Snippets and Midsummer Moon

Morning to you all, a couple of cards for a couple of challenges and guess what, new makes, taken a couple of days but was determined to create something. Above for Snippets Playground, was wondering in the night....as you do....what I could do with strips of black card left after cutting square card bases from A3. This is what came to me, trimmed in length and placed over a square of orange card, die cut flowers and foliage (Amazon) and coloured with DI's, the white seed heads were glittered but not showing up on photo and PB sentiment. The theme is Flowers at The Unicorn Challenge.

This one uses a multitude of Lavinia stamps, Tia sitting in Liberty, Bell Flower, Field Grass, Bulrush, Tree Scene and Oak Leaf. Sky created with Oxides, boat stamped, masked and coloured with pencils, water created with oxides and Pan Pastels. This one for Lavinia's Midsummer's Moon challenge.....our June full moon on 29th is the Strawberry Moon. Not Square is the theme at Daisychain challenge, it's  Summer at Four Seasons and Mix it Up want stamped backgrounds.

Still struggling one infection after another, new cocktail of meds and limited computer time.

Are you ready for the World Cup?

Morning all, we have a new challenge starting today at We Love Stamping where Anesha has selected Sports and Hobbies as our theme, we have sports themed stamp sets from Visible Image for two lucky winners.

With the World Cup starting this week......you either love or hate footie, I fall into the former category......it's a fitting theme. My card above is a nod to the Liverpool Reds, several of our squad will be representing their respective Countries in the competition. The focal image is Visible Image Kick Off, background is Fluid which I inked with green and red (Reds home and goalie kit) DI's spritzed with water, then stamped the Footballer in black, word from the same set plus envie to match. Will probably go to youngest son as he's also a Red. Linking to Sweet Stampin' Something for the Boys and 613 Avenue Create ask for a favourite passtime/hobby, don't play it but love watching a good game of fottie....several times a week during the season! 

This one with a musical theme using Visible Image Make Some Noise, in the background Fluid again, inked the same way as above and image stamped with Versafine Clair, coloured with Zig pens and cut out and Melody Wave die. The sentiment is made up with words from the same stamp set. Adding at Crafty Calendar Men and Boys and Maculine at Dragonfly Dreams

Snowy Days is the new theme at Christmas Kickstart so popping to link up with this one. All stamps are Lavinia, Pheasant, Holly, Seasonal Words plus a few worker stamps, Pan Pastel background and snowy elements flicking a Posca pen. Adding at Peace on Earth,

After another MRI seems I still have issues with two other cervical discs, but given the infections of the last three weeks both consultant and I prefer to avoid further surgery for now. So scheduled for some alternative treatment to see if it helps ease the neck and arm pain which continues, meaning I still can't type or sit for long periods.

Anything Goes from the Garden at Allsorts

Good morning, here we are again scheduled and time for a new challenge at Allsorts where our theme is Anything Goes from the Garden. We have prizes from Oakwood.

Scheduling this early May and utilising more un-blogged cards in my Penny Black folder, when I have new stamp I tend to have a splurge and make several, a habit which goes back years to when I used to demo at the NEC and other shows/stores when a variety were required to display versatility of a product.

Above using Penny Black Lovely repeat stamped and inked direct to stamp with Ecoline pens, the die is Penny Black Cherish cut at an angle and placed over a stencilled panel and envie to match.

This one also from the files, I made two very similar in different colours and shared the other some time ago. All stamps are Lavinia and include Everlee, Secret Garden, Vine Flourish, Lavender and Flutterby and background a mixture of Oxides and Pan Pastels. Entering this one In the Garden at Give a crafter a cookie and Ellies Garden Party 15.

A few days late, my card for May's Card Chain Challenge where the colour palette was chocolate, orange and slate, luckily I had this in my folder which loosely fitted the colour theme with flowers, one of the options. It went to Greta in the US and I received a lovely sunny floral card from Chris in the US. Focal stamps are Lavinia and include Logan in the centre surrounded by Sunflower Heads.

Quinn and Oona

Scheduled post! It's mid way inspiration day at Tag-Along (and ATC's) where we are following Pinky's theme of 'Add some Pink'. 

An easy ask as I tend to use pink rather a lot, above my tag which is AALL and Create Tag it Yourself, the Fairy releasing a kaleidoscope of Flutterblies is Quinn sitting under the Flowers which are dies from Amazon coloured with DI's. Oxides and Pan Pastels for the background.

My ATC features Lavinia Oona, one of their older Fairy stamps chatting away to the birdie sitting in the bushes. The background was created with a piece of card cut at a gradient/partial circle, DI's dusted over the edges moving upwards after each inking to get the fan effect.... start from the bottom and work up, otherwise you can't see where you've inked....how do I know!

A reminder in case you missed it, as a run in to Allsorts 17th Birthday on 23rd May, AALL and Create are offering a discount of 15% valid from 1st May through 31st May on all items in their store plus free shipping on orders over £39.99. Your code is: AllsortsBD17.

In the Garden

Morning everyone, we have a new challenge at Allsorts and our theme is In the Garden which has been selected by Gail. Our lucky winners will receive Lavinia stamps.

My card below is from my folder from last year, but I wanted to attempt another using the new Lavinia Meadowbrook Tales collection. Crafting remains very slow with only one fully functioning arm but I can do a little stamping using my TH platform, so with a ready cut and inked base and panel it was just a matter of stamping and adding some colour. Popping to Ellies Ellies garden party 14 and Sweet Stampin’ Favourite colours, I love most colours but seem to use purple and pinks a lot. 

A double tag card with lots of magic going on using stamps from one of last years Lavinia collections, Herbalum Ben, Fairy Foragers, Herb Garden, Wheelbarrow, Bench, Seasonal Tree, Vine Branch, Dill and Shrooms, all stamped onto a background which I'm pretty sure is Pan Pastels. Adding to Crafty Gals Spring challenge.

Winter all the way

Hard to believe it's our last challenges of the year at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where we appear to have a duplication of themes, it's Winter at both, not sure how that happened! And another duplication it seems, prizes from AALL and Create at both.

My SS share above uses some of the recent AALL and Create releases, Parallel Rectangle (57) and Sack of Joy (1224) plus a few worker stamps on the smaller elements within the die. They've also just released some beautiful new floral stamps designed by Abs, I made a good few samples with them and will share soon. Santa is slightly larger than the panel so he was stamped twice, coloured and cut out and some elements decoupaged to add dimension. 

I saw this shape card over at Christines blog, mine isn't quite the same as I changed the dimensions with the result that it doesn't fold flat which the original design did, but it's going to Grandson Zachary who loves Penguins so will be hand delivered. I stamped and cut out A&C Penguin family (603) and Frosty (604), stencilling using crackle texture paste and Snow Crystals stencil (221) over a spritzed background. The little beads were strung onto thread and fixed on the frame to give a vague icicle effect - don't have an icicle die!

Finally a snowy scene using a mixture of stamps, Lavina Pheasant, Bandit from Fox set 1, Small Pine Trees, same Berries as the card at the top and a cottage from Inkylicious. I used Pan Pastel for the colour and of course lots of glitter.......for years I've used Judikins snow white glitter on Winter cards, it's quite chunky and added over glossy accents retains the white colour without the iridescent colour hues most glitters have. But it's no longer produced so if anyone can recommend a similar alternative do let me know.

Tropical paradise v Wintertime

Morning everyone, time for new challenges at We Love Stamping where our theme is Sand and Sea as selected by Faith. At Stamping Sensations a change to how we do things and it's Anything Goes with an option for those who like a challenge, this month the option is Christmas in July. Prizes come from and Craft Stash and AALL and Create.

Above a Penny Black stamp I've had for a very long while called Paradise (40-691), I created the sky with pans pastels before stamping the image using Distress Markers direct to stamp, added sand and sea again with Pan Pastels and a fence using a really old stamp of which I have no idea of name or make other than it was purchased in America. The sentiment is from Inkylicious.

Here I've used AALL and Create Robin and Nuthatch (690) and Jolly Elements (560), an inked and stencilled (Evergreen 159) background, Robin and Poisettias stamped again, cut out and decoupaged. A moonlight gelly roll pen to add dots to create a circle, a few garden twigs, twine and finito. 

I am popping over to the Snippets Playground with this one, the Robin, Poinsettias and woeds are all stamped onto snippets.

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.

Hearts, Hounds and snippet birdies

Morning everyone, today sees our mid month inspirational posts at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are Romance and Animals, Birds and Creatures.

Above I have used an old faithful for this time of the year, AALL and Create Fragile Fragments (538) and Elongated Hearts (156), simply stamped, some of the hearts/words stamped a second time to decoupage and some colour added.

My second share is also an A&C stamp, this time Canine Dreams (862) again pretty simple, sky created with Pan Pastel, the image stamped with Versafine Clair and some Swallows which come from Fully Fledged (751). As a family we decided the Dog is a 'Ginger' which is what one of our Son's two Vizsla are nicknamed, but equally it could be a Lab with a decent waistline, not something ours can boast!

And here's one from my last real crafting activity which was back at Christmas for Stamp Addicts Create and Craft show last week. It features one of their new Teri Sherman stamps, Blue Titis and one of my own sentiments from Moments. It's my share over at the Snippets Playground, with the exception of the base card everything is snippets and cut out on the Scan and Cut again. Even the pieces of acetate were offcuts so I created the base card from a sheet of A3 to accommodate them. Colours are a bit garish, but I never ever claimed to be a colourist!

Down the garden path

Morning everyone, Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts where the theme this weeks is ''Anything Goes with the option of Wings'. You can find a photo of all the February prizes from WOWVOW, Craft Stash, AALL and Create and Ruth Hamilton Design, more details on the challenge blog.

It's also mid month time at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are of course Anything Stamped at both with options of 'Add a stencil' and 'A sketch'. Prizes are from Oakwood who will be sending the winner a bundle of stamps and/or dies and Highlight Crafts with two prizes of a set of Vintage Inc stamps and a die set. A heads up that Oakwood are on Create and Craft today at 7am and 11am. 

I am also entering the current Lavinia Challenge 'From me to You", I rarely enter challenges due to visual impairment which makes it difficult adding links so I just stick with those for my own challenges. But I've come up with a plan to keep a list with html links for a few challenges so I can copy and paste, will see how it goes!! 

Oh how I remember that Beatles song, I queued with a friend for hours to get tickets to see them in concert in Cambridge, we were eleven, sadly we dare not let our children do that these days. But we got front row tickets and it was awesome.

At Allsorts we're down the end of the garden checking on what the Fairies are up to, the Badger has gone to take a peek as well. I used Pan Pastels to build up the background colour, then stamped the distant trees with second/third generation stamping, then the foreground trees and then the Fairies and Badger. More Pan Pastels and torn paper to ground the, all, some white highlight and colouring to the trees and finally the obligatory glitter.

A second card using AALL and Create Through the Meadows, it's an A4 set with three really good sized images. The background is a mop up from my spray box.....an Amazon delivery box which has a corrugated bottom, hence to pattern. The image stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne, a couple of the smaller circles stamped again along with the Butterfly onto vellum and heat embossed with detail gold EP, a pen nib for the Butterfly's thorax and the word Butterfly stamped twice and fixed with a metal clip.

Below my SS card made with stamps gifted to me by a crafty friend at Christmas, it's a card I will probably keep for one I keep for one of our Son's Birthday as he walks miles with his two dogs. I flipped the sketch to add the sentiment at the top which is from A&C's A4 Pinecone set. The central circle is a Gelli Plate acrylic background, the tree stamped with Versafine Acorn and the man and dog with Nocturne.

And finally my WLS shares, the first using one of the images from the Create and Craft recent release which proved so popular, this one is called Mans Best Friend (no link as new and not on the web site yet but available from C&C) and has three really large images plus smaller worker stamps and sentiments. The Dachshund stamped with Versafine black and embossed with details clear EP, our youngest Granddaughter has a Dachshund called Bramble so this one will get well used. The bow was stamped again, coloured and paper pieced plus some stencilling in the background.

One final share using the Tulip from Using Highlight Vintage Inc Petals and Lace collection, stamped around the border of the cardstock, coloured in, stencilling in the centre and a sentiment from my Moments stamp set.

Happy weekend one and all.

 

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Swallow Tail Butterfly

Morning Peeps, time for a new challenge at Allsorts and our host is Helene whose would like us to use a 'Stamped Image'. I also have a post over at the Chocolate Baroque blog so sharing some of my creations from there as well.

This week our sponsor is Stamp Addicts offering the winner a £15 store voucher. Sarah will be on Hochanda again this coming week, Wednesday 15th at 5pm showcasing some new Flower and Butterfly stamps with an emphasis on shrink plastic. It's a last minute show so it's been a bit of a testing week trying to get sample made amidst a craft room refit and a bandaged right thumb which I managed to slice across the end. 

The Swallow Tail Butterflies above came about rather be accident, seems a sheet of acetate had got in with the shrink plastic and of course didn't shrink, but I rather liked the contorted shape so decided to go with them onto a stencilled background along with a SA sentiment.

I had drew the stems, stamped some SA leaves and added the Doodle Blooms which I stamped onto shrink plastic over a Pan Pastel sky.

And my Chocolate Baroque shares, details of everything I used can be found on my post here.

Hope you all have a good weekend and as always many thanks for your visits and comments which always make my day.

 

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A Fairy for a little one and giant strooms

Morning Peeps, it's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Allsorts, our host this week is Ellie who would like to see cards suitable for 'Children and Teenagers', our prize this week is a lovely Woodware stamp from Craft Stash.

The Lavinia Fairy is quite an old one but I always love the shape of her skirt, stamped onto a Pan Pastel background, tree was extended by masking along with Poppies and flowers, all of which are also Lavinia.

I could see some huuuuge strooms around the headlands so took a walk the other day with my camera, a rather wet and soggy one I might add as it's hardly stopped raining the last couple of weeks. It's hard to get an idea of just how big some of them are, but those in the first two photos are much larger than an outstretched hand. We won't be testing the edibility of any of them but isn't Nature wonderful with the beauty it gives.

A second card with children playing using a mixture of stamps from six or seven different companies, Pan Pastels to create the sky and Distress and Versafine Clair inks for the stamping and foreground.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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