Animals

 Here at TRY IT ON TUESDAY our new challenge is called simply 'ANIMALS'
Your animals can be real or imaginary so there's lots of options!

Its been a very long time since I purchased a craft mag - but when I saw the one from Indigo Blu recently I simply HAD to have it.

I ADORE this fox! I've used it such a lot - same with the hare - and to me these 2 stamps alone were worth the price of the mag.

I used a piece of paper from an Autumn coloured pack from my stash which I overstamped with a leaf branch from Inkylicious using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. 

I then sponged a bit of Speckled Egg DO randomly and did some more 2nd/3rd generation stamping of a script stamp in the cocoa colour.

The fox was stamped in Vintage Sepia and I just used a yellow pencil lightly on his eyes. 
Matted onto brown then layered onto Kraft base.

Thanks for looking - hope all is well with you in blogland. x 

Circles

Here's my take on our challenge theme over at TRY IT ON TUESDAY which is called 'GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES' 

As buttons (in the main) are circular I got out the box and lifted out a selection

Using an Inkylicious Willow Twig stamp and the grass stamp from Skinny Trees set for the background with Versafine Shady Lane, I did some first and second generation stamping.

Ink blended the background with Bundled Sage for the bottom and then used the pink, yellow and blue blending brushes without loading any more ink! It was surprising really how much there was left on the brushes and it gave just enough colour for my background.

Once the buttons were stuck I mixed a little ink in similar shades to the buttons and did a few spatters.  

My only deviation from the 'circle' theme was the white heart button - (it also has some white spatters round it but you can't see in the photo) as I am giving this to a good friend who says her life is a constant battle with weeds in her garden so the sentiment seemed very apt!

Hope you will find time to join us this challenge and thanks for visiting me today. 

(I appreciate everyone who takes time to leave comments and also who send me messages privately. I have good days and bad days but the good ones are now far more in number than the bad and am a lot more positive thankfully. Love to you all.x) 

Faux Cyanotype

This last week I have felt a little better in myself 
(maybe it's the Slow Stitching - See post below!) 
and although have spent a lot of time just sitting at the craft desk shuffling bits of stuff round with no end product (depressing enough as it is without failing to conjure anything up) . 

I have still paid sporadic visits to blogs over the last several months as pretty makes give me a little lift even if it's only for a short time and this last week something caught my eye on Pat's lovely blog.

It's been a long time since I made a card for anything other than my TIOT DT duties -
but in a couple of hours of no brain fuzz I  tried the Faux Cyanotype I had seen done by Pat and the Group of 7 Cardmakers. 
(Hello Lolly and friends xxx - it's been a forever long time 💕)

I found picking up an ink blending brush was also something that I didn't need to get myself in a state about which perked me up even more. (Whether it lasts will be a different thing)

The stamps are by Inkylicious and they were used a lot in the past - placing of the hummingbird not quite right as I really wanted it to be nearer the flower but hey ho - at least I made something just for makings sake.
I did though have to stamp the image many times with the white ink - thank God for Misti is what I say.
I lightly inked the edges of the frame and the card itself with the same Blueprint Sketch DOX.

Having been brave enough to push the dark cloud aside I have linked this up to the Group's blog. x

It's Cold Outside

First challenge of 2026 at Try It On Tuesday.
Our theme this fortnight is 'It's Cold Outside'.⛄

I always think of blue shades whenever anyone mentions cold so did something relatively quick, simple and of course blue!
Some ink blending and stamps from Lavinia, Inkylicious and Card-io.

I hope you will find time to join us this challenge!

Feeling a bit more upbeat the last couple of weeks. 
We had a wonderful time away over Christmas - and another couple of places I wanted to visit ticked off my bucket list. 

Budapest is a beautiful city, Salzburg was stunning and Vienna was simply magical. I felt like I was in a fairy tale and had to keep pinching myself!

So with Canada and Alaska done, 3 of my 5 European cities done it's time to look forward to the next big adventure which will take place in a few months time round a big birthday.... (21 again before anyone asks...).

Happy New Year to everyone.

 

 

Get Ready For Christmas

Time for our next challenge at Try It On Tuesday and this time we're kick starting Christmas preparations.

I had some wooden circles left from a previous (and very old) project so I made a couple of 'baubles' by simple stamping and colouring, highlighting the edges with either a Posca pen or a little bit of white embossing.

The backs of the wooden circles were simply stamped with a Christmas Greeting.

The pics aren't the best as I am having difficulty holding camera/phone steady at the mo. It's only temporary but certainly ain't good for trying to get clear images!

Hope you can join us this challenge - looking forward to seeing your creations and thanks for looking today. x 

Mid way at Try It On Tuesday

Our 'WHAT A NIGHT' challenge is half way through at TRY IT ON TUESDAY.

Near the top of my wish list for several years has been wanting to see the spectacle of the Aurora Borealis.
We were planning a trip to colder and more Northerly climes for late 2025 in the hope that we may be lucky and then in 2024 she showed herself not just once but several times in England and I (along with many others) actually had their wish granted without having to travel anywhere!

First time I rushed outside at 1am watching these dancing green and pink columns above my head and then on two more occasions I saw the sight again that I never thought I would be fortunate enough to see.

The last sighting just before Christmas was the most spectacular - vivid pink columns before eventually the other coloured dancing lights appeared in the starry sky.

So I credit the Lady Aurora for inspiring me to make this card.

Of course it isn't as perfect as the real thing but it captures for me the first moments of the last appearance - and the sentiment is definitely true - I will definitely remember the moments I saw this natural phenomenon!
Tree stamps are from Inkylicious.

Thanks for looking and for any comments you leave - hope you are able to join our challenge too!
Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Try It On Tuesday New Challenge

 We have a theme called 'WHAT A NIGHT' for our latest challenge at Try It on Tuesday.

I hope you can find time to pop over to the BLOG and see what the rest of the creative team members have come up with - and that you'll be inspired to join us.

This card was something of an experiment for me - I wanted to do a sky that was a dark and moody Northern Light type display (instead of the bright green and violets) and used black card stock as the base card instead of my usual white.
It gave a completely different effect but one that I am not too disappointed with!

I roughly and randomly brushed the top of the card with some white Brilliance ink and then used the same ink with the mountain stencil and built up the colour at the bottom.

The sky colours are Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry and Blueprint Sketch.
The castle is from Lavinia and the pine trees are from Inkylicious.

I have had the sentiment for a long time and just white heat embossed to make it stand out before adding a few small ink spatters to make stars in the sky.

Overall I am not too displeased with the end result on the dark card background - but I think I wouldn't blend the colours over the last and largest mountain range if I did this again.
I wanted it to look like the sky was reflecting off the snowy slopes and I don't think I quite nailed it.
Thanks for looking and for any comments you leave - I really do appreciate it! x

Colourful at Try It On Tuesday

We have 'MAKE IT COLOURFUL' as our new challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY.
I did a bit of ink blending for this challenge.

Colours used were Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Blueprint Sketch.

I remembered a brighly coloured tag I'd seen some time ago which used the dandelions as the centrepiece and as I hadn't used them for a while got them out!

I used the Coral over the blue to make the landscape at the bottom - it's actually taken on a bit of a violet hue in the pic but it is definitely blue in real life!

The stamp at the top is from Inkylicious and the other 2 are Lavinia.

I spattered the dandies with a white Posca pen and added a few black dots.

The clouds across the sun are not quite as good as I hoped - more practice needed - but overall was happy with the way this tuned out.

Hope you will visit the blog and the rest of the DT and look forward to seeing your creations!

Have a great day whatever you're doing. 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

More Purple!

 I notice that I've not posted many Christmas cards this year - I have made some but most days the lighting here hasn't been good for pics! Anyway, most are now written and posted so there's only a few cards I can show!

I had some lilac and purple shades out on the desk after making the card for the Card Chain Challenge (post below) so before I had a tidy up I made another.
I used Oxides for this one - Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac for the sky, masking off the moon circle first then some water splatters.
I removed the mask and gave it  a quick light dust over with the Lilac.

I have an Inkylicious moon stamp which has the cloud drifts so inked it with Wilted Violet DI and stamped.  Was pleased with the result.

The snowdrifts were done using Lost Shadow ink.

My Lavinia foxes are very well used and I used a white pen round his body - still practicing with this but I don't think he looks too bad overall altho I was a little heavy handed!

The branches were stamped in Purple, Metallic Silver and Brilliance White - I heat embossed the white then did the same with the bauble.
A few stamped twiggy bits and finished!

Thanks for looking. I hope everyone is well and not getting too panicked about Christmas approaching! I am feeling quite organised this year for a change! x

New Challenge at Try It On Tuesday

 Happy Tuesday! It's time for our new challenge over at Try It On Tuesday and for the next 2 weeks we're wanting to see your Halloween creations.
Having no children means Halloween doesn't mean much to us although we do always buy some treats for the trick or treaters! Other half always hopes it rains so they stay at home because it means he gets to eat the sweeties! How bad is he????!!

I don't send Halloween cards so this was a bit of a challenge for me too!

I have been having a play recently with coloured card as a base so I found some really vivid orange and used that for this.

I started by stamping my owl, cat and broomstick (all Lavinia) direct onto the orange card.

Then inked my moon with Brilliance Moonlight through an Inkylicious stencil and ran a white pen round the edge.

The hills were Black Soot DI and I resisted being too heavy with the ink as I really wanted the orange base to show through a little.
The trees are one of my most used sets from Inkylicious.

The castle is Lavinia and the teeny spider (cute isn't he?!) is from Card-io.

I finished by dragging the white stencil brush across the card to give the appearance of mist - but am not sure I achieved it!

I intended to stamp 'Dont Forget to Fly' but am damned if I can find the stamp - it'll turn up when I don't want it no doubt!

Hope you will join us this month - if you pop over to the blog there's lots of spooky makes from the DT too.
Thanks for looking today - have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x
Sharing over at
Triple B - (Bird- my owl)
Stamps+Fun - Black and Orange
Crafty Calendar - Halloween
Sparkles - Things that go bump in the Night
If you give a Crafter a Cookie - Black
Two Old Bats - Halloween

Try It On Tuesday - New Challenge

Well! October! This year has simply flown by and Autumn is well and truly upon us here.
Seem to have spent a lot of time lately getting up the leaves from the large oak tree that overhangs onto rear driveway from our lovely neighbours. Its a magnificent tree and I love to watch it as the seasons change.

Anyway the card for Try It On Tuesday's new challenge of Autumn which starts today is inspired by a mischievous squirrel who loves to run up said oak tree with his spoils - he disappears from view when he gets near the top so I hope he has found someone to share them with!

I used a variety of colours and stamps for this make.

The leaves and the log stamps are from Lavinia as is the rather large 'nut' being inspected!
Potters Clay, Rich Cocoa, Tangelo, Tea Leaves Memento and Versacolour inks, and Fired Brick Oxide.

The two squirrels are from Card-io and the sentiment is from Inkylicious which I thought was so very apt and very true.

The rest of the DT and our Guest Designer have lots of inspiration for you so please pop over to the blog and pay them a visit. Hope too, that you will join us this fortnight and celebrate the colours of Autumn! x

Flaming Sky

 My friends other half runs a Hot Air Balloon company and in one of our previous houses we were surrounded by fields - it was perfectly normal for him to be flying over the field next door very low - and on two occasions landing in it! Cue one very irritated farmer!
(Have just read that back and it sounds like we move every five minutes - the house I am talking about we were in for almost 30 years!)

I  bought this Card-io set called 'Up Up and Away' last year and this was the first time of inking so I am hopping over to NBUS before this months challenge closes.

I saw something similar to this some time back on Pinterest and with a birthday looming for my friends hubby it was the perfect opportunity to use the set.

I wanted a sunset sky but think I might have overdone it cos it actually looks like the forest below is on fire..............🙈🔥🔥

Regulars to my blog will know how much I like ink blending!
Used Crackling Campfire (how apt!), Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door and Black Soot for my background.

The trees are one of my most used stamp sets - they're from Inkylicious and I love them.

Simply stamped in black Versafine Clair in the foreground and then used Versafine Crimson Red for my second and third generation stamping.
Am sharing over at
MMM- Create your own Background
Dragonfly Dreams - Happy Birthday
Mix It Up - Make your own background
SOS - Colour me Beautiful

Let's Go Outside at Try It On Tuesday

Our latest challenge at Try It On Tuesday is called 'Let's Go Outside'.

Lots of interpretations for this one and look forward to seeing what the challenge prompt means to you!

I love the Sea.
I live in a pretty rural area but we're literally 10 minutes away from the coast so I have the best of both worlds.

Here's my make. The two girls are a stamp from Crafty Individuals and the boat is from Card-io.

I had it in my head that these two girls (sisters/friends) were just seeking solace at the water's edge, dreaming of escaping to some magical place aboard the boat!
(I know - fanciful imagination I have!)

I also got to try out one of the waves stamps from Inkylicious (which I bought and then forgot I had them!)

Just lots of ink blending and heat embossing and I fussy cut the girls to make them stand out a bit more.

This was one of those makes that I was (and still am ) undecided about as I think I maybe got the perspective askew - maybe the sea should have been less and the beach and sky more??? Just call me undecided!
Hey ho, it's done now!

Hope you can find time to join us for this challenge - we welcome all types of crafting, not just cards!
And please pop over to the challenge blog and have a look at the rest of the DT's makes - we love visitors!
Happy Crafting! x

Keep It Simple at Try It On Tuesday

For the next two weeks our challenge theme at Try It On Tuesday is 'Keep It Simple'.
So a CAS card from me!

I smooshed a bit of watercolour card across some watery Mowed Lawn DI. One of my better results I thought!

Cut out with a stitched die and stamped some bamboo at one side. The bamboo stamp is years old and I think it's from Choc Baroque.

Added a thin stitched die frame on top as an experiment - didn't glue it at first!

I love Ginko leaves so when Inkylicious brought this set out I had to have it.  Stamped and fussy cut and then arranged them inside and outside the thin frame before glueing it all in place.

I was going to add another ginko on the top right but remembered I had a chinese writing stamp and a little bit of the smooshed piece left so used it up.

Finished it all off with a couple of little citrus green dots, using a bigger one to hide the overlap of the offcut bits!
For this make I used linen textured cardstock to give the background some interest.

Please go visit the challenge blog and see what the rest of the team have come up with this time!
Hope you can join us too and thanks for looking today. x

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

Peaceful Winter

I am well into Christmas card mode and here's another.
Have kind of rediscovered my enjoyment of ink blending recently too - I still like CAS a lot but there's something about trying to make a scene blending inks - and of course there's always Pinterest to be inspired by!

The background sky for this was done in Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire Oxides, using a large moon mask.

The fir trees are among some of my most used stamps and are from Inkylicious.

I stamped them in Versafine Clair Morning Mist rather than black ink as I wanted a softer effect.

The tree branches were second and third generation stamping in Chipped Sapphire and a couple stamped in Brilliance Moonlight White.

The little deer (he really is tiny!) was a freebie in a mag - maybe last year - and so was the sentiment.

A liberal spattering with a white Posca pen and my traditional snow scene was done.

I am carrying on making for the forthcoming Artisan Fair and it's strange because I actually don't feel under any pressure to produce lots of stuff, and am just bimbling along! I've done candles, some wooden tree decs and lots of lovely Fairy Baubles as well as cards so maybe it's the variety of makes I am enjoying more?
Anyway, thanks for looking and hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

Sharing over at -

TIOT - Traditional Christmas
Use Your Stuff - Winter/Snow
Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas

A Winter Scene

 It's not quite Winter yet - or if it is no one has told some of the summer plants in the garden - I still have fuchsias and alstromerias in flower and this morning 3 cone flowers have appeared! Although the temperatures are dropping it is still relatively mild for November- even my Christmas Roses have decided to poke their heads out.

All a far cry from my snowy scene here!
I bought this Inkylicious Ornate Leaf stencil when it first came out and to my shame this make was the first time it's been used - but I made 3 more similar with it so I didn't feel quite as guilty.

A quick card really with some ink blending, stamping and glitter.

Used Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch oxides inside and Iced Spruce for the shading and Versafine Clair Twilight for the figures and trees. The dark blue made a change from the usual black I use for silhouettes/

I think I may need a little more practice with the shading at the outer edges - I was bothered about putting on too much and making it really dark!

The stamps are all from Cardio.
Sharing over at
Fab n Funky - Shades of Blue
LRW - Winter
Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas

In a moment of madness I agreed to take a table at the local Community Centre for their Christmas Artisan Fair so have spent some time stamping on candles (a first for me and dead chuffed with myself!), and making Fairy baubles as well as cards. Am working on the basis that if all leftovers will simply end up being used by me!

Hence why my blogging is sporadic at the mo but now am a bit better organised I can sit and visit everyone!
Thanks for looking today - hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

October Card Chain Challenge

Today is the day of the big reveal for the October Card Chain Challenge.
This is the first time I have taken part in this and it was fun to create something that I knew would be going to Robyn in Australia.
This month I used the option of the Fantasy Folk theme along with the colour palette option (I am not very good with sketches!)

The colours don't have to be exact matches so here's my card

(Oh and before you say there's no 'folk' on the card they were far too cold so have gone indoors!)

 
For my 'silver' I used Iced Spruce Oxide, my 'blush' was a combination of Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet (cos I didn't think the Spun Sugar was enough on it's own) and my 'frost' element is the ice on the tree achieved by white watercolour with a thin coating of Nuvo shimmer.

I did the background ink blending first then stamped the Inkylicious fir trees.

I then remembered that the Inkylicious icy tree branch is also meant to go on the right!

So I stamped it onto acetate and then pressed down onto the card to get a reverse impression then went over the outline with a black pencil.

The fairy tree pods and the little house are Lavinia.

I really enjoyed doing this - I hope it got to Robyn in time and that she liked it!

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