Spring?

What a glorious day we are enjoying here today! Warm sunshine and blue skies and that blasted wind has finally eased a little!
The forecast says it mightn't be here long so I enjoyed a couple of hours outside!
Here's spring themed card!

I made it a couple of weeks ago as soon as I got the stamp from Crafty Individuals.

The stamp is called 'Counting Bluebells' (CI-572) and I thought it was really pretty!

It's a bigger stamp than I am used to - this card is 7 x 5 and the image as you can see takes up most of the front.  One of the good things though is that it doesn't need much else!

I started by using my Arteza water brush pens direct to the stamp, spritzing lightly with water before stamping then simply dragged the colour from the outline to colour the image.

Made a mask for the bluebells and did some second generation stamping with the music background stamp which is from Wow.

I thought it still looked a bit bare so got a small dots stencil and inked through it lightly with Lilac DI and then lightly inked the card edges.
No sentiment cos I don't know what I am going to use it for!
There's lots of bluebells currently flowering here in woods in the UK - I had a big clump in the garden of my old house underneath a tree and I loved to see them as it always made me feel that Spring had arrived.
Sharing at
TIOT - Spring
SSS Monday - Easter/Spring

We're Here!

Been playing about with stamps again!
Here's today's share.

It's a bit of a fun, quirky make (for me) and I got out some very old Paris themed stamps which haven't seen the light of day for a long time. I think they were one of the very first sets I bought on a trip to the NEC.

The background paper is by Crafty Individuals. I overstamped it with the various French related stamps, bus tickets, an airline ticket and other bits including one very large Eiffel Tower.

The birds stamp is from Crafty Individuals too (- CI- 544) - its called Three Birds and I stamped and fussy cut two of them (obviously!), then watercoloured.
The suitcase is from another old set. I wanted them to look like they had just arrived!

I have quite a few things almost finished and am determined to try and get a couple completed - for no other reason than the workspace has that much on it very soon I won't be able to even move it all to one side to make even a bit of room!

Thanks for looking today - have a great weekend. x
Sharing at
Retro Rubber- A/Goes (my Paris stamps are at least 12 years old!)
Crafty Creations - A/Goes

Dragonflies

(Picture heavy post!)
The Twofer challenge always makes me think and this month I had to think more than usual!

It's taken me a long time to  make a decision and to come up with something - which is madness when you consider the prompt was 'YOUR CHOICE'!

Eventually I came up with these -
I've had this Stampendous stamp for ever! Forget the last time I used it so made up for lost time and used it twice.

I stamped and clear embossed then added some Brushos. I am still not very good with Brushos and this panel was my third attempt.

A little grungy overstamping with a hexagon stamp and an arrow stamp. Liked the hexagon, didn't like the arrow so overstamped it with the 'Make Art' which fortunately for me looked OK!


My second card involved more embossing!

Gold embossed the dragonfly

then fussy cut, getting rid of the flourish and the vines. I painted the wings with several Mica Powders so they have a little shimmer.

The background is an old stencil from Imagination Crafts - I used Tea Dye for the Bullrush tops and Twisted Citron for the leaves.

I lightly inked some Speckled Egg DI for the sky and stamped the sentiment in the Tea Dye ink.

Am going to share the second card at
MTTC- Stencil It
Stamplorations Stencil Challenge - A/Goes

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking today and thank you for any comments you leave.

I really appreciate you taking the time. x

Flower

We have had very misty mornings the last couple of days but eventually late afternoon the sun has come through and cheered me up! It's still not very warm but everything look so much better under blue skies.

This was another 'Had To Have' stamp! Crafty Individuals CI-560 and is simply called 'Flower'.
I have made a couple of cards with it which no doubt will appear on the blog soon!
After stamping the flower, I started my background blending Picked Raspberry/Scattered Straw/Tea Dye.

A thin layer of texture paste through the 'Vintage Diamond' mini stencil and once dry blended a little Dried Marigold over it. I used Black Soot (very lightly) through the circle and line stencil and then just added a few odd grungy stamps randomly.

Stamped the flower head again and watercoloured, then fussy cut it before sticking it back on the base card.

The word 'flower' is a Visible Image stamp.

I didn't want a stark white card base so just used some inks and the stencils to give a better background to mount the finished panel on.

This card was 'Pick Of The Week' over at the Crafty Individuals Group Facebook page! Couldn't believe it and now I have the happy (but difficult) problem of choosing another stamp for my prize!

Sharing over at
TIOT- Use a Stencil or Two
A2S+M - Make your Mark
Daisy Chain - Flowers

March CAS MIX Up Mid Month Reminder

Our gallery at CAS Mix Up has some lovely entries this month and of course we're celebrating our 5th Birthday so some lovely prizes up for grabs -  there is still time for you to enter or even have another go!

Bonnie chose 'Print Making from Die Cuts' for her Watercolour month - this technique gives pretty artsy backgrounds and if you're like me with no painting skills is perfect!

This flower die has not seen a lot of use and to be honest I don't know why cos it's really quite pretty!
I used hammered textured cardstock for the base card as it is almost the same colour as the watercolour card used for the print impression. (It's amazing how many different shades of white there are isn't it?!)

The sentiment was stamped using Memento Danube Blue ink which was a near perfect match for my flowers.

I added a few little drops of Liquid Pearls in the centre of the main flower.
Our guest designer Ros has come up with another card to inspire you too, so pop over to the challenge blog and check out all the DT's cards.
Hope you will come and join our Birthday celebration! x

A bit of Stamping

Our weather the last few days has been definitely not Spring like! We've had hail, heavy rain, sleet and high winds and the best place to be was indoors.

I did a little bit of stamping earlier in the week (having been inspired by Pinterest) and finally assembled them into cards this morning.

I haven't put a sentiment on any of them yet and not sure if I even will!

The hydrangea is from an old Choc Baroque set - it has a script background but I just inked the flower head with my waterbrush pens and gave it a light spritz before stamping.

Some foliage in shades of grey and green and I lightly distressed the edges of the panel.

This was quite quick to do once I stopped dithering about which stamps to use! The hydrangea is one of my fave flowers - the different colours of the flower heads depending on what type of soil it is in is another of those wonders of nature!

Himself and I had our first Covid jabs on Thursday.
I fared better than he did - headache, a heavy arm and felt very tired which have mostly gone today except for the little niggling headache  but my poor man got the works - shivers, sweats, unable to lift his head off the pillow.
Thankfully much better today and it's done now - until June anyway!
Hope all is well with you in your part of the world, stay safe - even if the vaccines are rolling out we're not quite out of the end of this long tunnel! x
Sharing at -
Daring Cardmakers - Plant a Flower
MTTC - Feminine
CRAFT - Feminine
CAS on Friday - Spring and also entering again over at 'The Flower Challenge'
for their 'Shades of Purple' challenge.

No line

Some time back I bought an ink pad designed for 'no line watercolouring' from a company called Ink On 3.   I had several attempts with it and quite frankly was not impressed with the results - I just put the pad away in a drawer and forgot about it.
I found the pad again when looking for something else and having become a tiny bit more confident with my watercolouring (still learning and lots of practice re shading etc needed) - I decided to have another go.

The stamp is called 'Sketchy Flower' from Honey Doo.
My watercolour card is not white which is quite irritating - I have yet to find one that is both white and heavyweight without having to rob a bank.

It's been a little while since I have managed to join in at 'The Flower Challenge' but am linking up there for their 'Shades of Purple' challenge this month.
Am also linking to TIOT's 'Say It With Flowers' challenge.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on the ink - and the best way to get good results.

Overall I feel this isn't too bad, although am still not sure about the ink - maybe Antique Linen DI probably works just as well?

Thanks for visiting today. x

CAS Christmas - March

CAS Mix Up's little sister blog CAS Christmas is also celebrating a birthday this month - and there are some great prizes on both blogs so come along and help us celebrate!

The Christmas challenge theme is Kraft, Red and White and it gave me an opportunity to use a die set bought last year and simply put away in the Xmas Die Folder!
Added a bit of interest to the plain white background with a 'snow' embossing folder and a few red mirri card punched out stars.

I don't use Kraft card nearly enough so made a couple of other cards whilst the challenge is running which I will share at some point. It also means I have more Christmas cards ready too which can only be a good thing!

Sharing over at
HLS (CAS) - 3 of a kind
A2S+M - Dies +/or Stencils
Holly and Ivy - A/Goes

CAS Mix Up March Challenge and a Birthday!

 Our challenge this month at CAS Mix Up has been set by Bonnie and as this month is a Watercolour month, Bonnie has set us the theme of 'Print Making with Die Cuts'.

I had a bit of fun creating this card!
My little cone flower is one of my fave dies. It is an old one but think it is from Sizzix.

As I used watercolour card, I die cut it several times so that when it was glued together it was quite strong.

The hammered cardstock adds some texture and I simply stamped the sentiment with a pink ink.

This is an easy technique which gives some lovely artsy backgrounds and there is a video link over on the challenge blog if you've not had a go at this before.

CAS Mix Up is also celebrating a Birthday this month! We are 5!
Yes, FIVE! Where has the time gone?!

The Design Team have produced some beautiful cards to inspire you this month and I hope you will find time to join us and our lovely talented Guest Designer Ros and celebrate our Birthday - I really look forward to seeing your creations! x