Sunshine!

Trying to escape from the current heatwave has meant retreating to the craft space armed with the floor fan!

I used to soak up the sun in my younger days but have found as I have got older the heat and humidity has become unbearable - and I resort to being agitated and grumpy - well a little bit more agitated and grumpier than usual that is!

In my cool crafty retreat (!) I have caught up on makes for the card box and this is one of those.

I have been experimenting with coloured card and my watercolour pencils.

After gold embossing the stamp (Sunflower Love from Waffle Flower), I coloured it in the shades similar to the coloured card base.

Really quite like the result and as I have lots of coloured card I shall do this again!

It's been a long time since I linked up a make at a challenge blog other than my two DT spots but I am linking this over at -
Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Floral Goes

Thanks for looking - and have a great day whatever you're doing! x

Animals

 Here at TRY IT ON TUESDAY our new challenge is called simply 'ANIMALS'
Your animals can be real or imaginary so there's lots of options!

Its been a very long time since I purchased a craft mag - but when I saw the one from Indigo Blu recently I simply HAD to have it.

I ADORE this fox! I've used it such a lot - same with the hare - and to me these 2 stamps alone were worth the price of the mag.

I used a piece of paper from an Autumn coloured pack from my stash which I overstamped with a leaf branch from Inkylicious using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. 

I then sponged a bit of Speckled Egg DO randomly and did some more 2nd/3rd generation stamping of a script stamp in the cocoa colour.

The fox was stamped in Vintage Sepia and I just used a yellow pencil lightly on his eyes. 
Matted onto brown then layered onto Kraft base.

Thanks for looking - hope all is well with you in blogland. x 

We're back!

After a long absence CAS MIX UP has returned!
It's great to have the team back together - some old faces/some new ones and I am soooo happy to be back and part of it!
All the info as to what is happening and the rules are also on the CAS MIX UP blog.
Our challenges run for 1 month, all the rules are shown on the challenge blog and there in my sidebar. 

Our first challenge is a mixed media one, simply called 'ECLIPSE'.
Please make sure your creation follows the definition of Clean and Simple and your make must include stamping.
There are some video tutorials to help you along the way on the challenge blog and also some amazing inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer this month  Michelle (I Card Everyone) 

 I really hope you will link up a creation to the gallery. 

This was my very first attempt at this technique - I stamped and heat embossed then watercoloured. 

I have no idea why I have never tried this before as I really like the 3D look.
I was that excited 😄I made two! 
Thanks for stopping by. x

In the Garden

The challenge theme this time at TRY IT ON TUESDAY called 'In the Garden' gives me an opportunity to share another page from my fabric book!

This is the centre of the book.

Some stamping again like the other pages but no floral fabric background, just left it plain white as I wanted the lace embroidered flower piece to take centre stage!
 
I have to thank my friend for this beautiful piece of lace which I had to chop up to make it fit on the pages - was a 'hold your breath cos if you ruin it you're not going to get anymore' kind of ten minutes as I attacked it with a pair of scissors!

I positioned it first and pinned it then decided where I was going to stamp.
After stamping I very carefully stitched the lace pieces into place. 

I remembered I had a teeny bee stamp in an old Hero Arts set - loved💖 him! 
He was fun to stamp then embroider him hovering over the flowers deciding which one took his fancy. 
I resisted any notion of adding a couple more as I thought it was nice that he had all these pretty flowers🌸 all to himself!
 
The bird house might have been from Clarity eons ago and I found the small butterfly on a stamping block at the back of the drawer.... (don't say anything.....) 

No secret garden is complete without a lock and key to the gate is it?!

Thanks for visiting me today! 
PS The front cover of the book is HERE if you haven't seen it. x
PPS - I am currently away celebrating a birthday (you know one of those that have a zero on the end) so will catch up when I get back. x

Flying High

For the next 2 weeks our challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY is called 'Flying High'.
So anything that flies in any form - which gives lots of scope! 

Sometime back I was given a very very large collection of costume jewellery which was no longer needed.

I have made a few sparkly things for Christmas (the post is here if you want to look) and lately have fiddled about making a few pictures which no doubt will appear on my blog at some point!

This one though is quite a large piece, which I have made for a crafting friend for her birthday.

My hot air balloon is made up of all bits from the costume jewellery box and a few pearls from my stash.

The top is a necklace (disappointed as pic doesn't show the sparkle really - the edges of it are tiny rhinestones which really do catch the light!) and the 'basket' at the bottom is a large earring

The focal point in the centre was a necklace  and I added a teardrop shaped earring at the bottom - mainly to fill the space!

I used pieces from a bracelet and some silver chain (that was a nightmare to glue without leaving marks)

Normally I put pieces of jewel art onto a black background but thought blue was better for this piece.

Hope you can find time to join us for this challenge!
Thanks for looking - appreciate you taking the time. x
  

Circles

Here's my take on our challenge theme over at TRY IT ON TUESDAY which is called 'GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES' 

As buttons (in the main) are circular I got out the box and lifted out a selection

Using an Inkylicious Willow Twig stamp and the grass stamp from Skinny Trees set for the background with Versafine Shady Lane, I did some first and second generation stamping.

Ink blended the background with Bundled Sage for the bottom and then used the pink, yellow and blue blending brushes without loading any more ink! It was surprising really how much there was left on the brushes and it gave just enough colour for my background.

Once the buttons were stuck I mixed a little ink in similar shades to the buttons and did a few spatters.  

My only deviation from the 'circle' theme was the white heart button - (it also has some white spatters round it but you can't see in the photo) as I am giving this to a good friend who says her life is a constant battle with weeds in her garden so the sentiment seemed very apt!

Hope you will find time to join us this challenge and thanks for visiting me today. 

(I appreciate everyone who takes time to leave comments and also who send me messages privately. I have good days and bad days but the good ones are now far more in number than the bad and am a lot more positive thankfully. Love to you all.x) 

Simples!

 We would like you to KEEP IT SIMPLE for the next fortnightly challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY!

I have done a very quick and easy one layer card and try as I might I simply couldn't get a decent pic! 
I spent longer trying to take a photo than I did making the darn card! 

I used a Lavinia stencil and lightly sponged over it with Bundled Sage DO.

The stamps are mega old (one of the stems has simply disintegrated!) but they're a much used set.

All the stamping was done with Versafine Shady Lane.

Once dry I used a white Posca pen on the seed heads and then dotted some Stickles onto them. They look real nice in real life and for a really quick make I am happy (for once!).
Look forward to seeing your creations over at the challenge blog. x

Another page

Here's another page from the fabric book (well two actually!)
These two are the last page and inside back cover and it has been a labour of love. 

My lovely visitors will have already seen the front of this book which I have been working on for a while - it's now finished and I still have some pages to share. 
(The front cover is HERE)

Am so very grateful to a good friend who introduced me to 'Slow Stitching' when things here were at rock bottom. 
Not only has it helped my health but it's also served the purpose of making a very large dent in all those scraps of lace, fabric etc which have accumulated over the years!

I simply sat and hand sewed odd bits of stuff and with the exception of me deciding I wanted to do something 'frothy' which also reflected my love of birds and flowers there was no definite plan.
I did what I wanted and didn't concern myself if the stitches were untidy or the edges frayed. The whole point of slow stitching is the mindfulness, where you shut out everything and just let things evolve. Perfection isn't the point - the journey is.

I can honestly say that this has been the best therapy.
Life now has got so much more positivity and I am thankful.
Sometimes 'hanging in there' makes your arms ache but it makes your shoulders stronger!

Thanks for looking. x 
It's been a long long time since I have linked up to any challenges but here goes
Snippets Playground (all my fabric/lace are leftover snippets)
Neglected Stuff
Triple B
Ellibelles Garden Party #14

Mid Month at TIOT

As promised here's the second make with the stencil for our current challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY, where the theme is NUMBERS.

I used a stamping block for the centre inked with Fossilized Amber DI.

The stencil was inked in Cracked Pistachio and Fossilized Amber.

The Dandelions are Lavinia.

I made a mistake when I stamped the sentiment - I wanted the dandelion seed to seem as if it was carrying off the word flies..... but in a moment of brain fog I stamped it the wrong way round! 
Hey ho.😞😟              

There's a week left for you to join us with your Numbers creations! x 

Countdown?

 NUMBERS is the challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY.

I'd already made my mind up to use the Woodware numbers stencil  as it was the only thing I could think of.... but then sat looking at it wondering what else I could do!

Remembering a very old Visible Image stamp set  I rooted about until I found it. The numbers stamp and the sentiment are from that set - it's called Time after Time - and have no idea how long I have had it - except I think it might have been one of the first VI sets I ever bought!

Inks used - Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass.

I made two cards using the stencil - (the second one is scheduled for mid way through this challenge) -  as it was out of the desk I might as well use it, although it is not one of the stencils I like to use a lot - it's long and thin and moves about a lot as there's not a lot of places to stick tape to in order to make it secure. 

Was just glad that I came up with something on the theme! x

Inky

This is my make for TRY IT ON TUESDAYS new challenge which starts today. 

The theme is 'MAKE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND'.
It's been a while since I got out any inks and made a mess on the craft mat and I started without any real ideas in mind!

I made a couple of background pieces using just 2 different colours on each one and this is one of them.

Speckled Egg and Pumice Stone just swiped on the mat and then the card pressed down randomly.

Didn't think it looked too bad so this was the first inked piece I used.

I'm trying to motivate myself to clear out the craft room. 

We're having new flooring in a month or so, so of course all the cupboards have to be emptied. 

To my shame I found this uninked and obviously unloved Woodware stamp during a half hearted attempt at putting some stamps in a box.

No idea how long I have had it either. I stamped it in Rich Cocoa ink and then just highlighted little bits of it with a blue pencil. Stamped a small script and a bit of a crackled stamp to give a bit of depth to the background.

The stamp has now been consigned to the 'get rid of' box as I doubt it will ever see ink again! 

Thanks for dropping in. Hope you can join us this time at Try It On Tuesday. x 

A struggle!

The challenge at Try It On Tuesday this time proved a real headache for me! The challenge is 'CUTE'.

I don't do cute.
I CAN'T do cute - in fact looking through the hundreds of stamps here, I have the grand total of 2 sets of Penny Black Hedgehogs which is a testament to how much cuteness there is in this craft space. 

Nothing. Nil. Zilch.

No cuteness overload here at all.

So with nothing else I had to resort to making a relatively CAS card using one hedgehog which got itself stamped onto watercolour card for the first time in the 10 (maybe more) years that I have owned the set.

All coloured with my Mondeluz pencils and the best attempt at cuteness I could muster!

Hope to see lots of cute creations in the link up this time round!

Thanks for looking today. x

 

 

Spring

 Our fortnightly challenge starts again today at TRY IT ON TUESDAY and we're celebrating SPRING
Any project which means Spring to you

I had the flower die folder out so I cut 2 Spring Daisies (well they look like daisies to me!)

Coloured with Mondeluz pencils. They then sat on my desk for almost 2 weeks as I simply couldn't think of anything to do with them.

In desperation I opted for a honeycomb embossing folder and stamped and coloured a little bee.

When I tucked the flowers in the base it still looked bare so I just stamped a few bits of foliage from a very old and very well used Hobby Art set in Bundled Sage Oxide.

The sentiment is another one well used and eons old - stamped in Bundled Sage.
Thanks for looking and please come and join us at Try It on Tuesday with your spring creations! x 

Faux Cyanotype

This last week I have felt a little better in myself 
(maybe it's the Slow Stitching - See post below!) 
and although have spent a lot of time just sitting at the craft desk shuffling bits of stuff round with no end product (depressing enough as it is without failing to conjure anything up) . 

I have still paid sporadic visits to blogs over the last several months as pretty makes give me a little lift even if it's only for a short time and this last week something caught my eye on Pat's lovely blog.

It's been a long time since I made a card for anything other than my TIOT DT duties -
but in a couple of hours of no brain fuzz I  tried the Faux Cyanotype I had seen done by Pat and the Group of 7 Cardmakers. 
(Hello Lolly and friends xxx - it's been a forever long time 💕)

I found picking up an ink blending brush was also something that I didn't need to get myself in a state about which perked me up even more. (Whether it lasts will be a different thing)

The stamps are by Inkylicious and they were used a lot in the past - placing of the hummingbird not quite right as I really wanted it to be nearer the flower but hey ho - at least I made something just for makings sake.
I did though have to stamp the image many times with the white ink - thank God for Misti is what I say.
I lightly inked the edges of the frame and the card itself with the same Blueprint Sketch DOX.

Having been brave enough to push the dark cloud aside I have linked this up to the Group's blog. x

Feminine

 Our challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY for the next 2 weeks is called MAKE IT FEMININE.

I recently was introduced to 'Slow Stitching' which is all about relaxation and mindfulness. 
The idea is not to actually plan anything but to allow your project to simply evolve without any pressure. No using a sewing machine either, just all hand stitching.

I have a very large box of vintage lace, odd bits of fabric and bits of stuff long unused so it seemed a start to maybe use some of it up.

I ended up making an A5 size 6 page fabric book and this is the front cover.

I stamped lots of quotes, some images of flowers and birds onto fabric and as I did each page just picked one which took my fancy at that particular moment.

I found a previously made tag in the box and just used that for the front.

I am not proficient with a needle and thread but can honestly say I really enjoyed making this book.

Stitching with no plan and no worrying if your stitches were even straight was very calming and  I allowed myself to just shut everything out. 
The best thing was being able to pick it up and put it down without trying to plan out a design.

I am delighted with the finished book - no doubt I will be able to share more pages with you over the coming months!
Thanks for looking and I hope to see your 'feminine' projects over on the challenge blog. x 

A new challenge at TIOT

Another challenge at Try It On Tuesday starts today and it's called 3-2-1

So 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 of something on your project. You can make anything you like as long as it incorporates the challenge theme.

I made a relatively CAS card which started out as white on white but having looked at the components spread out on the craft mat for a day I decided to add a tiny dusting of colour.

So 3 flowers edged in a light dusting of Picked Raspberry ink, coupled with 2 pieces of 'trellis' in Cracked Pistachio and 2 die cut stems all mounted onto 1 wavy edged die cut square.

I added a tiny die cut centre with a teeny pearl onto the flowers as I thought it lifted them a bit.

Hope you can join us at TIOT - have a peek at what the rest of the team have come up with too!
Thanks for looking today - I appreciate you coming to see me. x  

All Loved Up!

Try it On Tuesday's challenge  this time is called 'All Loved Up'.

I steered away from the usual red and went for a rustic look!

The backing paper is eons old (found in the paper box) and I roughed up the edges and ran over with Antique Linen DI.

Edged with a paper doily and then cut out two hearts from some hessian ribbon.

2 small pearl buttons and some white thread on top and then added some twine and a larger pearl button.
Job done!


Thanks for looking - hope all is well with you in your part of blogland. x

Text

 Our Try It On Tuesday challenge for the next 2 weeks is 'ADD SOME TEXT'

I made a few cards like this several years ago with different coloured backgrounds when I was looking to add a few cards to my own stash box. An added bonus was that they were quick and easy to do!

I tried dark blue and silver, plum coloured card with gold, red card with black etc but by far the one I liked the best was the one done on a black background with gold.  

As I am trying to keep on an even keel and not get stressed I decided to re-do something from the past rather than sitting looking at a blank desk wondering what to do!

Plain black card gold heat embossed with a text stamp (that old I have no idea where it came from) and a dandelion die (or is it a Cornflower??) -I think it's a Sizzix one cos it's that rusty brown colour.

I added a heart shaped word die to this one, cut twice, once in white then in gold mirri card and fussy cut the word.

Hope you will join us this over the next 2 weeks and please stop by the challenge blog and see what the rest of the team have done this time round!.

Thanks for looking today. x

It's Cold Outside

First challenge of 2026 at Try It On Tuesday.
Our theme this fortnight is 'It's Cold Outside'.⛄

I always think of blue shades whenever anyone mentions cold so did something relatively quick, simple and of course blue!
Some ink blending and stamps from Lavinia, Inkylicious and Card-io.

I hope you will find time to join us this challenge!

Feeling a bit more upbeat the last couple of weeks. 
We had a wonderful time away over Christmas - and another couple of places I wanted to visit ticked off my bucket list. 

Budapest is a beautiful city, Salzburg was stunning and Vienna was simply magical. I felt like I was in a fairy tale and had to keep pinching myself!

So with Canada and Alaska done, 3 of my 5 European cities done it's time to look forward to the next big adventure which will take place in a few months time round a big birthday.... (21 again before anyone asks...).

Happy New Year to everyone.

 

 

Santa

Our last challenge of 2025 at TRY IT ON TUESDAY is called 'All About Santa'

This was one of the quickest cards to come together and is a complete change to my usual Christmas cards.

I had a roll of corrugated cardboard bought for a group project and despite the group using it I still have lots left so here it was used as a backing for my Santa. 

I spattered it liberally with a white Posca pen before sticking it to the base card.

The Santa image was part of a pad of vintage Christmas papers. 

I distressed the edges, used some Antique Linen DI and matted it onto a piece of dark red card, before adding a few more spatters around Santa's face.

A couple of dies, a scrap piece of ribbon and an off cut from another vintage paper to make the tag before finishing with the fabric flower.

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

The TIOT team is back on 6th January with a brand new challenge so I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and may 2026 be a good year for us all. x