Venetian Summer

Time for our monthly challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are Sew Special and Anything Goes.

For my Penny Black creation I have used one of my favourite stamps Venetian Summer, it's a place I adore and having spent a couple of days there on our recent holiday was inspired to use this stamp again.........mind you I didn't look anything like as elegant as this lady when I was there.

 I have coloured her with my Chameleon pens using just one colour and added the sky with Pan Pastels. I am not sure of the make of DP, it's scraps I found in my 'brown drawer' but have a feeling it may be G45. Some lace and sentiment which is part of the same set as the main image.

I have used my current favourite fancy machine stitch on the base layer and another Penny Black stamp for the main image....a nice wood mounted one called Rosa which I coloured in with Spectrum pencils.some basic mat and layering, organza ribbon and bow and another of the pretty ribbon slides I found on web site selling wedding products.

And a second card for Stamping Sensations using stamps from this months sponsor Stamp Addicts. Yes, it's the same stitch again, did say I was a bit addicted to it, along with a Stamp Addicts sentiment and Poinsettias from the new Star of Wonder stamp set. I stamped and cut the Poinsettias from a piece of card coloured with Dylusions and pearl mica spray, layered them up and added some pearl stamens and added some die cut Ivy...........absolutely no idea who the die is made by as I've had it ages and no longer have the packing.

And I am having a spell in the playground again this week......not fell of the swing yet but it can;t last......and am entering this card into Di's Snippet Playground. It's a recent sample I made for Tattered Lace using some of the new the Nursery Rhyme dies, this one is called 'I'm a little teapot'..............the times we sang this one at playschool when I used to help out, the little ones always seemed to love doing all the movements.

The background has been embossed with a TL embossing folder and lightly inked with distress inks, some scraps of paper which I think are Trimcraft, lace, seam binding and a button.

Have a good Sunday all, I am off to Thetford Sincerely Yours craft show to do some inky demoing but hoping to get a bit of shopping in as well.

Flowers and Pearls

It's Saturday morning and time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Mervi would like to see 'Flowers and Pearls. Our lovely sponsors are Hobby House.

Apologies that I am still rather tardy on the blogging side of things, I am mega busy with the next collection of releases from Tattered Lace and also working on another rather exciting event coming to C&C soon, can't say more at the moment. So afraid blogging is having to take a back set at the moment

I guess some of you saw the programmes yesterday when the pick of the week sold out in the first hour of the show. Not sure what Nancy is going to do for the rest of the week, but I am not surprised they sold out so quickly as the shutter card dies are amazing, I had such fun working with them and know they will make more appearances from the team in upcoming shows.

I am always happy to work with flowers and for my DT card I used a recently acquired stamp from Stampendous called Classic Roses. I stamped the image and heat embossed with detail clear powder and coloured in with my Chameleon pens and sponged some distress ink though a stencil. The DP's are both I think from BoBunny, a few years old and not certain though. I machined a scallop patter round the edge of the green base layer, matted the image and piece of contrasting yellow and finished with some roses, seam binding and trailing ivy leaves.......again not sure the make of the die.......I really should keep the packing or at least make a note.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Lace and Pearls

Our Tracy Mouse is challenging us to use Lace and Pearls on our work at Allsorts this week where our sponsors are Deedees Designs and PPR Papercrafts.

I have two cards and both are way different to the norm for me, one is a tad cute.................I did say some were coming along didn't I.............. and the other has some colouring in, now there's a turn out for the books on both counts. And I have to make a confession that I really enjoyed making them both.

The focal image on my card at the top is a really old wood mounted stamp I have had for years, there is no clue as to the make but I have a feeling it may be an early one from Creative Expressions. I had the pretty piece of pink lace so used that as the colour inspiration for my card and coloured the image with Chameleon pens, some very subtle shading round the edges, simple mat and layering and some roses and pearls plus a pearl necklace for the lady.

I listed all the making details and products used on the baby card over at Tattered Lace here so won't bore you with all the details again, there will also be a blue version popping up over at the Tattered Lace blog tomorrow.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Last minute gifts and Spring flowers

Today sees our last Allsorts challenge of the year, it will run for two weeks to give the DT a bit of a break over the holiday season and will probably be my last post of the year as we have family arriving Monday for the holiday period...............unless I get mega bored or find unexpected time on my hands.

So I would like to take the opportunity to thanks all of my blogland friends for their friendship and support in 2015 and.......................

Now back to Allsorts where Helen has chosen the theme of Last Minute Gifts and our sponsors are A Passion for Stamps and Marianne Designs.

I will confess I didn't know quite what I could make for this theme, I was thinking along the lines of homemade sweets and chocolates but they are usually a last minute make in my kitchen and as I like to have my DT work done and scheduled well in advance knew that idea was a no no. Then a clear out in a drawer uncovered a stash of Church candles which I had left over from a demo ages ago so I decided to decorate one of those.

I used a new Penny Black stamp set called Festive Florals, stamped the Poinsettia onto some tissue and coloured in with my Chameleon pens and heated it onto the candle. I made a matching card and also decorated a box to match. I was a little disappointed that the leaves look a slightly different colour on the card and candle although it was the same pen, but when I checked with Tracy Mouse who is the Queen of candles she said it happens and recommends going a shade darker on the candle, so something to remember in future.

And I have a second piece using Chocolate Baroque stamps, this set with the Willow called Spring Foilage has been one I've had my eyes on for ages and when I saw it on offer that was the prefect opportunity for me to but it. I used Dylusions for the background with a spritz of Glimmer mist to bleed the colours, stamped the flowers and willow and bleached out a bit of the colour so I could paint them with the same colour Dylusions. I sponged in some clouds and added a computer generated quote. I would like to enter this into the current Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge which is shades of green, aqua and pinky/purple.

Happy weekend all.

Pan Pastel skies with Nicecrane

Good morning from the very chilly Fens, I hope you are all keeping warm. Another hard frost last night but it does look beautiful and prompted me to change my blog header to a photo taken last Winter looking across the Fen from the paddocks when you get those wonderful early morning pink skies.

Before I tell you about my pieces of artwork, I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and recent comments, I believe the new meds are working, still nasty side effects but I can learn to live with that if the pain eases.

On to some artwork and this week I have been playing.........oooops I meant working............with Ignacio's latest Nicecrane Designs which are Japanese themed and can be found here. As we all know I am not great at colouring in, although it is coming along with my new Chameleon pens, so I decided to use those on the Oriental lady below and turn the rest into some of  my favourite scenic cards.

The top card is probably my favourite of the scenic ones, I love strong and vivid skies which are so easy to achieve with Pan Pastels and of course suns and moon, a sun on this one plus a few leaves across the top and some white highlighting here and there.

I used one of the designs from the Vintage Butterflies set as the background in the aperture, what I so like about all of Ignacio's Vintage designs is that you can always find something to coordinate or compliment other designs. My Oriental lady was coloured with Chameleon pens and does look rather yellow, but in real life is a tad more subtle. The sentiment is another from All Occasion Dies, cut twice to achieve a shadow effect.

Pan Pastels again for this one and a few Lavinia flowers stamped across the top using distress markers and garden twine down the side to carry the rustic feel of the card.

I rather liked the splatter background on my Penny Black card last week so stuck with the same colour Dylusions for this one and painted the butterfly and flowers with them as well with a final brush over with Glimmer Mist pearl, it works wonders to soften the fibers so you can mould them into shape. The sentiment is Penny Black.

This is the full set of designs which you can get here for $4.50

Have a good Tuesday Peeps.

No DP's allowed

A very good morning to you all, today at Allsorts it's my turn to host the theme and I would like to see creations that feature no design papers. Our sponsors are my friend Ruth from A Passion for Stamps and another friend Ignacio from Nicecrane designs.

So as I am on the DT for both it means two cards from me. My Nicecrane piece above uses one of the lovely Birds and Blossoms images.............can you tell I am already thinking ahead to Spring............a background of Dylusions, then script and grids randomly stamped, a Timmy clock onto which I scattered some Frantage, dies cut leaves, some twine, hessian and corner embellies.

My Passions for Stamps card uses the pretty Christmas Rose to which I added just a little colour using my Chameleon pens, inked the edge of the card along with some white Frantage, a Penny Black sentiment and some simple matting and layers. Much as I like Design Papers and have some beautiful ones, I think sometimes they detract from the focal image and to me this card demonstrates exactly what I mean.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Just Christmas

Before I tell you about this weeks Allsorts theme I would like to share some news, I'm still pinching myself and in shock and thought it was a send up but apparently not and I am one of the lucky nominees in this years Craft Awards. I feel very humbled to be on a list with so many of the well known names in the crafting industry who are amazingly inspirational and although I know in my wildest dreams I will never make the final cut it is still so surreal to have even been nominated and I am most appreciative.

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday so that mans a new challenge at Allsorts and this week it's my turn to host the challenge. Our sponsor is Cuddly Buddly and to tie in with the release of their new Christmas stamps I have selected the theme of 'Just Christmas'.

My first card is just a bit of the usual inkiness using masking tape to create a central focal area which I inked with Adirondack inks black, eggplant and denim and stamped Penny Black Winter Ledge, a few more birds from the new Natures Friends PB unmounted set and I added some berries using silver glitter and finally a Penny Black sentiment.

For my second card I have stepped outside of my comfort zone again and done some more colouring ........not too much mind you.......using my new Chemeleon pens which I have to admit I am rather enjoying. The image is from our sponsor and called Snow Family. I cut round the top of the snowmen and layered onto a piece of acetate which I then placed over a snowy background created with a mask and Pan Pastels and a stamped Santa and sleigh. I used my old favourite holly embossing folder which I lightly dusted with Pan Pastels and matted onto a tent style card.................not convinced that's the right name but they are easy to make with a score board.

Happy weekend to you all.