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,

Colour notes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Have you joined in with the colour challenge at The Flower Challenge this month?  Why not give it a go? 

 

All you need to do is create a floral card using these colours. I love this palette and couldn't wait to make another card using it.

 

Believe it or not, my clean and simple note card was made with a balloon stencil and a Christmas stamp set as well as my favourite leafy stencil! Love stretching my craft supplies!

 

I took a thick card base and started by sponging pale blue ink into the circular balloon from Uniko's Balloon Bash stencil, masking off the balloon tie bit with a sticky note.  The sentiment, from The Greetery's Pine Blossom, was stamped in the centre. There are two sizes of leaf on Uniko's Nature's Treasure stencil and I used them both, positioning them above and below my sentiment circle and sponging with green ink.

 

I used water-based markers in pinks and peaches to ink up some of the pretty flowers from the Pine Blossom set. Once they were stamped, I blended the colours with a colourless blender pen, adding detail with a green coloured pencil and a white paint pen. Finally, the flowers were fussy cut and attached to the leaf stems.

Okay, now it's over to you! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge challenge blog and check out the amazing samples the design team has made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own floral creation, use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with the latest Beautiful Blossoms challenge with this card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank you for bearing with me during this busy time when I'm still not finding much time for crafting. Eva's paw is taking its time healing so I am still walking the pups separately, as well as looking after this beautiful lady:

 

But I do have another post going live later on today as it's my turn to be on the Tic Tac Toe Challenge team. It's like waiting for ages for a bus and then a load of them turn up all at once!!

Sending hugs,

A belated birthday from the pack

Hello, crafting friends!

 

How quickly the months are flying past! At The Flower Challenge, we are welcoming August with a fabulous colour challenge!

And here is the gorgeous colour palette:

What do you think? I adore this combination of colours and couldn't wait to get started!

 

I pulled out alcohol markers in all the colours except the pale blue, and a beautiful stamp set by Sugarpea Designs called Meadow Motifs. Using a neutral ink and a stamp positioner, I stamped the largest flower cluster at the bottom of a card panel, then flipped the panel and stamped it again. The markers were used to colour the clusters and I added a little bit of extra detail with coloured pencils.

 

The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die and sponged round the edges with pale blue ink. I stamped a belated birthday sentiment from Lil Inkers and finished with a few coordinating sequins.

Okay, it's over to you! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog to check out the amazing cards my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation you can link up with the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. I'm looking forward to seeing what you make with this great colour palette!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Allsorts where Ellie's theme is Season's Delights - she wants to see what we love about summer. The abundance of flowers at this time of year makes me really happy (but I may be back with an ice cream card!!) I'm off to visit Darnell's NBUS Challenge as well because Meadow Motifs is new to me and having its first outing

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My youngest son was with me when I was making this card. He picked it up and examined it. "I like it," he said. "It reminds me of a playing card!" It took me a moment to understand what he meant but it's true - it does have the symmetry of a playing card!

Sending hugs,

More love and prayers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Today I found that clearing away my crafty things can be a very inspiring thing to do! Lying around on my table were SU's Banners For You stamp set and the lovely Studio Light sentiment I used to make THIS card, and there were plenty of scraps of white card stock too. The housework needed doing but I asked the Golden Girls and they agreed that hoovering is over-rated, so I made this card instead:

 

I've been moving away from clean and simple cards over the last year or so but I loved making this simple note card. The card base was cut down to a square from a ruined standard A6 base and I stamped the sentiment in the centre.

 

The two different flowers from the set were stamped on scraps of card and fussy cut, then I added a bit of shading with a coloured pencil at the base of the petals. I wanted the flowers to be dimensional so the trickiest thing about this card was adding teensy bits of dimensional tape to the backs of the flowers! I finished off with some enamel dots in navy - although my screen has decided they're black :|

CHALLENGES

I'm off to The Snippets Playground with this card. I have put my armbands on because I bet the paddling pool is out and we can do splashy canonballs from the treehouse while Miss isn't looking! At ATCAS Helen's code word is Nature, so I'm joining in there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My little Eva has a poorly paw again. I am so frustrated! Her nailbed infection cleared up beautifully and we went back to romping about in the countryside, but because the toe had been shaved, it left her vulnerable to grass seeds getting stuck between those toes. I'm frustrated because I am hyper aware of the potential for this to happen and have been checking both dogs' paws after walks. How did I miss it?

 

Eva is perfectly cheerful and can be seen here chopping up some sticks before distributing them around the garden, but she's back on lead-only walks so I'm walking the dogs separately again. They enjoy the one-to-one attention but I am struggling for time at the moment and crafting has become a very special treat these days!

Sending hugs,