Card Chain Challenge July Reveal

 My swap partners this month for the Card Chain Challenge - I sent to Jo in the UK and was delighted to receive a lovely card from Linda in Michigan! (Thank you again Linda!)

So - I was a little pleased as I managed to have a bash at using the colour options and the theme of 'Asian' from the choices this time round.

A lighter bright blue (Topaz) was the base and before layering onto gold mirri card I used some gold embroidery thread to attach the Chinese coin.

I used a darker shade for the next layer stamping some bamboo and simply clear embossing.

The 'Bird of Happiness' is from an Altenew set, gold heat embossed (love this stylized bird) and the Happiness sentiment is from Paper Discovery.

Having checked the colour of 'Jade' on an internet search I found it was varying shades of green through the colour spectrum from a very pale green right through to Emerald. 

So once I had stamped and fussy cut my figure, I painted her in pale green and blue. 

There's still a few days left to sign up for the August challenge and we are being generously sponsored this time by RELATIVELY THOUGHTFUL who are offering a gorgeous digital download paper set called Egyptian Dreams for one randomly selected player in the Chain and are also offering a 10% discount for all our players!!
This discount applies to digital and physical products in the shop so wherever you are in the World we should all be able to benefit from this - the code will be included when you get the Card Chain Challenge contact email.
Come and join us! x

Card Chain Challenge June Reveal

 My card for June in the Card Chain Challenge went to Gail in Norway and I received a really pretty make from Patricia in Texas!

Once again the colour option from the vast list of things to choose from appealed to me and I also used the Summertime theme.

I used a Memento ink pad called Sahara Sand for the sandy beach, then blended another Memento colour called Turquoise Gem. The Navy blue colour element was a mix of Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

I stamped a few starfish randomly along the sandy beach and once the background was dry, I got out these brilliant Ocean stamps from Inkylicious.
I've used these stamps quite a lot recently - they are absolutely perfect for adding embossed waves and foam to beachy scenes.

Although it's hard to see in the photo the starfish and the sand do have a teeny bit of sparkle - achieved by random dotting of Wink of Stella Pens in brown and gold.

Finished with a stacked die cut. (I always think there's something very dreamy about listening to a tide lapping on a sandy shore so the die seemed a good fit!)

There's still a few days left to sign up for the next Chain if you fancy having a go! x

May Card Chain Challenge Reveal

My May challenge card went to blogging buddy Carol here in the UK.
Using the colours and the option of a stencil from the technique list I made this!

The stencil was part of an unbranded pack - it's only small so I fiddled about with it re-positioning where I wanted.

I used Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet inks. Having tried lots of different colours I decided the violet was the nearest I had to Blueberry!


I ran a piece of card through a Vine embossing folder and lightly inked before die cutting my butterfly.
I really should have embossed after die cutting I think but the texture is still there even if it's a little flatter than I would have liked.

Using an embossing pen I heat embossed the body and antenna in gold and finished with a gold embossed sentiment.

This month I received the most stunning card from my clever friend Hilary - thank you again! x

There's still time to sign up for this month - pop over to the Card Chain Challenge blog if you fancy joining us!

Card Chain Challenge April Reveal

 I was next in the link to my good blogging friend Hilary for the April Card Chain so my make went to her this time.
I received a lovely card from Gail in Canada who was the link below me - so thank you again Gail!
After being inspired by another of my blogging friends, here's my card for Hilary -

I did my usual and selected the Colour option from the long list of things to choose from.

Started by inking the background in Shaded Lilac Oxide.
Once dry I gave it a bit of a Bokeh effect with a home made circle stencil and Brilliance Moonlight White ink.

The foliage (which could be Queen Anne's Lace or maybe not!) from Rare Earth was second generation stamped with Versafine Shady Lane ink. It has actually shown up as a little on the grey side in the pic but it is green - honest!

Once everything was dry I had a bit of fun (???😲) with some silver gilding flakes! It was only when I opened the jar lid I remembered why I use them rarely....

Dabbed on some tiny dots of Cosmic Shimmer glue to the heads and added the flakes - (being careful not to breathe/cough/open any windows whilst the jar was open!) 

I was actually quite pleased with the end result and think the pic really doesn't do it justice -  although I couldn't admire it for long as it took me a while to tidy up tiny pieces of silver flakes!

Happy Crafting! x

March Card Chain Challenge Reveal

2 posts from me today - my DT card for Try It on Tuesday's new challenge is HERE.

It's Card Chain Challenge Reveal Day and my March make headed over to Ella in Germany and Joanne in UK sent me mine - and it's gorgeous, so thank you Jo!

The colour option was perfect for me this time - time has been very limited and when I have had time Mr Mojo has disappeared.

A simple stamped and ink blended make which I hope Ella liked.

Using a white background, black matting, black stamping and my 'one other colour' was Fossilized Amber which I used on the sun and lightly blended around the edges.

There's still time to sign up for this month if you fancy having a go - just pop over to THIS post and link up!

Hope you are all well in your corner of blogland and thanks for looking today! x

Card Chain Challenge February Reveal

Time to share my make for the February Card Chain Challenge which I sent to Bonnie in Colorado USA.
Sending lots of thanks to my other swap partner Julia for my lovely card too!
I selected 'Stencil' as my technique option and Flowers and Friendship from the 'Theme' choices

Using Cracked Pistachio ink for both the leaves and the dotty stencil, once the dotty one was dry I stamped some pretty flowers (an old set from I know not where!) and added a teeny bit of Nuvo crystal drops to the centres.

Cut out a circle from the leaves and simply overlaid it.

I have lots of stencils which don't actually get used enough so this challenge gave me another opportunity to dust them off!
I was a little apprehensive as Bonnie makes some beautiful artsy and colourful cards with her stencils and is very talented so I hope she liked my relatively CAS take on this months challenge!

If you fancy giving our massive World wide challenge a go pop over to the challenge blog and sign yourself up.

It's simple to take part - there's colours, sketch, theme and technique options to chose from and you only have to use one so you have lots of scope- and it's lovely to receive a hand made card from elsewhere in the world.

Happy Crafting! x

Card Chain Challenge January Reveal

 My make for the Card Chain Challenge in January was sent to Helen in Ohio and I received a lovely make from Marianne in Greece!

I was happy that I managed to incorporate the colour option, the Mythical Creatures theme and the Ink Technique this time.

My background was created with Wilted Violet and a touch of Tattered Rose for the sky for the nearest to Amethyst I could get!

I masked off the moon and inked round it using VersaMagic Sea Breeze for the Aqua colour.

For the Slate I stamped the tree in Memento Grey Flannel.

I tried stamping the unicorn in the same colour but he really didn't stand out so opted to over stamp a couple of times (thank goodness for Misti!) with Versafine Smokey Grey. The over stamping really darkened him.

A few trees on the horizon with the Grey Flannel and the flowers and foliage at the bottom using all the inks mentioned before.

I blended some Hickory Smoke round the edge.

My little Unicorn simply had to have a little bit of sparkle added to his horn, mane and tail but doesn't show very well in the pic. The light here over the winter months has been terrible for taking pics!
 
There is still time for you to link up for the February challenge - everything you need to know over on the Card Chain blog!

Card Chain Challenge December reveal

 For the final chain of 2023 I sent my card to Ellie in Illinois and received a lovely card from Imke in Germany.
This challenge was another mega head scratcher as the Tic Tac Board had the annual 25 squares!
This time my five squares were chosen from the diagonal from bottom left to top right.

I confess to a little creative licence with regards to the card I made!

Blue - an ink blended Chipped Sapphire D.I

Bauble -  the ones on the tree - all highlighted with Nuvo drops so they really do shine

Buddy - Rory and Darcy are definitely good buddies! Exploring everything together - and poking at Christmas tree baubles!

Bling - why is sparkle so hard to photograph???
I added lots of Diamond Stickles to Rory and Darcy's wings and a liberal helping along the ground.
I also used a gold glitter Posca pen  and added lots of dots with it on the tree so it does have a shimmer in real life.

Burgundy - well I am hoping that the ink blended Seedless Preserve D.I used for the ground will pass!

It's been a lovely year receiving cards from all over the world.
A huge thank you to those who administer the Challenge too.

It's such a lot of hard work and when you think we've exchanged over 4,000 card in 33 countries it's mind boggling!

Still time to sign up for the first challenge of 2024 too!

November Card Chain Challenge Reveal

 The November Card Chain Challenge saw me send my card to Hilary here in the UK and I received a lovely card from Gundi in Germany.
This month there was one of my fave colour combos and a 'Winter' theme among the choices.

I used Villainous Potion, Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac for my ink blending.

White heat embossing added some definition to the dangly bits (!) from the tree branch and some second and third generation stamping in both Versafine black and  Memento Grape Jelly for a little bit of depth.

The branch was highlighted with a Posca pen to give a snowy effect.

Tree line was stamped in Versafine Clair black and again some white Posca pen used for the snow.

I did a little light ink blending with Hickory Smoke across the base of the trees after seeing something similar whilst trawling the internet and I quite liked the way there is no actual defined horizon with things just melting into the background.

Finished it all with a few spatters!

Thanks for looking and for any comments you may leave - I appreciate it very much! x

October Card Chain Challenge Reveal Post

My card this month went to Linda in Minnesota and I received a lovely card from Jo!
I chose the technique option of 'Spotlight Stamping' and tried to incorporate the colours - which was a bit of a struggle!

My large background stamp is from Crafty Individuals - there's something so quintessentially English about stopping everything for Tea!
I love a cuppa - but only if it's in a china cup!
It's a long time sice I did anything even a tiny bit shabby so this was a nice change from ink stained fingers.

Stamped the image with Versafine Morning Mist hoping this would pass for Silver.....😉

Stamped again and cut out part of it and coloured in shades of pink (Cotton Candy) and a pale blue (Baby Blue) and a little splash of yellow, and popped it up with some dimensional foam pads.

To finish the spotlighted centre image I added a liberal helping of Glossy Acccents onto the dangly 'teabag' suspended from the middle cup
The lace is from my stash.

Still time to sign up for the November chain - it's great fun!

September Card Chain Challenge

 Reveal Day at Card Chain Challenge!
My make this month winged it's way across to Chris in Illinois and I received a lovely card from Dee in Kenya. Truly global we are!

I was happy when I saw the themes to choose from this month and it also meant I could incorporate the colour option.

My theme choices were Foxes/Autumn and the colours were Sky/Sunset/Bark. All tied in very nicely!Started by ink blending the sky in Speckled Egg and Stormy Sky DI.

Stamped the tree using Lavinia for the trunk and some branches from Card-io.

I have been trying to perfect the inking and colouring of foxes for a while and am still not there I don't think despite watching lots of tutorials!
I stamped originally in Russet Orange and then began highlighting with acrylic pens - not too bad but more practice needed!

The leaves on the tree were a freebie stamp with a mag some time ago and they have been well used!
Colours were second generation Versafine Shady Lane, Barn Door and Spiced Marmalade DI.
I finished off by adding some ink blended grassy mounds.

Thanks for looking today - there's still a few days left if you want to sign up for next month's chain - it's great fun!

Also sharing at -
Four Seasons - Autumn
CUYL - Autumn Leaves
Sweet Stampin' -Autumn 
Cupcake Inspirations - Colour Board

August Card Chain Challenge

It's reveal day at the Card Chain Challenge and I re-visited an enjoyable technique for my make this month!
My card went off to Jo (http://angelnorth.blogspot.com/) here in the UK and I received a lovely card all the way from Oz from the lovely Robyn!
This month I managed to incorporate a couple of the challenge themes - opting to use as near as I could tothe colours given and using vellum.

The technique of double stamping on vellum is an easy but effective one starting by firstly white embossing your design on the front of the vellum then simply using normal ink on the reverse.

I used an old Stampendous set called Summer Leaves and usually I only use one colour ink on the reverse as it achieves a soft silhouette effect but because I wanted to try and get the challenge colours in this time I used Versacolour and Versafine Clair ink in Tangelo, Sage and Shady Lane. 

The effect is a bit more dramatic but I quite like it.

The reverse does take a little time to dry - you can speed it up with the heat gun but I am always worried in case the vellum warps too much or I overhear the already embossed front so I always leave to dry for a while before making up my card.

I added a large die greeting softly sponged in Tangelo and Shady Lane.

The 'sign up' for next month is open for the next couple of days if you fancy having a go -

it's lovely receiving cards from all over the world!
Also sharing over at
A Place to Start -  optional twist of leaves! (just made it before the challenge closed too!)

July Card Chain Challenge Reveal

I sent my card to my lovely blogging friend Hilary this month and received one from Marianne in Greece!.
When I saw the sign up post at Card Chain Challenge I knew straight away that this month I wouldn't be following the colour option like normal - one of the themes tied right in with a NBUS purchase.
Some time back I bought several 'sea/ocean' themed stamps from Lavinia - and have been slowly adding to the collection so the 'Fishes' theme was perfect for me to use 'Flo' (she's the big fish! I already had the smaller one)

Flo and her smaller versions were stamped with Versafine Clair Monarch ink, as were the Sea Urchins.
I masked them off and then built up the background with Distress Oxides Mermaid Lagoon, Bundled Sage, Salty Ocean and spattered with water. I love the way Oxides react with water!

Lots of foliage stamping followed, using more stamps from the Lavinia collection in Versafine Clair Shady Lane, Verdant and Monarch and once dry I removed the masks and water coloured the Sea Urchins.

Stamping was finished with the bubbles in Versacolour Turquoise and the sentiment in Monarch.
Flo and entourage were given a liberal helping of yellow Wink of Stella, and I used clear Wink of Stella on the Urchins too so it does have a bit of a shimmery look in real life!

There's still time to sign up if you fancy joining in!
Sharing over at
NBUS #53
Use Your Stuff - 3 Item Cluster (my 3 fish!)
ATS+M - Make your Mark

June Card Chain Challenge Reveal

My make for the June Card Chain Challenge went to Patricia in Texas and I received a lovely card from Gundi in Germany too - so thanks again! x

Once again I opted for the colour challenge and managed to add in the product option of Lace.

Using cream base card instead of the usual white I stamped the lavender image (Technique Tuesday) and coloured the flower heads with Picked Raspberry Oxide.

The background stencil is one of my most go to stencils and as I've now lost the packaging I've no idea which make!

Stencil ink blending was a combo of Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry.

Added a piece of cream lace and some pink/cream twine then popped the floral spray onto a mat of Picked Raspberry inked card before putting it onto the main card.

The 'sign up' for next month is open for a couple of days if you fancy having a go!

Thanks for looking today - hope all is well in your part of blogland! x

May Card Chain Challenge Reveal

I sent my card this month to Greta in Oregon and received a lovely card from Kath who is based here in the UK!
The colour option for May's Card Chain Challenge seemed simple at first -

until I tried to bring something together and confess I found it quite difficult! I think I simply tried to overthink it! Anyway I soldiered on and also managed to use one of the product options of embossing powder and the 'ripped edges' technique option so that was a bonus!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this embossing folder I used on the background was a freebie in a mag (- but I may be wrong!) but as I had already decided to try and produce something with an Asian theme I used the folder!

The dies are all from a Sizzix set. The flowers/branches in the set are really fiddly but I like using them.

I watercoloured the flower stems using dark blue and a near as I could get it turquoise.

The base was tripled heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

I remembered I had a piece of pale blue vellum so tore a little piece  and used it to hang from the scroll after heat embossing the chinese script and word.
Finished with a heat embossed on vellum butterfly.

You have a few days to sign up for the next challenge - get over to the blog and add your name!
Thanks for looking today. x

April Card Chain Challenge Reveal!

This is reveal day for our April Card Chain Challenge and as it's also launch date for our new challenge at Try It On Tuesday this is the first of 2 posts from me today!

This month I am feeling very pleased with myself as I had a go at replicating the sketch AND the colour combo (- very daring for me as I actually find following sketches quite difficult) and also used the Friendship theme. Not often I manage to do more than one thing!

I love this Altenew Wallpaper Art stamp set even though the flowers are quite big but they are beautiful.

I don't though have the matching dies so this involved an awful lot of fussy cutting.

The colour combo was charcoal, lime and bumblebee so I used Altenew Pure Graphite ink on the flower and the big leaves the coloured with Nuvo Watercolour 'Willow Green' which is the nearest I could match to.

Bumblebee proved a little bit trickier as I tried a couple of yellows for the flower centre and they all looked wishy washy and almost the same as the lime! In the end I went for a Promarker (Canary) and brushed over a teeny bit of yellow Wink of Stella - doesn't show up very well in the pic either!

Stamped the sentiment and decided instead of 'drops' to do a bit of spattering... got a teeny bit carried away I think!

My card flew off to to Gail in Norway and this month a big thank you to my friend Hilary who sent me a beautiful card and some gorgeous foiling!
There's still time to join in the May challenge - pop over to the blog and sign up!
Thanks for looking today - hope you'll check out my DT post for TIOT as well and maybe link up there too! x
Sharing my flower over at
MMM - Flowers
Crafting Happiness - Flowers

March Card Chain Challenge

 My card for this month's Card Chain Challenge made a mammoth journey to Suze in New Zealand! Thankfully it arrived before the end of the month!

The colours given were a bit tricky for me but I continued with my quest of using the colours and trying to combine with one of the other technique elements.
Fortunately the colours don't have to be exact so I used a lighter few shades interpretation of each colour and the 'Stamps' product option.

The vase of bright sunflowers is by Technique Tuesday.
It comes with a matching die although I cut this by hand as there was too much white outline for my liking!
Coloured with watercolours.

The wavy edge background panel was done blending Distress Inks Spiced Marmalade and Dried Marigold with a light brushing of Peeled Paint. I then simply watercoloured a few lines to 'ground' the vase.

The sentiment is from SU.
I received a lovely card from blogging buddy Pia in Norway too - so thank you Pia! x

There's time for you to join in our challenge for next month if you want to - simply pop over to the blog and check out how it works!

February Card Chain Challenge

February's  Card Chain Challenge card was sent to Jo in the UK
Having received a bumper bundle of Card-io stamps at Christmas from my other half I am enjoying using them!

I am waiting for warmer weather so it seemed apt to use some stamps that made me think of sunny days.

The colour option this month asked for Brick Red, Aqua and Sand which shouted all things beachy to me - so once again I bypassed the Technique/Sketch/Theme options!

I started by stamping the boat in Fired Brick Oxide then masked it off.

I experimented a little using VersaMagic chalk based ink and a small blending brush for the sea. As I normally use Oxides for ink blending I wasn't sure how it would look - but I was really happy with the result. The 'Sea Breeze' ink colour blended beautifully and gave a soft effect which was a change from the depth of colour you get with Oxides etc.

I wanted the boat to remain the focal point so I used the Sea Breeze ink to  stamp the Pier rather than using a grey or black
I used another colour - 'Wheat' for my sand and some of the grasses.
The stones and shells were more of the VersaMagic inks Sahara Sand and Niagra Mist.

Took my blue and yellow blending brushes and just rubbed on the top for the sky using the excess ink on the brushes rather than inking them up again so the colours weren't overpowering.
I am really enjoying the Card Chain Challenge - the challenge themes give you lots of options to choose from and it's lovely receiving a surprise each month! This month I received a really pretty make from Tina in Slovenia!

January Card Chain Challenge

My card for the first Card Chain Challenge of 2023 went to Pia in Norway!
There were a few challenge options to choose from this time and I managed a couple - the colour option is always the one I go to first but this month I was also able to use the Product/Technique option of Distress Oxides and as Pia and I have been following each others blogs for some time now she is amongst my blogland 'friends' so I also could use one of the theme options too.

Here's my make. Over time I have made a few of these using the same basic design but in different colours. Blue shades, Orange shades  and Lilac shades to name just 3!
This is the first one using Pink!

A little moon mask started the background and I blended some Picked Raspberry round it first then moving downwards lightly, before swapping the colour for Saltwater Taffy to fade it down.

The darker of the floral branches were stamped with Altenew Razzleberry ink.

The second and third gen stamping was done using Versafine Clair Charming Pink. The stamp is from an Oriental Blossom set by Inkylicious.

I die cut the branch and birds and then gave the birds a quick blend with the remainder of the  Picked Raspberry left on the blender.
Added the little sentiment and then die cut the arched frame (Moonstone Dies) for the panel to sit behind.

It's not an exact replication of the colours on the challenge post but not far off!
I received a lovely card from Carol - and if you fancy joining in this month you have until 6th Feb to sign up - just go to the CCC blog!

Thanks for looking today - I hope everything is well in your part of blogland. x

December 2022 Card Chain Challenge

It's reveal day over at the Card Chain Challenge - and my goodness this month WAS a challenge!
There was this simply HUGE Tic Tac Toe board - 25 squares in all - I wonder if anyone managed to use them all?  Not me that's for sure, I had enough trouble selecting five! I chose the second column - and got my thinking cap on.

To be honest once I decided on which line to use, I managed to pull together a make which I sent to my partner Joanne this month and hope that she likes it!
So here's the challenge line I chose-

Slimline, Bird, Black, Deer and Stars

My background was done using (from the bottom up) -
Seedless Preserve, Victorian Velvet, Shaded Lilac and Chipped Sapphire. I lightly inked the moon blending outwards with Iced Spruce.

I am a relative newbie to this challenge but it's kind of given me something to aim at - and it has the added bonus that each month you receive a lovely hand made card from somewhere else in the world!

I received a lovely Christmas card from Kath in this month's chain- a beautiful row of tiny poinsettias- delicate and very pretty - thanks Kath! x
 
Thanks for looking today - December simply flew by - in fact 2022 flew too -
Happy New Year to everyone! x