A bit of Stamp Addict inkiness

Using Waiting for the Storm, Poppy, Music and Etched Flourish stamps, Dylusions, and Tonic Punch and Stamp Carnation

First of all welcome to my lovely new followers, I am so pleased you decided to join my inky journey, you are most welcome here. For those of you looking for the Allsorts Blog Hop, please click here.

Well what I can I say because about the weekend, wasn't it wonderful weather here in the UK ? Two Bank holidays on the trot now has to be some kind of record, needless to say the promised rain has arrived this morning but it's a softer blow after three nice days.

I will be quick and to the point and give you a quick reminder that Sarah and Vicky will be the screen at 2pm today on Create and Craft with a new Stamp Addicts show and here are a couple more of the samples I made for the programme.

Using Waiting for the Storm stamp, Dylusions and mask and Tonic Punch and Stamp Peruvian Lily set

Have a good week everyone and will catch up with you all very shortly.

Happy 4th Birthday Allsorts

Well it's arrived, our fourth Birthday at Allsorts and it's frightening how quickly that time has passed by.........my Gran always used to say the years go quicker once you pass twenty one and being a good few past that now I have to say she is probably right.

So in time-honoured tradition we are having a blog hop plus are lots of prizes to be won this week from our sponsors who are: PPR Crafts, Crimson Cloud, Digi Darla, Pin and Tack, A Passion for Stamps, Stix2 and Pretty Little Ribbons.

They could only be one theme this week really which is Happy Birthday and for my card I used Spellbinder dies, Pick of the Bunch Peruvian Lily Stamp and Punch set, Memory Box leaves and the embossing folder which came with my e.Bosser........... yes I succumbed to one in the end and am finding it a great piece of kit.

On your blog hop journey you should have arrived here from Tracy's blog and go next to Tracy Mouses's blog, but should you get lost along the way you can always go back to the challenge blog and start again. I will be selecting a winner from all the people who call in on me this week and leave a comment and here's the prize for that person.

The letter you need to collect from me is hopefully pretty evident in this post so have fun hopping and wishing you all a lovely weekend.

So much to tell you I nearly for got to announce the winner of last weeks candy and that lucky person is Emily, please mail me so I can post your price off to you.

Have fun with our Birthday celebrations and hope you have a lovely weekend.

Gorgeous new Victorian stamp sets

Good Morning all you crafty Peeps, I've been such a bad blogger the last few days, no new posts, not a great deal of commenting for which I apologise but I've had my head down working on sample for a new venture, well for me it is anyhow. But I do so appreciate all your kind visits despite my absence.

Lots of you know our lovely Jo from C&C and her shop Lets Create, well recently she launched her very own range of stamps so I was thrilled to bits when she asked if I would be able to make her some samples using them. There are six sets each with several stamps on them, a good size and excellent stamping quality.

A package is on it's way to Jo a I type with my first batch of samples which she say's she will be using on her stand at the Lincoln Papercraft Show this coming Sunday and fingers crossed a TV channel familiar to lots of us very soon. Meanwhile she has given me the OK to blog a few to give you the heads up to look out for the stamps if you are visiting the show, but if not I think you can order them direct from the shop. You can find a link to her on her blog here.

The stamp sets all have a Victorian feel to them but I am finding them very versatile and they will work to either a Vintage or more modern them. The top card uses a floral spray from the Sealed with a Loving Kiss set, coloured with watercolours and glossy accents added. The lovely Victorian shoe on the second card comes from the Victorian Pleasures set, a fairly simple card where the image and Spellbinders does all the talking.

I hope you like Jo's new stamps and can recommend both the quality and versatility.

I would like to enter:

Everybody Art Challenges - Flowers
LEJ Desinges - Dies and puches
Visible Image - Brighten your Day ( I hope the flowers do)
Crafty Sentiments - Buttons (afraid the buttons a bit hidden but it's a very pretty one !)

Hopefully I will get a little time to do some blog hopping today.

All rather blue & Saturday candy

It's Sarah's turn to host the theme at Allsorts and she has chosen the them 'True Blue' and our sponsors this week are Pretty Little Ribbons and FlonzCraft.

At the top is a canvas which was a lovely bit of inky indugence, I started by covering the frame with a couple of layers of gesso, then stippling the edges with acrylic pain applied by splodging........another technical term........with a polythene bag to give a lovely textured finish. I coloured the inner of the frame with Pan Pastels and then stamped Hero Arts and Inkylicious poppies which I coloured in with distress markers.

For my second piece I have managed to combine products from both of our sponsors, the border stamp is FlonzCraft Baroque corner stamped onto a background created with tea dye and broke chine distress inks and a spritzing of dazzling diamonds glimmer mist. I randomly stamped the centre of the piece with wire and butterfly stamps then added a couple of roses made with blue satin ribbon from Pretty Little Ribbons and swirls using a Cheery Lynn die and spellbinder leaves. The butterfly is also a spellbinder die.

The winner of last weeks card is............Kathleen, well done please mail me with your postal addy. And this week I have another set of 10 Elegant Tent Cards and envelopes on offer. As usual a winner will be selected at random from all comments left this week, if you visit more than once then all comments will go into the draw. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is:

1) Be a follower 
2) Pop the Saturday Candy logo from my sidebar on your own blog

Note the new signature at the bottom, isn't it pretty, a very kind blog friend Julie sent it to me, thank you so much Julie.

Happy weekend to you all.

Some cute candy

Good Morning Peeps, hope you are all OK. Thanks for all your lovely comment on the photos I shared yesterday and I promise I will as requested share some more as soon as new blossoms burst into life. The May (white thorn) in our hedgerows looks to have an abundance of buds and providing we can avoid more frost and heavy rain it should look beautiful.

I have been having yet another clear out in my craft room and have some goodies which I know I will never use so thought I would offer them as candy.

The one at the top has stamps and embellishments and the second smaller one a collection of ribbons and embellishments.

It will run until 17th June when two winners will be selected and is not connected to my Saturday candy which will continue as usual.

To be in with a chance of winning please:

1) Be a follower and not just one who pops along for the candy......I will discount any candy only blogs.

2) Post the main candy picture at top of this post on your own blog sidebar with a link back here.

3) Add you name to the linky below.

Good luck everyone.

Spring blossoms, but only a few

Apple blossom always looks beautiful with the droplets of rain

Morning all, the sun was shining first thing so I took the opportunity to grab a few photos from the gardens,  but there are not many to be had still and we are a good month behind now, what a funny season when the daffodils are out with the lilacs.

The only lilac in bloom, we have several varieties but all the others are tight buds still

In the orchard it's also a funny season, the pears have now blossomed and in full leaf and there looks to be a reasonable amount of fruit, the plums and gages are just going off and the apples in the early stages of blossoming as you can see.................note one small terrier by the name of Poppy going about her work of keeping things in order.............at least I am sure she thinks she's in charge of everything, a typical terrier really.

So far this the only Viburnum in bloom the rest are way behind, I think this one is Lantana but we've got several varieties and I get some muddled, but it's a biggie pushing 10' and that's after it's winter prune. Note the blue sky, that was a couple of hours ago and now the rain clouds are gathering

This Kerria Japonica is really struggling, the one in the top hedgerow looks better but  after all the rain this week it's a bit wet underfoot the go up through the paddock to take a photo

Self set Pansies, they never fail to give a good show

And a glorious daffodil, plenty still in bloom and here we are mid May

OK folks, that's my little share for today. Now I need to get my head down and do some office work then later on some magazine work which needs to be on it's way very shortly................a Christmas commission this early would you believe. Hope you all have a good day.

Poppies over the meadows

Morning Peeps, the sun is shining but will it last ? Yesterday was a real washout, we had it all hail, thunder torrential downpours but no sunshine.

A mega quick post here at I have to be at the AHT in Newmarket for 10am with Holly for her follow up appointment to see when they will operate. I am hoping it will be soon as she is a big girl now, at six months old she is almost the size of our grown up labs so her 'little problem' becomes more of as issue, especially at night when one puppy pad is jot not big enough if you follow my drift.

So a share of a card I came up with using Stamp Addicts rural stamp sets and Clarity poppies. A simple enough card stamped and inked through an oval mask and a little poppy in the corner created with Tonic Rose stamp and punch set. Most of the colouring is Pan Pastels with a little watercolour pencil to highlight.

OK, must rush now and will catch you all later.