Lotus

A very foggy damp day - can't even see the fields at the bottom of the garden, so another day of staying put (not that we could go anywhere even if we wanted to! 😄)
I was supposed to be trying for a 'no buy' month this month after us having a rather hefty bill for a new central heating boiler -  - - I can at least say I tried.....???

As soon as I saw this new stamp set from Sarah over at Funky Fossil, I had to have it. I just loved it. 💝

I have made a few cards with it and a first for me - I have actually used all the stamps in the set! So there will be more to show in the future but today I am just sharing a quick CAS make.

The stencil background is also from Funky Fossil (it just sort of fell into my basket🙈) - simply inked in Cracked Pistachio and Spun Sugar.

The single blossom stamp heat embossed, watercoloured and fussy cut and just popped on with foam pads.

I like the simplicity of this card - at a time when there is so much uncertainty and sadness I needed to make something serene and uncomplicated.

Linking up at
Stamplorations Stencil -A/Goes.
Unicorn -  CAS
TTCRD - A/Goes

Thanks for looking and wishing you all a lovely day whatever you're doing. x

 

Got to be China!

Cold and snowy here still, perfect for staying warm indoors and playing with paper and ink!

My Mum would never drink tea out of anything other than a china cup and saucer - once I left behind the station canteens where there were big thick (invariably cracked) mugs (talking about drinking vessels not my fellow officers...😄), I of course adopted another of Mum's traits and demanded china for my cups of tea.
(She WAS right - it does taste better!)

So this stamp reminded me very much of my lovely Mum - it was always time for tea!

The stamp is from Crafty Individuals (CI 547 - Time for Tea).
Stamped then onto watercolour card and spent a lovely time painting. (Finding watercolouring very restful and an escape from the world around us at the moment.)

I ink blended the background using Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar and Twisted Citron and although it doesn't show up very well in the photo, did some second generation stamping with a script stamp and a small trio of teacups which were free in a mag some time ago.
The sign is from the same free set.

I've yet to decide if I am going to add a sentiment but have left space at the bottom just in case!
Have some more images stamped so am planning on spending my weekend colouring in the warm craftie space.
Thanks for looking today - stay safe and warm wherever you are in the world. x

Blazing Sun

No blazing sun here - wet, windy and not very nice at all!

I have had this stamp set for a long time. It was one of those that I was desperate to have and one of those that once I got it didn't do a lot with it!
I have made this - (Thank you Pinterest and Virginia Lu.)

A mix of watercolours for the big sun and then my Arteza pens applied direct to the stamps for the branches and blossom

(I love cherry blossom - it just reminds me that spring is beautiful!)
I agonized over the bird - (ridiculous I know!) Blue? Pink? In the end opted for the same colours as the sun.

Some liberal spattering of the pink as I wanted to try and achieve the sight of the blossom being blown everywhere in a breeze... not sure I succeeded!

Apologies for the awful pic - the light here is dreadful - a real grey winter's day!
Linking up at
613 Avenue Create - A/Goes
Gem of a Challenge - A/Goes
ABMTTC - A/Goes

It's a little perplexing  how different areas are at different points in administering the vaccine for this dreadful virus.
Whilst by current calculations I am not expecting my first one until May/June I know of several people in different parts of the country who are over 80 and have received their first dose, 3 others who have in fact received BOTH - yet M-I-L who is classed as 'extremely vulnerable' and has been shielding since last March has not even received her letter telling her to make her appointment! Crazy.

Thanks for calling in - Stay Safe. x

Cas Mix Up Mid Month Reminder

Half way through this month's challenge at CAS Mix Up - Hilary is hosting and she chose 'Splatters' as her challenge!

As  I always struggle with male cards I have done one for my stash using this months challenge theme.

This really was a quick CAS card and to comply with our challenge rules, in addition to the stamping I added some clear heat embossing on the sentiment.

To start with I used the same stamp from Visible Image as on my Challenge launch card here.

I used Distress Oxides inks and after stamping each colour got out the paintbrush, inked it up and splattered!

Am thinking this will be a versatile card suitable for many ages!

The DT have some great makes this month so please pop over and visit them - and we hope that you will join us and splatter some ink! x

Twofer Guest Designer

Two posts in less than 12 hours! (Scroll down for the other!)

Delighted to have been asked to be Guest Designer for the Twofer Challenge this month - the prompt word is 'Flowers'.
For those who are wondering about 'Twofer' - you have to make two cards for different occasions using the same stamps/dies/stencils. It certainly makes you think!
I used a NBUS stamp set, Penny Black Dahlias. Have had it a while and thought this was a good opportunity to let the set see ink!

First card uses white heat embossing of the largest stamp in the set.

I smooshed the background with Picked Raspberry and Shaded Lilac.

I sometimes don't like the effect I get just inking direct onto my craft mat so I used Acetate instead - that way you can have a little control over the distribution of colours and see if they are too much.

Originally I was going to simply heat emboss the sentiment direct to the inked piece but changed my mind and went for the vellum instead.  A couple of pink enamel dots and done.

The second card was a little bit more complicated time wise as it involved a lot of masking and stamping.

Gold embossed this one and watercoloured it - used the same biggest stamp and a couple of smaller ones.
I used Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber and Wild Honey for the flowers and gave the background a very light colour wash of Tumbled Glass and a few ink spatters in Amber before gold embossing the sentiment.

Popped it onto a die cut square and used hammered cardstock for a bit of added texture.
Here's a pic below of the two cards together and the challenge runs until 24th of the month.

Thanks to Darnell and the team at Twofer for inviting me to be Guest Designer this month and thanks to you for looking today.
Sharing over at
NBUS #

Of the Sea

I was making sure that I had my scheduled posts all ready for Twofer and CAS when I realised I had not posted anything this week.
I was lucky enough recently to win a prize over at the Crafty Individuals Facebook Group just before Christmas and I chose this fab newly released stamp called 'Of the Sea'. (CI-559) A lovely Christmas present!

I love the sea and although we are blessed here with the most amazing countryside views, I would maybe one day like to live near the sea, so this stamp was made for me!

I stamped the image onto Mixed Media card, watercoloured and fussy cut. Once dry I distressed the edges a tiny bit, then used Antique Linen DI.
The background was done simply by smooshing Chipped Sapphire and Scattered Straw DI's onto acetate before transferring to the card.

The corner compass, the fishing net and some sandy texture (Sweet Dixie stamps) all done with the same Scattered Straw and then used the sentiment from the same set.

I will make no apologies now for the fact that I have several more of this lovely boat image stamped on the desk waiting so there are more to come.

Linking up with -
A2S+M - Make Your Mark
Lost Coast -  Beginning with 'B'
SOS - New
HLS Watercolour - A/Goes

We have had quite a bit of snow over the last few days and it is still here with no sign of a thaw just yet and here's a pic from the back of the house.

I love looking out when the world is white - and it currently lifts my spirits a little.
I hope you are all safe wherever you are and thanks for dropping by today. x

CAS Christmas!

Just when you thought it was time to forget about Christmas here's another Christmas card!
Once again this year I am going to try and take part in  the monthly challenges at  CAS Mix Up's  sister blog CAS Christmas.    (My DT card for Mix Up is the post below this one!)

This month's challenge prompt was Silhouette.

My bauble stencil is one bought from Inkylicious a long time ago.
I used Scattered Straw and  Speckled Egg for the background, with a little inking of Squeezed Lemonade to highlight the stars.

The Nativity scene stamp was part of the Sentimentally Yours set by Phil Martin and was a magazine freebie - I used it a lot this year.

I added a small piece of cord to the top and I lightly inked the edges of the white card before matting it onto black. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

Another card for the 2021 pile and a nice quick make!

We've had quite a bit of snow here over the last few days - and it is really cold.
In between the snow falling we have seen some stunning blue skies and if it wasn't for the white stuff on the ground from inside you would think it was summer!

I hope you're safe and warm wherever you are in the world and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog today. x

2021 and CAS Mix Up is back!

So we say goodbye to what has been such a difficult year for so many people and let's hope that 2021 brings us better times. I am blessed and thankful to have had support and friendship from so many fellow crafters and my crafting has been my 'escape' from the mad mad world outside.
CAS Mix Up is back after our little December break, Joanna has stepped down (miss you Jo) but we welcome two new members to our team - Leslie and Coni!

Our first challenge has been set by Hilary -  and she has chosen the theme of 'Splatters'.
I am a Splatterer!
Without doubt it's one of  my favourite things on CAS cards as it gives a bit more interest yet still retains the uncluttered un-embellished space.

When I read the challenge theme I knew right away what I wanted to do.

I have had these red rubber stamps for such a long time and they hardly ever get used.
This was a reasonably quick card to do - made slower for me because I have got so used to clear stamps and MISTI positioning that working with red rubber ones now presents a bit of a challenge!

To comply with the Mixed Media element of the challenge my elements are Heat Embossing, Stamping and Watercolouring.

I did a light grey watercolour 'grounding' of the ink pots to try to achieve a bit of depth. 

The large ink splat is from Visible Image and I used a Black Posca pen tapping it with a cocktail stick for my other spatters, masking off the top part of the card in order to keep the white space clear.

Hope you will kick off your year by joining us this month - our very talented Guest Designer  Elaine (Craft-E-Place) and the rest of the DT have made some great cards!

Thanks for stopping by. x

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

Peace

 

I realised as I was writing this post that I have not made many white on white or predominantly white cards this year but this was one of the few!

Made with some odd bits left over from other cards so I am paying a visit over at the Playground.

An oddment of card was the basis for the centrepiece and the stamp is from Honey Doo which is in fact a swirly Christmas tree that I turned upside down and angled it, stamping in metallic silver ink and then rounded off two corners.

Once this bit was dry, I backed it with some matt silver card - I by far prefer this to mirri card as I think it is just a little bit more subtle yet still gives a nice sheen.

Some silver sparkly and white card to make the layered snowflake and I silver embossed the Peace sentiment.

The news here in the UK has not been good today and (coupled with some personal sadness over the last week), it has once again highlighted to me that although at the moment there are so many things over which we have no control we can only try to stay positive and hope for better times ahead.

Christmas has always been a quiet two person affair for us so nothing is different this year but I know there are many who will miss being surrounded by family.
I want to say a massive thank you to those who have kept visiting me this year - you have kept me going through all this madness.

I wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas and I hope that 2021 is a better year for us all. X

Sharing my card at -
Time Out - Photo Insp
Use Your Stuff- Winter/Snow/Christmas

Cupcake Inspirations - Snowflakes
Mix It Up - A/Goes + CAS
Stamplorations - Sparkle and Shimmer

Monochrome

I've continued making Christmas cards! I think because I wasn't rushed this year it has made it something I've enjoyed so have decided to not put away the Christmas stamps. I am going to keep a few makes out - just in case there's anyone I have forgotten!

I like monochrome but usually add a pop of colour - when I finished this card though, I liked it just as it was, so the idea of coloured stars on the top of the front line of trees was discarded.
A simple to do card with some second and third generation stamping. I added some well watered down Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide under the trees and under the deer for some shading and smudged a white Posca pen over the top of it.
A liberal spattering of the Posca pen to finish it off.

We have this morning put up the Christmas Tree! This is nothing unusual for us as we always wait till the week before - it's not that I am a complete Bah Humbug person (!) but to be honest I have never been any different - I get sick of looking at it if it goes up too soon!
Waiting for it to go a little darker then as always I will take a pic for our yearly album - which this year is a little sparse as we've not been anywhere - and I don't want a pic of the front of Aldi or Tesco in there!

Thanks for calling in today. Hope all is well in your part of blogland. xx
Sharing over at
MTTC - Monochrome
Alphabet - S for Snow Scene
Fezziwigs - Last Minute Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
Sweet Stampin - Last Minute Christmas

Pine Cones

A quick share from me today.

Made this using some watercolour cardstock and my Arteza Waterbrush pens

The stamp is called Brush Pines from Penny Black and it is one of my fave 'go to' Christmas stamps.

I started by inking the pine cones first and spritzing with water, then went on to the pine needles, using a couple of different shades, inking and spritzing as I went along until I was happy!

I dragged some of the colour from the pines outwards and then added a very pale blue/grey wash to the entire front.

A white pen highlighted the cones.
The sentiment is from SU.

Sharing this with
Krafty Chicks - Christmas
PBSC - Christmas
Craft Gals Corner - Tis the Season
Just as well that we are still under the toughest restrictions and unable to do anything as once again we have a very grey and damp day!

A perfect excuse to sit at the craft desk - am hoping that Mr Mojo will join me at some point! x

Winter Landscape

A quick share from me today using some Hobby Art stamps from their Country Walk set.
Quite enjoyed doing this and a really flat one layer card which was great for posting too!

Stamped and coloured with watercolours then lightly sponged the sky.
The 'snowdrifts' also added with some sponging.
I added 'snow' to the fence and tree stumps with a white Posca pen and a few dabs of glitter here and there.

I am really sorry about the poor pic quality - the light here over the last week or so has been seriously bad - we seem to have had grey skies and rain constantly since the lovely white snow paid us a quick visit.

A Case of the Deer

Cards made written and posted, which done so early, has to be a first for me! Nice to not be panicking that I haven't made enough for a change, in fact I have a few left which will make a good start for next year.
Despite the horrible year 2020 has been I actually think now that it has gone relatively quickly - maybe because every day is pretty much like the ones that have gone before they have all just merged into one!

I have coveted this Penny Black die for a while after seeing what my clever buddy Loll did with it. I found it a couple of weeks back and was really excited when it arrived and had to have a go at doing what Loll did and get the gilding flakes out.

I love the effect of gilding flakes - just don't like the mess they make - but because they are messy I didn't stop at one card and made a couple of each in different colours - gold, silver, copper and then another done with a mix of the 3 colours. 

After gilding each die with a colour I just pushed the flakes to one side and started on the next one so the last ones made used up a bit of the residue on the desk! (that was my attempt at being tidy(ish))

I used metallic ink on my star stamp and a metallic Posca pen for the spatters.

Gave Mr Deer a shiny red Nuvo Drop nose.

The sentiment also done with gilding flakes - was a little difficult to work in the flakes but got there in the end.

Finished the card by running the metallic ink round the edges.
I now have a few more design ideas for this die and flakes so thanks to Lolly for kick starting me - although I wish she could pop over and clean up after me too!
Sharing at
Cardz4Guyz - Traditional Christmas
TIOT - Christmas Sparkle
Library Challenge - The Night Before Christmas (inspired by the book title) 

Winter!

Yep Winter is here! Some snow overnight that thawed a little then we've been treated to a couple of hours of the white stuff so we have a nice covering! Probably not going to last but I have had the pleasure of looking out on it (cos I love it) whilst warm inside the house!

My share for today is snowy too! 

A piece of watercolour card to start then I stamped and white heat embossed the branches - an old one so not sure who's make).
I had a small feathery pine needle stamp in my stash. It is one of the first clear stamps that I bought -  came in a set with some ivy, a reindeer and a small brick wall stamp -  it's a bit yellow now but still stamps OK so I stamped that on the ends of some of the branches and heat embossed it too.

I used a broad watercolour brush loaded with water across the background first then added the colour allowing it to fade out as I went down the page.

Once dry, some Nuvo Drops for shimmery berries and a liberal spattering with a white Posca pen in an attempt to make it look like the snow was falling from the branches!

The die cut is a Gemini 'window' stamp and die set with the word simply chopped off from the 'window'.
I still have some more cards to put addresses on so that's my job for today - in between gazing out on my very own Winter Wonderland - you have to make the most of it whilst you can and it's cheered me up a bit watching the sheep slowly blend into the white landscape!
Hope you are safe and warm wherever you are. x

Linking at
ABC Christmas - Y for Your Fave thing (and one of mine is definitely snow!)
Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
Shopping Our Stash - Let It Snow

December

 Lovely bright day here after a very frosty morning - such a contrast to yesterday when I had the lights on at 1pm it was that dark and miserable!

Sat and wrote most of my cards and a trip to the Post Office this morning to send the overseas ones so I feel a little more organised - which makes a change!

Today's share is a  card done with another of my fave Penny Black stamps 'Berry Bevy'. I use it a lot every year at Christmas and every time I do, I say I should use it for other times of the year too. Maybe this year I will not put it in the Christmas box which may remind me!

I used a left over piece of  of textured linen cardstock which gave the inked background a bit of texture.

Quite a simple to do card really, -some ink blending, white heat embossed branches and some Silver Nuvo drops for the berries.

The silver does have a lovely shimmer to it and I decided against white snow spatters as I simply wanted it to look like branches against a clear night sky (not sure I've succeeded!)

The sentiment is from SU.

Still a couple more cards to write which I am going to do today and then maybe I shall make a few more - might as well start on next year's!

We will be remaining in the highest restriction Tier once our National lockdown finishes tomorrow. I have a feeling that I may well be buried under what my friend describes as a massive 'cardalanche' by the time our restrictions are finally lifted.
Hope the sun is shining where you are too. x
Linking up with -

Mix It Up - A/Goes plus CAS
Merry Little Christmas - A/Goes
TIOT - Winter Wonderland
Country View - A/Christmas

Tree

Been carrying on with Christmas makes - I probably have enough but figured it's best to keep going whilst I am in the mood! 

This card uses a Never Before Used Stamp - it's not a new one - I think Penny Black released it a few years ago, it's simplicity appealed to me as I thought it was a lovely tree.

I figured on using it to make one layer batch CAS cards with just simple stamping and colouring.  Ha! Total cards made with this stamp  =  ONE. This one! And definitely not one layer simple stamping and colouring!

That said I was quite happy with this when it dried out - I am still very much experimenting with my watercolour backgrounds - and a long way to go - but overall I don't think it's too bad.

I resisted the temptation to 'spatter it', no 'snow' spatters or even water droplets, just left it as it was.
The sentiment is a new one (more NBUS!) from Penny Black so of course I am linking up at the NBUS Challenge too!

Sharing over at
ABC Christmas - X for Xtra Special
Fezziwig - Decorate the Tree
Holly & Ivy - Anything Christmas

Thanks for looking - and I welcome your comments on my watercolouring efforts good or bad! 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

CAS Mix Up - Mid Month Reminder

This is my last CAS Mix Up post for this year as we are having a break over December but we will be back in January with our new challenges for 2021.

Our  final 2020 challenge is being hosted by Bonnie and the challenge rotation is a  Watercolour one with the theme of  'Off The Edge'.

All the stamps I have used are from Penny Black.

The pine branches were stamped in Mowed Lawn and Crushed Olive and I moved the ink round with a water brush.
Added a few drops of red Nuvo for a bit of shine.
The birdie and the bauble were stamped, fussy cut and watercoloured.
Poor birdie was glossed to within an inch of his life but he really does shine.

Couldn't leave the bauble out so it too got a dose of glamour dust! 

Hope that you will share your CAS makes with us if you haven't already and I hope that you all have enjoyed our challenges this year.
We've enjoyed seeing your gorgeous creations and look forward to seeing more next year! x

November Twofer

 This month's challenge at Twofer is 'Stars'. Last challenge of the year too!
I made a Christmas card and a Birthday card using the same Star die and some odd bits of glitter card.

The background for the Christmas card was done using Chipped Sapphire and Stormy Sky DI with a little dab of Squeezed Lemonade round the 'moon' for the sky and Shaded Lilac for the 'snow'.
Liberal amounts of white Posca pen spattering too!
I used a silver pen to 'hang' the stars from the die cut branch. I treated myself to this sentiment last week and it seemed just right!

The Birthday card is a tried and tested 'man' card!
Have done a few of these in different colours.
After stamping few grungy elements in grey, I added a couple of ink blots using a Midnight Blue ink.
The dark coloured stars were also cut out of the same dark blue card as the matted layer.
The sentiment I think was a freebie some time ago.

These two cards were also a way of using up the odd bits of glitter card that I always seem to be left with at this time of year.

Thanks to Darnell (Dolly 😘) for all her hard work this year with this challenge - and thanks too to the DT for their inspiration -  enjoy your month off! x

Linking my Christmas card over at
CHNC - A/Goes (Glitter)
Inkspirational - Frame It
and a quick visit to Pixies Playground 'cos my glittery bits were all leftovers!