Making Do for CAS Christmas!

 At the beginning of the year when I made the (now rash) promise of joining CAS Christmas' challenge every month, I didn't know that space and supplies would be at a premium.

I spent a little while searching for my Kraft card without success  - undeterred though, I decided the best thing I could do when living in a cardboard box filled house was to take a pair of scissors to one of them!

I chopped a square(ish) piece and ripped it a bit   (I can't wait to be doing that to them all I can tell you 😈)

The stamps are all from a never before used Creative Expressions set called 'Inky Christmas'. I just chose two of the smaller bauble stamps and a grungy spotty stamp, stamped the cardboard and heat embossed in white, with a bit of random embossing elsewhere.

This is definitely NOT one of my better efforts  -   hey ho 🙅....... and I doubt if it will stay on the white textured card base but the cardboard from the box was simply too thick to make a card with (or even cover the front of a card blank).  I think it will look so much better on a Kraft one. If it doesn't then it will find it's way out with the rest of the cardboard.....💣
Still, am content because I have kept my word to make a card every month for the challenge!

CAS Mix Up August Mid Month Reminder

The move to our  rented accommodation went relatively smoothly - despite it being the hottest day of the year - the poor removal men were melting!
We're surrounded by boxes - and are just waiting for the legal process to complete so we can buy and move into our next home - likely to be another 3-4 weeks at least - which is trying my patience a little.... so dear husband thought it would be a good idea to set me up a small work area (and it IS small compared to what I had!) before I went completely crazy!
He also bought some wireless thingies that plug into the back of the PC so I can get on the internet occasionally!

We found a cardboard box which had some crafting stuff - not much but better than nothing - and as I really wanted to try and join my teamies at CAS Mix Up for the mid month I cobbled together a card!

The challenge set by Jenny is to 'stamp through a stencil' and I used a crackle stamp on my ink blended butterfly, embossing the crackle in Platinum.
The grungy diamond stamp was the only one that I could find in the box that looked OK to highlight the butterfly.

I need to find somewhere where the light is good to take my pics too but at least I managed to make something and stave off the withdrawal symptoms a little - not sure how I will get on with other makes whilst we are in this state of limbo but well see! 

I will try and visit everybody when I have a good internet connection and thanks for looking today. x

CAS Mix Up August Challenge

 Scheduled post!
The challenge this month at CAS Mix Up has been chosen by Jenny and she has set us the task of 'Stamping through a Stencil'. 

This flower stencil was a present and I really do like it!

These 'hot' colours are ones I don't use very often either!

I added some tiny stones to the flower centres for a little bit more interest and used the same WOW Polka dot stamp on the base card to reflect the  stamping on the flower petals.

(I really wanted to use orange base card but having packed it away in a removal box it wasn't an option!)

We have two guest designers this month too -
Bobby (bits & pieces) and  Michelle (I Card Everyone) so please pop over to see their lovely creations and those of the rest of the DT.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog today.
Appreciate it! x

Absent

 I've scheduled this post as I wanted to share another make for the challenge at CAS Mix Up which is to use Alcohol Inks on Vellum. My other posts for the DT are here and here
Also sharing over at  MMM - Trees

My vellum sky was done using Watermelon, Orange Sunset and Citrus alcohol inks, mixed with a liberal helping of blending solution.
The trees were popped onto the base card and the vellum piece with 3d foam and it has quite a good dimension in real life.
The sentiment was inked in Memento Canteloupe which is not a bad match at all!

I will be absent from blogland for a while as I'm taking an enforced break from crafting.

We have sold our house and are having to move into a rented property on 21st July as the purchase of our next home will not be completed until September.

 

So the craft room has been finally all packed away - I am hoping to be able to do a little whilst in the rental as I will get withdrawal symptoms if I have to wait till September to get out the card and inky stuff!

 

We also are in the process of the sale of mum-in-law's flat and purchasing a new apartment for her so as you can imagine we are currently meeting ourselves coming back and I can honestly say it is now official - I HATE CARDBOARD BOXES!🎁
I will visit you all as soon as I am able to! x

CAS Mix Up Mid Month Reminder

 Half way through our challenge this month at CAS Mix Up and the challenge is a mixed media one set by Coni who wants us to use Alcohol Inks on vellum.
I had a little bit of inky fun using some of the blues from my AI collection and came up with this.

I was a little apprehensive about heat embossing the sentiment - thankfully the vellum behaved itself and didn't warp!

This wavy stitched die is one of my more often used.
I stamped and heat embossed the shells and starfish then fussy cut, a couple of heat embossed seagulls finished it all off.

I rarely use my Alcohol Inks so it was good to dust them off for this challenge and it reminded me that I do like making an inky mess from time to time!

I'm particularly happy as the vellum used was a left over piece as were the 3 wavy die white pieces - so it's off to visit Miss Di in the Playground too!

We have some great cards done by the DT and in our gallery - lots of inspiration to be found. Grab that vellum and come along and join us!
Also sharing over at
Krafty Chicks - CAS

CAS Christmas - July

 Even though at the moment my life outside the craft room can be only described as 'madly chaotic' - (nothing sinister - more of that will be shared in due course!) - I yesterday found time to continue with my quest to participate in every month's challenge at CAS Christmas.

The challenge this month is 'Poinsettia'.

The die was a present from a friend and it is such a pretty one.

Cut the petals twice then watercoloured one green and one red then layered them - VERY fiddly to do but was happy with the result!.

I fiddled and faffed about for ages in deciding on a background and then just did a little watercolouring with no rhyme or reason!

It didn't look too bad and I added a little bit of stamping with a small berry stamp from an old Choc Baroque set to give it some interest.
The 'Joy' sentiment is from SU.

Sharing over at
Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July
Dragonfly Dreams - Christmas in July
Addicted 2 CAS - Christmas

Thank you for looking and for leaving any comments, I really appreciate it. x

CAS Mix Up July Challenge

 It's time to get inky!
Our challenge this month at CAS Mix Up is a mixed media one and has been set by Coni who wants us to use Alcohol Inks on vellum.

Using AI on vellum is something that although I have done before, is one of those techniques that I don't do very often, so this was a lot of fun for me!

I started by die cutting my lovely Crocus in vellum and mixed some Purple Twilight AI with a few drops of blending fluid to colour the flower heads and did the same with the stems using Lettuce AI, then just put them to dry then dropped a teeny amount of gold AI on the flower heads.

I covered my card blank with another sheet of vellum and used Stencil Sparkle Paste for the butterflies and heat embossed the sentiment.

A gold Posca pen was used for the butterfly bodies (and the antenna which you can't see on the pic!) when the paste had dried.

I finished by using Cosmic Shimmer glue to stick my die cuts onto the vellum base.

We have the wonderful  Hannelie  as our Guest Designer this month, please go visit!
Lots of inspiration too from the rest of the Design Team and we really hope you can have a go with this technique this month!

Sunny Dreams

Still not a lot of crafty stuff going on here and I apologise for my sporadic visits to you all. 

The yellow Brusho was out on the desk at the time of this make so splatted a little of that in a couple of places first.

Different grungy stamps used for the background, all stamped in Fossilized Amber. (I love this colour as it always makes me think of sunshine)

The flower head is from Altenew and I paired it with the stem and leaves from another stamp then watercoloured.
The bee was stamped twice, once on the card and once on another scrap, fussy cut the wings and glittered them a little.

Finished by stamping the word 'Dream' and a couple of my fave 'splatters' and thanks to Hermine for the inspiration whilst my mojo is AWOL!

Sharing over at
Crafters Cafe - Insects
Mix It Up - A/Goes + stamping
Daring Cardmakers - Into the Garden

Framed

Firstly thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes, cards, messages - I really appreciated it!
My days are really busy just now and there is little time left for me to play with my crafty stuff which is not making me happy!😞 Making me even less happy is that when I do find an hour my head is full of many other things except creativity!

When Mr Mojo did put in a (very brief) appearance, I made this.

I seem to be on a bit of a 'fantasy fest' as I have made two or three things in the last month which are all mermaid/fairy related.

I used a variety of stencils for the background and use shades of Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean and Salvaged Patina.

The mermaid is of course Lavinia, and although it doesn't show up very well in the pic, her scales are irridescent - painted with Mica Pearls in shades of blue, green and yellow.

I decided to frame her rather than make her into a card - no idea where I am going to put her but am sure I will find somewhere!

Sharing over at
Sisterhood of Crafters - Water
Fairy + Unicorn - Anything Fantasy
CUYL - Water

Thanks for visiting and thank you too for any comments you leave. x

CAS Mix Up June Mid Month Reminder

I chose the word prompt of  'FLIGHT' for my host month at CAS Mix Up  and we're half way through so there's still time to add your make into the gallery!
(It's my birthday today too so it would be a lovely pressie if you fill our gallery with gorgeousness!

Followers of my blog will have seen this sentiment before because I love it!

I black heat embossed the feathers and the emerging birds first.

Smooshed Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean Oxides onto a piece of acetate and then simply pressed the acetate sheet down onto the card where I wanted it.

I like being able to see where I am putting the colours - if I do random smooshing direct to my card when I turn it over it's normally a muddy mess!

Sentiment also black heat embossed.

Please pop in on the rest of my lovely teamies!

Have a lovely day - I am planning on eating cake - lots of it!🍰🍰🎂

Snow - (bird) Men?

 Well it's the 6th month of the year and I am still keeping my promise to make at least one card for CAS Christmas.
This month's challenge though had me a little stumped - a simple enough theme you would think until I realised that amongst this stamp mountain I possess I own precisely ONE snowman stamp 😦
What to do????

I remembered that when this stamp from Crafty Individuals (CI- 569) was released despite it being called 'Seagulls of Seaton Carew', I immediately thought of snowmen! Maybe it was the scarves and the bobble hat?

Stamped and heat embossed in white and chopped off their legs!

Stamped, coloured and paper pieced the scarves,  bobble hat and googly eye and just popped them onto a white snowy background. I added a row of die cut white trees behind them.
(I think if I did this again I might make their black beaks orange like carrots)

In my head they looked like they were lost or simply couldn't make their minds up which way to go so the addition of the sign with a couple of choices -

Do we behave and go home?
Or do we go and find adventure?

Big choices for 2 (legless) Snow (Men)......😄
Sharing over at
Fezziwigs - Cold and Frosty
Krafty Chicks - Christmas
A2S+M - Christmas

Thanks for looking today - have a lovely day whatever you're doing! x

Chaos Kindness

A couple of weeks back I got some surprise happy mail.
Knowing that I was coveting a certain stamp set a really kind blogging buddy (Thank you Sarn!x) sent me some stamped and embossed images - and also some masks 'just in case'!
Just a lovely gesture and I was really grateful.

Using the masks over the flower heads, I opted for an ink blended background using Salvaged Patina DI as a base (love this colour!).

Added some other colours and made an abstract design with the edge of some acetate blending outwards.
The 'create' word came from an old red rubber Typography set which I have had for an eternity!

A few flicks with a black Posca pen added some spatters.
Once the piece was matted, I went to put it on a white card base and didn't like it - so simply blended a little of the base colour onto the base card.

Sharing over at
Alphabet - E for Easy
Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act

We have had some glorious sunshine this week - summer finally arrived!
Thanks for visiting - hope the sun is shining wherever you are too! x

CAS Mix Up June Challenge

YAY MY TURN!! 😀😀
I am hosting this month over at CAS Mix Up and it's a WATERCOLOUR challenge this time round.
I have chosen a word prompt for my challenge and it gives lots of scope for you to get out your paints/inks/anything that has to be mixed with water and make us something beautiful and CAS!
The word is  - FLIGHT -

We often see a Barn Owl hunting for his tea across the fields below us so it seemed an apt choice for my first make this month.
(The Barn Owl is a stamp before anyone thinks I have suddenly become an amazing artist!😊)

I stamped Owlie onto a square piece of watercolour card.

The rest of the scene was watercoloured freehand - and I am rather proud of myself as it looks like a field with trees and a fence!

I have used ivory hammered textured card for my base and frames simply because it blended better with the image.

We have  Joyce (Cards-by-the-Sea)  as our wonderful Guest Designer this month and her lovely make is over on the Challenge Blog so go see - And whilst you're there check out the awesome cards the rest of the DT have done for my challenge!
I really hope you will try and join us this month and am looking forward to visiting you all to see how you have interpreted the word! x

Shades of .......................... Blue!

Colours sometimes can change a stamp completely can't they?

I made a card using the same stamp (HERE) a little while ago using normal Summer/Autumn shades and decided to go for a complete change with this one!

My ink blended background was overstamped with a crackle stamp, some text and some grungy circles

I used a small dots stencil and a small dots stamp to finish the background off.

Stamped and triple heat embossed the flower (Crafty Individuals CI-560) in platinum, then watercoloured using Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire DI.

Really happy with the shine achieved by the triple embossing - here's a close up!

I have yet to decide on a sentiment - I thought perhaps I may use it for a winter card so have just popped it in my personal card box until I make my mind up!
Linking up at
A2S+M - Make your Mark
House that Stamps Built - Embossing
Sisterhood of Crafters - Flowers as Focus

We have a holiday weekend here - and the weather forecast looks good for a change - some time outside tending to my rain/wind battered plants is planned!
Have a great weekend wherever you are. x

Blissful

It's been a week where real life has simply got in the way and when I have had time to myself, I haven't done a lot!

I am in desperate need of sunshine after the weather recently (where is Spring? The end of May is not a time to have to put on your central heating!) and with once again grey skies and damp drizzle outside I decided to make my own.

Lemon brusho background - a nice sunshiney colour!

I used Squeezed Lemonade for the stencilling then did a bit of overstamping in black, Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilised Amber.

Orange brusho used to highlight the butterfly and the sentiment is from an old SU set.
Popped on a couple of lemon enamel dots.

Sharing over at
Cardz4Galz - Wings
TIOT - Feminine
Thanks for looking today - have a great weekend! x

Cas Mix Up May Mid Month reminder

 It's STENCIL month over at CAS Mix Up and mid way through our theme of 'Rainbow Ink Blending or Colours'.
Please remember this month is Stencil month so you have to use a stencil!
My launch card HERE had soft pastel shades - so went with really bold ones for this one!

My stencil is from Paperartsy.

This was a really quick make and I have done a couple the same design in different colours so if I need a card in a hurry I will have one.
Here's a pastel version on a square card.

Our guest designer Michele Ferguson (I Card Everyone) and the rest of the Design Team have some lovely examples over on the challenge blog and if you've not already joined us there's still time!

Hidden Treasure

I had a little spendie recently and amongst the haul were some stencils from Funky Fossil. My stencil stash has swelled massively in the last year - like my stamp stash it doesn't mean I shall use them!😂🙈

But I did use this one!

Actually this is the second time I have used it -  so my spend was justified (in my mind anyway!)

I stencilled the mermaid over the background first - she comes with a mask too which is really useful - I used the mask and then stencilled the waves using a mix of Mermaid Lagoon and Salty Ocean inks.

I stamped up the scene at the base with a variety of different stamps from Inkylicious, Lavinia and my 'sea themed' stash, and then added a few stamped bubbles in Wilted Violet.

I went back to my stencil and used it to make two more closed oyster shells at the bottom - not sure this worked - but you get the idea!
A tiny drop of Liquid Pearls on the open shell in our mermaid's hand finished the card which I have left without a sentiment for the time being.
Sharing over at
HLS Stencil - Anything Goes
Fairy and the Unicorn - Anything Fantasy
Use Your Stuff - Use a Stencil

Thanks for looking today. x

Holly-Days

 CAS Christmas has a 'Foliage with Berries' theme for their May challenge.

I used a much neglected die and cut out several leaves and berries, then watercoloured.

Some Mowed Lawn DI gently brushed through a stencil as I thought the plain white card background was a little stark.

I added some Glossy Accents to the berries and a few red ink spatters!

The sentiment is from PB.
Another Christmas card done!

It is ridiculously cold here considering it's supposed to be Spring.

Although today we do have some blue skies after yesterdays heavy rain and hailstones it is definitely not warm!

Sharing my make over at
Holly+Ivy - Anything Xmas

CAS Mix Up May Challenge

It's STENCIL time over at CAS Mix Up and Susan our host has set the challenge of  'Rainbow Ink Blending or Colours'.

We have the lovely Michelle (I Card Everyone) joining us too as our Guest Designer!
 Please remember you have to use a stencil this month and don't forget to keep your design CAS!

A Lavinia 'Pods' stencil was used for my background and I gently brushed Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers through part of it.

The butterfly and flourish stamp is an old grey rubber one and I think it may have been Hero Arts but don't quote me!

UPDATE - Am reliably informed that this stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. (Was called Elusive Images when I bought it!) Available here

Stamped it once direct onto the base and again onto a piece of scrap card and quickly clear embossed, then fussy cut the butterfly and coloured with pencils in the same shades as the background.

The 'Carefree' stamp is another old one, (barely used like so many {sighs}!)
Pop across to the challenge blog and check out the lovely work done by  Michelle and the rest of the Design Team - hope you will share a make with us this month too! x
Sharing over at
Pearly Sparkles - CAS
Stamplorations - Stamps and Wings
A2S+M - Any Occasion

Pretty

Today's share uses one of my all time fave dies which I bought a long time ago!
It's not cutting as good as it used to - probably worn out.... 😧

My base card this time is an ivory shade of linen textured card - I have lots and don't use it enough- it's a subtle shade and makes a change from stark white I think.

Simple card to do and I like how it turned out.

Stitched die cut square from an odd leftover, lightly dusted with green and pink ink.

I watercoloured the poppy cut from another odd bit and used some foam pads to pop it up off the front.

The card sent to a close friend who had a birthday shortly after a devastating bereavement - after so much sadness wishing her a 'Happy' Birthday didn't seem right.   

Weather has turned cloudier and cooler here and we even had rain yesterday -it's not often we go a while without rain so it was a bit of a novelty - anyway it did the plants good and Himself was pleased as he had put some weedkiller on the lawn and he didn't have to water it in!

Sharing my little make over at -
Pixies Playground #401
Cardz4Galz - Special Lady
Double Trouble #82 - Flowers