Christmas Cats and Dogs

Good morning and happy Rudolf Day, just another 10 months to Christmas! In an attempt to be a little more organised than last Christmas, I've made a couple of cards.

I used a couple of my favourite stamp sets from Woodware and Hobby Art for these.

I'm entering them into the ABC Christmas challenge where the theme is cats and dogs, and also Rudolf Days where the theme is 'anything goes'

Have a very happy week, and thanks for looking x

Dance With The Fairies

Good morning and happy Saturday - welcome to the weekend. I don't think there will be much fairy dancing done this weekend, more like wind and rain dodging! 

In an attempt to add a little bit of colour to my world I've made a journal cover for the Lavinia stamp challenge Beneath The Moon.

I started by making my background with some spray inks.

 Then I added my moon with some gesso and a Gelli plate.

Do you remember these - Pan Pastels! Mine have been sitting in a box for longer than I care to remember, but out they came and they've been added to my background.

 I love this quote, we should all talk to the moon.

And it all fits perfectly on my journal so that's a result.

I'm also joining in with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is Add A Sentiment, and to the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge for February.

Have a great weekend, hope you stay dry, and thanks so much for looking xx

All You Need Is Love

Good morning and happy Friday. This is a really quick post from me today as I have LOTS to do!

 The Facebook group at Bee Crafty has a fab colour/love themed challenge, and this is what I've made.

 I started by making my background with some Distress Oxides in my large Art By Marlene journal. This is great quality paper and really stands up to lots of dipping and drying.

I reversed stamped my seahorse using my Gelli plate and added some extra colour with watercolour pens.
I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge Add A Sentiment, and also the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge for Feburuay.

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking xx

Just Dance!

Good evening and happy Tuesday! I hope the weather is being kind to you. It's been very windy and rainy here today, but no flooding so we're very lucky.

There's a beautiful colour challenge over on the Art Jouney challenge facebook group, so this is what I made.

 I've added some Crackle Accents to the watch face.

And a little bit of stitching to underline the sentiment.

Have a great evening, and thanks so much for looking x

Unlikely Friends

Good morning and happy Friday. To celebrate St Valentine's Day I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my Unlikely Friends.

I've taken the plunge and opened my new Art My Marlene journal. This has 300gsm pages inside so it's fabulous for throwing the kitchen sink at.

I've coloured both my background and images with Brusho's. Dot has now started to stock these too.

I seem to have lost my photograph of just the background, but it was like this but without the stamping and stencilling ;-)

These are the stencils that I've used, again they're by Art By Marlene.

I LOVE these stamps! These are the unlikely friends.

Here they are coloured with Brusho's on heavy watercolour card.

And here they are all in place. I took a photo at this stage just in case I messed up the next bit - the splatter!

I've tried many ways of splattering, but the one I've had most success with is with a fan brush. Luckily it all turned out OK, so I've just added a few sequins and we're all done.

I love how they look together!

I've given them some Glossy Accents to make their eyes shine.

You can find the wonderful Art By Marlene Stamps here 

and the Brusho's here 

I'm also linking this to the Craft Stamper Anything Goes TIMI challenge for February, and the

Stamping Sensations Feminine challenge.

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

Travel With No Regret

Good morning and happy Tuesday. The Crafty Individuals Facebook group is currently running a 'travel' themed challenge. Well I do love a good challenge, and this one definitely was as I don't have any CI travel stamps, so this is what I made.

The only thing travel related was this one sheet of paper, so I had to treat it very carefully lol.

I cut it up and mounted onto postage stamp shaped pieces of card in black and white.

I stamped and coloured my lovely couple from CI-402 and added the stamps to a blue background.

I typed up the Oscar Wilde quote on my computer, and we're all done.

These lovely stamps can be found here in the UK, and if you're in Australia here in Dot's store.

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

Bloom And Grow

Good morning and happy Sunday. It's ages since I've made any tags for my tag book, so I thought the Country View Crafts challenge of Splatters, Splashes, and Drips was the perfect opportunity to get tagging. 

 I started by cutting some tags out of glossy card, and choosing my alcohol inks. I've gone all high tech since I last did this technique, I've bought a can of air rather than using a straw. To be honest a straw is just as good and it leaves you two hands free so I'll be going back to that. Maybe I'll give my computer keyboard a treat with the canned air - not that it needs it (much!)

 I've used Studio Light and Aall and Create stamps for my images. In the end I had to tape my card down to my stamping platform as the glossy card was clinging so firmly to the stamps that it kept lifting. 

Then I added some stitching and dyed seam binding, and added to my big tag. You can add a bit of colour too with alcohol pens if you wish, but I think these stamps look just right on their own, and once you've added it you can't take it away again.

 I love how bright and cheerful these look, and it was good to make some tags again.

You've still got ages to join in with our challenge - in fact there's an extra day this month, so put your best splatter forward!

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

Tag You're It

Good morning and happy Thursday. Lost Coast Designs have a new challenge this month which is Tag You're It. I love making tags, so here's mine.

 I started by die cutting my tag out of heavy watercolour card and making a background with brusho's.

This is a set of Tonic dies and it's a whopper. The base die is 8x6 inches which means that I can use the beautiful Carmen's Veranda  Birds Collage Background.

I'm also entering my tag into the Stamping Sensations challenge which is Feminine.

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

Never Too Old For Fairy Tales

Good morning and happy Monday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with a card that I've made using stamps by Art Journey and Lavinia. 

I started by making a circle on my round gelli plate, then stamping the Lavinia Spiral of Spells.

I added more stamping with Lavinia and Art Journey stamps.

And added colour with Distress Inks, and sparkle with Brusho's.

I finished off with some white splatter - I got a bit carried away at this stage lol.

I hope you like it, the stamps can be found here in Dot's store. Have a look around and then join in with our challenge. The rules are very simple, just use stamps from any of the ranges that are in the store. 
Speaking of stamps there's a massive 20% off the wonderful Darkroom Door stamps, so thats always worth a look.
I'm entering fairy woodland into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is 'Anything Goes' and also the
Stamping Sensations 'Feminine' challenge.
Have a very happy day and thanks for looking x

You Can Leave Your Hat On

Good morning and happy Saturday - welcome to the weekend! Today is the start of a new challenge over at Country View Crafts, and this time the lovely Teresa has chosen Splatters, Splashes and Drips. Here is my very splattery card.

I made this for my son's partner's father - luckily he has a sense of humour!

I started by making some watercolour paint with Brusho's in red, yellow, and blue.

 Then I used my fan brush to make spatters.

 As this was Brusho I knew I could add lots more water - the page just burst into life at this stage.

 I don't know who put these stamps away in this condition. Obviously I clean them everytime I use them....

 I used the same inks on the stamps to make my spatters.

 Then I added the sentiment from the Bee Crafty set. In the end I decided that it didn't stand out enough and I re-stamped it onto a banner cut with a Tim Holtz strip die that I'd had forever and never used. Once again if you keep something long enough....

I love this skeleton stamp set, but thought he would look better on a body, so I used my favourite Zinsky fisherman from Paper Artsy. 

Ah you can't beat a good head swap every now and then!

I hope you join in with our challenge and get splatting! There's a £20 voucher up for grabs for 1 lucky winner.

Have a great week, and thanks so much for looking x