All aglow

Good morning everyone, time for a new challenge at Allsorts where Helene would like us to 'Light up the Night'.

Afraid my blogging is still restricted to short five minute bursts so I've not got very far in visiting you all. They tell me resting my eyes especially from the computer screen, is the only cure as far as the muscle imbalance goes, so I have been testing their theory all week and doing what I am told. Although nothing was stopping me from my demo day at Stampalot today, even if it's more talk than demo and we are off shortly........hubby is driving me as I dare not test my eyes that far. The Ultimate Rubber Stamping event is becoming a regular in the crafty calendar and always great fun.

I confess to a huge blast of inspiration from Barbara Gray on this card. I always find her inspirational and her use of the Clarity Stamps lamp post and lady really cast a spell over me and this is my take on what she did.

I started by inking the lamppost and lady, with the lady stamped a second time onto some scrap DP. I used a very large makeup brush to swirl Adirondack archival black in circles round the lamp to give the impression of fog, then sponged some Tim Holtz mustard seed to create a glow from the oil lamp. I added some JudiKins snow glitter and a couple or corners.

I added a fence using Art Impression F3047 and leaves using Art Impression F2055, Lavinia fantasy houses, but I just inked the tops of these stamping off first so I ended up with a mist rooftop look in the background.

My vision if this card is a lady on Christmas eve, just leaving Church after midnight mass looking into the village in the distance.......I've never made any secret that I like in a fantasy world have I ? This card is also for the following challenges:

Cupcake - Light it up

ABC - Ice is for ice and snow

One more share using Sweet Pea Poinsettia Fairy. Another easel card stamped and embossed image, coloured with Copics, decoupaged and glittered wings, a Spellbinder frame, Magnolia DP, flowers and lace. This card is for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

Sweet Pea - Silver, purple and white

Moving Along with the Times - Someone special (For a Granddaughters Christmas birthday)

Stamp Insanity - Lace

CRAFT - Christmas Birthday (see above)

To Follow the Star

Happy Wednesday peeps.

Whose going to the NEC then ? I am and really excited, only ever been once before so when hubby said would I like him to take me a jumped at the opportunity as it's not much fun driving all that way on your own, meaning I don't usually bother. And I am equally excited that I will be meeting quite a few new faces........assuming we can find one another amidst the crowds.

So my shares today are going to be quick as I have two days work to pack in today to clear my desk a bit so I can go tomorrow.

This first card is a relatively quick and simple make. I used post it noted to mask the coloured sections, on a piece of gloss cardstock, inked with Tim Holtz distress inks rusty hinge and dried marigold, then stamped the trees from a Creative Expressions set using versafine black and embossing with detail clear. Simply matters onto coordinating cardstock and a border punched with Fiskars threading water. This card is for the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Penny for the Guy (male card)
Paper Sundaes - For the Boys

Scrapbook Sisters - Autumn Colours

My second card has a background created by distressing with Tim Holtz broken china and dusky concord then stamping Hero Arts F5042 leaf flourish.......a real old favourite that I uses over an again........with bleach to lift the colour and expose the pattern of the stamp. Next a panel run through the Cuttlebug and inked with TH black soot and the main image is Penny Black4112K To Follow the Star stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, then shaded with the same TH inks. The sentiment is Penny Black 4116H embossed with detail white, then eyelets, lace and cord added to finish. This is for the following challenges:

Everybody Art Challenges - Untraditional Christmas

For Fun - Use metal somewhere (eyelets)
Oldie but a Goodie - Distressed (main image is an old one but was re-issued this year under different code)

The above card is again a really quick and easy one, I placed a piece of paper with a circle aperture cut out onto gloss cardstock and brayered over with Big and Juicy Hydrangea lifting colour from the middle and left of the inkpad so I missed the pink section. I removed the mask, inked the brayer again, but removed a good amount of the ink from the brayer so I got a light covering of ink across the corners. I stamped the main image Crafts and Me Orchid of the Night twice with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured in with the same B&J inkpad, glittered the wings and flowers and decoupaged.

The corners are a stamp from a clear Inkadinkado set (no codes I'm afraid) and the decoupaged flower is made up of several of the small flowers from the fairy stamp. This card is for the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge - A is for Angels and Fairies
Kreative Stamp Friends - Favourite stamps
Anything Goes - B is for Beautiful
Flutterby Wednesdays - Open (wings of course)

Spoonful of Sugar - Relish to embellish

Fairies from the bottom of my garden

So how's everyone today ?

It's a little bit chilly to my mind today and the central heatings definitely kicking into gear here now. My hopes of a bit of sunshine to take photos yesterday were false ones and today's just as gloomy so I decided I'd better get on with it and take some before the best of the daylight disappears.

I had delivery from Julie at Love2Papercraft at the weekend with some more of their fabulous Envoboxes like the one I shared last week. I really can't recommend these enough, they come in various sizes and are absolutely brilliant for cards with a bit of dimension as they are gusseted, yet light enough that cards still sit within the large letter category.

I also had another order from Theresa at Crafts and Me with the latest arrivals of her beautiful fairy stamps created from the artwork of Molly Harrison. If you are a fairy fan like me and have not seen these yet, you don't know what you are missing.

Enough babble, I'd better show you what I made with my new goodies. First up a card using Orchid of the Night, isn't she devine ? I stamped the image onto gloss cardstock, then masked her and brayered the whole piece with Big and Juicy Happy Birthday. I then coloured the image with the same ink pad and added glitter to her wings. The DP is My Minds Eye and I made three roses from plain brown paper. The mats are one of the new Nestie label sets (17), I love the shape of these and they are a little larger that some of the original sets. Quite a quick and easy card, but I think quite effective. This card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - Sketch

Papertake Weekly - 3 of a Kind

ABC - F for Flowers

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open Wings

Scrapbook Sisters - Flower Power

My second card used exactly the same technique as above, but this fairy is called Wonderland. Again a pretty quick and simple card, the DO is from Stash, Doodlebug I think, but not certain. The punch is Martha Stewart cornice, the flower and leaves were made using the Cuttlebug quilled daisy set and the swirls are cut with one of the new Tim Holtz dies. This card is for the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Fairy Tales

Pollycraft - Fairytale

And on final share of a little tag book I made back in August but not blogged before using acetate, Magnolia DP's, Sizzix swirls and ribbons. This is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - More than 2 legs

Anything Goes - Ribbons

Moonlight madness

When I saw the new challenge at Scrapbook Sisters Card this week it was a must............you know me.......any opportunity to incorporate a moon somewhere into my work. So two for the price of one, a full moon and a crescent moon.

But before I move on to how I made my cards I want to say "La ringrazio molto" to Sadia and "Thank you" to Sandra for passing awards on to me this week. You all know I've got a rotten track record passing them on so I would like to say it's for all my lovely blog friends, please accept with my love.........I'm sure this is not what the rules say........but when did I ever follow rules ?

Both are stamped with Stayzon onto masked and brayered backgrounds, the fairy one using the centre colours of Big and Juicy Happy Birthday and the Santa one using Adirondack eggplant.

The fairy Sweet Pea Midnight Waiting has been coloured with the same B&J ink pad and Aquamarkers and the wings liberally glittered......as all good fairy should be. The DP is October Afternoon, flowers from stash and the sentiment computer generated. This cards is for the following challenges:

Scrapbook Sisters - Full Moon

Flutterby Wednesdays - Open

Creative Inspirations - Birthday theme

Everybody Art - Sketch

The house stamp on the Santa scene is Art Impressions V1562 which has been lightly coloured with Tim Holtz inks and the rooftops glittered with Judikins snow glitter. Santa is Magenta 02045-6 stamped with Adirondack eggplant and some punched snowflakes to decorate. This card is for the following challenges:

Anything Goes - Christmas has come early
Glitterbabes - Anything goes

And one final share using a favourite Penny Black stamp............well yes I know, I love them all........Penny Black 4078K Reach for the Starts and the matching sentiment 4057F. The image is coloured with Copics and decoupaged, the DP is Magnolia, the border Martha Steward doily lace trim and a rose made from the same DP with punched leaves. This card is for the following challenges:

CRAFT - Shaped card
Cute Card Thursday - Make your own

Slow going in craftland

Good Afternoon everyone.

This enforced resting thing continues.......grief it's so alien to me, but this battered body of mine is still yelling at me "not enough energy". If I need any more convincing it takes me half a day to make a card then I'm shattered and I've not really done anything. So still not blogging and visiting folks, just the essential DT comments and that's about it which means I really, really need to say such a very special thanks to those of your that have still bothered to visit me, despite my lethargy.

A couple of cards - a couple of days worth of effort, how sad is that I ask you.......if I was teaching class at this pace they would all need to sleep over to get everything completed at this rate.

The first one is a sample for good old Stampalot......they are coming Janice, honest they are......using another of the lovely new stamps Magenta 42067M floral silhouette stamped onto a background of Glimmer Mist lemon zest and pearl and Hero Arts S3516 silhouette grass stamped with Tim Holtz scattered straw. The strip across the top is stamped with Hero CG222 music, the DP is Crate, lots of distressed edges, ribbon, buttons and beads added to embellish. This card is for the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Easel card

ABC - Distressing

Flutterby Wednesdays - Wings and buttons

Cute Card Thursday - Tweet and Flutter

Paper Sundaes - At least three embellishments

My second card used lots of Art Impression stamps, a background brayered with Big and Juicy waterfall and a masked crescent moon.......I thought it was time for a deviation from a full moon ! Some DP from stash, punched leaves, lots of glitter on the trees and snow and a rather soggy flower which got 'Daisy'd'......she's so helpful in the crafting department. So it's a bit flatter than when it started life, but with some glitter it looks OK'ish. This card is for the following challenges:

Moving along with the Times - Christmas

Christmas Cards - Christmas trees (mine are still growing)

Glitterbabes - Anything goes

For fun Challenges - Glitter it up

A green one, a purple one

Good afternoon peeps, a bit of a later post that I've been planning all day. But I did want to share with you that Theresa from Crafts and Me has spotlighted me on her blog again with the cards coming up further down this post. If you've never visited her store where have you been ? As well as all sorts of craftiness, she sells those gorgeous Sweet Pea stamps as well as several brands that are hard to find here in the UK, as well as her own label stamps of the most divine fairy images.....what better for people like me who live in a total fantasy world.

So the delays in posting........a very thoughtful gift from my hubby of Photoshop Elements which he thought would help me editing my photos.......jury's still out on that one because four hours on and I'm ready to throw it out the window. I'm sure it's a great piece of software, but for the less than technical mined more of a nightmare. So perseverance I think..............

My card, well two of them actually following the same sketch but I could not decide on a colour so did two. The image is Crafts and Me Eternity by Molly Harrison. Isn't she just adorable ? For both cards I brayered a background with Big and Juicy hydrangea and soothing sunset masking a moon....you all know I love my moons. I used the same ink pads to colour the images and glittered the wings of both with crystal ultra fine glitter.

The border on the green version.....my favourite I think.......is Martha Stewart eyelet lace and on the purple floral vine. The green DP is Magnolia and the purple DP Doodlebug. Flowers gems and pearls to embellish. These cards are for the following challenges:

Flutterby Wednesdays - Sketch

Crafts and Me - Gems and Sparkles

ABC - C for Charm (dragonfly)

Fab 'n' Funky - Material Girl (lace)

Cute Card Thursday - same as above

Simon Says - Pearls and Lace

Creative Cottage - Celebrations

Lots to Do - Fairies and Angels

A another quick card as a certain person.....she knows who she is........made me feel so guilty that I could not find a house to share for this weeks Tuesday Taggers theme "Our house is a nice house ours is", so this one is just for you girls. The row of houses....yes at Christmas........are all in the new set from Hero Arts CL464 which I stamped simply onto some patterned Kaiser DP and added a little red Copics here and there and a bit of glitter. The birds are Penny Black 3937H birds on a wire.

Fairies and flowers

How is everyone ? Have you all got this rain as well ? If they talk about droughts now, I think I'll throw something at the TV, to have such green lush paddocks in August is unheard of and utterly bizarre.

I have two shares today, the first is one of the very special birthday cards I have been making for Anysia's 18th on Sunday..............45 peeps coming for a barbie, well that's the plan anyway. Thankfully my mate Mark Spencer.......for those of you not familiar with him he also goes under the guise of M&S......... is doing most of the catering so it just needs collecting and the boys love cooking barbies, so I figure all that leaves for me is to do is make a bowl or two of my famous punch. Why is it famous you ask......nobody can ever remember drinking it !

So the card, another of the gorgeous Sweet Pea Stamps called Black Rose, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured with Copis and generously glittered and embellished. The DP is Kaiser and the border punched with my new Martha Stewart floral vine punch.

I added lace and vellum butterflies cut with Martha Stewart small monarch. The flowers are a mixture of Magnolia and from stash, plus liberal helpings of pearls.

This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stamps: Lace and Pearls

Stamp with Fun: Card for a Girl

Flutterby Wednesdays: Open theme

Charisma Cardz: Hot Hot Hot

C.R.A.F.T: Milestone Birthdays

My second card above is a really quick plain and simple one but I quite like the clean lines. I cut squares on my guillotine and stamped a variety of stamps using Tim Holtz olive and stormy sky and embossed with iridescent powder. I distressed the edges slightly and matted onto blue and green co0ordinating cardstock.

This card is for the following challenges:

Cupcake: Blue and Green

Cut Card Thursday: Dieing for a Punch

Butterflies and Birdies

Hello folks, still alive and kicking, just a bit slow and lacking in get up and go but my conscience is really pricking that I have done zilch on my blog for almost a week and apart from a bit of DT commenting no blogging whatsoever. But I do intend putting that right very soon, I promise.

I am all suitably grafted and everything crossed it's worked. Still high on the painkillers and antibiotics but when I come back down to ground I'm hoping the pain will be gone or at least eased and I will be able to eat properly again.......there's only so much soup a girl can take.

As you might guess, not must in the way of creativity going on here still, but I plan to have a go at some colouring later using the lovely Sweet Pea images my friend Sarah stamped and sent me and who knows, I might even get a card made.

There are some benefits to swanning about in a haze because even if I dare not blog for fear of all the typos I will make......I mean more than the normal 'adn' and the like these dysfunctional fingers of mine come up with......I can surf and I have come up with a few new challenges I can enter using some of already made Stampalot sample cards.

So here goes and the first one above fits this weeks Dutch Dare challenge who have the theme "Floral Inspiration"....you might guess I have a good few in my library that will fit this one. It also ties in with Flutterby Wednesdays open theme this week as there is the obligatory butterfly. And I hope Creative Card Crew's "To die for" as I have used Nesties for the mats.

The second card fits Tuesday Taggers "Make a Scene" and Charisma Cardz who's theme is "Watch the Bridie" on projects and I think it should fit ABC's new challenge which us "You and Me" and says "This can be either two images on a stamp or two stamps on a card" and there are several stamps in this one as well as the sweet pair of birdies. This one would equally fit Flutterby Wednesdays.

You are going to have to forgive me for not doing the recipes and make up details, getting this far doing the post has just about k-------- me, but if anyone wants to know any specific stamp details......most are Hero Arts, or anything else, please mail me.

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.

Golden roses

Hope everyone is having a good Sunday, here in the Fens the rain has stopped at last and the suns making a reasonable effort, but judging by the clouds it won't be around too long.

And it's the last day of the Premiership, I'll miss my footie like crazy, but we do have the world cup coming up.......not sure if that is good or not, but we can but hope for positive things. An yesterdays 20/20 match was exciting so more of that to come this week.

A card to share for this weeks Penny Black challenge where they have a sketch......and a perfect chance to use some of the new goodies from Sir Sampalot on one of my sample cards. As usual when I saw the circles I freaked, I always struggle with them, heavens knows why. Also a couple of new ones for me, well at least it's a long while since I entered so thought it was time. They are Flutterby Wednesday, plus two both celebrating their Birthday and have that the, Stamp Something and Simon Says.

I drew my colour inspiration from this pretty Cosmo Cricket DP and coloured my main image Penny Black PB40-021 For Goodness Sake with Copics. I stamped the image three times and decoupages and masked the base image to stamp the fence which is from Magnolia Tilda collection. The cobbles, flowers and grasses and Art Impressions. The large rose is one of the scummy new ones from Magnolia........have you seen the colours, how to choose.......well you can't really, so it's probably no surprise I have a bag of them sitting in my craft room along with the lovely matching beady leaves.

The sentiment is Hobby Art GR435. I cut the second circle on the sketch from a doily with a Nestie, the middle panel was run through the Big Shot with a Cuttlebug folder and the border are Martha Stewart doily lace. Some lace, ribbon, gems and pounced butterflies to finish.

Purple Butterflies

Progress at last, I have actually managed to make a whole card in 'one sitting'. Must be the sunshine which is just breaking through and promising a nice afternoon. Probably just as well as a digger has just been delivered for hubby to do some footing work for his new greenhouse........apparently we did not have enough tomatoes and produce last year and need more space.......and tomatoes for the County this year, not just the village.

My card is for this weeks ABC challenge which is 'S for Sparkle' and I am hoping, a bit tongue in cheek that it will do for this weeks Penny Black challenge as well which is 'Buttons Galore'......now I know the collage image is not PB, but the three others I have used are. If it's not appropriate, sorry girls and count my entry out. I am also entering for the first time Flutterby Wednesday, I have no idea why I never found this one before seeing half of what I produce has butterflies or fairies on it.

So, the card itself has been stamped all over with Penny Black 2410 Penmanship using Tim Holtz crushed olive, then down the side with Penny Black 3857 Footnote. The sentiment is Penny Black 4070F Dreams and the collage image is Magenta 40301P. The background for the collage stamp and sentiment have been coloured with the same TH crushed olive and dusky concord, with a liberal helping of Glimmer Mist sweet clover and pearl. The edges have then been inked with versamark dazzle champagne and embossed with iridescent embossing powder which I also used on the sentiment and collage.

The flowers and butterflies have been coloured with Twinkling H2o's and stickles added. I tied purple glitter cord across the card and made a rose from paper spritzed with Glimmer Mist rum raisin. Finally spotty buttons added to the flower centre and the corner.