Lets go wild

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme as chosen by Sandra is 'Lets go Wild'. 

We are very excited that we have a new sponsor Art Ink Designs, our very own Dot's new store, do pop over and take a peek as she has some fabulous stamps. And can we please remind you that we are a stamping challenge and must see hand stamping as the focal element of your artwork.

I also have a few Chocolate Baroque shares which are for today's One Day Special on Hochanda and further down more fifteen minute cards which feature over on the DT blog. And one just happens to fit in very nicely with the current Butterfly Challenge with the theme of Gold and Decoupage along with the requisite Butterfly.

I started with a piece of gloss cardstock and created a background with DI's, next I stamped the elephant scene which is from Little Claire followed by just the Giraffe from a Penny Black stamp (masking the other two animals when inking the stamp). Next I stenciled some circles using a Timmy stencil and a PB background stamp to add the dots. Added some white gel pen here and theme and the sentiment which is made up of two PB stamps.

And the Chocolate Baroque samples, the shows feature a host of different Butterfly stamps along with some new stencils. I am hoping the first one below will fit in OK at the Butterfly Challenge, I know it looks more yellow than gold in my photo but the roll of ribbon definitely say's gold and I matched the colouring of the Butterfly to that.

And a few of my fifteen minute cards, most are done with Pan Pastels and they are so easy to use and build up quickly for a pretty background.

I do hope you will come and join us at FSC this month and please do pop over to see the super inspiration from my team mates.

Favourite things

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Favourite Things', as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

You are probably fed up hearing me say how much I love Spring but I couldn't miss this opportunity to make yet another piece displaying a few more of the lovely blooms we see at this time of year, in this one I have PB Daffodils and Tulips and Stampendous Violets, all stamped onto a Brusho background and base card made using TH Cabinet Card.

Once my card was made and the three sections fixed together with little spines, I inked the edges and used a harlequin stencil to add a little background interest.

I do hope you will join us this month and also pop over to the challenge blog to see all the super inspiration from my team mates.

Modes of Transport

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month the theme is 'Modes of Transport', as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

I don't have a lot in the way of transport stamps so a ship it is. It's a really quick and easy card from me, starting with an oval mask I stamped the Flonz Ship and then used Pan Pastels to create the background and water, stamped some birds and a Penny Black sentiment and finito, not a lot more to say really !!

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see what my team mates have created and of course join in with our challenge.

Lot's of grunge

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month it's my turn to choose the theme which is 'It's Just a Number', as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

I'm not convinced about this canvas, it all looks rather too busy, but it might grow on me I guess. I covered the canvas with black gesso, then a coat of crackle glaze and an off white acrylic paint. Stamping around the edges with a really old Inkadinkadoo stamp, the clock is from Stamp Addicts which I cut out after stamping. I did some random stenciling with a Timmy number stencil, fixed the clock in place and then arranged lots of odds and ends at the bottom corner and painted with Gilding Polishes and added two Penny Black Butterflies stamped onto an offcut of card coloured with the same gilding polishes.

And I have a second share, I was having an inky play and realised the PB sentiment fitted the theme so well. My starting point was a piece of 600gsm Fabriano, distress inks and some torn printed decoupage tissue. Next some stencilling here and there using an Ivy stencil, the focal Poppies are Penny Black Divine stamped with black archival and coloured in with Brosho's and I used a couple of embossing powder tub lids and DI's to add some circles. Hubby's comment "humm different", which in real terms means I don't really like it, but he's never appreciated my grungy makes. I cut the Penny Black sentiment into two pieces.

Do pop over the the challenge blog and see the inspiration my teamies have to offer.

A Snowflake is Winter's Butterfly

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Winter and/or Snow' and as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

Lots of inkiness going on starting with a basic frame with a canvas insert, first I gave it all a good coat of gesso, followed by acrylic paint and then crackle glaze and more acrylic paint to the frame. Once dry I stamped with an old Inkadinkadoo leafy swirl stamp with purple adirondack dye ink. I added chipboard corners with liberal helpings of gold gilding polish.

I also stamped the smaller element of the same stamp around the canvas and then used grunge paste through an arch window stencil, sprinkled over mica powder and used a heat tool to make it bubble and add more texture. Finally a sentiment and Penny Black Butterflies.

I am popping over to the Playground with this one as I used snippets for the sentiment and Butterfly.

I do hope you will come and join us this month.

Live in the Sunshine

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Anything Goes', a nice and easy one over the holiday period when so many of us are busy. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

I found this heart having a clear out of my overflow craft room........aka one of the spare bedrooms.......so decided to have a play with my new Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polishes, apparently you can add them direct to wood without a base coat but I had already given the heart a coat of gesso and it blended fine. I used Fern, Aqua, Purple and Gold. 

The polish dries almost instantly so next I stenciled the same polishes over the base and...........this is the really good but about the polishes........you can stamp with it was well so I stamped around the edges with a really old Inkadinkadoo stamp. Next stamped the Heartfelt flowers onto a piece of card coloured with the same polishes, cut them out with the matching die and layered up. The sentiment is from Inkylicious, masking each section of the stamp to get three individual pieces, the wording is too close together to just stamp and cut but it is easy enough to do this way. Finally some lace and pearls and finito.

And with all those snippets I am popping right off to the Playground with this one, Miss Di is still under the weather (get well soon Miss) but you know they say about when the cat is away.............

I do hope you will come and join in our challenge.

T'is the Season

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'T'is the Season' and as always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

I decided I would make a Christmas wreath, in fact I've made several in different colours, one for each of the children and their other halves as a change from Christmas cards this year. My staring point was a rattan base shape from Hobbycraft, I actually bought circle ones but this one seems rather elongated into an oval so I left it that way rather than faff with it.

I coloured some cardstock with various shades of blue and gold glimmer mists and dylusions then stamped Heartfelt Creations Poinsettias, heat embossed with detail gold before cutting out with the matching die. I also stamped the Penny Black sentiment onto a piece of the same sprayed card and fixed that in the centre before layering up the flowers. I added a string of TL mini LED lights, some blue and gold string pearls around the flowers, some gold gems in the flower centres and a large bow at the top.

And as I used up no end of Fabriano snippets with this one I am going to pop over to the Playground to see what havoc I can cause, there again might have to slip in quietly as I am still meant to be resting after my little op a few days ago.

Please do pop over to the challenge blog and see what my team mates have created.

Smile, it's a beautiful day

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is 'Trees'. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

As a confirmed 'treeaholic' this theme was right up my street and this is a card I made for one of our son's Birthday's back in September. The main image is from Inkylicoous, stamped twice to extend the scene n to Fabriano 300gsm cardstock. The fences across the front are from Sutter, I also have a bit of a thing for fences............. Once the main stamping was done I masked a sun and used Pan Pastels to create the background and DI's and mask to create the sunrays. I added a little watercolour to the trees and finally stamped the birds, leaves across the top using an Art Impression stamp and the sentiment is from the same set as the trees.

And since I'm on a quest to use up all those pieces of Fabriano.......I buy it in A3 sheets, cut down to squares as I seem to use that shape the most, but am always left with long end pieces which fit perfectly for landscape cards..........I am hopping over to Di's Playground playground with this one.

I do hope you will come and join us this month, it's the perfect opportunity to let those Autumnal colours loose.

Colours of Autumn

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is Autumnal colours - yellows, oranges, reds and greens. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

Again it's something I made back in the Summer and is another of my 5x7 flat canvases, I find this a great size to work with without being overwhelmed by too much space. The canvas came ready primed so I painted the whole piece with a dark acrylic paint called blood orange, then a thin coat of crackle glaze scraped on with an old credit card and a top coat of a neutral colour. Next some swirls added with stencil and grunge paste which I inked with DI's once dry and stamped around the edges with a Penny Black leaf image and some gilding wax. The flowers are all stamped and heat embossed with detail copper and cut out with the coordinating Heartflet Creations dies and some little Tattered Lace leaves tucked in around part of a Timmy clock die. The sentiment is also Penny Black. Finally a little chipboard Butterfly.

As I used up lots of snippets for the flowers I think it will be OK to enter into Di's Snippets Playground, I only popped in quickly last week to meet up with Parsnip............I'll say no more !

There are some lovely creations from my fellow teamies so I do hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and take look and join in with our challenge this month.

Dream it

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is Resist Stamping. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

To create my card I started by stamping the lovely Penny Black Poppy stamp with versafine and embossing with detail clear powder. I then sponged DI's fossilised amber, picked raspberry and mowed lawn over the embossed background. The sentiment is from Chocolate Baroque stamped with black archival and finally some black pearls.

I do hope you will pop over the the challenge blog and see the super inspiration from my teamies and also join in with our challenge this month.

And I would love to pop over to the Snippets Playground with this one.

Blooms, Butterflies and new family members

My thanks to you all for your kind comments and well wishes yesterday which are all greatly appreciated. It's at times like this when the body is less than willing that I am re-assured my obsession of working weeks ahead with DT projects is a practical solution to dealing with MS. With artwork done and posts scheduled it takes the worry away and leaves me to just add a few words as I am doing here.

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is Beautiful Blooms, one that plays right into my hands. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

I started with a Dylusion background and pearl mica spray. The colours turned out a little more intense than I planned so rather than water them down I used white embossing powder, it's one I don't use that often but quite like how the Visible Image sentiment pops with it. Next I used a Timmy stencil and pearl dimensional paste here and there and then stamped randomly round the edges with a Penny Black stamp using DI Dusky Concorde. I used a Tattered Lace Butterfly Trio stamp and die set again using white embossing powder and the flowers are Heartfelt Creations.

I do hope you will come and join us this month and share your own beautiful blooms.

The above card is one of my Guest Designer cards for Chocolate Baroque which you will find on their blog here today following their 15 minute card theme. I used the beautiful Butterfly Flourish Swirls stamp set, stamping with black archival ink and colouring with Brusho's. I drew a black line around the image, added a few sequins and matted and layered onto coordinating cardstock.

And look who moved in with us yesterday, Anysia and Azaria arrived home with these two sweeties who have been named Jemima and Puddleduck.....................I know that's all one name..............but they were not to be moved on the chosen names. They are Aylesbury ducks, two weeks old and will be almost full grown by twelve weeks and larger than most of the hens.

Happy Sunday all.

Blots and Splatters

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this month our theme is Blots and Splatters. As always there is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from FlonzCraft.

My starting place was a piece of white 300gsm cardstock which I splatted with Cracked Pistachio and Fosillized Amber DI's by dabbing each onto a craft sheet, spritzing with water to get a watery consistency and then picking each up individually with a clean brush and literally flicking onto the left side of card. If you are worried about getting too much ink onto your card try holding the ink loaded brush over the card and tapping lightly with your finger, this gives you a bit more control over where it lands.

Next I used an Inkylicious background stamp and using distress markers inked just a random section down the middle of the stamp to achieve a strip of stamping - I used Black Soot and stamped off first to get a softer finish. I then did the same in the other direction. The Butterfly is Penny Black which I inked with the same colour inks but using distress markers, spritzed with water and stamped onto an offcut of card, cut out and mounted onto my card and added wire antenna. The sentiment is Visible Image.

I will be popping over to the Snippets Playground with this, I heard a rumor that the fine weather has prompted the idea of a diving board over the pond. I'm non too sure about getting into that murky water, but quite like the idea of running a bit of newt fishing competition (they all go back in of course)...........when I was young it was the weekend activity in our little village, no games machines, tablets or mobiles in those days, plain simple self made fun, well until I was a bit older and the lure of the hay barn beckoned........I say no more !! 

My thanks for your visit today and I hope you will come and join in our challenge this month.

To see the word in a grain of sand

Good morning Peeps, I hope your weekend is going well.

I've been keeping a secret for a week or two but now I can share and tell you I have been invited to become one of the teamies at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. When Shirley first asked me common sense said no, when I mentioned it to hubby he said why, so of course all reason went out of the window and I said yes !

And here I am with my first DT piece following this months theme of Blue, Yellow and White, how good is that as it's one of my favourite colour combos...........I know I have lots of favs, but this is one near the top of my list. Blue is a colour I rarely gravitate towards as a solo colour, but I do love it combined with either yellow or brown. There is a generous prize of a $20 shopping voucher from our good friend Leo over at FlonzCraft.

My starting place was a square of Fabriano 600gsm card, liberally spritzed with water and Ost Blue and Yellow Brushos sprinkled on and with a bit of tilting side to side allowed the Brushos to run with the water. The Poppy image is from the Autumn Poppy set by Chocolate Baroque and the sentiment Clarity. I heat embossed the floral image with detail clear powder to give a raised border so that I could bleach out the flowers and butterflies which I then coloured in with the same Brusho's and when dry added a coat of Glossy Accents.

I mounted the piece onto some corrugated card and some ribbon to make it into a wall hanging, however I have since changed my mind and it's now mounted onto a card as I have a recipient in mind with a Birthday next month and she loves anything blue.

Have a good Sunday and I do hope you will pop over to the challenge blog and join us this month.