More Text

 We are mid way through our 'Add Some Text' challenge at Try It On Tuesday and once again we have some lovely entries - you still have time to join us too!

For my second make for this challenge I went back to largely CAS.
After a lot of inky makings a little change was nice!

I wasn't sure about the text on this one.
It's from an Altenew set called 'Moments In Time' which I have never used - I'd be interested to know if you like it?
I personally think the exclamation mark at the end kind of spoils the message!

I never have much success with Brushos - I normally spray too much water and it turns out a blobby mess!  I've watched endless tutorials too.

But I wiped the dust off the little tubs (they've been neglected for a long time) and after 3 attempts for this make I managed to achieve the background I wanted!

Those who know me know I am a bit of a Lavinia freak - but this stamp rates among my all time Lavinia faves - I just love it! I resisted adding any colour or bling to her wings just leaving as a plain silhouette.

So quite a simple card and if you're good with Brushos you could probably have it done in half an hour!

Thanks for visiting me today and thank you for any comments you leave - I really appreciate it! x

Blown Away

After a little trawl round Pinterest (spend more time on there than actually making!) I had a not particularly successful play with my Brushos and a stamp which is NBUS!

After the weather we have had in the last couple of days (with yet another grey wet and windy day here)and the dreadful storms and floods others are experiencing across the pond I thought this Katzelkraft stamp was very apt!

I am not very good with Brushos. I have now been practicing with them for what seems like EVER and never seem to improve. My bin is full of discarded soggy pieces of paper!
 
This share is one of the more passable attempts - so you can imagine what the discarded bits look like 🙈🙈 - but at least I tried! If only it looked as good as the one I originally saw and tried to emulate!

All that said I DO love this stamp as it just strikes a chord with me.
Whilst out of it's packaging I stamped a couple more images and will make CAS cards with them I think - cos the Brushos are back in the drawer until I feel like inflicting some form of torture on myself again!

This card is now in an envelope ready to be sent to a friend who is currently having all that is horrible about life thrown at her - Thanks for looking today - I hope you're warm, dry and safe wherever you are in blogland. x
Sharing over at
TIOT - In with the New
MMM - New
Sweet Stampin' - New

and of course visiting the NBUS challenge blog too!

Moments

 

I found a Brusho background done some time ago so used it up and made a few cards from it.

All quick, simple and easy as Mr Mojo is on walkabout currently and I'm finding it very difficult to put together any ideas.
In fact am finding it difficult to even HAVE ideas!

I think the foliage stem circle die is by Memory Box but am not sure.

I added a die cut circle frame over the top and the sentiment from Inkylicious was stamped in grey ink for a 'softer' look.

One for my stash box!

Am sharing this at~
TIOT - Keep it Simple
A2S+M - Make Your Mark

I hope you are also having sunshine and warm days like we've been having - and if you see my Mr Mojo lazing about on a deck chair somewhere will you please send him home? x

Big!

 I recently acquired an Indigo Blu big butterfly stamp. Have actually used it - and more than once!

The Brushos were out on the desk top as I have used them for another project which will be shared in a couple of weeks time.
I stamped and heat embossed the butterfly before fussy cutting.

I thought that if I cut off the body (psycho tendencies 😈😈- LOL) on one side this meant that I could use the other side complete with body to make another card.....😊

Once the embossed wing was dry I looked for a suitable matching purple ink shade and simply stamped the whole butterfly onto the card base.
A few Brusho spatters and a die cut sentiment dipped in the wet brusho residue on the craft mat - it made for quite a quick card and one for my own stash box!

Work has continued here outside. We have extended the existing patio (those flags were HEAVY!) and rebuilt the dismantled raised bed in the shadiest part of the garden right outside the kitchen window- it's now filled with lush shade loving plants which cheer me up when I am washing up!

Still a bit to do planting up a new border and the all important water sculpture installation - which are jobs to be tackled over the next few weeks - dear husband is prone to reminding me that
'we're not as young as we used to be so everything takes a bit longer'! (Like I needed to hear that.......😒)
Sharing my bodyless butterfly at
TIOT - Butterfly
Dragonfly Dreams - Butterfly

Thanks for stopping by - hope all is well in your part of blogland! x

Sunny Dreams

Still not a lot of crafty stuff going on here and I apologise for my sporadic visits to you all. 

The yellow Brusho was out on the desk at the time of this make so splatted a little of that in a couple of places first.

Different grungy stamps used for the background, all stamped in Fossilized Amber. (I love this colour as it always makes me think of sunshine)

The flower head is from Altenew and I paired it with the stem and leaves from another stamp then watercoloured.
The bee was stamped twice, once on the card and once on another scrap, fussy cut the wings and glittered them a little.

Finished by stamping the word 'Dream' and a couple of my fave 'splatters' and thanks to Hermine for the inspiration whilst my mojo is AWOL!

Sharing over at
Crafters Cafe - Insects
Mix It Up - A/Goes + stamping
Daring Cardmakers - Into the Garden

Blissful

It's been a week where real life has simply got in the way and when I have had time to myself, I haven't done a lot!

I am in desperate need of sunshine after the weather recently (where is Spring? The end of May is not a time to have to put on your central heating!) and with once again grey skies and damp drizzle outside I decided to make my own.

Lemon brusho background - a nice sunshiney colour!

I used Squeezed Lemonade for the stencilling then did a bit of overstamping in black, Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilised Amber.

Orange brusho used to highlight the butterfly and the sentiment is from an old SU set.
Popped on a couple of lemon enamel dots.

Sharing over at
Cardz4Galz - Wings
TIOT - Feminine
Thanks for looking today - have a great weekend! x

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

Brusho Christmas

 I sometimes look at my craft stash and think 'It's a long time since I used that'.... and so it is with my Brushos.
I don't use them enough - probably because I am not very good with them!

This card was inspired by a technique I saw a while ago and I stored it up to try it.... long forgotten but it just for some reason popped into my head when I saw the challenge at my Cas Mix Up's sister blog-  CAS Christmas this month was 'Christmas Tree'.

The technique is to simply 'ink' your stamp liberally with water, stamp onto watercolour card and sprinkle the Brushos on the wet impression, allowing each impression to dry before repeating.

I struggle so much with Brushos and also the 'move the colour around with a brush' thing that everyone I know seems to be so good at so there were several failed attempts before I managed to achieve something which I call 'passable'!
I was also limited as I only have a 12 colour starter pack so the colour options were not many - I used Emerald Green and Ultramarine.

Once dry I just dotted a white gel pen randomly before adding the sentiment.
As I said, this for me is a passable effort - I doubt if I am ever going to become expert.
I am struggling a little lately - my problems are compounded by the fact that no matter how much I try the face mask just makes me panic after 5 minutes. So for me now it's simply out in the car to somewhere flat so I can just walk - a visit to the shops are no longer an option. The weather here tho' has not been the best for walking which probably explains the 'restlessness' I am experiencing and my complete lack of any inspiration or motivation!

Stay safe wherever you are in the world. x
Linking up at
Sweet Stampin' - A/thing but a Birthday Card
Time Out - Season
CRAFT- Christmas

CAS Mix Up August Challenge

Time for our new challenge at CAS Mix Up and this month the challenge  is WATERCOLOUR and the theme set by Loll is 'BEACH'. 

These shell stamps don't get used nearly enough so I took the dust from them and stamped them onto some mixed media paper, heat embossing in white.

My Brushos also don't get used enough either so I used the Turquoise and Black on this card!
I sprinkled the Turquoise first  then sprayed with water and just watched as the colours appeared. I added a tiny sprinkling of Black here and there and sprayed again lightly.

The sentiment is an old one taken from another stamp.

We have  

 Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp)

     as our Guest designer this month and some beautiful cards made by the Design Team so please go visit!

Am also linking this to

MIUCB - Embossing

CAS on Friday - Summer

CRAFT - Summer

Sisterhood of Crafters - Ocean/Beachy

Thanks for stopping by today - have a great day whatever you're doing. x 

CAS Stencil - August

Robyn is hosting our challenge this month at CAS Stencil and she has set us the task of using Sprays.

If you're like me you may have an odd one or two which you hardly use for your cards - I tended to use them for canvases and other mixed media projects so this was a first for me.
Having looked at the few colours I possessed I decided I would have a go at making up my own.

I bought some small spray bottles to fill with holiday essentials and had a couple left so I got out the Brushos and made some sprays up in a few colours to stretch my stash without buying!

I used 'Leaf Green' for this - and yes I know it's NOT a bamboo but you will just have to use your imagination!
(And anyway Pandas eat other leaves not just bamboo.... according to Google!!)

My green leaves were done on watercolour card then placed inside a die cut frame.
The panda stamp is from a 'panda panel' from Woodware and I just cut him away from his fluffy friends.

There's lots of things you can use to make up a spray colour - all you need is a spray bottle of some sort (a mini mister is fine), some water and whatever colour/type of powdered pigment you have. - Oh and you need a cardboard box (or similar) with high sides to put your stencil in  before you start - that way the spray doesn't decorate your desk, your walls and your clothes, as well 🙈🙈

There's a couple of videos on the challenge blog which may give you some help too - and while you're there have a look at the amazing designs from my talented teamies and our wonderful Guest Designer Amy and pop over to their blogs for more inspiration!

Thanks for looking today - happy crafting. x

July at Stamping Sensations

Today our challenge is a well known quote for you to interpret - it's Emerson's  'The Earth Laughs in Flowers'.
Stamping Sensations is lucky to have Crafty Individuals as our sponsors this month and they are giving a whopping £25 voucher to our winner!
Please pop over to the challenge blog , read the rules and then make something and join us!

I got out the Brushos for this one!
I have found that I am much better wetting the card and sprinkling on the Brushos rather than the other way round.
If I put the Brushos on first then water I end up with far too much colour all over the place - if the card is wet before you apply them you can see how the colour is developing..... well it works for me anyway!

The stamp is from Crafty Individuals called 'Spring Flower Garden'. Stamped onto watercolour card, clear embossed and when dry added the water then the Brushos.

Luckily for me I had the challenge theme saying in a sentiment stamp!

Watery World

Happy weekend everybody!
Over the last few days we have experienced an awful lot of heavy rain showers   ☔ so I made a watery themed card!

The background was cut from a larger background piece made a while ago whilst playing about experimenting with Brushos. 

The foliage inked in  Forest Moss Distress Ink was shadow stamped a couple of times and I found a tiny stamp in the 'no idea where these came from' box 😄  which looked like a stream of bubbles so used it after inking in Salty Ocean. It gave a really subtle effect I think. (Although you may have to enlarge the pic to get a better view!)

Some gold embossing powder on the bottom which I hope resembles some sparkly sand!

The Seahorse die is from a free set  that came with a mag last year, coloured in gold ink and clear embossed. 

I have rather a lot of this textured card from American Crafts bought some time ago and like the finish it gives so note to self - use more!


Sharing my seahorse over at
A2S+M - A/Goes
Cardz4Guyz- CAS
Creatalicious - A/Goes
Craft Stamper - March - A/Goes

As once again we have heavy showers 🌂 here I am planning on sitting in the craftie space and having an inky day today. 
(I should really be doing housework but hey ho!) - have a great weekend! x

Another Stencil

Earlier this week I shared a make here with Brushos and Stencils. As I had the Brushos out and my first attempt turned out OK, thought I would try another!

I think I may be getting hooked on stencils! And I am going to blame it on some (talented) crafters over at CAS Mix Up as I wouldn't have bothered with stencils if it wasn't for them deciding to start a new challenge - CAS Stencil.

This amazing flower was amongst the pack that I got from AliExpress and I used Scarlet, Orange and Yellow for the petals and a teeny amount of Brown for the centre.
Once again there was panic when the colours began to pool together!

I wasn't sure about the way the centre turned out initially but it grew on me as I waited for it to dry.
I randomly added some small seed beads to the middle.

Opted for no sentiment as think the bold flower makes enough of a statement on it's own!
I had some odd bits of coloured card which were a good match for the shades I used so after cutting out my flower with a stitched square die I layered it onto them.
A few Brusho ink splats on the base card and done!
Also sharing over at ATS+M where the challenge is Make Your Mark

We have rather a nasty stormy day here and normally wouldn't consider venturing out - but lack of cooking facilities mean we don't have a lot of choice so it will be coat/hat/boots/gloves for our daily meal out trip!
Have a great day whatever you're doing and thanks for visiting! x

Stencils and Brushos

CAS Stencil challenge this month is to use powdered inks.  I have just acquired a few small stencils so played about with them and my Brushos. Was a bit nervous at first as I have never used Brushos on a stencil before and worried about the inks running underneath the stencil but I watched a couple of video tutorials over on the CAS Stencil blog and plunged right in!

Here's my first attempt
The stencil reminded me of a Rennie McIntosh rose.
I was careful and taped it in place on my watercolour card  and made sure it was secure and held in place as tight as possible.


I used Yellow, Orange and Bright Red brushos.
I am normally VERY heavy handed with Brushos so I was really  extra careful this time, making sure I didn't use too much and was also very sparing with the water! I used a Mini Mister and sprayed from a LONG way above the stencil!

Panicked a little bit as the colours pooled and kept my fingers crossed that it hadn't 'leaked' underneath.
When I was feeling brave, I carefully removed the stencil and this is the result. Not bad even if I do say so myself!!

I found some red card in the paper mountain which was a near enough match to the red Brusho and finished it off with a simple sentiment stamp from Altenew.

Full of confidence 😳😳 I got out another stencil right away and had another go!! 
Will share in the next day or so once I can take a pic.

Sharing my make over at  SSS Monday - Add Some Red and at Colour Throwdown (check out the blog for the colours).

The kitchen has some units assembled!!! And all my appliances were delivered today. Still no electricity/water/etc etc but a start made.... only another 8-10 days to go! 
AND I have been told by Dear Husband that I HAVE to make my mind up about the new flooring PRONTO.... 😟 well - have whittled the 10 that I liked down to 3..... so maybe by the weekend I will have decided??
Hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

A week gone...

So much for me having time to come and idle away in blogland!
A week has gone by since I last posted, although I have found time to do a few things at home.
I made lots of mess 😁😁 with Pixie Powders and Brushos on watercolour card and have made a couple of cards with some of the backgrounds.

We are currently enjoying a lovely spell of warm weather and I am loving watch the trees change colour.
This inspired this card really -
A variety of dies used on one of my inky backgrounds and they have a lovely glimmer to them in real life.
The paper behind the circle die is stamped in Vintage Sepia and the stamp is Hardwood from SU.

The sentiment is from Inkylicious, heat embossed in Copper onto a scrap of vellum and slipped behind the circle cut out.
A few Antique Copper Pixie Powder splashes onto the plain white card and a little brushing with Tea Dye round the edges and done.

Lots of Autumn themed challenges about -
Allsorts - Autumn Glory
Creative Moments - Autumn colours
Die Cutting Divas - Fall colours
Alphabet - N for Nature
Crafty Gals Corner - A/Fall
4 Crafty Chicks - Happy Fall Y'all
MAWTT - Fall colours

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and as always, thanks for popping in to visit - I really appreciate you all. x

More Flowers

Mid month is here for our challenge at Stamping Sensations on the theme of 'Anything With Flowers'.

My turn to offer another card using a technique which I have only just perfected.
(After finding out I had been doing things incorrectly and abandoning the Brushos I now am having fun using them!)
So here is what I hope will inspire you to join in this month (if you haven't done so already!)

I liberally wet the watercolour card then sprinkled on the Brushos (Orange and Lemon).
I was really happy when it turned out like this!

Script stamp over the background then the flowers from the SU Helping Me Grow set.
I coloured the flowers with the Brushos too - Another first for me!

I hope you like my card.
Please pop over to the Stamping Sensations blog and check out the fab prize we have this month from Bee Crafty.
My teamies have posted some great cards too!

I am also sharing this make over at
Crafty Sentiments - Add Flowers
HLS Watercolour - A.Goes
Dragonfly Dreams - Flowers
Fashionable Stamping - One for the Girls
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope all is well with you in your part of Blogland. x

Spotlight

What a strange few days weather wise! We've had snow, high winds, blue skies, lightning, rain - the works!
Was a good excuse though to just sit up here and make inky.
Two cards to share today -

both made with odd bits laying about so I will be venturing into the Playground to 'show off my snippets'!!!
A Brusho background using Lemon and Turquoise on some scraps of watercolour card.
Two other odd bits treated the same then a die cut circle.
Stamp is from Woodware.

Have used up quite a lot of scraps this past week and would you believe I didn't have enough white card for 2 sentiments? (I know - unbelievable!) But didn't want to cut into an A3 sheet for a tiddly sentiment so the one on the left ended up stamped direct onto the card!
I added a wee bit of stickles to finish.
Think these will be quite good note cards.

Joining a couple of challenges -
Flower Challenge - Spotlight Stamping
Crafty Creations - A/Goes
Paper Girls - Watercolour
Simon Says Wednesday - Add a Sentiment
Create & Inspire - A/Goes

Thanks for stopping by and hoping all is well with you in blogland. x 

Pheonix?

Have spent the last couple of days ignoring Christmas (no tree/food shopping/anything else done) and spent some 'me' time messing about with inks. Have promised that the tree will get put up tomorrow and am going out later to do a bit of shopping. Not a busy time for me as there's only the two of us so we normally don't go to any great effort apart from the full hit Christmas Dinner!
I made this card yesterday.

 I demand that you stand up and give me a round of applause----- look at me using BRUSHOS!!! Had the darn things for such a long time and this is the first time I have managed to achieve anything remotely passable.

Sorting through stamps I came across this set of 'Fantastic Birds' - don't know if that is their real name but it's what I called them! This one reminded me of a Pheonix rising from the ashes and in a light bulb moment thought it might work with the dreaded Brushos.

So stamped onto watercolour card then heat embossed to create the 'resist'.
Used Orange, Yellow and Lemon Brushos, sprinkled, sprayed then shut my eyes!!
When I had the nerve to look at the piece I thought 'Hey - not too bad really'! Blotted with some paper towel and left it to dry.
I am not sure it needed the pearls really but put them on anyway and hope it still measures up to being a CAS card - shades of orange and pale gold to highlight the 'flames'.
The sentiment is by Technique Tuesday.

Challenges
CAS Watercolour - Watercolour Resist
Love to Create - Anything Goes
Creative Carte Blanche - Song Lyrics ( Pheonix Rising by Kristilada here) 

Quite a nice day here - blue sky but chilly! Off to get the carrier bags and hit the shops. Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Paint

Not much time to craft at the mo and Mr Mojo has been AWOL anyway but managed to find a little window and sat in the craft space experimenting with inks and colours, and also stamped up a few images for colouring later on.
This share is one of the 'experiments' - I bought some Brushos ages ago and to be honest I have never mastered them - I use too much of the stuff or too much water and all my efforts were not fit for human consumption!
But had another go and finished up with this - which although not the best I think is fairly passable!

Not very awe inspiring but at least it shows that I'm trying. 

The challenge at Less is More this week is the dreaded one layer and the theme is WATER.
(And believe me if I'd have scooped up all the water after all my attempts with the Brushos there'd have been enough water to have filled a small lake!)
I added a few tiny sparklies which were supposed to resemble little drops of water. Not sure I've pulled that one off either!

 Other Challenges -
CAS on Sunday - Cheer Up
Crafty Catz - CAS
Crafting by Designs - 1 layer
SOS - Big and Bold (and colours don't get much bolder than Brushos!)

Thanks for having a look today - off for the mop to get rid of the water!
Have a great week. x