Shine Your Light Bright

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. Today is the day for a new challenge over at Lost Coast Designs and this time it's Sentiments in Focus. 

I started by making a base card using a set of skinny card dies.

Then I stamped my poor neglected Whimsical Birds on scraps of card and cut them out.

 I  added a bit of foam tape to raise it all up, and we're all done.

Aren't these the cutest birds ever! I've used Lost Coast

Whimsical Spike

Whimsical Lily 

Mini Whimsical Birds (2) and

Carmen's Veranda 

Weird Light

I hope you join in with our challenge, please make your sentiment prominent and make sure that it contains at least 5 words.

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

The Adventure Begins

 Good morning and a very happy Monday. Today I'm over at Country View Crafts with a journal page for my second "The Leaves Begin To Fall" piece.

We seem to have switched from Summer to full-on Autumn, then back to Summer in the space of a couple of weeks, but it's definitely Autumnal again today!

I started by making my background with a stencil and some distress inks.

Then I die cut, embossed, and coloured lots (and lots) of leaves.

My very happy Crazy Dog is loving playing in the leaves!

And this is what I've used.

Distress Inks here

Tim Holtz stamps here

Sizzix Dies here

Katzelkraft Stamps here

I hope you're enjoying our leaves challenge, and if you haven't already, please join in! If you have, please join in again lol.

Have a wonderful day whatever you're doing, and thanks so much for looking x

Winter Is Coming

 Good morning and a very happy Monday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with an art journal page.

Oh I do miss Game of Thrones (no not that terrible ending, no one misses that!) and dragons will always remind me of it.

I started by stencilling a background and adding the Lavinia Dragon Verse.

Then I stamped and coloured my lovely Crafty Individuals New Beginnings stamp.

I stencilled another background with my flames and a Lavinia stencil, then I added my hatching dragons. The sentiment is from Carmen's Veranda.

Dot has a fabulous range of Crafty Individuals, Carmen's Veranda, and all things Lavinia here in the store. 

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our challenge. Just use any stamps from the ranges that Dot sells for a chance to win the stamp of your choice.

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

Tale As Old As Time

 Good morning and a very happy Thursday. Today I'm over at the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity for our new challenge which is Movie Mania.

Can you tell what it is yet??

Beauty And The Beast is one of my favourite films, which is a good job as I must have watched it hundreds of times when the kids were small. My favourite will always be the animated version, though I enjoyed the re-make too.

This is a very rare thing for me, a one layer piece (pretty much) I just stamped, masked, and coloured my journal page.

The rose petals are just a de-constructed paper flower, and the sentiment has been typed on my old typewriter.

These are the stamps that I used.

Large Film Strip

Roses

Cracked Grass and Sky

I hope you like it, and that you join in by showing us your movie makes. Just link up your stamped creations for a chance to win some Lost Coast dollars.

Take care and have a very happy week x

All The Leaves Are Brown (and green and red)

Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. Can you believe it's the first of September already? The days are getting shorter and I know that Autumn is on its way as the leaves on the Acer tree outside my craft room are starting to turn red. To celebrate the prettiest of seasons, the new challenge at Country View Crafts is "The Leaves Begin To Fall"

I got this Tim Holtz die a while ago but this is the first time it's been out of its packet, so this challenge came at just the right time.

I started by making my background. I've just got some of those posh "toothbrush" blending brushes and I really like them.

Then I cut and built the flowers and the leaves using various card packs that have been in my stash since time began.

I've not put a sentiment on yet as it could be a birthday or a Mother's Day card (and if I don't make my sister's wedding anniversary card pretty sharpish it could be heading off down there!)

And this is what I've used.

Tim Holts Dies

Lisa Horton Dies

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our challenge. Please remember that leaves must be the main focus of your piece.

Take care, and have a very happy September x

Paint Your Own Reality

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. I'm over at the Lost Coast Designs Portal To Creativity again today with my second Face On project, and this time I've used a beautiful Frida Kahlo stamp to make a page in my Lost Coast journal.

This was such a simple project, but sometimes they're the nicest aren't they? I simply stamped Frida onto some watercolour paper, coloured her in, and cut her out.

The background is 6x4 (so it fits into my album) and I've stamped the sentiment directly onto it.

Here she is next to the Sugar Skull lady from last Sunday.

And this is how she looked when I paper pieced her in another journal a while ago.

This is the wonderful Frida stamp that I used.

I've really enjoyed this challenge, and I know you will too so please join in and link up for the chance to win some Lost Coast dollars.

Thanks so much for looking, take care, and have a very happy weekend x

Adventure Awaits

 Good morning and a very happy Thursday!  Today I'm back at Country View Crafts with my second project for our Monochromatic challenge.

This time I've made a card for my brother-in-law as he and my sister have a beloved camper van.

I started with a Brusho background in shades of blue, and added some stenciling with the AALL & Create world map and circle stencils. I then stamped the wonderful AALL camper stamp. I loved how it looked but didn't feel that the image stood out enough.

So I stamped it again on some thick vellum. I tore round the edges and embossed it in some ancient Moon Glow Two Tone embossing powder. Honestly I must have had this at least 15 years but it only comes out on special occasions lol. I also coloured some bits underneath with blue and white pencils to highlight them.

I wanted to highlight the turtle and van windows further so I added some Glossy Accents. Maybe not the best of ideas 'cos it really made the vellum warp (OK I did put rather a lot on) I attached this over the original card with brads through the wheels and it actually looks quite nice now - the warping seems to give it a bit of movement so we'll pretend that that was part of the plan!

Before I added the vellum I put back the two stencils and put through some Izink Ice just to make the design stand out a little more.

This is what I've used.

Distress Ink

Distress Oxides

AALL & Create Stamps

AALL & Create Stencils

Izink

I hope you have a lovely day whatever you are doing, take care, and thanks so much for looking x

All Good Things Take Time

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday! Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my Art By Marlene accordion journal. "Oh no" I hear you say, "not that journal again" BUT... this time I've actually finished it! (ok half-finished it, but let me enjoy my moment)

I've used some of my favourite stamps on this one too. I love this elephant, and the mandala is one of my favourites of the clear stamp sets.

I was on the final four pages of my journal, so I decided to do them all. I started by stamping and colouring the mandala on the already prepared pages.

Then I stamped and coloured my elephant 3 times. I used my Zig Clean Colour pens as they are such bright colours.

I worked out where the elephant would go across the crease in the pages, and put a score line in the elephant. That way I could glue it on both sides, but not where the page needs to open and close.

Now there's a tiny bit of wriggle room so the elephant (hopefully) won't crack over time. And now for my 'Ta Da' moment....

Here it is, all done! 

Ok, it's only half done, there's still the other side to do, but I have an idea for that already.

All of the stamps used are by Art By Marlene, and Dot has a fab range of everything Marlene here in the store  https://www.inkartdesigns.com/shop/ 

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