Nature

June is speeding by and already it's mid month inspiration time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where we have prizes from Buddly Crafts.

At the top the Anniversary card I made for eldest Daughters Anniversary, they have a black Lab called Evie so she had to feature on the card. I've used a mixture of Lavinia and AALL and Create with Versa Clair inks to create the scene, I stamped the Lab with versamark and heat embossed in black EP to give in depth. I would like to enter my garden scene into the Flower Challenge.

This one has a focal panel built up with small chippies, inked and stamped with a variety of small stamps, covered with two coats of UTEE, a base card with some stamping and stencilling using texture paste coloured with one of the inks used on the panel.

I've been taking photos of garden wildlife and planned sharing today but time's got the better of me as in hospital for treatment again, so will hopefully add to Saturday's post.

Zesty and so many Roses

Morning Peeps, myself and the 'girls' have some more inspiration for you over at Tag-Along (and ATC's) challenge where Lynn selected the theme of 'Drink's and there is the option of Anything Goes as usual.

I've used the lemonade stamp again but this time on a tag, cut out the corner with a really old TH die, placed a piece of MCS DP underneath and stencilled some citrus pieces onto the inked background. I then did the stamping, a bit of colouring, stamped several of the elements again to decoupage. As there are several snippets I'm heading over the the Playground, here's a photo of those snippets. Also linking up at Card Free Zone and Heart's Quest shaped cards and tags.

I may be going a step too far with my tag as a garden challenge entry, but I made lemonade, it's now nicely chilled so going into the garden to drink, which made me think of  Ellies Garden Party.

Below my ATC, very simple using a Gecko Galz image that was part of a bundle I was lucky enough to win a few weeks ago. I added some lace and the word 'tea' using die cut letters inked to match the outfit.

If you've not already joined us this month, then what are you waiting for as we have a lovely tag die set from AALL and Create to win. Also linking up to ATC's around the World.

It's an excellent year for Roses, apparently down to the exceptionally dry Spring, here are a few from the garden, long forgotten the names of most apart from the first which is Albertine, it has a gorgeous scent and came from a cutting from my Dad's garden, so has a special meaning.

It was only uploading the photos that I realise how many different varieties we have and I missed a few when I was out taking the photos.

Flowers and a Poppy Garden

Morning all, time for a new challenge at Allsorts where our theme for this fortnight has been selected by Gail, it's What Makes you Happy - stamps, dies, flowers, cute critters and as usual theres the AG option. We have two prizes of a Penny Black stamp and die set which you can find at Buddly Crafts. 

Creating with flowers always makes me happy, if I'm honest it's my true comfort zone so here I have used Penny Black At Grace 40-680 slapstick stamp, years old but used over and again. The background is a computer generated Lady of Shalott (1833 version), one of my favourite Poems. Using a stamping platform colour was built up direct to stamp with Ecoline pens and repeat stamped, it's a favourite technique and it's taken me a long time to find a replacement for distress markers since they were discontinued, Ecoline are I think even better as they are juicier.

A second one, again a PB slapstick stamps, this one Petal Poetry 40-738. A masked central panel, inking just to one corner and the blooms stamped exactly as the above card and a PB sentiment.

We have made a start establishing The Poppy Garden, when she died four weeks ago we knew exactly where she would be buried. It's a part of the garden towards the Orchard where she mooched regularly on her daily 'inspections' of the grounds which could take ages - Terriers are after all very important Dogs. 

It's under a Quince tree and there are loads of self set Oriental Lilies, you can see the deep magenta ones coming into bloom in the foreground, the ones behind are still in bud. It's all looking a bit rough at the moment as it was uncultivated land, but will soon change as the flowers establish themselves. 

We carefully selected plants to go among the Poppies that are (supposedly) rabbit proof as we have literally dozens of them coming down from the paddocks, Digitalis, Agapanthus, African Daisies, Marigolds, Salvias and a beautiful Rose youngest Son and o/h gave us at the weekend to remember Poppy.

Before I go, a reminder that our new Tag-Along (and ATC's) challenge is in full swing, this month there is a lovely AALL and Create tag die set to be won.

Nature inspired shadow box

The first Sunday of the month means new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations and it happens to be the 1st as well which also means a new challenge at Tag-Along (and ATC's) as well, so a real bumper post. 

There is as always an Anything Goes theme along with the option, at WLS the theme chosen by me is Nature, at SS Anesha has selected Our Furry Friends and at Tag-Along (and ATC's) Lynn has selected Drinks. We have prizes from Buddly Crafts and AALL and Create.

Starting with my WLS share, I found this shadow box hidden in a filing cabinet in the office, goodness know how it ever got there. So I decided on a mixture of Stampers Anonymous stamps along with some TH ephemera. Lots of fiddly stamping and cutting out to fill each little section. I would like to enter this in the AG Card Free Zone and Dragonfly Dreams who would like More than one Butterfly.

I was somewhat stumped for the Drinks theme so decided to buy this Spellbinders set from Amazon (best price), when it arrived two small dies were missing, called Amazon, immediate refund and don't bother so sent it back. What a result! Die cut the glass, stamped the Lavinia Fairy and cut out, popped her on the edge of the glass and a computer generated sentiment. And yes, Strawberry Daiquiri is my all time favourite drink.......the best I've ever had are at Hard Rock Cafe's, no matter which Country they still seem to use real Strawberries, most bars use syrup. I make them mostly in the Summer so hopefully it will be accepted at Four Seasons Anything Goes Summer

My Lemonade ATC used a very cheap set of stamps, also Amazon, stamped onto a piece of MCS DP and some colouring. I would like to enter my ATC at the new ATC's around the World challenge with their theme Dots/Stripes (little dots of lemonade bubbles!!)

Probably one of my very first Penny Black stamps, stamped and coloured, some stencilling and a PB sentiment which was released at the same time as the image. 

Snippets and Rudolph

Morning all, a rather swift post as I'm running out of time to join in the current Rudolph Days challenge and as my share also used lots of snippets doubling up and popping to the Snippets Playground.

All products are TRR, I printed part sheets of Reflections to use up smaller pieces of Premium Pure Print, I get lots of leftovers when I print smaller images from MCS. Then die cut them and printed a piece of MCS for the backing. A die cut frame which is Sweet Dixie as is the sentiment and basically everything arranged into the frame. I even remembered a photo of my snippets.

I would also like to share this card at The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge and Love Those Pretty Papers - using them is rare for me so felt I should!

Have a good weekend everyone, a busy one here as it's youngest Son's Birthday on May the Last (so called when he was small and it's stuck), he's a big boy now but still gets rather excited on his Birthday. Margo assumed we would be playing pass the parcel, well at three I guess it's a forgone conclusion so figure we'll have to fit it in.

Don't forget our Allsorts Birthday challenge is in full swing with some awesome prizes to be won.

Happy 16th Birthday Allsorts

Morning all, it's our 16th Birthday at Allsorts where I am your host for this very special occasion. Where did those years go, seems like only yesterday when we announced our very first challenge.

Our theme is totally open so Anything Goes to help us celebrate and we very much hope you will join us as we have a fabulous collection of goodies to be won, a huge bundle of products from AALL and Create, plus some wonderful prizes just for our USA entrants from Gina K Designs, Lawn Fawn and Colorado Craft Company. All details on challenge blog.

Thought I would made an eclipse card, been ages since I did. Stamped and coloured some Lavinia Fairy houses, flowers and of course a Fairy, Pan Pastels for the sky and cut the 'happy' seven times to get some dimension and stamped the other words. I recently saw a challenge called Word Power, as the above is all about the focal words so hope this fits, as well as the AAA Birthday challenge.

This one uses A&C Tag it Yourself (27), Roadway Vistas (78) and Rosey Daze (1251). Kraft card for the base, stamped the focal image and colouring with Ecoline pens, A&C rub ons here are there and some coordinating fibres tied across the bottom.

As you will see on the challenge blog post I got rather nostalgic and looked back to that first challenge in May 2009, this was my DT make and would you believe Penny Black quote and sentiments that I still use regularly.

Finally, a sad note, so many have asked about our Daughters Dog Pixie who had a stroke two weeks ago when we lost our Poppy, she rallied really well, until Thursday when she became very poorly and last evening another tough decision. This morning she will be placed close to Poppy, they spent many hours over the last 13 years mooching together in the gardens.

Stargazing in the secret garden

Morning Peeps, it's mid way time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are Feminine selected by Lynn and Four Legged Friends chosen by Pinky. Some gorgeous prizes for four lucky winners from Lavinia Stamps and Grafton Crafts

Stamps on both cards come from Lavinia Stamps, no links again I'm afraid, as explained in my previous post, whilst all went to plan and seeing the benefits of reduced pain, fighting an infection and my mojo has taken a hike! Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon. Just noticed the above looks rather blurry, not sure why as fine irl. 

I noticed on a fellow DT's post the theme at Cards 4 Galz is Fantasy and as we have Fairies in the garden also Ellies Garden Party, so felt I should link the top card to both.

Stand up tag

Morning all, it's mid month time at Tag-Along (and ATC's) where you have really wowed us with your support, we can't thank you enough. This months Anything Goes theme runs until noon GMT on 28th May for the chance of winning the lovely die set from CraftStash.

A double tag which I often make, cut the tag twice, score one about a third down and stick the top sections together. An inky background, stencil and crackle texture paste, an A&C flower stamped twice onto oddments, coloured and cut out. There are several snippets so I'm popping to the Playground with this one, hopefully there's some homemade lemonade left. 

Other than the above I rarely enter challenges due to visual problems with linking and save that activity for my challenge essentials. But thought I would give it a go with a couple, the first is Sweet Stampin's Spring, the Daisies are all popping up, Sunday I sat a while with three year old Margo making Daisy Chains, despite the years some things never change. Also Stencil Fun, who doesn't love using them, know I do, this follows their A/G route.

My ATC and little envelope use Lavinia stamps onto an inked and stencilled background, simple as that. Following on from what I mentioned above about challenges, my ATC will hopefully fit at The Card Free Zone.

I've not detailed all products as only meant to be sitting at my desk in short bursts, whilst all went OK with my treatment, I had ten cannulas down my lower spine bilaterally (five each side) and a couple of areas are being slow to heal.

Don't forget to pop a note in your diary for 24th May, a special challenge at Allsorts for our 16th Birthday.

Blue bloom and Poppy Dog

Morning all, time for a new challenge at Allsorts where Lynne would love to see Paper Piecing, as always theres the A/G route as well. We have a super prize of a £25 store voucher from Personal Impressions, we are so happy to welcome them to Allsorts for the first time and thanks must go to Lou Sims for organising it all.

A week of no craft and one I won't be sorry to see the back of, apart from the hospital stay, we lost our little Poppy on Tuesday, she was 13. She coped with so much for a little one, a tracheostomy early 2021 followed by surgery, but last December they discovered a Liver mass and gave her weeks. 

We pampered her with a diet of home cooked chicken and fish and she was doing so well until a couple of weeks ago when her cognitive functionality wavered and she went downhill culminating in the decision we all dread. She's been buried under a tree up towards the orchard, a part of the garden we called her happy place as she would spend hours just mooching. She also enjoyed watching activity outside from my craft room.

To add to that eldest Daughters Terrier, same age as Poppy who we look after most days in term time had a stroke Monday, no movement in back legs, but since a course of steroids started yesterday there is a glimmer of hope with some movement. 

For my card at the top I have used a Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz stamp set called French Garden along with a very old TH corner die. Some stencil work to the base piece using crackle texture paste, the blooms were stamped onto the base and again onto a piece of MCS DP, cut out and paper pieced and another sheet of the same DP used to mat and layer to carry the colours. Some twine to finish and of course an envie.

Some of my Stampers Anonymous stamps have been neglected for ages so it's nice to have a prompt to get them out and play again and I'll confess to a new set, I've had my eye on Mr Rabbit for so long and this seemed like a prompt to actually buy him.

Mr Rabbit paper pieced beautifully using MCS DP, some background stamping with stamps from the same set and a matching enive. I think he's such a handsome fellow and sure he'll be used a lot.

Our next Allsorts challenge celebrates our 16th Birthday, we have some very special prizes and we would love you to share our logo on your own blogs to help us spread the word and make it a really special occasion. 

Gentle Whisper

A new month means new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations. At WLS our theme has been selected by Pinky and is Four Legged Friends and at SS Lynn has chosen Feminine for her theme. We have prizes from Lavinia Stamps and Grafton Crafts.

Unusually for me a CAS design for my SS share, but this is such an elegant PB stamp called Gentle Whisper feel it needs little more than a masked border with soft inking and sentiment which is also PB. Colour was added to the stamp using Ecoline pens and stamping platform stamped 2/3 times to add depth of colour.

My WLS share features Lavinia's Lupin gazing into the sky and a scene built up using Tree Stem, Open Dandelion, Leaf Spray, Group Poppies, Snow Shrub and Fairy Path and a mixture of Clair and Element inks. I'm charing this at Lavinia's Secret Garden challenge.

Finally, my share for the Card Chain Challenge, all stamps Lavinia following the colour palette of Chocolate, Orange and Slate and the optional Rabbit, my card went to Pia in Norway and I received one also with a Rabbit from Robyn in Australia.

I'll leave you with a photo of the gangs new fly protectors, naturally selected by Anysia, why else would horses wear ones with Unicorns? Penelope and Merlin still had theirs on next morning, whereas Heskey had deposited his in the water trough, clearly not masculine enough for him.

Apologies I've not been around visiting too much, rather under the weather, only a couple of days migraine free since mid March and new diabetic injections not agreeing with other meds, so rather ropey. Going into hospital this week for some treatment.