Love and Be Loved

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with a card that I've made. 

One of the great things about the Ink Art Designs challenges is that they are always 'anything goes' as long as you use stamps from ranges that Dot sells. Sometimes though it's nice to have a bit of a prompt, so I checked out this month's Crafty Individuals challenge and it's A New Dawn. I see plenty of dawns now as we swim from 7.15, so at this time of year we see the sun come up from the swimming pool. The dawns are spectacular with the pinks and purples in the sky, so with this in mind, I made my background.

Starting with Distress Inks and Oxides on some mixed media paper I dipped and dried.

Then I added my rising sun....

and promptly toned it down a bit!

Then I added lots of background stamping and some stencilling.

My lovely hares are my focal point, just coloured with the distress ink that they are stamped in.

I wanted to stamp my sentiment but knew that it may not stamp too well with all the paint and texture in the background.

So I added an acetate wrap and stamped my sentiment on that.

All of the stamps are by Crafty Individuals and can be found here in the store.

Please join in with our challenge over at Ink Art Designs, just use stamps from the range that Dots sells and you'll be in with the chance to win the stamp of your choice.

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

Trick Or Treat

 Good morning and a very happy Monday, I hope you've had a great weekend. Today I'm sharing my second 'Halloween make a scene' piece for this month's Country View Crafts challenge. 

Once again it was time to dig out my Tim Holtz dies, and remember a snow globe isn't just for Christmas!

And out from under the bed in the spare room came these! It's mad isn't it, I couldn't wait to buy these a few (maybe 10!!) years ago, but then I never used them.

Embossing folders anyone? I'm ashamed to say that this one has never been out of the packet. I really should use them more often and will try to do so in the future.

So after much cutting, embossing, and a ridiculous amount of faffing we have this! Although not a great fan of Halloween this does make me smile when I see it.

I hope you like it, and that you also join in with our fun challenge. Don't forget, you must be true to our theme to be in with a chance to win a £20 certificate to spend in the shop.

Take care, happy haunting, and happy crafting x

Spirits Take Flight

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. Autumn is certainly drawing in now and Halloween is filling the shops. With this in mind, I've made a non-spooky All Hallows Eve journal page using my Lavinia stamps for Ink Art Designs.

I started by making my background with Distress Oxides and stencils on some watercolour paper.

Then I just built up my design using lots of little stamps as well as the large ones. I love this tiny one, as it's a little bit like paint splatters but not as risky lol.

I've stamped the bird from the Crow set onto tissue paper as there was too much texture on my moon to get a good image. It also means that you can reverse the image too. On the right, I've stuck it down with decoupage glue, and the one on the left is decoart ultrafine glitter paint. The paint actually blurs the tissue better than the glue.  The sentiment is also a Lavinia stamp, I've just added an extra 's' to the 'spirit'

I added a few Tim Holtz bats - nothing says Halloween better than bats!

And we're all done! I hope you like it and that you join in with our monthly challenge. As always it's Anything Goes, you just need to use stamps from the ranges that Dot sells here in the store. 

I'm also entering my page into this months Lavinia challenge which is All Hallows Eve. 

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

Keeeeeeep Dancing!!!

Good morning and a very happy Thursday.  Welcome to October, one of the best months of the year 'cos it's my birthday month! It's also Halloween, not something that I particularly celebrate as we're quite often on holiday, but guess what, this year we'll be at home, so if anyone is allowed out, we'll have a lantern lit and a spooky welcome awaits lol. The new challenge at Country View Crafts this month is Halloween - make a scene.

Now October is also the month that Strictly begins. My gruesome twosome have been practising the Hokey Cokey and they've put their left arms in!

It just goes to show that you should never get rid of your old Tim Holtz dies. I would have been lost without these as I don't have much of a Halloween stash.

I hope that you like our challenge and join in with us and make a Halloween scene. There's loads more inspiration over on the Country View Crafts blog so please go and check it out.

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