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

Me, like fairies ?

I woke up at 5am sneezing, by 8am it was a full blown cold and by lunchtime I look like Rudolph.

Must be something to do with the rumour of decorating, so I decided not to go into the office today and take it a bit easy with some craft. And has that been slow going, just one card completed, one finished from yesterday and a sample from stock, so here they are.

A couple of easel cards as I have a bit of a glut of them right now thanks to the one and only puppy from hell, Daisy. I had all my nice new cardstock from the NEC laid out on the sofa in my craft room.......200 cards and envelopes in total.........in comes Daisy fresh from the stables with hubby and literally launched herself onto the sofa, muddy pawmarks everywhere. Dog's don't do sofas in our house, lets fact it, if they did we would be the ones sitting on the floor.

So the only option I could see to salvage some of the ruined cards was cut off the muddy fronts and assemble some easel cards. In fairness to Daisy, the ruined ones were in the minority, but think she learn a hard lesson there. And for you peeps, a few more easels to come still......but I do love the shape so not too fussed if I am honest.

The top card is sheer indulgence with another of the new Sweet Pea Stamps from Crafts and Me (link on sidebar) called One and Only Heart. Isn't she the sweetest ? She is stamped with versafine and embossed with detail clear, then masked so I could add a sun.........I know I am a bore but all fairies need a moon or sun in my fantasy world. I decoupaged her glove, flower and heart, coloured with Copics and glittered her wings and the heart. The DP is a really old piece from my stash, the two white hearts are made with glittered card using an Martha Stewart punch, the border another MS punch and feathers and a based pin used to embellish along with some roses and beads. This card is for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Glitter

My Time to Craft - Rhapsody of Roses
Flourish Timeless Tuesday - Glitter

My second card, another of the reassembled easel cards stamped with Hero Arts CG179 aptly named Rose Background and coloured with Twinkling H20's. The sentiment is Hobby Art GR1353, such a lovely sentiment, stamped with versamark and embossed with detail clear. The bottom section is Magnolia DP, Tim Holtz Bigz swirl dies and two roses made from plain purple paper and dipped into hot UTEE to give a lovely glazed finish. This card is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - Gold, silver and purple

Anything Goes - Embossing

My final share today using this lovely little Sarah Kay girl, whose name I'm afraid I don't remember........my biggest problem with unmounted stamps as there is no wood block with the details to remind me. She is coloured with Copics and mounted onto a pretty embossed circle using the Magnolia die. The DP is My Minds Eye, a MS punched border and some punched flowers.This card is for the following challenges:

Fab 'n Funky - Going round in circles

ABC - Holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving etc)
For Fun - Dry embossing
Scrapbook Sisters - Christmas colours

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

Elegant fairy

Hello peeps, hope your all well. Just a quick post with a couple of cards.

The first a touch of indulgence........you know me, any excuse to use a fairy and this one is such a beautiful one from Crafts and Me called Eternity. I brayered a backround using a mask for the moon with Tim Holtz Victorian velvet and vintage photo. I coloured the image with the same inks and glittered her wings. Stamped a few leaves round the top with an Art Impressions stamp, some flowers and punched butterfly. The DP is Basic Grey and My Minds Eye. This is for the following challenges:

Cupcake - Pink and Brown

Paper Sundaes - Things with Wings

Creative Card Crew - Bloomin' Marvelous

Oldie but a Goodie - Pink and Girly

My second card is my anniversary card for my hubby later this week. He always says he needs to check my blog to know what I'm up to, but he's so busy at work this weeks that's unlikely so think I'm safe to share. Not your conventional anniversary card, but he's not a hearts and flowers sort of guy and will love the colours of this one as yellow is his favourite colour and all things Nature. I masked a section to create the background and inked with TH rusty hings, mustard seed and barn door with a spritz of Glimmer Mist iridescent gold. The tree from Creative Expressions, the border Martha Stewart cornice edging and the sentiment computer generated. It is for the following challenges:

Stamp Something - Fall colours

Cards for Men - Autumn

Stamptacular Sunday - Seasons Change/Fall

Tuesday Taggers - Here Comes Autumn

A real mixed bag

Good Morning, how's every ones week going ?

All quiet at this end, apart from puppy mutts that is, who continue to be a source of entertainment. Whilst Lily is quiet and placid and sleeps lots, Daisy is the complete opposite.....how I would like to bottle that energy. She goes everywhere at speed, jumps four steps at a time and a tail that never stops wagging, mind you they are all keen to show their happy dispositions in that way.

Some crafty shares for some challenges, the first one above taking inspiration from this gorgeous double sided Crate Paper DP which I cut to create a chequered side panel, added some lace then stamped Penny Black 4036K poppy poem, then stamped the flower head again onto the the DP and decoupaged. A few swirls round the edge using Hero Arts H5042 leaf flourish and a chipboard swirl and dots also covered with the same DP, some liquid pearls and done. This card is for the following challenges:

Stamptacular Sunday - Grids

Tuesday Taggers - It takes all sorts

My second card using Tim Holtz frayed burlap, scattered straw and tea dye to creat a background onto which I stamped Hero H2364 old French writing and CG185 elegant weeds, Penny Black 3878F simple scroll and 3857H footnote. I embossed with a mixture of copper, gold and white, highlighted with a white opaque pen and added a chipboard swirl and dots which I hear embossed with detail copper. This card is for the following challenges:

Spoonful of Sugar - Anything goes
Lots to Do - Monochrome

Next a very simple card using the sentiment Penny Black 4116H stamped and embossed with detail clear and overlaid with a frame cut with Nesties using K&Co DP. Some lace, ribbons, a charm and poinsettias made from punched vellum and pearl stamens. This card is for the following challenges:

Ooh la la - Sentiment as main feature

Christmas Cards - Distressed

Wild Orchid - Ribbons and bows

Lets Ink it Up - A favourite stamp and a charm

And my final card is Autumnal. I created a acetate stencil on the Cricut welding lots of leaves, then placed over a piece of cardstock and sprayed Glimmer Mist lemon zest, terracotta. red velvet and gold. The leaves are Hero Arts CL457 stamped with Tim Holtz barn door, peeled pain and wild honey, the diamond glazed. A border punched with Martha Stewart 3 dot scallop. This card is for the following challenges:

Everybody Art - Autumn

Paper Sundaes - Fall/Halloween

A green one, a purple one

Good afternoon peeps, a bit of a later post that I've been planning all day. But I did want to share with you that Theresa from Crafts and Me has spotlighted me on her blog again with the cards coming up further down this post. If you've never visited her store where have you been ? As well as all sorts of craftiness, she sells those gorgeous Sweet Pea stamps as well as several brands that are hard to find here in the UK, as well as her own label stamps of the most divine fairy images.....what better for people like me who live in a total fantasy world.

So the delays in posting........a very thoughtful gift from my hubby of Photoshop Elements which he thought would help me editing my photos.......jury's still out on that one because four hours on and I'm ready to throw it out the window. I'm sure it's a great piece of software, but for the less than technical mined more of a nightmare. So perseverance I think..............

My card, well two of them actually following the same sketch but I could not decide on a colour so did two. The image is Crafts and Me Eternity by Molly Harrison. Isn't she just adorable ? For both cards I brayered a background with Big and Juicy hydrangea and soothing sunset masking a moon....you all know I love my moons. I used the same ink pads to colour the images and glittered the wings of both with crystal ultra fine glitter.

The border on the green version.....my favourite I think.......is Martha Stewart eyelet lace and on the purple floral vine. The green DP is Magnolia and the purple DP Doodlebug. Flowers gems and pearls to embellish. These cards are for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - Sketch

Crafts and Me - Gems and Sparkles

ABC - C for Charm (dragonfly)

Fab 'n' Funky - Material Girl (lace)

Cute Card Thursday - same as above

Simon Says - Pearls and Lace

Creative Cottage - Celebrations

Lots to Do - Fairies and Angels

A another quick card as a certain person.....she knows who she is........made me feel so guilty that I could not find a house to share for this weeks Tuesday Taggers theme "Our house is a nice house ours is", so this one is just for you girls. The row of houses....yes at Christmas........are all in the new set from Hero Arts CL464 which I stamped simply onto some patterned Kaiser DP and added a little red Copics here and there and a bit of glitter. The birds are Penny Black 3937H birds on a wire.

Butterflies and Birdies

Hello folks, still alive and kicking, just a bit slow and lacking in get up and go but my conscience is really pricking that I have done zilch on my blog for almost a week and apart from a bit of DT commenting no blogging whatsoever. But I do intend putting that right very soon, I promise.

I am all suitably grafted and everything crossed it's worked. Still high on the painkillers and antibiotics but when I come back down to ground I'm hoping the pain will be gone or at least eased and I will be able to eat properly again.......there's only so much soup a girl can take.

As you might guess, not must in the way of creativity going on here still, but I plan to have a go at some colouring later using the lovely Sweet Pea images my friend Sarah stamped and sent me and who knows, I might even get a card made.

There are some benefits to swanning about in a haze because even if I dare not blog for fear of all the typos I will make......I mean more than the normal 'adn' and the like these dysfunctional fingers of mine come up with......I can surf and I have come up with a few new challenges I can enter using some of already made Stampalot sample cards.

So here goes and the first one above fits this weeks Dutch Dare challenge who have the theme "Floral Inspiration"....you might guess I have a good few in my library that will fit this one. It also ties in with Flutterby Wednesdays open theme this week as there is the obligatory butterfly. And I hope Creative Card Crew's "To die for" as I have used Nesties for the mats.

The second card fits Tuesday Taggers "Make a Scene" and Charisma Cardz who's theme is "Watch the Bridie" on projects and I think it should fit ABC's new challenge which us "You and Me" and says "This can be either two images on a stamp or two stamps on a card" and there are several stamps in this one as well as the sweet pair of birdies. This one would equally fit Flutterby Wednesdays.

You are going to have to forgive me for not doing the recipes and make up details, getting this far doing the post has just about k-------- me, but if anyone wants to know any specific stamp details......most are Hero Arts, or anything else, please mail me.

Quilled Flowers

Hope everyone is OK..........sorry I've been a bit quiet, still playing catch up at work after a week away for the wedding and craft has had to take a bit of a back seat.

But I have managed to create one card using the brand new Cuttlebug Quilled Daisy Kit newly arrived at Sir Stampalot. The first delivery sold out double quick but more are on their way. I have always fancied having a go at quilling, but never quite got round to buying all the bits and pieces you need, so when I saw this set had to give it a go and so pleased I did because it is super easy. The set contains all the dies to cut the petal, stamens, central spin and leaves, plus has a quilling took and some wire stems.

I randomly stamped a card with Hero Arts F5942 leaf swirl and K5058 friendship writing using Tim Holtz bundled sage and Victorian Velvet. The Crate Paper DP down the side is punched with Martha Steward embossed butterflies and I used the little cut outs to decorate the finished card. I made two flowers with the quilling set using the same DP and created swirly stems with Sizzix dies run through the Big Shot. The little sentiment cut on Nesties is an unmounted one of which I have no idea of the make and I coloured some core with Copics to match.

This card is my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers who have the theme "all that Blooms", Everybody Art Challenges who want to see "Things with Wings" and A Spoonful of Sugar whose new theme is "Floral Delights".

Summer Flowers and candy winners

Good evening everyone out there in blogland.

Home at last, seems like we have been away forever and straight back to work today and so no chance yet to catch up on blogging, but have this evening earmarked for a bit of a hop. The wedding was fantastic, the whole week wonderful and so much to tell you but as I don't have any pictures yet because I just did not have the opportunity to take any myself, I am going to save it all for a post on it's own which I will hopefully get done later this week.

So all I have to share is one card.........but taken in the garden close to one of the kolkwitzia bushes (picture above) which matches the colours perfectly..........and my card incredibly fits a number of challenges as there are several of my 'regulars' which have very similar themes and time being in short supply until I get myself back into home mode, I am doubling up a bit, I don't think I have ever managed more than 3/4 before. So the challenges, Penny Black have the theme of "In the Garden" which goes very well with Cupcake challenge of "Summer Delights" and Everybody Art Challenges which is also "Summer", then Creative Card Crew want to see "Pink and Green" typical summer colours, ABC's theme is "V for Vintage" and I have followed a sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches and finally Tuesday Taggers would like to see "Texture".

My main image is Penny Black 4036K Poppy Poem stamped onto a background of Brilliance inks and Glimmer Mists to create a hazy colour. The flower head have been decoupaged after colouring with Marvy pens and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl. The DP is My Minds Eye and Basic Grey, all nicely distressed. The swirls and die cuts from Magenta, inked with brilliance and embossed with detail clear. Ribbon and liquid pearls added to finish.

Goodness, almost forgot to announce the winners of my little candy prizes who are:

Julie

The Sparkly Fairy

Well done to both of you, please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk with your addy and I will get them off in the post to you.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

Where's this week going ? All those jobs I was going to do 'tomorrow' remain undone and suddenly the wedding is the week after next......scary or what when I think what's to be done, not least wearing in my new shoes that still sit in the box.

But that's the least of our problems.........the Matron of Honours dress is somewhere between here and Paris where she lives. She came over for fittings twice and as there is already so much to take over for the wedding including the four girls bridesmaid dresses, they said they would send hers on when the final adjustments were made. Initially they said it was delayed because of the Volcanic Cloud.....lame excuse it seems because now they have no idea where it is other than "in France". So panic is just beginning to set on as her dress and the other four have been made in identical material so no way we could match it up at this late stage. Another call to the dressmaker shortly as she promised faithfully to track it down today.

Crafting, well just a bit and a card for some challenges. ABC challenge who are up to "U for Unused Stash - a stamp that I 'had' to have when I saw it forever ago and never inked it up, Cupcake challenge who want to see "Buttons", Tuesday Taggers who want us to go "Outside the Comfort Zone"........as I said in my last post working with circles is something I avoid like the plague. And I have followed the sketch from Creative Card Crew for the layout of my easel card. And finally The Crafty Pad would like us to "Give it a Punch".

The stamp is from Stampabilities KR1042 Jack and Jill which I stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Marvy pens. The plain circles is cut with a Nestie thorough the Big Shot and the scalloped one is a Marianne stencil. The gorgeous double sided Crate Paper DP is one of the new designs and the middle panel of the front of the card is a plain piece of linen card embossed with Swiss Dots folder then lightly inked with a chalk eye pad. The border and corners are Martha Stewart are doily lace trim, the largest flower yet another of the new ones from Magnolia and a couple of smaller ones from my stash. And finally tiny buttons across the bottom border strip.

Marks and Spencer gets crafty

Hope everyone had a good long weekend, despite the typical UK bank holiday weather which left a lot to be desired. Nothing too exciting happened here, but I did manage to get well ahead with sample cards for Sir Stampalot and DT work which is mega important with the wedding now less than three weeks away.

I have two very quick cards to share with you, the first is for this weeks weeks Everybody Art challenge which would like to see Pastel Colours and the second for Tuesday Taggers which is Recycling.

So what did I do, well as I said both were fairly simple and quick cards. The first is a Stampalot sample using one of the new release Hero stamps K5373 Flower Trio which I stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured with Tim Holtz mustard seed and tumbled glass adding Diamond Glaze then Stickles to the centres whilst still wet. I created a narrow border round the edge of the main piece of card by masking over the stamped image and stamping with Hero H3317 woven fabric and Hero F5042 leafy swirl with the same TH inks. The sentiment is Penny Black 3940F Life.

The second card is where my friend Mark Spencer lent a helping hand. When I took the packaging off some lemon sole fillets a couple of weeks ago and saw the reverse of the packing with news print I stashed it away and today it got an airing. I distressed it with Tim Holtz worn lipstick, rounded the edges and used it as my background. I made three punched flowers from the offcuts, shaded them with the same ink and spritzed with Glimmer mist vintage pink and dazzling diamonds. The main image is from a Magenta set CS043.

That's about it, other to remind you all about the new Stampalot Challenge where there are oodles of Tim Holtz products up for grabs.

Spring Blossoms

Good Morning peeps, what a lovey day it is here in the Fens, sunshine no wind the smell of prunus blossom in the air and just lovely. Hope it's the same your way.

At last our eldest son and his wife eventually got home from Thailand yesterday after their enforced extended holiday. But I hear there are lots of people still stranded outside Europe, so that are lucky to have got booked onto flights.

Just the one share today for this weeks Tuesday Taggers with the theme Memories, mine are childhood ones as this lovely stamp reminds me of apple scrumping........goodness knows whey we used to do it as we were surrounded by orchards......I guess picking the ones available was no fun. And it is also my entry for Everybody Art Challenges who want cards based on a Song Title........mine is Your my Best Friend by Queen of course and Creative Card Crew April Showers bring May Flowers......I've got nothing resembling rain so have gone with the flowers and blossom element.

My stamp is the one I used a week or so back Hero Arts K5353 In the Garden stamped very simply with Big and Juicy soothing sunset. The DP is Crate Paper, the punch Martha Stewart eyelet lace and eyelets, ribbon, flowers and pearls to embellish.

Daisies and Dragons

Crafting still seems on go slow, the ideas are there, they just seem to take forever getting all put together. It does not help that for three days I've been plane spotting........or rather keeping an eye on any changes to the flight situation where it seems the whole world has gone crazy.

Our eldest son and his wife are stranded in Thailand and been told the earliest they can be re-booked on to a flight is 1st May. We have tried every computation to try and get them home, but at the moment coming up against brick walls. They flew via Dubai with Emirates who are still flying into Malta so if they can get there, could get home via ferry and train. A tortuous journey but possible, but Emirates want a Kings ransom to change their original flight arrangements.

Back to crafting, two cards for two challenges. The first for this weeks Everybody Art Challenge who have a lovely sketch created by Jenny, the second for Tuesday Taggers who would like to see Dragons.

An easel card for the first challenge using Kaiser DP's. For the main image which is Penny Black 4042 Daisy Fields I created a background with Brilliance inks olive, gold and yellow, water and Glimmer Mist pearl. I then stamped over the piece with Magenta 3940M crackle background, then the main image using versafine sepia and detail clear embossing powder.

I stamped the flower heads a second time, coloured with Marvy pens, inked with versafine frost as this bleeds and softens the colours, then spritzed with the same GM, moulded whilst still wet and decoupaged. The sentiment is Penny Black 3940 Life. The border is punched with Martha Stewart eyelet lace, punched butterflies and some Magnolia gem leaves........I'm sure they have a proper name, but I threw the wrapping !

The second card which I confess I am non too keen on, is made with the only dragon stamp I possess and it probably not the sort of dragon St George would have associate with, but artistic licence and all that. I stamped all over the card itself with JudiKins 2201J using versamark and detail clear embossing powder, then inked all over with Tim Holtz rusty hinge, dusted with Perfect Pearls and moved the colours around with a baby wipe to create a more aged look.

I used the same TH distress ink to create a background for the main image, plus a smidgen of TH dusky concord, then embossed the edges with gold. I stamped the dragon image which is Rubber Stampede 3006F with versafine imperial purple and embossed with detail clear. The sentiment is Stamp Barn kanji cube and purple cord to finish.

Flutterby dreams

It's been a bit of a funny day today. The power was due to be off in the offices all day for "essential line works" so without computers I decided to have a day off and go to Peterborough........there were a few essential I really needed from Sir Stampalot........OK lame excuse, but what else do you do when you are in the area ?

When I got back at 4ish they told me the electric never went off once and when they rung the electricity people they said the works were cancelled this morning because of the rain. Of course nobody saw the need to tell all the customers of the change of plan.

Now a card for this weeks Tuesday Taggers who have the theme 'Bugs'. I confess I was not sure if butterflies fitted that category, but as some of the DT have used them on their projects I guess the answer is yes. And they are sponsored this week by The Craft Barn who are offering a stamp to the winner.

This card is one I created last week for my demo at Sir Stamplaot using a new butterfly die from Marianne Design which I cut from DP through the Big Shot. I then traced round the cut butterfly and cut out a solid one from glitter paper to make the butterfly more dimensional. I used the same card design to make a couple more for birthday cards but added a broach pin to the back of the butterfly so it could be taken off. Not very practical I know, but fun for the day I thought.

I stamped onto pale yellow bazzil with Hero Arts F5042 Leaf Flourish and H2365 Old French Writing using Hero soft sand and the sentiment is Penny Black 4075 For the Stars using versafaine sepia and embossing with detail clear. The border is Martha Stewart 3 dot scallop and I added eyelets down the side after scoring a 'spine' and tied cord.

Poppies

For the first time in I don't know how long I was able to take a picture in the sunlight and even got a little shadow to prove what a lovely day it is here today.

I made this card following the sketch at Everybody Art Challenges and although I don't like combining more than a couple of challenges very much, I found this fits four of those I take part in....... Tuesday Taggers has the theme "Swirls and Curls", the theme this week at Cupcake is "Round and Round" and Creative Card Crew want to "Celebrate".

The main image is from my new stash from Sir Stampalot and I just love this one, Penny Black 4036 Poppy Poem. I stamped it several times with versamark and embossed with detail clear, coloured with Marvy pens then cut out three layers making each a bit smaller so I could layer them. I then inked them with versamark frost and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl to make the colours blend and shine.

The Kaiser DP is from one of the new 6x6 pads with rich reds and black and some sheets are beautifully foiled plus at the back of the pad I discovered there are die cut sentiment mats and borders. The corners are punches with Martha Steward double loop, the swirl is a Sizzix die run through the Big Shot and the butterflies punched from some glitter paper. I added red and black swarovski crystal to embellish and the sentiment is Hobby Art GR223.

Messy fingers

What did you do in your dinner hour ? I got messy fingers.........thanks to this weeks challenge over at Tuesday Taggers which is tailor made for me with their theme "Getting Messy Hands".........I shared my messy fingers with you last week, so you know how I enjoy this form of crafting. And we are asked to include the name of their sponsors for the week who are The Craft Barn. And I have taken the style of my project from this weeks Everybody Art Challenge who would like to see Easel Cards.

The base of the card is a box with a drawer which are so easy to make with just a scoring tool and ruler and the easel card simply mounted on the top. The Basic Grey DP is one of the new designs and double sided, so ideal for using in this way.

The background of the main element is a piece of linen cardstock, inked with Tim Holtz peeled pain, shabby shutters and antique linen, then spritzed with Glimmer Mists honey dew mist, pearl and gold, with a splash of tiger lily in the top right corner to give the effect of sun. I then distressed the edges, inked again and dipped into detail gold embossing powder, then heated to define the edges.

All stamps are all Lavinia and including some of their new releases, with the exception of the tiny leaves and cobble stones which are Art Impression. The border across the bottom is punched with Martha Stewart embossed scallop and some pearl brads added.

Messy fingers

This is just a quick post as I will be back later with Stampalot news and some more candy coming your way.

After all the activity of the past few weeks and not as much crafting as usual, I promised myself a day off work and time to get down to what I enjoy most which is messing about with inks. So these fingers are evidence of either a mis-spent youth or a really good craft session, I prefer to think the second option and this is what I created for this weeks Tuesday Taggers who have the theme "Time". There is some wonderful inspiration from the new DT so do go check it all out.

I started by stamping the clock from JudiKins Instuments cube 6765I down one side of a piece of cardstock using versamark and detail clear embossing powder. I then coloured the whole piece with Tim Holtz mustard seed, marigold and spiced marmalade which revealed the clock faces. Next I overstamped with Hero H2365 Old French Writing and JudiKins swirl 3327F and the clock image again all using Hero Latte chalk ink.Then a final stamping with the swirl stamp using versamak and copper embossing powder. I stippled all round the edges with Adirondack copper and pool acrylic paint then heated here and there with my heat gun to make the pain bubble.

I stamped the clock three more times onto cream shrink plastic using stayzon sepia and tied to the side panel which I scored, overlaid with a piece of bazzil stamped with a mixture of the same stamps and added three eyelets.

I thought the card lacked something, so I stamped Penny Black 3819D four times onto vellum, cut out to make two butterflies, adding wire antenna. I am not altogether sure butterflies and clocks go together, but I sort of like the combination.

Tuesday Taggers

A really quick post with my entry for this weeks Tuesday Taggers who's theme this week is 'Tag it with Birds', do go check out their blog as there are some fabulous DT samples for inspiration, plus my blog buddy Sally is a GDT.

I cut my tag from Cricut Plantin Schoolbook, used a circle mask to create a moon and coloured with Tim Holz distress inks dusky concord and spiced marmalade. I inked and embossed the edged with detail gold and stamped Penny Black 3937H Birds on a Wire across the moon using versafine black and detail clear embossing powder. Using the same ink and embossing powder I stamped the trees which are a Lavinia stamp as is the, fairy and toadstools which I embossed with clear and gold embossing powders. The leaves are Art Impressions and I highlighted here and there with an Inkssentials white pen.

A real mixture

Well, how is everyone this Sunday morning ? I have just one card to share having been very, very good, done as I was told and yesterday made just one card and no blog hopping.......sorry peeps, I will be round to see you all soon. I found that if I lowered my daylight light so I was sort of working above the gaze that seems to work OK and I promised myself if my eye started to hurt I would stop and leave my card !!!!

I am being a bit naughty and combining three challenges here as realistically I can't spend any longer crafting just yet.......but I have managed to use some of my new goodies from Sir Stampalot so you can all see what super new stuff they had delivered this week.

The challenges are Friday Sketchers who have a nice sketch by Jeanette, Tuesday Taggers who want to see 'Red, Gold and Green' and Creative Card Crew who would like to see 'String, Hemp, Twine, Rope etc' on projects.

The image is one of the new Rachelle Anne Miller images - Scarecrow RM064, stamped in versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured in with my brand new Copics which I absolutely love and am getting on with really well. The little board round her neck - yes she is a lady scarecrow - is blank, so I wrote in the name I have given her - Raggy Annie and diamond glazed over.

I stamped her hat and the patches again onto some scraps of Junkitz DP and decoupaged them and also cut out some squares from the same paper to create the background. I added a band of hessian and some raffia which I thought went well with the rustic feel of the card. The layered flowers are from a new Woodware punch from Stampalot called Sakura which does a multi stamp of five flowers in various sizes for layering up. The sentiment it Stamps by Judith SK-LG-207 available from Stamp Addicts.

The red panel has been run through the Bug and lightly sanded and a stamped and coloured a second image onto Shrink Plastic which is placed just above the sentiment.