Having a Ball!

Happy Saturday!

We are having some much welcome rain today☂☂ - great for the garden and good for me too as the last few days have been toooo hot!

I am continuing with the supposed tidy up of the desk and found a small piece of smooshed card so made a card with it.

I should not stop the desk tidy to make cards cos all it does is make the desk untidy again 😒....... but I keep finding odd bits under the mound of stuff (like 4 alco inked backgrounds, a couple of smooshed bits and some stamped images) and if I tidy them away I'll just make more backgrounds etc and not use the ones I already have!

Love 💘these cute little dolphins from Clearly Besotted and this card is a case of a similar one seen on Pinterest.

The message inside reads 'Have a Ball!'

Sharing over at

Allsorts - So Cute

Back to the desk tidy..... or shall I use those inky backgrounds....... ????  

😏 No contest!!

Circles

Taking advantage of a little more easing of restrictions we had a lovely day out at a nearby historic house earlier this week where the gardens had been opened. It was overcast but warm and the absence of sun meant it wasn't too busy - we had a picnic on the grass! A lovely day. Which explains my absence from the blog! It's been a scorching couple of days and although I like the sun, it has been much too hot for me.

I don't have any kids or teens to make cards for but every now and again I get an urge to make 'cute' or 'fairy' cards!

I made this card and tag whilst fiddling about supposedly having a bit of a clear out of the stamps/stencils I no longer use.(Only to make room for new ones!!) The tag came about from an offcut piece where I tried out the blending of the 2 colours.

I'm not sure of I've ever used the whole of this Inkylicious stencil before either.

Just a bit of ink blending using Spun Sugar and Shaded Lilac and a few Inkylicious stamps.

Am sharing over at

2 Sisters on the Blog - 2 or more Circles

MMM - Use Stencils

The patio outside is quite shaded in the morning so I have taken advantage and had a sit outside with a cuppa, but it is getting really hot! No doubt there will be an afternoon for me sat in front of a fan at the craft desk (as long as I remember not to use any embossing powder or gilding flakes!)

Have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

Tidying the Desk!

Can someone tell me when I have had difficulty lately in settling to do anything, why my desk is such a mess??? 😕

It looks like a tornado 🌀 has been through this room with my desk being the epicentre.

I decided it was high time for a tidy and a little way through sorting I found an offcut piece of mixed media card which had been stamped and embossed ------------------------- and left. (Actually I found more than one!)

The desk tidy was abandoned.

I cleared a space, watercoloured the image and then cut out with the matching die. I am feeling quite happy with my colouring on this one - I am not a good painter but this one looks OK.

I cut out a circle frame  with the leftover mixed media card and watercoloured it in the same pink as the flower.

Another circle cut from some black card and layered onto the watercolour frame.

An offcut of the black card was liberally spattered with white paint and put behind the layered circles.

The PB sentiment white heat embossed.

And the desk?? TidyISH.... well tidyish for me anyway!

Am sharing over at

Crafty Catz - Black/White plus 1

Alphabet - F for Flora

HLS Watercolour - Layers

Pixies Playground - #380

I received an e mail this week from the Water Company telling us to save water as they may have to impose a hosepipe ban as reservoir levels were dropping.

At the time I was sat watching a thunderstorm listening to a monsoon of Biblical proportions lashing against the windows.

And it carried on raining for the next 2 days!!!

It looks like our restrictions are going to be eased a bit further over the next couple of weeks. Which is good news as hopefully that will mean my planned (and much needed) trip to the hairdresser scheduled for mid July may just be allowed!

Thanks for calling by today - have a great weekend! x

Stamping Sensations Mid Month reminder

We're half way through our June 'Make It Colourful' challenge at Stamping Sensations. 

There's some lovely creations in our gallery and you still have time to join in!

I have used a stamp from our sponsor Visible Image (Ink Splats Set)  which is sadly 😭 no longer available but I love it!

I combined it with a brick background stencil, a large sentiment stamp from Bee  Crafty and some other grungey inky stamps from another very old set to make a quick card which was for a young man who is about to embark on the next exciting chapter of his life.

I thought the sentiment was perfect to remind him that he only gets one chance and to make the most of everything that comes his way!


More inspiration (if you need it) over on the challenge blog along with our rules (please read!) and of course details of the prize!
Have a great day whatever you're doing. x     

CAS MIX UP- Mid Month Reminder

Half way through our first challenge on the new look CAS MIX UP blog -
and the challenge set by Susan is EMBOSSING VELLUM.

(My DT launch post is HERE if you missed it first time round!)

I took one of my biggest stamps and heat embossed onto my vellum.

Overlaid it onto some Raspberry card stock and to hide where I stuck it down at the top, die cut a scalloped edge and popped this over it with some foam pads.

(I had seen something similar to this done by a fellow blogger and thought it was a great idea to hide the sticky bits which I always manage to be able to see when I use vellum!)

We have some lovely cards to show you from the Design Team and our Guest Designer BONNIE  over at the challenge blog and we love to read your comments so please come and visit.

Really hope that you will share your make in our gallery this month! 

Twofer!

The weather here has been not good at all this week and I am trying not to let the grey skies coupled with all the madness that is going on outside in the World sink me into an abyss of misery, frustration and foreboding.  The Twofer Card Challenge for June began a couple of days ago and as I have lacked any motivation for a few days I determined that I would make something for it.

I used the same die on both cards and I hope the finished articles are different enough!

My first card has been left minus a sentiment at the moment as I am not sure if I will use it or will simply put it in my stash.

I spent a couple of hours last week making messy with Alcohol Inks and Yupo so the background is one of those.

I roughed up the surface of the die cut a little as I didn't want too smooth a finish with the embossing powder.

My sea horse die was smooshed with Distress Oxides and then a few sprinkles of embossing powder on top.

For my second card I used distress inks to colour the circles whilst it was still in the die.

I double embossed the diecut with Platinum embossing powder to give it a raised and smooth finish.

Assembling the bits back into the die cut was a bit of a challenge but I got there in the end!

Punched out a couple of small circles and popped both on top of a die cut frame that had been stamped with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

I really DO need to liven myself up!  I have promised myself I will not watch any news or spend hours trawling social media this weekend.

In a lot of cases it simply makes me angry and at other times makes me so sad.

Totally counter productive.

Am hoping the weather improves a bit so I can at least get out for a short walk across the hills down to the Nature Reserve - where it is serene and peaceful and the only things that are fighting are the ducks over the bread!

Thanks for looking today - and thanks for listening (reading!)  xx

June Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Mid way through the year! It's true that time really does fly past the older you get!
This month at Stamping Sensations we have the wonderful Visible Image as our sponsors and I have used one of their older sets called 'Free Your Imagination' - some of the stamps from my set are still available in the new updated set here

Our challenge is to 'Make It Colourful' (and please remember we are a stamping challenge so stamps have to be the focal point of your work)

I used the smaller feather stamp and (with the aid of my Misti) stamped the feathers in Distress Ink colours before adding the sentiment.

The splats and the circles are from an old grungey set (make unknown) and to finish I stamped a few Inkylicious birds.

Pop over to the challenge blog for details of the prize and while you're there take a look at some of the wonderful creations from our Design Team this month!

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

Sailing

It has been another strange week! At the beginning we had the most glorious weather and really warm/hot temperatures - then yesterday I had to put on a sweater and socks!

Today it is raining.       Heavily.

After a walk yesterday morning I spent the rest of the day at the craft desk - I can't say I was very productive! So in the absence of my own ideas I turned to my saved 'Inspirations' folder.

This card has been reproduced by lots of people in different ways so there are too many people to give credit to - I think the last one I looked at was where the 'sun' was done in different coloured strips of paper.
I've gone for the easy option of inks blended within a circle mask.

A sentiment stamp, a flock of tiny birds and a die cut boat. Nothing simpler and it gave me the satisfaction that at least I have made SOMETHING!

What I wouldn't give to be drifting along on super smooth super clear blue sea right now - beats the hell out of a grey sky and wet moorland!

Have a lovely day whatever you're doing and thanks for stopping by. x

Linking up to -
CRAFT - Masculine
CRAFTING HAPPINESS - Summer

TIOT - Cut It Out

CRAFTYCATZ - A/Goes + CAS
POPPY STAMPS - CAS

Stencil and Acrylic

Someone mentioned to me 'Acrylic Deboss' recently.
I kinda scratched my head a little when they said it as I had no idea what it was! But after a quick internet search and watching a video tutorial it became clear -
it's simply scraping Acrylic Paint over a debossed stencil impression to give some dimension - different eh? And another way to stretch your stencils.

I played about with a few different ones before settling on this Mini Stencil called 'Splash'.

I used some green and blue acrylic paint and an old gift card to drag the paint down the debossed stencilled panel. 
The wellies were from a freebie set coloured with watercolours and fussy cut.

The die cut puddles were part of the same free set and I cut them out using the edges of the card outside the stencil where the paint had been dragged to.

 I quite like the effect of the green and blue acrylic paint on the stencil and another technique that I shall practice.

A New Look - CAS Mix Up

Welcome to a brand new CAS Challenge and some exciting news!
CAS challenges (Mix Up/Watercolour/Stencil) are now all rolled into one monthly challenge blog - CAS MIX UP.
Each month we will bring you a challenge which asks for either a mixed media project, a watercolour project or a stencil one.Our first challenge is a 'Mix Up' one - Embossing with Vellum and Susan is our host.

I did two different kinds of vellum embossing on this card - Heat and Dry.
I used a cherry blossom embossing folder first for the vellum background and overlaid it onto a white card.

The Technique Tuesday Cherry Blossom stamp rates amongst my all time faves and I stamped and heat embossed in white. It comes with a die but I fussy cut it as I didn't want a border round it!
I used my Arteza pens to colour.

Used a leftover vellum piece for the heat embossed sentiment.

I hope that you will come over and join us at our new look blog - I am soooo happy to still be part of this amazing Design Team and they have some gorgeous makes to inspire you!

Our Guest Designer this month is BONNIE and her card is pretty wonderful too - so pop over and see her make!

Thanks for looking today and look forward to seeing your beautiful cards in our gallery! x