Sparkle and shine!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It seems we have entered the sparkling season and here at The Flower Challenge we have responded with a glittering new challenge!

 

 

Why not have a bit of fun, get out all your shimmer 'n' shine crafting supplies and join us with your own sparkly floral creation :) Here's what I came up with:

Yes I know, it's not the sparkliest card ever, but it's pretty sparkly for someone who doesn't really do sparkle!! I started with the background sponging distress oxide inks over a white panel, spritzing with water and drying off with a heat gun. I added detail at the bottom with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil and lightened some areas of the top with some white kraft ink, then dried everything off again.

 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. I added a liberal splattering of snow with a white acrylic paint men and then trimmed the panel with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery. 

 

The star of the show is the poinsettia, a re-release from Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia. I stamped on a scrap of white card using versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. The petals were coloured with a red Arteza watercolour brush pen which gives a lovely velvety look which contrasts nicely with the gold detail. I fussy cut the poinsettia, popped it up on dimensional pads and embellished with some sparkly- yes sparkly! - gems which I coloured with various alcohol markers.

Ok, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the gorgeous sparkly samples my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

There's an optional winter theme at both Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping this month so I'll link this wintery card up there; Brenda has chosen Winter Flowers and Fauna as her theme at Allsorts so I'm playing along there too; Triple B have a lovely red themed inspiration board and I'm joining in with my red poinsettia; and last but not least, Jo has her annual If it's Christmassy, Link it Up challenge at Christmas Kickstart - and it's been far too long since I popped by!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

December is a busy month and I am still learning how to get involved in everything and remain stress free and enjoy the season! Anyone else?! Of course I have a pair of golden treasures to keep me grounded and make sure I get plenty of fresh air - not to mention plenty of time washing, drying and grooming those fluffy coats! The days of nice, frosty winters appears to be over and we are up to our necks in mud again... happy days!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card. Do come and see!

Sending hugs,

Good news and One for the stash!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

As the 25th of the month approached, I thought of how I used to always make a Christmas card thanks to the encouragement of the Rudolph Days challenge. We all thought it would have to close as Maureen, who ran it brilliantly for years, was unable to continue, but today I discovered that the amazing Helen has taken over the reins of the sleigh. Hurrah! Do spread the word won't you, follow the Rudolph Days blog and share the challenge badge. And come and join in - you have until the last day of the month to link up and it's Anything Christmas Goes!

 

I was a bit short on time but I found a little topper I made last year with Altenew's Clasic Pine Cones embossing folder, coloured with inks and daubers and trimmed with a Crimped Frame die from the Greetery. I had added lots of 'snow' with my trusty Posca white acrylic paint pen. To show it off, I made a Faux Book Binding card using three washi tapes that coordinated with my topper.

 

 

To finish, I added a banner-style sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks Christmas using a couple of tiny staples, and added two enamel dots for berries.

 

And there we go - back on track with my festive stash for the end of the year! Thanks Helen!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Rudolph Days but have also been inspired by these challenges: Christmas Craft Creations where the challenge is to use Stencils or Embossing Folders; Christmas Kickstart where the theme is Out on a Limb (things you might find on a Christmas tree!); and Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme this time is Christmas.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I found a new walk yesterday. Normally there's livestock in these fields, so I've avoided them, but there hasn't been anything for ages and the grass is not under water and is clean and dry... my heart sang I can tell you! However, it is with deep regret that I must tell you that golden retrievers are equipped with a special inner mud divining device and, as we frolicked along, both of the Beige Beasts discovered exciting ditches and puddles and turned into Mud Monsters. They did redeem themselves though... there was a cattle trough in the last field as we returned and the pups discovered that it was full to the brim with water from all the recent rain. Lulu mistook it for a spa bath to rinse off her mud masque and jumped in for a full immersion; I was quite firm in encouraging Eva to follow suit!!

Sending hugs,

Bright magnolias

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday, and time for another round of crafty Tic Tac Toe! The Tic Tac Toe challenge is proud to inspire you 8 different ways via our boards and Joanne has created a beauty for this week:

 

I've gone for the bottom row Floral/Embossing/Stitching to create a brightly coloured birthday card.

 

The magnolias were embossed onto a card panel using Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina embossing folder. I inked up the raised background part of the folder with blue ink before placing the panel inside it and running it through my Big Shot, The result was a nice bold background and from there I was able to colour the raised blossom and branches with alcohol markers.

 

I cropped the image down using one of the Greetery's Crimped Frame dies, then mounted it onto a slightly larger piece green of card, trimmed to size with a Stitched Rectangle die from Heffy Doodle. The sentiment was stamped in the corner before attaching to a darker green card base - part of an old Stampin' Up kit.

Right! It's your turn now :) Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from the rest of the team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. Which row or column will you choose? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? We can't wait to see what you create!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this embossed card up with Can You Handle The Pressure where there's an optional twist of Clouds. There isn't a cloud in my sky but you know very well that it's April and, as soon as you get your picnic out, there'll be a downpour!! I'm also playing along at Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge where Anything Goes; This is the first outing for this embossing folder so it's off to Darnell's NBUS Challenge I go - the place where we share our Never Before Used Schtuff!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm expecting guests this afternoon so this morning I took Eva out for a long walk round all the parks in my area - a bold move as the river flows through each of them. Eva was as good as gold though and heeded my 'Not There' commands like a proper grown up lady dog! Another problem reared its head however. When Eva was younger, she became very excited whenever I came in from doing the grocery shopping. I was touched by this and allowed her to carry in bits of shopping for me, rewarding her at the end with a treat. BIG MISTAKE!!

Everyone identifies this as: A bag of groceries

Eva identifies this as: A source of delicious treats

 

I don't normally take Eva for her big walk at this time but it soon became apparent that it is the time of day when everyone does their grocery shopping! I'm afraid Eva was keen to 'help' everyone with their bags and I needed a strong cup of tea when we arrived home!

Sending hugs,

Flowers in the snow

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and time for another fun board to inspire you at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Joanne is in charge of the board this time and we are certainly spoilt for choice!

 

I chose the diagonal from bottom left Pattern Paper/Flowers/Ribbon or Bow to make a winter birthday card.

 

I started with a snippet of 'plaster texture' paper from a favourite Stampin' Up pack. This was trimmed to size with a Crimped Frame die from the Greetery and stamped with a leaf spray (from a long-ago retired SU set) and a birthday sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio.

 

I topped the stamped leaf spray with my latest favourite thing: some die-cut wildflowers from a new-to-me Greetery die set. I cut these from white paper and coloured them with sponge daubers and then attached the flower heads to the stems and I can't tell you how much fun that was!! Finally, I added a bow from an MFT die set and attached everything to the card front.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Little Red Wagon where the theme is Happy Happy Birthday; and also TGIF where there's a birthday challenge too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

In early January we had a lot of rain and the river burst its banks as it often does in the winter. When the temperatures dropped below freezing, the floodwater completely iced over, creating a natural ice rink! It's wasn't deep so wasn't dangerous at all, so I took a couple of lads from church to play there. They had a wonderful time skating (with non-grip shoes) and playing 'ice hockey' with a pebble and two sturdy sticks. Eva tried to join in and made us all laugh by doing Bambi impressions!

 

We went back there today and it has pretty much all melted. Eva was able to walk on the ice that was left without her legs splaying about!

Sending hugs,

A bright and hopeful new year

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Well, 2023 is here and I'm rolling up late to wish you all a happy new year! Top of my new years resolution list this year is to be more punctual but erm... oh well, maybe next year!!

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you may remember that my youngest son used to take quite an interest in my crafting when he was growing up. One of my fondest memories is of him comparing Stampin' Up ink names with those of his War Hammer model paints - Soft Sea Foam versus Poxwalker for example, or Melon Mambo versus Doomfire Magenta. Ah, good times!

Anyway, nothing has changed! Opening his Christmas present to me this year, I was so touched to find some clear stamps inside. One of them was a floral that I couldn't wait to try, so I used it for a new year card for a friend.

 

It's quite a large stamp and perfect for a bit of colouring fun! Once I'd stamped and coloured my meadow scene, I trimmed it to size with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery.

 

I mixed it up with a variety of colouring media: alcohol markers for the bright flowers, coloured pencils for the grasses and leaves and sponged blue ink for a soft sky.

 

For the sentiment, I stamped one of my much-used PreText sentiments from the Greetery using pink ink and added die cut numbers beneath it. I used some basic number dies from The Works, cutting them from card stock that had been sponged with orange ink to give a bit of extra interest.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Little Red Wagon's New Beginnings challenge; also Make My Monday, where the theme is Something New; and Inspire Create, where the challenge is New To You; and last but not least, I'm joining in with We Love Stamping, where they want to see us use some favourite colours.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Just a bit more about Christmas and then I'll move on I promise! Every year, I place a few little gifts for Eva under the tree with the rest of the family's presents. We always open one gift at a time so we can really appreciate them and Eva gets her turn just as we all do. She knows just how to open a present but never peeks before Christmas day!!

 

This one was a paper cup that had a squeaky ball in it and was wrapped in several layers of newspaper and a paper bag as well as the final gift wrap. She had SO much fun getting the wrapping off and shredding it, enjoyed playing with the paper cup and making us laugh by carrying it about over her nose, and then FINALLY found the squeaky ball! It reminded me of when the children were little and they pleasure they got from the boxes their presents came in.

Sending hugs,

Something pink and sparkly

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Isn't it lovely to have new crafting goodies?! I recently took advantage of a flash sale at Uniko to stock up on some stencils I've had my eye on, and a new sentiment set. Today's card is the result of my first play with a couple of the items.

 

I was thinking pink in quite a big way!!  The Gerbera stencil was positioned over a card panel and I sponged three shades of pink ink into it; the stencil was then moved a tiny bit and I used a sponger dauber to add a touch of yellow in the centre. Once the stencil was removed, I added lots of detail with some coloured pencils to get a bit of depth to the image. When I was happy, I trimmed the panel with one of the Crimped frame dies from the Greetery.

The sentiment is from the Birthday Sentiments set - I just love the fonts in this set! I carried on with the pink theme using a light and a dark pink ink to stamp the different words. I wanted to add a bit of sparkle, so I attached a few pink sequins...

... and used a Wink of Stella pen to give the flower petals a lovely shimmer.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with the Sisterhood of Crafters where Sistah Diane's theme is Pink; I'm also linking up with Allsorts where Pauline's challenge is to Add Some Sparkle; the May challenge at Four Seasons is Anything Spring Goes, so I'm also entering there too; and last but not least, this is the first outing for the Gerbera stencil and the sentiment stamp set, so I'm sharing this card at Darnell's NBUS challenge where we show off our Never Before Used Schtuff.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

A friend of mine has recently welcomed a deerhound puppy into her home and asked me to bring Eva round to set a good example. My eyes did widen a little when my friend praised Eva as 'such a good girl' but I went along with it. We set out on a short walk and I'm afraid the first thing Eva did was dive off into a hedge where she had unerringly guessed there would be a ditch filled with muddy water... The pup didn't join in but she did watch with great interest as Eva emerged from the hedge looking like The Creature from the Black Lagoon!

Sending hugs,

Stencils and sequins

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Thursday to you! Are you ready for a little Tic Tac Toe fun? Then Felicita's board is just the thing to kickstart your creativity!

I've chosen the right hand column Ink Blend/Embellishments/Stencil for a birthday card.

It was SO much fun making this card! I started with a white card panel, positioning Uniko's Pure Florals Rose stencil over it and sponging pale and dark purple inks into it. I clapped wet hands over it before removing the stencil, although you can hardly see that in the photo. When it was dry, I added a little detail with a purple coloured pencil.

I stenciled the rose again onto a scrap of paper and cut it out so that I could use it as a mask. Once it was in place, I blended green and blue inks over the background and trimmed the panel to size with a crimped rectangle die from The Greetery. These dies are designed for US A2 sized cards but I just used a trimmer to cut my card base to fit the panel.

 

The sentiment was stamped with the two purple inks I'd used to ink up the rose. I attached the panel to the card base and added some purple sequins for a touch of sparkle.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe blog to admire the team's fabulous samples. You will find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link up your own creation when you're ready. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes; I used the colours from the right hand column at Color My Heart Color Dare 492 Mulberry/Mint/Avocado so I'm joining in there too; and I'm playing along at Make The Cards Challenge where we need to Create an Ink Blended Background.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have had so little time for crafting just lately that I'm getting withdrawal symptoms! But what with wedding-planning and Easter celebrations with the family and Eva's wild young puppy pal to supervise, there really hasn't been a moment to get inky. Thank you so much for sticking with me and hopefully I'll be able to spend a little bit more time here in May :)

Sending hugs,

And a partridge in a pear tree

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've always loved the 12 Days of Christmas song and have fond memories of singing it at the top of my voice as a child on long car journeys! I liked the challenge of memorising the order of the gifts and it certainly never occurred to me that these were quite strange presents from 'my true love'!

I had been looking for a 12 Days of Christmas stamp set and was lucky enough to find this Stampin' Up set on ebay last year. I stamped the tree image on a card panel, trimmed it to size with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery and sponged blue ink around the edges before colouring it with a mix of water-based markers and coloured pencils.

I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from a retired Uniko set and then added the sentiment from the SU set at the bottom of the panel - it just made me smile! Finally I gave the partridge a lick of sparkle with a Wink of Stella pen before mounting the panel onto a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Jingle Belles, where I've chosen the 12 Days of Christmas theme option; I'm also joining in at Dawn's All About Occasions challenge at Watercooler Wednesday; at We Love Stamping, they want to see stamped images with the option of adding images with wings - and I think my partridge does the job; and last but not least, I'm playing at Stamping Sensations where Anything Goes with an optional die cut - and I've added in a die cut frame.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When I came across The Twelve Days of Christmas (Correspondence) by John Julius Norwich, I immediately bought several to add to presents that year. It is hilarious! It consists of thank you letters from a bemused and increasingly vexed lady who has been receiving some charming but inconvenient gifts from her 'true love' and is beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake in his inimitable quirky style.

I now read it every year and, if you've not read it, I highly recommend it as there's nothing like a chuckle at Christmas (or any other time of year.) You're welcome!

Sending hugs,

Not just merry but also bright

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We all love those frosty winter days with bright blue skies don't we but not so much the grim grey ones we've had for the last couple of days here in the heart of England. I thought a nice bright Christmas card might cheer us all up!

To make this card I sponged a card panel with splodges of bright colours and trimmed it to size with a Crimped Frame die from the Greetery. 

Next I scribbled on some scrap card using bright alcohol marker pens and cut Christmas lights out of them with a long-ago-retired mini punch from Stampin' Up. After adding black tops to the lights, I arranged them over the corresponding colours on my background panel and doodled in the wires with a black fineliner pen.

To finish, I glued the lights in place and heat embossed a red sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks. The panel was then mounted onto a piece of red card and attached to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by Jo's Rainbow Christmas theme at Christmas Kickstart so I'm joining in there; I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge where Anything Christmas Goes; the ABC Christmas Challenge where A is for Any Christmas Goes and B is for Baubles; and the Rudolph Day Challenge where Anything Christmas Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We used to have coloured Christmas lights like these when I was a child and I loved the shape of the bulbs and how colourful they were. Every year they had to be brought out and tested with to see which bulbs had blown because if one blew, the whole string wouldn't work. I never knew how it worked - it was just one of those mysteries of Christmas. These days I have a string of clear lights that I've had for years and which work every time! I suppose that's progress.

Sending hugs,