Try It On Tuesday- our first 2024 challenge!

  It's time for the very first challenge of the New Year at TRY IT ON TUESDAY and the theme is WINTER BLUES.
(I hope none of you are feeling blue after all the excitement during the festive season!)

Last year we had lots of lovely people sharing their creations with us every month and I hope you will find the time to join us this year too.

My first make for the challenge is a card made for a friend's winter birthday.

I blended a little Iced Spruce on the background first before using a light dusting of Chipped Sapphire and used the Iced Spruce to make the snowy hills at the base.

I secondary stamped the swinging fairy and the toadstools using Versafine Clair Twilight - the first generation stamping was simply too dark.

The vines were second and third generation stamping.

Some 'snow' on the tops of the toadstools using a white gel pen and I added a little bit of sparkle with a silver Posca glitter pen.

The rest of the TIOT team have some lovely makes to inspire you (if you need inspiring) so please pop over to the challenge blog for a look and thanks for visiting me today! x

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

TIOT's 'Cold Outside' Mid Way

 Tuesday marks the mid way point of our latest challenge over at Try It On Tuesday - which is called 'Baby It's Cold Outside'.
If you're not a regular follower to the blog and missed the launch post, my card is in the post immediately below!

I have had a lot of pleasure this year making snowy scenes and this one is where I finally managed to do a fox that I am happy with! ( I seem to have been trying to do a good one for such a long time!) I did though make a teeny mistake on his bum... but then other half said it could be a shadow so I left it!

Chipped Sapphire and Broken China used on the sky, trees stamped in Rich Cocoa and then coloured with pencils.

Foxy was stamped in shades of brown with a touch of Elements Russet Orange.

I considered white heat embossing the tree branches but experimented with a white acrylic pen instead to try and achieve frosty bits rather than a block of white!
My usual helping of white spatters for a snow storm and done!

Thanks for looking and you have just a week to get your entry into our challenge at TIOT! x
Sharing over at
Peace On Earth #52 - A/Goes Inspiration photo
Inkspirational - Seasonal (Winter)
Crafting Happiness - Turkey or Any Animal
52CCT - Winter Countryside

New challenge at Try It On Tuesday

 Our challenge at Try It On Tuesday this fortnight is called 'Baby It's Cold Outside' - and to be honest here today it is!!
Although not quite as cold as it looks on my make!
I have been completely devoid of any ideas for the last couple of weeks and currently am experiencing a bit of a struggle to make anything. The idea for this came from a FB craft group -there were a few examples of white ink on dark card - it also meant I could continue my quest to use up my coloured card.

The base card is called 'Curious Blue'. I bought it some time ago at a show so am not sure which brand it is and this is the last piece.
I liked the colour but it is a bit of a pain to work on as it has a subtle coating on it.
That said it took the white ink really well.
I think there was some white embossing on the original examples but I simply used the white ink without.

Began by ink blending the snow with Brilliance Moonlight White - it took a while to build up the colour but was quite chuffed with the result.
Added the fence and owl (both Card-io) using Versafine Clair Nocturne.

The trees were stamped several times using the Misti but on the last stamping I shifted the card ever so slightly to try and give a misty effect. Again was more than a little pleased with how it turned out!

The branches at the top are from a Stampin Up set and those at the bottom are Card-io.
I used a white Posca pen to add snow to the fence, highlight the owl and then spattered loads across the whole card to make a snowstorm.
Thanks to the Card-io group for helping me out in my time of need!

Hop over to the blog and see what the rest of the team have done this week - and hoping you will be able to take part in this challenge! x
Sharing over at
Christmas Bingo - Letter 'B' (Free/Stamped Image/Ink Blending)
Daisy Chain - Christmas/Winter
IYGACAC - White
Use Your Stuff - Winter/Snow
Cards4Guyz - Winter Scene

Misty Magnus

 Brrrrrrr!!! Really cold here these last few days - and because of the ice underfoot I am feeling a bit stir crazy as I've been unable to go out for my walk - a few steps to open the shed door every morning is the most steps I have achieved.
I have a large camellia in a pot that is simply full of buds so it's living in there at the moment. The poor daffs and hyacinths that dared to poke their heads out must be wishing they hadn't bothered too!

Anyway being stuck indoors meant I had a look at what I could do - other than stare out at the beautiful bright blue skies - and found a Lavinia tutorial on social media.

This is what I managed to produce - it's not perfect but it's not too bad either. (Well, I don't think so anyway!) Although when I looked at others I began to think it was JUST passable!

Working with black cardstock was a bit of a challenge I admit (the tutorial made it look easy - don't they always! 😀) however I think I may try a few more as I quite like the dark and mysterious!

I need a lot more practice with white pen highlighting too.

I had some difficulty taking the pic which is really irritating 😠. Am not sure if it was just simply the light or the combination of the black card base with the blended oxides on top - although it is supposed to be very misty the photo made it look downright foggy!

It was good trying out another new technique and passed some time while I wait for the thaw - the idea of blending inks onto black is probably not new to most but if you've not tried it have a go!

I hope you're warm and dry in your part of blogland and thanks for looking today! x

Sharing at
MMM - Fave theme from 2022 - #189 Winter Card (Not Christmas)
A Place to Start - A/Goes

Snowy Landscape

There is no sign that the current freezing cold icy weather will disappear any time soon, so after a short trip out to collect an ordered present I holed myself up in the Happy Place where it is lovely and warm!

I have been having lots of inkyness just lately having visited Pinterest. I am in awe of the talent so many possess with their gorgeous scenes and I thank them for inspiring.

Here's another I did after a Pinterest trawl -
I love these Lavinia foxes. Am practicing very hard with the white highlighter on the fur - not quite there yet but improving each time.

The sky imitates what I looked out on today! It was quite misty fog earlier and only cleared mid afternoon. The grey sky was achieved by smooshing Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide and flicking some water across it. I masked off the bottom with some torn paper before smooshing.

Blended a little Fossilized Amber over the top for a watery sun and stamped a few branches after making a few snowy drifts.
As usual I had to splatter!

Another practice session completed and another card for my stash!
Thanks for looking. Hope you are warm and well in your part of blogland. x

Sharing at
Time Out - Winter
TIOT - Winter Wonderland
MMM - Winter card

November Card Chain Challenge

This month in the Card Chain Challenge I sent my card to Dee in Kenya!
I chose to do the colour option (well tried to anyway!) and used a stencil as the technique option.

The Lavinia stencil was inked using Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink - my substitute for Slate
I stamped the pinecone branch, tree and the berry wreath using Versafine Clair Pinecone - my substitute for Chocolate
I painted the berries with Carved Pumpkin Oxide and used the same to stamp the stars.
I finished with some orange glitter on the fir tree - well you've got to have a bit of bling haven't you!.

I know it's unlikely Dee will see snowy fir trees in Nairobi so thought I might send her some wintry greetings from here!

It was really nice receiving my card from Jeanne last month - happy mail!
I've signed up again for the December challenge - if you aren't in our chain of happy mail, pop over to the blog and sign up - you still have time!
Thanks for stopping by today - have a good day whatever you're doing. x

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!

The In Beween Bit

 Does anyone else always think the bit between Christmas and New Year is odd? I always feel like we should be doing SOMETHING but don't know what, although this year restrictions have made the decisions on what to do for us - which is NOT A LOT!
We have however been out this morning for a walk as we had ⛄snow overnight and I simply had to get out in it (love💝💝 it!). Hope it lasts but it probably isn't going to as some of it has gone already .. 😞
So my share today is a Snowy Scene

A one layer card using a rectangle stencil to make the mask round the edges.

The stamps are by Hobby Art called 'Country Walk'
I used Speckled Egg DI for the sky - fast becoming my 'go to' colour now for  EVERYTHING!

A little bit of sponging for snowdrifts (which don't show up very well in the pic) and the rest coloured with watercolours.

Sharing at
Alphabet - S for Snow Scene

and here's a couple of pics from this morning -

Thanks for calling in. Stay safe. x

3 Kids and a Brolly

 How changeable our weather is! No venturing out today as it's wet and very windy (again) but we have managed this week two nice long walks - yesterday particularly was beautiful as we had nice bright blue sky even though it was cold. Don't mind the cold but hate the rain!
So here's my share for today.

I have wanted this stamp for a long time and recently over at the Crafty Individuals Facebook Group was lucky enough to be picked to win a stamp of my choice - there are lots  and lots of lovely stamps that I want but this was the one (CI-399) I chose, simply because it has been on my wish list for EVER!

I teamed it with Penny Black 'Hidden Lane'.
There was lots of masking, inking and spritzing and it wasn't a quick card to do because of that.

Building up a scene is not something I am very confident with, but I really enjoyed doing it.

Stamped the children first, masked and then worked round them, inking the PB stamp with my Arteza waterbrush pens.
I used a small blending brush for the sky and the 'snowdrifts' to the right of the fence
The sentiment is also from Penny Black.
This stamp has already been well used for my Winter cards and is set to become a very firm fave with me.  
Thanks for stopping by today - Stay safe wherever you are in the world. x

Linking up at -
ABC - W for Winter Wonderland
SSS - Happy Holidays
Creative Knockouts - Winter Wonderland
CRAFT- Christmas

Serene

The weather here is anything but serene at the moment. We are having our second storm in less than 5 days. The wind speeds up here on the top overnight were just as bad as last week despite the forecast saying they wouldn't be. Lashing rain and horrible grey skies - such a contrast to yesterday morning where the sky was bright blue!

My share for today is a serene winter scene one layer card.

I was less than happy with it when it was finished as I felt that the 'snow meets sky' inky outline was a bit heavy handed. I wanted a softer line rather than a harsh edge but somehow it didn't just work out as well as I wanted. I think perhaps the fact that I didn't use my usual watercolour card and opted for  smooth 300gsm cardstock may have affected the finish as I possibly applied too much water when dragging the brush so it has bled more than I wanted it to!

But the more I look at it the more I think it isn't too bad really!!
Stamps are all from Penny Black

Sharing at -
TIOT - Christmas is Coming
Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas
MMM - Anything Christmas
Crafting Happiness - Winter
Addicted to Stamps - Cold and Frosty

So as the weather is preventing any outside activities (as I don't want to be blown off my feet) it's another day in the craft space - and maybe I should attack the pile of ironing???
Have a great day whatever you're doing! x

Two cards- one post

I made this card a couple of weeks ago just before the Monochromatic challenge at CAS Watercolour started. As I am trying to expand my watercolour skills I wanted to have a go at this months challenge and also to continue my promise to myself that I would try and enter each month.

I thought twice about linking it when I saw the wonderfully talented Birgit, this months Guest Designer, had produced another wonderful watercolour for her DT spot which makes mine pale in comparison!!!
It was only when I realised that I would maybe not have time to do another that I made the decision to post.

So continuing with my entering the CAS challenges here's one made for the CAS Christmas challenge which has the theme of 'Warm and Cozy'.

I hereby announce that it is official - I am RUBBISH with digi stamps! I have never really got to grips with them although I must have amassed hundreds of them over the years.

I never seem to get the sizing right and so it proved on this card which maybe doesn't have enough white space - but am sharing it anyway to show that I tried!

Little Scottie is from A Day For Daisies and I paper pieced him a plaid coat to keep him warm and added a little sparkly ribbon collar.
Some light ink dusting and some secondary stamping using a Uniko pine branch and then stamped the sentiment.

Both these challenges are half way through so there is still time to enter!

There's also still time to enter the CAS Stencil challenge and I will be back tomorrow to share my mid month DT card. Pop over and get out your stencils!!

Have a great day whatever you're doing. x