Blooming Marvellous!

Happy Monday to you all.

I have spent today playing about with some new watercolours (a little treat to me - a Winsor & Newton half pan of 45 lush colours!)

It was good having some time to sit and lose myself as for obvious reasons things have been a little mad round here.

The stamps were a freebie from a mag. Not often I buy crafting mags but I liked this flower and the matching dies.

The flowers and the green leaves are all from the same set and I stamped everything in Versafine Black before playing with my new paints.
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The black leaves are from SU. No idea why I coloured them black but it looked 'right' somehow! No matching die for these - all fussy cut!! Used leftovers for the flowers and leaves so am visiting the Playground (and have a note to explain my absence)!

A frame cut out with a stitched die then the card front run through with the EF, frame back in after a few paint spatters and a sentiment stamp from another set.  Job done!
(Although the weather here today has been anything but blooming marvellous that's for sure).

Many thanks to all of you who have left messages about my M-I-L. A long road ahead.

Sharing my blooms with
Little Red Wagon - Flower Frenzy
Die cut Divas - Flowers
HLSWatercolour - Happy
HLS Dies - A/Goes
PB & More - Feminine

Thanks for looking - and happy crafting! x

Baby Wipes!

It has been a struggle this month for me to keep my promise to myself to enter the CAS Mix Up Challenge each month (reason explained in the post below this one) and I am almost at the last minute sharing this into the gallery.

I tried a couple of things using the Baby Wipe techniques suggested on the challenge blog but was disappointed with the results. I desperately wanted to have a go with my limited Distress Oxide stash on glossy paper, however the photo paper I have is very thin so didn't take the inks well. (Will buy some better stuff next time I am out!)

In the end I opted to use the Baby Wipe as an Ink Pad, again with only limited supplies!
Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick and Weathered Wood ink refills dropped onto the wipe , a very old Hero Arts stamp set used for the leaf flourish and flower head.
The 'splatters' are from SU.

Then I got very messy and folded the wipe and dragged across the bottom of the card.
More ink on the fingers and the surrounding craft mat than on the card but undeterred had another couple of 'passes'!

The die cut sentiment was lying on the desk so used it before it became too tatty.
Overall, don't think it looks too bad!
There's also a brand new challenge over at The Foiled Fox   asking for a Colour Trio, so am linking up there too!.

Thanks for looking today and thanks to everyone who has sent me their best wishes for my M-I-L. They are much appreciated.  x 

Inspired at last!

My visits to blogland have been a little bit sporadic of late. And if I haven't visited you in a while I promise to get round to you as soon as I can. (Explanation of absence at the bottom of this post)

I have needed some time to simply relax and managed to grab a couple of hours in the craftie space.
(My side of the room is scheduled for an overhaul very soon as I simply have too much stuff on tops of bookcases and desks so a little redesign coming up - I hope!)

I used my fave textured card for this make, masking off a panel and inking with Shabby Shutters DI before overstamping the grasses with Mowed Lawn.

The tulips were stamped, clear embossed, coloured and the heads and leaves fussy cut - (that was a fiddly job! They're really small!!) - before popping them up on tiny foam pads.

A snippet of white card used to make the frame and a die cut butterfly to tie it all in together.

Sharing my make at -
Paper Players - CAS + Plants
ATSM - Make Your Mark

So I said I would explain my absence -
My mother in law has fractured two bones in her back - simply by making her bed would you believe?
It took two emergency phone calls as the pain was so intense and she was unable to move, followed by 2 stays in hospital before they finally decided that instead of simply giving her painkillers and sending her home saying it was a pulled muscle that there may be something more serious causing the pain.  An X ray revealed 2 fractures.
So now she is in a full body brace for the next 5 months.
She is currently in an Intermediate Care Facility and is coming home to her flat on Saturday, having passed some small mobility tests today. She lives on her own and has always been active and independent so being confined indoors until she gets a bit more able to do more things for herself is not going to be well received I think!
She lives an hour away too so there has been much travelling of late and this looks likely to continue for a short while at least.
Thanks for visiting today - promise to get round to you as soon as I can. x

May Mid Month reminder - Stamping Sensations

Here is my little nudge to remind you of our May Challenge at Stamping Sensations!

Chocolate Baroque are our sponsors - and who wouldn't want to win some stash from them???!

I again used the Honey Bee stamp set and my Honeycomb embossing folder (and if you missed the first post about this challenge it is HERE).
I really do like this stamp set!

So after a little bit fussier with the last one, this time I went for CAS.

The flower and bees were stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut.

I added some Glossy accents to the bees wings and they really do look transparent now on the card!

The background was inked with Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey and Squeezed Lemonade and I applied the Bokeh technique of sponging over it with a circle stencil and white pigment ink.

Another piece of cord to secure the cute sentiment and done!

Playing about

Not had much time to myself this week, but managed to have a go at a technique which is really simple and I don't know why it's taken me so long to do!
This is for a friend of mine and I needed it in a hurry.

I don't have many Distress Oxides and you need them for this, but I do have my 2 of my fave colours EVER and I used them for this.

On reflection I think perhaps I should have used a darker blend of inks but you learn as you go along!

Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon brushed onto plain white cardstock.
The hydrangea is from Technique Tuesday, gold embossed onto the inked piece.

By simply using a paintbrush loaded with water you can 'remove' the colour from the flower petals lightening the embossed image.

The pic really doesn't do it justice - I am very pleased with how this turned out for a first attempt - the image seems to float amongst the darker background.

I will try another using a darker Oxide shade I think at some point.

As it's Friday I hope you are all looking forward to a fabulous weekend! Thanks for visiting! x

Sharing my card at
The Flower Challenge - Embossing (Heat or Dry)
A2S&M - A/goes
SOC - Flowers
SOS - May Flowers

Monster!

Had a few hectic days with a 2 day trip to Cardiff then a day in Dorset before travelling back today. A busy time but enjoyable although now am tired!

I made this card just before I went away and didn't have time to post it -


I don't often use digi stamps but this months challenge at CAS Watercolour has the theme of 'For a Child'.
Now, child suitable stamps are not something I possess!


So improvised with this monster which I had saved in my digi folder (likely a freebie and sorry but have no idea where it came from as it's years since I even opened the digi folder never mind the stamps in there!)
I coloured with my waterbrush pens (still practicing!), then fussy cut him out, dotting some white on the parcel.
I randomly stamped the background spots in the same colours adding the sentiment with Versamark.
He looked kinda lost on a plain white background so opted to use an embossing folder!

Sharing over at
AAA- Up to One Third and Bright colours
Always Fun - Embossing folders
CAS Watercolour - For a child

Been a lovely day here - too late home to do all the washing (my excuse) but suspect that there will not be ANY option tomorrow as the forecast is for a lovely day!!
Thanks for looking - will be round to visit you all now I have my cup of tea in hand! x

Out of this World!

Those who know me know what I am like about football! (Soccer to my friends across the pond!).... so today I have been allowing my blood pressure to return to normal after an amazing night at Anfield last night!
Suffice to say the result was definitely 'out of this world' and the boys in red really did 'sparkle' - so in their honour -

Regular visitors will recall I made a card with an offcut from a galaxy background (it's HERE if you want a look!).  This is the original background where that offcut came from.
I quite like galaxy backgrounds (when I get them right) and I think this is one of my better ones. If you've not tried a galaxy background there are lots of great examples here on pinterest!

Lots of different colours used - Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserve, Dusty Concord, Black Soot.
A liberal splattering with water then when dry some white acrylic paint gave me my stellar sky.

The Starbursts and the sentiment are from Visible Image, simply heat embossed.

Sharing at -
Sweet Stampin' - Spaced Out
A Place to Start - Technique (Galaxy)
Fab n Funky - A/goes
APTTC - A/Goes

Thanks for looking today.
I am planning a quiet night in the craftie space - no more excitement for a few days at least! x

Raindrops

Found some time this morning to sit in the craftie space and hoped Mr Mojo appeared. He refused to show his face at all yesterday but I have noticed that when other things are going in in real life sometimes it is really difficult to conjure up enthusiasm for paper and ink....!!
Thankfully CAS Stencil provided me with something to concentrate on this morning and also helped me dispose of a scrap piece of background which has been getting shifted from one side of the desk to another for a while!

The challenge to use a stencil over a coloured background provided the perfect opportunity to use up this piece of blue inky background.

I used a small Raindrops stencil and after sponging the white ink, I clear embossed.

















Quite happy with the effect the clear embossing gave the drops!

The umbrella is from SU's Weather Together set, stamped in Versafine Majestic Blue onto a snippet of card and fussy cut.
The sentiment is from the same set and I used another sentiment 'I'm here for you' on the inside.

Also sharing my card with -

MTTC - CAS
Alphabet - C for CAS
Pixies Playground
TTPH - Blues

We have a sunny day here with no sign of raindrops thankfully - but my it is COLD!!
Hope the sun is shining where you are and thanks for taking the time to come and see me! x

May at Stamping Sensations

Time for another challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are sponsored by the amazing Chocolate Baroque.
A fantastic prize of  2 Stamp Sets (pic on the challenge blog)  awaits our lucky entrant who receives the most votes from the DT this month!
But if you want to even be considered you MUST follow our rules! Please read the rules before you join us - we want to be fair to everybody.

Our theme is - 'In an English Country Garden'... for those of you who aren't familiar with the song, the lyrics are available if you google the title - and it lists lots of things that you can use as a basis for your project!

I used a stamp set from our sponsors called 'Honey Bee' and stamped onto watercolour card.
I really enjoyed colouring this (even though I am a little scared of bees as I get a nasty reaction if ever I am stung!) but they ARE clever little things and we need them!

I used a Honeycomb embossing folder and cut out a circle to frame the image.
Finished by adding some cord, a fussy cut bee and a few punched hexagons.

Thanks for looking today and we all look forward to having you join us this month!