Cocktails in Sicily

Morning Peeps, a scheduled post as we have been away on holiday for the past few days and all things going to plan, after a few days in Italy our Celebrity ship should have sailed through the Tyrrhenian Sea to Cagliari in Sardinia.

Then last evening through the Straights of Messia and as it would have been dusk the flames rising from Stromboli may have been visible. Then this morning we should be berthed in Sicily before sailing into the Ionian Sea to our nest port of call..............check back tomorrow to see where that is ! It's a few years since we last visited Sicily but I do remember sipping delectable cocktails along with local nibbles so will be seeking out those bars again..................I can always be relied upon to remember the important things !

So onto our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Helene would like us to focus on sentiments with the theme 'Sentiment in Focus'. Our sponsor this weeks is Digistamp Boutique.

This one was a bit of indulgence between working on DT and TV samples. I cute Timmy's Vintage Cabinet card three times and then used Oxide inks to build up the background. Next came stamping using the beautiful face from Stampers Anonymous, the focal sentiment is from Inkylicious and Butterfly from Chocolate Baroque. A bit of random stenciling and then brads and seam binding to tie it all together.

Happy weekend all.

Things with wings

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week I am your host with the theme of 'Things with Wings'. Our prizes this weeks are some lovely Butterfly stamps. 

Bad timing on my part as we are off on holiday tomorrow so my team mate Kath (thanks Kath) will sort the winners post on Friday, but I have the prizes so will have to post them when we are home. I don't use the internet on holiday as the WiFi charges are astronomical on board so I will see you all again after 10th October. And while I'm away be good and I will try and do the same........some chance with an all inclusive drinks package !

Two card this week as I couldn't make up my mind between Fairies and Butterflies so there is one of both. The top one uses all Lavinia stamps and Pan pastels, my starting point was to stamp the focal Fairy with black versafine and then build up the backgrond with circle stencils and shades of blue and lilac Pan Pastels. Once I was happy with the colous I stamped the leaves and fauna, sentiment and little mouse and added some white highlights and stickles. 

I went for some fresh zingy DI's for this one, for the bottom layer I added the ink to a craft sheet, spritzed with water and dragged the watercolour card through.......the technique has been around forever but recently seems to have been re-named smooching !! I sponged the same three colours onto the top piece, stamped the Inkylicious Butterfly to one side and slightly off the edge with versafine black and heat embossed with detail clear, stamping again onto an offcut to decoupage which I coloured with the same inks. Using a honeycomb stencil I inked around the Butterfly and then stamped and heat embossed the Chocolate Baroque sentiment. Finally some green gems to add the bling element to the Butterfly's thorax and side panel and wire antenna.

Have a lovely weekend.

Roses and Reindeer's, Penny Black mid month and a Snippet

Hello all, I'm over at the Chocolate Baroque DT blog again today to share a few more of my samples from last months Hochanda shows where Lesley inspired us all with more beautiful stamps.

For my first share I gave a piece of watercolour card a watery covering of DI then stamped Crackling Rose  with Versafine black and coloured in with sparkle pens. The sentiment is from Loving Sentiments which I cut into several pieces to arrange around the bloom. The edges have been lightly inked, matted onto coordinating cardstock and a organza bow added down the side.

Reindeer Landscape is such a lovely stamp and I decided to keep it fairly simple. I stamped the main image and added some watercolour to the sky using a mask to block out the moon plus a little shading to the hills, then stamped part of the image twice onto a larger piece of card so that I could raise the focal coloured one in the centre to carry the scene either side. I also stamped one of the Deer again, cut it out and decoupaged offsetting it to the left.

My last share is a bit more inky indulgence using offcuts of Fabriano, when I cut several squares for base cards I am always left with the end strips which fit perfectly with Timmy's Cabinet Card die. I inked the three pieces with Oxide inks and stamped with Harlequin Bouquet and Floribunda Net, coloured in with the same inks and the sentiment from Loving Sentiments stamped with Versafine black. I also added some leaves using leaves using the Useful Leaves stencil. Finally the three pieces were then tied together with seam binding threaded through eyelets. I am popping over to visit Miss Di and Parsnip over at the Snippets Playground.

And now for my mid month Penny Black and More creation using Penny Black 40-561 Santa's Visit from the new 'Be Merry' 2017 Christmas collection now available in the UK from Crafts U Love.

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with Christmas cards, the fact that I start making TV samples in May each year means that by the time I come to making my own and those for orders I am a tad fed up with them. Even more so when those orders require so many of the same design.............one of the reasons I try to avoid wedding orders as I hate monotony and am far happier playing with lots of inks and a few stamps. Anyhow here are the cards for one of my Christmas orders, 50 of these required and I am determined to get all the Christmas cards out of the way before we go on holiday next week and glad to say this order is all done and dusted.

Happy day all.

Feels like Autumn and Chocolate Baroque all the way

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Ellie is our host with the theme of 'Feels like Autumn'. Our prize this weeks is some lovely Butterfly stamps. Our prize is a Tonic Pick of the Bunch die set.

No secret that I love making Autumnal cards, something about the warm rich colours that always appeals, mind you I am not such a fan of the season  itself as it heralds winter and colder days. This was a recent Chocolate Baroque creation for one of the Hochanda TV shows, starting with an Oxide ink background I stamped the beautiful CB Autumn Medley, bleached out the colour from her face and coloured the leaves with DI's. I randomly stamped some harlequins using CB Decorastive edges and one of my favourite CB sentiment from the Words of Inspiration set.

And here is my selection from the Chocolate Baroque DT blog showcasing more CAS style cards. I am going to be short and sweet with these but if anyone would like more details on what I did or the stamps and products used please feel free to mail me.

(Yep, the trees do look a tad tipsy, or maybe that was me when I made it!)

Happy weekend all and please do hop over to the challenge and DT blogs to see lots more inspiration from my team mates.

A touch Oriental

A very good morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Kath would like us to use 'At least two Design Paperes'. We have two prizes this week, a pretty paper pad to go with the theme and some dies from Tattered Lace.

I made this card absolutely ages ago and it's been sitting in my picture file waiting for an opportunity to use it so Kath's theme was the perfect opportunity. The image is a lovely wood mounted stamp called Asia Poppy from Hampton Arts, it was one of the very first stamps I bought so must be at least fifteen years old.

My starting place was to ink the stamp with Distress Markers and spritz with water before stamping and then cut out with a fancy die and lightly ink the edges. The papers are G45 and I made the single flower from an offcut from the same paper pack.

My second card feaures one of the lovely Art Deco dies from Tattered Lace, this one is called Cocktail Hour, I paper pieced the ladies dress and parasol, used Victoria border to cut the bottom panel, added a bow and Rare Earth sentiment.

I hope you will join us this week and please do pop over to the challenge blog and see what my team mates have made to inspire you.

Flora Musica and Butterflies

Good morning all you crafty Peeps, I hope you week is going well, it's my turn to post over at the Chocolate Baroque DT blog again today sharing some more of my makes using the stamps that Lesley showcases on Hochanda in August, the first show featured a wonderful collection of Vintage inspired floral stamps and the second show was all about Winter and Christmas. I will share a few of my samples for both shows with you.

Starting with the card at the top which features Flora Musica I stamped onto a Distress Oxide background and the used DI's to colour the image. Using Decorative Edges I stamped some random harlequins using the same Oxide inks, a little Butterfly from Just Butterflies and sentiment from Words of Inspiration which I think is my all time favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment set.

I am also tucking in an entry for the new Butterfly Challenge, I'm ashamed to say I have not joined in for weeks but just happened to see the new theme pop up on my dashboard and knew I had a card in my gallery that would fit in a treat, the theme is of course a Butterfly plus the choice of Silhouette and/or Indigo, I think I have ticked sufficient boxes with this one. The image is Stampendous and the sentiment Penny Black.

For this card I again created an Oxide ink background and the overstamped with the holly from Winter Birds using Versafine blue ink. The central panel has a sentiment from the new Christmas Word Plate and again the same holly around the edges.

This one was a bit of an experiment !! Yet another Oxide ink background............yes I am a bit obsessed with them and over stamped with Harlequin Bouquet which I stamped with Versafine black and coloured in with the same DI's. I then covered the whole piece with three layers of  Versamark and heat embossed each layer with detail clear poweder and then the madness set in..........I cut the piece into seven piece and rearranged onto a piece of coordinating cardstock, but do quite like the finished effect.

For my final card I used Kraft card, a mask and a white inkpad to create the Christmas bauble shape and with the mask still in place stamped the house from New England Winter using Gathered Twigs DI and finally the little sentiment set from Frosty Trees and a white bow to finish.

As always my thanks for popping in today and I hope I have inspired you to go check out the lovely stamps from the shows.

Hot pink Poppies and a Christmas Hamlet

It's time for our challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'Colour Inspiration' and they are rather yummy colours as well and 'Get ready for Christmas'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both.

My top card is my Penny Black share using a newish stamp called Snowy Hamlet stamped in Gathered Twig DI and the colour dragged out a little, then a background added with Pan Pastels, snow glitter and I also extended the lines a little using a fine line brown pen. I cut the frame using a TL die, stamped the sentiment with is a pretty old PB wood mounted one, then raised the frame with foam pads and mounted onto Kart card and then the base card. I am popping over to see Miss Di and Parsnip at the Snippets Playground with this one as the focal panel was a snippet of Bristol cardstock.

Now I know this is rather pink, in fact pinker than I intended but it did seem to be the right shade to fit the colour inspiration. I started by adding watered down DI to a piece of square Bristol cardstock repeat stamping the PB Poppies and heat embossing with detail white powder, then colouring in with sparkle pens, Using TL dies I cute the piece into three, stamped the sentiment which is also PB and added some stenciling using using DI's. The three pieces are layered up with foam pads, matted onto black and mounted onto the base card.

Hope you all have a good Sunday.

New beginnings and meet our new family member

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that means it's time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week Tracy's theme is 'New Beginnings' - new job, new baby, weddings, there are so many options. Our sponsor is Digistamp Boutique.

Now I know this is a little bit twee for me, but new baby cards are something I always struggle with and inevitably revert to this Penny Black stamp which is fairly safe with minimal colouring. I stamped the daisies again to decoupage, the lemon DP is from stash, some lace and punched butterflies. I have a feeling the bunting is a Penny Black die but no longer have the packing so don't know for sure.

And I thought I would share a few photos I took when all the family visited a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Azaria's 21st Birthday. Veronique (DIL) was determined to prove she could tame nine dogs at once and she didn't do a bad job either, just Poppy one of the terriers got fed up and went missing.

We have a new addition to the family called Leia, she is an 8 month old Anatolian Shepherd Alex and Zoe rescued from Battersea, she is the white one to the front of the first photo and as you can see is already a big girl. She has been round the block a few times and not had a particularly happy life thus far so it's nice to see her happy at last. She is quite a handful as she has never been in one place long enough to learn good from bad, but she is bright and picking things up fast.

From left back Lily, Daisy, Holly and Luka, front Pixie, George, Prince and right in front Leia and of course Veronique to the left hoping nobody smells the treats in her hand......as if......

A reshuffle then all attentive in the hope of getting one of  those treats....love this one

And here is Poppy who was missing from the photo shoot, doing her best to get to know Leia, a bit of mutual ear licking always seems to work

Happy weekend all.