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

CAS Mix Up October Challenge

Bonnie has set this months challenge at CAS Mix Up.
It is mixed media time this month and she chose the theme of BOTANICAL PRINTS.
I had only ever tried this once before and my results weren't brilliant so was a little apprehensive, but I watched some more tutorials and took the plunge!

I was quite pleased with how my attempts turned out - done using leaves from a rose bush.
I wanted to try a different colour than the usual Autumn shades so turned to one of my fave colours - Grape Jelly.

As my Big Shot is still packed away, I just inked the leaves and popped them alongside each other, took another piece of card and just pressed down.
Held my breath when I lifted off the card and leaves but was amazed to find that the impressions were really not bad at all!

Linen textured card, die cut frame, a little bit of ink dusting, some watercolour shading and job done.

The Design Team have some simply beautiful makes using different methods of getting these prints, please pay them a visit and we have  Guest Designer Izzy (Izzy Scrap), who has also made a stunning contribution to our challenge this month!

So put your coat on, go outside, grab some leaves and come and join us!

Twofer April Challenge

Twofer's April word prompt is 'Leaves'.
I used a rarely seen daylight stamp and die set  from Thirsty Brush to make my two cards - and although there are some flowers on the stamp I hope there's enough leaves to fulfil the challenge!

This was my first use of black watercolour card and despite me using an anti static bag across it, I still managed to get little white specks from the embossing powder!

I recently bought some metallic watercolours to try  - they didn't cost a lot so I wasn't expecting great results but I have to say I was impressed with them - the shine on them is good and they were great value for the money!

Finished this card with a few spots of Perfect Pearls for the berries and the flower centres.

My second card used the die set.
Painted the image with watercolours and popped it onto the card base with some 3d foam tape.
I stamped another of the leaf designs from the set and die cut.
A few paint spatters and a big sentiment and job done! 

We've had some lovely Spring weather the last few days. It's lifted the spirits being out in the sunshine without a coat and watching the plants and trees burst into life.
Here's a pic of my two cards together

and a little pic of the shine from the paints!

Paint, Carpet and Ink

This week we have done a little bit of decorating in the room where we spend most of our time - the craft/music/online gaming room. (The latter 2 are not me by the way!)
I am a messy crafter. Over the years since we have been here I have dropped ink pads (always the pad side down) onto the carpet tiles, splattered odd bits of Brusho here and there, managed to get glue everywhere - you get the picture.
I am now sat in the freshly painted room with some nice new flooring and the comment 'Let's see how long it takes for you to make a mess'...... 😳😳
So not being apprehensive at all I got out the ink......................

A linen textured card base called for a linen textured panel. After inking, I took 2 stencils inking with 2 more different shades of green.
Stamped and clear embossed the leafy branch and watercoloured.
A few drops of white Nuvo  and a stamped sentiment.

The ink mustn't have been completely dry as the white Nuvo soaked it up so now the little drops are green but in real life it looks OK!

So today it looks like we are moving from Tier 3 into full lockdown next week. At least I have a freshly pained craft space to spend my time in!

Oh and I bought a rather large rug online which covers MOST of the area I work in.... bets on bouncing ink pads anyone?????

Autumn and a Reply to a Post?

Before we get to the card can anyone tell me how to reply to someone who has left a comment on a post? There's no e mail on the persons profile and now Blogger has removed access to the link back to the person's blog. I don't want the person concerned who has asked the question to think I am being rude! There must be a way to do it in the Blog settings but I can't find it, so any help appreciated.

 

I love the colours of Autumn.

Dry days where there is nothing better than walking through crunchy fallen leaves. I think it may be my fave time of year as nature's colours are simply spectacular.  Autumn Glory indeed!

 

The stamps used here are all by Stampendous and I inked them in shades of orange and red with a bit of green onto an odd piece of card.

Matted the panel onto another left over piece of orange card and stamped two more leaves onto a couple of odd scraps that were just about to go into the bin.

Fussy cut the leaves, stamped the sentiment and job done.

Sentiment inked in Spiced Marmalade.

Joining in at a few Autumn themed challenges -  

TIOT - Autumn Colours
MTTC - Autumn Colours
CAS on Friday - Autumn

Have a great day whatever you're doing! x

Kind

I was struggling last week to come up with anything constructive (like a lot of people!) and then on Friday last I managed to hurt my back/hip
(making the bed - don't ask!)
and it has been really painful for a couple of days so I didn't feel much like doing anything anyway except feel sorry for myself! Thankfully today it is a bit better but I don't intend to be doing any Can Cans for a while!

With no clear sense of what I intended to do but determined to do something -- (ANYTHING!)  I took this stamp set and gold embossed it onto a piece of watercolour card and coloured it with watercolours.

The sentiment is from Uniko.

It's a bit weird having lots of time to craft and then finding you can't think of anything to do - I am trying not to watch the news more than once a day as what is happening at the moment is just making me sad.
I am really glad that you've come to visit me as this self isolation thingy  can become a bit wearing can't it?
Thank goodness Blogland is here for us crafting junkies!
Stay Safe wherever in the World you are. x