Summer flowers and a bit of seasonal

Hello everyone, few shares, but keeping it brief.....the eye issues of course which seem to be dragging on forever.......but thought I would share some summer flowers to help stave of the -11 we had last night, along with a bit of Christmas as well.

I used the beautiful Penny Black 4112K To Follow the Star for the one above, stamped very simply with black versafine and embossed with detail clear onto a piece distressed with Tim Holtz inks. The diamond pattern is Hero G3316 stamped with the same TH inks, some cord tied round and the writing section of the main image stamped into a disk made with UTEE. This card is for the following challenges:

Inktegrity - Untraditional Christmas

Simon Says - Christmas with no red or green

Daring Cardmakers - Turquoise

The above creation uses some of the Sheena stamps I purchased at the NEC, I adore the poppies which are probably my favourite of the sets. The background was masked and brayered with Adirondack inks, then the poppies stamped over, coloured with Copics and painted with Pinflair glaze. I then made a sort of spotlight shadowing the lines of the brayering and added a sentiment from the same stamp set. the birds are an Art Impression stamp. This card is for the following challenge:

Midnight Madness - Sketch (thanks so much for my 'Remarkables' award)

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

My third card uses Hero Arts K5358 Scallop Floral stamped onto a piece gloss cardstock brayered with Big and Juicy soothing sunset, the some of the flowers stamped onto Kaiser DP, decoupaged and tiny pearls added to the centres. The swirl is a Marianne die and the edging border Martha Stewart embossed scallop. This card is for the following challenge:

Ladybug - pearls

ABC - J for jewels and gems (hope pearls count)

My final share is one I made for Stamp Addicts last TV show using a Judkins block stamp, which I stamped, then cut into sections and coloured with Aquamarkers. The flower is made from Tim Holtz tattered floral die and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl to make it soggy so I could scrunch and shape it. I 'think' the DP is K & Co

Tuesday Taggers - Deck the Halls

Totally Papercrafts - Christmas punches (MS embossed snowflake)

Paper Pretties - Punches

A bit of blue

Hi peeps, what gloomy weather here in the Fens, not sure if its the same all over but I'm not much liking what the weather forecast promises for later this week. Time for my three months winter break in the Caribbean me thinks...........I wish...........I can but dream.

Getting decent photos has been pretty impossible today, I even took my cards into the office in the hope I could take a couple if we got a glimmer of sun, but no such luck. So apols in advance for the poor picture quality.

There seems to be a distinct blue feel to Christmas this year and although it's not a colour I use a great deal, I quite like what I came up with for a couple of challenge with the blue theme.

Both cards have been made in the same way using Penny Black 2800K Sound of Snow, but one is intended for a man whilst the other is a bit more feminine. Before stamping I created a background by simply dragging a distress inkpad across a piece of card, in this case Tim Holtz broken china, then the image stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear.

The box, not that you would really know from the picture !

The larger background piece has been stamped all over using Hero Arts CG229 Classic Holly with versamark, embossed with detail clear then distressed with TH broken china and stormy sky. I gave the edges a think paining of Windsor and Newton silver acrylic pain then heated to make it bubble. The same sentiment added to both, flowers (I coloured these with the same inks and silver) and punched holly on one and just the holly and a couple of bells on the other. I also made a box for one, but the picture is pretty appalling. These cards are for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch (I went with the simple one and added a few bits so hope it's OK)

Pollycraft - Feeling Blue

Wild Orchid - Blue Christmas

Cards for Men - Christmas (the second blue card)

Incy Wincy - Blue and White

My second card is a really simple one using some DP from stash punched with Martha Stewart double loop round the page, some flowers, pearls, punched leaves and a sentiment tag using Penny Black 4075F For the Stars. This card is for the following challenges:

Paper Playtime - Thank You

Stamp Something - Thanks

My time to Craft - Tag Along

The NEC looms and Molly Blooms

A day off work to get some last minute NEC samples finished and final preps for an all day class at Sir Stampalot on Saturday, so an early post before I get stuck in.

I can't share any of that work yet, but I do have a some shares. My first card uses three of the super Molly Blooms stamps available from Stampalot. This little fellow always reminds me of Billy Bunter who I have vague recollections of from my childhood....showing my age here. I Stamped and masked the little boy, then stamped the wall with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, then coloured with Copics. I cut some green bazzil to make a grass border and decoupaged some stamped and coloured toadstools. This card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch

Cards for men - Anything Goes (male of course)

The second another really quick and simple card using Penny Black 3074K Hello Sunshine inked with Tim Holtz barn door and olive and spritzed with water before stamping onto a piece of grid pattern Basic Grey DP. I highlighted some of the image with a versamark pen and embossed with detail gold. The torn edges are also embossed with the same powder. I stamped the leading edge of the card with Penny Black 2410K Penmanship and added some lace and cord. This card is for the following challenges:

Everybody Art - Photo Inspiration

Craft your Passion - Glitter and Sparkle (the ribbon is really glittery and the flowers are highlighted with gold, but hard to show on photo)

Papertake Weekly - Sparkly and Bright (as above)

My last share is an easel card created with a Marianne stencil and circles cut from K&Co DP with Nesties. I stamped the background of the main piece with Hero Arts H2365 Old French Writing using Tim Holtz sage, then inked Hero F5075 Sparkle Poinsettia with TH fired brick and spritzed with water before stamping. I added gold liquid pearls to the flower stamens and a sentiment to the base. Again, a nice quick card and ideal if you have a bundle to make. This is for the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad - Christmas
A Spoonful of Sugar - Lets get punchy

Creative Card Crew - Lets punch it

Butterflies all around

Somethings stealing my time !!

I just can't believe it's Tuesday afternoon and I seem to have achieved nothing for days. It did not help that the weekend was dedicated to setting mu my new Mac, at least that was the plan. A whole weekend of faffing, disconnected from the Internet as my old machine had to be removed from my craft room to make way for the Mac and still no further forward.

I had to wait almost a fortnight for delivery as I needed a vital piece of software.......well that's what I was told and suffering techno phobia I took them at their word.....which was out of stock. It's apparently necessary to convert all my files on my old system to a Mac compatible format. After two days of messing about, dozens of call to John Lewis and the Mac help desk, seems the software is faulty and your got it..............it's out of stock again.

So my old system has been re-installed and the Mac sits in hubby's office where he has discovered a chess game which he appears addicted to.........a pretty expensive game machine if you ask me.

Very little crafting took place over the last few days, even less blog hopping, so not a lot to share. But here is what I do have........

An easel card using a stamp I won last year from the US Stampabilities KR1042 Jack and Jill stamped with versafine sepia, embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. The DP is October Afternoon, some lace, punched butterflies, chippies and ribbon to embellish. This is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch

Everybody Art Challenges - Blue, green and brown
Tuesday Taggers - Nursery Rhymes
The Crafts Pad - Distressed edges

My second card is a pretty plain and simple Christmas card. I stamped a piece of vellum with versamark and a mixture of snowflake stamps, then embossed with detail silver. The sentiment is one I love and use it time and again at Christmas Hero Arts C2604 Winters Butterfly. I embossed the edges of some lilac flowers with silver, glittered some punched leaves, a border using Martha Stewart cornice punch, a butterfly stamped onto vellum with Penny Black 3819D and a stick pin threaded with matching beads. This card is for the following challenges:

Wild Orchid - Pastels

Christmas Cards - Add a Butterfly

An Oldie But Goodie - Add a Butterfly

And one final share which I have been meaning to post for days, it's one of the gorgeous dahlias that we have in flower in the garden at the moment. They are really late this year, but just look at the size of the blooms.

Fairies from the bottom of my garden

So how's everyone today ?

It's a little bit chilly to my mind today and the central heatings definitely kicking into gear here now. My hopes of a bit of sunshine to take photos yesterday were false ones and today's just as gloomy so I decided I'd better get on with it and take some before the best of the daylight disappears.

I had delivery from Julie at Love2Papercraft at the weekend with some more of their fabulous Envoboxes like the one I shared last week. I really can't recommend these enough, they come in various sizes and are absolutely brilliant for cards with a bit of dimension as they are gusseted, yet light enough that cards still sit within the large letter category.

I also had another order from Theresa at Crafts and Me with the latest arrivals of her beautiful fairy stamps created from the artwork of Molly Harrison. If you are a fairy fan like me and have not seen these yet, you don't know what you are missing.

Enough babble, I'd better show you what I made with my new goodies. First up a card using Orchid of the Night, isn't she devine ? I stamped the image onto gloss cardstock, then masked her and brayered the whole piece with Big and Juicy Happy Birthday. I then coloured the image with the same ink pad and added glitter to her wings. The DP is My Minds Eye and I made three roses from plain brown paper. The mats are one of the new Nestie label sets (17), I love the shape of these and they are a little larger that some of the original sets. Quite a quick and easy card, but I think quite effective. This card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch

Papertake Weekly - 3 of a Kind

ABC - F for Flowers

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open Wings

Scrapbook Sisters - Flower Power

My second card used exactly the same technique as above, but this fairy is called Wonderland. Again a pretty quick and simple card, the DO is from Stash, Doodlebug I think, but not certain. The punch is Martha Stewart cornice, the flower and leaves were made using the Cuttlebug quilled daisy set and the swirls are cut with one of the new Tim Holtz dies. This card is for the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Fairy Tales

Pollycraft - Fairytale

And on final share of a little tag book I made back in August but not blogged before using acetate, Magnolia DP's, Sizzix swirls and ribbons. This is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - More than 2 legs

Anything Goes - Ribbons

Chocolate wonders

How's every one's day going ?

These are a couple of pictures I've been meaning to share since we came back from holiday in August. They are all chocolate and featured on the dessert tables at brunch. I never actually got to try either as I was always totally stuffed by the time they were cut.

Been oh so busy at work which means not much crafting which is just typical with Christmas orders piling up and another wedding.....not my favourite pastime if I'm honest, I don't enjoy the monotony of repetitive crafting, but needs must. So just a couple of shares today.

The first one is following a lovely sketch at Midnight Madness......if you have never entered go check them out as they have some brilliant sketches. I used some gorgeous glittery My Minds Eye DP for both the base of the card and for the decoupages flowers. The backgrond was created using Tim Holtz sage and linen and Glimmer Mist gold, overstamped with Hero Arts H2356 old French writing using the TH sage, them stamping Hero Arts S5362 dogwood. I coloured the leaves with Copics, then spritzed the cut our flowers with Glimmer Mist pearl and shaped whilst still wet. I added crystals to the centres of the flowers, some ribbon and a couple of slides. This card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch

Spoonful of Sugar - Sparkle and Shine

Scrapbook Sisters - Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend

My second card uses Penny Black 40-024 rain or shine as the main image, coloured with Copics and decoupaged with three layers. The DP is Nitwits, some swirls cut from Sizziz dies and flowers from stash. This card is for the following challenges:

Stamp With Fun - Rain

Papertake Weekly - Birthday Blog hop and choose any theme from previous challenges - I went for 'Check it Out'

And finally a little box or rather tin, coloured with alcohol inks, overstamped with various Magenta stamps and embossed with detail gold. Inside a little collection of pictures from around the world held together with ribbon. This is for the following challenge:

Tuesday Taggers - Pandora's Box

Pollycraft - No DP