Frosty stamps

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Isn't it annoying to have craft time and then Mr Mojo disappears without so much as a by-your-leave! I find that an idea usually springs into my mind just as it's time to walk the dogs or cook dinner (and I am certainly not permitted to delay any of those activities!) By the time free time swings around again it's dark and things usually go badly if I craft in artificial light! Anyway, sorry to ramble on... here's a late idea made next day:

First, I made the postage stamps using Waffleflower's Postage Stamp Collage Die and cutting the stamps apart with paper snips. I used the die itself as a stencil to sponge blue inks into the centre of each stamp, going for an ombré look, then added various die cut botanicals which I left white for a frosty look. For the background, I found a 'wooden plank' snippet of designer paper which was trimmed to size and splattered with blue and white inks.

 

When the splatters were dry, the paper was attached to a slimline card base. I arranged the postage stamps onto it and stamped the postmarks from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks set.

 

Finally, I stamped the sentiment - a mix of the Greetery's PreText Sentiments and Stampin' Up's retired Endless Wishes - and added some pearls for berries on one of the stamps.

CHALLENGES

It was Jaydee's sketch at The Paper Players that triggered the idea for this card, so I shall link up there; Retro Rubber gave me the idea for the ombré blues and the stamps I've used are Pretty Postmarks 2019, PreText sentiments 2021 and Endless Wishes 2017; I'm also joining in at The Sisterhood of Crafters where Winter Blues is the theme; and last but not least I'm playing at Four Seasons where Anything Goes Winter and there's a lovely wintery mood board.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's now been nearly four months since Lulu came into our family and she has done really well. Some of you may be wondering how well Eva is doing - has she accepted the interloper? The answer is a resounding yes. I've been very careful not to focus too much on either dog in the presence of the other one because I wanted them to develop their own relationship, and this has worked well. They play beautifully together, taking it in turns to be the 'predator' and the 'prey'. They are incredibly tolerant of each other around food, and Eva, who is not a dog that cuddles with other dogs, will allow Lulu to sleep touching her. Lulu is much younger and full of life which has resulted in Eva losing a bit of weight and becoming much more active - bonus! But it IS quite tiring keeping up with the youngster...

 

and a warm, cosy sofa is very welcome at the end of a busy day. Sleep well sweet Eva!

Sending hugs,

Paper roses

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome back to the Tic Tac Toe challenge! We're back with all our usual inspiration but we're giving you two weeks to join in with each board this year :) Design Team O launched the first board two weeks ago, and now it's Team X's turn to inspire you to create! I got the privilege of making the board this time and I hope you enjoy my suggestions :)

 

There are valentine rows and columns for those that love the Season of Lurve! But I've tried to make everything versatile enough for other occasions too - as shown by the bright and cheery birthday card I've made:

 

I started with my Altenew Layered Rose die set, cutting the flower and leaf layers out of left over white card. I used three shades of red for the roses, sponging them roughly to get more variation, and two shades of green for the leaves. Once they were dry, I assembled them with glue (I have double sided adhesive sheets on order!!) and set them aside.

 

The snippet of beautiful mustard-coloured paper was found deep in the designer paper drawer! I trimmed it to fit the width of a card base and cut the top diagonally. The flowers and leaves were arranged on the diagonal and glued in place. I finished with a sentiment from The Greetery's PreText Sentiments set stamped in mustard, joined with a cursive 'birthday' from a retired SU set.

Okay, it's your turn now! Here's how to play: First, hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and admire all the amazing inspiration the design team has come up with. Second, choose a row or column from the board and create a card using the suggestions. Third, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your card with us - we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Seize the Birthday where I'm going with the Anything Goes option; also Make My Monday, where Pamela has chosen 'Use your Patterned Paper' as her challenge; The colours were chosen from Colour Dare #584 - Sundance, Jade and Candy Apple.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Such a lovely bright day today! Recently, I'd promised a friend a rug we've had stored away in the garage so I asked OH to help me get it out. It took half an hour of hard labour to locate the rug and heave it out, and afterwards, perspiring gently, we uttered those terrible words: "We really must have a clear out!" We stared at each other in horror until one of us came to our senses and said hurriedly: "When it gets a bit warmer!"

Sending hugs,

The Masked Poinsettia

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's an Addicted to CAS kind of Saturday today and I invite you to come and contemplate the new Code Word at the challenge, dreamed up this time by Sue:

 

One of my favourite techniques is masking so I didn't hesitate! I brought out a Christmas set by Reverse Confetti* which has yet to come out of its packaging :)

 

I started by stamping the poinsettia from the set onto a nice thick card base using dark red ink. To make a mask, I stamped it again onto a sticky note, fussy cut it and stuck it over the original. Next, I stamped the leaves and berries in green ink and removed the mask. I loved the graphic look of the uncoloured leaves and the poinsettia, so I just coloured the berries using a light red water-based marker to avoid any bleed through the card front, and the centre of the poinsettia with a yellow marker.

 

The sentiment was a mix of 'with love at' from The Greetery's PreText Sentiments and 'Christmas' from Endless Wishes, an old Stampin' Up set. The card was finished with some 'shine' on the berries using a white acrylic paint pen.

Okay, now it's your turn to interpret the Code Word! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to check out the inspiring cards my team mates have made. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link your own creation up with us. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Little Red Wagon where the challenge is No Snow Christmas; also Addicted to Stamps and More where the Any Occasion challenge has come round again; I'm also playing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where we share our Never Before Used Schtuff. 

 

*Attention all you UK bargain hunters: You can find Reverse Confetti stamp sets and dies at Seven Hills Crafts at half price, and there's an amazing Sale section and Bargain Basement there too! You're welcome!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The title of this post made me giggle as I thought of a mysterious poinsettia tiptoeing about in the dark! And that reminded me of a night long, long ago when I lived in London and shared a house with my sister. We were both woken in the small hours by a loud crash. There was a long pause and then my sister and I converged on the landing, white-faced in our dressing gowns. We tiptoed silently down the stairs clutching each other. Nothing. We made our way towards the glass door leading into the kitchen - and that's when we saw a movement inside the room! We both screamed loudly, wrenched the front door open, and were halfway up the street when it dawned on us that the movement we'd seen was our own reflexion in the glass door. On returning to the kitchen, it turned out that we had hung a heavy pan up on a hook that was loose, and it had given way, falling onto the tiles below. We had to have a soothing cup of milky hot chocolate before going back to bed I can tell you!

Sending hugs,

A young Man's 18th birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Those special birthdays are coming thick and fast around here. Today's card is for a young man, a friend's son, who turned 18 AND got his exam results all on the same day! He did really well and is all prepared to zoom off to uni, but first, we got to crack open some fizz and toast him with a few bubbles!

 

To make the card, I masked off the edges of a card base, positioned Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil (a big favourite!) over the top and sponged yellow ink into it. Taking the stencil away, I added a bit more sponging over the top part to balance out the sun at the bottom.

 

The sentiment was stamped in red ink with 'Wishing you a happy' from The Greetery's preText Sentiments, and 'birthday' from Uniko's Wild. The name and the number were made from some left-over letter and number stickers I bought many years ago to create a title on a photo album. I finished the design with some red and yellow enamel dots for a celebratary feel! This card was for his birthday but I was able to write a message inside congratulating him on his uni place too.

CHALLENGES

The Red and Yellow challenge at Color Hues inspired this card so I shall link up there; I'm also joining in at AAA Birthday and Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenges, where Anything Birthday Goes; also The Male Room is looking for masculine cards featuring spots and/or stripes, so my sunshine creates stripes and the enamel dots are good for spots!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I told another friend about the young man's birthday and his success, and that we were invited round to help celebrate before he went off to celebrate further with his pals. "I'd better not tell him that this adulting malarkey isn't all it's cracked up to be," I said. "Oh no," she agreed. "Don't grow up! It's a trap!"

PS. If you subscribe to this blog and you received an email with no pictures this morning, I do apologise! We'll put it down to Human Error shall we and move on!!

Sending hugs,

You've got vintage mail

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I had some spare time today and sat down to play with some crafty bits and pieces. Have you noticed that the postal theme has become trendy again with Waffleflower selling out of their gorgeous new postal stamp themed stencils, stamp sets and dies in record time? Well I unearthed my Mama Elephant Botanic Envelope die set and my Holiday Foliage dies from Flora and Fauna and this is what I came up with:

 

It's a very vintage style isn't it? I don't know what came over me!! It was great fun to make though :) I made the envelope first, cutting the envelope itself and lots of fir branches and winter leaves and berries out of lots of white snippets. I coloured these with inks and daubers adding 'snow' with a white paint pen and then assembled everything and glued it together.

 

For the background I used Funky Fossil's Postage Frame stencil to create the postage stamp shape on a card base, then the Snow Flurry stencil, also by Funky Fossil, to layer a snowy background over it. I added a little putty coloured ink to the edges of the card before adding Greetery and SU sentiments and popping the envelope up on dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I used heaps of white snippets to make this card - only the base was not a snippet - so will frolic over to the Snippets Playground with my homework; I'm also linking up with Christmas Craft Creations and Double D Challenge where there's a Christmas in July challenge; as well as Peace on Earth where there's a gorgeous mood board but I opted for Anything Goes. I'm just about squeaking in for Rudolph Day too!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Poor Eva has a sore paw with a slightly swollen pad. These are so difficult to treat but the best remedy is rest - and that is not a popular decision as you can imagine. I am protecting the pad with a dressing and taking her for very gentle walks on soft grass but she keeps turning tragic eyes on me which are saying "Why are you not taking me swimming? Why can't I hunt squirrels? Who are you and what have you done with my Mum?!"

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,

Sparkle berries

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Thursday of Tic Tac Toe fun! Elizabeth has come up with a wonderful board to inspire you this week:

 

Lots of options there - especially if, like me, you are frantically trying to get a whole stash of festive cards made! I've chosen the middle column Red/Sparkle/Hollyy to create this one.

 

I started by trimming a card panel so that it was slightly smaller than my card base, then cutting the centre out with a decorative stitched label die and replacing it to create a stitched frame. The pine branch from Uniko's Winter Foliage stamp set was stamped directly onto the panel and I added holly from the same set, stamped and cut out.

 

The sentiment is put together from different sets from The Greetery and from Stampin' Up and I stamped it in a dark red and a pink for an illusion of dimension. The berries were the final addition, cut out of lovely, sparkly, bright red paper using two sizes of circle punch.

So now it's your turn! Which column or row will you choose? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to check out the fab samples Team X has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I thought I'd pop a second entry in at Allsorts where they team is celebrating the 700th challenge with the theme Let's Celebrate Any Special Occasion! I'm also linking up at Peace on Earth where they always have such inspiring mood boards; I'm also joining in with Merry Little Christmas and The Holly and the Ivy where Anything Christmas Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Well halloween is over thank goodness and hopefully all the horrible decorations will be cleared away soon! My fluffy girl had a bit of a scare on one of our river walks. Back in the summer, a group of lads were cooling of with a swim in the river and one of them left his t shirt behind. Someone hung it on the fence so that they'd see it if they returned and it's been there ever since. Every time we come near it, I notice Eva's body language stiffening and I'm sure she thinks it's a person...

 

 

only a weird person that isn't moving like a real person - aaaargh!  She always relaxes when we come closer and she realises it's just a shirt hanging on the fence!

Sending hugs,

Birthday Cheers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another fun board bursting with inspiration at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Felicita is in charge today with a board that might get you going on your autumnal cards - or, as always, there's plenty of scope to go in a different direction!

 

I have a masculine birthday coming up in October and I thought this design might go down well! I selected the top line across Masculine/Rust or Orange/Sentiment and used a drinks stamp set from Stampendous that I was lucky enough to win in this Allsorts Challenge in the summer :)

 

The card started with the background: I stenciled a brick wall directly onto a square card base, using a variety of browns and greys and made a 'ground' with a straight edge mask and one of the brown inks. The sentiment is a mix of Greetery and Uniko stamps and was stamped at the top of my brick effect with rust colour ink.

 

Three of the glasses and a lemon from the Stampendous set were stamped onto white card and watercoloured. Once they were dry, they were fussyy cut and I went round the edges with a neuytral ink for a neat finish. These were arranged on my 'ground' and one of the glasses popped up on dimensional pads for a bit of interest.

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column will you choose this week? Don't forget you can also choose a diagonal! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to admire my team mates' fabulous creations. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own card when you're ready. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge; I was inspired by the gorgeous mood board at AAA Birthday so I'm joining in there too; Dena has chosen Anything Goes at Allsorts with an optional theme of Back To School so I'm linking up with the Anything Goes option; and also We Love Stamping where Anything Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's a beautiful oak tree which graces a green area in our little neighbourhood. It is surrounded by ours and our neighbours' houses and on warm summer evenings we meet under it sometimes to have a glass of wine and a chat, or occasionally a barbecue or a tea party! I don't know why it never occurred to us before, but this year we have been calling it The Royal Oak. 

 

 

Lots of pubs go by that name in this country (because of the future King Charles II who survived being hunted down by Cromwell's Roundhead troops by hiding in an oak tree.) I think we need to commission our very own pub sign don't you!

Sending hugs,

Home is where the heart is

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and time for another Tic Toe Toe challenge board bursting with inspiration! The board is in the capable hands of Joanne this week and it came at a great time for me :)

 

I chose the top row Heart/House/Die Cut and made a card for my youngest son who, having graduated, has moved into a new house with a group of good friends he was lucky enough to meet in his first few weeks of uni. 

 

The medallion was made by layering up stitched circles in various colours, the central one edged with a Lawn Fawn cloud border die. The resulting background was topped with a die cut house from X Cut which was cut twice more from snippets of coloured card so that I could inlayy the windows and the little heart.

I cut a panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and stamped a sentiment from The Greetery's PreText Sentiments and WPlus9's New Home, leaving enough space to glue the medallion between them. To link the green part to the bold black words, I used a fascia image stamp from New Home - and then capered about feeling very pleased with myself!!

So, now it's your turn to get creative with Joanne's board - so many options! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site and admire the sample the team has made to inspire you. When you are ready to share your own creation, you can use the Linky Tool you'll find at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge; I'm also joining in at the Die Cuts and/or Stencils challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Perhaps I should send my son a nice rug for his new home. How about this one I found just lying around the house...

 

Oh, wait!

Sending hugs,