Animals for National Pet Awareness month

Morning everyone (this is a long one!). April is: National Pet Month (NPM) celebrates and raises awareness of responsible pet ownership. So Lorraine's theme 'For the love of Animals' at Allsorts challenge this week is most appropriate. Prizes come from Highlight Crafts and Stamp Addicts.

The scene above uses a fence stamp I bought in the US years ago when I was lucky enough to be invited to attend CHA (now Creativation) but afraid I've long since forgotten the make, teamed up with Inkylicious trees, Horses from Bee Crafty and a few Lavinia's thrown in as well. The dimension of the Horses suggest they are Heskey and Penelope, so guess Merlin was off across the paddock somewhere! A large masked sun and stencilled sunrays and Pan Pastels used for all colouring.

The Path of Positivity challenge is back in action so I would like to add the above card, that sentiment always seem positive to me.

A few more celebrating domestic animals, there were recent samples for Create and Craft TV using their latest in house die and USB release.

They are called 'Over the edge Animals', the idea that they do just that. The entire collection including USB and dies were (at time of writing this post) on special offer £35.99 for members and £39.99 non members here.

One final share, a few days late I'll confess with my April Card Chain Challenge share which went to Gail in Norway. I guess it also fits into our Allsorts theme with the Cockerel, as I had (now Fox'd, his own fault as he insisted on sleeping on one of the horses backs ready for an early morning start) one called Freddie. All stamps AALL and Create.

Have a good week everyone and my thanks as always for your visits.

Beautiful Blooms and looking for pen suggestions

Morning Peeps, it's my turn to host our new challenge at Allsorts and in true transparent fashion my theme is 'Beautiful Blooms'........well don't we all love our flowers and they do lift our spirits. There is a gorgeous A3 stamp set from Rare Earth for the lucky winner.

A card not unlike a Hochanda TV sample in my post earlier in the week which has a YouTube video where I list the stamps used, this one in shades of blue and purple as it was for a friends Birthday using colours I know she is keen on. The stamps are all Chocolate Baroque, an Oxide and stencilled background, an index clip, washi tape and a die cut 'smile'.

And because it's flowers this week, here's another one that was sitting in my folders, this time an Inkylicious sentiment and Penny Black blossom image inked direct to stamp with Distress Markers.......they have been discontinued so if anyone has come across waterbased pens with a hardish bullet tip please do let me know........so many now seem to have brush tips aimed at colouring in, including Arteza which I tried but they are just too soft for applying a decent covering of ink to stamps. 

Hope you have a good weekend.

 

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Winter Scenes and Snow

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts, our host this week is Tracy who has chosen the theme of 'Winter Scenes and Snow', we have a lovely animal Clarity stamp set for this weeks winner.

I also have a couple of shares from my post here over at he Chocolate Baroque blog, details of what I used to make my cards can be found on the post there.

Two Allsorts cards for me as I adore making scenes.........ask hubby about that one! The first a simple scene created with a mixture of stamps from Inkylicious, Stampscapes and Clarity all stamped with Versafine Toffee, colouring added with Distress Markers, Pan Pastels for he sky and Judikins snow glitter.

My second share used Chocolate Baroque worker stamps to create a frame, then a scene stamped inside using a mixture of Inkylicious, Clarity and Card-i-o stamps, Distress and Versafine inks and finito.

And here are my Chocolate Baroque shares which are using the new Blueprint stamps feature on Hochanda recently.

Happy weekend all.

 

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Going round in Circles

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts, our host this week is Kath who is sending us 'Round in Circles'. We have a Bee Crafty stamp for this weeks winner. Please also read my footnote at the bottom about an upcoming craft giveaway!

My blue and yellow creation was one of my samples for this months Chocolate Baroque Hochanda shows, the three new stamp sets all featured around Vintage clocks intertwined with Flowers and one with Strooms. The background is Brushos overstamoed with a couple of the smaller worker stamps, Parsley Clock stamped in Versafine black, a strip of white card and die cut circle. I stamped the Parsley again and cut out which was a real labour of love, coloured and placed over the circle. The sentiment is from Floral Clock and to embellish a small metal clock hand.

This one is a fairly simple creation, a die cut circle base card, Oxides and some music stamping with a Penny Black stamp, the sentiment is Inkylicious, the Butterfly another PB stamp and Heartfelt Flowers.

Each week in September there will be a prize giveaway here........or you can click on the photo and it will take you to the challenge blog. Please share the above photo on your own blog and keep an eye out to see what you can win each Tuesday in September.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

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It's Poppies again

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts where our host is Wendy with the theme of  'Charm's' and we have a super prize from Sizzix. 

Now charms are not something I use often or indeed any embellishments, but like most of us there are a few lurking in my stash so it was no problem hunting down some to create these two cards.

The one at the top is of course Poppies from Penny Black, another favourite stamp, but this time I decided on blue. I first created the background using a stencil and DI's and used the same DI to stamp the PB grasses, then I stamped the Poppies in my usual way using Distress Markers and a spritz of water building up the colours by stamping several times using my stamp platform. Some ribbon across the corner with a little Butterfly charm attached to it.

I kept to all sepia tones for this one using a Penny Black grass stamp and Inkylicious Poppy and Versafine Clair inks. The script was added by inking an unmounted stamp but instead of mounting on a block holding it and bending to just add script here and there. Finally a Penny Black sentiment and again some ribbons and twine to hold the charm.

And just look at this gorgeous collection of goodies I received this week from my friend Alice (scrAPamonod) in Liguria, she knows how much I love anything Italian and there were some beautiful crafting items including Italian sentiments, two packs of delicate lazer cuts from Sardinia and from Alice's own garden a jar of Capers in crystal salt which are going to be perfect with some nice Lemon Sole.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

 

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Dream and Chocolate Boroque new stamps and papers sneak peeks

Morning Peeps, time for our new Allsorts challenge and this week I am your host and our theme is 'Pretty Papers', it's actually the theme Tracy S chose before she left the team but we decided to leave it as we know so many of you love your DP's.  And the prize is of course paper pads, three of them actually plus some pretty ribbons.

Further down you will also find some sneak peeks of what is coming up on Tuesdays Chocolate Baroque Hochanda shows which are at 11am and 3pm, some stunning new stamps and some fabulous papers designed by Lesley.

I made this one a while back using a new stamp from Honey Doo, they make some lovely floral ones which lend themselves to paper piecing which is what I did with this one and managed to use up a few snippets as well - always worth keeping those little bits. I stamped onto an Oxide background cut out the flowers, adding some glitter and pearls to the centres. The sentiment is from Inkylicious but afraid I have no idea the make of the paper. I am popping over to the Snippets Playground with this one, afraid what with holiday and other things I've not joined in for a few weeks.

And I used another Honey Doo stamp for my Butterfly Challenge card, it's one I bought at the Doncaster show and this was it's first inking. The Butterfly wheel this time round is Gold, Grape, Green, Gems, Glossy Accents, Glitter and of course a Butterfly. Since coming back from holiday I have been flat out catching up on samples for Tuesday's Chocolate Baroque TV shows, but managed to find an hour to make this one and incorporate all elements. 

I stamped the image and sentiment in Versafine black and heat embossed with detail clear, then coloured in with sparkle pens - one of which is called Grape. Next I masked the edges and added some Tea Dye DI to create a border, then fixed the CB Butterfly (which did start out purple but the glossy accents faded it) in place, added gold gems to the largest flower, iridescent glitter to all flowers and glossy accents to the Butterfly along with wire antenna and liquid pearls for the trail.

As promised the sneak peeks of the the new goodies coming up Tuesday on Hochanda.

Just look at the lush colours on this piece of DP plus new floral stamps

The colours are more subtle on this DP and another gorgeous bloom

Versafine Clair ink pads really lend themselves to the detailed images

As you can probably guess I was a very happy bunny working with these, anything floral ticks all my boxes, that said I love all things Chocolate Baroque as their stamps as such excellent quality and a joy to work with.

Another Allsorts one and unusually for me there is hardly any stamping, just the sentiment which is Penny Black. I make quite a few of this design as not only is it ideal for using up scraps of paper, they also sell very well at the RSPCA charity shop. The lattice in the frame is a Tattered Lace die and then simply assembled and flowers and sentiment tag added. The Ivy leaves are also TL, I think from my three years designing for them using literally hundreds of different dies, these Charisma Ivy ones remain my favourite.

Have a good weekend all.

 

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Always Beleive

Morning Peeps, time for our new Allsorts challenge and this week Wendy would like to see 'Pearls and Gems' on our artwork and she is kindly providing a lovely prize, do pop over to the challenge blog to see for yourselves.

Another scheduled post so fingers crossed Blogger is behaving. My top card used an Inkylicios stamp I received as a gift from a crafty friend, it has lovely detail and I kept this one fairly simple to allow the stamp to take centre stage. As is usual I stamped with Versafine black, coloured in with sparkle pens and added a Bee Crafty sentiment.

My second share uses a Penny Black image which I inked with Distress Markers and spritzed with water before stamping, I then masked off a section so that I could ink a frame around the bloom. The sentiment and Butterfly are also Penny Black.

And my entry for Mos' October Rudolph Day's challenge, all I need to do is remember to link it up when we get home from holiday and before the gates close for the month. I used this adorable stamp from Crafty Individuals which I stamped and masked, stamped the CB trees and added the background with Pan Pastels, removed the mask and coloured the images and finally some stamping around the borders and liquid pearl berries.

Happy weekend all.

 

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By the lakeside

Morning Peeps, time for our new Allsorts challenge and this week Helene would like to see creation with 'Water or the colour Blue'. Our sponsor is Craft Obsessions offering a £15 store voucher.

Had my Papworth Hospital appointment yesterday, an hour of breathing tests, x.rays and then the consultant who told me I have Pneumonitis. They think they caught it early and after another CT scan to accurately identify the areas of inflammation it should be treatable. Quite a relief as all sorts have been going round by head since it was picked up by accident on a scan for my kidneys.

So onto my DT pieces for this week, for the top one I created a lakeside scene using an Inkylicious stamps I received for my Birthday (thanks Sal), the stamp is actually what you see to the left hand side of my card but I could visualise it as a larger lake. So I created a reverse image by stamping onto acetate using Versamark black, laid my piece of card over the top so the image was to the left when looking at it face on, being very careful to gently but firmly rub all over the back without letting it move. I then stamped the image directly onto the card so that the scene was extended. I coloured in with pencils and Pan Pastels, added some glossy accents and glitter to the water, stamped some birds and mounted onto a piece of corrugated.

My second one is the result of watching a catch up show where John (next door) was demoing with some new Crafts Too stamp sets and being a scenic girl I had to have a couple of them. I have never ordered from Hochanda as I find their £6.99 postage excessive so was very pleased to find them on Joanna Sheen's website where I have shopped for many years, their service is great and free pps on orders over £10.

I stamped the images which are a two part system roughly where I could visualise the scene, then built up around them with torn paper masks and Pan Pastels and finally glossy accents and glitter on the water. I am going to have fun making more with these stamps. Hubby thinks the images are disproportionate and the boat looks like a cruise ship sitting on the horizon but as I told him it's all subjective!!

Please pop over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from my teamies.

I really didn't think I would get round to making something for the current Butterfly Challenge as I have been snowed under making samples for the next Chocolate Baroque Hochanda shows, but eventually found an hour of  'me time' to make something. The Butterfly wheel this time round has the options of Azure, Apricot, Amethyst, Button, Ribbons, Layers and of course a Butterfly and I managed all elements albeit there is only the one button and a smidgen of ribbon. I used Distress Oxides to create a background and stamped Chocolate Baroque Honeysuckle Butterfly centrally and stamped the Butterflies once more and coloured all in the sparkle pens........I find these work really well on inky backgrounds as they cover without the need to bleach out the colour.

Then some random background stamping and stencilling, picked out a few of the spots and embossed with detail white powder. The quote is from my favourite CB sentiment set Words of Inspiration masked and stamped so that it could be added as three pieces and finally added the Butterflies and sentiment using foam pads to give my layers, a tiny button and bow on the large Butterflies thorax and of course wire antenna.

 

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Butterflies and blossoms

Morning Peeps, a bit of a photo heavy post as today I am sharing some more creations from the recent Hochanda Chocolate Baroque shows over on the DT blog here, also my mid month inspiration for both Penny Black and More and Stamping Sensations challenges.

Not happy at all with the NHS, heard nothing after my last CT scan in June so assumed all was OK. Apparantly not, this week I receive a letter as I had been "lost in the system", still a problem with my left kidney but more worrying it picked up something on my right lung and I have been referred to Papworth Hospital. And it gets worse, I have a "telephone consultation" with a chest specialist on Wednesday, I know GP's do it but I expected better from such a prestigious hopsital. OK rant over!

My Stamping Sensations piece uses more stamps from this months sponsor Rubber Dance, I stasted with a Distress Ink background, a stenciled window and added Butterflies and Daisies from RD, stamping Butterflies several times to cut out and decoupage.

And a second Stamping sensations creation using the Butterflies again and the Crazy Flowers stamped onto a Distr ess Ink background.

Next my Chocolate Baroque shares, full details of stamps used and how I made them can be found on the link above to the DT blog.

And last but by no means least my Penny Black shares where our theme is 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with B'. Another tag, I rather liked the colours on the one I shared a couple of weeks ago so I went with the same but using Penny Black stamps and stencils.

"B" for Butterflies, Blooms and Braid

B's are Blossom (and the name of the stamps), Blue and Birthday

There is still plenty of time to join in our challanges as they run until 29th August.

Happy weekend all.

 

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Live every moment

"B" is for Blooms, Butterfly and Bricks

Morning Peeps, editing this post I realised the title is rather approrpiate for our youngest son and partner who left on their year long travels a few days ago. We waved them and their two dogs off in their custom built motorhome van and first reposts from France as they head for Florence were positive. Mind you they told me yesterday that they have yet to test out the wet room and instead been using the facilities at the overnight French Aire's. 

They will be combining their photographic profession along with althletic races which they regularly partcate in across the world. We so hope we can fly out to see them at some point but as they are the ones who horse and dog sit for us when we go away it might be a tad tricky to arrange.

So onto craft and it's time for our  new challenges at Stamping Sensations and Penny Black and More where our themes are 'Anything Goes with current Favourite Stamp' and 'I Spy'. As always there are wonderful prizes to be won at both. I also have a few Chocolate Baroque pieces to share from last months shows on Hochands TV as well as my my Snippets Playground, Butterfly Challenge and Rudolph Days shares, the only three challenges I enter usually and here they are like buses all in one go. 

My first PB&M card at the top used quite an oldie 2666K Blush along with the matching die which is more recent called Bashful as the focal elements. I started with a Distress Oxide background followed by some stenciled bricks using texture pased coloured with a little acrylic pain to take off the harshness of the white. I then inked just the script sections of  another oldish wood mounted stamp called Rosa and rangomly stamped, then spamped with flowers inking the stamp with Distress Markers and cut out with the die. The sentiment is from Happy Wishes, masked and each section stamped individually to creat three pieces.

My Stamping Sensations shares feature some new stamps from this months sponsor Rubber Dance, their stamps were new to me and I have to say I rather enjoyed working with them. My first piece is a grayboard tag which has been treated to lots of gesso, ancylic pain, ink and crackleglaze then Cornflowers stamped along the bottom and side and painted with white gesso, some randon stenciling then the Butterfly Trio stamped, cut out and layered up to add deimension. Finally a sentiment which is CB.  The Butterflies are all made from snippets so is my entry to the Snippets Playground. I would also like to enter this into Lost Coast Designs new Anything Goes challenge, I was invited to link up to their last challenge with my black and blue tag in my previous post and just discovered Random Or., selected my entry so it seems only right to join in again.

This one again has an Distress Oxide base, a sponged sun, Cornflowers stamped randomly using the same colour Oxide, then flowers and stems from Crazy Flower, coloured with the same inks, cut out and decoupages, a Butterfly from Butterfly Trio and sentiment again CB.

'B' for Birds, Branches and Buds

My final PB&M piece uses the tree scene together with some branches and buds from, some colouring added with Pan Pastels and a sun, then finally the Birds on a Wire stamped to the left, the lines extended with a black fine liner then just one of the birds stamped.......Billy no mates maybe!!

The Butterfly Challenge this time round is all about things beginning with 'F' and I have managed all seven elements, Fuchsia, French Blue and Ferrari Red (flowers and Butterfly) Flowers (the stamp itself) Frame it (image framed by masking and using DI's) More than on Fold (easel has two) and of course the Butterfly. All stamps are Penny Black and stamped using DI's direct to stamp.

And here are my CB shares, all the details of stamps and how I made them can be found on my post over at the CB blog. And I figure any one of these will fit in nicely with the current Rudolph Days challenge over at Mo's, it's a little later than usual as she has been on holiday here in the UK.

Have a good Sunday all and I hop you will join our challenges this month.

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