In the Garden

Wow what a change in the weather! Just perfect for getting out in the garden! Unfortunately I've had to go to work so that hasn't really happened yet. Got lots of weeding to do this weekend me thinks, mind you I've got decorating to do too, never enough hours in the day! This week's DT project using "Sam Poole's bird stamps" is influenced by the green of the garden at the moment.

I used my distress markers to stamp the central bird, and used distress inks to stamp leaves and the small flourish all round the central circle and the background layer. I added a little black dot to the bird's eye and then coated him in glossy accents.

I found a piece of loosely woven green fabric in my stash and thought that it would add an interesting texture. I cut it roughly to size and then frayed the edges before stitching it onto my card. I also added a strand of natural raffia for even more texture.

I cut the tag from mount board and stamped the sentiment using distress ink. The leaves and flowers were all cut using Spellbinders dies, and spritzed with gold mica.

The flower centres were brads that I coated with glossy accents and then covered with gold accent beads. I selectively coated some of the leaves around the central circle and the background with glossy accents to add a bit more interest.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Craft Room Challenge - Add Fabric"
"Hooked on Craft - Flowers"
"Make it Monday - Always anything goes"
"Great Impressions - Anything goes"
"One Stitch at a Time - Anything goes"
"Opus-gluei - Sew What"
"Stamptacular Sunday - In the Garden"
"Just some Lines - Show us those birds"
"The Secret Crafter - In the garden"

Don't forget to visit the other DT members to see what they are making with these stamps!

Paris Revisited

I had to make a birthday card for one of our French friends and wasn't sure what direction to go in. He is not very well and is confined to bed so a sporty card would probably be a bit insensitive. One of his great loves is good wine, but I'm not sure if he's allowed to drink so again a wine themed card could be insensitive.


He has always been very patriotic so in the end I decided to use the Just Rite Cling stamps that I got from Creative Expressions a few months ago. I chose a cream/brown/turquoise colour palette. I didn't want the card to look too feminine so I chose to make brown flowers using scraps of brown parcel wrapping paper. The flower centres are brads. I also had some scraps of DP left over from my first hidden message card and some scraps of vellum to use up so these were incorporated into the card too.

I distressed the edges of the elements in my card using frayed burlap distress ink....unfortunately my blending foam is still giving a green tinge so please ignore this, it is supposed to be brown. The dies I used for the flowers, leaves and the main focal point of the card were all Spellbinder dies.

I dyed the seam binding using brusho ink which turned out to be a very close colour match to the combination of tumbled glass and broken china that I had used to colour the main focal point of the card. The words, postcard, stamp, Fleur de Lys border, Eiffel Tower were all stamped using Coffee Archival ink. The post mark was stamped using Black Ancient Page.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges....
"Fashionable Stamping - Monochromatic plus one other colour"

"Creations by Gill M - Colour challenge"

"Card Crafters Circle - Use Die Cuts"


"Daring Card Makers - Postage Mail"

"Fabulous Friday - Brads or Eyelets"

"Stamping for the weekend - Photo inspiration"

"Totally Paper Crafts - ribbons and or bows"

"Delightful Challenges - Use your scraps"

"Do you stack up - Layers"

"Southern Girls - so distressed"

Feeling Rusty?

Do you feel rusty...I know I did...I've been trying out pilates and I have to say it is really doing the trick...I'm feeling so much more flexible. Still can't touch my toes though...my excuse is I have very long legs and a very short body, so I've got further to reach!!! Enough of that though...just came to mind coz the next "Tanda Teaser" is to use rusty colours in your creation.

My card uses stamps from Tanda...including Zoe's special Wantage girls set...I just wanted to let Zoe know it's great especially these really industrial looking impellers! My rusty cogs are recycled fruit juice cartons coloured with alcohol inks. Lots of distress inks used here....were supposed to be shades of brown, but came out a bit green...need to wash out all my blending foam me thinks!

Oh news on our little feathered guest...he/she we don't know which...after a night in the warm, a fat ball and some water...our little blue tit flew off into the wild this morning....I was half hoping that we would have a little crowd of blue tits waiting on the doorstep this evening...temperatures are due to go down to -10 degrees C tonight. Fingers crossed our blue tit makes it!

Back to the card....I would like to enter it into the following challenges:

"Charisma Cardz - Vintage"

"The Stamp Man challenges - Embellish it"

"Fun With Shapes - Include a die cut/punch"

"Creative Stamp Friend - Old Fashioned or Vintage"

"Cup cake craft - Recycle"

Hidden Messages

Here's my next "Creative Expressions Design Team piece" using the wonderful Wendy Veechi stamps. I made a template with heart shaped petals to open out to reveal a hidden message, bearing in mind I made this last week and only saw the latest Craft Stamper afterwards it's a bit spooky....hidden messages and all that! Ok a bit different, but hidden all the same.

The dotty and stripy papers were from the Treasury in Kidderminster, I bought them for another project...but then decided to use them for this instead...best laid plans and all that.

I used the lacy Wendy Veechi stamp to stamp the heart shaped petals and the sentiment (first time I've used this particular stamp). All stamping and distressing has been done in distress inks. Metallic and bling elements are in the form of brads. The pointy finger....is from the Just rite Cling set. Greetings from Paris. The leaves were die cut using the Spellbinders foliage die.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

"Moving Along With the Times - Spots and or Stripes"

"Pixie Dust Studio - Put your heart into it"

"Southern Girls - show us your Sparkle"

"Simon Says Stamp - Spots and or Stripes"

"Anything goes - anything goes"

"Everybody Art Challenge - shabby"

"Incy Wincy Designs - vintage"

Rose Tinted

I should have posted this yesterday, but as you might know if you read my blog, things have been a bit more manic than usual. I am more or less sorted...the alarm has been fixed, the new washing machine works brilliantly, the plumbing under the utility sink is fixed, the new printer will print (not how it's supposed to, but at least it will print) and we can make phone calls although we still need to program the phone....

So now I just have to sort Christmas!

This fortnight the Tanda Teaser is "Rose Tinted". I've had enough of Christmas cards now....got them all made and posted so I'm happy not to make another one for quite a few months! I did realise after I'd posted that I seem to have set rather a lot of colour challenges recently so I'll have to make sure I do something different next time!

My card is single layered. I have used Tanda stamps, Aquastamps (available from Tanda) and my Dune dots stamp (available from the Treasury in Kidderminster). I used stamped the padlock first then masked it before sponging distress ink over an acetate mask that I made using a spellbinders die.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

"Make it Monday"

"Corrosive Challenges - Anything but Christmas"

"One Stitch at a Time - Anything goes"

"Sparkles Forum - Anything but Christmas"

"The Crafty Pad - Anything but Christmas"



This is probably the last blog post that I will make before Christmas, so I would like to wish everyone who has visited my blog and especially those who have left comments a Happy Christmas and to say Thank you for your support and encouragement!

I hope to see you in the New Year!

New Stamps and New Beginnings!

We received our latest stamps from Creative Expressions last Friday and they are gorgeous! I've not had any Studio 490 "Wendy Vecchi" stamps before, but this Sentimental art set is fabulous. The main stamp is a lacy design and is perfect for square cards and the quotes are all very usable!

For my first DT piece I have made an easel card for one of my College friends. Her birthday is right at the end of December and I thought that as it is on the cusp of the New Year it might be nice to make her card into a little present too, namely a desk calendar. I chose the quote..."A perfect day is waking up with a purpose and retiring with a dream for tomorrow" as I thought it fitted the calendar theme perfectly. For stamping and distressing, I used Frayed Burlap Distress ink and Pumice Stone Distress Stain was used to dye the seam binding.

The flowers were made using Spellbinders rose creations (and some wrapping from some flowers that I'd kept), Spellbinders Foliage dies (grey mulberry paper) and the quote was mounted on card cut using the Spellbinders small labels die.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

"Corrosive Challenges - Anything but a Christmas card"

"One Stitch at a Time - Anything goes"

"Sparkles Forum - Anything but Christmas Card"

"The Crafty Pad - Anything but Christmas"

"Die Cut Dreams - Make a Date"

"Stamp and Create - Vintage"

"Try it on Tuesday - Anything goes"

Bon Voyage Tag

Hi, I'm not at home at the moment so I'm mobile blogging...I've come down to mum and dad's to see how they are doing. Sitting in bed burning the midnight oil trying to catch up with a few things and I am scheduling this to go live later this morning!
this Tag is my next DT piece using the Bon Voyage stamp set by Just Rite available from Creative Expressions. Paris makes me think of all things elegant, so I wanted to create something elegant to reflect this. I kept the colours muted and the lines simple. The dies that I used are from Spellbinders.

The ribbons are seam binding that I have coloured using Weathered Wood and Pumice Distress Stains. You cannot see it in the photos, but these inks seem to give the seam binding a rather lovely shot appearance.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges

"Totally papercrafts - anything goes"

"Cute card thursday - Anything goes"

"Cooking it up with katie - Anything goes"

"Inky impressions - must use ribbon"

"Die cuttin divas - tags, tags and more tags"

"Papertake Weekly - anything goes"

"Lawnscaping - tags or treat bags"

Easel with a Twist

Just thought I would share this card with you as it fits several challenges atm. The card is for hubby's aunt. It's her birthday on Monday, but I think I am safe to show it as she doesn't know about my blog!


Basically this is perfect for her as she is an excellent cook and makes all the special birthday cakes and wedding cakes for the family. The stamps are from Lili of the Valley (except for Dune Dots which is exclusive to the Treasury in Kidderminster). Colouring has been done using Copic Markers and distress inks. The jam jar, umbrella and jam have been coated in Glossy accents and some glitter has been applied on the icing sugar. The flowers were made using Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the leaves were made using a Spellbinders foliage die.

This fits with 6 challenges as follows:

"Delicious Doodles - Hairy Legs"

"Glitter Fairies - Easel Card"

"4 Crafty Chicks - Birthday"

"Some Odd Girl - Show us your easels"

"Stampavie and More - Easel cards"

"Lili of the Valley - Anything but a Christmas card"

Just For You!

This month it's a bit different for the Creative Expressions Design team, this time we've been given the "Bon Voyage set from JustRite Stamps". These stamps are designed to work in conjunction with Spellbinders dies. I haven't got the perfect die for this set, but the lacy oval die seems to work reasonably well.

For a change I thought I would make something other than a card...hence...a pillow box..loads going on here...The box was made using card that I'd stamped and distressed using, stormy skies, black soot and weathered wood. I used a strip of designer paper that I stamped and distressed as per the main box. The label was stamped with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink (For You was from the rambling rose u mount set). The flower and leaves were die cut using Spellbinders Rose Creations and Foliage dies. A silver brad, a bit of silver krylon pen and some glossy accents finish the project off.

Oh almost forgot...fusible fibres and gunmetal stickles also got a little bit involved too..

I would like to enter this into several challenges as follows:

"One Stop Craft - Colour Challenge Blue"

"Rogue Redhead Designs - Dress Down, one designer paper"..you can't see it very well, it's the band wrapped around the pillow box, but I promise it is there!

"Squiggles and giggles - anything but a card"

"Fussy and Fancy - Make a gift anything but a card"

"Pile it On - Anything with a P...P for Pillow box and Paris"

"Hooked on Crafts - Punches and or die cuts"

"Lexi's Creations - No straight edges"

"My Craft Spot - Hand made flower power"

More Gilding!

Since discovering Indigoblu's Flitterglu I just can't seem to leave it alone! This time I used their gilding flakes too....how yummy does their Yorkshire Dales look on green pearlised card. For this card I have used stamps from Sam Poole's Stylish Christmas stamps, available from "Creative Expressions".

I've gone a bit to town with the old Spellbinders dies and distress inks too!

I would like to enter this card into a few challenges....

"Our Daily Bread designs - Baubles, bells or anything hanging"

"Fabulous Friday - Die cuts"

"Floweret - Christmas"

"Phindy's Place - Christmas cards"

"Wags and Whiskers - Christmas"

and last but not least here one for Zoe, Neet and Von over on "Just for Fun" where the challenge is to use you fav technique.

A Little bit of sparkle!

As I type this I am sitting in the reception of a hotel in Madrid....The travel bug really seems to have bitten lately, only problem is that nothing is getting done at home and blog posts have been few and far between....I'm having to schedule this one so that I can add the photos later....They are on my laptop at home...so with any luck this should appear some time on Friday afternoon with pictures! If not the pictures should come soon! I just spent an hour or so working on the toppers for our family Christmas card for this year and I have discovered that Ranger Stickes do not travel by plane well.......I had my own glitter fountain! I guess for some reason the pressure had built up inside the tube on the flight and then hadn't equalised itself since. A bit hairy when you are sitting in the reception of a posh hotel and crafting on antique inlaid table!

Well enough of that and onto my next card using Sam Poole's wonderful Stylish Christmas stamp set. I was really happy to receive these stamps from Creative Expressions, they are so versatile, as you will see if you visit any of the other design team blogs. I have a bit of catching up to do!

For my card I used the Robin, the flourish (how fab is this stamp....certainly not just for Christmas! ) and the Noel stamp. I also used a brand new product, Flitterglu from IndigoBlu. I'd had these guilding flakes for absolutely ages and ages, but I didn't really like any of the products that you used with them, consequently they tended to just sit in the drawer, as these things do. Until now that is!

You will be seeing quite a lot of gilding flakes from now on. What's even better is that the technique works really well with these Creative Expressions stamps.

For my card I used Fliterglu directly on the robin stamp and stamped this onto red card. The gilding flakes are then patted over the stamped image before being rubbed off and buffed. I used the Fliterglu on the flourish stamp but instead of flakes I used fine bronze glitter to make a background. Noel was stamped in Aged Mahogany Distress ink and distressed around the edges a bit. The robin and the layer under it was cut out using a Spellbinders die.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

"Chrimbo Crackers - Must be Christmas Make it Sparkle"

"Dutch Dare Card Challenge - Punches and dies"

"Forever Friends - Must include an animal, something old, something new"

"Inky Impressions - Glitter"

And last but no means least,

"Ruby's Rainbow - Something with wings"

I'm starting to panic now.....it's been several hours since I applied the Stickels and they are no where near dry...I'm supposed to be getting a taxi in an hour's time! EeeK!

Tanda Teaser - Packaging

Hi, just a few mins to put together a post on the "Tanda Teaser". For the next fortnight the theme is to use packaging somewhere on your project. For my card I used the Spellbinders cogs dies to cut cogs out of fruit juice cartons. I then coloured these with alcohol inks. The inks used were distress inks and the banners were cut using the Tim Holtz die. The motorcycle and the crackle are Tanda stamps. The sentiment was stamped using individual letter stamps.

Having just checked out "the Feline Playful blog" I have seen that this card can be entred into two challenges.

Firstly "Just for fun - use something from the kitchen">

and secondly "The Southern Girls Challenge, slugs and snails something for the men/man in your life"

Sunday Day Trippers....

This is my next Ethel and Murray creation using stamps from Creative Expressions' witty, Wrinkles don't Hurt plate.

I used chipped Sapphire Distress ink to stamp the image and to distress the edges of the circle and label. The dies were all Spell binders dies. The patterned background paper was actually made using a huge background stamp that I found recently...it is soooo big that it hangs over the edge of my largest acrylic block, but it still seems to stamp out large enough for a 5 x 5 inch card! Exactly what I need.

The colour, the check, the simple lines and the sentiment all give this a very humorous masculine feel.

With that in mind I would like to enter it into several challenges.......

"Fairy Fun Holidays - Masculine"

"Just Add Ink - White and one other colour"

"Stampman - Monochrome"

"Clearly Inspired - Patterned Paper"

"Corrosive Challenges - Funny or Punny

P is for Pastels

Over on the "Alphabet Challenge Blog" P is for Pretty Pastels. This gives me the chance to enter my next Ethel and Murray card....Ethel has had another purple rinse. For my card I used Spellbinders oval die, Spellbinders tag die and various punches. The image of Ethel was coloured using Copic markers.

Wrinkles Don't Hurt!

I have to apologise.....I've been on holiday....the Wifi in the hotel was totally appalling, the last blog post I did took ages to do and crashed several times in the posting so I kind of gave up and decided to wait untill I got home....our internet is pretty bad here too but not as bad as last week in Cornwall!So this is my third card using the Ethel and Murray stamps from Creative Expressions....and it just happened to fit in with two challenges....The winkled background was paper scrunched up and inked with distress inks...using tanned colours..(the inspiration for the background came from the sentiment)..Ethel was stamped in frayed burlap DI then water coloured before being covered with a layer of glossy accents....the flowers were left overs from some that I dyed/stamped and made up ages ago when I was making some sample cards for the Treasury. The ribbon was also a remnant from some sample cards I made for Patty.

So the challenges I am entering this card into are...

"365 Cards Wrinkled"

"Bearly Mine, Flowers, flowers, flowers"

Just a quick reminder!

Just a quick reminder.....the current "Tanda Teaser" , Ribbons and Bows ends tomorrow morning when the next Teaser goes live...so if you have the time to pop over we look forward to seeing you there.

See the Tanda Teaser for the details of stamps used. I used distress inks to stamp and colour the images and glossy accents on the main image....which was stamped on card die cut using nesties. The ribbon was from fantastic ribbons.

Tanda Teaser....and news of a win!

I'm late again posting the latest Tanda Teaser on my blog....I do have several good excuses for this, promise....

With all the excitement about the royal wedding I decided to set a Wedding related Teaser. My main image was a Tanda stamp, stamped in Pumice stone distress ink (one of my fave colours). This was layered onto a scalloped nestie that I had stitched tea dyed cotton lace onto. The background papers were purchased from the Treasury. Overall the colours have giving this card a vintage feel.

I had been admiring some of the Magnolia tag dies, but the thought of spending more money put me off. The tag on this card was my way of getting the same sort of effect, not quite as pretty but pretty enough.

I know I did promise some more pics of Wisley, but you will have to wait a bit longer for now. I seem to be spending all my time at the moment watering the garden...I can't remember when we last had rain and the wind has been so strong that even well established plants are wilting. It looks like the weather might change by the weekend so I am going to make the most of the time I have today in the veg patch...

Oh I almost forgot....I had a lovely surprise at the weekend. My entry in the Sir Stamp a Lot monthly challenge won first prize! It was lovely to get some good news for a change.

Well I'd better get back to my digging!

Sue
x

LOTV Happy Birthday Challenge

this This week's challenge over at Lili of the Valley" is to make a birthday card. I have just made this card for a certain little niece who's birthday is today. I just hope it didn't get squished in the post! I used the fairies on tiptoe stamp coloured with copic markers, a touch of glossy accents on the flowers and wand and a little clear star sakura pen on the wings and skirt. I've used my dotty stamp again to help with the distressed edges. The butterfly was from the Artylicious CD Rom Butterfly Bliss, and having coloured my fairy, I realised that I didn't have any lilac background papers in the house! Luckily the trees on the Artyicious Essence of Nature CD Rom have worked. The flowers were made using handmade paper from Ikea (Every time I go there now I am looking out this paper as it makes fabulous flowers, but they seem to have stopped doing it!) The flowers are cut using Tim Holtz dies, scrunched up, distressed with DI and then a little shimmer added with pearlised medium. The dies are new, they are from Spellbinders and I got them from the Treasury in Kidderminster this week. They are so pretty I couldn't wait to use them. They have so many gorgeous dies out at the moment it is really hard to choose...I ended up getting two dies and then going back the next day for some more.