Tree

Been carrying on with Christmas makes - I probably have enough but figured it's best to keep going whilst I am in the mood! 

This card uses a Never Before Used Stamp - it's not a new one - I think Penny Black released it a few years ago, it's simplicity appealed to me as I thought it was a lovely tree.

I figured on using it to make one layer batch CAS cards with just simple stamping and colouring.  Ha! Total cards made with this stamp  =  ONE. This one! And definitely not one layer simple stamping and colouring!

That said I was quite happy with this when it dried out - I am still very much experimenting with my watercolour backgrounds - and a long way to go - but overall I don't think it's too bad.

I resisted the temptation to 'spatter it', no 'snow' spatters or even water droplets, just left it as it was.
The sentiment is a new one (more NBUS!) from Penny Black so of course I am linking up at the NBUS Challenge too!

Sharing over at
ABC Christmas - X for Xtra Special
Fezziwig - Decorate the Tree
Holly & Ivy - Anything Christmas

Thanks for looking - and I welcome your comments on my watercolouring efforts good or bad! x

3 Kids and a Brolly

 How changeable our weather is! No venturing out today as it's wet and very windy (again) but we have managed this week two nice long walks - yesterday particularly was beautiful as we had nice bright blue sky even though it was cold. Don't mind the cold but hate the rain!
So here's my share for today.

I have wanted this stamp for a long time and recently over at the Crafty Individuals Facebook Group was lucky enough to be picked to win a stamp of my choice - there are lots  and lots of lovely stamps that I want but this was the one (CI-399) I chose, simply because it has been on my wish list for EVER!

I teamed it with Penny Black 'Hidden Lane'.
There was lots of masking, inking and spritzing and it wasn't a quick card to do because of that.

Building up a scene is not something I am very confident with, but I really enjoyed doing it.

Stamped the children first, masked and then worked round them, inking the PB stamp with my Arteza waterbrush pens.
I used a small blending brush for the sky and the 'snowdrifts' to the right of the fence
The sentiment is also from Penny Black.
This stamp has already been well used for my Winter cards and is set to become a very firm fave with me.  
Thanks for stopping by today - Stay safe wherever you are in the world. x

Linking up at -
ABC - W for Winter Wonderland
SSS - Happy Holidays
Creative Knockouts - Winter Wonderland
CRAFT- Christmas

CAS Mix Up - Mid Month Reminder

This is my last CAS Mix Up post for this year as we are having a break over December but we will be back in January with our new challenges for 2021.

Our  final 2020 challenge is being hosted by Bonnie and the challenge rotation is a  Watercolour one with the theme of  'Off The Edge'.

All the stamps I have used are from Penny Black.

The pine branches were stamped in Mowed Lawn and Crushed Olive and I moved the ink round with a water brush.
Added a few drops of red Nuvo for a bit of shine.
The birdie and the bauble were stamped, fussy cut and watercoloured.
Poor birdie was glossed to within an inch of his life but he really does shine.

Couldn't leave the bauble out so it too got a dose of glamour dust! 

Hope that you will share your CAS makes with us if you haven't already and I hope that you all have enjoyed our challenges this year.
We've enjoyed seeing your gorgeous creations and look forward to seeing more next year! x

November Twofer

 This month's challenge at Twofer is 'Stars'. Last challenge of the year too!
I made a Christmas card and a Birthday card using the same Star die and some odd bits of glitter card.

The background for the Christmas card was done using Chipped Sapphire and Stormy Sky DI with a little dab of Squeezed Lemonade round the 'moon' for the sky and Shaded Lilac for the 'snow'.
Liberal amounts of white Posca pen spattering too!
I used a silver pen to 'hang' the stars from the die cut branch. I treated myself to this sentiment last week and it seemed just right!

The Birthday card is a tried and tested 'man' card!
Have done a few of these in different colours.
After stamping few grungy elements in grey, I added a couple of ink blots using a Midnight Blue ink.
The dark coloured stars were also cut out of the same dark blue card as the matted layer.
The sentiment I think was a freebie some time ago.

These two cards were also a way of using up the odd bits of glitter card that I always seem to be left with at this time of year.

Thanks to Darnell (Dolly 😘) for all her hard work this year with this challenge - and thanks too to the DT for their inspiration -  enjoy your month off! x

Linking my Christmas card over at
CHNC - A/Goes (Glitter)
Inkspirational - Frame It
and a quick visit to Pixies Playground 'cos my glittery bits were all leftovers!

A week?

Was astounded to see it is almost a week since my last post - it's not as if I have been mad busy although I have done some jobs outside for a couple of hours a day whilst the weather has been reasonable.

My share for today is one from a Tim Holtz stamp set that was released a few years back.  I wanted it but it was way down the always expanding wish list - I saw it on sale last week so just bought it. The wish list does not seem to get any smaller - EVER.😞 (And two more sets have now taken the place of this one!)

I have done a couple of cards with the set mostly inspired by Pinterest as Mojo😩 has been at a premium.

I have no idea if this stamp depicts a violin player or not - but it looked like it to me! So a music themed make seemed appropriate.

Made a mask of the stamp and then smooshed the background (Antique Linen), overstamped with a music stamp in sepia tones and some foliage in grey.

Watercoloured the image and then began the search for a sentiment!
Eventually I remembered this NBUS one from Bee Crafty which I think fitted.

We currently have a lovely day here - it's cold but bright and dry. Popped to a nearby town earlier to go to the bank for M-I-L.  Sad to see our fave coffee and cake places currently shut -feel for the lovely staff and of course the owners. Town was really quiet so it was just a pleasant short stroll for me up and down the High Street!
Thanks for looking today - stay safe. x

Bling!

Grey day here so needed something to brighten it up!

I also brightened up the desk with the glittery embossing powder - 🙈🙈
Started with two pieces of leftover black card  and stamped then clear embossed a Diamonds stamp by Kaisercraft down one side of the largest piece.

I bought this Funky Fossil Diamond stencil some time back - and tried a few times to use it with different mediums but simply wasn't happy with my end result -  then I bought some WOW 'White Twinkle' Embossing Powder. Which does exactly what it says!
Really happy with the result although I had two attempts at embossing the stencil on the other leftover piece before I was satisfied. 

After fussy cutting I positioned it over the diamonds but it looked kinda odd on it's own - so I embossed a Sun Ray stencil in the centre (Inkylicious) and sat the diamond on top.

Sentiment also by Inkylicious embossed with the same powder and added an odd strip of glitter card to make the size right for the base card!
Linking up to
Pixies Playground #390
Stamplorations (Stamps and Contrast)

Been a changeable week here - we've had some lovely days weather wise but also some fog and damp.
Being in lockdown means I want to be cheered by lots of blue skies and not made miserable by wet weather!
We are though better off than most as we do have lovely fields to look out on whatever the weather - and this morning the sheep arrived for their yearly overwinter visit from higher up!
Wherever you are I hope that all is well with you.
Thanks for visiting. x 

Non Traditional Christmas

Finally it has stopped raining and we had an overnight frost which gave way to a bright sky. Some clouds about but hopefully it will stay dry even if it's cold!

The November challenge over at CAS Christmas is 'Non Traditional Colours'.
It gave me an opportunity to get out the pile of rarely used coloured cardstock.

This colour is called Amethyst - I like it but have never used it before (a bit like a lot of the colours I have!)
I tried a few things (inspired by the use of coloured card on Pinterest) but in the end opted for embossing a stamp (SU's Bright and Beautiful) and simply using clear embossing powder.

I was pleasantly surprised at just how effective it looked!

The sentiment is embossed in Platinum.

A really plain and simple make and I have lots of coloured card so will try a few more I think.

Linking up with
TIOT - Embossing
ABC Xmas - 'X' for Xtra Special

Hope the sun is shining where you are - we go back into full lockdown tomorrow so am hoping that the blue skies stay with us for a while as looking out on wet grey weather only makes you more fed up! x

CAS Mix Up November challenge

 The lovely Bonnie is our challenge setter this month at CAS Mix Up. A Watercolour theme is the rotation this month and Bonnie has chosen 'OFF THE EDGE' as her challenge.

As we are in November I thought perhaps it might be a good idea to make a Christmas card for my stash. My dear husband💖 bought me my Misti for Christmas a few years ago - and I can honestly say it has been the best Christmas present EVER! Don't know what I would do without it --- or how I managed before - my stamping must have been awful!

I cut a small piece of watercolour card and positioned the stamp off the edge at the top. Using my Arteza Watercolour Pens I started by inking the Pine Cones, spritzing with a little water after I'd inked the stamp. 

I did this a couple of times until I got the colour I wanted, then did the same with the pine needles. I then moved some of the colour round a little with a wet brush to the right of the cones as there were a few bare spaces.

Hope you can join us this month for our last challenge of the year  - we have MICHELE  as our wonderful guest designer - please go and visit and see her beautiful make and of course, please pop over to the rest of my friends on the CAS Mix Up Design Team - they love visitors as much as me! x

 

Stamping Sensations November Challenge

 The theme this month at Stamping Sensations is 'Garlands, Wreaths and Christmas Flowers'.  Another great prize this month and details are over on the challenge blog - whilst you''re there check out our rules and have a look at some of the great makes from the rest of the DT!

I used kraft card and stamped my woodgrain panel.

The snowflake wreath and the baubles were magazine freebies earlier in the year - from the Silhouette Scenes by Phil Martin. Stamped and white heat embossed before adding a little bit of sparkle.

I sponged some Gathered Twigs round the edge to soften it but thought it still looked a little bare - I found a really old holly flourish stamp so inked it in Olive Green and randomly stamped round the edge before matting onto a dark brown card and popping the whole thing onto my card base.

Hope you will join us this month!