Cooking up at Allsorts

A very Good Morning to you all, Saturday morning can mean only one thing, a new challenge at Allsorts and this week my lovely teamie Helene wants us to 'Use a Cooking Recipe'.

But first I want to tell you all about our second Birthday celebrations at Stampalot Challenge which kick off on 1st April. I've come me up with a little sidebar logo and hope you will help us spread the word. If you have any problems with this one.....it worked for some of the DT fine, but Blogger didn't want me to use it despite re-sizing it so in the end I did a low resolution one as well which is on by sidebar.

Now my DT piece and confessions here, I was really stumped at first, after spending hours trawling through my stamps I drew a blank with anything cookery orientated, not surprising I guess when most of my stamps are floral, botanical or fantasy. But then I had a flash of inspiration and came up with a recipe holder which I thought might even be useful for one of the girls.

I made the folder using a scoring tool and covered with some Kaiser DP's, decorated it with borders cut from Spellbinders and the letters are cut on the Cricut. I sourced the recipes on line, mounted them on to cardstock and did a bit of stamping using one of my tiny collection of just seven Clarity stamps......I really do 'need' more of them.

Have a good weekend.

Gotta get this one off my chest..............................

I am absolutely seething with the latest reply received from Royal Mail.................a good number of you saw my post last weekend here and kindly left me your thoughts which were very helpful.

On Monday I wrote a concise letter to Royal Mail outlining my areas of complaint, provided copies of the receipts from the PO and also gave them the link to my post so they could read the various comments. They replied on Wednesday stating their system could not gain access to my blog so could I mail them the comments and also provide them with full details of the packages and recipients addresses which had been subjected to surcharges.

This I did the same day and yesterday received this answer.......................

I'm sorry to hear that you feel you've been incorrectly surcharged for a number of items - and for the further distress this caused you. I would therefore like to inspect the items to determine whether or not they have been correctly surcharged, and to identify why you may be experiencing repeat problems. Please could you send the surcharged items, together with a copy of this email, to the FreepostT address below, and I'll be in touch again once my enquiries are concluded.

Clearly the conduct their business on a Parallel Universe....................how on earth do they think I can obtain and return the packages some of which were sent several weeks ago to various recipients in the UK. I'm absolutely sure they realise that and their crazy suggestion gives them the perfect cop out.

They also suggest that a certain degree of "customer education is necessary"..................the steam just turned to thick smoke at this point. Not a mention of the Post Office making any mistakes in their weighing at either end of the postal process, or of course the package of cards they lost in October.

I'm not bothering with any more minions, my next letter goes to the top and by luck a good friend just happens to be the Consumer Editor for on the the National newspapers. So you can guess what activity my weekend holds.

OK, got that out of my system a bit so onto some craft and a Celebration of Nations which is the theme Nicola has chosen for us at Allsorts this week and what a perfect one with the Olympics on the horizon.

My card is pretty simple, but I had visualised it in my head weeks ago and I wanted to make the Olympic symbol the focal point along with the Tennyson verse which has been selected as the London motto for the event.

I cut the five circles in the appropriate colours on the Cricut and interlinked them, mounting them onto a piece of white card embossed with a cuttlebug folder. I printed the verse on the computer and cut with a Nestie. As I said a very simple card but which I hope makes a statement. 

Enjoy the weekend.

Candy winner and a new lantern image

Good Morning Peeps, I hope you all had a good weekend.

As promise the winner of my weekend candy is..........................

Ciacchina

Please mail me with your full postal addy brenda@ibas.co.uk.

And I thought I would share a couple of my recent makes for Ruth, you will find all the images at A Passion for Stamps.

The top card uses Ruth's new Christmas lantern image which I printed onto inkjet acetate and glittered on the reverse, cut a bracket from Cricket Christmas Solutions and mounted them over some branches stamped with  a Stampendous stamp. The sentiment is Penny Black.

The circle card uses the Christmas rose image, printed out twice, coloured with Aquamarkers and the flowers decoupaged.

Have a good day everyone and thanks for dropping by.

Love is all around us

It' love all around this week, at Allsorts my teamie Debs says "it must be love, love, love".......well it is nearly Valentines isn't it........ and our new theme at Stamptaculr Sunday is "Hearts gone Wild", all a bit outside my comfort zone as I'm not really a love and hearts person, but have given it my best shot.

First up the one at the top and an easel card created on the Cricut using the DS so I could weld the elements together. The smaller heart is cut with a Nestie, with I shaded using TH linen whilst still in the die then stamped randomly with Penny Black 3322D Je t'aime using Brilliance gold.

The main image is Penny Black 3865K Gossamer which I stamped several times onto DP from stash which I also used on the base card again cutting on the Cricut and decoupaged the flowers. The heart border is a Martha Stewart punch and I used the little waste hears to decorate here and there and ruched some red and gold ribbon.

My second share is the first outing for Penny Black 4023K Love is the Message.......I've actually had the stamp for ages but never quite sure if it's me or not. I decided on the colours but took ages to find an ink that matched the purple bazzil and the only one close was Memento which dries really quick, but I managed to get some detail clear embossing powder on it in time so I got a nice shiny finish.....but thanks to the rotten weather and light it looks more like black than purple in my picture.

The mat is punched with Martha Stewart double loop round the page and I stamped directly onto the Fancy Pants DP which has a pretty delicate pattern that does not overpower the image. Flowers coloured with Copics, feathers, punched leaves, a border punched with Martha Stewart hearts punch and some pearls to finish.

Fairy castles

Hello peeps, winter has returned and a really hard frost this morning, I guess that's the penalty we pay for the sunshine, but I would rather have that than the rainy dull weather of last week.

I managed to have a really good play last evening minus the sling impediment....although my arm is complaining a bit now and the osteopathy visit left me a bit sore this morning, but it is definite progress.

Some inky shares but first I need to say a big thank you to Isa in Spain for passing on this award to me, it was so kind of her. You all know my rotten track record with passing on awards as I never can choose, so this is for all of my lovely blogland friends, please lift off to your own blogs with my love.

Now for my makes, the first one up top of this post involved making a simple mask with an oval aperture and sponging TH marigold, stormy sky and peeled paint. With the mask still in place, I stamped the castle F40047M by Stampalot and a mixture of Lavinia stamps to create the little scene. Then simple matting onto coordinating cardstock and a border punched with MS Vintage lace and of course a liberal helping of glitter to finish. This card is for the following challenges:

ABC Challenge - M is for magical

Flutterby Wednesdays - Anything goes

My second card using the good old speedball brayer was inspired by the beautiful evening sky here in the Fens yesterday..............a bit of artistic licence thrown in as we don't have hills, just flat landscapes for miles as far as the eye can see.............absolutely beautiful mind you, but an aquired taste and alien to those who come from more undulating parts of the Country.

It was a really magical sight with beautiful oranges topped by dark cloud and the setting sun was almost colourless against the vivid sky. I used Adirondack eggplant, butterscotch and meadow for the brayering and the stamps are Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grass and Art Impression G1045 Geese both stamped with Adirondack Espresso. This card is for the following challenges:

Bee Crafty - Ray of sunshine

Creative Card Crew - For Men

My final share is yet more fantasy, this time Sweet Pea Fairy of the Night. available in the UK from Crafts and Me (link on sidebar). A moon of course........sorry for the monotony but all good fairies deserve a moon or sun.......... masked and brayered with Adirondack cranberry. The image is heat embossed with detail clear then coloured with Copics and some paper piecing for her dress and crystal ball. Lace, flowers, beaded pins, a border punched with MS garden trellis and the easel card was cut on the Cricut. The My Minds Eye DP is a really old one, all lovely and glittery. This is for the following challenges:

Simon Says - Bingo (lace, flowers and embossing)

Crafts and Me - Monochrome

Creative Cottage - Shaped card

Papertake - Ribbons and pearls

Wings and things

Hello everyone. How's the weather you way ? We have rain again just for a change, but at least it's not too cold and the lovely dewy morning this last week have brought the paddocks on a treat which make the horses very happy campers.

A few shares today. My first card uses one of my new stamps from Sweet Pea called midnight waiting. She has been stamped and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I stamped the wings and top of the fairy twice, glittered the wings and decoupaged. The DP is Magnolia and the borders punched with Martha Stewart floral vine. Some lace, roses and punched leaves to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

Moving Along With the Times - Use at least three ingredients from the menu (I used 2 DP's glitter, leaves and heat embossing)

Flutterby Wednesday - All Winged Things

Charisma Cards - Anything Goes

The next one is this lovely slapstick stamp Penny Black 40-020 fly away, I think he's just adorable. I coloured with Copics and matted using one of the new Nesite shapes labels 17, I just love the shape of this ones. The DP is October Afternoon and the sentiment the first line of Penny Black 4075F. I cut the stars on Cricut assent essentials, added some rik rak and gens to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

Simon Says - Sketch

Cupcake - Transport (the plane ?)

My Time to Craft - Kids at Play

My final card today is my favourite Autumnal colours. I created a background using Tim Holtz barn door, rusty hinge and frayed burlap. I overstamped with Hero Arts H2365 old French writing, then Hero S5449 fabulous flourish using versafine sepia. The mats are cut on Nesties and the leaves are X Cut punches which also emboss the leaves making them really come to life when you ink over them. The corners are punched with Martha Stewart double loop and finally I added some lace across the middle and raffia round the stamped image. This card is for the following challenges:

Crafty Creations - Falling Leaves

Creative Inspiration - 2 or More Stamps

Dutch Dare - Birthday Bash

More Molly Blooms

Hello everyone, hope you are all OK and like me getting ready for the long school holidays. We are counting the days here and so looking forward to our holiday, it's going to be a bit of a mad rush as the children break up from school next Wednesday which leaves just Thursday to do all the final preparations and packing as we go on Friday.

My bone graft seems to be working and the pain is sooooo much better.......I even managed to eat some fish yesterday, what a change from soup that made I can tell you. I have been really good and kept away from my computer as the lack of postings confirm, but I shall have something a bit special coming up for you next week.......candy is involved but there's a bit more to it than that, but you will have to wait to find out exactly what's in store, otherwise it won't be a surprise !

I have cards for a few challenges, the first one is the card at the top of this post which is for this weeks Papertake Weekly who's theme is In the Garden. The stamps are Hero Arts K5313 silhouette ivy and Penny Black 4040K sparklers stamped with Hero Arts chalk ink grass and punch. The mats were cut on Cricut storybook, the DP is Doodlebug and the corners a Sizzix die.

My next card is for Everybody Art Challenge who have the theme Holidays. I have used Molly Blooms at the seaside, coloured with Copics. The circles are cut with Nesties and the DP is nameless from my stash. The swirls my favourites Sizzix die and punched flowers added.

The new Molly Blooms stamps are just adorable, they are beautifully etched deep rubber, stamp fantastically and are available exclusively from Sir Stampalot.

My last card is for the following challenges:

My Time to Craft is Butterfly Bliss

Tuesday Taggers - Anniversary

It's a pretty simple make, a card with matching envie. The main panel is run through the Cuttlebug, corners cut from a Sizzix die, roses made from burgundy paper and edges glittered with iridescent embossing powder and the sentiment Penny Black 3851E. And punched glittered butterflies.

Ultimate Floral Fantasy

My first post in almost a week, don't think it's ever been that long but I just have not been up to blogging, crafting or anything much at all since last week. Probably predictably due to my lack of immune system I had problems after my mouth op last week and despite antibiotics the infection went rampant. Weekend in hospital and the result is that I am utterly shattered and feel less than human......whatever human may be.

And on top of all that, Bernie had to have an emergency op Monday for an ulcerated eye. St Bernard's are prone to eye problems, but this all happened so quickly and he was sent to the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket........that is one amazing place with some of the top guys in the veterinary world. One of the Labs and Dobies were treated there a few years ago and they did a fantastic job on them both, I can't praise them enough. Bernie came home yesterday.......can you visualise a St Bernard size buster collar ?

So a dilemma deciding how to deal with today's postings as being the first of the month it's a new challenge at Stampalot and also the launch day of our Penny Black at Allsorts challenge. So please forgive me everyone, but it's all loaded into this post which might even make it easier for all you peeps to read what is going on. Here is what we have lined up this month:

Stampalot Challenge: Lazy Hazy Summer Days

Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge: A Burst of Summer Colour

Writing this up I realise the themes are a bit repetitive with me stamped over them........oh dear what a pun, but there are so many ways you can interpret both themes. So please do click on the links and pop over to the challenge blogs and check out the fabulous prizes to be won this month and see all the wonderfully inspirational work the Design Teams have created.

And don't forget to visit both of the fabulous sponsors, Sir Stampalot and Penny Black where you can check out all the latest and best in all things crafty.

I realise that I have gone Penny Black nearly all the way and both cards could fit either challenge, but my first is for Stampalot Challenge using Penny Black 3815J love blush, quite an old stamp but one I use time and again. Roses epitomise a Summers day for me and I think this goes back to my childhood and the wonderful perfume that came from the Albertine climbers my Dad had over arched trellises coming up the front garden pathway.

He used to graft many of his own plants and a few years after I married he grafted a couple of Albertine roses for me and they are still growing in my garden today, a wonderful reminder that Dad is still close to me.

I stamped simply with versafine black onto linen cardstock, embossed with detail clear and coloured with Prismacolor pens and covered with Diamond Glaze. The mat is punched with Martha Stewart round the page 3 dot scallop. The background is repeat stamped and embossed with detail clear with Hero CG179 rose background and coloured with the same pens. Three handmade roses, punched leaves and butterflies and some pearls to embellish.

This card is also my entry for this weeks Ooh la la challenge who's theme is Simply Summer and Secret Crafter who have Strawberries and Cream as their theme.

My second card is for Penny Black at Allsorts and uses another one I adore Penny Black 4036K poppy poem. Poppies being another flower that I adore with their fresh vibrant colours, such a pity that each flowers lasts only a day or so.

I stamped a background using Tim Holtz fired brick and spritzed with water, before stamping the poppy and embossing with detail clear again. I coloured with the same TH ink and bundled sage and peeled paint for the leaves. I stamped the flower heads a few more times, colouring the same way, spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl to shape before decoupaging them. The easel card was cur using Cricut Storybook, welding the shapes in Design Studio. The DP is one of the new Nitwit designs, the swirls are Magenta chipboard spritzed with Glimmer Mist red velvet. Buttons and punched butterflies to finish.

I am entering this card into this weeks Creative Card Crew challenge who would like to see Easel cards and Rosie D's and Everybody Art Challenges who have Summer Birthdays.

As soon as I feel up to it I will be doing my blog rounds, but in the meantime my apologies for being so tardy and sitting on my butt feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Wedding indulgence

Morning everyone, isn't the weather glorious and how lovely to be able to spend time outdoors without needing to wrap up warm. Needless to say the dogs are fed up with it already and puffing and panting and lolloping wherever they can find a cool spot, but it didn't spoil their appetites when we had a barbie last night and all four sat drooling as they always do.

I thought I would share two of the cards I made for the wedding couple, well I did actually show the wedding cake a couple of weeks ago, but have just made the box so now it's complete.

The word book of their initials was created in Cricut design studio welding various elements together, covering with Best Creations DP, some decoupaging, ribbons, Magnolia flowers, gems a bit of stamping with Penny Black 3851E Blessing and all in all total over indulgence, but I think it's rather pretty. And I made a box with an acetate lid, added yet more ribbon and an edge using Martha Stewart doily lace.

I am entering the work book for The Crafty Pad challenge which would like to see "Over the Edge" so I am hoping the ribbon will count here, Charisma Cardz who would like to see something 3D so the flowers and butterflies fit nicely and Flutterby Wednesday would like "Flowers" with our butterflies or fairies. Also the card below is for this weeks Penny Black challenge which is "Lots of Dots" where I have used Penny Black 4037K mixed media and 3857H footnote, memento inks, Swiss dots Cuttlebug folder and spotty MME DP.

And finally another bit of over indulgence on the box for the Polkadoodle wedding cake card, lace, Martha Stewart embossed hears punch, flowers, pearls and a computer generated sentiment.

I will see all you lovely peeps when I get back, but I have scheduled a post with a little something for you which should pop up tomorrow evening courtesy of Mr Blogger.

Easter bunny basket

This one seems to have taken me forever, spent ages on the DS trying to create the basket with a variety of Cricut cartridges. It's not quite what I had in mind shape wise, but I've faffed enough for one day I think.

The Crate Paper DP is more of the new stock at Sir Stampalot which seems to be walking out of the door quicker than it arrives. Not surprising because it really is yummy, the colours are beautiful, it's double sided and the texture lovely.

I stamped Penny Black 3868J Portraits onto some of the patterned side, cut them out and stuck to the plain panels, the cut out some of the butterflies on the patterned side and decoupaged them adding some glitter. I created the handle using Martha Steward eyelet lace and attached with brads and flowers cut with a stencil through the Big Shot and ribbon on the corners.

My basket fits two challenges Stamping for the Weekend and Everybody Art Challenge who both have the theme Easter.

Spring Daffodils

Good afternoon everyone, I do hope you are having a good weekend. As some of you know I did a demo day at Sir Stampalot yesterday and apart from having a great day I had such a wonderful surprise...........Clare- Littlebear Crafts travelled all the way from Rugby to visit us. I had no idea she was coming and was utterly lost for words at first......then it sunk in and I could not have been more surprised.

Unfortunately when you are deep in demo mode with an audience waiting to see what you do next, it's not easy to chat too much........probably just as well as we would could have talked for England, but it really was fantastic to see you Clare. Thank you so much for coming and to your lovely husband for driving you and dear little son who was an angel.

On to this weeks new challenge at Rosie D's where I am continuing with my Think Spring theme and this time I would like to see projects with the colour combo:

Green, Yellow and White

I would love to see more of your interpretations of this lovely time of year and as always your project can be anything crafty so long as you have made it yourself. And one lucky winner will receive a MFT stamp set from this months sponsor Sir Stampalot.

You might remember that a few weeks ago I told you I made something with daffodils using the images provided by Digital Ink who were the sponsors for that challenge, only to remember that the theme was Just for Men. So this week I have the opportunity to share with you what I made with those images.

I printed the daffodil image out several times so that I could decoupage them after colouring with Copics. The box was cut from Cricut Wild Card and the papers used on the box and easel card is from Polkadoodles Back to Nature CD and I added acetate to the window of the box. The border is Martha Steward embossed butterflies and the corners Sizzix dies run through the Big Shot.

Even more Penny Black

How's all you peeps today ? Hope you all had a good weekend, the weather was beautiful here, still hard frosts at night - minus eight last night again, but at least it's drying up a bit with the sunshine.

Before I launch into my cards, just to let you know I will be a bit late posting this weeks Stampalot candy winner because there is other news I need to share with you. So that post will go up later today, just as soon as I can get my rear into gear, but there is a new Hero Goody Bag on offer and all those who comment from this post onwards will be included in the next draw.

I have two cards to share, one for this weeks Penny Black challenge who are looking for "Easel cards" and it also fits this weeks Cupcake challenge who want "Flower Power", then Stamping for the Weekend are going "Monochromatic". I thought about combining them into one, but I have so many new goodies still to play with as well as needing to do samples for my upcoming demo day at Sir Stampalot decided on two...........whilst I am on that subject, dates for your diaries:

Saturday 13th March - Chris and Lou will be strutting their stuff

and

Saturday 20th March - yours truly will be getting messy with inks and Penny Black.

The first card an easel one which I cut our on the Cricut. I started by creating a background for my main image by masking a piece of cardstock and inking an oblong with Tim Holtz distress inks mustard and broken china and spritzing with Glimmer Mist pearl to make the colours bleed. The main image is Penny Black 4040K Sparklers stamped with versafine blue. The DP is an old piece from my stash and the swirl a Sizzix die run through the Big Shot. Lace and brads added to finish.
The second card has a resist background created with stamping Penny Black 3857H Footnote with versamark and embossing with detail clear then distressing with Tim Holts Victorian Velvet.......have you guess I rather like this new one ? I then stamped the main image Penny Black Daisy Fields stamped with the same ink and embossing powder. I overstamped here and there with Penny Black 3395D.

The border is Martha Stewart garden trellis with some Sizzix leaves cut from some of the new Magnolia DP's threaded through and flowers added. I stamped down the edge of the card with the same stamp used for the background and the sentiment is a section of Penny Black 4075F.

Allsorts 4 Men

Hello everyone, hope you are ready for the weekend and hopefully with time for crafting and to set you on your way we have a new challenge at Allsorts which is hosted this week by Kirsten who would would like to see "Cards 4 Men".

My card is quite a quick and simple one using Penny Black 2827K Song Bird, stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear onto linen cardstock which was cut on Cricut Storybook. I added a little watercolour to the image and added a gem for the eye. The branch is cut with a Sizzix die through the Big Shot and the sentiment is from an unmounted sentiment set from Rubber Tapestry. I 'think' the DP is My Minds Eye, but it was a scrap in my stash and the name already gone.

Polkadoodles 8

This week at Polkadoodles it's Lou's turn to set the them and she would like to see "Shaped Cards".

Mine has been cut on the Cricut welding elements together on the DS from Storybook and Plantin Schoolbook. The paper is from the Love and Cherish CD, the border Martha Stewart embossed butterflies and the flower made from plain paper, punched several time and spritzed with Glimmer Mists to add some glitz. The sentiments is stamped with the rubber stamp sheet which matches the Back to Nature CD and the butterfly is also a punch and has been glittered with a quickie glue pen and crystal glitter.

Rosie D's challenge 63

Over at Rosie D's challenge we have a new challenge for you and a great sketch from our very own Rosie.........really enjoyed working with this one Rosie. The DT were also treated to images from this weeks sponsor Teri at Delicious Doodles and this weeks winner will be getting some images of their own to play with.

I printed the heat and ribbon image three times onto DP from the new Polkadoodle Love Marriage and more CD, but them out and gently shaped them to give a cushion effect before building up with silicone. I added a rose made from the same DP to the centre, liberally glittering both the image and rose.

The ovals were cut with Nesties through the Big Shot and placed inside the double aperture which I cut on Cricut Storybook. The simple 'I love you' greeting is Penny Black 3322D stamped onto a ribbon slide created with a Nestie and threaded with organza ribbon.

Allsorts week 37

Saturday folks and a new challenge at Allsorts and this week our teamie Lisa has chosen the theme "Hearts and Flowers", so if you still have that special Valentines card to make here's your opportunity.

For my card I created a template on the Cricut using Home Decor and Plantin Schoolbook, welding the elements together on the DS so that there was a leading edge which I could punch with the Zutter to hold the three layers together. The DP's which are all from the New Love Marriage and More Polkadoodles CD were cut in the same way and stuck to the cardstock. Roses, well yes more of them (tutorial here)........ but this is a Valentines card, which I embossed roud the edges with Judikins garnet embossing powder. I added some hearts cut with my new Martha Steward punch........you need strong wrists with this one, it weighs a ton, but is is sooooo pretty plus lace and ribbon to decorate.

A couple of challenges and Candy news

Well it's still snowing on and off and by the look of the news it's pretty bad in some parts. Here in the Fens we had a heavy fall this morning which compounded by the hard frosts we've had almost every day on top of the Christmas snow which is still laying around, it's pretty treacherous out there. Whatever your weather, keep warm and safe.

A mixed bunch here and might be a long post so grab a coffee first. Two cards, candy news, some challenges, another tutorial and the first of some very overdue samples for Sir Stampalot using one of the new releases from Hero Arts. And for those of you on the look out for a bargain, their mega sale starts on Saturday 9th January, but if you cant wait there are already some sale goodies to be grabbed right here.

Just had a quick nose myself and there are some real bargains to be had - Alphametal Stamp Kit - £29.95 down to £9.95, Tim Holt stamp sets half price, Rubber Soul stamp sets £12.50 down to £5, Ladybug and friends £10.99 down to £6. Me thinks I need to do some serious shopping......................

Now the candy news. I have said many times that I have been overwhelmed by the friendship I have received here in blogland and the wonderful friends I have met. I realised this week that my followers are close to reaching 200.......this just astounds me it really does, so as a thank you I am offering some candy. It is a bit of a mixed bag, stamps, ribbons, cardstock, flowers, DP's and lots more, I am just waiting for a decent bit of daylight to take some photos, then I will get it posted up over the next few days.

A few people have asked me how I do the messy aceate, glue and foil technique like the one above, so working on a tutorial for that, but again need better weather before I can bag some decent photographs.

On to some challenges. My first card is for this weeks Creative Card Crew which had a theme just made for me "Distressing" and Everybody Art Challenges wants us to use our favourite colour combo. Well I love all colours so it's a hard call to decide on my favourite, but as I repeatedly drift back to autumnal colours and getting all stressed out.......some days that's not just my cards either I can tell you.........so I guess these colours must be some of my favourites.

For this card I started with Glimmer Mists pineapple, copper, gold terracotta, vanilla breeze and iridescent gold to create a background piece. I then stamped onto this with Hero Arts G3316 Harlequin, F5042 Leaf Flourish and H2365 Old French Writing using a mixture of versafine sepia, versamark and detail gold embossing powder. To add a bit more interest I sponged some brilliance gold through a piece of mesh and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz brushed corduroy. Next I stamped good old favourite Stampendous P107 Agapanthus Cluster onto a piece of acetate using versafine black and heat embossed with detail clear and the same Hero swirl down the side and embossed with gold.

After joining the acetate the the base piece with some brads, wrapped some gold cord round and mounted it onto a piece of Crate Paper DP, again distressed around the edges. Finally I added a flower, some gold gems and a journaling tag.

Tuesday Taggers (and a Stampalot sample) has the lovely theme of Black and White, always a pleasure to work with and I love the crispness of the combination. I stamped some swirls onto the card itself with Inkadinkado 97632 then stamped one of my new Hero stamps CG165 Silhouette Bells onto white linen cardstock using versafine black and embossed with detail clear. I cut nested mounts on Cricut Storybook and cut a central oval with nesties through the Big Shot Express. More roses I'm afraid, this time with black vellum, white pearls for stamens and some punched leaves.

My rose tutorial can be found here for anyone who fancies a go at making them, believe me they are very simple and much cheaper than the commercially produced ones.........plus you can make them from your DP's so you get an exact colour match.

Allsorts challenge 31

Wow wow you guys, did you come up with some wonderful projects for my theme last week at Allsorts. You are such a talented lot so thanks to one and all.

This week Debs is hosting the theme which is "Anything but a card", another one to get those creative juices flowing.

I am sharing a tag book I made in response to a request for a Birthday card for a secretary named DEB who has a fetish for Post It Notes. Inside the book I have made a little pocket that holds a pack of them. I cut the pages from a 300gsm cardstock on Cricut Plantin Schoolbook and Jasmin welding the elements together on the DS. I cut a replica of each page from Basic Grey DP's and stuck them together before punching the ends and inserting the wire binding using my Zutter.

More roses.......sorry if they are becoming monotonous, some punched leaves pearls and ribbons to decorate.

Allsorts challenge 30

By the time you read this I should be deeply emersed in demonstrationg at Sir Stampalots Big Demo Day........if you live anywhere near or in driving distnace of Peterborough, then it really is the place to be today with lots of different live demonstrations taking place, demo day special offers and refreshments as well.

We had another week of fabulous entries again at Allsorts, it seems you really are enjoying our challenges and we are all so pleased to welcome you each week with your wonderful creations. Gro has selected the theme this week which is "Colours of Advent" where she would like to see the colour purple on your creations. The DT have been treated to images from this weeks sponsor Stretch and Bubbles.

My images from our sponsor are the Christmas tree which I printed three times and glittered liberally using Art Institute dries clear glue and ultra fine glitter. The reindeer was cut from Cricut Christmas Solutions and stamped with Inkadinkado ?? using versafine purple and clear iridescent embossing powder. I used the same stamp and ink to stamp across he corner of the mat which I run through the Bug using the new snow folder. The DP is Daisy Bucket.

By the Cute and Girly month 3

By the Cute and Girly and Sir Stampalot Big Demo Day reminder

What a brilliant month it's been at By the Cute and Girly with some absolutely fabulous projects, cards, scrapbook layouts, gift boxes, some knitting all proving what a talented bunch you are.

The host for this month is our teamie Julia who has come up with the great theme of "Lets go to the Movies". Well all of the Inspiration Team really have pulled out the stops here so please do go over to the challenge blog and take a look. There are links to all their blogs so you can check our how they made the creations.

The first one I am sharing with you is my take on my all time movie favourite Gone With the Wind. A adore this movie and watch it at least once a year and often tuck the book in as well.......what a sado I hear you say, but afraid it's never lost it attraction for me and I find it incredible how a movie made in 1939 has such fantastic colour and remains so popular even to those of us who were not even born until years later. I also have a wonderful illustrated book based on the making of the movie which my daughter gave me years ago when she was small and the picture below shows my card laid on an open page of that book where you can see the same picture as the Stampsmith stamp I have used, proving it's creative authenticity.

The main image is 'that kiss ' famous amongst all GWTW fans which they will recognise, with Scarlett still mortified at having to wear mourning black in respect of all those lost at war. But Rhett had just bought her a jaunty little green hat with a feather to cheer her up, which just happened to match the curtains in the background, hence the inspiration for the colour theme of my card.

The image has been simply stamped with black stayzon onto gloss cardstock and a very light colour wash added with Marvy pens. The sentiment, also authentic from the movie to the word is of course what Rhett said to Scarlett just prior to 'the kiss'.........slush, slush I know, but what a love story this one is.

The swirls were cut from Cricut Home Decor, the DP is I believe Fancy Pants and the roses made from the same DP, then lace and cord added.

The rose tutorial I promise is on it's way, I did all the prep work and pictures, but due to my eye op and limited time on the computer have not been able to sit in the glare long enough to bring the post all together. But I promise it won't be long and for anyone able to come to Sir Stampalots Demo Day Saturday, I will be making them all day long.......what a wonderful way to spend the day.