Create Sunshine

Morning everyone, running rather late here, scheduled the mid month inspiration posts for We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations, I even did one over at River of Creativity to update everyone what's happening there, but alas, forgot my own.

It's going to be a short post as I have a new MS nurse coming in, not needed one for a long while but things are such it's necessary again, c'est la vie.

Above using the new Create Sunshine border stamp, Oxides, new Saltwater Taffy along with Cracked Pistachio, paper piecing and some washi tape.

This ones uses an older A&C stamps called Blooming Beauty and one of my own inspirational quotes which will be available to buy from C&C in the Autumn. My Christmas Magic and Christmas Season stamps released on Friday proved very popular (you can see some of them in my post below) and my thanks to those who told me they purchased them.

Keep cool everyone and thanks for your visits.

 

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A bit of recycling

Morning Peeps, today sees the start of our May challenge at River Of Creativity and this month our theme is 'Anything Goes with the option to recycle'. The challenge is non card making but we love to see any other form of hand crafted items, needlework, jewellery, scrapbook layouts, cake making mixed media projects, we love seeing them all.

I changed direction with my DT share, I had made a frame with lots of buttons, but I became less keen on it each time I saw it so instead recycled a Fortum and Mason chocolate box I received at Christmas......... which contained my favourite dark chocolate coffee creams.

I painted the top of the box with acrylic paint, decorated the edges with Two Red Robins Forever Green Ivy and the top with an organza bow and TRR Adoration from the Mother's Love collection.

Seems like a good idea to share a few of my recent shares over at TRR as well.

Using the super new web exclusive Friesian Cows called The Herd and Crookedy Fence.

Lots of Reflections and dies going on in this one, Well Wishing, Broken Boundaries wall which coordinated with the well perfectly, and Jenny Wren in several sizes, Maeve is the big one in the front and the others from In the Countryside. Also used the same Ivy as around the box. 

Have a good Thursday everyone.

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Kingsley and Merriweather

Morning again Peeps, posts from me are a bit like buses the last few days and this one is for our April challenge at River of Creativity where our theme is 'Anythings Goes with a Spring option (but no cards)'.

As mentioned in my post on Saturday I had a second shadow box photo to share, these are for our little Margo's new bedroom, I think this is probably my favourite of the two as I just love Kingsley and Merriweather the Geese from Highlight Crafts. 

It's a lovely summer day and the blossom (Honey Rose Blossom) is in full bloom and Croockedy Fence makes another appearance. I can totally lose myself working with Steph's Two Red Robin dies and Reflection sheets as the artwork is fabulous and so realistic, I will be sharing some new animals with you later this month, all I can say is we will be down on the farm so I am completely at home.

I am planning a third frame, things look better in threes but not sure on the animals yet,  I love Phoenix the Fox but decided not the best of animals for a little one, especially after Saturday's frame with all the hens!! So maybe it will be some of the new animals mentioned above. Don't forget to claim your 10% discount with the code on my sidebar if you are tempted by these goodies.

I do hope you will join us this month, although we are a non card challenge we have been so encouraged to see your lovely creations, some of you stepping right outside your comfort zone to join in.

 

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Solidarity

Morning Peeps, Saturday again and this weeks Allsorts theme as selected by Pauline, it's 'Anything Goes with the option to Distress It'. This weeks lucky winner will receive a £15 store voucher kindle donated by Stamp Addicts and a second prize of a pretty die. 

It's also the start of our new look challenge at River of Creativity where our theme is 'Anything Goes with a Square option'. There are also a couple more Two Red Robins shares further down.

So I have several shares today, the above a last minute make I felt compelled to create in support of all Ukrainian's. Their symbolic colours representing blue sky, golden wheat and Freedom, such irony against all that is happening. I have used a Daffodil as I don't have a Sunflower suitable for what I had in mind and with a bit of artistic licence the little birdie is a Nightingale, their National Bird. Words cannot express what the majority of the World are united in feeling.

 

For my River of Creativity DT share I went square with a set of coasters, treated to gesso, acrylic paint, crackle glaze and then stamped with images from A&C Pinecone and Just Grow. Coloured in and sealed over the top. March sees the launch of the challenge in it's new format where the focus is on layouts, mixed media pages, tags, altered art, needlework, jewellery, recycling, cookery, basically anything but a card.

Having been a SA DT's for more years thank I care to remember my share below is one I created for a Create and Craft show. I used their '3 Poppies' onto an inky Oxide background created, a number of SA worker stamps including Distressed Numbers and Bubble Grunge and some washi tape , the words are computer generated, part of a poem by English Poet Mary Spain called Poppy Fields.

Below a Two Red Robin matching card and envie using a medium sized pot from Chipped, a Frosty reflection as opposed to the full coloured Reflection sheet, inside Reminisc (Clover) and Soft Sprigs from Cottonwood Clearing along with  Penny and Gus the Mice. The sentiment is from my own Believe in your Dream stamp set, I have 'tweaked' this particular set for re-release shortly. I distressed the edges of the base paper and sprinkled aged gold Frantage.

Here's another inspired by the Robins in the garden busying themselves with nest building, I used Far from the Tree for the wreath, rather than use the reflections I cut from white cardstock and sprayed with a mixture of Oxide inks, tucked in a few flower heads from Hedgerow Blossom along with nest and Robins First Sight of Spring. For the background......because it's obviously a sunny Spring morning, I used Lemon Zest Oxide and added sun rays using sparkle stencil paste. Don't forget if I've tempted you to buy any Two Red Robins products can get a 10% discount using the code Brenda10 at checkout on the website here.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

 

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Blooms a Bunny and trip to Venizia

Morning Peeps, it's the first Sunday of the month which means the start of our new challenges at We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations where our themes are 'Anything Goes with a CAS option' and 'Choose the theme and stamp it'. Stix2 have kindly donated prizes to both.  And as it's 5th I also have my share for this months River of Creativity challenge where our theme is 'Celebrate'.

My card at the top which is my WLS share using an AALL and Create stamp which like lots of theirs are biggies, this set is an A4 one with just two beautiful images. An Oxide background, the image stamped, the colour bleached out from the bottles, the three flowers stamped a second time onto some card coloured with Oxide spray Kitsch Flamingo and paper pieced. The number is from another set stamped onto an offcut  to carry the colour and a sentiment from yet another set and some stencilled spots and dots.

I don't really know if this qualifies for CAS but it is by my usual inky standards. It's another from AALL and Create, I just loved this Bunny and had to have it, there is also a Fox in the set similarly surrounded by flowers. I stamped the image, coloured in with pencils and added a few splats with watered down DI around it.

I also have a little pillow box which is one of my samples for Friday's Stampendous shows for Oakwood Archer on Hochanda/The Craft Store. Stamped with Stampendous stamps in Versafine Clair,  coloured with sparkle pens, some ribbon and a tag using one of the birdies and sentiment in the set.

Moving on to our Celebrations theme at River of Creativity, I decided to buck the current seasonal trend and head off to Venice to the annual Carnival which takes place in February, it really is a wonderful spectacular. The challenge is taking a break but keep your eyes open for our return.

A Carnival mask from Hobbycraft, painted with metallic paint then really just lots of playing with beads and gems, ribbon and feathers.

Below is another of my samples for the Craft Store shows which I am thinking just might fit into the CAS category. The image from Stampendous Daisy Bee set stamped onto acetate coloured with Alcohol Inks including some metallics which are also in the shows.

I do hope you will find time in the busy December schedule to join us this month and look forward to visiting all your entries.

 

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A dogs tale.......

Morning Peeps, over at River of Creativity it's inspiration time again and I have some shares which I hope might offer some encouragement for you to join in. Zoe has been working hard to get the new challenge out there and we would love to see you this month, the theme is 'The Gift', so please do pop over and take a look.

I have a candle and some bookmarks which have a little story behind them, as it's so dark these days I usually take my work into the conservatory to photograph. Having laid them on a sofa to take the photos I left them whilst I went to my office to download and make sure they were OK. Returned to collect them only to find two ripped to shreds and one very guilty looking eight month Lab old puppy named Rosa. We had a chat and I think she got the message 🦮 !!

As always, my appreciation for your visits and words of encouragement.

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Mazart and magic

Morning Peeps, we have a new challenge starting today at River of Creativity. We were thrilled to see lots of new people join us last month and hope to see even more of you in November for our 'The Gift' theme, lots of ways to interpret that one.

I have a keyring to share using Mozart and Music Script from Stamp Addicts stamped onto an inked twinchie then covered with liberal layers of UTEE, a clip and chain with a Piano charm.

Running rather late with my card sent to Tina in Slovakia as part of the October Card Chain using Lavinia stamps. I followed the red, blue and gold colour palette and finished off with Lavinia glitter. I stamped the insert and envie to match and it was nice to know Tina loved it, mind you it took almost three weeks to arrive. 

Many thanks for your visits, I will see you again tomorrow for our new Allsorts challenge.

 

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Foxes in the Wheat

Morning again Peeps, three times in four days, what can I say!

Today I am sharing my mid month inspiration for River of Creativity, those who saw my post Saturday will know we are having a bit of a push to get the new challenge out there. It's a challenge for all types and styles of craft and we love seeing what you create, jewellery, mixed media, layouts, needle crafts, in fact absolutely anything hand created and yes cards as well but we are hoping to push you outside your comfort zone a little and try something different.

Above a frame with a canvas insert, painted with acrylics, crackle glaze and gilding wax. The wheat is a Sweet Poppy stencil, versamark applied through the stencil and heat set with detail gold EP and some leaves added with a Lavinia stencil. The Poppies are from CB Poppy Meadow, the Foxes Lavinia stamps as are the little flowers along the bottom.

Please do pop over to the challenge blog, we would love it if you joined in.

 

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One Earth

Afternoon Peeps, I'm running really late here, started this post at silly o'clock this morning, then BT rocked up and started playing with the cables outside in the drove which here in the Fen are all overhead and you can guess the rest. 

It's inspiration time again at River of Creativity andI have a couple more shares following our One Earth theme. Interpret as you will and we welcome all nature of craft, not just paper crafts as we love to see what keeps you occupied.

Butterfly Tree stamped onto black and white rice papers which I sprayed with Oxide Sprays and just aded a bit of colour and stamped the word Earth on to some Aida for an organic feel.

Oxide Sprays again for the background mixed with some of the new Mica Stains, to say they are lush is an understatement. Moons and word stamped with Versafine and heat embossed with detail gold EP.

Thanks as always for you kind visits.

 

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One Earth

Morning Peeps, a new challenge starts today over at River of Creativity where our theme is 'One Earth and that theme follows through into my second piece which is one of my samples for Friday's Craft Store TV shows.

I'll admit this one did take a bit of thinking about then the idea gelled and it also made a perfect Birthday card for one of our DIL's who is something of an environmentalist and wants to save most things that move or otherwise. She loved the whole concept of the piece.

I started with a free Globe download, then stamped a CB Harmony Tree into place and the girl and rabbit beneath and one of my own Life is so much Better sentiments. On the other side a computer generated pair of hands and a CB leaf stamped and placed in them, a computer generated sentiment and two small slices of wood, one stamped and the other handwritten and some washi tape with leaves along some edges.

Tomorrow sees two shows with Lesley from Chocolate Baroque at the Craft Store, one show is all about Christmas with a lovely collection of text based stamps and the second show features new and rather different stamps from Fiona Randall. Above is one I made using the Celestial set which I thought worked rather well with our ROC theme.

Holly Script is an old set but I fancied a mixed media piece stamping onto a whiteboard heart, an acrylic brayered base card and holly leaves stencilled with coloured texture paste. The three little Poinsettias are one of the worker stamps from Poinsettia Script.

And finally, from my post over at the CB blog, a new shape for me but showcased four of the beautiful CB images from Floral and Fauna perfectly.

Have a good weekend everyone and my thanks as always for your kind visits and words of encouragement.

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Better late than never!!

Afternoon Peeps, not my normal time of day to post at all and hanging my head in shame as I have missed two DT posts so need to put that right and apologise to my teamies at River of Creativity and the Chocolate Baroque DT for my tardy behaviour.  

I've been rather under the weather with an eight day migraine, culminating in another hemiplegic and loss of vision with a short sharp dose of steroids needed to kick start me, but please don't think I'm complaining as there are always those worse off. To be honest, since I started the CGRP injections, in my case Emgality sixteen months ago, the results have been amazing going from 20 migraine days a month for most of my adult life to as few as four which is over and above the drug company Lily's expectations. So much so that I am the Lily/NICE patient expert witness on their NHS videos for the drug. 

So, here are my shares. At River of River of Creativity our 'No Hearts of Mushy Stuff' theme is in full swing with a few days still to go so why no come join in. We are a challenge about all styles and types of craft so something for everyone. And my DT post for Chocolate Baroque is here, one card above the other below.

Note: Some may have seen this a couple of weeks ago, below is the one I should have posted then 😏 confused.com comes to mind

And my second CB share.....

A stormy day in Grimsby maybe, I hear they have a good population of Gulls there?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.

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A right mixture

Morning Peeps, it's a quick post as I have a host of work to share, mid month creations for We Love Chocolate Baroque, Stamping Sensations and River of Creativity and my post yesterday for Chocolate Baroque here. Our internet has been out more than on last two days so writing this quickly before it go again.

At the top Poppies from Fresh Florals stamped, coloured and cut out with a die cut frame and Italian House in the aperture.

My Stamping Sensations share embraces my 'I love.....' of inks, flowers and a touch of grunge. Linen card brayerd with Oxides, random stamping with worker stamps and the focal image is a the lovely Rose from my friend Ruth, some may remember I used to design for her a few years back and we were fortunate to meet up a couple of times when she was over from Northern Ireland.

Her new website Ruth Hamilton Design is in it's infancy but new designs are being added regularly. The sentiment is one of my own from Life is so much Better, link below. I stamped the Rose onto inked cardstock and cut out to decoupage, washi tape, mesh from the greenhouse and a couple of index clips.

Now for some TV samples from my post yesterday on the Chocolate Baroque blog House using Urban Chic  and Life is so much Better stamped onto CB black and white papers coloured with Oxide sprays. The house is paper pieced with card coloured with the same.

My River of Creativity mid month share uses the fun Feline Family from Stamp Addicts, stamped in blue and yellow glitter added to their eyes. The wordage was made up with letters from Distressed Alphabet.

This one is Bridge House  and Orchard Design a Tree stamped onto the inside section and the whole panel and sentiment stamped and then covered with Distress Glaze.

Finally a door hanger covered in CB Design Papers and the seedpods from Sow the Seeds.

 

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