A week gone...

So much for me having time to come and idle away in blogland!
A week has gone by since I last posted, although I have found time to do a few things at home.
I made lots of mess 😁😁 with Pixie Powders and Brushos on watercolour card and have made a couple of cards with some of the backgrounds.

We are currently enjoying a lovely spell of warm weather and I am loving watch the trees change colour.
This inspired this card really -
A variety of dies used on one of my inky backgrounds and they have a lovely glimmer to them in real life.
The paper behind the circle die is stamped in Vintage Sepia and the stamp is Hardwood from SU.

The sentiment is from Inkylicious, heat embossed in Copper onto a scrap of vellum and slipped behind the circle cut out.
A few Antique Copper Pixie Powder splashes onto the plain white card and a little brushing with Tea Dye round the edges and done.

Lots of Autumn themed challenges about -
Allsorts - Autumn Glory
Creative Moments - Autumn colours
Die Cutting Divas - Fall colours
Alphabet - N for Nature
Crafty Gals Corner - A/Fall
4 Crafty Chicks - Happy Fall Y'all
MAWTT - Fall colours

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and as always, thanks for popping in to visit - I really appreciate you all. x

In at the Last Minute!

It has been so long since I managed to join Loll and Co over at CAS Mix Up and I literally have made it this month at the last gasp as the challenge closes on 24th!

The challenge this month is to use markers on your stamps as well as Stamping and your choice. So I have chosen die cutting as my third choice.
The stamp I used is one of my 'Go To' every year at Christmas. Its Penny Black 'Poinsettia and Pine' and is one of the very few wood backed stamps that I still own.

I used Distress Markers in Festive Berries, Pine Needles and a tiny bit of Blueprint Sketch. I had several attempts at spritzing and stamping but none of them I was happy with so eventually after another failed attempt I didn't even dry the stamp, just inked over it and stamped!

Some Gold Liquid Pearls in the centre with a dusting of  yellow fine glitter  and another PB stamp inked in Festive Berries for the sentiment.

The watercolour card and the layer behind were die cut from odd bits so am paying a long awaited visit to the Playground too.

If you follow me on Facebook, you will know that it has been a different kind of day for me today - sadly, we had one of our Internationals diagnosed with a acute myeloid leukemia earlier this year and she hasn't left hospital since - she is just 29 years old.
So in aid of a good cause we decided to recreate 'Calendar Girls' (and boys!!) with a bowls theme and today was my day to 'bare all' for the photo shoot! Boy was it cold!
The pic has turned out really well and although I was very apprehensive (as were the others) we have come away feeling rather proud of ourselves and happy that we are raising money for a worthwhile cause!  https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/hot-shots-of-bowls

Enjoy the rest of your weekend whatever you're doing! x

England and Wales

Been a little while since the last blog post - I had my final two celebration matches in the middle of last week then a couple of days spent with some friends, before travelling on to South Wales - where I had a lovely (if occasionally damp) weekend with our talented Under 18's squad who played against Wales U18 in their annual test series.
Am home now for a couple of weeks  - an odd day where I am needed here and there but am hoping to get back into a proper routine as the winter approaches!
I did a quick stock take of my stash and found that I was quite low on a couple of different themes - New Homes, Thank You and Condolences/Sympathy. I intend to out that right over the next week or so (then I suppose I should make attempts at Christmas??)

I had inked this background panel (without the black bottom) some time ago for a 'fairy' card but it just got left!

The poppy stamp was the result of a little Inkylicious  spendie some months ago and never inked.

Once I'd stamped it, I didn't like the bottom stems just lying there on top of a salmony pink sky so used some Black Soot DI and made the bottom black.

The sentiment stamp I think was a freebie.

Matted onto black card before layering onto a white base and done.

I made a few sympathy cards yesterday and will share as we go along. They are the kind we hope we never have to send but inevitably there are occasions when we need them.

I hope you are all happy in your own part of blogland - am taking dear husband to the dentist but once back this afternoon I will come and visit for a catch up! x

Joining in at
CGCC - A/Goes
Flower Challenge - A/Goes
Creative Crafters - A/Goes
CFTH - A/Goes
Crafts Galore Encore - A/Goes

At Last!!

I am back in my craftie space! I have missed it sooo much these last months and it took ages for me to settle down to do anything - isn't it horrible when you have looked forward to something then when you actually have it within reach you can't seem to think of anything to do??
So I have been like that since Monday - (once I cleared all the dust off everything) - but today I finally made something -

with the help of Pinterest of course - better than nothing at all I think!

Had a bit of bother with the light taking the pic too.

I white embossed the flower (a small stamp from Altenew called You Make me Happy) onto watercolour card then coloured them with Distress Inks.
I used a pale blue water-soluble wax pastel for the background.

Finished it off with a teeny blob of Gold Liquid Pearls on the flower stamens.

Was a little disappointed with the sentiment - it was a small set from Kaisercraft and despite using Versafine ink and my Misti, it smudged a little.
But dear husband said it looked Ok so I resisted adding a new sentiment on another piece of card over the top of the smudged one.

It's been forever since I joined in with a challenge so am linking up to

Crafting By Designs- A/Goes
Sist. of Crafters - Flowers
SOS - Crazy for colouring
Flower Challenge - A/Goes


Thanks for visiting - am now able to sit here and call round and see what you have been up to!
Hope all is well in your part of blogland too! x

Stamping Sensations September Challenge

September already!
Here's my card for our September challenge at Stamping Sensations where we have a theme of 'Something beginning with 'B'.
Lovely Bee Crafty is our sponsor  -

I have a few 'B's on my card! Beach, birds, bark, a (life) Buoy and Birthday!

I have had this stamp for a long time - bought as a pre loved one and this is the first time I have inked it. It's rubber as opposed to my fave clear ones so always panic about positioning - particularly as there is no wood backing to even help line it up in the correct place!The MISTI helps but I still panic cos I can't see it!

Stamped it onto the cardstock, stamped again onto a piece of scrap and cut out then masked it off whilst I made the background scene with distress inks and my duster brushes. I have slowly got more confidence doing cards like these and there's something quite therapeutic about making a picture!

The grasses and 'sandhills effect' are from an Inkylicious set I think (no packaging!).
The main image was coloured with DI's too.
A little bit of string to secure the sentiment tag - job done!

Linking up over at
Allsorts- Things with Wings
Crafty Friends - Animales or Birds
ATS&M - Make your Mark
heARTful - A/goes