New Tanda Teaser

The next Tanda Teaser is to make something with no designer papers. I was really struggling with this card, then remembered that our friend had mentioned that he was going to buy a Jaguar, he was also trying to persuade DH to enroll on a speed boat course. So the need for speed seemed like a good direction to go in, hence the racing theme. The smaller cogs are Spellbinders dies, the large cog is a Tim Holtz die. All cogs are cut from a juice carton and coloured with alcohol inks.

The checkered flags were stamped onto white shrink plastic and shrunk to make an embellishment.

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

"Dream Valley Chalenge - Just for Men"

"2 Sisters - Anything Goes"

"Our Creative Corner - Over the Edge"

"Rogue Redheads - Use a Stamped Background"

"Stamp Scrap Doodle - Manly Card"

"Sweet Stamping - Its A Man Thing"

"All sorts challenge - Free and Easy February"

"Hot Shot Craft - One for the Boys"

"Wags and Whiskers - Masculine Birthday"

Heartfelt Creations

We just received the products from "Creative Expressions" for this month's DT makes. This month we have the brilliant "Bold Bella Rose PreCut Set" and the "Bella Rose Dies" from Heartfelt Creations.

I had a couple of presents to wrap at the weekend and thought that these stamps would be perfect for making hand made wrapping paper. I used some brown parcel paper and then selectively inked up my stamps with Marvy brush pens. It took ages to do but I was quite pleased with the result. Once stamped, I sprayed the sheet with gold mica similar to cosmic shimmer....(I'm just using up what I've got in the draw). The shimmer just gave the paper a lift making it a bit more special. I had to iron it when it was dry just to straighten the paper out a bit.


The tags were stamped using the same pens, but this time I stamped off one image first, then sprayed the stamp with a fine mist of water before stamping onto semi absorbent cream card that I had already spritzed with gold mica, this gave the very slightly fuzzy image that I wanted.

I wrapped the presents with the paper then tied the tags of with raffia which I layered with the die cut leaf flourish.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Corrosive Challenges - Another Dimension"

"That Crafty Place - Anything goes"


"2 Sisters - Anything goes"

"One Stop Craft - Colour on Craft"

"Allsorts Challenge - It's your choice"

"Stempelsonne Challenge - A Flower for You"

"Fun with Shapes and more - Package"

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"

Daisy, Daisy!

Well another fortnight has gone by already so it's time for another "Tanda Teaser". This time the theme is to use at least one Daisy on your project. I have used stamps from Tandas Flourish set, their crackle background, my dune dots stamp and a Graphicus stamp for the quote. The butterfly circles are punched. The images were stamped and distressed using spiced marmalade distress ink.

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

"Crafts and Me - Distressed"

"Divas By Design - Wings"

"Flutterby Wednesdays - Anything with wings"

"Inky Impressions - Punches/dies"

"truly Scrumptious - All Creatures great and small" butterflies are my small creatures.

Dance Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!

This is my next Creative Expressions design piece. It's a wall hanging that was inspired by the film Ali.....It had been on the Sky + for ages and hubby and I finally got round to watching it the other day!!!! I think it had been saved for months, but we needed space for the Superbowl!! Hubby's a huge fan. So dance like a butterfly sting like a bee....started to buzz round in my head....excuse the pun. Having a butterfly and a bee in the Eco green, Garden Chic set just kind of started shouting out for some sort of Ali themed project.

I started going through the sports section of our paper for the last few weeks to see if I could find some boxing related cuttings to make a background with...so now this piece is not just about Ali, but also a tribute to his trainer who died recently. My paper was full of Obits, so I have used these to cover a piece of mountboard. I was going to gesso it....but a certain daughter had not cleaned it properly when she used it last and it was completely stuck...

Then I decided to use Eco paint...I used the sand colour, a little watered down, I sponged it back off the areas that I wanted the newsprint to stand out more. I distressed the rest of the background by dry brushing a bit more Eco paint in the same colour. I distressed around the edges of the mountboard with frayed burlap and aged mahogany distress inks. Then I stamped the ragged robin stamp across the bottom of the mountboard. I stamped the bee onto some cream card and then punched it out. This was mounted in a bottle top and encased in UTTE before being adhered to the card. The butterfly was stamped onto Glassine paper and then heated with a heat gun, this kind of melts the surface and draws the ink into the paper which worked really well for the wings

The text is stamped using the Creative Expressions vintage typewriter set by Sam Poole that we were demo-ing a few months back..I just stamped the typewriter keys out a few times, cut out the letters I needed and coated them in glossy accents.

A couple of other stamps were used, a bit of vellum, some chain and some eyelets and that more or less completes the project.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges....

"Aud Sentiments Challenge - anything but a card"

"Charisma Cardz - Anyting with wings"

"Colour Create - Light and dark browns with white/cream", I'mm hoping I'm ok with this one, counting aged mahogany as my dark brown, frayed burlap as my light brown and stone as my cream.

"Crafty Ribbons - For men and boys", might be a problem with this, I'm not sure if entries should have ribbon on them...couldn't see anything in the rules?

"Craft us crazy - Anything goes"

"Just for Fun - Vintage Men"

"The Outlawzs - Masculine Project"

"The Poodles Parlour - Anything goes"

Another Hidden Message Card

I'm sharing a card I made for my dad, it's his birthday next Monday....I had a total mental block with this one....Dad is going down hill rapidly at the moment...he just sits in his chair and falls in and out of sleep. In the past it was easy...he was a keen gardener...in the garden all day, volunteered at RHS Wisley...etc etc...and in the past he has berated me for sending cards that might suggest that he is old! (I sent a card featuring a rocking chair with lovely flowers all around!) He was a brilliant scientist, excellent at puzzles and crosswords and a complete wizz on the computer..he always managed to rescue the computers here when they died! Fathers Day last year I did a suduko themed card and he thought it was brilliant but he can't concentrate enough to do suduko any more...So..what should I do?

I've gone down the scientist route...the background isn't background paper by the way...it's stamped using a stamp from Stamp Addicts...I have to say I was disappointed at how small this stamp is...but with a bit of planning it is possible to get a decent background with it...this also led to me to this secret message layout....so the scientist is like dad a bit ahead of his time. The main image is a Cherry Pie stamp and the ink splats are one of my fave stamps at the moment from Paperartsy! Just hope he doesn't take offence, afterall this is a dead scientist!

Too late anyhow..coz this got the 5.15pm post this evening!

This card fits a few challenges as follows

"Crafty Ribbons - For Men and Boys"

"Craft Us Crazy - anything goes"

"Cooking it up with Katie - Spooled, metal, sentiment"

"Crafty Creations - Swirly whirly"

"Stars and Stamps Midweek throwdown - no glitter birthday"

"Celebrate the Occasion - Anything Goes Birthday"

"Ribbon Carousel - Must use a spooled item, anything goes."

"DRS Designs - Make your own background paper"

Hello again Wendy!

Well as suspected I just couldn't give her up....Wendy Veccie's stamps are here to stay! Especially that lovely "lacy background!".

The scissors, sewing machine and button card are all Crafty Individuals stamps, the heart die is from Paperartsy, the flower was made using Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the ribbons are seam binding dyed with distress stains.



I stitched the card together and glued 6 tiny buttons onto the button card. Once assembled I spritzed the whole card with a silver mica spray....The sewing machine and scissors were then coated with glossy accents to give some dimension.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges...

"Crafty Sentiments - Let's get girly"

"Craft Your Passion - Anything goes no patterned paper"

"Craft Your Days Away - Lets get stitchy"

"Drunken Stampers - Something new"


"Marks Finest Papers - Use a Spray"

"Lets Ink it Up - Ribbons and or Lacy"

"The Hybrid chick Card Caravan - Use Ribbon"

Now You See it Now You Don't

Here's another hidden message card!

We have a bee keeper in the family and his birthday is coming up at the end of the month....he doesn't know about my blog so I think I am safe in posting his Birthday card....this also doubles up as my third DT piece for "Creative Expressions" using the "Eco Green Garden Chic" stamp set.

I've used the Creative Expressions special touch honeycomb mask and distress inks to make the background. The circles, flowers and leaves are all Spellbinders dies. The waggle dance instructions were hand drawn in fineliner.


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

"Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Make it a Guy thing"

"The Hybrid Chick Caravan - Use Ribbon"

"The Paper Players - Flowers"

"Catch the bug - Anything goes"

"Our Craft Lounge - Up in the air"

"Crafty Ribbons - For men and boys"

"Do You Stack Up? - anything goes"

"DRS Designs - Birthday Cards"

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"

Busy, busy bee....

Woww....Mad, mad week...

My eldest turns 18 on Sunday, and she just had the best present ever today...she passed her driving test this morning. She has been buzzing ever since. She's just taken the boy next door for a drink...he's drinking not her I hasten to add! We also have a small visitor camping out by the radiator in the kitchen...Sarah and I found a blue tit sat on the front doorstep when we got back from town at 5.30 tonight, very sleepy and very cold, it was already -1.5 degrees C so we have taken it in and will see how it is in the morning.

Anyway talking of busy bees....here is my next DT piece using the Eco Green Garden Chic stamps from Creative Expressions.

For my card I pulled out my marvy pens...I haven't used them in ages and found that some have them have dried out...any tips? Managed to find a pick and green pen that still worked so this is the result. The bee is a bit cloudy in the picture as the glossy accents was still drying when I took the picture.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Divas by design - Anything goes"

"Paper Pretties - Ribbon or twine"

"Incy Wincy Designs - Flowers"

"Lollipop Crafts - Anything goes"

"Make it Monday - Anything goes"

"My Craft Spot - Anything goes"

First Magazine Article For a While!

I just thought that I would share my first magazine article that I've had in a while...I have a 4 project, 3 page spread (pages 12, 13 and 14) in the 3rd Edition of Creative Stamping.

I've used the "U Mount Creative Expressions Rambling Rose stamp set" together with several Spellbinder's dies for the projects.

Creative Stamping is a relatively new, quarterly magazine for stampers and is published by Practical Publishing. The magazine is sold exclusively through craft shops and you can find your local stockist "here"

Butterfly Blue

For the next month the Creative Expressions Design Team have been sent the "Eco Green Stamp set Garden Chic". I used the lovely butterfly stamp and the tiny sweetpea stamp for this card. The butterfly reminded me of those large blue butterflies that you see at Butterfly farms. I painted the wings with pearlised blue paint and once dry I coated the whole butterfly with glossy accents.

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

"Crafting for all seasons - blue and white"

"Paper Pretties - Blue, Black and White"

"Simon Says Stamp = Anything goes"

"Stampavie and More- Blue and White"

"Creative Card Challenges - the colour blue"

"Lollypop Crafts - Wing it"

Farewell Wendy Veechi

It's time to say farewell to Wendy Veechi's stamps and hello to a new set of stamps that arrived this morning from "Creative Expressions". So I am going to show you my last piece using "Wendy's stamps", having said that I can tell you that I have loved using these stamps and I am sure that I will find plenty of opportunities to use them in the future.

I fancied having a play with glassine paper but I haven't got round to ordering any yet..so I decided to experiment with greaseproof paper out of my kitchen draw instead. I can report that greaseproof paper doesn't react like glassine paper, but it does make some lovely vintage looking roses!






I stamped the lacy background onto greaseproof paper using versafine olympia green. I tried to heat set it with my heat gun, but it didn't want to play ball. So I placed a piece of paper over the top and then ironed over the top. This gave a surprisingly good image on the paper (reversed of course), and looking at it I decided that this would make a good background layer for my card. Ironing solved the problem with the heat setting on the greaseproof paper so I cut out several layers using the Spellbinders rose creations dies.

One of my matted background layers was the previously mentioned "scrap" from the ironing experiment, another of my layers was stamped and heat embossed with clear ep before being sponged with aged mahogany distress ink...(not sure what was going on, but for some reason my aged mahogany came out green? don't ask, I think my craft mat had green ink on it that I couldn't see. This is a card that evolved in every way....ie things didn't come together as expected and some happy accidents worked out rather well.

Once the card was stitched and assembled I sprayed the whole thing with gold mica powder. Overall effect was very green, gold and shimmery.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Crop Stop - Distressed, vintage or shabby chic"

"Delightful Challenges - distressed vintage"

"Inky Impressions - Any shape but square"

"Going grey with scrap creations - Die Cuts"

"The Stamping boutique - Die Cuts"

"Stamp and Create - Anything goes"

"Artistic Stamper - Vintage"

"Emerald Faerie Garden - Green and Gold/yellow"

Beautiful Landscapes.

On Monday morning my daughter was in such a rush to catch the school bus that she forgot her PE kit...a few mins later the phone rings..."Mum can you bring my PE kit into school for second period?" So I defrosted the car and off I went chasing the school bus. Normally this is really annoying, but on Monday I didn't feel quite so cross because the frost and the soft morning light was lovely. I just had to stop the car on the way home to take some pictures! These were taken in Wichenford.

With such lovely views I do feel quite privileged to live in the country and with this in mind I decided to set a landscape theme for the next "Tanda Teaser". I have used a mixture of stamps for my sample card, but they are mainly Tanda. First I punched out a circle from a post-it note and used it to mask the sun, then used some ripped paper with distress inks and cut and dry foam to build up the landscape. I used some indigo blu stamps to stamp the fir trees on the hills again using the ripped paper as a mask so that some of the trees looked as though they were the other side of the hill. Once I was happy with the background I removed the mask from the sun and then used the clarity stamp and weathered wood distress ink to stamp the clouds around the sun.

Then I used the foliage stamps, Tanda and Lavinia with Versafine inks in, Olympia green, Spanish moss and smokey gray.


I stamped the sentiment in Olympia green in the centre of the card. The compass was made using some thick card that I die cut, painted gold with eco paint then stamped and triple embossed with clear embossing powder. I had planned to stamp the compass into the hot ep, but it didn't work as well as I wanted it to, hence this was the next best thing.

I printed out a small section of a local map in sepia tones and folded this so that the location was legible on the front. This was then mounted onto the card and a piece of raffia was tied around the card so that the bow was positioned on top of the map.

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

"Cupcake Craftroom - Anything goes"

"Anything goes- anything goes at anything goes"

"Crafty Sentiments - Anything goes"

"Crafty Cardmakers - Anything goes"

"Make it Monday - anything goes"

"Truly Madly Crafty - Anything goes"

"Smudgy antics - masking"