Allsorts challenge 14

And this week it my turn to choose the theme at Allsorts and surprise surprise it's got a botanical theme entitled "In an English Country Garden". And a fab prize of a gift voucher to spend at PDA card and craft, do go check them out, they sell the most exquisite cardstock, great value envelopes, card packaging, beautiful vellum's and so much more including a whole range of other craft goodies.

Now this doesn't have to be flowers and butterflies you know, it can be afternoon tea, teddy bears picnic, cuties playing tennis on the law, you decide what it means to you, that's what makes challenges such fun. And hopefully, if the Bay is kind I'll be back home and along to check out all your creations on your blogs. And I also want to say thank you to Chris at Craftings Cosy Corner, I love her style and her inspirational use of flowers.

Now, aplos in advance, this is going to be a bit lengthy me thinks.........I based my card around Shakespeare's Sonnet "Shall I compare thee to a Summers Day" ........ yes I love poetry as well and created a myriad of colour, fauna and of course butterflies starting with colouring a piece of carstock with Tim Holtz inks. I used dusky concorde, worn lipstick, mustard seed, spiced marmalade and shabby shutters, working them with a blending stick then drenching with water to make the colours bleed. When dry I spritzed with pearl Glimmer Mists.

Lots of stamping using dusky concord again - flowers - Penny Black 2666K, 3379H, Stampendous N152, diamond block Hero G3318 and Art Words G2678 which I stamped with versamark and dabbed over green chalk.

The poem is Hobby Art GR1341F again stamped with dusky concorde anf the tiny butterflies intermingled are from Penny Black 3--304 stamped with versamark and dabbed with pale pink chalk. The swirl is from Inkadinkado 97632 and butterflies made using a punch. The border is bazzil punched with Martha Stewart doily lace. Finally a corsage of flowers and pearls tied together with cord and garden twine and words printed on the computer.

Stamp Something

Time to catch up on some challenges, the first of which is this weeks Stamp Something sketch designed by Emily.

My main image is made of of three stamps from my new Magenta set which accidentally fell into my basket at Stampalot yesterday along with some MS punches, and quite a few other goodies ........ honest, I don't know how this keeps happening to me ! These are a really nice set and include ten different sized stamps in all, one of which is a single butterfly plus some inchies. I stamped with Brilliance cosmic copper and embossed with detail clear, colured the butterflies and leaves with Marvy pens and gave a light colourwash to the blank areas to match the My Minds Eye DP's.

Having eventually got some MS punches I obviously had to use them, this one is arched lattice. The butterflies have been diamond glazed and some crystal glitter added whilst still wet. By the way, I should have mentioned the card itself was one the the fabulous feebies which came with me order from PDA this week. I've been ordering my cardstock, envies and packaging materials from them for a few years, their service and delivery is really quick and they offer a superb range of cardstock plus every month lots of special offers and freebies.