gilding polish.

I also stamped the smaller element of the same stamp around the canvas and then used grunge paste through an arch window stencil, sprinkled over mica powder and used a heat tool to make it bubble and add more texture. Finally a sentiment and Penny Black Butterflies.

I am popping over to the Playground with this one as I used snippets for the sentiment and Butterfly.

I do hope you will come and join us this month.

A black lab

Good morning to you all, it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Susan would like to see 'Cats and Dogs. Our sponsor is Digistamp Boutique and Sizzix.

It had to be my black lab for this card, the card is one of a batch I made for a relative and labs had to feature. I stamped the Penny Black village scene, used a mask and Pan Pastels for the sky, added a little colour to be buildings and lots of snow glitter to the foreground, finally stamping the lab into place who for the avoidance of doubt is called George.

Happy weekend all.

Coffee and Cream Roses

Happy New Year !!

It's time for our first challenges of 2017 at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes 'Coffee and Cream' and 'Anything Goes'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both.

My Coffee and Cream share is another recent Chocolate Baroque make, this time using CB Harlequin Rose stamp and Rose Stem Script in the background. I stamped both the focal element and the base layer with versafine and heat embossed with detail clear. I then inked with DI's and buffed up with a soft cloth. Some ribbon and pearls and finito.............looking at it in the photo the scrip looks a bit lop sided but you will have to believe me it looked fine in the flesh.

And a heads up that Chocolate Baroque will be having their very first Hochanda shows this Wednesday 4th January at 11pm and 5pm. I am going to pop over to see Parsnip and Miss Di at the Playground with this one, start the year as I intend to go on and fingers crossed no detentions.

My Penny Black share uses PB Passionate and Special Wishes for the sentiment. I started by sponging DI through a stencil to create a subtle background and then inked the flower with distress pens, spritzed with water and stamped, added the sentiment and matted and layered onto dark blue cardstock.

I do hope you will join our challenges this month.