A Winter thank you

Hello, crafting friends,

 

Welcome to a new challenge at The Flower Challenge! For November we'd like to see your floral thank you cards:

I do like to have a little stash of wintery thank you cards ready to send after Christmas. This one uses a new-to-me Altenew set called Hope and features what looks like a camelia - which always seem such magical flowers, blooming like hot house flowers but in the depths of winter!

 

The layered camelia and leaves were inked up with distress oxide inks and fussy cut. I teamed these with winter foliage and berry stencils from The Greetery's Banner and Bough set, stenciling directly onto a thick card front. I added fir branches using the coordinating stamp set, then glued the flower in place. I love how the pink flower really pops against the dark blue greens!

 

To create a frosty look, I used a pale blue-green ink to sponge round the edges of the card front and stamped more fir branches over the top using the same ink. A tiny sentiment from Clearly Besotted finished the card.

 

Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and check out the amazing designs my team mates have come up with to inspire you! You can enter your own card from there using the blue Linky button at the bottom of that post. We're looking forward to seeing what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up over at Allsorts' Magic of the Season challenge. Brenda, who organises this long-running challenge, has just announced some changes to the format and is looking for new design team members. Do hop over and check out the details HERE.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Firework season has descended upon us again. Pretty sparkly stars bursting in the sky are lovely and often don't come with loud noises - and of course you can draw blinds and curtains if your pets are averse; but can someone please explain to me why people are attracted to what sounds like the noises of war complete with exploding bombs, and gunfire? Also, why do these seem to get louder every year? Poor Eva had a tough time of it on Saturday but Lulu, who is very sensitive to voices or the sound of cars outside, was quite calm through the explosions. She didn't like seeing Eva so frantic though. There were more fireworks yesterday too and this will go on for another couple of weeks until we can finally relax until new year. 

 

Sending hugs,

Christmas in the pink!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I got to have a teeny bit of crafty fun today and made a fun and super quick Christmas card! Come and see:

 

It's always fun to think outside the colour box for festive cards isn't it, so I thought I'd go for a pink snow scene :) I made a stencil out of an offcut of thick vellum, cut with a rectangle aperture and then fortified with masking tape. This was positioned over the front of a thick card base and taped into place. Over that, I placed Uniko's Tiger Print stencil and sponged into it with Spun Sugar distress oxide ink. This produced a graphic snowdrift effect which practically made me jump up and down with happiness!! At the top I sponged solid pink for a sky before removing the stencils.

 

The trees are just one little die from Tonic Studios' Staggered Stage Winter Village, a die set I was lucky enough to win at The Snippets Playground. I gathered together a bunch of pink snippets of card and cut lots of the trees out. These were arranged at the top of my 'hill' at different levels and I popped one of them up and finished with a single clear gem...

 

 

and a die cut sentiment from Hobbycraft. This was an impulse purchase while I was browsing for something else and it has had a lot of use. You can't beat a bricks and mortar store!

Here are the pink snippets I used. I may make a whole bunch of these in different colours - that would certainly use up a few of those small snippets!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at The Snippets Playground (thanks again for that amazing die set ladies - I'm getting lots of use out of it!) Stephanie and Lauren at Jingle Belles are doing their breast cancer research challenge again this year and you can help by entering a pink Christmas card as they are donating for each one entered. Carol and the team at ABC Christmas are challenging us with U is for Unusual Colours (as well as V is for Velvet) so I'm linking up there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I am giving away a golden retriever called Mucky McRoll-A-Lot. Any takers?

I had climbed to the top of a hill and was dreamily enjoying the view while the dogs (as I thought) scampered about. Young Madam WAS scampering about, however Senior Madam had discovered a pile of fox poo and was busy rolling it all over herself. We returned home in short order, I keeping a terse silence; Lulu looking smug while sniggering to herself; and Eva wagging away and congratulating herself on a job well done.

Sending hugs (and reaching for the brandy),

Hello Chrysanthemum Friends

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm back today with a reminder to come and join in with The Flower Challenge where we're celebrating flowers with stencils this month :)

 

I adore all the huge flower stencils from Uniko and thought this gorgeous crysanthemum was perfect for an autumn hello to a pal. 

 

Three autumnal colours of ink were sponged into the stencil and I added depth with coloured pencils. The panel was cut out with a stitched rectangle die and mounted onto a card front.

 

The bold two-colour sentiment was created with my favourite hello die from Funky Fossil and the word friend spelled out with MFT alpha dies.

I hope you are inspired to get your stencils out and join us this month to make a floral card. Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and check out the cards made by my talented team mates. You'll find the blue Linky Button at the bottom of that post and can use it to share your own creation. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at The Paper Players where Joanne has chosen the colour theme Shades of Orange and Brown; and also joining in with the Anything Stenciled Goes challenge at Stencil Fun.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's a photo of another friend!

 

This is Eva doing a fabulous recall! I am trying to look blasé and pretend that I'm pretty much a top trainer, but the reality is that I nearly dropped my phone when she turned and came running. Moments earlier she had been rolling in something suspect, oblivious to my feeble cries; and a little later on the walk, she was delighted to find a noisesome ditch she hadn't previously explored and seemed disappointed that I didn't share her excitement.

Sending hugs,

Give thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's a brand new board at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge today and Felicita has come up with great ideas to inspire you all:

 

 I went for the central column Leaves or foliage/Thank you/Die cuts.

Out of offcuts of white card I cut a little pocket using The Greetery's Halvsies Diamond die, and some leaves and berries with the Inside Out dies, also from The Greetery. I coloured the leaves and berries with inks and daubers and some markers for detail.

 

I spent some time arranging my foliage and berries in the pocket and, when I was happy with it, glued everything down. The sentiment is from a non-branded set that was a lovely gift from a pal :) 

 

Right, it's over to you now! Here's how to play: First hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the fabulous cards the rest of the team have made to inspire you; Next, pick a column, row or diagonal from the board and create a card using the ideas; Finally, link up with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. Have fun!

 

CHALLENGES

I've not had much time to craft lately so it's lovely to be joining in at The Snippets Playground with this cards - lots of white snippets used; Lynn has chosen the theme of Falling Leaves at The Allsorts Challenge this week - my leaves have been gathered up and arranged in the pocket but I hope they still count! I'm also linking up with the Anything Fall Goes theme at Four Seasons.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here are the Beige Beasts with long tongues due to a crazy autumn afternoon tearing around the paths the farmer has thoughtfully made for them in his harvested crop.

Sending hugs,

Christmas in Bloom

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a brand new month and a brand new challenge at The Flower Challenge! This time we are concentrating on stenciling.

 

If you are a regular here you will know that I am a massive fan of stencils and particularly like using them to create designs different to the way they were intended! Today I used The Greetery's Always in Bloom layering stencils to create a Christmas card.

 

First, I made a swatch-style background using Funky Fossil's Postage Frame stencil. This required some measuring up a grid, masking with low tack tape and then sponging with pale blue ink. On these little swatches, I stenciled lots of different flowers and berries and leaves, using distress oxide inks and drying with my heat tool between each inking.

 

I did smudge a little of the blue ink but covered it up with the sentiment banner! I made that with the banner from WPlus9's Be Merry and used my stamp positioner to curve a sentiment from The Greetery to fit it. The finishing touches were made with my white Posca acrylic paint pen - LOVE how this stays white on the distress inks!

Okay, now it's your turn! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to check out the gorgeous samples made by the rest of the design team. When you're ready to make your own card, don't forget to make flowers the focus of your creation and include stenciling. You can share with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post.

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Stencil Fun Challenge where there's an optional halloween theme but I didn't go for it! I'm also joining in at Allorts Challenge where the team are celebrating their 800th challenge - wow! They have an Anything Goes challenge this time.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Poor Eva is fed up with having her paw prodded about and we are no further on in discovering what the problem is. Clipping her claw right back so there is no pressure there has made her much more comfortable and she is able to go careering about over the countryside with her fluffy sister again.

 

We have had some grim weather and the mud is back with a vengeance, so I am doing a lot of bathing dogs and am paying particular attention to that paw. I am going to leave it at that for the time being and monitor the situation; her paw is a bit lumpy and bumpy but we love her and in our eyes she's perfect!

Sending hugs,

Autumn Flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's mid-way through September and time for a reminder to join in with The Flower Challenge's 'Stamp a Flower' challenge! 

I am still in Sunflower Mode and have chosen Reverse Confetti's Fall Flowers this time.

 

I stamped the half wreath image at the top and bottom of a card panel and coloured these with Arteza Watercolour Brush pens. In the space between them, I added a sentiment from The Greetery's Arched Sentiments, stamped in brown ink.

 

The panel was trimmed a tiny bit smaller than the card front and the card front swiped with green ink to show a very thin frame when the panel was attached. To finish, I added some Wink of Stella to the sunflower centres and touches of gold paint to the leaves for a touch of sparkle.

 

Right, it's over to you! Do check out the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the design team at The Flower Challenge blog. Make a card featuring stamped flowers as your focal point and share it with us using the blue Linky Tool button at the bottom of the challenge blog post. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Beautiful Blossoms where I was inspired by the colours on the mood board; I also enjoyed colouring my stamped images with my Arteza watercolour brush pens, so I'm joining in with Inkspirational's Make Your Mark challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I like to make cards with two images repeated.

 

But where do I get my inspiration from...?!

Sending hugs,

September sunflowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

September has arrived in a blaze of sunshine and there's a fab new Flower Challenge for the month!

 

We are going back to basics with stamping this month and I couldn't be happier: stamps and ink are my happy place :) Here's what I made:

 

The sunflower stamp is from Clearly Besotted's Sending Sunshine. I stamped it in pale yellow ink and covered it with a mask made from a sticky note. The jar came next. It's from The Greetery's Just Mason Around and is a 3 step layering stamp which produces a lovely glass effect. I made another mask with a sticky note and covered the jar. Leaving both of the masks in place, I set to work on a background. The ground was stamped with Stampin' Up's Hardwood background stamp and I covered that up to stencil above it with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil. The stencil was removed and the brickwork sponged with brown ink for a more subtle look.

 

All the masks were removed at this stage and I coloured the sunflower bouquet using alcohol markers and coloured pencils. The acid yellow daisies are to be seen everywhere in the countryside at the moment so I teamed the darker sunflowers with these. To finish, I stamped a couple more of the daisies, fussy cut them, coloured them and glued them to the ground for balance before attaching the panel to a card base.

 

Okay, it's your turn! Here's how to play: first, hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to check out the beautiful inspiration from my team mates; second, make a card featuring one or more stamped flowers as the focal image; third, share with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with the Sunflower theme at Double D and at Triple B with my yellow blooms; I'm also playing at We Love Stamping where Lorraine's challenge is to include a Handcoloured Image.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

What lovely sunshiney flowers sunflowers are!

 

Great for hiding behind too. By the way, has anyone seen Lulu?!

Sending hugs,

How lovely are your branches

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Yet again the end of the month has hurtled towards me without a single Christmas card being made for my stash! Out came the inks and stamps and sponges as I made a valiant effort to address the situation (although it is very difficult making a card while two pairs of anxious brown eyes are just mentioning that it's really time for a walk and you must have forgotten and we don't want to push ourselves forward but we know you wouldn't want to abandon your proper duties...!)

 

I came up with this vintage-style card by stamping a card panel with one of the fir tree from an older set, Spruce Trees by Inkylicious. I used a greyish brown ink, stamped off, then sponged over the trees with more of the same ink plus some pale blue ink for a misty feel. To create 'snow', I wet my hands with water and clapped over the panel, blotted it with a paper towel and left it to dry. To complete the background, I added script using a stamp from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks and sponged dark green ink at the bottom of my panel to ground the trees.

 

The next stage was to stamp a different spruce for the focal tree. I stamped it in dark green ink then cleaned the stamp, moved the panel very slightly in my stamp positioner, and stamped it again using white craft ink. I added a little brown marker to the trunk of the tree and used a white acrylic marker to add more snow. The sentiment from Uniko's Rustic Wreath was stamped in red and I mounted the panel on matching card. Finally, I decorated the tree with glitter glue lights and and a tiny glittery star.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the misty tree from the mood board at Peace on Earth as well as the Vintage theme at Jingle Belles; I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days where Anything Christmas goes. I noticed that Retro Rubber has a Great Outdoors theme and since my Spruce Trees set is from 2015, I'm playing along there too :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When my children were little and things were getting a bit hectic, I would find myself speaking in what we called my 'Mary Poppins voice'. I was thinking about that this morning as I was flying about trying to shorten my To Do list and wishing that I could snap my fingers as she did in the (original) film to get things tidied away!

 

 Sending hugs,

Sunshine celebrations

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's time for another Tic Tac Toe challenge, and this time, the board has been devised by Linda! She's opted for some lovely seasonal ideas.

 

I went for the diagonal from top left: Sunshine/Free/Blue to make a masculine birthday card.

 

The background was made by masking off a rectangle on an offcut of white card and stenciling a sunburst using yellow inks through Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil. I trimmed this out with a stitched rectangle die and mounted it on another offcut of white card, trimmed to be ever so slightly larger than the sunshine one and swiped with blue ink. I sponged a card base with paler blue ink and attached the sunny panel to the card front.

 

The banner is from Concord and 9th's Hello Sunshine stamp set. I stamped it with blue ink twice on more offcuts of white card and stamped and heat embossed one of them in red with a sentiment from Uniko's Floral Vines. I sponged both with pale blue ink and snipped them out with paper snips, cutting just the central bit of the sentiment version to pop up over the whole banner. A few colourful enamel stars finished the card.

Okay, now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog to check out all the beautiful cards the rest of the design team has made to inspire you. Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board and create a card, then link it up with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge blog post. We are looking forward to seeing what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm off to the Snippets Playground with this card as I used lots of offcuts of white card to make it;  I'm also linking up with The Male Room, which is challenging us to make Mixed Media masculine cards; and Allsorts, where Sarah's optional theme is Summer Days.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

While I was getting this post ready, the golden girls were romping about playing with each other. They play pretty boisterous games, taking it in turns to be hunter and prey. I am always impressed with the way they look so fierce with all their jaws exposed but never hurt a hair of each others heads (or bodies come to that!) Lulu is younger and more agile but she never takes advantage, always deferring to her big sister.

 

I stopped typing for a minute to see if I could get a photo of them playing but they immediately stopped...

 

 

... and Eva made this "WHAT?!!" face at me! Lulu looks very submissive in this photo but do not be deceived! She will be up and fighting as soon as I have stopped interfering with my silly photos!

 

Sending hugs,