Under The Same Moon

 Good morning and happy Wednesday! So today we are due to have, in no particular order, sunshine, showers, thunderstorms, more sunshine, wind, and lightning strikes - it can only mean one thing, the English Summer! Actually, this is a Yorkshire Summer, although there is no snow forecast for today, but never say never!

So before you think you've inadvertently clicked into a weather forecast, I'd better show you the page that I've made for the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground! 

I have literally hundreds of Stampotique stamps, and no way could I chose a favourite, but Take Your Time is certainly in my top 3. There's just something magical about these two brothers (in my head) standing together with no words needed.

I knew exactly how I wanted my page to look-(this is not going to end well is it...) Not a card today, a 'just for fun' piece. I brayered my main background in Fresco's, and also made a rather nice mop up sheet.

And then disaster struck. I put a moon in the top corner with my gelli plate, and I think I must have let it dry for too long because when I lifted it up, it took bits of the paper with it. As you can see, it wasn't toooo bad, but of course, I tried to make it better. -  you can see where I'm going with this can't you...

So a plan B was needed and I put in a new moon. The inside ring has been cut from my mop up piece. I also stamped Take Your Time and coloured with watercolours.

And here we are all done. The sentiment is another Stampotique stamp.

Have I mentioned today how much I hate the new Blogger, if not, consider it done now!!!!!!! and breathe.....

A whole range of Stampotique can be found here in Dot's store.

Dot has an offer at the moment in the store. All Visible Image stamps have been reduced by 10-15% and selected Lavinia stamps have a 10% reduction, so it's the ideal time to go shopping!

Thank you very much for looking, and have a great day, whatever you are doing x

It's Alright, It's Ok...

Good morning and happy Monday! It's time for me to share my second 'In the Summer Garden' piece with you for this months Country View Crafts challenge.

I started by finger painting with my favourite Fresco Paints. I used Tracy Scott's second set and also Dolly Mix. This is my new favourite way to paint, and I learned it taking one of Tracy's classes.

Then I stamped all over with Tracy's PaperArtsy's flower stamps.  Just need to fussy cut them - shoot me now!

Two episodes of New Tricks later and they are all done! I've layered them up on some foam pads.

I've stamped my most favouritist (this really is a word - I checked!) 'happy birthday' stamp from JOFY14 then arranged my flowers. I need to make a box now to send it in (or I could just hand it over - sticking out of an envelope) - only joking, though that could work...

I really enjoyed making this apart from the cutting out, but 'It's allright, it's OK, doesn't really matter if you're old and gray'.... It's really hard for me to cut out and watch the TV at the same time 'cos I need to wear my reading glasses to see the scissors, or my fingers, so I look like a demented meerkat bobbing up and down looking over my glasses... just a small insight into my exciting world of bad eyesight and even worse telly!

Anyway, I hope you like my card, and that you join in with our fun challenge and the chance to win £20 to spend in the store. Have a wonderful day, and thanks very much for looking

Always Check!

Good morning and happy Monday.  I'm loving the latest fun challenge at Country View Crafts which is Be Humerous. Here's my card.

 I started with a brayer clean up sheet from a previous project. I really like the colours that had been created with the  PaperArtsy Fresco paints.

 This stamp sheet is such fun! I stamped these guys from Zinski Set 16 for placement.

 Then I stamped them again and coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils.

 They are really quite easy to cut out, which made me very happy as I'm not the worlds best at cutting out! 

 They're a handsome bunch aren't they!

I love this sentiment, it's from Carmen's Veranda and I know quite a few people that would appreciate it (you know who you are)

And there we are, all done! I had some scraps of card left over from the same project that the mop up card came from, so I made some banners. I know you can't keep everything, but I'm glad that I do lol.

There's loads of time for you to join in with our challenge, so put away the serious. and show us your funny side!

Have a very happy week, and thanks very much for looking xx

Counting Humans

Good morning and happy Saturday. I'm a very happy bunny 'cos we're jetting off in search of sunshine today (though the weather forecast isn't promising much). We're leaving the kids home alone - hopefully now they're in their 20's they wont fight as much as they used to when left unattended for more than 5 seconds. I have given them lessons in how to transfer washing from their bedroom floors to the washing machine, but I don't hold out much hope!

Here is my second postcard for this months Country View Crafts challenge.

Once again I've used stamps from the fab new recent release from PaperArtsy

 I started by cutting my card to slightly less than 6x4 so that I could layer it up at the end. I've used both opaque and transparent Fresco paints and a gel plate. 

 Many layers later (but still some more to do) with lots of stamping and stencilling - I don't know where they all ended up on the finished piece!

Don't you just love these Zinski sheep! They just make me smile. All of the stamps have come from the same plate, and they've been coloured with the same watered down fresco's. Note to self, don't put a blob on your craft mat, you only use a drop from the lid, but I do it every. single. time!

I though I'd got over my phobia about buttons without thread and just stuck it down, but I couldn't live with it and had to poke holes through both layers so I could stitch it down. It's the quirky(weird) stuff that keeps us interesting isn't it - or so I keep telling Neil when he give me 'that' look.
I'm also joining  in with the  Paperbabe Anything Goes challenge 

I hope you join in with our postcard challenge, it's fun so go on, you know you want to. Have a lovely March, and I'll catch up with you when I get back (after the washing!) xx

It's Hearts and Butterflies for PaperArtsy

The lovely Alison (aka Butterfly) is guest designer at PaperArtsy this week, and she has made a gorgeous hanging for our inspiration (here), and this is what I have come up with.

I started with a plaque from the MDF man and painted it in the same colours of Fresco paints that Alison used.
I then stamped and embossed the sentiment from Darcy 01. I thought the background looked a little bare, so I stamped the words from the Ding and Dong plate in gold and clear embossed. I had my usual problem with the wonky stamping. I do have a stamp positioner but it seems that it wont work if I leave it in the box lol. I then stamped the same stamp in coffee archival and clear embossed again.
I painted some book pages in reds and reds/greens, and stamped the butterfly and heart from the Darcy plates.

I added a touch of Frantage embossing powders in gold and green to finish off.

I enjoyed making this and will definitely try the 'blob and stipple' way of painting again.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend, and thanks very much for looking xx

For Edgar

 Here's another C&S card for this weeks Paper Artsy challenge, inspired by Joanne's birthday card.
Again I'm sure the stamps are by Cherry Pie, and as I don't have a glass cutting mat or splat stamp, I've gone a bit high tech..

I'ts an old tile that I've kept for just because I could and a piece of bobbly packaging. I've not really given London Bus or Eggplant much of an outing but they are fab, so thanks Joanne for getting me to give them a try.
Thanks very much for looking and enjoy your Sunday xx

Le Chat Noir

It't been clean and simple week over at PaperArtsy Towers as Joanne Wardle is the Queen of Clean. This is a real challenge for me, all that white space aggghh.
I don't have many Halloween stamps, but I do have this lovely Cherry Pie black cat.
The bit I was dreading was the paint streak, so I had a little practice with the Eggplant Fresco first lol. I really enjoyed making this, and while I may not turn to C&S as my first choice, I will definitely use the paint streak again.
Thanks very much for looking and enjoy what's left of the weekend x

Layer It Up - SDC 115

It's my turn to play host over at Stampotique today, which means I get to chose the theme, and I've gone with layers. I love to use layers on my projects, be it layers of paint and inks, or layers of card - or both. I challenge you to use at least 3 layers on your creation. Have fun!

I've used the lovely Hazel again for mine, but this time she's brought her dog along too :-)

  This is another of my chipboard album pieces from the MDF Man. It's been covered in Fresco paints, and painted through a Dylusion stencil.

Next it's been stamped with... you've guessed it, Vintage Script

The green is still there, it just doesn't show up at all in this photograph lol. I painted texture paste through a Wendy Vecci stencil, inked over with the dots from Design Cube, added buttons to the centres and doodled around the edges to fit in with the rest of the album.

Every Girl and Dog has been stamped and cut out. Hazel is wearing a nice new dress, and dog is sat on the Every Dog Text. I love this sentiment, and the way that you can chop it up to say whatever you like (as long as it's the words 'Every Dog Needs A Girl :-) )
I hope you'll join in my challenge, I don't mind what kind of layers you use, just have fun playing. There's a new Linky set up for September, and you may be the lucky winner of a $30 gift certificate.
Hope you like it, and thanks very much for looking xx