A long time!

Been over a week since I have shared anything -I finally finished my 4 year term of office on Saturday night culminating in the final time as part of the Presidential team at the National Presentation. A strange feeling but I have said I am not sad it is over, I am just happy that it happened!
The kitchen is almost completed - we are hopung to lay the flooring tomorrow then it's just a few odd small bits. I will be glad to get rid of the white dust cloud that has pervaded the house for the last month.
The weather here has been amazing the last few days so it inspired me to make a spring/summer card.

I confess that this was my second attempt - my first attempts to spritz the stamp for the watercolour background were a little too heavy handed and I ended up with mass splodges!

Fared better with this one and for someone who is really not confident with this technique I am really chuffed with myself. So much so that I am going to keep trying!

The stamp is from Technique Tuesday as is the accompanying die. It was one of their releases last year and have never used it until now.
I am really upset as I have had to cancel my subscription as I got stung with a £13 import duty on top of my monthly subscription and it simply is not feasible to keep up with the fluctuation in the tax rates here - apparently the rates are calculated on a particular day each month so it is pot luck if you miss it or not.
I love TT Greenhouse Society stamps and feel really put out!

The stitched frames are from The Works.

Finished with a tiny gingham bow and a Thank You sentiment.

Joining in at
SOS - Fabulous February (Several themes which reminded me of purple!)
Crafty Cardmakers - Flowers
PB&M - A/Goes
TTCRD - A/Goes
JUGS - Amethyst
Inkspirational - Use Your Stash
Sweet Stampers - Stitched

Hope you are all enjoying the same weather we are having here and thanks for looking today. Happy Crafting! x

Mid Month at Stamping Sensations

Our 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' theme this month has attracted some lovely entries and there is still time for you to link up and join us at Stamping Sensations.
We have a great prize from Bee Crafty on offer - full details are on the challenge blog where all the DT have offered their makes for inpsiration (be lovely if you left a comment!) and also you will find our challenge rules. PLEASE READ THEM BEFORE LINKING!! Thank you!

I really liked this Sunflower from Bev's BEAUtanicals range.  I used to grow sunflowers from seed in the garden at my last house along the fence at the bottom of the garden and they always cheered me up when I went down there and saw them, so I had to buy this stamp. (New Years resolution not to buy anything until at least April just disappeared.....😞😞)

I stamped on watercolour card and used distress inks.
This is quite a large stamp (about 6") but seeing many examples of flowers tucked behind a die frame I thought I would do the same with my happy Sunflower.
I added the simple sentiment stamp - probably unnecessary as who couldn't smile when they saw a pretty flower?!


I resisted doing any other colouring or stamping on the textured card base as I just wanted the Sunflower to take centre stage.

As this is a new stamp I am sharing this make over at the Flower Challenge and also at
Crafty Catz - A/G Keep it Simple

Hope you're having a happy smiley sunflowery day wherever you are! x

Hello Love!

I don't do Valentines.    He doesn't do Valentines.    We have never done Valentines.
That's because it is Dear Husbands birthday - (we don't do Birthday cards either which is surprising considering how much I like making them!) - and because everywhere is full of lovey doveyness on 14th we normally end up having a birthday meal at another time!
I have though made a card which is a CASE of a CASE that I did a couple of years ago.
It is not for Valentines specifically and I think it could also be used for Christmas or anything else so have CASE'd it again!

The image is from A Day for Daisies.
I don't use digis a lot (although I have loads of them) as I always end up not getting the placement right/ printing them out too small/too big/ not waiting long enough for them to dry before trying to colour etc etc etc. List is endless!
And I DO prefer to actually hold a stamp (or put it in the MISTI) but I think I need to try more digis as there are so many really nice ones out there!

A simple card and the colouring is not the best as I have seen this image with proper shading on her dress and it looked amazing - sadly I am not that good with the Promarkers!

I glittered her wings and halo and added a few sparklies.
The sentiment is by SU.

Lots of love themes around so am sharing over at
Cute n Crafty - Love
Use Your Stuff - Hearts
Dream Valley - Love
CUYL - Love

So kitchen slowly taking shape - no water connected yet - hopefully that will be in the next 24 hours - then at least I can get some washing done. I confess I am fed up with the white dust that pervades everywhere in the house - made worse by the bare concrete floor.
We are likely to be almost there apart from the floor by the end of the weekend - so at least I will be able to start putting some of the stuff that currently is living on all the bedroom floors back!
Will be round to visit you all a bit later! x

Another Stencil

Earlier this week I shared a make here with Brushos and Stencils. As I had the Brushos out and my first attempt turned out OK, thought I would try another!

I think I may be getting hooked on stencils! And I am going to blame it on some (talented) crafters over at CAS Mix Up as I wouldn't have bothered with stencils if it wasn't for them deciding to start a new challenge - CAS Stencil.

This amazing flower was amongst the pack that I got from AliExpress and I used Scarlet, Orange and Yellow for the petals and a teeny amount of Brown for the centre.
Once again there was panic when the colours began to pool together!

I wasn't sure about the way the centre turned out initially but it grew on me as I waited for it to dry.
I randomly added some small seed beads to the middle.

Opted for no sentiment as think the bold flower makes enough of a statement on it's own!
I had some odd bits of coloured card which were a good match for the shades I used so after cutting out my flower with a stitched square die I layered it onto them.
A few Brusho ink splats on the base card and done!
Also sharing over at ATS+M where the challenge is Make Your Mark

We have rather a nasty stormy day here and normally wouldn't consider venturing out - but lack of cooking facilities mean we don't have a lot of choice so it will be coat/hat/boots/gloves for our daily meal out trip!
Have a great day whatever you're doing and thanks for visiting! x

Grungy Birthday

I have made very few male cards over the last few months and decided I needed to have at least one in the stash box.

This was a really quick card and think I might do some more using different colours.

I've had the brick background stamp from our sponsor for a while but have only just got round to using it.😳

I decided on a red/grey colour combo and inked the brick background in Archival Watering Can ink - which is a really nice grey shade).

All the other stamps were inked in Versafine Crimson Red.

Quite like this grungy/graffiti look and think it would be fine for a teenager - I always find those cards so difficult!!

Stencils and Brushos

CAS Stencil challenge this month is to use powdered inks.  I have just acquired a few small stencils so played about with them and my Brushos. Was a bit nervous at first as I have never used Brushos on a stencil before and worried about the inks running underneath the stencil but I watched a couple of video tutorials over on the CAS Stencil blog and plunged right in!

Here's my first attempt
The stencil reminded me of a Rennie McIntosh rose.
I was careful and taped it in place on my watercolour card  and made sure it was secure and held in place as tight as possible.


I used Yellow, Orange and Bright Red brushos.
I am normally VERY heavy handed with Brushos so I was really  extra careful this time, making sure I didn't use too much and was also very sparing with the water! I used a Mini Mister and sprayed from a LONG way above the stencil!

Panicked a little bit as the colours pooled and kept my fingers crossed that it hadn't 'leaked' underneath.
When I was feeling brave, I carefully removed the stencil and this is the result. Not bad even if I do say so myself!!

I found some red card in the paper mountain which was a near enough match to the red Brusho and finished it off with a simple sentiment stamp from Altenew.

Full of confidence 😳😳 I got out another stencil right away and had another go!! 
Will share in the next day or so once I can take a pic.

Sharing my make over at  SSS Monday - Add Some Red and at Colour Throwdown (check out the blog for the colours).

The kitchen has some units assembled!!! And all my appliances were delivered today. Still no electricity/water/etc etc but a start made.... only another 8-10 days to go! 
AND I have been told by Dear Husband that I HAVE to make my mind up about the new flooring PRONTO.... 😟 well - have whittled the 10 that I liked down to 3..... so maybe by the weekend I will have decided??
Hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

Love is everywhere..... except in my kitchen!

As currently the house is in a state of disarray🙈🙈 (no kitchen - just a bare concrete floor and re-plastered walls, no electrics, no water, nothing, zilch), I have had to spend the weekend sat in what little uncluttered space was left on the top floor.
There was me thinking that I would be able to come back from our little break (more on that at the bottom of the post) and be able to not find white cement dust everywhere..... WRONG!!!  The lounge has the old kitchen table and chairs in it, the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms turned into store rooms and the top floor the same, so surrounded by glasses, pans and the like (did ALL that stuff actually come out of the old units???) I made some room on my craft desk.

CAS Mix Up's challenge this month is 'Dimensional Dies' and although I hate mess anywhere else except the craft table, I managed to find enough spark of imagination to come up with this card. 

Coveted this stitched die for a while and was very happy when I returned home at the weekend to find it waiting for me!
I stamped the back panel in Versafine Smokey Grey Ink as I thought black may be too stark. The stamp I used is a very old one and as I removed it from it's wood backing a long time ago have no idea whose make!

The heart die cut was triple embossed with 'Red Tinsel'.  It glittered quite well but had a slightly rough finish to it, so gave it the Glossy Accents treatment!
Very pleased with the way it turned out when dry. Here's a close up.

Added it to the little stamped panel with some foam pads and then die cut the 'string'.
I hooked the little curl of the string around the word die and simply stamped to finish.
(Dimensional Dies/Stamping/Embossing)
Quite happy with the way it turned out all things considered!
Sharing  at
Allsorts - Love
CUYL - Love
JUGS - Love
JOS#2 - Glimmer/Red/Heart
Country View- Black/White + One
MTTC - All you need is Love
Time Out - Inspired by the hearts on the pic (to see it please go to their BLOG) 
And finally - a great week away with some really good friends, lots of food/drink and a bit of bowling thrown in!
4 years on from first winning this trophy we managed to do it again last week!  A lovely end to a lovely week.
Can only hope that in another 10 days time the kitchen also has a lovely ending!

Sorry this has been a picture heavy post! Hope all is well with you all - and thanks for visiting me today! x

February at Stamping Sensations

Our February challenge at Stamping Sensations is ' Happy Anything'! So that can be a wide range of things that need to be celebrated - a birthday, anniversary, wedding etc etc the list is rather a long one!
We're sponsored by Bee  Crafty - They have fabulous stamps and stencils, and loads of other things too, and our lucky winner will be able to choose £25 of goodies from their online shop.

Please read the rules on the CHALLENGE BLOG before submitting your entry.

It struck me that whilst I have been trying to use up coloured cardstock, it was a long time since I last used some of the Kraft card.

I had a piece cut from a larger sheet so as I'd made my mind up to use it I simply worked a colour combo round it.

The Teasel stamp and sentiment is from Bee Crafty BEAUtanicals collection and I teamed them with some other floral stamps from my stash.

Inked them all in Black.
I took a couple of different wildflower stamps and inked them in Weathered Wood DI, gave them a quick spritz and just randomly stamped.
A few ink spatters and the front was done.

Matted onto the Kraft and attached the sentiment with a grey (almost Weathered Wood colour!) brad.

Hoping that you will find some time to join in this month!

I am joining in at
A2S+M - A/Goes
Crafty Creations - A/goes
Aud Sentiments - A/Goes + sentiment
MAWTT - Add a Sentiment
CRAFT - A/Goes