January's Rudolf Day - Make A Wish

Good afternoon and happy Thursday. I know that Christmas has only just gone, but doesn't it seem like months ago already. As always it was very last minute for me despite saying 'never again, got to be more organised, bla bla bla'. I decided to make a couple of cards each month, but this month was a little busy, and we've been away, and I can always catch up next month, etc etc so I decided to skip January. Of course if I skip January, I'll also probably skip February, March, April...

So when I saw a Christmas card on Sally's blog I realised that I needed to get off the computer and get a Christmas card made, no excuses, so here it is!

 I bought my lovely Stamperia stamps last December, but they never came out of their packet then, so I was really pleased to use them. I'm ashamed to say that I have stamps that have never been inked, but I know I'll use these a lot! 

I have the papers too, but obviously they're just for stroking and drooling over - I couldn't possibly use them!

I've added lots of glitter to the rooves and some Glossy Accents for texture. My American spell checker doesn't like rooves, but roofs is just wrong!

I'm entering my card into the January's Rudolf Day and the ABC Christmas Challenge as both are 'anything goes' and also

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' where we are asked to Add Some Sparkle.

Well at least I've made a start, we'll have to see how long it lasts!

Have a lovely evening, and thanks so much for looking xx

Follow Your Dreams

Good morning and happy Friday - welcome to the weekend! For my second project for the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground I've been using my Lavinia stamps. I'm very late to the Lavinia party, but I really like their mythical stamps, and after watching demo's on Hochanda, decided to give them a try.

I started by making an inky background with Distress Oxides and inks. I also added some sparkle with the Brusho Sprinkle It's. I love the sparkle, but next time I will save it until the end as the little 'gritty' bits were a mare to stamp over.

I made a moon by using gesso and a round gelli plate. I used a brayer for the gesso as I wanted a textured background.

Then I stamped my Pegasusses/Pegasi/winged horses,  and dragon together with the Background Script, and fairy orbs.

This gesso stamped orb had gone a little bit pink, so I thought 'I can fix that' Oh No I hear you scream, it's not really broken so don't try and fix it. 

So after I'd nearly rubbed a hole in the paper trying to fix a non existant problem I had a real problem.

So I stamped the medium sized orb on a second sheet of paper and punched them out. The punch was a little bit smaller than the stamp but I was in no position to quibble.

So all my orbs now have die cut and glittered bigger orbs. I like to think that the moon now has many satelights.

I still needed to finish the card, but didn't have any Lavinia sentiments, so I stencilled one.

So please remember the golden rule If it isn't broken don't fix it. AND if it's only a little bit broken no-one else will notice, so just walk away!

Squillions of Lavinia stamps can be found here in Dot's store, and you still have another week or so to join in with our challenge.

I'm entering this into the Lavina challenge which is Moonlight Magic.

Have a very happy weekend, and thanks so much for looking x

Some Bunny To Love

Good morning and happy Tuesday! I'm really pleased to be sharing my second project for the Country View Crafts 'Love' challenge. This time it's an anniversary card for my Mum and Dad, using my favourite hares.

I started by making an inky background with my Distress Oxides in pinks and purples.

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Much dipping and drying later and we had this.

I made some more home made stencils from hearts dies to make a bokeh background.

Then added some grungy background stamping.

And some lovely gold splatters with DecoArt paint.

These stamp are called Bonny Wee Christmas, but a hare isn't just for Christmas...

The hares were stamped and coloured with Distress Ink and cut out. I also cut and inked a couple of hearts.

Then added them to the background together with a Memory Box die sentiment. I also stamped the hares again for placement and to put the little details in.

To finish I added a few more hearts and popped the hares up on some 3d foam. I think these make a lovely couple for an anniversary card.

There's still another 10 days left of our challenge, so please join in. 

I'm linking this to the Stamping Sensations challenge which is Favourite Stamps - these hares definitely fall into that catagory!

Have a lovely week, and thanks very much for looking x

A Box of Lushness

Good morning and happy Friday. The January challenge over at Graphic 45 is to make or upcycle a box. There's a fabulous tutorial over on the blog which I've based mine on.

I started with a Christmas's box of Lush bath bombs. It's the usual thing, I love these so instead of using them I just keep them in the box and lift the lid to sniff them occasionally. This one is now over a year old but still smells gorgeous.

First of all I put architape around all the edges

Then I chose my papers. I have some really old ones from Steapmpunk Debutant,  Steampunk Spells, and Le Cirque.

Here's the box all covered.

 I've put both sides of the paper around the edges.

 This is the easel part.

 I've used a piece of chipboard from the Imagine collection as my stopper.

 And this is around the back. Again I've used an Imagine ephemera card.

And I've put some of my recent photographs on from our last trip away and our furry grandbaby.

This was the first time I've attempted anything like this and I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't have even tried though without the fab tutorial over on the G45 blog.

Have a very happy weekend, and thanks so much for looking xx

All Things Bright And Beautiful

Good afternoon and happy Monday. The very lovely Tracy Evans is running a challenge over on her face book group, and it's to make a concertina card. This couldn't have come at a better time for me as my crafting has hit a bit of a post Christmas slump. I think it was doing the same old same old for the Christmas cards, so I was really happy to make something new - in fact this was the first inking for some of the stamps, and it's AGES since I made a concertina card.

I started by choosing my stamps from my collection of Tracy's border stamps.

These are the paints that I got in my last ScrawRbox, and it's the first time out for these too.

So here they are after their first stamping and painting. I used heavy watercolour card as I knew that they would be having lots of water added. The card stood up to it really well, but I was very gratefull to my stamping platform for the stamping. It didn't help that my ink pad needed re-inking either lol.

Here they have had some glossy accents added and the sentiments have been stamped onto brown paper. They all stamped beautifully onto the smooth paper . 

I wanted to add some paperclips to one of the images, but my office supplies have really dwindled since I gave up work, and the only ones I had were blue plastic! Luckily I still had some Tim Holtz Distress embossing powders (does anyone else still have these) and they were just perfect for what I needed.

So here we are, all done.

And it still folds up nicely, and just about fits into an envelope (with a bit of a push)

Thanks so much Tracy, I really enjoyed making this.

I'm entering my card into the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge for January, and the

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday  challenge which is Fun With Florals.

Have a very crafty week, and thanks so much for looking x

Live Like A Rock Star

Good morning and happy Friday, welcome to the weekend! Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my first project of 2020. Dot has recently started to stock Art Journey stamps in the store, so I thought I would use these.

I started by making a background in my small Art By Marlene journal as I wanted to try out my new Media Plate and Distress Inks. Then I added some stamping with the Art Journey stamps, then  more colour and textures with paint, stencils, and Portfolio pastels. Please don't judge me on the state of these stamps, they have been very well loved and used!

This is my favourite AJ stamp set. It also has a wonderful sentiment stamp that just says 'Friends'  Unfortunately over the years I seem to have lost it (and believe me I looked in a LOT of boxes for it) BUT, and now here's a blast from the past, I have some rub on's, and they still work!

*Quick edit, I found my stamps together with these other 2 beauties! They were lurking in my box of Bombshell stamps which I found when looking for my Crop A Dile Big Bite (which I didn't find) No doubt I'll find this when looking for something else that I've lost lol.*

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our challenge this month. The rules are very simple, just use stamps from any of the ranges that Dot sell in the store, and link up in the F/B group. The stamps can be found here and the F/B group here.

I'm linking my friends to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is 'new', as my media plate is new.

Have a wonderful 2020, and thanks so much for looking xx

Take 3 Girls

Good morning and happy Sunday. Dot over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground has recently started stocking Art Journey stamps. Now I have some of these, but I've not inked them for such a long time, so I thought it was time to get them out of their box.

 I started by crackling and painting an old frame. It's been hanging in my craft room for about 5 years now so it needed a freshen up.

 Then I chose my lovely Art Journey stamps. They currently have a challenge which is 'Tiny' so I wanted stamps that you could just use a small part of. The insides of the frames are just 4cms square.

 So I've used Follow Me Girl.

 The very beautiful Freya (I used her instead of the girl from the Time plate)

And finally Girl.

I had such fun using these again - they're definitely not getting buried again, and it's nice to see the frame looking loved again.

I'm linking this to the Art Journey Tiny challenge, and to More Mixed Media, where the optional theme is blue. I'm also joining in with the challenge at A Vintage Journey where the theme is 'We're All Getting Older'I hope you like it, and thanks very much for looking xx