Peace Lily Snippets

 

Good morning Peeps, I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas. Here it was hectic with fourteen for three days, I was still under the weather so for the first time ever handed the kitchen reigns over to whoever was willing and there were no shortage of takers. 

We've cause for extra celebration, our eldest son has been named in the New Year Honours list for his service to Policing, he played a leading role at the Home Office during Covid and the death of The Queen. I make no apologies for the very proud Mum mention.

So onto my card, I've not been up to much crafting the last few weeks so it's another from my unused folders. I would like to enter this into the current challenge at Path of Positivity, the optional twist is music but I have nothing music related so going the A/G route. The stamps are all from AALL and Create Clocks and Flowers (448) and stencil White Lotus (170) along with Oxides. The sentiment (cut into two) from my own Moments stamp set, also available from Create and Craft.

There is also another challenge in full swing over at the Snippets Playground so popping in there as well, the Lily's and leaves were all stamped onto snippets and paper pieced as were the words.

And meet Merlin, the newest member of the family. After losing Ben in October it was down to Anysia to let us me know when she felt ready to move on. Purely by chance Merlin was spotted and they bonded immediately, he's only a baby at three but so well mannered and going well for one so young. He arrived the week before Christmas and already fitting in well with Heskey and Penelope.

Cold as Ice

This will be my last post before Christmas and I (along with Rosa above) wish you all a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

My 'just in case' theory means this post was schedule well ahead! MS is having a hissy fit, left arm and hand not working making typing difficult, right leg much the same and lots of pain all round so back on morphine patches and cocktail of meds meaning I'm away with the fairies half the day 🧚‍♀️ but could think of worse places to be!!

It's a two week challenge at Allsorts over the Christmas period and Lorraine is our host with the theme of 'Cold as Ice' or the A/G option. Prizes for this challenge will fall into January's winners post and come from AALL and Create and Craft Stash.

My thinking went snow, ice and Penguins in the form of AALL and Create's Penguins and Frosty stamp sets along with their new die set Tag It, it's a great tag set as it's a decent size compared with some tags which tend to come up small.

The little stars are also in the tag die set, an inked background and stencilled stars using TH distressed translucent crackle paste, unfortunately you can't really see the crackle on my photo.

The icy element in this one are the crystals in the focal image, one of three very large stamps on an A4 set from AALL and Create Crystal Wood (864), some really soft stencilling in the background using White Lotus (170) and stamping using Shattering (713), the word 'Fox' made up with letters from Garden she Wrote (926). I stamped the Fox again and paper pieced, then the flowers several times to decoupage and arrange around the Fox.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Hellebores and Fairies

Morning Peeps, it's mid month inspiration day at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are  Winter Flowers and Foliage and Favourite Colours along with the A/G option.

Above a tag using AALL and Create Hellebore (1063) and Tag it Yourself (27), Kraft card and Oxides to create the circles, white pen to add definition then the Hellebore stamped twice and the flower heads coloured and paper pieced. The wording comes from the same stamp set.

Moving onto my SS share, as explained in my post at the beginning of the month I find it hard to say which colour is my fav as I love colour generally (except blue) but pinks and purples pop up regularly so that's what I have today. 

A masked centre panel then a background of blended regular distress inks and glycerine, I remember this technique demonstrated by Sheena many years ago to create a really soft blend....and I'm still using the same bottle of glycerine! All stamps are Lavinia most from the latest collection.

The challenges run until 3rd January so still plenty of time to join in.

A Christmas wreath

Morning everyone, another Saturday means a new challenge at Allsorts where this week Mervi would love to see 'Christmas Flowers and Wreaths' along with the usual A/G option. Prizes this month come from Aldridge Crafts, Stampendous, and AALL and Create.

I love a Christmas Wreath, well any floral one really and this one using Highlights Seasonal Finishing Touches, a recent make for a Create and Craft show was perfect for this weeks theme. This collection proved so popular and sold out within hours of release with repeated sell outs since, but currently available and on special offer.

I used a really old 8x8 Tattered Lace Holly EF for the background and built up the wreath, lots of decoupage and some gold Tilsen in the centre of the Poinsettias.

Another one, this time using a embroidery hoop, the Poinsettias and Ivy again from Seasons Finishing Touches and a little Robin tucked among the foliage.

Happy weekend all.

I spy B, Butterflies and Boots

Morning everyone, I'm starting by apologising I've not visited many of you this week, we had no internet other than a few brief interludes from Sunday till Thursday. Add a poorly dog and trips to Newmarket to the specialist Vet, so not conducive to crafting and blogging.

A new challenge at Allsorts and this week I'm your host and my theme is one I've not used for quite a while "I spy with my little eye something beginning with B' and as usual there's the A/G option. Prizes from Aldridge Crafts, Stampendous and AALL and Create.

Above my 'B's' come in the form of Butterfly, Brown and 'B'. I do like the size of AALL and Create's border stamps, however, this particular one is part of an A4 stamp set called Thorough the Meadow and currently on offer well below half price at £11.60 (normal price £28.99) as are most of their A4 sets, a lot of stamping for your money! But you'll need to be quick as normal prices are creeping back in.

A stencilled background using A&C Evergreen, the word Butterfly from the same stamp set as the focal element and letters from Garden She Wrote and Grunge Alphabet. The pen nib used for the Butterfly's antenna  were sourced online, a bag of 20 assorted used vintage ones for £8.00.

A second share where it's B for Boots, Bird and Blooms, using more favourites from  AALL and Create, A5 set The Great Outdoors (370) on offer at £7.60,  A4 set Friendship Florals (648) also on offer at £11.60 and Folim stencil (155) along with Ranger Opaque crackle paste.......I  use both the translucent and opaque ones but the latter has to be my favourite. Here I applied the paste to a piece of white 640gsm Fabriano, I know it sound heavy but it takes everything you throw at it without warping. When dry I sprayed with Peeled Pain Oxide spray and did a bit of background stamping before adding the various elements which were all stamped, coloured and cut out. The little heart came from a pack of A&C ephemera.

The new challenge at Path of Positivity has the optional twist of music, no music on either of these so I'll go with Anything Goes and a few positive words and link up my wellie boots, items that are in daily use at the moment with so much rain and the paddocks are like ponds.

Thanks as always for you kind visits and hope you will join us at Allsorts this week.

Illuminated Stag

Morning everyone, hard to believe it's our last challenges of the year at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are Winter Flowers and Foliage and Favourite Colours along with the A/G option. Prizes this month come from AALL and Create and Highlight Crafts, some gorgeous stamps from both.

Above my WLS share using AALL and Create Crystal Wood (864), coloured in with Ecoline pens, stencilling in the background using Folium (155) then pinecones in the top corners from Pinecone (389), the word Winter from Seasons (455) with a sentiment from one of my own Christmas set's, now back in stock at Create and Craft.

Deciding on my SS make was difficult as I like so many colours (except blue to which I have an aversion!!), it's probably better to say I like colour combinations, some that seem a bit offbeat to the more conventional crafter. So I decided to go with a couple of favourite Oxides which I frequently combine, Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet.

My starting point was the new Tag it Yourself dies from AALL and Create which I am still loving, both the distressed design and size which is larger than many tag dies.  After splodging ink and water from acetate I stamped the images which come from Flower Trio (924), Anemone (980) and Forget Me Not (896). The little circles with flowers are one of the stamps on Anemone, stamped and masked to allow the larger flowers to be behind. Words from my favourite sentiment set Power of the Word (756), paper pieced flowers stamped on inky offcuts as are the sentiments so popping over to the Snippets Playground with this one (no snippet photo I'm afraid - not that organised!).

We are really looking forward to seeing your creations this month so hope you can find time amidst all the pre Christmas activities to join in.

More Crunched Leafdrops and Fairies

Morning everyone, Saturday again and at Allsorts Liz has chosen the theme of 'Stitching, real or faux', along with the usual A/G option. This weeks prizes again come from  AALL and Create.

The two arch shapes were leftovers from cutting a frame so being frugal (unusual for me) I decided to see if I could stitch round them to make a card for today's theme. After lending my machine to eldest Granddaughter it seems I now only have one stitch option which is this zigzag, need time to sit and play with the settings.

Some oxide ink splodged from acetate, the smaller Pinecone from AALL and Create A4 (389) Pinecone set along with the Robin from Robin and Nuthatch (690) and on the other side the birdie and numerical background also from the Pinecone set. The Pinecone and Birdies were stamped again and decoupaged, then more of the gorgeous Crunched Leafdrops (1109) stamped onto inky offcuts and cut out with the coordinating die Leafinitely Detailed (25). Making a last minute dash to Path of Positivity with this one where they are asking for texture.

These leaves are so realistic and look just like the golden carpets around our orchard and gardens at the moment. Autumn was very late here in the Fens and definitely merged with Winter this year, this morning everything has an eerie feel, not only frost again but fog as well and real crunchiness underfoot.

My second share is for the current Butterfly Challenge, as usual at this time of year the Butterflies are all in their pupa/chrysalis stage of life so this month the Fairies come out to play. All stamps by Lavinia mostly the new collection which so many of us seem to have succumbed to, although probably geared towards Winter, can to my mind work all year round.

It's also reveal day at the Card Chain Challenge and this is the card I sent to Barbara in Switzerland. A masked panel, two shades of Oxide along with A&C Foilum stencil (155) and the Thistle one of three large stamps on A5 set Flower Journey (904) currently half prize at £9.50 here.

And this is the card I received from Gail, thank you Gail, it's fun.

Hope you all have a good weekend.