A Sentimental Birthday

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. Here is my second card for the Country View Crafts "Be Sentimental" challenge.

I started by inking through a 12x12 Stamperia stencil, then I added some splatters.

Lots of stamping and fussy-cutting later....  This is my favourite "happy birthday" font and the stamp sheet has loads of great sentiments. It doesn't actually have "to" but it it was easy to mask and stamp.

These are the stamp sets that I've used - why limit yourself to one when you can trash your whole craft room??? 

It took me a few days to make this card as we were having a mega cold snap at the time, and it was 7 degrees in my conservatory one day! As you can imagine I only stayed for a little while at a time!

As always Susan has a fab range of Katzelkraft stamps here in the store.

Have a very happy week whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking xx

Happy Birthday To You!

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. I'm loving the new 'Happy Birthday' challenge over at Country View Crafts, and here's my second card.

Once again I turned to my Katzelkraft stamps - this set is such fun!

I started by making my background with a cloud stamp and a fan brush and paint.

Then I stamped my animals and coloured them with watercolour pens.

Then it was just a case of cutting them out and sticking down!

These are the stamps that I've used, and Susan has a great range here in the store.

I'm entering my card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is 'happy birthday'

Have a lovely day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking x

Chrismas In July For Ink Art Designs

Good morning and a very happy Monday, I hope you've had great weekend. Over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground my fellow teamies and I are having Christmas in July, so here are my first Christmas cards of the year!

I did take some step by step photos of making the back grounds, but then I deleted them when I was having a phone tidy up. So.... I made some backgrounds with Katzelkraft stamps and white and silver embossing powders.

When I have time I like to decorate my envelopes too. Those I'm still making 2 days before Christmas because 'I forgot that it was coming around' will be lucky to have envelopes at all!

It's just not Christmas without the Grumpy Penguins. The sentiment is from Stampotique and I can just imagine them saying it lol.

If I had to pick, this one would be my favourite. I love white embossing, and the fab grungy border stamp, and I think the reindeer looks so cute in his own reindeer jumper.

These are the stamp sets that I've used, as you can see there are quite a few! They are not all traditional Christmas stamps though, it's amazing what you can do with a Santa hat and scarf from the accessories set!

Dot has squillions of Katzelkraft and Stampotique stamps here in the store, together with some naughty but nice sentiments from Carmen's Veranda and Riley & Co.

Have a wonderful day whatever you are doing, take care, and thanks so much for looking xx

Get Your Happy On

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. I hope this week is being kind to you whatever you are doing. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with a Katzelkraft birthday card that I've made for my son's birthday. It's not until next month but as he wouldn't dream of looking at my blog, and he won't be my Facebook friend there's no chance of him seeing it lol.

This is the front.

And this is the inside.

I started by making my base card. The papers are by Craft Consortium and I thought that they went really well with the jungle stamps.

His favourite colour has always been green, I hope that's still the case lol.

Then I stamped and coloured my Katzelkraft stamps. This was fun, but the best bit was that I didn't have to fussy cut them as they are going onto the card in panels. 

These are the stamps that I've used, and can be found here in Dot's store. 

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our challenge. Just remember to use stamps from any of the ranges that Dot sell.

Thanks so much for looking and have a very happy day x

Get Your Happy On!

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday! We've been enjoying some lovely Spring weather here in the UK, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and there is a steady hum of not bees, but power tools! It seems like everyone around us is cleaning their drive with a jet wash!

#Edit - I wrote this on Sunday - since then we've had continuous fog, that'll teach me to brag about the UK weather!!!

Anyhoo, today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my trio of Rolodex cards. I'm really enjoying these at the moment. I don't have a big family, so don't need endless cards, so I just used to make 'stuff' Then, at the end of the year, I would have to throw all this 'stuff' away 'cos I was drowning in it! These cards are big enough to be interesting, yet you can store hundreds in a teeny tiny space. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Can you see the shadow on the doe (a deer, a female deer)? I actually took this photograph outside!!! I think it's the first time this year we've had enough sunshine - I live in the North of England, it's a real thing!

#there I go again about the weather - you can't even see outside now 'cos of the FOG!!!

I really went back to basics for these, the old Distress Inks and blending tool!

Then I added some stamping with my Katzelkraft stamps and Distress Oxides.

The images have been coloured with watered down distress markers and the odd dash of Glossy Accents.

This rabbit was why I had to have this set, isn't he handsome!

I love this deer, but oh my word, cutting out those antlers! These have been triple embossed so they are nice and sturdy. Nobody wants a floppy antler!

These are my stamps, the sentiments are great fun! Dot has a huge range here in the store, the only problem is, I want them all!

So, it's time for you now to join in with us. Just use any stamps from ranges that Dot sells and you could win the stamp of your choice from the store.

Thanks so much for looking, take care, and have a great week x

You Gotta Larf!

 Good morning and a very happy Friday, welcome to the weekend! Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my chippie mini journal covers.

I've recently got the Katzelkraft Mordents set from Dot,  and wanted to try them out. This is 2mm chipboard that was left over from a journal, and it's been cut with one of Eileen Hull's journal dies. This is the perfect size when you just want to play!

Stamp companies are very clever aren't they in the way that they package the stamps. I always want my stuff to look exactly like they've shown it! So with this in mind, I gave my chippies a couple of coats of gesso, and a layer of white acrylic to start with. Then I stamped the splatters from my old Katzelkraft set with archival inks.

And a bit of sponging around the edges in Distress Inks.

These are my stamps, I thought some of Carmen's Veranda sentiments would go perfectly with the fun images.

They all have a couple of layers of different Mod Podge on them, I've used matt, gloss, and even sparkly! You can't really tell on the photo's but you can in real life.

They've been coloured with alcohol markers and my favourite Prismacolour pencils. They are already at home in my craft room, in that I very nearly stood my coffee on one! I'm not really sure what I'll use them for, but I'm thinking of turning them into a couple of concertina books.

The stamps can be found here in Dot's store.

Katzelkraft

Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Veranda

Have a great day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking x

I'm Just Big Boned!

 Good morning and a very happy Monday. If you're back at work today have a great day, and if like me you're retired - it's the best thing in the world isn't it! Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with a birthday card that I made for my sister.

 In 2019 she took her camper van and dog, and Neil took our caravan and me up to the Lake District. I have to say it nearly killed me! We walked uphill all day for 7 days.  Cooper was a very enthusiastic 18-month-old Labradoodle with energy to spare, but even he was blowing his paws at the end of each day. It was a standing joke that when I got to 17,000 steps I could have a butter mint to boost my energy. Some days I had 2 mints (34,000) steps. We all enjoyed it (???) so much that we booked again for 2020, but we all know what happened there. Still, fingers crossed we'll get there this year.

I started by trying to create a scenic background. Some people are so good at this - I'm not one of them, I'm really bad at scenes. I try to have a light touch but I'm just ham-fisted. I like the stones though, it's one of the new Lavinia stencils. Still, the worst parts will be covered up by my images (whether they should go there or not!)

One part that I do like though is the clouds. No, I haven't found my form at last, it's a stamp! It's the Katzelkraft cloud stamp which I've had my eye on for ages. I did wonder how you would stamp a white cloud in the sky, but you actually stamp it in blue and it becomes the sky, and what's left is the clouds.

Next, I stamped and cut out my elements. The campervan is by Art By Marlene, and Cooper (Bonzy) is by Katzelkraft. The caravan and sigh post are ABM die cuts and I thought they went with the stamps perfectly. 

Poor old Cooper had to go on a diet when he got home, it was Fat Dog Slim for a month when he got home, though as Marlene says, "I am not chubby, I am just big boned".

I hope you like my card, and that you join in with our challenge this month. It's really easy, just feature a stamp from any of the ranges that Dot stocks in the store.

Take care, and thanks so much for looking x

Who Want's A Hairless Cat!

 Good morning and a very happy Monday! I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and haven't eaten and drunk toooo too much. I must admit that for me the best parts of retirement are sunny Summer days at home and a lovely long Christmas. I know this year has been a strange one to say the least, and I certainly won't be sorry to see the end of it, but I'm sure 2021 will be much better.

Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my Katzelkraft/Carmen's Veranda card.

I started by making my background with some distress inks and my new Lavinia stencil. Then I stamped the Katzelkraft stamps in the same colours.

Then it was just a case of stamping out my main images. Don't you just love Enervy!

This Carmen's Veranda sentiment just cracks me up! I know Enervy is a dog but he kind of looks like a hairless cat! As always, everything can be found here in Dot's store.

And that is it from me for 2020. I would just like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year! Take care, and thanks so much for looking x

Have A Jolly Time

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I'm having a change of scenery today, my son and his partner have gone away so we are cat-sitting for a few days. I've been having a play with my Crafty Individual stamps for my DT piece for the Ink Art Designs stamping playground.  I set myself a bit of a challenge, I wanted to make a Christmassy canvas using non-traditional Christmas stamps, so here it is.

I started by making a colourful background with paint and distress inks.

Then added some stars and circles through a stencil.

Just ready now for my Crafty Individuals stamps. The background is CI 514 Paid in Great Britain, and the wonderful puffin is by Alice Palace. The Christmas hat is from the Katzelkraft accessories set, and they can all be found here in Dot's store. 

The red and the purple made my eyes bleed a little at first, but now I'm quite liking the combo.

I hope you join in with our challenge over at the stamping playground, just use any stamps from the ranges that Dot stocks.

Take care and have a very happy month xx