Another triptych

It's the first Sunday of the month so time for our new challenges at We Love Chocolate Baroque and Stamping Sensations. Our themes for February are 'Flowers, Butterflies and Birds' and 'Colour my World'. Prizes come from Chocolate Baroque and and Bee Crafty.

My card designs seem rather like buses as my above card is the same new die I used in my post yesterday as well as the same new CB stamp further down. The background for the above triptych has Distress Oxide Sprays, I do love how they blend so effortlessly.......and I'm itching to use the new Kitsch Flamingo collection which arrived yesterday so too late to get something made or today. Lots of different Chocolate Baroque stamps, I've added links to them all over at the WLCB challenge blog.

My first Stamping Sensations share has an Oxide an ink background, some subtle background stamps with Bee Crafty BEAUtanical grasses and flowers, large Doodle Art Butterfly focally, sentiments snipped from on of their word sets and some washi tape.

Another outing for the new CB Ace Card which was one of my Hochanda TV makes last month, I masked the border of the stamp as I didn't want the frame,  a Timmy die in the corner and stencilling. I also used the floorboard stamp from the new Fragile Wings set on the red base card.

My final share is just fun with colours and inks for the background, stencilled splats and Bee Crafty Guitar stamped focally.

I really hope you will join in our challenges this month.

 

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To hear the Angels

Good morning Peeps, hope your week is going well.

I only just remembered my mid month shares for Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More challenges which is ludicrous given that I did both the challenge posts yesterday, also my work from my post here over at the Chocolate Baroque blog.

I'm struggling somewhat with typing and screen work because as I mentioned the other day my close vision is poor and glasses can't be sorted until four weeks after the last op, so posts and comments are short and sweet I'm afraid.

My top card uses a Bee Crafty sentiment and stencil along with Heartfelt Creations flowers.

I used a number of Penny Black stamps on this one to build up he scene over an oxide background.

And my Chocolate Baroque shares using the beautiful Blueprint stamps designed by Lesley............

 

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Say it with flowers

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts. This week I am your host and no surprise on the theme 'Say it with Flowers'. There is a lovely floral stamp and sentiment from Bev and the gang at Bee Crafty for this weeks lucky winner.

I'm sorry I am not getting to your blogs as often as I might like, but I had a bit of a setback with my eyes and referred to the Cambridge University eye unit. I'm now having to use steroid drops several times a day to control the inflammation and not able to spend long in front of the screen as the glare is painful.

My top card is one of those I made for this weeks Chocolate Baroque third anniversary shows on Hochanda, the stamps are beautiful and created by Lesley from her own blueprint's. They were such a success that they sold out in the first seven minutes of the first show, they are now on extended and further extended delivery which means David is beavering away to get all the orders out.

For this card I have used one of our sponsors recent stamp releases Large Doodle Art Butterfly stamp set, a background of Distress Oxides and some stencilling with ink, texture paste and Be Crafty stencils, decoupaged the flowers and used lots of bright and cheery colours.

And here's a few Chocolate Baroque shares from my post on the DT blog here. which featured in last months Hochanda shows.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

 

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To hear the Angels Whisper

It's time for our  new challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'Anything goes with Flowers' and 'Animals'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both.

A simple card for my Penny Black share using Lets Go Wild, a fairly old PB set but as the image are silhouettes one I use quite often as with a nice bold background you need little more, or in this case the addition of a sun, a die cut frame and some bunting which is also in the stamp set.

I've used Bee Crafty's BEAUtanical Peony for this one as they are our sponsors this month, a Distress Ink background built up with some  random background script stamping and circles stamped with the same inks using a lid from an embossing powder pot. I used Distress Markers direct to stamp to build up the colour on the Peony and a sentiment which is also from our sponsors.

And a couple of my Chocolate Baroque shares from my post yesterday on the DT blog using some of the new Christmas stamps released recently and the first is the lovely new Christmas Garden above and below the cute Gnome from the Tomte stamp set. All details can be found over on my post on the DT blog.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

 

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So it looks like Poppies all the way

It's time for our  new challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'All things bright and BEAUtiful' and 'Anything Goes with an option of Tags'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both and at the latter there is a slight twist with prizes so please do check it out on the challenge blog. 

For my Penny Black and More piece at the top I used a Bee Crafty monolith tag base which I adore working with, covered it with gesso, acrylic paints and crackle glaze and some flourishes using texture paste and some gilding wax to add highlights. Then I decoupaged an arrangement of Poppies from the beautiful Penny Black 40-613 Parade of Flowers.

For this one I created an Oxide ink background and stamped Bee Crafty's  BEAUtanicals Poppy along with some background textures, coloured the Poppy........this is a Himalayan one I guess judging by the colour I've gone with and some twine to finish.

Added on Thursday: Rather late to the party due to all this silly illness stuff so hope I'm not breaking any backlink rules but would love to add my thanks to Miss Di and of course Parsnip and squeeze in as the classroom gates close with my offering of the Poppy monolith, the Poppies were all cut from snippets and hope I'm not sent straight off to the naughty corner for being missing for so long but hope exceptional circumstances will be taken in to consideration....pretty please Miss.

Phew rather a lot of writing after so long unable to do any unaided so here's the link to Darnell's blog who is very kindly hosting this special thank you to Di who has been in charge of us rabble for a whole seven years, where has that time gone one wonders. I could write so much more but alas I can't without the help of hubby and dare not tear him away from his office on a weekday for something "as trivial as bog stuff"!.

 

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Make it masculine

Morning Peeps, time for our new Allsorts challenge and this week our host is Ellie who would like to see 'Masculine' creations. Our prize is from Bee Crafty.

Writing my own post solo as its been a better week, seen a new neurologist private of course, seems the only way to get things moving, an increase in the not so nice meds so might be a bit of a back step to lal la land but if they work long term have to go with it.

For my bird card I used stamps from the lovely Bev at Bee Crafty along with Distress Oxides also at a super price as well as the lovely funky border stamps. I sent this off to her and she told me her Mum spirited it away somewhere.

I seem to be making a habit of being late with DT work this week, here's my mid month Penny Black and More and Stamping Sensations mid month pieces......the lifts working again, but oh so slowly!

 

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I don't mind red if the white runs out

Good morning Peeps, a really quick post as guess who forgot all about the challenge mid month posts, in fact I only remembered when I saw one of my team mates posts on my reading list. So here are my shares for Penny Black and Stamping Sensations challenges.

Our theme at Stamping Sensations is 'I Spy something beginning with B' and on the top card my B's are Birds, Branches, Blue and Black. All stamps are from the lovely Bev at Bee Crafty who is our sponsor this month offering a £25 store voucher.

And my second card, also with stamps from our sponsor and the 'B's on this one are Boy, Birthday, Building and Bubbles.

And my Penny Black share where our theme is 'Make it Feminine'.

And here's a fun one for the current Snippets Playground Challenge. I didn't think I would have time to join in but saw this in my folder and thought it would fit the bill. It's one I made for the recent Stamp Addicts Hochanda shows. I had the bottle neck hangers from years ago so just stamped the sentiment onto offcuts, cut with TL dies and mounted onto the front of the hanger and added some ribbon. When I sent this one off to Sarah, I said I wasn't sending the bottle as knowing she is partial to a drop of red, I was sure she had one or two she could use and sure enough she confirmed that on the show!! You can find the stamp here.

 

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Veneitan Roses and meet Clover the Dalmatian puppy

It's time for our  new challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'I spy' and 'Make it Feminine'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both.  And I had to share some photos of Clover an adorable Dalmatian puppy that has joined our family, you will find her further down my post.

Starting off with my PB&M share at the top I used an old favourite Venetian Summer which I stamped with black Versafine onto Fabriano, next I stamped the Roses from Red Blush around the top and sides to frame the Venetian scene. I then stamped, cut out and coloured more roses to decoupage and after coluring the scene I used Pan Pastels to create the sky and sun rays and matted onto a black base card. I have to say I am feeling rather deprived this year as we have not been to Venice, somthing we usually do even if only for a couple of days pre cruise.

'B' is for Boy, Blue and Birds

This was was so much fun, starting with Distress Oxides which I put onto a piece of acetate, spritzed with just a little water as I wanted to loosen the ink but keep the coloures vivid, then dragged a piece of Fabriano through and left to dry with no dabbing off. Next I stamped the Walking Together stamp from Bee Crafty with black versafine, cleaned the stamp and inked just the large circle element to stamp along the side and also just the bottom section of the stamp to fill in across the base. The sentiment is Chocolate Baroque.

'B' is for Branches, Birds, Believe and Blue

And another I made for Bee Crafty using quite a few Bee Crafty stamps, Branches, Poppy, Sentiment, Teasels and Leaves. I gave some details of how I made the base card here a while ago here so won't bore you with it again. I used Oxides to create the backgrounds, the stamped the images, added some texture paste with a stencil and bleached out the colour from the Poppy.

The new Butterfly Challenge started this week and the colour palette really appealed to me and I beleive I have managed to incorporate all seven elements which are: Electric Yellow, Embossing Powder, Eucalyptus, Embellishments, Emerald, Embossing Folder and of course a Butterfly. I stamped the Penny Black flowers with black versafinre and heat embossed with detail clear powder, then coloured in with sparkle pens, one of which is actually called Emerald and the brightest yellow I had.

I then cut it out and stamped the little Butterfly sitting on the stem a second time and decoupaged. The background was washed with two shades of green DI the closest I could find to the requisit colours and yellow, dried and embossed with a TL folder, fixed he flowers in place and added a bow and two little embellishments.

And as promised a couple of photos of Clover, our new Great Granddog. Ever since she was little Anysia has wanted a Dalmation and we knew that once she and Sam bought their first house it wouldn't be long. She is now nine weeks old and adorable, they have had her for a week and already she knows her name and we have had lots of puppy cuddles.

I hope you will pop over to the challenge blogs and see what my team mates have created to inspire you and look forward to seeing all your creations.

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All about Pets

Morning Peeps, it's my turn to be your host at Allsorts this week and I would like you to join me in celebrating National Pet Awareness Month and RSPCA week, a charity very close to my heart. It's also National Veterinary day this coming week as well. So my theme is 'All about Pets'.......any animal you would find in peoples homes.

Animal have always played a huge part of my life.........you will find some of ours on the 'family friends' page at the top of my blog, we have dogs, cats, horses, chickens and ducks........and I have to admit some days when it's tough going I prefer spending time with them rather than people. Their love is unconditional and they always seem to sense when we need that extra bit of love, that might sound crazy to those who don't have pets, but I am sure those of you who do will be able to identify with exactly what I am saying.

For some years I have donated cards to our local RSPCA charity shop as well as my other charity of choice the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket and naturally I have found some Animal related prizes which you can find over at the challenge blog.

Obviously I had to incorporate both horses and dogs in my DT pieces this week and the top card is one I made for the lovely Bev at Bee Crafty using some of their recent stamps, the tree, horses and birds. I started with a Distress Ink background and then added the images after which I used a piece of torn paper to ground the horses and tree. I used Distress Markers and a spritz of water on the tree and pulled out the colour with a damp brush and stamped the horses and birds with Versafine Toffee. And of course I had to sponge in a few sunrays.

There is a right mixture of stamps on this one, Stampscapes, Art Impressions, Sutter and I think the girl and dog are Clarity. I stamped all the images first and then built up the colour with Pan Pastels and Distress Inks, plus a sun mask, bleached out some colour from the cows - well they are Fresian's  so they had to be black and white and dragged out some colour on the cottage.

And a card for the current Rudolph Days challenge over at Mo's, not entered for a couple of months due to all the kidney faff and my enforced absent from blogland so didn't want to miss it again. I had this one already made and as it has the black Lab on it I figure it fits in with my Pets post rather well. Penny Black stamps repeat stamped to extend the scene, also a PB sentiment, Pan Pastels, some glitter and of course a masked sun.

My team mates have lots of pet inspiration to share and I really hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and take a look and of course join in this weeks challenge.

Let it Snow

Mojo missing...............if found please return a.s.a.p.

Oh my goodness, it's hard going no inspiration and Mr Mojo nowhere to be found. Last night I must have spent an hour looking at a collection of lovely new stamps from Teresa at Crafts and Me and nothing gelled. As they were all fairies something is definitely not right.

But before I launch into my cards, I want to say a big thank you to Bee Crafty for selecting me as their winner last week, this is a fairly new challenge so do check it out, they have a super sketch this week and fab prizes. And also the girls at Creative Cottage who selected the card I made for my Grandson as one of their Top 3.

So here are my meagre offerings from a Mojoless craft room. The fairy on the card above is Sweet Pea Hiding, equally as lovely as all the others and I just feel I have not done her justice. She is coloured with Copics and her wings decoupaged and glittered. The DP is Magnolia, Martha Stewart punched snowflakes, ribbon and a flower. This is for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Dreaming of a White Christmas - snowflakes

Creative Cottage - Untraditional Christmas

Charisma Cardz - One for the girls

Ladybug - Sketch

My next card, also one of last evenings efforts, uses Hero Arts F5075 Sparkle Poinsettia, inked with Tim Holtz dusky concord and bundled sage and spritzed with water before stamping. The DP is My Minds Eye and the flower is mounted onto a 'doily' cut using the Magnolia die - this is a half circle and takes a bit of getting used to lining up, but once mastered worth the effort as it is so pretty. I tend to cut several at a time once I get the technique going. Some adorable lace which was part of a prize and a single flower and pearls to embellish. This is for the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles - Anything goes

Bee Crafty - Sketch

My final card is a Stampalot sample which I shall be delivering tomorrow.........I have prepared instruction sheets for making a tri fold card which will be available at their Third Ultimate Rubber Stamping Day on 4th December 10am through 4pm with free eats and drinks all day. I will also pop the instructions on my blog shortly.

I masked a piece of cardstock to create a moon by sponging distress inks, then stamped Art Impression U1562 Rooftops which I coloured with TH ink and added a liberal amount of glitter to the rooftops. Through the moon I stamped Magenta 02045-6 Santa......this is a silhouette wood mounted stamp and if you go looking for it you will see the actual image is straight, but I 're-assembled' it to curve the sleigh. The DP is October Afternoon and he snowflakes a Martha Stewart punch. This card is for the following challenges:

Scrapbook Sisters - Let it Snow

Simon Says - Let it Snow

ABC - I is for Ice and Snow

Moving Along with the Times - More than one fold