INKY FINGERS

All work and no play…

2012-01-27T15:32:00.001Z

Just letting off steam and clearing some cobwebs …

A bit blurred but it’s way too dark here for anything else, and these show the true colours a bit better.

Twinkling stars

2012-01-20T17:16:00.001Z

Another one of my coloured images, with lots of glitter (Hologram EP) and silver ink to colour the moon. I masked her after colouring and added the background with inks and a few more stamps.

I took a photo to show the gorgeous glitter effect of the holographic ep – I seem to have had a run on that this last month or so, despite the fact that I rarely use glitters.

After a really difficult week, I finally got chance to play. Unfortunately, I only had an hour and spent most of that giving my craft room a much needed tidy up, including putting away Christmas stamps! I still can’t see much of my desk, so need to tidy some more when I get the chance, but I had to make something while I could!!

I was lucky enough to win the Craft Barn Journalling Competition and yesterday came home to my lovely prizes! Unfortunately, one of them was missing but I’m not complaining – I got a lovely new journal, one Cosmic Shimmer Mister and one Americana acrylic paint and I’m really pleased with them, so thank you very much to all at the Craft Barn!

This week’s CAS-ual Friday challenge is black and white and this is my entry.

I’ve really missed blog hopping and stamping but I’ll have to get used to it for a while, due to work commitments and another upcoming inspection! Thanks to everyone who left such lovely comments – all appreciated, as ever xxx

2012 Calendar

2012-01-13T13:01:00.001Z

I was determined to join in with Kate’s brilliant calendar challenge this year because I so enjoyed looking at people’s work last year but of course it’s been busy, busy, busy since the beginning of January, so I’ve only just managed to do my pages.

They’re very simple and not brilliantly stamped but I hope to add to them as the month goes on – or that’s the plan, anyway. Just hope I can keep it up for the whole year, or at least do some of them!

PS, there isn’t quite as much blank space now cos I started journalling and doodling on it … ooops! But that’s what journalling is about, isn’t it????

For Friends

2012-01-12T16:11:00.001Z

A bit of faux batik here – not a new one but one of a batch I stamped and ironed a little while ago, ready to go. I simply sponged on some Adirondack inks, then stamped (and embossed) the flowers and the verse.

More winter scenery.

This one fits this week’s TAKE A WORD challenge – Nature, Crazy Amigo’s Winter Colours and Crafty Cardmakers ‘No flowers’. That’s not difficult for me, really, is it, he, he? In fact, I use very few embellishments if I’m honest!

One more to come from last weekend, so I NEED to stamp!

Sunday Stamper, Time - Journalling

2012-01-10T18:50:00.001Z

I allowed myself time to play on Sunday and this was the result.

I used Dylusions inks and a variety of stamps and stencils. Although I started out with Hot pink and Yellow, it’s hard to see that in the scan – the photos show the colours better, but the Aged Mahogany edging affects the way it looks.

I was thinking about Time and added the word a few times, so I’m entering this into Hels’ challenge for this week’s Sunday Stamper.

You can’t really see the journalling very clearly because most of it’s in very small writing around the images – AND in French, he, he.

Predominantly Purple… CAS

2012-01-09T12:28:00.001Z

This week’s Less is More challenge is Predominantly Purple and while there isn’t quite as much space as I would prefer for this challenge, this is my entry. CAS suits me fine right now, with time at a premium.

The stamps are from Innovative Creations (Nature Silhouettes III) and I’ve stamped with felt tips..

Happy Sunday!

2012-01-08T19:36:00.001Z

Just a couple of cards I managed to get finished, tho far from perfect! More Versamagic, first and one of my favourite stamps.

Birthday bird.

I really should have added another black layer underneath the bird, or at least edged with black – I’ll remember next time!

Lastly, my KCUK Winter Challenge entry.

I tried to imitate the sky outside but wasn’t very successful – I like it, though. I’m entering this into Crazy Amigos’ Winter challenge.

Sorry if you see this and I send one of these to you but I have a lot to make this month and too little time!

I’m really missing blog hopping but just don’t have the time right now. I’ll try to visit you all later this week, tho it’s more likely to be in a couple of weeks - sorry!

Cath x

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T16:23:00.001Z

Can’t believe this is the first chance I’ve had to stamp this year, let alone blog!!

I wish all of you a wonderful, Happy, healthy and blessed 2012!

Time’s been really short this last week because I was asked to do some extra work at very short notice, which meant lots of prepping and planning and will be the same next week and maybe for a few weeks after that. Add to that the fact that one of my New Year goals is not to spend as much time on the computer because I sometimes let it ‘steal’ my life AND I’ve had nothing but problems with Firefox since I updated Windows for the first time in 9 months – over 85 updates, so I kept having to restart my laptop. Then a book I’d been waiting for (for two years!) was released in November and since it’s the fourth in a series and I don’t remember the other three well enough, I decided that I need to read them again before starting the new one! I didn’t get chance before Christmas, with being ill, and we had sad news about a close friend a couple of days ago, so escaping into a book has been a bit of a release, especially when my head’s tired from planning!

I have a lot of cards to make this month and not a lot of time to make them in, so I thought I’d make a start this afternoon. Before I go any further, though, I think it’s time I chose the blog candy winner, so ………… dum di dum …………….

The winner is SAM!

CONGRATULATIONS, SAM!

I’ll get it ready to post over the weekend, all being well, although my brother is threatening to visit tomorrow, which may set my plans back a bit but I’ll try to get it posted ASAP.

I found it very difficult to choose this time because I knew so many of the people who commented, so I had to get someone else to choose and that’s why it’s taken me so long. Sorry to keep you waiting and thanks for the comments. Just wish I had half a dozen of them.

I did a bit of CUTE Prisma pencil colouring after Christmas, while watching TV, so I made a couple of cards with the images, adding a bit of ink and some inky backgrounds. This is one of them.

This one was more for fun and started out as a Challenge entry, using text but I only just managed to finish it.

Hopefully, I’ll have more to post over the weekend before I start more prep on Monday! I have about ten on my list – eeeek!

Same colours, two slightly different looks

2011-12-29T15:23:00.001Z

I enjoyed using Versamagic, so made these in pastel colours for two special people who are going through a very sad and difficult time right now.

They’re more or less the same design, using the same colours but stamping the backgrounds in different colours (alternating between Ocean Breeze and Aquatic Splash for text and flowers) finishing off with two different colours (Purple Hydrangea and Turquoise Gem) which gives them a slightly different look. Spring Pansy just adds a touch warmth to the otherwise cold colours. It’s not often I stamp without black but I’m quite enjoying the softness of these inks at the moment.

Love this stamp set from Innovative Stamp Creations – the flowers are wonderful and work well for a lot of occasions but will also be perfect for a backdrop in my journal.

Thought I’d have a go at the Craft Barn Journalling challenge and found this – I’d forgotten all about it. I was upset and frustrated about something at the time – can you tell??????

So I just finished this page for the Craft Barn Challenge.

The theme is buildings and I was thinking about a U2 song (or 2).

It also fits the ‘Take a Word’ Challenge, which is PRINT.

I still haven’t decided on the Blog Candy – my apologies but I’ve found it difficult for various reasons, so will ask someone else to do it as soon as I can! Sorry to keep you waiting but I got some other stuff together and there will now be more than one prize, so hang on in there.

Wohoo! Just found out I won the Craft Barn Journalling prize and am absolutely gobsmacked! Can you tell I’m from ‘up North’, he, he? Ooh, I get a prize, too – can’t wait! Thanks to whoever chose my page xxx

Gingersnap Colour Challenge

2011-12-28T08:42:00.001Z

The colour challenge at Gingersnaps this week is
Soft Yellow and White and lasts for four weeks.

This is the final week of my month as visiting artist there and I’ve really enjoyed being challenged with things I wouldn’t normally do. This week’s colours are no exception. I don’t use any shade of yellow on its own very often at all, although I often use it with other colours because I think it pulls them together so well.

I know the Once in a Blue Moon challenge was for Thank you notes and has only just ended, but we can’t have too many of those after Christmas when we have so many people to thank and so many things to be thankful for.

You’ll have to click to enlarge to see the detail, but I’ve taken some close up photos, too, to show the embossed bits.

I love the soft look of Versamagic inks and they are always my first choice for pastel colours. They have the added bonus of being permanent, stamping on most surfaces (including fabrics) and embossing really well.

The base was sponged randomly with Thatched Straw - Versamagic doesn’t stipple well, but it sponges beautifully if your inkpad is nice and moist, so it’s worth having reinkers.

The Hero Arts Thanks stamp is stamped down the right hand side, in the same ink, followed by the background flowers (Innovative Stamp Creations) to the left, heat setting to seal.

Then, inking only random sections of the same stamp, I overstamped a few times with Versamark, followed by stamping the two flowers for the foreground and embossing with White detail EP. It’s hard to pick that out and even more difficult when trying to photograph, so I took a couple of close ups.

To finish, I edged with Ranger Lemonade dabber, matted onto white, then onto two Fleur de lis Nestie squares, offset to top and bottom corners. Before attaching it to the pale lemon card (Bazzill) I white embossed the Thank you stamp in opposite corners of the card and edged the whole thing with pearl acrylic paint.

I finished off by stamping and clear embossing ‘So Kind’ in Thatched Straw on white, punching out a small tag and edging with ink before attaching to the front with a pale lemon heart brad.

Thank you VERY MUCH to the Gingersnappers for inviting me to share in the fun of the challenges. I really appreciate the honour, having admired the work there for so long.

I’ll update this post later today, with the results of the Blog Candy draw and show/tell you what else I’ll be adding to the parcel!

Thanks

Cath xxx

Thankful - Journalling

2011-12-26T14:13:00.001Z

Today, I am simply thankful…

… but especially for my two boys and my family.

Christmas wishes…

2011-12-23T08:41:00.001Z

Just taking the opportunity to wish you all a very special and Happy Christmas!

I’m afraid this isn’t a new card – it’s from a couple of years ago - but I’ve had flu and been out of action for a whole WEEK! Eeek! That’s never happened to me before and it seriously interfered with all my Christmas plans.

If you didn’t receive a card from me, please accept my apologies, but the cards ran out long before the names on the list did this year.

Thanks to all of you who take the time to visit and to leave a comment – they’re all very much appreciated.

Love

Cath xxx

Gingersnaps Supply Challenge – WAX

2011-12-14T06:34:00.001Z

When I saw wax as the theme for this I went into serious panic mode. Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE wax collage – I’ve tried it, am BAD at it and just hated working with it, although I love other people’s creations. So I had to approach this from a different angle and here’s what I ended up with.

I’ve had this candle stamp for years – bought it from someone who, as far as I know, is no longer in business, but I love it. I stamped it on glossy card, using Stazon ink and then coloured the candles with a small, sharpened candle, to create a wax resist effect. I then overstamped with Versamark before sponging various Adirondack green inks over, creating a second resist effect. Once I’d wiped off the wax, I added some shading with Tombow felt tips. The music and candle card is one of my oldest (and favourite) stamps from Embossing Arts and after shading with Tombows I used Sepia accents to age it a bit more. The Kraft card (Woodware) is stamped with Versamark ink, to give a bit of depth under the layers. All layers (including card) are edged with gold Krylon pen.

The gift card is a Scrapling, one of my favourite things to make and perfect for gift tags. Whenever you make a card which isn’t quite A5/A6, you’ll have a strip of folded card left (if you fold first, as I do) and that ‘scrap’ is perfect for a little accompanying card.

The candle was white. I stamped the angels (Beeswax stamps, he, he) on tissue paper, coloured them with Prismacolor pencils, adding some colour for the background, then stippling a bit of ink to add more colour before stamping the text. The silver stars are stamped in Silver Stazon ink.

There’s an odd wrinkle in the tissue paper because it wasn’t perfectly folded, but I like crinkles :-)

It’s wrapped with hemp and the candle itself has been finished with a special candle painting medium to make it anti flammable, although I would still recommend burning only a couple of inches, then placing a tea light inside the shell to preserve the decoration.

I enjoyed this so much, I made another matching set …

… then one using flowers. I’ll probably end up making more of these now that I’ve ‘got my feet wet’ so to speak.

You can see the fab design team’s inspirational works of art over at Gingersnaps.

More green and more trees…

2011-12-13T12:26:00.001Z

Do you sense a theme? I don’t know why that’s what I’m drawn to this year, but I’m just going with it and enjoying it. Lots of glitter on this and some flicked Crafty Notions white spray for snow. Iced Spruce works really well for snow and background trees. The greens are Adirondack Meadow. Words aren’t stamped well, but I still like the patchy look. If I do this again, I’ll go off the page to make it more realistic but time’s run out for now.

I’ve just stamped a stack of simple card fronts and will be trimming and mounting them tonight, while I’m catching up on a couple of my favourite programmes, missed while I was away for the weekend. At least I’ve made a start and although some of them are the same, I’ve varied them slightly. I have loads more to make but I just seem to be making more mess right now and can’t find a flipping thing in my stamping room. One day I’ll learn not to leave everything until last minute – or will I?

I’m entering this into this week’s Drunken Stampers Challenge, which is Glittery Holiday.

BLOG CANDY

2011-12-11T18:51:00.000Z

Been meaning to photograph and post this for a while but didn’t get my act together until now. Anyway, as a Christmas present from me to say thank you for visiting and to celebrate reaching 250 followers (now an amazing 265 – thank you!) here it is.

Neither of these has ever seen ink and the ums haven’t been opened, so leave me a comment, telling me why you deserve them and you can have them.

I’ll draw a name sometime closer to the end of December but will only post after the Christmas rush, to avoid losing them in the Christmas post! I will, of course, be adding other goodies to this, but I haven't yet decided what ... but it will be nice :-)

Please note!

Please don’t put your name down if you live in RUSSIA.

Sorry.

Add a link to your side bar (you can copy mine from the top of the right hand column) if you like!

Best of luck. Cath x

Another Christmas card

2011-12-09T12:53:00.001Z

Just a quickie to post this card – haven’t had much time to make more, although I need loads, so will have to get going on those next week!

Told you I had a bit of a ‘green’ thing this year, he, he. More resist here, too, but this time it’s embossed, for a change. I love this swirl from Stamp Camp. Not much light here – grey skies, strong winds and hail, unfortunately!

I’ll be away this weekend, so see you when I come back! Have a great weekend and hope the weather’s kind to you.

Cath x

Gingersnaps, December theme

2011-12-07T07:34:00.001Z

I was thrilled to be invited to be ‘Visiting Artist’ over at Gingersnaps for December – a great honour – thank you for asking me.

December isn’t my most creative month, I have to admit – I tend to concentrate on simple Christmas cards, with the odd gift thrown in for good measure, but I tried to fit this in with this month’s challenges.

For the month of December, the theme is Holiday lights and the first ‘theme’ challenge is ‘Starry Nights’. I love starry skies and so decided to make a calendar for this one.

The ‘mountboard’ was made by stamping silver stars on a mid blue tissue paper, using acrylic silver paint and an old freeby foam stamp I had knocking around, then crinkling when dry, to create a bit of texture. Using gel medium, I attached this to a larger piece of very heavy, slightly corrugated mid blue card, edging with more roughly applied silver acrylic paint and finishing with a glitter glaze, which gives a bit of a sparkle but not too much. It’s hard to photograph glitter and especially when the weather’s grey.

The image (Bella Rosa) was stamped on glossy card, using Stazon Azure ink. I cut around the image, then punched the odd star out of the sky and attached to a slightly larger piece of silver mirror card, tying a piece of sliver ribbon around one edge, threading through a silver diamante star button.

This was attached to a glossy resist background, which was first stamped with Versamark ink, using various star images, then sponged with a few different shades of blue dye ink. I overstamped a few more stars in Silver Stazon ink, before attaching to more mirror card and then to the mount. The words were computer generated, cut out and attached to mirror card, then randomly placed on the background.

I edged another piece of heavy blue card with acrylic paint, attaching a calendar then put two star eyelets in the top, matching up to another two at the base of the mount. This is attached with narrow silver ribbon.

To finish off, I attached a few punched stars, randomly around the edge of the board, then attached a hanger.

I enjoyed making this!

Three challenges

2011-12-06T14:11:00.001Z

Just like buses, nothing for ages then suddenly you get a few posts, lol. I finished these over the last few days but haven’t had chance to photograph them, partly due to lack of light!

The first one is for the One Layer Wednesday challenge, which is to use nothing but a Greetings stamp on two cards, using different colours or placement. Just sneaking in by the skin of my teeth on this one, even though I had hoped to take part earlier in the week!

My first one is embossed in glitter gold EP on champagne pearlescent card.

The second one obviously uses the same stamp, but this time it’s embossed with Pearl Gold EP on a cream 6x4 card. Hard to photograph in this grey light.

I confess that I find these a bit too stark and will emboss lines above and below before I use them, perhaps even layering them onto other card bases – we’ll see.

My second challenge is for Less is More, which this week is to use green. The KCUK challenge this month is to make a Christmas card in white and one other colour, so this is also for that challenge. You can’t really see it but the lines above and below the trees (Hero Arts) are dry embossed to add interest and the stripes of green card are just above. I originally cut these thinner but had to do it again and cut them a bit thick – shame, really cos they looked better.

The last one is another card for the white and one colour challenge. I’ve got a bit of a green thing going on at the moment, for some reason. Most of these are Stampington stamps but the swirl that I stamped on the border (in Ranger Pearl Acrylic) is Inkadinkado and the postmarks are Simple Expressions stamps.

Looks as if the corner was caught a bit there – oops!

I have some blog candy to offer but won’t post it with these, in case I lose track – I’ll be back with that and tomorrow I’ll be posting my first Visiting Artist Challenge project, although I’m working, so it will be later in the day.

Thanks for looking. Cath x

Overdue thank yous ….

2011-12-01T16:03:00.001Z

… to the very talented Nellie,

who sent me this fab blog candy.

AND

this gorgeous card!

I’d already admired this on her blog, so was thrilled to see it in real life and of course it’s more gorgeous than it looks!

Thank you, Nellie!

It’s very much appreciated.

Sorry I haven’t been around much this week but I’ve been out of action for a few days. I’m hoping to be back now, but may still be a little quiet x

Tone on tone – Crazy Amigos

2011-11-24T19:44:00.001Z

The theme at Crazy Amigos is Tone on Tone in purples.

Couldn’t resist having a go at this one because I used to use this technique an awful lot with chalk inks. So, I got out my Colorbox Fluid chalks, which I’ve probably only used once in the last 5 years (shame on me) and my trusty stipple brushes and this was the result.

One of the biggest problems with these inks is the tonal variation from one pad of the same colour to the next and my purply colours seem to be a bit pinkish, but I love it anyway. I used Wisteria and Violet inks, with a little Purple Pansy (Versamagic) in places. The beauty of chalk inks is that you can layer lighter colours over darker ones – a lovely effect.

I’m still in Christmas mode – not sure how long that will last – and this is one of my favourite Christmas stamps. I thought I’d lost it the other day, but after a frantic hunting for what I reckoned to be about 8 stamps, I actually found a basket full of them – some I’d forgotten all about! Just goes to show what happens when you ‘put things away safely’ instead of in their usual place – they’ll stay with the rest of the Christmas stamps from now on!

Snowflakes

2011-11-24T12:14:00.001Z

The theme at Make my Monday is Snowflakes, Flowers or Foliage. I’m trying to get into a C mood now (I think … watch this space, lol cos I’m bound to change my mind soon) and so I concentrated on snowflakes.

I used my favourite technique – resist – stamping snowflakes as a background on glossy card, sponging various shades of blue and lilac over the top, using a torn paper mask. Trees were then stamped behind the hills, followed by a little snowman family, the great text (Stampinback) and lots of snowflakes (stamped in white and embossed in Hologram powder). I finished it off by sponging Snow white Dabber around the edges.

It’s a simple little card but it was fun to make for a change. The snowmen were stamped again, coloured and glued in place over the original stamped image. I rarely do glitter but this one called for it and I think Christmas is a time when glitter is great!

Here’s a close up to show the holographic effect – bit blurry but that’s because it’s suddenly gone very grey – again!

Less is More Week 42 #2

2011-11-19T21:27:00.002Z

Well, since I messed up last time and this has almost become a black and white challenge (with a hint of colour, lol) I thought I’d make some more cos I love black and white and especially with a hint of colour! This is the first of the batch – more to follow when I finish them off.

This is actually one of my favourite images but I don’t use it a lot because it’s big. I wanted the appearance of a sun setting low in the sky (yes, I’m into setting suns at the moment, can you tell?), so I sponged the sun (through a circle stencil) after I’d stamped and clear embossed the silhouette stamp.

I would normally add some more sky colour in pinks, blues and greys, but since this is LESS IS MORE, I’ll leave the white space!

LESS IS MORE #42

2011-11-19T15:10:00.001Z

Firstly, I must say a big THANK YOU to all the LIMettes for your lovely comments. Having looked at every entry for last week (I hope I didn’t miss any!) I have to say they definitely weren’t all justified. There were some amazing entries and I learned so much from browsing entries and blogs, so a big thank you from me, too.

This week’s Less is More challenge is to use a silhouette stamp.

In answer to a couple of questions, yes, it is an Inkadinkado stamp and the sun is sponged through a stencil, using DIs Barn Door, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade. The words are from Stampendous, one of their earlier Clearly Stamping sets.

Having browsed through other entries, I’m not sure this image will be accepted because it isn’t solid, so I’ll be rooting out my other silhouette stamps and making another, lol. Sorry, Chrissie and Mandi.

I’ll be perusing the entries whenever I get the chance this week and I’m sure I’ll learn a whole lot more from you all!

I really would recommend this challenge – it’s a fab way to make you think and plan before you stamp – something I seldom do.

10 minute C card

2011-11-18T13:46:00.003Z

Part II of the KCUK Challenge is a 10 minute C card. (Eeek! Way too early to say the real word and to get all the C stamps out!)

Anyway, here’s mine.

The background is a Cuttlebug Smoosh (or is it Smooch?) – coloured with Memories Soft Stone ink, swiped over it before embossing. The stamps are Stazon on acetate, which had to be thermal so I could heat set them. Attached with brads and a bit of ATG under the tree, then matted first onto silver card, then onto grey. I had the card cut to size before I began and the card is a lovely, thick embossed card I use a lot because it absorbs inks well, so it dried quickly.

This was my second attempt because my first one didn’t work :-( I clear embossed and tried to use Glimmer Mists but NONE of my sprays worked! I was well miffed. I brought them downstairs to clean out but half of them still didn’t work, so I may just give up on them and use them as paints :-) Wouldn’t mind but I have loads of them, although to be honest, I haven’t used them much since I stopped doing workshops.

Forgot to say that this fits the Sunday Stampers’ theme for this week, which is Pine trees, so I’m going to enter it for that. It came to mind as I was thinking about which stamps to use and then I forgot. That’s what comes of rushing out in the morning, lol. Thanks for the challenge, Hels!

Had one of those days…
Went to use my Stampers Anonymous flourish and couldn’t find it. There are some stamps I leave permanently on mounts because I use them so often and that’s one of them – I think it’s the best flourish stamp I have. Then I decided I wanted to use my CI angels stamp – guess what? Can’t find that, either, so I was already frustrated before the Glimmer Mists incident. AND while looking for it, one of my A4 sheets of Christmas stamps fell behind the chest of drawers they’re kept on – aagghh! I need another good blitz in that room, I think, although I’m getting ready to move everything into another room, so sort of putting it off until then. I won’t be able to stamp for a while when I do that and I’m not looking forward to it!

(Quick edit – this was Thursday – just found my flourish stamp – Friday! Phew! Looked everywhere for it and then found it in my basket of used stamps – duh – minus mount! I’ve put it straight back onto a mount so that I don’t lose it in future :-) What a waste of precious stamping time, lol!)

Glorious Autumn days

2011-11-17T11:07:00.003Z

I love the rich colours of Autumn and after using my leafy stamps for the LIM challenge, I just wanted to do more. So a couple of days ago I started this before going to work, adding a bit to it the morning after. I need to use it now for an assignment, so I thought I’d take a photo before I start journalling – lines pencilled in because it’s official, lol – it needs to be neat-ish and plain writing!

I’ll rub the pencilling out when I’ve finished.

I began by scraping lots of Gesso on the pages first, because I wanted some texture, so I stamped into it and used various sizes of bottle/jar tops to create some circles. I then used a variety of inks and stamps for leaves and colour, finishing off with an Ochre Acrylic glaze (Golden) to pull it all together, then highlighting the texture with gold and copper Brilliance inks to add a bit of richness and depth. I toned some of it down with a bit of Versamagic wheat reinker, so that’s why there’s a bit of a ‘bloom’.

Here’s a close up of the texture effect, although it’s taken in sunshine (YES, we have sunshine today!!!) so it looks a lot lighter and the background colour seems to have disappeared.

Off to prepare a presentation on the Evolution of the English Language, but I’m going to try to start some quick and easy C card stamping later on – I have a ten minute challenge to do and some ATCs!

I’m entering this for the Happy Daze Design Team challenge, which is ‘Explosion of Colour’. We once did a swap on KCUK with a similar title, but I called it ‘Riot of Colour’ – Explosion sounds so much nicer, lol. Distress inks, Brilliance Dewdrops and Gesso can all be bought at Happy Daze.

Inky time

2011-11-14T08:19:00.003Z

Had a lovely hour yesterday, playing with the same colours of DI I’d used on my LIM leaves card, but this time on Glossy card and with stipple brushes. It’s a long time since these little friends of mine have been out of their basket. I used to use them all the time to add colour because I found it easier to place colour exactly where I wanted to AND because it’s good for you. There’s something about thumping a brush on that card – very therapeutic.

It has to be said that I’m not over happy with this one because I added micro beads in Sepia Accents but it’s given a bit too much dimension to the sunflower heart. Might just have to add more to the petals… will think about that one.

I love this stamp – it’s humongous and is great for selective stamping – using just the bits you want at the time. It’s a simple one stamp affair, with a few postmarks stamped on but I did enjoy getting inky.

This one’s just a matted up version of one of my LIM one layer leaf cards. I liked the colour (Aged Mahogany) and the design, but thought it a bit too stark to stay on its own.

Browsing through this week’s LIMette entries has given me lots of ideas. It’s amazing what you can learn from looking at other people’s LIM design ideas. Some people have a real knack for making a simple card stunning. LIM is a great challenge, so if you get chance, please do join in – the beauty of it is it doesn’t take long at all, although some of the designs aren’t quite as simple as they appear to be. There are some incredibly talented peeps in blogland!

Blog Candy at the Craft Barn

2011-11-13T09:17:00.001Z

They’re celebrating 600 followers on the Craft Barn Blog and look what’s up for grabs!

All the details are HERE.

GOOD LUCK!!

LESS IS MORE 41 – ONE LAYER CARD - LEAVES

2011-11-12T10:40:00.003Z

This one’s Big ‘n’ Juicy Herb Garden

This one’s Versamagic Spanish Olive

I enjoyed using these stamps so much (after years of neglect) that I just had to make one more.

This one’s using Aged Mahogany, Spiced Marmalade, Bundled Sage and Wild Honey.

We will remember them …

2011-11-11T19:56:00.002Z

The Falling Leaves

Today, as I rode by,
I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree
In a still afternoon,
When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,
But thickly, silently,
They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;
And wandered slowly thence
For thinking of a gallant multitude
Which now all withering lay,
Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,
But in their beauty strewed
Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.

Margaret Postgate Cole

In Season

2011-11-10T17:29:00.003Z

I had to play with my pears once I’d got them all out and it IS the only time of year they’re in season…

I was determined to play for an hour or two today, so I made some backgrounds, using Adirondack Colour Washes. After stamping and embossing the pear and text image (one stamp - I used Petal Points to colour the pear before stamping) I played around for a bit with mica powders and gold ink, tore the card, edged it with Cranberry and Currant inks, then embossed a bit of gold Pear text on the corners. The white card isn’t white at all, it’s cream – not even off white. I took a photo and a scan but it didn’t show up in either, so I give up :-)

The gold and irridescent powders made it look a little duller, so I adjusted the colours a bit on the photo. Still can’t get it to look cream, though… x

Ten minute pear card challenge

2011-11-06T13:32:00.004Z

Some fool (mentioning no names, ahem – wonder who that was?) set a ten minute challenge on KCUK, with the first part of the challenge being to use pear stamps.

Since I was the one who set the challenge, I thought I’d better get one done before I get busy again, so I got out my pear stamps – didn’t realise I had so many! I had a real pear fetish at one time, lol.

I opted for two of my all time favourite stamps, the Stampers Anonymous (or is it Stamp in the Hand) solid pear and text.

You can tell I was rushing because the inks aren’t properly blended and one of the words isn’t stamped properly but it was fun.

I had all the card cut to size (or I’d have been there for another hour, matching, he, he) then stamped the Pear text in Versamark ink. I then added colour to the solid pear stamp with Petal points, blending with fingers (I love inky fingers!). Background colour was then added (direct to paper and blended with fingers) with the same Petal points and a couple of other colours, wiped over to remove excess from embossed images and clear embossed again. I’d have positioned them differently if I’d had more time to think about it, but I only had ten minutes.

To be honest, because I used the ATG gun so quickly, I ended up with adhesive on the front of my terracotta layer, so had to rub that off with my adhesive remover rubber (one of the best things I ever bought after the ATG gun) and that took me over the ten minutes, but I wasn’t going to leave it like that!

I may be back with more pear cards because I found some crackers and some other stamps I’d forgotten all about.

Since these are two of my all time favourite images (unfortunately, I have too many ‘favourites’ to choose from) I’ll enter this into this week’s Just For Fun Challenge which is to use one of your favourite stamps.

One stamp, three cards…

2011-11-01T22:22:00.003Z

I needed some super quick cards, so I pulled out one of my all time favourite stamps, the Penny Black fuchsia. Fancied a change, so I stamped it in two colours of Stazon – Timber Brown and Saddle Brown – onto pearlescent ivory card, then embossed with clear powder.

Of course you can’t see the pearlescent finish, so this gives you more of an idea …

Using the same colours, I stamped on matte ‘off white’/cream card but the words stamp wasn’t playing well today, so I had to stamp it again in Versafine Sepia and emboss it. The card itself is pale pink pearlescent. Must be having a pearlescent day, lol – a rarity for me. This also fits this week’s theme over at Crafty Cardmakers.

I also needed another card to accompany something but time was short today, so I pulled a bit of Faux Batik out of my ‘half made’ stash, which just happened to use the same stamp (I have a few of these, waiting to be used) so I sponged on some Adirondack inks, stamped the fuchsia again with some more words and embossed. This one’s a bit ‘in your face’ colour wise, compared to the others.

The green card is actually much greener – not a nice pale green as you see in the photo (unless that’s my monitor, lol). I took photos today but may try scanning before I upload.

Here’s the scan and this is definitely a bit more realistic.

Told you it was ‘in your face’.

Right, just found out we’re being Ofsted inspected next week, so better get some work done…

Hope is the thing that perches in the soul – black and grey

2011-10-30T16:56:00.006Z

When it comes to Hallowe’en, I’m afraid I’m a conscientious objector ;)

But I really fancied some grey and black stamping, which just happens to be one of the themes at Gingersnap this month, so here’s my offering in four different formats.

I always scan through Photoshop and have never tried the various scanner settings before because at first I didn’t have time and then I simply didn’t even notice them! So today, I played a little and scanned with all three settings: –

Colour (24 bit)

Grey (error diffusion)

Grey (error diffusion) inverted

and True Grey (my favourite).

Just a bit of fun…

I’ve been after these hand stamps for years and, thanks to Willy, I now have them in my possession, lol. I suddenly thought the bird (Lost Coast) would be great in one of them, so had to try it out. Should have put some seed in there, though cos it looks as if it’s pecking the poor bloke’ to death! I know the bird looks too small compared to the hand, but I wanted the effect of the huge hand of God, always caring and providing.

I used three shades of grey – Storm Grey and Dove Grey (Stazon) and Adirondack Slate.

I’ve been a bit of a foodie since I came back from France – my friend always has that effect on me, serving delicious meals effortlessly, and feeding me up as if my life depended on it, lol. I kept telling her I don't like cheese, but would she listen???? (If you know me, you'll know that is NOT true, he, he!) I’ve been enjoying rediscovering my love of cooking. Unfortunately, the drawback is that I also eat it, so I’ve put back half the weight I lost for Phil’s wedding! But at the moment, I’m in a patriotic mood and am refusing to buy anything not grown in the UK, so I’m sticking to lots of veggies and fruit in season and eating really healthily. I’ve really enjoyed making soups and fruit dishes, along with the odd tart and apple crumble. Yesterday, I made some mulled autumn fruits and since I’m the only one who eats them, I had some after lunch today. Scrummy yummy with a spoonful of natural Greek Yogurt – just as nice as fresh cream, if not nicer!

This is a ladle full before I dished it out, warm and comforting, smelling beautifully of cloves, oranges and cinnamon.

It's a bit blurred because it's taken over a hot, steaming pan of simmering wine and fruit and I'm not very good at holding the camera steady with one hand!

Autumn is now in full swing and it’s almost dark already (4.40pm) – the days will draw in now and we’ll have less and less light until the effect begins to reverse on 21 December. I really miss the natural light and hate going to work in the dark but hey ho - this is the beauty of England! Time to stay warm and get some crafting time in, when time allows, methinks!

We are all stars . . . Less is More

2011-10-29T12:45:00.003+01:00

LESS is MORE this week has the theme of Stars.
I knew I had the perfect words (Stamp Camp, I think) but couldn’t work out how to use them, so I masked off an area of white card and sprayed it with subtle colours of Glimmer Mist – Sea Grass and Peony (I think), then blotted it with my paper towel roll, which just happened to have some ochre ink on from a previous project (messy). I liked it.
I stamped the lovely blotchy stars but – despite NOT being a glitter lover - wanted a bit of glitter, so I embossed with Holographic EP and added a silver star brad.

One of the annoying things about Holographic EP is that it clings to places you don’t want it to cling to, but in this case, it worked out beautifully, adding random touches of sparkling glimmer to the outside border. Of course the scan didn’t pick that up, so I had to photograph it, in an attempt to show what I mean.

Stamping was done with Versafine Blue – can’t remember the exact name but it’s a lovely royal blue.

LOTS OF CHALLENGES

2011-10-23T19:12:00.002+01:00

I’ve just had a lovely couple of hours of fun, playing with this and would like to enter it into the following challenges:-
Crazy Amigo (Numbers – lots of those)
Three Muses (Circles and Squares – well, if you can call rectangles squares, he, he)
Take a Word (Childhood)
Sunday Stamper Autumn colours.
Art Journey Challenge (Text)

Pretty colours – Summer just a memory…

2011-10-19T06:32:00.002+01:00

Summer already seems like a long time ago. It’s freezing this morning and the weather has suddenly become very autumnal. We’ve had heavy rain, sleet and winds here in the North West and it’s really chilly.
These are Dusty Concord and Fired Brick Distress inks on glossy (encaustic type) card and I think it looks really rich. I think I pulled the colour in with a damp paintbrush again … can’t remember! Definitely a CRAFT moment! (Can’t Remember A Flipping Thing). It’s a very simple card and was really quick to make.
I thought this was an unusual colour combo until I remembered using similar Adirondack colours (Eggplant and Watermelon) together – virtually the same shades. Must admit I’d never thought of using them together until one of my friends, Ann, used them in a workshop and I fell in love with the combination! Thanks, Ann.

Wrap up and stay warm, everyone. I’ll certainly be doing that on my way to class today!

Ginger Gem!

2011-10-18T06:46:00.002+01:00

Just a little note to say thank you to the guys over at Gingersnap for choosing me as a Ginger Gem! Woohoo! What an honour and very much appreciated. That was a lovely way to brighten a thoroughly miserable day in NW England.
I’m busy for the next few days but I’ll try to visit the other Gingers as soon as I can.

Update - I was chosen again - woohoo! Didn't want to post again, so thought I'd just say thank you here to the Gingers. Very much appreciated :-)

Bookmark and matching card

2011-10-17T14:51:00.002+01:00

Finally finished my swap for KCUK – late as ever – naughty :-(
It’s an Adirondack day, today :-)
I stamped and embossed the two Dylusions ivy stamps, watercoloured them, stamped the verse (Stampcamp) then painted with Versamark reinker and clear embossed. (Don’t know why I bothered cos I laminated it anyway, lol.)
I wanted this to be sunny, so I then added Pool and Sunshine Yellow inks to a craft mat, spritzed with water and picked up the colour with the bookmark. Finished it off by inking the edges with Stream ink.
The back was slightly inky, so I just sponged more inks (same colours) all over it and stamped it with various leaves in Lettuce and Meadow, adding some random leafy words (PSX). The whole thing is edged in Krylon Gold pen, then laminated. I’ll add some ribbons and fibres to it before posting it.

Course, I couldn’t waste the inks on the mat, so I added a little more, spritzed again and mopped up with another card, with which I made a matching card, using one of the ivy stamps and the leafy words. Very simple but I like it. I tilted the card to encourage the inks to run for a different effect and after stamping the ivy, pulled the colour in from the edges (Lettuce) with a damp paintbrush.

This fits Hels’ Sunday Stamper challenge for this week – Leaves and also loosely fits the Rainbow Lady’s Challenge – Falling Leaves, so I’m entering them for both.
New Doc gave me some tablets this morning and I feel a bit spaced out after taking them – feel almost tipsy, lol. NOT good when I have 3 days’ lesson planning to do this afternoon, hey ho! Off to work we go…. x

UPSIDE DOWN

2011-10-16T13:36:00.002+01:00

I had to make a quick card for my niece and decided to use this image for a simple card on glossy.

I’d used Dylusions spray inks – hot pink and rusty orange, or whatever they’re called and quite liked the effects, so I started playing with another piece, using the same image and this is how it ended up. This one’s going to be a book cover, unless I stick it in my journal!

I stamped the words directly on the glossy paper but didn’t like them because they were hard to read and too close together, so I stamped again on white card, embossed, and cut out to rearrange over the top, using the first lot of stamping as part of the design.

GINGERSNAP: SHARED MOMENTS, COLOUR CHALLENGE AND KCUK SWAP…

2011-10-14T17:04:00.004+01:00

I’m just sneaking in by the skin of my teeth for the Gingersnap Random Redhead challenge, which is ‘Shared Moments’ but I didn’t realise when making it that this would also fit the Colour Challenge, which is Blue, Turquoise and Purple, so I’m entering it for both challenges.

This is also my Stampbord swap for KCUK and yes, it’s late – as usual (hangs head in shame). In my defence, I’ve had a few really busy weeks with work and other stuff but that doesn’t really excuse me. Fortunately, the recipient of my swap doesn’t blog, so won’t see this and I can upload it.

I made a little ATC sized book, using Stampbord ATCs for the covers, with the theme of Friendship. I have to confess that I cried while making it, but that’s another story and this isn’t the place to share it… lots of memories, some happy. some sad. I used to make a lot of mini books, especially when I was running workshops but it’s been a while and I really enjoyed this for a change.

I used my favourite medium – pigment inks – because they blend so beautifully, even with fingers, and always look really vibrant – added to which, they’re PERMANENT, so won’t fade, unlike ALL water based inks. The covers are embossed with 3 layers of clear embossing powder, then the corners sprinkled with Suze’s Bedazzles. Looks as if I've covered part of the wording on the cover, but it's still readable in real life.

I’ve noticed that my scanner doesn’t seem to be picking up the nuances in shades, which has really been frustrating me, so I’m going to show you the scans first, followed by a photo, so you can see the difference in them. The real thing is probably a little between the two for the covers, because the sun shone for a few moments (it really did, even in North West England!!) and the light reflected off the glossy finish of the EP. I used Prisma pencils to colour the images and, unfortunately, semi obliterated the faces of the little girls on the front cover, but the overall effect is OK, so I’m happy with it.

The cover images and words are from Crafty Individuals.

This is a scan of the outside covers and the back. The colours here will give you more of an idea of the colours and shades of the whole piece, which isn’t quite as dark as it looks, although it is edged and shaded with the deeper (True) blue.

This is the inside – colours washed out because the little girl’s dress (far right) is actually yellow and the man on the right hand side of the first page is wearing a green shirt! The images are a mixture of Paperartsy, Art Journey and Stampinback. The words are computer generated, apart from the Hero Arts Friends background and all images are masked, then coloured afterwards, apart from the boy and girl, who come in a frame and I couldn’t face cutting it out today… so I used an image I’d already cut out.

I won’t upload the individual pages cos I’m sure you’ve had enough by now, lol. If you really want to see them more closely, then (as usual) click on each image to enlarge.

Just noticed I now have 250 followers – wow! I’m still amazed that anyone at all is interested in what I do but I’m grateful for all of you who come to see my attempts at artwork, lol – thank you VERY much and especially to those of you who leave such encouraging comments!

This calls for a celebration, methinks, so I may have to give away some Blog Candy!!!

…and so she stamped…

2011-10-09T21:34:00.002+01:00

When I remembered that Hels’ challenge for this week (Sunday Stampers) was blue and orange, I knew I’d just used those colours on my daffs/narcissi but I wanted to play for a little while, so I stamped a journal page.
Believe it or not, this is nothing but blue and orange – Stormy Sky, Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass, a little bit of Rusty Orange (Dylusions) and some Walnut Stain around the edges. It’s busy and a bit overdone but it was fun :-) I coloured the images (Dylusions) with Copics/Promarkers. Just decided she needs another hand, he, he – one to hold the brolly. Will put that right ASAP…

Trouble is, I’ve ransacked my playroom, the desk is a mess and I’ve left loads of stamps covered in ink :-(

Worth it though ;)

Seasonal or what………. ???

2011-10-09T17:29:00.002+01:00

Okay, I KNOW it’s not Spring – honestly, I do (I live in North West England, so I can assure you the weather is, bluntly, crap – wet and cold) but I just got this stamp and fancied playing with something different. I stamped the image, got out my Prisma pencils and three hours later – YES, THREE HOURS - this is what I ended up with.

I was inspired by the Beeswax website, where I noticed that one or two of the artists stamp in strange colours – ie not black or brown, lol. Eeek! Had to try it, though, so I stamped in something or other Pumpkin (Versamagic, chalk ink) and then proceeded to colour. The yellow IS a bit lighter than it looks on here – can’t win cos a scan washes out the background colour but a photo darkens it :-( Might have something to do with the fact that there’s no light here – it’s only 5.30 but it’s really overcast! I think they’ve become narcissi, rather than daffs…

I stamped again, cut out a mask, then added some text in Stazon Dove Grey. Finished off with a Stampin Up sentiment.

Can’t believe it looks so simple after all that work and blending, lol, even though it’s far from perfect. It has a sheen from the pencil, too.

Speaking of Stazon Grey – not Dove Grey, but Stone Grey – does anyone need one? I discovered two when looking for one, so I’m quite happy to share it… first come first served, but I’ll be offering it on KCUK, too.

You can see a bit more of the yellow here, in a close up – AND the grain from the pencil :-)

Quick and easy

2011-10-07T14:30:00.001+01:00

Here are the simple cards I made.

Saw something similar to this on someone’s blog but can’t remember whose – had to try it, though because it’s so simple. If it’s your blog, or you know whose it is, I’m sorry I can’t link to you!

This one’s for my bestest friend in the whole world, ever!

The leaf, postmarks and Merci are stamped on glorious rag paper, which is why it absorbed the ink on the edges so deeply.

It’s the Port Sunlight Show today and for the first time in 12 years, I’m not going. I WAS offered a ticket at the last minute but life conspired against me and it looks as if I still can’t go. To be honest, I just got a fabby dabby order in the post from Beeswax, thanks to the lovely, talented Willy’s advice and am so chuffed with it (just finished mounting the lubbly jubbly stamps on EZ mount) I feel as if I’d be greedy to want more, lol. Really good value – bigger than I realised – and great quality stamps. Can’t wait to play…..

QUICK ATC

Well, for some strange reason, Blogger has overwritten the last post with this one but the comments have remained – duh! What on earth is happening, lol? So, I’m posting the ATC again, just in case you think (as I did) you’re cracking up………… x

Being good?

2011-10-06T13:31:00.001+01:00

I had to make two quickie cards this morning, to send with other things and since I’m currently committed to using up my existing stash (not that it’s preventing me adding to it, I’m afraid – oh dear) I made scraplings. If you don’t know what scraplings are, they’re cards made with offcuts left over from cutting folded card. I do that a lot, so I sorted through all the colours, put them in a bag and resolved to use them whenever I could. Here are my first two.
I’m definitely in Autumn mode (it’s quite chilly here, very windy and wet with hail every now and then) so I carried on this theme. Must admit that’s partly cos the gorgeous fern stamp and words were still on my desk, cos I haven’t had chance to tidy it yet, he, he :-) The first one is made with Simple Expressions leafy stamps I used to design and sell when I had Katy’s Corner – seems like such a long time ago now! I still love that leafy stamp set, though, among others!

The second is one I made by overstamping one of my scratch papers. I experimented for a while, using card as my scratch paper to see if I ended up with something usable or interesting and this is one of the pieces I really liked. I just added some fern leaf stamping in a couple of shades of green, edged it in Adirondack Bottle, then layered it onto two shades of green with eyelets and some string. The verse was already stamped on it, so it was a lovely, quick card and I really like it. Looking at it now, I realise I made a mistake when adding the eyelets. They were supposed to go on the left hand side, to balance it, but hey ho – I still like it :-)

Two blog candy parcels are on the way. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from Anja, so I’ll be contacting the next reserve on the list, who just happens to be one of my friends, Ann B. If you’re reading this, Ann, I’ll be posting it in the next few days!!!

EUROPEAN TEXT and BLOG CANDY DRAW!

2011-10-02T09:58:00.001+01:00

Daring Cardmakers have a text challenge this week and because languages are dear to my heart, I cheekily ‘borrowed’ the theme for our KCUK Yahoo group monthly challenge, so this is my entry. Artistic Stamper’s Challenge is for Autumn Colours, so I’m entering that one, too, if it’s okay.
I haven’t used these colours for a while but Autumn is the time for gorgeous Autumn colours, even if the sun has been ‘cracking the flags’ in Merseyside and the rest of England most of this week.
The weather is due to change here tomorrow – more rain - and to get cooler as each day passes, due to a cold front coming in, but hey ho – it was lovely while it lasted.
Unfortunately, I had a manic week, teaching lots of classes I’ve never taught before and struggling with very mixed groups, so did nothing but work! Interesting, though :-)
Here’s my card. The French text is in the background, which is how I love to use it.

Colours are Adirondack Butterscotch, Distress inks Aged Mahogany, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade and Walnut Ink.
I really LOVE this colour combination.

BLOG CANDY DRAW

SO sorry it took me so long to get round to this, but here are the winners, as chosen randomly by my other half :-)

He chose the numbers 16, 21 and 32 and the comment writers are:-

16 – Anja

21 – Hlora

32 – Jo

Please contact me with your full name and address and the envelope will be sent to you ASAP. I hope you like it.

Just in case someone doesn’t get back to me, or doesn’t want to be included in the draw, we do have a standby (or two), so if you don’t contact me by

Thursday 6th October

your prize will be given to someone else.

Thank you for your lovely comments x

More Less is More 35 and another ‘C’ card…

2011-10-01T19:09:00.001+01:00

I really thought that last card looked anaemic, so I went back into my (now very messy) Craft Room for an hour and made a few more cards, amongst which were these two.
I used Versafine ink this time – my favourite for blue and white and it embosses so beautifully. I’m much happier with these and especially, although I hate to say it, with the ‘C’ Card. This is the reason why I bought that lovely Hero Arts set because I knew it would make lovely, quick, simple cards.

Couldn’t resist this one, simply because the theme mentions eyes :-) It’s not what I had in mind, though, so I may do another one in different colours to get the effect I really wanted.

LESS IS MORE WEEK 35 – COLOUR OF YOUR EYES

2011-10-01T12:41:00.001+01:00

Here’s my entry for this week’s Less is More challenge – the colour of your eyes. My eyes are blue, so I used two shades of Colorbox Pigment ink – Sky Blue and True Blue, clear embossed – for my first C card of the year. (Apologies for using this word so early – well it is for me)
I’m very traditional at Christmas and like to remember what it’s all about, hence the stamps I’ve used; Stampendous and Hero Arts.

Since this also fits the October Stampendous challenge – and uses one of their stamps – I’m entering it for that. It’s very simple, but that’s what’s asked for.

PINK SATURDAY…

2011-09-24T11:43:00.001+01:00

Well, it is here – kind of. Here’s a card I just finished. I’ll be doing the Ribbon Blog Candy draw some time over the weekend, so keep your eyes open for it!

LESS IS MORE WEEK 33

2011-09-22T16:53:00.001+01:00

The challenge over at LESS IS MORE for this week is ANYTHING GOES. They’re trying to reach 1000 entries, so I thought I’d have a quick go. Here’s my very simple offering.

The colours aren’t quite true and are lighter than they look, but I find it really difficult to get a good image of a card with lots of white space. The lines were dry embossed, then drawn with a matching Tombow pen, which is actually rust coloured. Hey ho! No time for fiddling with colour in Photoshop right now :-) It’s slightly textured because it’s stamped on linen card, but I like that effect.

See you soon!

ATC play

2011-09-19T17:38:00.001+01:00

Shades of Green

2011-09-17T21:57:00.001+01:00

The challenge over at Just for Fun is Shades of Green and here’s my entry. (Just noticed it’s not very straight – duh! Will have to put that right….. what am I like?)

Don’t forget, there’s still time to be entered for the Ribbon, brads and buttons blog candy – just leave a comment in the post below this one and mention the Giveaway and your name will be entered.

Flutterby and GIVEAWAY…

2011-09-11T17:26:00.002+01:00

Just finished a card I really enjoyed making. Although I started with some ink on the background, most of the colour has been added with Prismacolor pencils and it’s a combination of some of my favourite colours (as you can probably tell from the number of times I use them, lol).

The challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week is Flutterbies, so this WAS my entry but I’ve just been told I missed the fact that it was supposed to be pink and green - oops. My apologies, DCM – it really was an oversight and I’ve removed the title!
[PS Here’s a giggle for you. I made this card with someone in mind and when I went to stamp the inside, I noticed I’d put the front on the WRONG WAY – duh! The fold was at the right hand side. Could’ve done with one of those ‘you know you’re getting old when opening a card isn’t as easy as it used to be…’ stamps, he, he.]

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!

I don’t often use ribbons these days but the other day, I decided to sort them all out – it’s taken me THREE DAYS! I have more ribbon than anyone could ever use in a lifetime, SO….. I’ve decided to do a GIVEAWAY!!!!
I have THREE BIG EVELOPES stuffed with ribbons, trims and all kinds and I’ll send them to three random people who leave me a comment on THIS POST before 18th of September. There are some half and almost full rolls (most of which I’ve now shared between the bags, tho’ there are still a couple of rolls in each) and along with all the lengths you may find fibres and/or lace, along with grosgrain, satin and organza.
The DOWNSIDE is that you will probably have to unravel some of it and the bags contain a very mixed selection of sizes, colours and widths, not to mention materials.
The UPSIDE is that I’m still ‘destashing’ so I’ll be adding buttons, brads and maybe a few other things to the envelopes as the week progresses. If I don’t manage to get it all done, then I’ll do another giveaway soon because I really do NOT need all this stash I have now that I no longer run workshops or do classes!!!

BIT OF FUN TODAY…

2011-09-05T15:04:00.003+01:00

Before I start YET ANOTHER major clear up in my stamping room, I thought I’d have a bit of background fun. Yesterday, I stamped some of my newer images and cut them out, ready to use – this was the one I chose for today. (Click to enlarge)

Here’s a close up of the words.

I was thinking of nostalgia (TMTATC) but it isn’t an ATC, so I can’t use it for that challenge :-) But I did use eyelets, so can enter it for the Inkurable Stampers September challenge and there are lots of WORDS (as were the previous two posts but I forgot!) so I’m entering it into Just for Fun’s Words challenge.

More simple stamping – Part 2

2011-09-03T11:14:00.002+01:00

Part 2 of yesterday’s production – still in progress, I might add, lol.

Three of them are stamped on glossy card or paper.

Once again, I photographed the inside so that you could see the colours. This was the image I got on glossy card, using what was left on the stamp after the first stamping on the last post. It’s very subtle but really pretty.

This one’s my favourite and it’s only a little scrapling.

One layer cards

2011-09-02T16:18:00.002+01:00

Played with one layer cards today, keeping colours simple with one image and a saying or verse. As you can see, the results were mixed :-) I started with Kraft card, which I’ve always loved.

Then I added a bit of colour…

and a bit more… This hasn’t scanned well, so I photographed the centre bit to show the colours. If you click it to enlarge, you’ll get a better idea of the colours, for which I used Tombow felt tips.

I made a couple more on glossy card, but I’ll post those tomorrow.

Smelling Sweet

2011-09-01T20:34:00.002+01:00

Having withdrawal symptoms from stamping but have to concentrate on other things right now. I did make some more soaps, though, to try out the last set of moulds I got – aren’t they fab? They’re quite intricate and a real pleasure to unmould.

Should’ve put something in for size reference cos the bigger ones are quite big – the square flutterby is about 6cm (2.5” in old money), which will give you an idea of the size. I used English Rose essential oil in these and they smell scrummy. If they were a little smaller, I may have considered having a go with UTEE but they’re a bit big for that – the smaller ones may work, though…. h’mm…

Envelope

2011-08-31T15:54:00.002+01:00

I’ve just been playing with an address label (A4) for an envelope. Must do this some more, but next time, think about it first! Really must stop limiting myself to the stamps on the floor or desk and I need to tidy up already – hardly been in there but the room’s a mess again…

Name and address removed for privacy.

For those who asked – the texture is created with my good, old, trusty Fiskars brayer, using the Mesh roller, which I absolutely love. I’ll never understand why Fiskars discontinued this – it’s THE best brayer around because it’s weighted and very, very easy to use, plus it has interchangeable rollers, with lots of patterns, although I only use the mesh and the standard. I used a Big 'n' Juicy inkpad, followed by chalks and Stampin Up inks to colour.

More napkins

2011-08-30T12:06:00.002+01:00

Finished off two of the cards I’d started, using napkins – just had to have a play. One of them is very red – should’ve made the background a bit lighter – but I like the richness of it. I’d embossed the background/napkin, so used acrylics to add the stamping. Next time I use this design, I’ll use more yellows and browns.

This one is lighter and features some of my favourite baby birds! I love the quote and it’s one I’ve had for a while but hadn’t yet used. When I was on holiday, there were swallows all around, sitting on telephone and electricity wires and practising their flying! It was a delight to watch the babies being fed by their parents, only stopping to feed, then quickly flying off again. Loved the noise they made and the flocks were huge! I stamped the border with an old rollagraph wheel stamp which I’ve taken off the wheel, along with all the others – they make great background/border stamps!

Messing about…

2011-08-29T14:20:00.002+01:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love script/text/words/quotes, so I enjoyed filling in this background once the napkin had dried. It’s only a mess about and is a bit dark but I only realised how I could easily lighten it when I’d finished – will try that next time.

Played around a bit more and actually grounded the page – something I rarely forget but this time did. I also added some bits of white stamping and shading – not sure it’s lighter – possibly a bit richer, but I prefer it this way.

Busy, busy, busy…

2011-08-27T14:28:00.002+01:00

Seems ages since I posted anything on here but I haven’t been idle, lol. Had a couple of weeks away, visiting my bestest ever friend, followed by my OH having a week off work, so lots to do and some day trips with lots of walking when the weather allowed. I’ve done a bit of crafting, but not much stamping and have taken lots of photos but my card reader seems to be broken, so I can’t download the latest ones, even though I have some from the last few weeks.
Here’s my favourite fairytale house, where I spent my break.

And here’s the little house (at the bottom of the front yard) where I stayed while there.

I did some napkin art while there and have a couple of cards and a journal page in progress but they’re still drying, so I can’t finish them off yet, but here’s the other bit of crafting I’ve been doing.

This may look like ganache but it isn’t – and here’s a clue!

Here’s a bigger one, lol.

Yep, I’ve been soap making and have really enjoyed it. We started with a recipe in a magazine while I was away, but I enjoyed it so much, I got some more stuff when I got home and these are the results. They’re perfumed with various oils – mint, ginger, lime, lemongrass, grapefruit, mandarin, rose – and of course chocolate! I’ve tried a few different ingredients and recipes with varying degrees of success but it’s been so much fun!

Today, I stamped a card while waiting for the rain to die down a bit.

I used an Indigo Blu stamp, which is quite big, so I only used part of it, then watercoloured with inks and used a splatter stamp here and there, finishing off with a bit of glitter varnish over the petals, although you can’t see that, of course. I love these colours.
Will be visiting you all in the next week or so, as soon as life settles down a bit xxx

Forgot to add these… not too pretty when close up?

Taking a break…

2011-08-07T08:56:00.002+01:00

The background is Wild Honey and Crushed Olive Distress inks, with lots of splashed water. I liked the look of it, but it’s a bit too ‘mucky’ looking for me, so I layered it up on Primrose yellow and white, to lift the colours a little. No background stamping because I was trying to keep this one simple. The primrose and white don’t show very well, though – it’s brighter than this.

I’m out all day today, then going for a little break, so see you soon xxx

Two more quickies

2011-08-06T16:43:00.002+01:00

Two very simple cards, made for two specific people, for whom they’ll be appropriate.

I love York and this is for my brother, who lives there.

This one’s super simple but I like it…

Variations on a theme

2011-08-05T12:24:00.002+01:00

No theme, really, just the same stamp with different colourways. I love this Hero Arts stamp – it’s so easy to make a simple card with by just smooshing with Colorbox Petal Points in various colours, then clear embossing. I may well add some gems to the flower centres before I send them.

This one’s stamped with an Encore multicolour pad – Enchanted, I think – and isn’t embossed, but it has a lovely sheen. Must get this scanner and monitor calibrated cos the colours aren’t exactly true.

Two more

2011-08-04T22:01:00.002+01:00

I love glossy card but it can be a nightmare to scan or photograph and it took several attempts in this bad light (very dark earlier) to get the Mountain Rose and Sherbet pink to actually show up. Both cards are different shades of pink – the brown is the wood they were on when I photographed them. Marks are from the scanner – have since cleaned it – oops! No more acrylic paints on my little scanner, methinks – had to scrub it to get them off!

Alcohol ink smoosh

2011-08-03T20:52:00.002+01:00

A quick card made for someone very special, using Alcohol inks.

Journalling

2011-08-01T18:41:00.002+01:00

Had to do some journalling as part of my course and did it the creative way – inking, spraying, stamping etc – unfortunately, it was all ‘reflection’ on teaching and other stuff, so a bit dull. (Have you noticed that ‘REFLECTION’ is the buzz word of the moment, btw???)
Anyway, I’ve been working on a couple of pages for me in the last few days and finally got to finish them just now. They’re far from perfect but I like them, despite the mistakes I made. My pens weren’t too happy about writing on acrylic and gel medium, so I had to go over one section with another, thicker, pen which really spoiled it but hey ho, it was fun. One of the things I like best about journalling (just as it was with Altered books, which is pretty much the same thing when I do it, lol) is that if there’s something you don’t like – or an experiment goes wrong – you can just cover it up with more acrylic and/or gesso and start again.
My life’s going through another big process of change and adjustment right now, so that’s what I was thinking about – change and time. Is time really as we think it is, or did the Celts have the right idea? They believed that past, present and future were all happening at the same time but it just doesn’t feel that way. Kind of fits in with Quantum theories of alternative dimensions but I’d better not go off on a tangent, lol. Yep, I’m reading novels again…. can you tell, he, he?

I like the first page better than the second. I like the colours, but it’s also cos of the overwriting after the pens didn’t work and a change of heart half way through, which led to painting over part of it. It was originally about time but became about ‘singing your song’, with a bit of ‘time’ thrown in, following on from the left hand page. Probably should have started all over again but I liked the colours.

The colours on the second page are more varied in real life – there’s yellow and citrus in there, which doesn’t show up. Not quite as emotive as the first one, though.

Hopefully, I’ll improve with time, he, he. We all start somewhere…

Faith…..

2011-07-27T23:13:00.002+01:00

I’ve wanted this stamp for a long, long time and one day, while I was looking for something else, I spotted it on Ebay, so I just had to have it… you know how it is?
I stamped the flowers again on dictionary pages, then cut them out and coloured them, although it’s hard to see that from the pic. The face is stamped again on glossy card, then attached before the flowers.

I highlighted some of the wording with white pen and although it isn’t very obvious, it does lift it a little because the background was pretty dark.
Just an aside but is anyone else having problems with Blogger in Draft? My approved comments keep disappearing completely! I see them, read them, tick to publish and they’re just disappearing. I thought it was a typical blogger glitch but this morning, I published 5 comments and they’re simply gone! Frustrating …. :-(

Feeling blue?

2011-07-26T12:54:00.002+01:00

I love this shade of blue. Blue is my favourite colour, although I tend to veer more towards teals, firstly because I like the way they blend and secondly because it’s really hard to find an ink in a ‘good’ cornflower blue, which is my absolute favourite. Most inks are either too deep and invasive or too pale to blend well. Colorbox Sky Blue pigment ink is about the closest I’ve found to my favourite shade and this one is pretty close – it’s a Stampin Up ‘Baby Blue’ (I think – or is it Ballet Blue?).

I really must say a big THANK YOU to those of you who haven’t forgotten me! I really thought you would have, after almost a year of not posting, but you’ve really brought a smile to my face (and some tears to my eyes) with all your lovely comments. Thank you again xxx
On Sunday, I went on a small tour of the Williamson Tunnels, underneath Liverpool. It was fascinating, if somewhat short but I got some good photos and here’s one of them you may be able to use in your artwork. It’s taken at an angle – sorry about that – and there’s a bit of reflection because the receipts were laminated, but they’re still usable and extremely authentic :-) Just click to enlarge.

There are some really interesting stories behind those bottles and we were given a potted history of how bottling carbonated drinks has progressed over the years – fascinating. Apparently, there are two different ‘Friends of Williamson Tunnels’, working in different areas of LIverpool, so we’re planning on visiting the other one soon, just to compare.

Dream…

2011-07-25T14:00:00.002+01:00

I’m coming to realise that not all stamps are created equal. I’m not a big fan of clear stamps to begin with, although I love the way they’re so easy to position, but they never seem to stamp as perfectly as real rubber and they just don’t last. Couldn’t resist this one and although I love it, I wouldn’t recommend it cos of the quality. Hey ho… we live and learn.

More playing

2011-07-24T13:00:00.002+01:00

Just another play – this time with a stencil, overstamped with a few of my faves.

Yay, I’m back!

2011-07-23T16:42:00.002+01:00

All over and done with – I hope, although I’m still afraid to count my chickens cos that last piece of work I handed in was the worst and most quickly thrown together I’ve ever handed in, but at least there’s nothing pending for now :-) It’s a strange feeling, though, after 8 weeks of frenetic activity, with my parents coming over, followed by my nephew and niece, my son’s wedding, lots of observations one after the other, with various meetings, etc, 5 busy days in York with my brother, Ash and Rach after saying a tearful goodbye to Mum and Dad (again) then a quick catch up with my son and his new wife before the kids left on Monday – I’ve really missed having them all within easy reach and it was a real treat. But hey ho, life goes on and rarely stays the same!
Here’s a photo of each of them. Still can’t get over how grown up they are because they were only 6 and 8 when they left England. They’ll be 18 and 21 this year!

Kind of feels wrong to not be manic or working on something but I’m going to try to take advantage of it before I have to start manically job hunting – not easy at the moment!
The week before last, I managed to get my hands on some of those brilliant storage units they have in Infant schools – the wooden type with lots of plastic drawers – so the first thing I did after handing in my work was to start reorganising my craft room – eek! Can’t believe I amassed so many new stamps while I wasn’t even stamping, but at least I have new stuff to play with, he, he! Still haven’t finished reorganising, but it’s better than it was and the room’s actually been cleaned for the first time in about ten years – ooer! I’ll get piccies of the units soon, but for now, just wanted to upload the first card I made in my cleaner room, lol.

Yep, they’re my favourite colours but I just love this stamp from Indigo Blu. I bought one at Port Sunny but Mum liked it, so I let her have it. Didn’t know if I’d be able to get another one, but I managed it, so I had to try it out. I’ve been playing with some background stuff after watching some Dinah (should there be an ‘h’ ‘or not?) Wakely journalling videos, so the background is a mishmash of my short experimental playtimes. I have a few more things in progress and hope to stamp some more in the next few days, although I’m hoping to get to France very soon to see a special friend.

Black, white and a touch of colour

2011-07-06T12:54:00.003+01:00

Just indulged myself in a KCUK ATC swap :-)
It’s black and white and a touch of colour – and it really is just a touch of colour. I’ve entered these into Theme Thursday’s ATC challenge.

That was fun – now back to work :-(

Stamping

2011-07-05T09:27:00.003+01:00

Had a difficult few days after the joys of my son’s wedding last weekend. Mum and Dad left for New Zealand – again – and it seems harder to say goodbye every time we say it.
Today is potentially the last day of my placement (unless we have to put on an extra class so that some absentees can finish their formal assignments) followed by a summative meeting, and I needed some quick Thank you cards, so I took refuge in a bit of stamping therapy.

Then I spent a little time playing around with some colour for a change, using a new stamp a really good friend surprised me with a couple of weeks ago, along with some fabby narrow double sided tape, the exact size I needed for my tags for the wedding place settings.

Here’s a place setting.

and here’s the card finished last night. I added colour with my Prisma pencils after stamping.

Can’t not post a photo of my son and new daughter-in-law – I’m still basking in that memory, despite the sadness of the last couple of days.

One assignment to go – once I’ve completed this file I’m working on – so I’m hoping I’ll soon be able to stamp more often – yay! Something to look forward to, although I’m thinking of spending some time with my brother, in York, followed by a trip to see my best ever friend in France. We’ll see!

Invitations

2011-04-16T10:40:00.002+01:00

Not my usual thing, but surprisingly refreshing to make. I’ve been busy this week with evening invitations, Orders of Service, Menus, etc for my son’s wedding.

I’ve erased names and numbers, just for privacy.

Results

2011-04-09T09:27:00.002+01:00

Not brilliant but I wanted to try the stamps out. May have to remount and embellish – or I would if I had more time!

This one was really dark so I added some white pen highlights, which lightened it a bit… must get the white acrylic out and do my favourite thing with text. The mica inks look gorgeous in real life – bits of shiny teal glimmer through.

This was inspired by the Art Journey Blog. Love these colours, as you may have noticed, and had these stamps a while, but haven’t had chance to use them.

You’d think that with no time to play, I wouldn’t have been buying stamps, eh? Errrr, think again! I have a big basket full of those I’ve accrued over the last six months (beginning with October’s Port Sunny show) and have hardly used – including some which were birthday pressies from my lovely friends. Something to look forward to.

Sunshine!

2011-04-08T11:30:00.002+01:00

The sun has got his hat on and I just had a blissful hour, making a few background papers and some journal pages. I started out by trying the technique Carol showed on her blog, which was Dyan’s technique (Art from the Heart) – but it wasn’t successful…. never mind. Had a great time anyway and my papers are almost dry in the warm sun. Hard to believe it’s actually not cold!

The pages are from my PCET journal – something I have to do as part of the course – although I’m not doing too well on that score cos I’ve been too tired to journal! I can see me inventing ‘em all again when excerpts have to do in my files – ooer! As you can see, some of them didn’t turn out too badly and the design’s coming through more as the pages dry a bit more. It WAS fun, though and the best bit is yet to come – I’m going to stamp on them when they’re dry!!

Gotta tidy up now, though…

Camera find!

2011-03-12T11:24:00.003Z

Just found this on my camera and realised I’d forgotten to upload it! Made it two or three weeks ago for my best friend. Nothing elaborate but I do love these colours.

Birthday Card

2011-02-20T14:58:00.002Z

First and foremost, I must thank SANDY for a lovely award, which I’ve uploaded to the side, but will include below. I’m a little taken aback, since I haven’t been blogging too much recently, but I really appreciate it, Sandy. Thank you!

I’m supposed to tell you something about me you don’t already know – h’mm, not too sure about this one and will have to think about it. I’ll award this to some of my favourite peeps as soon as I get chance to browse a little.

I recently got a new phone and I’m hanging my head in shame cos all those years I told my kids off (said kids now WELL grown up, lol) for being phone obsessed and guess what? It’s taken over my life!! I’m spending WAY too much time playing silly games, in particular Angry Birds, Sudoku and Word games – SAD!! The good thing is I get my emails on it – usually (it’s decided not to update anything today for some reason, so need to check it) – AND I’ve been getting full use of the GPS with having to trudge all over Liverpool! Believe it or not, I really do NOT know Liverpool well, despite living only half an hour away – it’s HUGE and like a maze. Worst of all, loads of the streets aren’t signposted!

Anyway, my closest friends have birthdays this week – some of them BIG – so here’s the first of the cards I’ve made. Only two more to go – agghhhh!!

It’s masking again, so will go into the KCUK files and the colours I’ve used are Wend’s favourites. It looks WAY off kilter but it isn’t – a little out – unfortunately, I stamped the music background (Wend’s a music teacher) crookedly and the iffy lines make the rest of it look off. Hey ho. Tough ;) Will be back soon as I can!

Bit more stamping…

2011-02-08T13:30:00.002Z

This is the remainder of the cards I made last week. Yep, I did have fun :D Most of em were very clean and simple – which, to me, means no background and simple one or two stamp stamping. They didn’t take long but I do like CAS cards – I think they’re classy and straight to the point.
Hope to get to do some more later this week, before the mad rush begins…

MORE STAMPING

2011-02-07T10:48:00.002Z

The reason I had ‘permission’ (from myself, that is, he, he!) to stamp was because I’d just set the current month’s challenge over at KCUK – MASKING. Here are my samples.

On this one, I only masked the inside of the magnifying glass. The text is part of the stamp.

You’ve seen one of these before – it’s one of my favourites :D

I just masked for the moon.

This last one was for a bit of fun. The ladies were masked before I created the background with pigment inks and various stamps.

Chunky pages

2011-02-06T15:36:00.004Z

Had no PC this week because a neighbour cut through our phone line, while pruning his tree. BT didn’t rush to fix it because we have a SKY account, so weren’t a priority :( Still, it’s back now and I had a little free time because of it, so I did a bit of stamping.
Here are two chunky pages I just assembled and finished off. Too late for the swap but I can add them to my own book.

It's taken me two and a half hours to post this, after two failed attempts in the last two days - all because my phone's signed into another Google account! They won't let me change my email address because I have another Google account with it. What a nightmare! Their customer service say nothing they can do :( Must try to sort it all out!

Time out…

2011-02-01T16:48:00.002Z

Just took half an hour out to play with a new stamp from ISC. Isn’t it lovely? I’ve used Distress inks – ?? Moss, Tumbled Glass and Wild Honey and the background is all a shimmer with misty wotsits. I don’t often use yellow card cos even though I love it when other people use it, I find it oppressive. This time, however, it worked best!!
I was supposed to be masking something for the KCUK challenge but I’ll just have to get back to that, won’t I, lol? Have a great week!

Work or play?

2011-01-12T15:22:00.002Z

Ooh, that ‘s a hard decision – NOT!
Another itsy bitsy day, with no work done – <sigh> – fun, though and I did manage to sort out a few things with phone calls and other things. Unfortunately, it gets me into trouble in the long run, so I may have to be good for a while. Promise I’ll try to nip in now and again.
I just made the card I was intending making the day before yesterday! It’s a pretty, pretty one and anyone who knows me well will know exactly who it’s for :D Hope she likes it AND that it gets there in time!

ATCs – Pink and Brown

2011-01-11T12:02:00.002Z

Thank you to all who have left comments and especially for the New Year wishes! Gosh, I really have missed you all :(
As promised. This month’s ATC theme for KCUK is pink and brown and here are my offerings – very simple! I used Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick inks (with a bit of Antique Linen and Versafine Vintage Sepia) but neither camera nor scanner could find them. I’ve tried to tweak a bit but can’t get the colours right, so you’ll just have to imagine, he, he!

Er… Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-10T21:46:00.001Z

Sorry it’s been so long and especially so long before I wish you all a Happy 2011 :( I hope life is treating you all well?

Today, I had an unexpected free day, so I ventured into my Craft room to make a special card for a special someone. Of course, I didn’t make the card but I did make some ATCs for this month’s KCUK swap, so I’m going to shock Dot and get them in really early.

While downloading the images from the camera (taken this gloomy afternoon after having struggled with the crappy colours from the pain in the neck scanner for an hour) I found two cards I’d made some time last year. Must’ve been December but I forgot to download them – oops! So here they are…

It’s a pity you can’t see the detail on this first one because I used a lot of colour and lots of embossing underneath it, creating a resist effect. It was really fun to make.

My life has changed so much these past few months and it’s about to change again, becoming ever busier. What little free time I’ve had has been spent on Christmas preps and then on family and friends. Any other spare time I usually have my head in a book, writing notes on some psychobabble or another, writing up assignments or travelling on buses and trains. I’ve really missed visiting all your blogs and seeing what you’ve been up to – blogging friends feel so much like family because we ‘see’ each other so often! I’ve also missed having a bit of creative time and really thought I’d end up playing all the time during the Christmas holidays, but other things took over.

I have made the blanks for Phil’s wedding invitations – not all of them, just the evening ones – but I’m not allowed to go any further with those until they finalise a few things. Then I’ll be able to complete those, along with the Order of Service, Menus, Place settings, Table plans, cake boxes, etc, etc. Let’s hope there’s time to do them! It would have been nice to get them out the way over Christmas, but you know how it is. The best laid plans of mice and men… especially when your son is really laid back!

I’ve tried to get around to a few of your blogs in the last couple of days and have left some comments where I could. I can only visit those of you whose blogs don’t run super slow because of graphics, so please forgive me if yours is one of those which do – just don’t have the time or the hand strength at the moment – sorry.

I’ll post the ATCs tomorrow – can’t do two posts in one, he, he – not that it’s ever stopped me before! And I still need to make a card for that very special someone… shucks. That means I’ll have to go into my craft room again, <evil grin’>.

Look forward to popping in again sooooooooonnn!

Christmas ATCs

2010-11-20T15:51:00.002Z

Staying with the ‘one colour plus white’ theme because it’s easy and quick. I feel guilty for making such simple cards and ATCs – I like to put a bit more work into them, rather than simply stamping and layering, but hey ho! Needs must when time is precious… These have all been clear embossed, then most of them have been cuttlebugged, lol ;)

These are some of my favourite images, so it’s very self indulgent :D

White and One Colour – again

2010-11-19T08:50:00.002Z

It’s a nice, easy way of making Christmas cards and especially if you have a lot to make! I love this stamp.

Playtime!!!

2010-11-18T13:45:00.002Z

I know it looks red, but it isn’t – it’s rust coloured ;)

More white and one colour Christmas for KCUK.

Unseasonal flowers

2010-11-10T09:05:00.002Z

Born to be Wild…

2010-11-08T18:23:00.002Z

Ooh! Two cards in one day – actually, three, but I’ll post the other one tomorrow, lol. I’m hoping to do more later in the week. AND I made a quick wedding invitation mock up for Phil, lol. That was FOUR in one day after weeks and weeks of none at all, lol. Quick and easy but I stamped!

Christmas – White and one colour

2010-11-07T12:13:00.002Z

This month’s KCUK challenge is Christmas in white, with one colour. Here’s mine, using Brilliance Sky Blue.

Port Sunny stash…

2010-10-10T16:49:00.002+01:00

Really should be working and have an essay open here and books all over the kitchen table but couldn’t resist a quick play with a couple of my new stamps.
Had a great day at Port Sunny, meeting up with lots of old friends and some lovely bloggers I’d only ever ‘seen’ online, but never met before, which was brilliant. Good to meet you, girls!

This one’s an early Christmas present from a special friend and is a pretty, pretty stamp :D I flicked water on the background after I’d inked it up over the embossed flowers.

This one’s a set of stamps I’ve been wanting for a while and it’s a page, not a card.

I made the background at a Stamp Club with Jo, ages ago – lots of lovely colour spraying with lots of glitz and colour over stencils. Unfortunately, the gold has interfered with one of the crow’s beaks, but it looks better in real life. I’ve added a touch of leafy stamping but it isn’t very clear or defined. I’m really looking forward to a proper play with these when I get the chance.

Quick play

2010-10-04T13:08:00.002+01:00

I’m really missing stamping and blogging but not a lot I can do about that for now – hopefully, I’ll soon get into more of a routine and MAKE time to stamp!

I needed a quick card for someone, so I used one of my Twinkler watercolour backgrounds (made by just adding random Twinklers to the paper) to make this, using one of my favourite word stamps.

K for King 4x4 page and PDCC 46 – Colour Splash

2010-09-14T21:40:00.001+01:00

Here’s my K page for the Chunky Alphabet swap, which also happens to fit into the PDCC 46, which is a Colour Splash (Black and white with a splash of Gold, Pink or Copper). I’m not over pleased with it because it didn’t work out exactly as planned but I really don’t have time to play around with it right now. ( I managed to sneak an hour yesterday to make this, lol – hope to get to the next two letters later in the week!)

And K for knots, he, he!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 29b - Alcohol inks

2010-09-13T12:00:00.000+01:00

This week's Spotlight challenge on Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge Blog is to use Alcohol inks.

I was still thinking Clean and Simple when I made this and so I tried to keep it pretty simple - something I simply couldn't envisage when I first started to think about using Alcohol inks, which I LOVE for their messiness. Then I had a bit of a brainwave and this is what I did.

I added two colours of Ranger Alcohol inks (Citrus and Pool) to the felt on an applicator, keeping them far enough apart that they didn't bleed into each other, then dragged the applicator across a piece of glossy card to create a duo coloured stripe. Okay, I know it's NOT a straight stripe, but I still like it, lol. It's what's known as freedom of expression and is, at least, unique, he, he.

Stamped the Greeting (SU) and the butterfly (one of my all time favourite images from ISC) with Memories Black ink, then embossed them with clear powder while still wet.

Coloured another piece of glossy card with the same alcohol inks, then stamped and embossed the butterfly again but with the stripes in reverse order, to add some contrast. I then cut it out and attached over the top of the original one, using double sided foam tape, revealing the antennae underneath it.

Added three citrus brads under stripe to balance the design, then layered onto turquoise card and white card.

Chunky Alphabet swap - J

2010-09-10T20:49:00.002+01:00

Back to J again for my 4x4 pages and although I stayed with the J for Jigsaw theme, I added a Japanese slant this time.

I gessoed the jigsaw piece first – hence the bloom, I think – added the colour (Tombow felt tip) then stamped and embossed the Windy Geisha, bleached the colour from her skin, the kimono and the ‘brolly’, colouring them with a sparkly gold gel pen and edging with black felt tip. (Phew! That was a LONG sentence, lol). Embellishments coloured with Krylon Gold pen.

K for Kings

2010-09-10T06:32:00.001+01:00

What I had in mind for my 'K' postcard was going to be pretty complicated but then I remembered my playing card stamps and woohoo, I had an idea which was MUCH easier, lol.

Everything is stamped in Versafine ink, then clear embossed.

GPP Street Crusade #44 – Paint scraping

2010-09-09T11:20:00.003+01:00

Found the latest GPP Street Crusade yesterday and just had to have a go – especially cos my mind was in turmoil over something at the time. The brief is to use acrylics in journal pages but using only a scraper – or old Credit card/store card – and maybe some stencils of some kind.

I gessoed my altered book pages first, using an old credit card, then applied the paints in layers, spritzing with water now and again, followed by stencilling using a fern stencil I love but haven’t used very often. It’s a metal stencil so I couldn’t move it around enough to get random ‘off the page’ imprints, which I would have liked.

Had to wait for the paints to dry overnight because I’d applied them pretty thickly through the stencil. I wanted to add some more but didn’t want too much because I liked the pages as they were. I decided on using some letter stencils and some sequin waste – which I was hoping wouldn’t ruin the ‘negative/positive’ effect which I liked so much and here are the results so far.

I really like these pages and they look a lot better in real life but I’m sure I’ll like them much more when I’ve journalled on them, lol.

Crafty Cardmakers – Clean and Simple

2010-09-06T12:35:00.003+01:00

This week’s Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is Clean and Simple.
I don’t do a lot of CAS because I love to play with inks, but I do really enjoy simple card designs now and again. I’ll be making a DT card for the ‘Spotlight’ part of this challenge, but couldn’t resist making a couple of very clean and simple cards for fun.

I used the same flower stamp (Unity Stamps) with the same colours of Tombow felt tips on both of them, but different words (Unity Stamps and Stampin Up).

The first one is stamped directly onto a folded white card, while the second one is stamped on white card, layered with a very narrow border onto green card to match the green pen I used, then onto a larger white card. Very clean and very simple but I like them.

Don’t forget to visit the Challenge blog to see the beauties my teamies have created for you this week!

J for Jigsaw pieces

2010-09-05T15:02:00.004+01:00

Here’s my J postcard but I haven’t yet managed to finish the 4x4 – hope to get that done in the next few days.

The background is resist – Versamark ink stamped on glossy card, then inked over with Distress inks – Pine Needles, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass and Broken China, with a little overstamping in Broken China and Pine Needles. The jigsaw pieces are stamped with various stamps and embossed, then inked. The words are from a Simple Expressions plate, stamped and cut up.

Sorry I’ve not been able to visit your blogs as much as I usually do – life’s a bit chaotic here at the moment. Hope to manage a bit more free time after this week.