Leaf

I love the colours of Autumn so have no idea why I opted to steer away from the rusty orange type colours when deciding to use this stamp but thought it would make a change!

I watercoloured three straight colour blocks using Distress Oxides Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage and Cracked Pistachio.

I used a rectangle mask to try and achieve (reasonably) straight edges and painted inside.

Not too bad and I quite like the fact that some of the colours have run into each other.

The leaf and sentiment stamped with Versamagic Ocean Depth which is fast becoming one of my fave colours and as usual with me I had to add a few ink spatters!

Sharing over at
MMM -  Autumn Flora
SOS - Leaf it alone
A2S+M - Any Occasion

Have braved the terrible weather here this morning (lashing rain!) and popped down to a local Macmillan Coffee Morning. Two pieces of cake later I thought the time had come to go before I was tempted further!
Now an afternoon at the craft desk for me! Hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

A bit of inky magic (and a picture heavy post!)

Sharing an inky make today!
Whilst I love CAS, I also love ink blending - I made a card in similar colours a little while ago (here) and I liked the way they blended together so made another.

The colours are all lilac/purple shades and pinks.

I used a moon mask from Inkylicious this time instead of my usual coins as I wanted something a bit bigger!

All the stamps are Inkylicious and Lavinia.

This was sent to a friend for her Birthday although I left the front without a sentiment - I just liked the scene as it was.

Linking up at
Alphabet - M for Magic
Fairy and Unicorn - A/Fantasy Goes

We had a few days away last week in the beautiful Lake District - so lucky to be so close to this lovely part of the world and we were blessed with sunshine during our stay. Took hundreds of pics! 
Despite my iffy knee we had a tramp up to the very top of Gowbarrow Fell - a great sense of achievement for me although I regretted attempting it on the way back down😔 - and of course the following day my knee told me in no uncertain terms that we weren't going to repeat it anytime soon!
But - we managed to take in such a lot whilst there - here's some pics.

Thanks for calling in today - have a lovely weekend! x

CAS Mix Up Mid Month Reminder

 Half way through Hilary's challenge at CAS Mix Up where we have to use Gesso and a Stencil!
Lots of lovely examples over on the challenge blog and also some links to video tutorials to give you some inspiration.

The stencil is from Honey Doo and I used Spun Sugar ink over.
The butterfly was coloured, fussy cut and given a liberal helping of glossy accents so it shines bright.
The sentiment is from SU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly this is our very last challenge at CAS Mix Up, I have loved being on the Design Team with the most talented group of crafters.

Thank you to everyone who has played along over the years, it has been a joy to see all your wonderful creations. x

Inspired by a walk!

We've been out for our usual walk this morning, and as always we remind ourselves how very lucky we are to have all this countryside on our doorstep and also be within 10 minutes of the coastline!

I always take lots of pics when we're walking as I enjoy comparing the season changes, watching the planting, growing, harvesting etc as well as the changing colours.
This morning's fave pic -

Autumn may well be on it's way despite us having some very pleasant temperatures!

This field is the last one to be harvested and I suspect it won't be long before it's done.

I came back and sat at the craftie space and made this card.

The reverse stamping on vellum technique is one which I am enjoying (even if I'm not enjoying trying to take decent pics!)

The pic looks like there's a shadow or a dirty mark on the last seed head.... there isn't!

This stamp is from Bee Crafty Beautanicals collection and is the smaller of the Teasel set.

The reverse stamping was done using Versamagic Sahara Sand.

Made for no other reason other than the teasels were in my head when we got home.
Sharing over at 

Country View - Season of Mists and Fruitfulness
Four Seasons - Autumn

Thanks for looking! x

Snow and Ice

Over at CAS Christmas the latest challenge is 'Sparkle and Shine'.
Well, I mean who doesn't love a bit of glittery stuff? Having found the glitter card, I sat and looked at it for a while then I remembered I had bought a Hot Off the Press die last year in a clearance sale and never used it because when it came it was far bigger than I expected! (Note to self - read descriptions and take note of sizes!) It's not massive but at the time it didn't suit me!
Anyway, I used it finally today.

I die cut the skates in silver glitter card then die cut again in bright white Centura Pearl card and pieced the white inside the silver.

The branch is an old Spellbinders one which is probably one of my most used.

Cut the branch from some silver sheen card which isn't as reflective as mirri card and I like it better - I think it looks like the branch has been embossed.

Die cut a couple of snowflakes and then assembled it, using a snowflake embossing folder for the background..

Quite pleased with the result - it really is sparkly and shiny - and I am thinking how nice it would be to be near an icy lake with sparkly skates on - cos after a very dull morning the skies have cleared and it is very warm here at the moment!

Thanks for looking. x
Sharing over at
NBUS #42 - (cos this is the first time for my dies)
Peace On Earth - A/Goes
CHNC - A/Goes with option of the letter 'S'
Sparkles Forum Christmas - A/Goes
A2S+M - Christmas

CAS Mix Up September Challenge

This month at CAS Mix Up Hilary has set the challenge of 'Using Gesso with your Stencils'.
I have used Gesso for mixed media projects but rarely on a CAS make so I had to think quite hard! I must have been on my own as when I saw the beautiful makes from the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer Sue I wondered why I struggled so much when everyone else had done such beautiful makes!
Anyway here it is -

The cogs and gears stencil is from Hunkydory.
After painting on the gesso and letting it dry I had a bit of a crisis moment as I simply couldn't decide what colours to use - I didn't want orange rusty colours but something more subtle as I'd already made my mind up on the colour of the base card!

Delving into the drawers I remembered I had several pots of Imagination Crafts metallic gilding wax in different colours so thought I would try them out.

White Gold, Pewter and a tiny amount of Green rubbed all over my stencilled panel and then wiped off with a cloth gave me a dark background with the stencilled cogs taking on a dark silver.

Was quite happy with the result although if I did it again I think I would use Cobalt with the green to give a more verdigris type effect!

The die cut cogs are Spellbinders using the same gilding wax.

This card looks so much better in real life - taking pics using metallics has to be one of the hardest things!
There's lots of inspiration over at the challenge blog and links to videos if like me your initial reaction to the theme was dread!

Have fun, get the gesso out with your stencils and make something CAS and share with us! x