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

Gnomeo, Gnomeo....

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday. Today I'm back over on the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity with my second piece for our Gnomes challenge, and I thought it was time that I brought a bit of culture!

I've often wondered (and by 'often' I mean never) what would have become of Romeo and Juliet if they hadn't died young. My guess is she'd have got a little chunky and he would only change his socks when nagged.

I started by stamping my background with Doodle Circles and colouring in with alcohol markers.

Next, I stamped, coloured, and cut out Sunglasses Gnome and Coffee. I gave Coffee a gnome hat from 3 Gnomes. I've given them both a nice romantic heart 'cos they still love each other really, and let's face it, no-one else would have them! Many a long-lasting marriage has been build on this principle.

The sentiment has just been typed up on my computer - I won't tell you what Juliet thought about Gnomeo!

You still have a full week to join in with our challenge, so please have a go and link up for the chance to win some Lost Coast dollars. Take care, and enjoy your weekend xx

Drinking On A Schoolday!

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. Today I'm back over at Country View Crafts Towers with the second of my 'Squares' pieces. 

I knew that I wanted to use my Stamperia Mechanical Seaworld and Mechanical Fantasy stamps and that I wanted it to be blue, but apart from that, I didn't have a clue! So, it seemed like a good idea to make a background and take it from there. This one is just over 8x8 and is made with Distress Inks and Oxides.

I stamped the Sea World Piping stamp all over the page and embossed in silver.

Then I stamped again in black and cut out some squares with my Seth Apter dies.

I still didn't really know where I was going with this, so I chopped some more squares out, and stamped some text with my Dina Wakley stamps.

I stamped the man from the Capture The Moment plate and watercoloured him. I then cut out a black matt and edged it in Stamperia Ancient Wax in black/silver.

Then I added a couple of cogs, it was starting to come together now.

It just needed a quirky sentiment as it was going to be a birthday card. Thank you Mr Holtz, this sticker is perfect!

And here we are, all done (thankfully) I know that I quite often wing a project but this was the first in ages that I didn't have a clue what the next stage was going to be!

There's still loads of time for you to join in with our challenge, so please, show us your squares!

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

There's No Place Like Gnome

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. Did you get the snow yesterday? we got bucket loads! It was fun to walk in then but now it's very icy so it's an indoor day. The though of slipping on the ice and having to go to hospital fills me with dread - a sign of old age I guess (plus the fact that I can trip over my own shadow)

Today is the start of a fun new challenge over at the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity, and this time it's all about the Gnomes!

I started by watercoloring a background for my gnome village. This tag is huge so it's going to take some filling!

These are the stamps that I've chosen, 3 Gnomes and Stone House. both by Lost Coast Designs.

These were stamped and clear embossed onto scraps of Gelli plate backgrounds. You should never throw anything away, it may become a gnome house! Originally I stamped them onto watercolour card and coloured them in, then fussy cut them out, then decided I didn't like them! They are literally still stuck to my desk as I foam-padded them and everything before I admitted that I just didn't like 'em. I prefer the Gelli plate version much more.

And this is where my gnome lives, in the middle of his street! You'll be singing that all day now - you're welcome!

So please join in with our fun challenge, remember there's Lost Coast dollars up for grabs.

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

Back In Time For Lost Coast Designs

 Good morning and a very happy Thursday. Today in a change from our scheduled programming (how did I do with my BBC voice there) we are going back in time at Lost Coast Designs. Instead of a new piece for our Something Beginning With B challenge, I'm sharing a couple of favourites from 2017.

We have a black bird on a blue book cover!

Followed by black birds on a bright bokeh background. That's it for me, I'm out of B's!

If you'd like to see more details please join me over at the Portal To Creativity.

The stamps I've used can all be found here

Birds Lost Coast

Sentiments Carmen's Veranda

IN OTHER NEWS

It's absolutely bucketing down with snow here, it looks beautiful but I'm glad that I'm not going out in it!

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

Back To Black

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. I'm really pleased to say that I've re-joined the Lost Coast Designs, design team. I knew that if I nagged and pleaded with them for long enough they would have me back ;-) It's a lovely DT and such a wonderful range of stamps, there's something for everyone, and it's real red rubber! Our first challenge of the year is Something Beginning With B, so here's my piece.

I started by making my background. I did my first one in full colour, but then decided that I would quite like it just in black, and there's the first B.

These are the stamps that I've used. You can tell that they've been very well-loved can't you! There's a (B)ackground. a (B)order,  and the (B)ack of the couple.

The quote is by Oliver Hardy, and I thought it went nicely with the image.

For lots more inspiration please pop across to the Portal of Creativity. You still have another week to enter our fun challenge, just remember to focus on something beginning with B.

All of the stamps used can be found here at Lost Coast Designs.

I've used Spray Webbing

Diamonds Border

Carte Postale and

Thick and Thin Men

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for looking x

Facebook Live With Clare Charvill

 Good afternoon and a very happy Tuesday.  Ever since the first lockdown last March I have been doing Facebook live classes with Clare (My Creative Spirit) every couple of weeks or so. The latest one was between Christmas and New Year and we made an album that was built into its own box. 

All the papers and ephemera are from the G45 Kaleidoscope collection. I really love the bright colours, the only downside is the US spelling on some of the pages but I just have to man up and ignore it lol.

All the pages are pockets so there is lots of room for photographs.

I really enjoyed making this one, and I think I'm getting better at putting the papers together, though it was easy with this collection as everything seemed to go together so well.

Take care, and thanks very 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