Mother's Day

Morning, I hope all you mothers in the UK had a great day yesterday! I know I had a lazy day...tea and breakfast in bed, a big bouquet of flowers and treated to dinner in the evening. I was going to do a bit of gardening but we had a massive hail storm complete with thunder and lightning in the afternoon that put paid to that! Maybe gardening gets done today if things brighten up a bit.

Well being the day after I can share the card I sent to my mum, this also happens to fit in with the Challenge on "Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge Blogspot" The Challenge was to use ribbon together with punches or dies.

For my card I have used ribbon, Martha Stewart punchs, Stampin' up punches, a Spellbinders die and Tim Holtz tattered florals die. The main stamp is a Leanne Ellis stamp coloured with copic markers and distress inks. The sentiments are LOTV and a custom stamp from Tanda. The Dotty stamp is my stamp available from the Treasury.

U is for Up In The Air

Over on the Alphabet Challenge Blog the challenge this week is "U is for Up In The Air". I thought that the new swinging Tatty Button stamp would be perfect for this. The image was coloured using copic markers. The papers and dotty stamp were all from the Treasury. The sentiment was a custom stamp from TandaStamps.

Share the Love over on the Tanda Teaser

As Valentines day is coming soon I've set a love theme over on the "Tanda Teaser Blog". However, it is more general than purely Valentines as I know that not everyone has a partner. So the idea is to make something to give to someone to show that they are loved.

For my card I used the Tanda beyond alphabet set (kept whole to use as a background stamp)...pinched that idea from the talented Sheila Oliver"
I stamped in versamark onto water colour paper and heat embossed in detail silver ep. I then painted over the whole thing with brusho inks.

The chipboard V was triple embossed with moonglow ep and holographic glitter, and then layered onto mulberry paper. If the V is like a comet, the comet's tail was cut from some more inked watercolour paper and the letters were then stamped onto it so that together with the V it formed the word "Valentine". The scroll border is a Tim Holtz die. I chose the colours as they are my hubby's favorites.

I also made a card for my eldest daughter to give to her boyfriend....I'm actually happier with this one than the first, but it doesn't use Tanda stamps....just an inca stamp that I've had for ages.


The stamped image is coloured with copics and then distressed around the edges with weathered wood distress ink....

....oh now there's a thing....actually I've used a custom Tanda stamp....can you see the dots? Do you remember Field of sky and Sand by A Stamp in the Hand..I've been using them on the sample cards I made for the Treasury in Kidderminster and, as a result, Patty has had numerous requests to sell them in the shop. We have searched the internet and cannot find them so we think they were discontinued. So Patty asked if I could draw something similar, not the same obviously for copyright reasons. Well it took me a couple of weeks to get it right, but I'm really pleased with it especially as I can get a hilly effect from one side of the stamp and the dots from the other. Andrew is producing 30 polymer stamps for Patty to sell in the shop. I have no idea how much she will charge for them or when they will be ready, but watch this space....

Sorry about that....lost the plot a bit there! LOL! So back to the card. I coated one of the hearts with glossy accents to give it a bit of dimension. I also like the professional finish it gives a card. The image and co-ordinating card were cut out using spellbinders nesties. The ribbon is a wired sheer ribbon from fantastic ribbons...I will have to get some more of this one next time I go to the NEC!

Just spotted the challenge over on the Tuesday Taggers blog" and as their challenge is to feel-lurrvvvveee I thought I would share this second card with them. This week's challenge winner will win a prize donated by One Stop Card Crafts" so why not have a go at two challenge's in one!

Bit of a mammoth post there!

Hope you can join in with the Teaser over on the Tanda Blog!

Sue
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Seeing in Blue and Green

Hello there....been a bit absent lately...other things seem to be getting in the way of crafting and blogging at the moment for which I can only apologise!

Well I have made a few cards over the last couple of weeks to make sure that I have some more challenges for the Tanda Teaser, I just need to find time to keep blogging anything else that I can get done on top of these Teaser cards.

Speaking of the Tanda Teaser, for the next fortnight I have set a colour challenge, namely blue and green. Anyone who knows me will know that these just happen to be my favourite colours, I hope you like them too!

For my card I have used a custom stamp (made by Tanda Stamps)for the main image and the numbers from Tanda Inchie Alphabet Set 1. The papers were from an Artylicious CD rom..(I think it might have been Fantasy Floral, but don't quote me on that). The tag was embossed in a cuttlebug embossing folder and the flowers were punched using various flower punches. The flourishes were cut using a Spellbinders die. The main image was coloured using copic markers and mounted under a piece of acetate.

I hope that you will find time to join us over on the Tanda blog and forum and look forward to seeing your work over there!

Sue
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G is for Green

This week's letter on the Alphabet challenge is G....and of course G is for Green..but a little bird told me being green could be about recycling...only problem is I just blogged my recycled yeast tin yesterday so that will not count. So this will just have to do....


My Gorjuss girl is coloured with Copic Markers, the background papers are from the Arityicious Decadent Brocade CD Rom, the sentiment was a custom stamp from Tanda and embossing was done in a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I've used various punches and dies including Martha Stewart, SU, Joy and Spellbinders and edges have been distressed with Distress inks.











On the green front, the veg patch is beginning to come together.....here are some pictures.....these are of my beans and courgettes...taken about a week ago before all the rain...they are a little bit bigger now! luckily my water butts have filled up again...they were all empty last weekend! You might just notice the tomato plants too...two plum and 1 Cosack..I have 3 Gardeners Delight and 2 Sungold elsewhere. Tonight our salad was mainly out of the garden...I really recommend Sorrel...it's a hardy perennial, once you get it to germinate it seems to come through quite hard winters...it can be cooked like spinage..(I haven't tried that) or it can be used in salads...it has a fantastic lemony flavour and I thoroughly recommend it!! Doesn't take up much room in the garden too...so it is well worth the initial effort! Once germinated...just keep it well watered and stop it going to seed and you're sorted for years to come!

Tanda Teaser For the Big Man!

This is the card I've made for my Dad....no he's not fat, he is just my font of all knowledge and hence my big man! He has always loved sailing, but had to give it up when my brother and I appeared on the scene. The love of sailing didn't get passed on to me, despite my Chemistry teacher's best efforts, but it did to my brother who trained as an instructor and can blame crewing on the Tall Ships for finding the love of his life and moving to Boston MA. He's now got two boys and has given up sailing too!

I spotted two Tanda Stamps that I thought would have a lot of potential if they were resized....so I asked Andrew to do just that....The waves can be found on one of the Pirate plates and is tiny...blown up to this size it fits the DL card as a border perfectly...it also has a lovely oriental feel...but more of that in later weeks! The ship is on the Transport set and again works fabulously at this larger size.

The ship was stamped in Distress ink as were the waves...the waves were then coloured using Copic Markers. I also used the waves on the Tag...

I know that not everyone has a father around...I have one less Father's day card this year, so I just want to stress that this is a Man card challenge rather than a Father's day challenge..I hope you have time to join us over on the Tanda Blog and Forum, and look forward to seeing your work!

And just incase this was all getting a bit too man orientated....here are a few more flowers....

Take care
Sue
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Thinking Outside the Box!

Hi this week's Tanda Teaser is a tricky one...I just thought that it would be fun to try something that wasn't obvious and to think of innovative ways of using our stamps to get more out of them than initial appearances! Basically the brief this week is to use something on your card in a way that it wasn't designed for....In my case I've used a corner stamp to form the roof of my house, a square design to form the walls and swirly border stamps to form the background and what looks like a whiff of smoke coming from the chimney. All stamps used are by Tanda. The background was stamped in Versamark and then chalked together with the torn edge. The house and roof were stamped in black ink and embossed with clear on paper that I had printed text onto with the printer. The centre of the square was flooded with Glossy Accents and a heart brad was added to balance and compliment the sentiment on the tag...(this was just a little custom stamp).

Tanda Teaser "Winter Sports"

This week's Tanda Teaser is called Winter Sports....I fell in love with a certain Tanda stamp but it was a little bit too tiny....no worries...Andrew resized it..(see Tanda blog for details)...so here we go...and I used some of my stash from the NEC...how smug am I feeling!

I stamped the boys using Adirondack winter sky and then set it aside to dry...once dry..I used my promarkers (NEC purchase!!)..in WARM grey 1 - 5 to colour the image. I trimmed this and matted and layered with metallic copper and beige card.

The next layer was white card...I swirled a bit of ink, from Adirondack winter sky pad, around using a stencil brush to take the white away, then I stamped foliage and cones using Tapestry stamps from Holly Border and Pine Branch Border sets (foliage and cones in Adirondack winter sky, berries in Impress Poppy Red. The edges were then punched with my new Martha Stewart punch (I'm so glad I managed to get this at the NEC!)

This was again layered onto a piece of paper printed from the Artylicious Decadent Brocade CD Rom and then onto the base card.

The bow was stitched with gold embroidery thread...I really must do a step by step to do these bows...they are perfect every time!...watch this space.

I hope that you can find time to join in with the teaser...

Sue
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Y is for Yo-Yo

This week we have got to Y in Linda's alphabet challenge. With hindsight I probably could have done Y for yellow, but as these atc's are going to end up on the wall in a little boy's room I thought yo-yo might be more appropriate.

The yo-yo stamp was a custom stamp by Tanda, I stamped 3 yo-yos using the masking technique and then coloured them with copic markers. The Y was coloured in pale blue colourbox chalk ink and then I used the Tanda polka dot stamp in wisteria colourbox chalk ink. I distressed the edges of the Y with the wisteria ink and then triple embossed it.

Sue
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U is for Umbrella

Not far to go now...I cannot believe that we are already up to U! I guess that this is pretty apt considering the weather this summer! The raindrops and the umbrella are custom stamps from Tanda. The atc has been coloured with copic markers and then the raindrops were filled with glossy accents with a tiny bit of glitter. The U was coloured using colourbox chalks and then triple embossed, dark blue glitter was dropped into the hot ep at the last minute.

Sue
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And So We Come to S is for Spider

When I first saw the stamps by Lavinia, at the NEC back in November of last year, I fell in love with them and you can be sure that I will be collecting them in the future.

For my S is for Spider atc I have used the tiny slender mushrooms and the weeping willow leaves from Lavinia stamped in Stampin' Up basic grey. The grasses are from Sir Stamp-a-Lot and the spider is a little custom stamp from Andrew at Tanda. The image has been coloured using copic markers. The chipboard S was coloured with colourbox chalk ink and triple embossed with a tiny bit of glitter.

The set is coming together well now and I'm really pleased with how it's looking. Here's the set so far......




Enjoy!
Sue
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Q is for Queen!

Well, what can I say, having done a playing card K is for King, I had to do a playing card Q is for Queen! The Queen stamp was custom made by Andrew at Tanda...the hearts, she had to be the Queen of Hearts, are from my Tanda baby set. The image was stamped and heat embossed with silver ep then coloured with H2O's. The Q was coloured with colourbox chalk inks and triple embossed with some glitter sprinkled on at the last moment. A bit of Krylon pen was used to do the edges just to finish it off.

Probably a bit too PINK for you Linda! Must introduce the boys (haven't decided which set of nephews are going to get this yet) to their feminine side. Have concerns already about my brother's eldest, Oliver...My brother just sent over a picture of Oliver helping him to make window jams....little does Oliver know that these are designed to stop him climbing out of the windows...as per his cousin (my youngest) who was caught half way out of a tiny window on the second storey at my mums! Luckily a neighbour knocked on the door to tell us that there was a small child hanging out of the upstairs window!!

enjoy
Sue
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O is for Orange!

Zoe I had to laugh when I read your blog tonight! I drew the citrus stamps to use in this alphabet challenge for 'O'! I'm glad that you are enjoying the stamps. My "O is for Orange" atc was made using clear ep to give a resist on watercolour paper. The image was coloured using brusho inks and then the pith was taken out again with bleach. The chipboard O was coloured with colourbox chalk inks and triple embossed. the orange and turquoise seem to work quite well together....I hate to admit it, but the orange line at the bottom of the atc is actually the edge that I cut off my chocolate orange challenge card from last week. Well you know what they say about crafters....we never waste a thing!

Chocolate Orange

Thank you for your kind wishes Wendy, on the Tanda Blog. We're getting through with lots of hugs at the moment.

I'm so glad that Wendy and I plan these teasers a couple weeks in advance, otherwise I would not have had the chance to take part this week.

This may look very similar to my resist card the other week, it is, I admit it, but I did use a slightly different stamp for the main element and different colours of course! I know, not very inspired, but I have to say I wasn't feeling very inspired last week knowing that fil was so poorly. The stamps were the custom stamps from Andrew and the inks were brusho inks.



I used a grey copic marker to ground the orange with a little shadow. Again, I decided the clear ep gave a juicy effect and therefore decided not to remove it.





Well it's been a really busy day, fil's funeral is on Monday, and there is so much to arrange. Yesterday I ordered the flowers...blue and white, fil was an ardent Birmingham City supporter. The florist's cards were not really appropriate, all floral and generally yellow so I've designed my own, one for bil, one for us and one for the grandchildren to sign......the images are Jolly nation stamped in black Impress and coloured with Copic markers. I think that they will go with the flowers really well and they are far more suited to the kind of person fil was. They would make him smile!

Well got to go and get some shut eye...lots more phone calls to make tomorrow and the vicar to see.

bye for now
Sue
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L is for Lion

So it's Friday again and we are now up to L with Linda's Alphabet challenge. Like Linda and Fifi, I thought Lion, especially as one of the little boys who might be in line to get the complete alphabet set has a thing about lions. My lion stamp was a custom stamp from Andrew at Tanda Stamps, the grasses were stamped using stamps from sir stampalot and the tree in the background was stamped using the JudiKins African Safari cube. The image was coloured with copic markers and the stamping was done using colourbox chalk inks.

I Have to say a big thank you to Linda for the car set of stamps, they arrived this week so you can guess what I am thinking for M! Just got to work out how to fit it into the theme that's going on with these atc's.....hmmmmm...the cogs are wirring!

I hope you are enjoying this challeng as much as I am. Thanks for organising it Linda!

Sue
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K is for KING!

If you read the general chat on the Tanda forum, you will realise that I had major panics trying to get this Atc done!! I'm now totally embarassed as the missing stamps were in my handbag all along....I think it was Karma that they were out of stock in the Range (where I bought them originally) and the Treasury (rediscovered after their fire)...coz the next place I went...tescos...the box mysteriously appeared on top of everything else in my handbag...all the little alphabet stamps were hiding at the bottom of my bag! They'd only been there for 2 weeks and I hadn't noticed!

So what of the atc...I think I am going back to the origins of atc's (correct me if I'm wrong!)...I'm sure that someone told me that they started off as altered playing cards..I quickly drew out a stamp for the king playing card...and Andrew (Tanda) made a custom stamp for me...the club was in a dump bin thingy at the Range ages ago...it was one of those jellyish stamps that don't hold the ink very well so I ended up colouring it in a bit. The image has been stamped in versamark and heat embossed with gold ep. I then painted it with H2O's...the K is also coloured with H2O's, triple embossed and edged with Krylon.

Sue
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Impossible to Resist Resist!

Where does the time go? I guess it's hurtled past this week because I've been busy with my mum and dad and of course fil, not to mention the kids and all their activities!

So Tanda Teaser has come round again, and I have to say I was in a bit of a panic! ...I literally pulled this one out of the bag today. Mojo had completely gone...I usually have ideas forming for cards at the back of my mind, but with everything that's been going on here, cards have had to take a back seat. Well at least the kids are back at school now and I have got myself sorted out for the next couple of weeks, challenge wise, so I'm feeling a little happier!

For my card I have used custom stamps that I had made by Andrew at Tanda. And yes I know I bang on about it..but can you believe this...an A5 sheet of clear polymer stamps...in your own design...costs the same as an A5 polymer set of stamps on the Tanda Web site..bet that shocked you!...well what are you waiting for..get drawing!

For my card I stamped my lemon slice in versamark then heat embossed in clear ep, the image was coloured with brusho inks. To make the pith white I just painted around the centre of the lemon with bleach to take the colour out again. I didn't remove the clear ep as I liked the wet juicy look that it gave the lemons. The images have been matted and layered with chocolate and gold card and distressed with olive green chalk ink.

Sue
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J is for Jam

It's been a busy week and I was getting worried that I wouldn't get this done in time! I couldn't find any stamps in my collection that were suitable for J to fit with the other atc's done so far, so I got Andrew at Tanda to make some custom stamps for me...while I was about it, I drew a few other things so that I know I have something now for every letter. The image was coloured using copic markers again.
enjoy
Sue