Purple Passion

At Allsorts this week Tracy is indulging us in her favorite colour with the theme of Purple Passion, our sponsors are A Passion for Stamps and Craft Fairy.

I decided to go inky and give my brayer an airing and created a background with a masked moon and Adirondack inks, then stamped and heat embossed an Indigo Blue tree stamp, added some Passion for Stamps leaves which I spritzed with Dylusions and Glimmer mist and the lovely Blake poem.

Happy weekend everyone.

Coastal scenes

Morning everyone, hope your week is going well. Afraid I've been a really tardy blogger this week, no post for several days mainly because I've had my head down getting DT work done that needs to head off over to the States so what with work as well time has been in short supply, so apologies for the lack of visits.

I know in advance that this is going to sound a tad deja vous as it's another really quick pre work post with a couple of shares.

Both were created a few months ago when I was in a bit of a coastal mood..........it must come from living so far from the sea and not seeing it very often.

The top one was done with Pan Pastels and a mixture of Stampscape and Sutter stamps and the second one is brayered and sponged using Adirondack dye inks.

Have a good Thursday all and thanks so much for your much appreciated visits and lovely comments.

Am I in Aussie ?

The title says's it all about one of the cards I designed for tomorrows Stamp Addicts programme at 2pm on Create and Craft........................I made it upsidedown ! 

I didn't actually realise until I saw a photo of it on Sarah's blog showing it opening from the left and initially thought it had come adrift in the post, but no I added that gorgeous Noel sentiment upside down so am totally mortified as there's not time to get another one to her. If she decides it's worth using it on the show they will all be having a laugh at my expense, but I've a good sense of humour so will laugh with them for being such an ninny.

So here it is.....card the right way up, sentiment upside down and what miffs me the most is that this is probably my favourite card from all the samples I made for this show.

The backing panel was embossed with a swirl folder and them lots of lovely gilding wax in gold and red, the sentiment stamped onto black gloss cardstock and old gold perfect pearls dusted over.

And here is the left handed photo with the sentiment the right way up.

Bodge up apart, I really love this sentiment, it's so elegant and I think it will get lots of use........hopefully the right way up.

The card at the top uses the tree stamp from the Holly Christmas stamp sheet, stamped with black archival ink and then brayered to create the sky and foreground.

Have a good evening everyone, I've not managed to get into blogland today as it's been busy at work, but hopefully I will find some time later.

It's as plain as black and white

It's yours truly's turn to host this weeks theme at Allsorts and I thought I would get right away from all things Christmas and go with the theme 'It's as plain as black-and-white'. 

This challenge will run for two weeks to give all of the DT a bit of a of rest and of course to give you all a bit more time to enter amongst all the Christmas activities. And as it's a two week challenge there are two prizes so double the chances of winning.

I eventually got my test results, pretty inconclusive apart from confirming I'm not gluten intolerant so ruled out coeliac disease but I am lactose intolerant.......... I could have told them that, I have been since I was nine months old. The GP look quite disappointed when I told him I already knew and hadn't drank milk since I was a baby.

They think it could be some sort of other food or drug intolerance and suggested too many tests to find out for my liking, so at the moment I am going to try listing medications I take, what I eat and so on and see if any pattern emerges. It's all very well playing their game, but it takes too much time for my liking and am hoping that if it was anything too sinister something may have shown up in the tests they've already done.

Back to my DT card and I always liked working in monochromatic colours and especially black and white and for my card I took a piece of gloss card stock, masked the edges and a moon and brayered with black Adirondack ink, gave it a quick coating of black Frantage and heat embossed. I did exactly the same with the butterfly and although the Frantage is much chunkier than normal embossing powder it does give a lovely lustre although you would never know from my picture would you. 

Enjoy your Saturday and hope to find a few moments to join in this fortnights challenge.

Quintessentially English Garden Party

It's my week to showcase another card for this months Garden theme at Craft A Scene.

The news on my word recognition programme remains positive and I am slowly catching up with everyone. There are a few foibles I still need to sort out on the pronunciation, but I thinks that's more down to me that than the programme. But from what I have seen thus far I would certainly recommend it to anyone with dexterity and similar problems.

My thinking behind this card..............bearing in mind I do live in a bit of a fantasy world, is three elegantly dressed ladies attending a quintessentially English Garden Party. It is also the card I have made for our eldest daughters birthday in a couple of days...............I'm safe, she doesn't blog.

I used some masking to create the sun..............you all know there has to be one or a moon................and dusted Adirondack inks to create the sky and hills, then stamped the ladies in black archival ink, the flowers using TH distress markers direct to stamp and the blossom which I coloured with Copics and decoupaged.

If you have not already joined in the challenge there is still plenty of time so I really hope so see you there.

Butterflies and birds

Morning Peeps, dare I say it looks just a tad like summer out there this morning, well at least it's not raining and there is a distinct hint of sun behind the clouds.

Not too much to share that's new, so a few samples I made before our vacation as I am busily beavering away with samples for next Monday's Stamp Addicts Create and Craft TV shows...................Monday 2nd July at 2pm and 7pm and I can tell you we are in early Christmas mode and will share some later this week.

Meanwhile some brayering and inky indulgence with some wings thrown in for good measure, samples for Sir Stampalot, basically different colour takes on similar themes I've done before. I'm still totally smitten with the TH birdcage and Papillion stamp set.................does it show just a little ? And now I have the bird on branch as well, you will get a look at what I've done with that on Sunday when Penny Black, Stampalot and Craft a Scene go live with our July challenges.

Lots of distressing on the top one, Frantage embossing powder and distress inks and on the fairy one, a masked moon and sponged sun rays and hills and the lovely Go Create arch die. List of ingredients below.

Have a lovely day everyone and as always thanks so much for popping by, I am always really appreciative of your visits.

A bit of sand and water

Hello Peeps, it's time for me to share my very first DT piece for Craft a Scene challenge. Although the new challenges goes live on the first Sunday of the month, I was still on my hols when this months challenge started and didn't even know I was part of the team at that point. But as the Design Team take it in turns to share a second piece on Sunday's following the months theme I have been able to join in this week. 

The June them is 'A bit of sand and water', I think my card is more water than sand, but with artistic licence I am confident there is sand down the rocky bank on the left of the picture ! I used one of my favourite techniques, reverse masking to ink and stamp through the oval aperture using Adirondack due inks and a mixture of stamps (thumbnail links below). I brayered a second piece of gloss cardstock with the same inks as a base for the sentiment and to carry the colour theme. The sentiment is a wood mounted from Printworks which came from Stamp Addicts but I am unable to locate it to add the link, but I'm sure if you give them a call they can advise you if it's still available.

I am sorry I have not got round to visit for a few days, this back but paid to spending too long sitting, but I think the 'fire and ice' regime is working and it seems to be easing a bit, so hopefully I will be back to normal soon. Meanwhile thanks so much for taking a peek, I so appreciate your visits and kind messages and how  understanding you all are when I'm not as speedy as I would like.

I really hope you will join in with this months challenge and get those inks flowing.

I am entering this card into:

Pan Pastels - Anything Goes
Gingerloft - Red white and blue

Favourite Things

Hello everyone, I am hoping Mr Blogger is still my friend and this pops us as scheduled because I have no way of checking as my lappy is strictly banned from taking holidays and the internet lounge on board is out of bounds to me, plus mega expensive.....champagne is cheaper, so no contest really and you know which one I will choose.

It time for new challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More and two really great themes, at Stampalot we have a Bingo theme and at Penny Black and More we are inviting you to show us 'All my favourite things'. The latter one was a real toughie for me because all PB stamps are my favs, I love all thinks inky, easel cards, flowers, butterflies, suns and moons, the list is endless so how on earth is it possible to combine them all into one card ? Well I've had a good try and amazed myself I've got most in there, possibly it's a bit overkill though.

So my Stampalot DT piece is the one at the top following the lilac/turquoise/handmade flowers row. Oodles of inking and grudging here, I started by inking a piece of Fabriano card with the peacock and lilac colours from the new Spring Collection and adding a generous spritzing of pearl glimmer mist. The the real fun part when I randomly added some aged aqua Stampendous Frantage embossing enamel and Frantage mica flakes around the edges, these are really cool and you have to give them a go. I stamped the piece randomly with the TH Papillion set, the butterflies are from the same set, stamped in the same inks and some of the embossing enamel added here and there. The fairy inside the window is by PI, inked and embossed the same way as the butterflies and the window one of the Heartfelt dies..........thumbnail pictures and links to all below.

Mr second card is my DT piece for Penny Black and More, again I used Fabriano for the base and edges it with TH butterfly border die carefully lining up and cutting twice to extend the length. I masked a sun then brayered and dusted Adirondcak inks, created some hills with a piece of torn copier paper and sponged some rays of sun. A mixture of PB stamps, a few butterflies and some ruched ribbon.

I have to confess I really enjoyed making these two cards and could happily make this style all day long.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone, I hope you will join in our challenges this month and look forward to visiting you all when I am back from my holibobs.

Just a few more peeks

As promised, just a few more scheduled sneak peeks of some of the samples I made for Stamp Addicts Create and Craft programme today which is going out live at 12 noon.

All going to plan we are in Barcelona and will set sail tea time today for twelve days sailing round the Med and Black Sea, fingers crossed warm weather and calm seas, although I'm not adverse to a bit of choppy weather, it usually means the shops and dining rooms are quieter...............could be I just have a cast iron stomach, or as has been suggested by those who shall remain nameless, the volume of bubbles I consume balances out my normally unstable gait......could be a remedy there ?

I was running rather short of time when I schedules this one, so hope you will forgive if my descriptions are brief and I direct you to the thumbnails before for the products used.

The yellow and black card at the top is some of my normal masking and inking and the obligatory sun, I rather like the quirky row of buildings which remind me of the Baroque style of so many squares in Venice. 

The blow and brown one uses the same swirly flourish in one my samples a couple of days ago, but used to create a frame, then some little flowers from the background stamp sheet stamped and decoupaged.

The above card uses the lovely Victoriana lady again, this time stamped in black dye ink and coloured with Copics. The side flourish is another from the background set.

And finally, the corner stamp used to created a circle......don't even ask how many trial runs I did to get the spacing right and the patterns to join up. I stamped in black and embossed in detail clear and used some Spellbinders for the background and yet another organza bow.

Fishing by the moonlight

Good Morning everyone, Saturday means time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Helene would love to see your cards for the guys.

I have had a inky dabble with my Stampscape images, all items are listed below. I stamped the mountains first, then covered with a mask and, another mask for the moon which I laid part way over the mountains to give the appearance it was just rising then brayered and sponged the sky. Next I stamped the trees and rocks, added the fisherman and some fauna at the front and a bit more sponging to create reflections.

Have a super weekend and thanks so much for calling by.

London 2012

A very Good Morning everyone, the first Sunday of the month means time for new challenges at Stampalot and Penny Black and More and at both we are celebrating the upcoming events here in the UK, the Olympics which is totally global and the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen.

Penny Black launched a great collection of stamps to commemorate the London events and all the stamps I have used for my DT pieces are from that collection.

To create the card at the top I masked a piece of Fabriano watercolour card top and bottom and used ink dusters to achieve the graduated colour and then simply stamped the image and picked out a couple of elements to colour with watercolour pencils.

For my second card I stamped the images and again used watercolour pencils and mounted the three panels onto some red bazzil. The base piece was embossed using coredinations, then sanded down , added some swirls and a flower I made from organza ribbon.

I'm not terrible happy with my third card because I found it so hard to depict the surroundings of St Paul's Cathedral. I looked at loads of pictures I took ages ago when we visited and yes it does have a tree to the left and yes, it does have a wall, but somehow it's not quite right and I have to admit I gave up after the fourth attempt. And of course whilst the spires and parapets are pretty accurate, the front door seems to be missing from the stamp, so this one is very much artistic licence.

I do hope you will join in the challenges this month and show us your version of the London events of Summer 2012.

I am entering the top card into this weeks:

Pans Pastels challenge with the theme Anything Goes

Sitting in a birdsnest

Yeah....................it's not raining this morning and I even caught a glimmer of sun, but yesterday was another real washout and our local tally is near enough 9 inches for the month.

But I had a really lovely surprise to distract me from the rain over the weekend, I found out I had won the challenge over at Pan Pastel, it was my very fist time of entering so call it beginners luck. I've not really entered challenges during the last year since my eyes and mobility decided not to play fair with me and just restrict it to a limited few, so that made the win an added joy and my thanks to the challenge organisers and DT.

So I thought it was only right I entered again this week with one of my recent samples for Stampalot, I think the new La Blanch image is a perfect one for the Springtime theme. The image has been water coloured and some light masking and brayering for the background. I made the rose from a five petal punch and added some beads to a pin to embellish.

All 'ingredients' listed below, but please ask if you want any specific details that I might have missed.

Have a good week everyone and if your not a confident swimmer, make sure you keep your armbands on, you might need to swim home from work or the school run today.

Pan Pastel Challenge - Spring Time

Down the bottom of the garden

I won't say anything more than Morning to you all, as the weather is so atrocious the the word good is far from applicable. Will Spring ever return I wonder ? It's rained solidly for two days now, but will it be the right sort I wonder, as I am told not all is, whatever that can mean.

A really quick share as it's busy at work this morning, so fitting this in with my coffee. Another card using my current favourite fairy stamp Harietta, stamped through an oval mask and shaded with ink dusters. All the ingredients can be found in the thumbnails below.

I am entering this into this months Create a Scene challenge which is 'Silhouettes', it's my second entry and I thought I would stick with the fairy theme.

Hope you all have a good day.

A landscape

So how is everyone this morning and do you have any sunshine ? Despite the weekend showing all the signs of Spring having arrived, the last three days have been dull and dark, but at least it's fairly mild.

Looking at the growing pile of files on my desk I am going to be busy this morning, so thought I had better do a quick post now before I get stuck in. My share is a simple bit of brayering with a touch of ink dusting........still loving these.  I stamped the large tree first using archival back ink and the tree from an Andy Skinner set. Then masked a sun and added the sky with Adirondack dye inks hazelnut and butterscotch, created the landscape with layers of torn paper and stamped on some more trees which are Art Impressions, Hobby Art sheep which I coloured with a white fine tip marker, hand drawn fence and some foreground foliage with Inkylicious stamps.

Thanks for popping by and have a good Wednesday.

Moonlight

Good Morning Peeps, how you all doing ? The  weather  here  looks  promising  today  and after  yet another overnight frost I'm hopeful we might see some sunshine, after all it's meant to be Spring.

I thought I would share a bit of my favourite crafty pastime, brayering of course and as lots of you know I love my suns and moons so this months Craft a Scene theme of 'Moonlight' was totally up my street. The stamp from The Unmounted Stamp Company is one a lovely crafty friend sent me for my Birthday last year..............she said she saw it at a show and thought of me, anyone would think I was a closet treeaholic.

I made several very similar to this one as I think they are perfect for Winter Birthdays, her's included. A very simple brayered background using the Speedball with Adirondack denim and black, stamped the image with archival black then sponged the hills and snow drifts. I added a rose, leaves and some lace to add a feminine touch, but I think without those it would be fine for a guy as well.  I also decorated the envibox to match, don't know if you have discovered these but they are so useful for cards with a little bit more height and protect the embellies. Nearly forgot, I added some snow with a white fine tip marker.

This is my entry for......................

Craft a Scene whose theme is Moonlight

Whatever you have planned, have a good day and hope the sunshine reaches you.

Spring Dance

This month seems to have flown by and already it's the fourth and last week of our Free and Easy February at Allsorts and my teamie Emma's turn to host the challenge.

Things remain slow going here and am having still to rely on my wheelchair so not been far at all, if you've ever tried packing one into the boot of an MX5 you will understand why. Hubby' really good and happy to take me out in his car weekends when he's not at work, but somehow the will to shop has evaded me lately. And no way am I going anywhere Sunday, my boys in red are playing Cardiff at Wembley in the Carling Cup final so it would take wild horses to shift me from the TV that day. 

Now for my DT card this week, one I did a few weeks ago when I was playing with new release Hero stamps and one of the samples I did for Sir Stampalot using Hero Arts K5540 Spring Dance. I love working with silhouette stamps and this ones lends it's self to the simplicity of a brayered background using Adirondack raspberry and lettuce, then matting and layering using Scribble Scrabble DP and Nesties labels 23. The roses are a Marianne die, the swirl Memory Box and the little birdie inked and covered in Glossy Accents, was in a bag of chipboard ones given to me by a crafty friend at Christmas.

Whatever you have planned, have a good weekend and my thanks for your visit.

Paradise Isle

Hello Peeps, first off I must send a little message to those blog peeps I am hoping to meet at Stamperama tomorrow, hopefully our plans will fall into place, but we are very white here again and the roads decidedly dodgy, plus my legs are still MIA and I've had to pocket my pride and resort to to my wheelchair this past week so taking it all into account, will have to play it totally by ear come tomorrow.

Things have a habit of taking twice as long when my mobility goes out of the window and my mind is always half an hour ahead of my body, so I have been a bad, bad blogger this week and not helped by the fact my keyboard and mouse seem to have all but died on me and typing just a few words is taking forever...........would you believe I started typing this at 6am and now it's nearly eight, I've tried new batteries and all sorts and last night resorted to ordering a new one from Amazon.

So, better move on to tell you about Allsorts  where it's my turn to host the challenge where we are continuing with our Free and Easy February. And for my DT piece I thought an inky session was in order and have created a tropical scene using a collection of  Stampscapes images, Adirondack dye inks watermelon, cloudy blue and hazelnut, a little colouring with Copics and of course a masked moon with sponged sky and sea brayered with the Speedball.

I know lots of peeps think brayering is a bit of a scary pastime, but believe me it really is not and is the perfect way to make a fairly swift card. So if you've got a brayer collecting dust, get it out and have some fun..............and as I say at the top of my blog, just mail me if you need some help.

Have a good weekend and thank you so much for dropping by.    

Momories of hunting with my Dad

Good Morning peeps. hope you are all well this bright Tuesday morning, well at least it's bright here in the Fens, we still have several inches of snow and although it rained last night, the temperature plummeted to well below freezing again so the snow is hanging about.

You all now how much I love making scenes so could not miss the pull to create one for this months Create a Scene challenge where they would like to see 'Winter Scenes'. And this ones is my take on the scene I saw from my bedroom window so many times as a child, with my Dad, his gun and dog wandering off across the fields, when he would return at lunchtime with a brace or more of pheasants across his shoulder. Often I would go with Dad and we would sit for hours in a hide or in the spinney at the bottom of the back meadow waiting for the game birds to put up, with a flask of soup to keep us warm and not a care in the world, or at least it always seemed that way to me.

Stamps are a mixture of Art Impression, Stampscapes, Hobby Art and Inkylicious. I brayered the background with Adirondack dye inks cloud blue, denim and black and used Archival black for all the stamping. The fence is hand drawn.........every Country scene needs a fence in my world. The poem is computer generated and printed onto gloss cardstock........as the ink does not dry very quickly on the coated stock, I brayer the background before printing.

A little note about the blogger who has been compromising artwork which I posted about two weeks ago here. Please be assured that I am not ignoring the individuals and companies who have mailed me asking that I disclose the name of this person, but at the moment I am waiting for input from the company we both design for and this has been delayed due to CHA. 

Have a good day everyone and thank you so much for dropping by.

A walk in the Country

So how's everyone doing today ?

I'm a happy camper this morning, last night my boys in red made it through to the Wembley final and now I can't want for February 26th when Stevie lead the lads out onto the pitch. They all did a great job and played with real belief and conviction and Craig Bellamy, the best 'free' ever, got a well deserved Man of the Match award. Well done boys.

I know, how sad am I that I love footie almost as much as crafting, but I think the brayer's still got the edge. Although I sponged all the colour onto this one which I made recently for Sir Stampalot using a mixture of Art Impression stamps, Stampscapes plus a few others thrown in for good measure, a masked sun and Adirondack dye inks. The fences are part stamped and part hard drawn.

Thought I would enter another one into Create a Scene challenge as it's so my kind of thing.

Have a god Thursday and thank for visiting.

Country paths

Morning Peeps...........take note I missed out the good because the weather here today is atrocious, it started raining in the night and it's been throwing it down ever since.

So lots of muddy paw marks this morning and no airing in the paddock for the horses whilst they are mucked out, something they love if it's frosty. Ben is a good boy and stands so quietly outside their stables watching and munching hay, but Heskey is a real fidget and dances constantly and can't want to get back in his stable as he knows there will be some carrots hidden amongst the fresh straw...............just like children really. 

It been a long time since I could muck out, so thank heavens for hubby and Anysia. My day holds another acupuncture session which I have been trying as an alternative to osteopathy to try and get my legs a bit more mobile and pain free after their latest hissy fit. I am open to giving anything a try which might work.................within reason that is !!

A share of a card and also the winner of the little offering on my Monday post who is................

Marja from the Netherlands

Congratulations Marjo, please mail me with your full postal addy.

Now onto my shares for today, for the one at the top I stamped the Inkylicious trees using Archival sepia ink, then brayered the sky with Adirondack dye ink watermelon masking a sun where I wanted the horizon. To create the paths across the fields I removed the roller from the brayer and twisted a rubber band round the roller, just twice, pushed the roller back into the brayer handle and  ran it across the area where I wanted the fields using Adirondack lettuce and meadow. Finally I used a piece of town copier paper to act as a mask and added the hedges using the edge of the tree stamp.

Have a good day everyone and as always, thank you so much for popping in, I really do appreciate your visits.

Edited: I have been encouraged by a good friend in Oz to enter this for a brand new challenge Create a Scene and as I love doing just that it seems to make scene, even if I don't really do challenges due to the eyes, much as I enjoy taking part.