Seasons flower vase

Morning everyone, our last challenge of the year at Allsorts and Sarah is asking us to use our dies. Prize are three coordinating die and stamp sets from Oakwood. This challenge will be the first following our new fortnightly system, the next will be Saturday 4th January.

This card uses Lavinia stamps and stencil and Highlight Crafts dies for the matting and layering frames. After adding ink inside Sticker Stencil 8 I built up the vase of flowers using Holly, Woodland Fern, Winter Berries, Fir Cone, Seed Head and Moss Flower which were stamped several times to decoupage. Words are from Seasonal Words, I love the font of this set.

Another with more dies from TRR, the red frame is I believe from Carnations Crafts along with backing DP from MCS.

I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and send my sincere thanks for all your support and kind words of encouragement throughout the year, it's been a touch one for me so means a lot.

Pengin, Frosty and a Buzzard

Morning Peeps, today sees our last challenges of the year at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations, we have a Winter theme at both and also prizes from AALL and Create.

For my card at the top I used AALL and Create Snow Crystals (221) and again Penguin and Frosty (603 & 604) and Lavinia Sticker Stencil 9, first inking the inside of the globe, then stencilling and finally stamping. I also added some stencilled snowflakes around the snow globe and matching envie.

For this one I used several AALL and Create stamps, Frayed Frames (26), Fallen Leaves (806) and Long Eared Mammal (836), very soft inking in the background and built up an arch with the foliage and stamped the Hare inside, plus a matching envie.

We are truly blessed to see so much wildlife on our land, I took this yesterday from the dining room window, a Common Buzzard who has taken to searching for his prey in the orchard, he seems to like the new vantage point being created by the tree pruning. Living so remotely does have it's advantages.

On the one below you can see him perched on the tree to the far right. Shortly after he took off after a Pidgeon who was too quick for him, so he returned to his resting perch.

I've one more post before Christmas, that will be for Allsorts which will be our first challenge following our new fortnightly system.

Lots of White (almost) and a snippet

Morning one and all,  a new Allsorts challenge where Ellie would like to see 'Lots of White'.  Prize come from AALL and Create.

I alluded to poorly doggies a couple of weeks ago, this week's been traumatic. Daisy eldest Lab fourteen and a half collapsed the other day, has rallied, eating and wagging her tail but very frail. Poppy, Parsons JR, twelve and a half, went into DWR specialist Vets beginning of week to have second surgery for Laryngeal Collapse, before they got that far CT scans showed a large mass on her liver. 

Then they discovered a blood clot preventing any surgery and suggesting the unthinkable. So we visited her Thursday, she seemed her usual self, they say she's not in pain and managing the laryngeal breathing problem with light sedation. So after a couple of conversations with Marcello our regular Vet, we brought her home and he is supporting us in palliative care so she can spend her last days/weeks in her own surroundings. It's heartbreaking, but she's mooching in the gardens as always, eating well and one would never realise what's really going on.

Back to craft, white space is something I find scary on cards, so this was a challenge restraining myself adding more colour. Above, a Sweet Dixie die, Tattered Lace EF, Organza bow and TRR white Christmas Roses. There's a very odd blue border around the card, it's not there irl so must be something to do with taking the photo in rotten light and not had time to do a re-take.

This one is a Sweet Poppy stencil, the image coloured with distress inks, left to dry then the stencil placed back over the image and translucent paste applied. The sentiments are AALL and Create.

The current challenge is in full swing over at the Playground, here's my entry using snippets for the circles, words and focal flower which is a firm favourite of many of us, Textured Florals (531) from AALL and Create, although not available from them several companies still have stock and base is a Gelli Plate mop up. So sorry Misses Di and Sarn but I don't have a snippet photo. Also popping to the Path of Positivity with this one.

Today I must finish sending Christmas cards, I am so behind, did one batch and the other sitting waiting to be done.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Morning to you all, Lynn is our host over at Allsorts challenge and her theme is 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' with prizes from AALL and Create.

I've give A&C's Sack of Joy (1224)) another outing, rather like the traditional feel of the image penned by Abs for last months new releases. Kept him fairly simple and placed into a frame and added some soft starry stencilling to the frame.

I've mentioned many times that this sentiment from Penny Black remains a firm favourite, to me it reflects precisely what this months Path of Positivity theme is all about 'Faith and Hope. A simple card with the quote focally and the frame stamped with a few Lavinia stamps in the background and built up with decoupage using Two Red Robin artwork.

Hummingbird

Afternoon Peeps, definitely the slowest post in the making ever, despite my imac being repaired it's going at snails pace, if anyone is contemplating upgrading to the new Sequoia don't bother, it was absolutely fine before!! Yesterday it took almost two hours to open and commenting is also a problem for whatever reason, I write them but half seem to disappear and for once I don't think it's Bloggers fault.

I've got my Highlight W11 desktop so think I'm gonna have to spend an hour or two moving everything over, although I've already been told it won't be straightforward and might not accept everything because of incompatibility of the two operating systems.

Above my Card Chain Challenge share for this month which went to my blogging challenge pal Carol, and below the card I received from Hilary a beautiful white on white creation. I veered (terrified of) away from that option and went with the sketch using stamps from Lavinia's Sunbloom Collection.

A very quick make using (meagre) snippets for the Playground, it's one of my inspirational samples for AALL and Create using one of Abs new floral stamps called Petal Pop (1249) and Frayed Frames die (26). The flowers and Butterfly stamped a second time on snippets and decoupaged. I would also like to enter this at the new Path of Positivity challenge where the focus on on Faith and Hope, the sentiment if rom my own Believe stamp set, like to supplier in name.

I used pearlescent paint for the flowers and Butterfly which looks rather glary in my photos and being up against time didn't get to take another. 

And here is Hilary's lovely card.

Winter all the way

Hard to believe it's our last challenges of the year at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where we appear to have a duplication of themes, it's Winter at both, not sure how that happened! And another duplication it seems, prizes from AALL and Create at both.

My SS share above uses some of the recent AALL and Create releases, Parallel Rectangle (57) and Sack of Joy (1224) plus a few worker stamps on the smaller elements within the die. They've also just released some beautiful new floral stamps designed by Abs, I made a good few samples with them and will share soon. Santa is slightly larger than the panel so he was stamped twice, coloured and cut out and some elements decoupaged to add dimension. 

I saw this shape card over at Christines blog, mine isn't quite the same as I changed the dimensions with the result that it doesn't fold flat which the original design did, but it's going to Grandson Zachary who loves Penguins so will be hand delivered. I stamped and cut out A&C Penguin family (603) and Frosty (604), stencilling using crackle texture paste and Snow Crystals stencil (221) over a spritzed background. The little beads were strung onto thread and fixed on the frame to give a vague icicle effect - don't have an icicle die!

Finally a snowy scene using a mixture of stamps, Lavina Pheasant, Bandit from Fox set 1, Small Pine Trees, same Berries as the card at the top and a cottage from Inkylicious. I used Pan Pastel for the colour and of course lots of glitter.......for years I've used Judikins snow white glitter on Winter cards, it's quite chunky and added over glossy accents retains the white colour without the iridescent colour hues most glitters have. But it's no longer produced so if anyone can recommend a similar alternative do let me know.

Winter Flowers and Fauna

Morning everyone, a new Allsorts challenge where I'm your host with the theme (pretty predictably) of  'Winter Flowers and Fauna'. Prize come from AALL and Create.

Been a nightmare week, two poorly doggies, eye surgery and iMac working at snails pace after the Sequoia upgrade. Spent Monday on the phone with Apple, four 'experts' later it was lifeless, their theory the hard drive had gone. It's only three years old, so decided to take it to the Apple Genius bar in Cambridge leaving them in no doubt it was working before their 'experts' got involved. It's now up and running again and no charge. 

More Vet visits, screen rest after more laser treatment to try and prolong my vision and three days without a computer means little got done, I do everything on a desktop as can't see phone and tablet for more than a few words, so you'll understand the lack of blog visits.

Back to craft and a fairly simple card above, masked a central square and what is probably my favourite Christmas sentiment stamp, Penny Black Hope is Born, wood mounted 4227K (2008/9). After inking around the aperture I stamped Lavinia small and large Holly, Berries, Leaf Creeper, Woodland Fern and Moss Flowers which I decoupaged and added stickles. The flower and berries on the envie look pink, yet I used the same pens so guess down to the different surfaces.

For this one I used A&C Pheasant (454), Pinecone (389) and Seasons (455) which you can still find from some stockists, but prices vary so look around. I also used a mixture of Lavinia worker stamps to create a partial wreath around an inked circle, a mixture of Versafine and Elements inks and a matching envie.

See you all soon, meantime my appreciation for our visits.

Ribbon and Twin at Allsorts

Morning Peeps, at Allsorts this week Liz would like us to use Ribbons and/or Twine. We have a lovely prize of a Sizzix die set from Craft Stash. This coming Friday will see our monthly winners announcement but this month a twist as we will be giving away some extra prizes, our Christmas gift to our loyal entrants.

The background of the above card was a mop up from my spray box (recycled from an Amazon delivery), I always keep a sheet of corrugated in the bottom for this very purpose, after spraying I dab offcuts to pick up the ink and lovely textures. I stamped AALL and Create Leaves onto the piece, foraged some dry foliage from the garden and tied with twine, a button, word and birdie, very quick and easy. I am hopping over to the challenge at the Path of Positivity with this, only a short quote but one I often use on cards for youngsters.

This one uses a Penny Black set called Foliage Fantasy which I fear may well be discontinued as I found nothing in my search. They are two part stamps, the outline and a second one with the veins. I used a white brilliance ink pad for the silhouette image onto black cardstock, then versafine and embossing powders for second stamping of the veins. A strip of vellum with a sentiment from my Moments set, button and twine.

Robins and Fairies

Morning Peeps, it's mid month inspiration time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are Christmas and Make it Magical. Prizes are Sweet Die dies from Aldridge Crafts at WLS and Lavinia stamps and stencil at Stamping Sensations.

Eventually I've got more samples made using the new Lavinia Starlight Whispers collection and you might think you've see the one above before as it's very similar to one I shared Saturday (that had more stamping on the frame and different sentiment). These Robins in the collection are called Bobby and Jemima and firm favourites, to build up the scene I used several older stamps Mini Holly, Fir Tree and Seasonal Words and Mini Holly, puff up snow and lots of glitter. 

Again using the new Starlight Whispers collection, along with Arch of Angels, Fir Tree, Fairy Path and Seed Heads, for the background Elements and Pan Pastels which combine together really well, PP's are always a bit hit and miss with Oxides due to the chalkiness of the latter. Both of the above have lots of sparkle although not evident in my photos but both will fit the current Lavinia challenge of 'Time to Sparkle', why not join in with your sparkly Lavinia stamped creations, you have until 25th November for the chance of winning a £40 voucher.

Another of those Robins, along with the Lamppost from the new collection (link above), same sentiment as above, plus Holly, Woodland Fern and Fairy Path.

Finally, Eve inside a partial wreath made with Fir Cone Branch, several Lavinia mini stamps and a circle created using various sized dies which I drew round with a quickie glue pen and brushed over with gold gilding Tilsen. The sentiment is Penny Black.

Last week I mentioned RM had lost a parcel from Lavinia with new goodies, ten days on and they still have no idea of the location of their tracking photo showing a front door and hand taking delivery, what is for sure is some (underhand) person is sitting on it, wonder if they have any clue what to do with stamps, inks and glitter.

Fruit and Nut (no, not chocolate!)

Good morning, Saturday so time for a new theme  at Allsorts and Gail has chose the theme of 'Food and/or Drink'. Prize come from AALL and Create.

So Pears and Nuts are food right? I have very little in the way of food related stamps so opted for this A&C image which I stamped, applied masking fluid then flooded the surrounding area with watered down DI. Removed the masking and added some light colouring to the image and some background stamping. I have a jar of these little metal clips so added three onto die cut circles.

Was worried the top card may be a tad too removed from the theme so created this in MCS, the Bunny family are sitting under the Horse Chestnut at the top of my garden having a picnic......indulge me. We do have three beautiful Horse Chestnuts and lots of Bunnies although they seem diminished in numbers lately, some of their holes have evidence of vigorous digging so figure the Fox fraternity are hungry with no Hens within reach.

I've been rather tardy making a start with the new Lavinia Starlight Whispers collection, did make my apologies to Noni when we spoke yesterday as I had planned cracking on after my kidney op, then last week had a UTI, something I hoped was behind me after that. But this week I've got some samples finished which I will be sharing over the next week or so.

Here are Bobby and Jemima the Robins, you'll find them following the link above. This one is for the Snippets Playground and the Path of Positivity challenge, the sentiment is from my Christmas Seasons stamp set available here which I think is fitting for their current option of Friends/Family.

My snippets, well, all are pieces from an A3 sheet of card, history of this is that I dropped one of my new Element ink pads (did say I have trouble holding them!) right in the middle of the sheet intended to cut a large card base. Those who use them know how juicy they are so I spritzed with water and put aside in the hope it would come in useful one day, could call it a very large snippet.

Rather shallow of me but I started with the stamps that appeal to me the most from the new collection and have used some repeatedly to make quite a few different designs, I've yet to ink up the tree house and little houses, they will get their outing soon.

Christmas at Allsorts

Morning everyone, a new theme at Allsorts and this week I am your host again, it's a simple theme of Christmas. Prize are Lavinia goodies, in fact some are the very same products I've used for my card below (our winners will get new ones mind you!).

A bit of a rustic feel to the one above but I am a sucker for a floral/foliage wreath. First I stamped Fairy Catkins into a circle and applied masking fluid to the Catkins. When dry, using a widish flat head brush pained watered down Elements over the entire piece. Next  filled in the gaps with Holly, Mini Pinecone and Mini Leaf. Rubbed off the masking fluid, the Catkins stayed fairly white so just added a little extra to one or two to make them pop. Finally some red and green stickles and wood mounted Art Impression sentiment which is donkeys years old. There's a new challenge at the Path of Positivity where I would like to share the above card. This month the focus is on The Power of Words Friends/Family, I don't really like going down the A/G route but am this time as I can find no stamps in my stash that seem to fit, I felt sure I had a PB one that would so need to find it for another time.

Above it's that jar again, I must be a tad obsessed but it's so perfect for creating little scenes inside. Using Lavinia Starr, Leaf Bouquet and Woodland Ferns I created the scene into Sticker Stencil 9. Shaded around the inside of jar with Elements, I've now cracked open all 23 and a couple of firm favourites are Mulberry which I used here, others getting regular use are some of the darker blues and olive which is perfect for Holly. I do like the strong pigmentation and perfect for a bit of paining to carry the colour, I always find DI's lose intensity when you add water. 

Outside the jar and on the envie I stamped Bramble and Holly and also added some stencilling - wasn't my intention originally but inky fingers needed disguising. That's probably the only downside I've discovered with Elements, my dexterity is dodgy to say the least and the shape of the inkpad with very shallow bases means I invariably have problems opening them, hence even inkier fingers than normal.

I made mention in my previous post of Craft Suppliers Direct which you can find here, it's a collaboration of craft companies doing their best to recover from the huge losses incurred by Create and Craft not paying them for months. They need our support more than ever and many are selling products at greatly reduce prices so worth checking out. 

Pink Frog are part of the collaboration, I ordered this week and got a great discount, free pps for orders over £10 plus a free gift for those over £60, my gift was a 12x12 pack of Disney DP's plus it arrived within a couple of days with Royal Mail.......sadly RM didn't do as well with a Lavinia delivery, sent tracked 24 Monday, arrived yesterday but absolutely no idea who the hand and front door are in their photo but not mine, or any of the nine houses in our hamlet. Apparently we now have to allow RM a few days to investigate which isn't encouraging.

Make it Magical

It's the first Sunday of November which means it's time for our new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations and this month our themes are Christmas and Make it Magical....... seems like the perfect opportunity to double up your entries. We have prizes of Christmas themed dies and Lavinia stamps.

Above a card not unlike the one I shared last month for my Guest Designer spot over at Rudolph Days, but this time I went with red and green, the Fairy is Eve, her friend is in a set called Large Hares and Forest Leaves at the top, love this stamp, Winter Berries and Wild Vines, a moon and lots of sparkle. The theme at the Lavinia challenge is all about Sparkle so one I'm entering there.

This one using a selection of AALL an Create stamps including a Robin which is a favourite of many of us, the sentiment is one of my own Christmas Christmas Magic set available from Stamp Addicts. 

The crash of Create and Craft has left many of our favourite retailers in precarious positions owed money going back months, not forgetting the presenters and backroom staff suddenly faced with unemployment. The majority of the industry plan new products months ahead intended for future shows, so most are looking for new outlets to sell products. Sarah from Stamp Addcits and a group of other companies have formed Craft Suppliers Direct which you can find here. It's only a small start but as one said to me this week, anything is better than nothing as we try to build a new future.

Magic of the Season and a spell on the naughty step

Morning Peeps,  at Allsorts this week I am your host and my theme is 'Magic of the Season', as people keep reminding me the big day is not very far away now. The prize is a lovely A4 AALL and Create stamp set.

Above I've used A&C Blackbird (530), I didn't use the Blackbird in the set but there are a couple of tiny ones in the middle of the star collage. Stamped with Versafine Twilight, a couple of of stars stamped again and decoupaged, crackle texture paste and a star stencil, computer generated sentiment along with a matching envie.

I did tell you Witch Hattie would be appearing in a different role and here she is. I thought with the right colours she could turn into quite a nice Christmas image with her wand, a piece of starry base card, stamped her into Sticker Stencil 9 using red Versafine, shaded the edges of the jar with Elements, Holly across the bottom, foliage around Hattie and lots of stickles. The base of the jar is raised, I messed up doing the stamping around her skirt and forgot the mask the bottom, so stamped again, cut out and raised with Pinflair, think I actually prefer the bit of dimension. 

The theme at the new Lavinia challenge is 'Time to Sparkle' so I'm off there with this one. The Starlight Whispers collection landed in my craft room a couple of weeks ago, I've been a bit slow off the mark with them but will be sharing some very soon, if you've not seen this magical collection do pop over and take a look here. 

Now for a confession, today is reveal day at the Card Chain Challenge, I got my swap card which you'll see above made and into the post quickly as my kidney op was pending, but as I had already sent it to Gail in Canada (my Allsorts teamie) I lost sight of which card I sent her. Result, I uploaded for an Allsorts challenge a couple of weeks ago and it only occurred to me when that post went live what I'd done. Apologies sent to Gail and Gail (yes another Gail, this one runs CCC along with Jo), after a spell on the naughty step I was forgiven and it was suggested I share it again today. 

In an attempt to redeem myself here's what went to the local RSPCA shop, this years donation of Christmas cards about 100 in total, most in small packs of 4 and 6 same design and a few larger individual ones. I take cards to them throughout the year, Fairies and of course Animals are always popular with customers.