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 used pearlescent paint for the flowers and Butterfly which looks rather glary in my photos and being up against time not taken another. The sentiment is from my Believe stamp set.

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.

Cute and Cuddly

Morning Peeps, at Allsorts this week's theme was selected by Lolo, she's taking a sabbatical at the moment so I'm doing the post on her behalf and it's Cute and/or Cuddly along with the usual Anything Goes option. We have two lovely stamp sets to be won.

Now if I panicked last week with our DP theme, this one sent me into total meltdown as me and cute just don't go together, but that's the challenge isn't it? However, I was lucky to win a voucher for Relatively Thoughtful a couple of weeks ago so selected some of the new Andy Skinner stamps with this theme very much in mind. 

The image above is called 'All you need is a hug" and hugging a Dog or Horse come right at the top of my agenda. I stamped the image with Versafine and did some very basic colouring with Ecoline pens, dragged ink pads down the base, stamped the sentiment which comes in the set, placed in a ready made frame within I aged a bit and finito.

This image is called 'Best Friends', using a stamp platform I inked the stamp with three colours of Elements, spritzed liberally with water and left for a few minutes to dry (leaving everything in the stamp platform). When dry'ish I inked the stamp again, this time with Versafine Pinecone and stamped to bring back the outline. So simple and ages since I did this but quite like the effect, the sentiment again comes with the image.

Now a Fairy for the current Path of Positivity challenge which has a focus on 'Growth and Change'. Under the pink evening sky (this is Fairyland remember) Seren is contemplating the events of the day and discussing with the Wallace Family what needs to be changed to make tomorrow an even better day. Additional stamps to build on the inked background are Wild Poppies, Leaf Spray and Snow Shrub and sentiment Embrace your Dreams.

Rudolph Days has rolled round again so here is my share. Another opportunity to indulge my passion for floral wreaths, all stamps are Lavinia, Holly, Mistletoe and Berries, the sentiment from my own Christmas Magic stamp set and Poinsettias Two Red Robins with liberal lashing of gesso and glitter. With the very public crash of Hochanda/Create and Craft my sentiment sets are currently only available from Stamp Addicts but a new outlet is in the offing.

An alternative take, snippets and cobwebs

Morning Peeps, a new Allsorts challenge and Sarah would like us to use Design Papers this week with the option of Anything Goes as per usual. Our prize come AALL and Create.

Many thanks for all the get well wishes and encouragement. Improvement continues, I've managed quite an inky week and yesterday afternoon actually drove myself and ventured out for something other than escorted medical trips and fortnightly trip to the village for nails, can't miss that one.

Now I'll confess to a dilemma here, I don't own any DP's, shock horror to many I know. I did have quite a stash accumulated over the years which I looked at, stroked but very rarely used as love to create my own backgrounds. So when my craft room had it's refurb in the Spring decided to donated all to a more deserving home. I do have MCS to fall back on but for this card used what I hope is an acceptable alternative, A&C layer it up washi tape.

But just so I'm not blacklisted from the team here's a project with some 'proper' DP which I found in my files from last year but never blogged. 

It's a clock kit with coordinating DP's, flower etc., from Oakwood Archer, one I did for Create and Craft before I made the decision earlier this year to cut back on some DT's. From memory I sprayed the clock frame with Oxides, covered the base with the DP, fixed the clock hands in place and added the flowers and leaves.

There's a new challenge over at the Snippets Playground, after all the fun and excitement of the conker hun and competition I had to sit down so made a card. I think the words would also fit the The Path of Positivity current focus of 'Growth and Change'.

A Kraft card base.....I've a pile of it which I really don't use often enough. Snippets for the flower, two of the circles, birdies and sentiments which were all stamped, cut out and paper pieced. Oxides and are nice and chalky and work well on Kraft, stamps are Flower Trio (924), Quill Ends (908) and Power of the Word (754)). Finally some stamping down the leading edge using the same sets and washi tape.

Always had a fascination with cobwebs so couldn't resist a few photos yesterday when it was misty and frosty with a good display of them in the gardens, particularly spectacular on the Mahonia's.

Have a good weekend everyone, although if weathers like here where it's throwing it down, won't be too much outdoor activity.