Sunshine!

Trying to escape from the current heatwave has meant retreating to the craft space armed with the floor fan!

I used to soak up the sun in my younger days but have found as I have got older the heat and humidity has become unbearable - and I resort to being agitated and grumpy - well a little bit more agitated and grumpier than usual that is!

In my cool crafty retreat (!) I have caught up on makes for the card box and this is one of those.

I have been experimenting with coloured card and my watercolour pencils.

After gold embossing the stamp (Sunflower Love from Waffle Flower), I coloured it in the shades similar to the coloured card base.

Really quite like the result and as I have lots of coloured card I shall do this again!

It's been a long time since I linked up a make at a challenge blog other than my two DT spots but I am linking this over at -
Beautiful Blossoms - Anything Floral Goes

Thanks for looking - and have a great day whatever you're doing! x

Text

 Our Try It On Tuesday challenge for the next 2 weeks is 'ADD SOME TEXT'

I made a few cards like this several years ago with different coloured backgrounds when I was looking to add a few cards to my own stash box. An added bonus was that they were quick and easy to do!

I tried dark blue and silver, plum coloured card with gold, red card with black etc but by far the one I liked the best was the one done on a black background with gold.  

As I am trying to keep on an even keel and not get stressed I decided to re-do something from the past rather than sitting looking at a blank desk wondering what to do!

Plain black card gold heat embossed with a text stamp (that old I have no idea where it came from) and a dandelion die (or is it a Cornflower??) -I think it's a Sizzix one cos it's that rusty brown colour.

I added a heart shaped word die to this one, cut twice, once in white then in gold mirri card and fussy cut the word.

Hope you will join us this over the next 2 weeks and please stop by the challenge blog and see what the rest of the team have done this time round!.

Thanks for looking today. 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!

Try It On Tuesday Inspired by a Song

Our challenge for the next two weeks at Try It On Tuesday is 'Inspired by a Song.'
I am a massive music fan - since I was a child I have loved music - most music genres too so it was always going to be a difficult choice as to which song I used for this challenge and I started to seriously think ...... Then I stopped thinking and made a decision!

I chose 'Fields of Barley' and although written by Sting, I much prefer the Eva Cassidy version. She has such a beautiful voice and interprets the lyrics so well. 

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley.
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold.

It's a love song, full of poignancy and is deeply evocative as it maps out love from beginning to the final parting.
It makes me cry and smile at the same time!

So - my background is ink blended and my barley field is a stamp from Inkylicious stamped and gold heat embossed.

The sentiment is from Altenew Moments in Time set and it seemed perfect- stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia.

I mounted onto some gold mirri card before sticking onto the card base.

Hope you will share your favourite song with us this challenge! x

 

Use a Stencil at Try It On Tuesday

 Our next challenge at Try It On Tuesday starts today and the theme is 'USE A STENCIL'.
I have lots of stencils - many of which have never been used - this is one!

It was bought in a pack of Mandala stencils ( think I was going through a bit of a Zen phase at the time.....😵) and yet another purchase that once I got I became completely devoid of ideas as to what to do with them!

Anyway this challenge made me go through the stencil stack and I thought I'd try making something!
I used Sweet Poppy Stencil paste onto a plain black card.

I have a few tubs of paste - but am afraid they are all on the verge of solidifying completely which is my own fault as they never see the light of day.
The gold one was a bit gloopy but I managed to use it for this.

I then had a bit of a struggle as to 'sentiment or not'  (and what kind of sentiment do you put on a gloopy part mandala anyway?😔) - then I remembered this one which is a kind of 'use for anything' kind of greeting!

Simply gold heat embossed and added a couple of sequins before running some gold ink round the edge.
.
Hope you will join us this challenge - lots of lovely inspiration if you need it from the DT over on the challenge blog too.   Happy Stencilling!
Sharing at
Stencil Fun - A/Goes
Creative Knockouts - Sparkle and Shine
NBUS #60

Blooms

 Perfect weather for the craft room - monsoon type conditions and heavy grey skies! A stark contrast to Europe who are in the grips of the most horrendous heat!

I have been playing about with black card recently - here is one I did a couple of days ago using an Altenew stamp set.

It was quite quick to do really - I spent more time messing about wondering how to place it on a UK card size than actually stamping and colouring!

Being a US company the frame is designed to fit on an A2 (?? I think??) card - a size that I have never used and is not one that you see a lot of here in the UK.

Stamped and heat embossed in gold then used metallic watercolours. I am loving these watercolours - the card has an incredible shimmer.
The sentiment is also part of the same set.

Once dry, I mounted it onto a piece of gold mirri card and ended up (after much debate) simply putting it centrally onto another piece of black card. It didn't look right on a white base, didn't fit properly on a 6 x 4, nor on a 5 x 5, looked daft on a 6 x 6 and at one point I was beginning to be sorry I had started in the first place!
Anyway to steal one of my Mum's sayings - "It'll do for now"!!!

Sharing over at
Beautiful Blossoms - A/Goes w/flowers
Creative Crafters - A/Goes
Crafty Addicts - A/Goes

Thanks for looking today - wherever you are in the world I hope you are safe and well. x

Mid Month at Stamping Sensations

Not long to go now till Christmas and here's my mid month reminder card for our November challenge at Stamping Sensations, which this time is 'Traditional Christmas Colours' - so we want to see creations made with the colours - Red/Green/Gold - any or all!
I have gone for a relatively quick CAS card which I have batch made in different colours - I made a similar one some time back using blue and silver and this time went for red and gold.

I randomly stamped pine branches and ferns using Gold Encore Ultimate Metallic ink.

Once dry I took one of my really old stamps from a flower collection (no idea who's it is or how old it is!) - and stamped the stems in the same ink and quickly added some gold embossing powder. The photo doesn't show it very well but the flower stems stand out really well!

Re-aligned the piece in the Misti and used Crimson Red Versafine for the flower heads.

The die cut sentiment has to be one of my faves - and it looks really nice embossed!

We have the fab Chocolate Baroque as our sponsors this month - full details over on the blog.
Please remember though we have to see STAMPING as the focal point of your entry for you to be eligible for the prize!

Thanks for looking - have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Experiment!

Brr.... it's cold here! Had some snow and more forecast for the weekend. Have spent the last couple of days assisting dear husband whilst we have had a re-vamp of 2 of the bedrooms - a new bed ordered for one, a new carpet and a quick change round of the furniture. Looks tidier and we've not spent a firtune so am happy.

Am not so sure I am happy with my embossing on this card - particularly the sentiment!
The gold embossing on the black was a bit of an experiment and I masked off the card to leave me enough room for a greeting in the middle.
The sentiment stamp is from a set called Fabulous Fashion by Katy Sue designs.
I confess to never having inked any of this stamp set .... maybe that's why the embossing hasn't turned out as crisp as I would have wished?
There's a lot of little gold flecks where they shouldn't be.
 
The baroque style background is an old wooden backed stamp - so old that the name of the maker etc has worn off!
I mounted it onto gold matt card before layering it onto the black card base.
It's not too bad an effort - hopefully my next attempt turns out better! I have managed to make a couple more Christmas cards too - will share these over the weekend!

Linking up to
Kitty Bee- Anything Goes
Crafters Cafe - Embossing
Moo Mania & More - Heat Embossing
Stamplorations December Challenge -Theme - Stamps and Gold

Hope you are all snug and warm - have a great weekend whatever you're doing. x

Another one for the Christmas Box!

Am surprising myself as I have managed to make a couple of Christmas cards - what's the betting though that I still won't have enough by the time December comes?!

Anyway, it's 25th of the month so that's Rudolph Day at Scrappy Mo's.
Here's mine -

I coveted this Penny Black stamp for a long time and finally got my grubby mitts on it just before Christmas!
Cream base card, gold mirri mat and some gold embossing powder! Job done - so made a couple for the box.
The sentiment stamp is an old wooden one I have had for a while. My stamping wasn't as sharp as it could have been with the sentiment.. there's a few tiny flicks of gold where they shouldn't be! LOL

Other challenges -
CCC- Anything Goes
ABC- D is for Don't Overdo It

I am off to Coventry tomorrow until Sunday, so wishing you all a great weekend and catch up with you soon. x

Golden

Here is our first Stamping Sensations challenge of 2016 and it's 'Stamps and Dies' and our sponsors are Tonic who have offered a fab prize of their new colours of Nuvo Crystal Drops and matching glitters!

 

AREN'T THESE FAB?!!  

This was a commissioned card and thankfully the recipients celebration was before this challenge was due to go live so they will have seen it in real life.
In the last couple of months of 2015 I struggled really to come up with anything what I considered to be inspiring. I think having the busy summer left it's toll a little bit - someone said 'only another 3 years to go'... am hoping though that now I know what to expect having almost completed my first year I will be able to relax a bit more when I am not travelling away.
Anyway back to the card -
As we are a stamping challenge there HAS to be stamping as the focal point. My focal point is of course the huge vase holding the flowers! Trust me this IS a big stamp - and years old so have no idea where or when I bought it! I stamped then gold embossed with Tinsel Gold EP which really sparkles (!) before cutting it out.

Before putting the EP away I ran an embossing pen round the edge of the layered card and gold embossed.

The flowers are cut from gold matt card and gold mirri card. I don't really like mirri card very much - I think it is really east to overdo its use but think it looks OK  used sparingly, so just one flower stem whereas two stems from the matt card.

The metal heart is another old buy found in my stash and just used some thin gold wire to pop it into the vase.
The butterfly is a one of a set of 3 dies and I stuck some gold and pearl tiny beads onto the body.
Sentiment was computer generated.
I made a box with a gold lid out of a sheet of mirri card - got to use it up somehow!! Used up quite a few odd bits on the main card too so am away to get my hat and coat on and wellies and splash about in the Playground!
 

Other Challenges -   

Sweet Stampin- New Occasion/Event,  

 Glitter n Sparkle - A/Goes,   

AAA - CAS/Glitter,  

Simon Says Stamp - Party,  

Cupcake Inspirations - Chall 341 where they have this pic for inspiration!

Thankful for Saturday

Another week almost gone - and I shall be glad to see the back of it. It has been just been a week of devastatingly sad news - and it seems even worse as it is so close to Christmas.
Cards are done and most posted thankfully. Still no sign of any Christmas Tree in the house or any decorations!
Am not big into Christmas - bit of Bah Humbug here! I think it's because it's a time for families to be together and as we are rather short of relatives (!!!!!) I find myself not wanting to be bothered with all the rigmarole that surrounds it - - apart from of course eating Christmas Dinner!!!!
Will get round to putting the tree up sometime this week no doubt - we are doing our usual cooking Christmas Lunch for 40 at the Club next Saturday.

Here's another NBUS!

Have rather a lot of these 'never before used stamps'.
Seeing something similar on Pinterest I thought I would give this a go.

The large background stamp was gold embossed and coloured with Distress inks in shades of pink and green.

I ragged the edge a bit and sponged a little Antique Linen DI round it and a little randomly on the stamped bit.

Stamped the top only of the smaller bauble onto a scrap piece and decoupaged it, adding some tiny blingy bits to the middle.

The poinsettia on the large bauble was done using one of the MUSOC stamps this year -(most used stamp of Christmas). Am surprised it has not worn out.
Coloured with the same DI then layered and a die cut flourish and a big blingy centre.

This really IS a bad photo. The weather here has just been soooooo bad - and it's still raining!
Challenges -
One  Crazy Stamper - Christmas
In the Pink - Pink Christmas
CRAFT- Christmas
That's Crafty - Seasons Greetings
Fussy and Fancy - Happy Holidays
Fantastic Tuesday - A/Goes - Twist Christmas

Thanks for looking and leaving any comments. Have a great weekend! x

Bits n pieces

Another make with a few tatty bits!
This is another of those commissioned Golden Anniversary cards.

By the time I'd made them all (for the same recipient) I was running out of ideas so this one (which was sent from me) is a variation on a previous card.

I had some of this gold card which has a soft sheen on it - it's not as glaring as mirri card (which I always find difficult to work with) and I did like the overall finished effect once done.

Another quick and simple card really and a bit of a different shape for me!
I put some of the gold card behind the doily and chopped off the edge.

I had a scrap of white card leftover from the actual base so just cut it out using a fancy circle die and placed it on the top of the doily.

The honeysuckle blossom die is one (if you look at my blog regularly) you will know that I simply love and use to death really!

Cut out a couple and bunched them together securing with a small white organza bow and glued to the layered doily.
Two tiny die cut butterflies and I finished with a gold embossed anniversary sentiment.

Challenges -
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything Goes
Cut It Up - Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers - Use Dies
4 Crafty Chicks - No patterned paper

A quick trawl through blogland for me now - thanks for popping in! x

Same design - but different!

Whilst making a card last month (here) I thought it could be interpreted for different occasions so when I was asked to make some Golden Anniversary cards I decided to utilise the design for one of them.
This was a quick card but am pleased with the result.

White pearlised card layered onto some gold matt finish card.
I stamped the flourish branch and sentiment and gold embossed.
Cut out the two hearts with the remains of the paper and put the left over gold card behind the smaller of the two then layered them together.

Scrap of gold stretchy twine into a bow and glued in place.

I thought about embossing a '50' in the centre of the heart but didn't want 'gold overload' as really it is not a colour I like working with!
I'll share the others I made for the same happy couple at a later time.


Challenges -
Die Cut Divas - Emboss it
Gem of a Challenge - Anniversary
OLLCB - Anniversary
Crafting When We Can - Anniversary
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything Goes (Square)
Incy Wincy - Anniversary
That's Crafty - Anything Goes

Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Egyptian Discovery

I have set the challenge on our Flickr Group - Art 'N Soul- this month. The challenge is to make a 'Circle Book'. I have made one of these before (which can be seen here) and have been wanting an excuse to do another! So my poor friends in the group were challenged to make one for our next swap!

I have used the theme of Egypt for my book as I had recently bought quite a few egyptian type stamps (they were a bargain in a sale - honest!!).

I once again have to apologise for my photography skills - not made any easier by the light or the shape of the finished project either! (Enlarging each image helps!) But if you want to see a 'step by step' account and also have the template to make one, they can be acquired on my photostream here.

Inside the book, I used some parchment type paper for the backing of each page, some vellum, a variety of the stamps, embossing some with gold onto a black background and also using some images from a variety of sources.

The front and back covers are thick gold embossed paper and some torn muslin was used for the ties which were distressed with 'Antique Linen' ink. The 'mummy' on the front is made from air dried clay using a Krafty Lady mold, then I used Mod Podge to stick the muslin on the body! The Mod Podge has given the muslin a harder feel and it is quite rough to touch now, which I am happy with - after all, if you've been stuck in the ground for thousands of years you'd expect cloth to be hardened wouldn't you???? LOL

Inspired by New Romantics- or back to my youth!

This sculpey head is for a DC sawp hosted by AngyB. I used bronze Eberhard Faber Powder and gloss lacquer. After using the fibres for the badana I mounted the head in friendly plastic. I gold embossed the sides and printed the words onto vellum and attched with a gold brad.
My thanks to Spandau Ballet for the inspiration! I was listening to their record 'Gold' on the radio when I had the idea and it seemed fitting to use some of the lyrics from their song which were freely available to download!
I think the line - 'always believe in your Soul' is a thought provoking one - believing in yourself is probably one of the most important things a person can do.