A ride in the sunshine, the photo and long overdue update

Time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this week Mervi has chosen the theme of 'Summer Girls', our sponsors are FlonzCraft and Buttons for Brains. 

I thought the Penny Black image was perfect with the girl our for a ride in the Summer sunshine, I stamped her and the trees then masked a sun and added Pan Pastels and a Penny Black sentiment.

And another card using some of the new DP's from FlonzCraft along with the Vintage 50's Fashion Girl, one of my favorite FlonzCraft stamps which I paper pieced and created a little garden scene.........my elegant lady is all dressed ready for an evening on the town with the man of her dreams.....................you all know I live in a little fantasy world.

As promised, here's a photo of Ruth (Tonic/Passion for Stamps) which we had taken when we had a lovely catch up just outside Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, if only we lived closer and not across the waters I am sure we would do it far more often as we always have so much to talk about.

And a rather long overdue update, as I said some weeks ago I have been struggling coming to terms with everything and more so talking about it. It looks as though I am still going to need another op due to complications discovered in the more recent scans, so what seemed just a little problem initially which was elevated calcium levels, that was in fact a warning sign of the bigger problem.

Plus apart from the Parathyroid Adenoma's there have been knock on affects from the calcium imbalance including a stomach ulcer which after three months now seems under control with meds and the loss of several teeth, probably that is the part I have found hardest to come to terms with.

So I hope you will forgive the intermittent posts and blogging, it's very much a day at a time, some days I feel up for it, others I just want to curl up and hide. We are due to go on holiday late July and it's the anticipation of that which has kept me going, it looked dubious at one stage but a letter from my consultant enabled me to eventually get insurance cover.

Phew, that seems like an awful lot of garble, but so many Peeps have sent messages of kindness and good wishes and I have kept stum so I felt I had to eventually break my silence and it may even do me good to get it out of my system a little.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Inky, Pinky Monday

Using: CLR001 Butterflies clear set, CLR015A Bobbly Flowers clear set, PPRSD015 Blobbly Flowers die set, EE0131 Flourish stamp and Cheery Lynn lattice die.

Note added - what are your dashboards up to this morning ? Mine will only show the very latest posting of those I follow and although there is a 'view more' button it won't actually show any more. Tried on another computer in the office and the same so unless I sit and watch it all the time no idea who has posted what. What's Blogger up to now I wonder ?

Morning Peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend.

Time to share my Monday morning Prickly Pear and Nicecrane Designs DT pieces. It's all rather inky as I am struggling mojo wise with all the medical issues and treatments and getting inky is what I have found I am most comfortable with lately so apologies if it's all rather samey recently.

The background is Dylusions Bubblegum Pink and Pomegranate Seed................don't you just love the names they give them.............and the requisite spritz of Pearl Glimmer Mist. Over this I inked Picked Raspberry DI through a mask to get the wavy pattern and added some Gilding Wax around the edges, then overlaid the lattice which I painted with chalk paint and randomly tore at the edges and finally some pink Sparkle Medium through another mask, a really useful Timmy one with tiny holes.

Finally after all that messiness I cut the flowers, over stamped them and also he butterfly, all cut from a piece of card sprayed with the same mediums.

I would like to enter this into the current Butterfly Challenge................I don't do challenges as a rule due to the need to minimise screen glare to my dodgy eyes but I do make an exception here as I love butterflies. The current theme is monochromatic.

My Nicecrane creation is also rather pink, I have used the really sweet Children and Birds by N Brisley design sheet which is a newly released one, there are five different deigns in the collection so plenty of scope for a variety of cards. I have teamed it up with Graphic 45 Botanical Tea DP's, no matter which Nicecrane design I use there is usually a G45 DP that matches, they seem made for each other with their Vintage feel. I did a bit of stitching around the edges using the new sewing machine hubby bought for my Birthday, it's not until Friday but I was allowed to have it a bit early to start playing with. Some bunting cut of the Cricut and die cut flowers and leaves.

Hope you all have a good week.

Gold and grungy

Helen has set us a colour challenge at Allsorts this week of 'Gold and White plus One', we have two great sponsors A Passion for Stamps and Craft Fairy.

My colours on the top one are perhaps a little bit predictable, gold and white and brown as my extra. This is one of the samples I made for a recent Stamp Addicts Create and Craft TV programme using some of the new Grunge stamps, sentiment and clock with grunge paste and masking in the background and a flower using TH Tattered Floral die.

And a second one in white, gold and yellow using one of Ruth's designs the Stargazer Lily which she drew for me a couple of years ago, I printed three onto Fabriano watercolour card and coloured with Derwents and then Wink of Stella pens and decoupaged one bloom, an embossed background, a triple bow, cameo and Liquid pearls.

I met Ruth in Cambridge today, she is over here for a few days so it was lovely to catch up with her again, there were a few photos taken as we supped coffee in the sun and I know she will be blogging them so will grab one to share here as well.

Have a good weekend all.

Just the one layer

This week at Allsorts the lovely Jo is challenging us to make a one layer card and our sponsors are Craftbag.

I love making this style of card using Pan Pastels, masking a section in the middle and round the edge of the reverse side of a piece of Centura Pearl and stamping the scene which in this case is repeat stamped with a Clarity stamp for the focal element then adding the PP's. The faux layer effect is achieved simply by using Copics and a ruler, I find it easiest to start from the outer edge and work inwards.

And another using exactly the same technique but this time using Chocolate Baroque's lovely Tuscany image and sentiment.

Happy weekend all.

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.

Trees, moons and suns

Good afternoon crafty Peeps, hope you week is going well. I imagine those of you in the UK are as fed up with this weather as I am, rain, rain and yet more rain, but there again our friends across the pond are having to contend with sub zero temperatures which can be no fun either.

I thought I had better do a post now as tomorrow being Thursday means my third treatment and judging by the last two a couple of queasy days, so best to get ahead of the game and share some cards I made recently. Just inkyness really, or rather Pan Pastels and a variety of stamps and masks.

See you soon and as always I appreciate your visits and kind comments.

Pan Pastels and trees to start the New Year

Happy New Year everyone, I hope it's going to be a good one for you all.

I thought I would share one of the scenic cards I created just for fun and I thought it only fitting that I kick start the year with some of my favourite crafty things including Pan Pastles, masking, trees and inspirational quotes.

Plus an easel card I made a couple of weeks ago using an image from Nicecrane's new Sweet Birthday design sheet. And according to the press release I received the other day for the upcoming CHA trade show in the States I was ahead of the predictions as yellow is going to be the 'in' colour this year along with vintage inspired bold patterns. So can't wait to see what yummy delights are coming our way this Spring.

The Nicecrane images are beautifully detailed so all I just decoupaged the flower in the little girls hand and made some more pansies using one of Ruth's punch and stamp sets.

Happy New Year.

Prickly Pear Autumn

Happy Monday Peeps, hope your weekend was a good one, here in the Fens yesterday was a glorious day of late Summer sunshine and a shopping jaunt to Cambridge.

As with yesterdays post this is a scheduled one with artwork prepared a few weeks back. It's at times like this that I know my theory of working well ahead with my DT work is the right one for me as my dysfunctional body is still making stamping and typing a painful task.

Today sees the first of my shares as a member of the Prickly Pear Design Team, when I was invited to join I did give it some considerable thought wondering if I would be overcommitting myself, but I already knew the excellent quality of their stamps so in the end agreed. And it's been a pleasure to work with the lovely collection of stamps and dies I received to create my DT artwork which will be popping up regularly.

As you can see I stayed very much in my comfort zone for my first piece with florals and Pan Pastels, stamping and masking the Amaryllis image to add the leaves...........a lovely set with matching dies.........then colouring both the background and flowers with PP's. The sentiment is also one of the new PPRS Autumn images which I inked with two shades of Adirondack ink to create the colour graduation. I would like to enter this into:

Eclectic Allapu - Celebrate Autumn

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Use a mask or stencil - is this type of masking OK girls ?
Lady Anne's - Autumn

My second share is my FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges DT piece and with the theme of Feminine Beauty it was a tough decisions deciding which is Leo's lovely images to use, but being a real fan of the 20's went with this one which was also coloured with Pan Pastels. The flowers were made with Tonic's punch and stamps Peruvian Lily image I would like to enter this into:

Make it Monday - Elegant Ladies
Artistic Inspirations - Make it girly
Whoopsydaisy - Vintage/Shabby chic

Hope you all have a good week and as always many thanks for your visits and kind comments which always mean so much to me.

Parisian sunset

Saturday morning and time for our new challenge at Allsorts and this week we would like you to share your 'Favourite Things' with us. Our sponsors this week are DigiStamp Boutique and My Mums Craft Shop.

Dilemmas or what, Distress Inks or Pan Pastels, flowers or a scene, well in the end the Pan Pastels won the day along with a Parisian scene and it's another take on the card I blogged last week as I am still in Parisian mode. Again I used the Clarity Parisian mask to create the background along with PP's then paper pieced a lady and grounded her with some darker PP's and a Stampscapes cobble stamp. The Oak branches are also Stampscapes and the grasses in the front are Indigo Blue.

When I showed this one to number one critique his comment was "will she or won't she" when I said will she what he replied "jump", I actually thought it gave the impression she was looking down over the City from a park somewhere on the outskirts, clearly he saw something different to me !

Happy weekend to you all and time allowing will be popping round over the weekend.

Parisian Romance

Good Morning, time for your new challenge at FlonzCraft Vintage Stamping Challenges where this month it's 'Pretty In Pink'.

I know I could have done lots of things with my lovely FlonzCraft stamps but I've been itching to have a play with this Clarity mask, so created the background with it using Pan Pastels and this lovely romantic couple and think it will make a perfect anniversary card for one of your sons and his wife on their fourth anniversary later this month.

I paper pieced the image, grounded the couple with some sponged steps and framed the scene with Flonzcraft blossoms and grasses.

I hope you all have a good week and as always thank you so much for all your visits and kind words.

Afternoon tipple and Saturday candy

Good Morning, Saturday again which means a new challenge at Allsorts and this week the lovely Jo would like to see creations on the them of 'Time for Tea'. 

Now I will confess that when she came up with the theme I immediately knew I wanted to use as the main image, however I really did think they were drinking tea, but a closer look confirmed they had glasses not tea cups. But as I explained to Jo I don't drink tea, can't even abide the smell of the stuff so my afternoon tipple would be an espresso or something with bubbles, so the bubbles won the day. But I should stress that as it's only afternoon I would dilute the bubbles with some orange juice for the sake of propriety - yeah right !

So, after stamping the focal the image with black archival I masked it to add the paving stones,tree and branches, then coloured with Pan Pastels and a bit of shading with watercolour pencils and finally added some flowers and birds and a ribbon down the spine of my card.

Now for my Saturday candy and afraid it's been a bit short on the posts this week, but still some lovely comments, thank you all I really do appreciate them and Mr Randon Org., has selected Pearl, well done please mail me with your full postal addy and I will get your stamps in the post to you.

This week I have a collection of bright and summery papers and embellishments on offer, as usual a winner will be selected at random from all comments left this week, if you visit more than once then all comments will go into the draw. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is:

1) Be a follower 
2) Pop the Saturday Candy logo from my sidebar on your own blog

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

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.

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.

More La Blanche and Stampscapes

Hello everyone, hope you all had a good weekend. I want to say a big thank you to all you kind people who still come to visit, desipte me being unable to visit you. I really do appreciate it.

So just a couple of quick shares........"quick" seems to be my word of the moment, but the evil screen still plays havod with my eyes and balance......or it could be the other way round ? I rather think so, such is the nature of this illness.

The card above uses a number of Stampscape stamps onto a brayered and masked background and the card below is another of my samples for Sir Stampalot using the gorgeous new La Blanche stamps which I coloured with Copics and covered with a couple of coats of TH crackle glaze. DP is My Minds Eye and the flower made with TH tattered floral die