Lot's going on..............

Good morning peeps, I'm not sure where to start here, so much going on today, three new challenges to tell you about................Stampalot and Penny Black at Allsorts monthly challenges as well as the weekly one at Allsorts..................and it's my wedding anniversary so there just might be a meal out tonight, but that rather depends on how hubby is feeling as he's still not 100% plus my MS seems to having a bit of a hissy fit again.

So it's going to be a bit of a heavy post, but at least it's Saturday so some of you might be able to grab a coffee and have a leisurely read.

I will start with the little gift set above which is my make for Stampalot Challenge theme is 'Food Glorious Food', basically your project can be anything with an association to food. The poinsettia is a pretty old image from Penny Black 1289J Grand Poinsettia, which I stamped onto Nitwits DP twice and decoupaged. The sentiment which I really love is Stampendous CRQ146 here here and the band around the jar is stamped with Prickly Pear HH0065 here. And is anyone wondered what's in the jar, preserved Victoria plums from the orchard - well that''s what we call it.....about 30 trees in total, so not a proper orchard in the run of things here in the Fens.

Next up is my DT piece for Penny Black at Allsorts where we have some Autumnal photo inspiration on offer, I could happily make cards with this colour way all year so I was totally at home with this one. The main image in Penny Black 3231K Snowy Park......yes it is a Crimbo stamp but I figure there was no reason why it can't not double up for other times of the year with the right colours. I masked a piece of gloss cardstock round the edges so I left a piece in the centre about the size of the stamp, added a sun and brayered Adirondack butterscotch, sunset orange and meadow and added a bit more depth by sponging ginger through the trees.

And last but by no means least at Allsorts Helene would like us to 'Use at least five flowers' on our work. So out came this gorgeous stamp from the new releases from La Blanch called Wandering Amongst Daisies here. I fell in love with this image the moment I saw it and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, in fact I made quite a few using her. For this one I stamped onto Fabriano watercolour card, coloured with Aquamarkers and added background colour and a little fence, some swirls and five punched daisies and finito !

Enjoy your weekend whatever you have planned.

Keeping it clean and simple

Happy Saturday everyone, are you ready for a new challenge at Allsorts ?

Amanda is hosting this weeks theme and she would like us to be 'Clean and Simple' so I thought this one would fit the bill, it a sample I recently created for Stampalot using one of the new stamps from La Blanch called Wild Flowers here.

I masked a piece of Fabriano watercolour card and sponged three squares using TH wild honey and broken china, then stamped sections of the floral stamp with the masks still in place. The sentiment is a section of Penny Black 2695J.........to use a portion of a stamp I lay a post it note over the sections I don't want to use whilst inking.

Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for popping by.

La Blanch in the meadow

Hello peeps, scheduling this one as I wont be about for a day or so due to a hastily arranged 'secret mission'............can't share details for a bit yet I'm afraid............. but it's very crafty.........so a really brief post with a share I made for this weekends Christmas launch at Sir Stampalot.

Now I realise this one's not actually Christmas, but when the new Le Blanch stamps arrived at the shop I couldn't resist a couple more of that fabulous floral stamps, this one is called simply 'Meadow Flowers' and is available here.

I distressed a piece of Fabriano watercolour card with TH sage and rusty hinge then stamped Hero Arts silhouette grass using TH tea dye. Next I inked the main stamp with Aquamarkers and spritzed with water before stamping, then added a little more colour here and there with a paintbrush. I was really pleased with how the colours worked on this one and felt it needed little more than simply matting up onto the base card.

Catch you again soon.

Hairy bikers meet the secret garden

Morning folks, hope your week is going well.

Play here was interrupted by bad light yesterday when my vision went AWAL for a couple of hours, happened before but still scary stuff, but seems to be back to normal this morning, so will share what I intended to yesterday.

I was totally certain after seeing a lovely card Janice made last week that I definitely needed the TH fence and chains, although I am yet to be convinced that heavy grunge fits with my floral style.................so lets pretend the chain open the door to the Secret Garden.................well there has to be a bit of fantasy in there !!

The image is one of the gorgeous new La Blanch stamps called Wild Flowers which I stamped onto Fabriano watecolour card and coloured with Aquamarkers. I cut the fence and lock from Coredinations purple cardstock, inked with versamark and embossed with TH distress powder milled lavender..................after recovering the contents of the pot from my trouser legs and desk........no idea how that happened.

My second share is another Stampalot sample using one of the new Christmas stamps from Hero K5524 Winter Scene. I brayered through an oval aperture using the Speedball and Adirondack denim dye ink, then stamped the scene in black archival ink and added corners and border punched with Spellbinders Parisian Accents.

All of the new Christmas stamps and goodies will be on sale for the Christmas launch over the Bank Holiday weekend, lots of demos lined up including Lindsay Mason on Sunday 28th August.

New Penny Black and more

Good Afternoon everyone, hope you all had a good and crafty weekend. The weather was a bit windy here, still pretty warm and a bit of rain but not enough to keep hubby happy and the pending hay harvest is looking pretty dismal.

As usual a few shares of samples I have been making for Sir Stampalot using a selection of new stamps from Penny Black, Le Blanch and a selection of old favourite Art Impression ones.

My top card was masked then brayered with Adirkondack dye inks, a whole array of Art Impression stamps, then sponged to add definition to the hills and stream......which hubby said looked like a road ! Does it ?

New from Penny Black 4141K and oldie 2410K, TH distress inks rusty hinge and stormy sky and the flowers decoupaged with MME DP.

Another newbie slapstick from Penny Black 40-056, Magnolia fence masked to extend it and all coloured with Aquamarkers.

And finally, a set of two floral border from La Blanche. I masked the base card, stamped with Hero chalk ink cerulean and sponged the edges. The panel is stamped with versamark, embossed with detail clear and brayered with the same ink - an exception to the rule as I used a matt cardstock. The greeting is by Darkroom Door. UPDATE - I've lost the plot, I uploaded the wrong card, this one is Hero Arts elegant weeds !!.

New stamps, TV & demo sneak peeks

Nose to Nose 40-057 One of the new Penny Black slapstick stamps

Good Morning peeps, hope you are all enjoying this nice weather, lets hope it continues for the Easter weekend.

Gypsy Caravan 2 and Cloud stamp sets

Good Friday I will be domoing at Sir Stampalot.........inky backgrounds, brayering and of course some Penny Black stamps along with Le Blanche. If you are in the area please do pop in for a chat and coffee.

The gorgeous Rosa 4184K Penny Black stamp

It decoupages beautifully coloured with Aquamarkers, inked with versamark frost and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearls then moulded whilst wet. The DP is October Afternoon.

And another sneak peek at some of the stamps that will be included in Stamp Addicts next live TV programme at 11am on 27th April.........make a note in your dairy.

I'm still not able to spend long in front of the screen, so still shorts posts and not as many visits to you all as I would like, but when I do my DT commenting stints I try and stretch it a bit to visit a few peeps.

Deep in the Fens

As is becoming the norm, a few quick shares, most of which could be outside my window, well with a bit of imagination as the cereal crops in the last one are still green shoots.

The one above has a background masked and brayered with Adirondcak inks to create an atmospheric sky then stamped with a mixture of Art Impression and Clarity stamps.

Another using this cute La Blanche image from Sir Stampalot and Cosmo Cricket DP's. I stamped the left of the base card with the top part of the stamp.

And this one good old Hero Arts silhouette grass onto a piece of watercolour card coloured with TH distress inks stormy sky and wild honey.

More La Blanche and Stampscapes

Hello everyone, hope you all had a good weekend. I want to say a big thank you to all you kind people who still come to visit, desipte me being unable to visit you. I really do appreciate it.

So just a couple of quick shares........"quick" seems to be my word of the moment, but the evil screen still plays havod with my eyes and balance......or it could be the other way round ? I rather think so, such is the nature of this illness.

The card above uses a number of Stampscape stamps onto a brayered and masked background and the card below is another of my samples for Sir Stampalot using the gorgeous new La Blanche stamps which I coloured with Copics and covered with a couple of coats of TH crackle glaze. DP is My Minds Eye and the flower made with TH tattered floral die

Labrador parade and C&C reminder

Back left, Buffy....Peter Pan of the canine world.......at ten she still thinks she's one. Next to her Abbey, now eleven and in the front placid Lily on the left and sister Daisy who is still hyper as ever.

I've been promising this for so long and eventually I got a picture of the puppies together with the senior girls.....no boys allowed in this one.

There's a bit of a red theme going on here it seems, although not planned that way. The card above is another of my samples for Stamp Addicts new programme on Create and Craft this Thursday, 24th March at 11am. My card is watercoloured with Aquamarkers, cut with Grand Nestie labels one and the poppy made with TH tattered floral die.

And this one using one of the gorgeous La Blanche stamps I told you about last week here where you can see a close of of one of these rather different stamp which are available from Sir Stampalot. Also coloured with Aquamarkers and the background stamp is Hero Arts S5264.

Happy crafting everyone.

Great value new stamp range

(Stamped with versafine black, embossed with detail clear, coloured with a mixture of Copics and Aquamarkers and diamond glaze added to the flowers. The DP is one of the scrummy new ones from My Minds Eye)

OK folks, don't go into shock because I am doing two posts in one day..........quite remarkable after the lack of activity of late..........but it's only going to be short so I don't spend too long on the offending keyboard.

But I have been such a luck girl to get to play with some of the beautiful new La Blanch stamps and have to share..................you can find a whole range of them here at Sir stampalot.

(Stamped with archival black ink onto 600gsm Fabriano Atristico watercolour car and coloured with Aquamarkers. DP is Magnolia. Sentiment is PB 4070F)

Typically the weather has been dull all day here in the Fens and not the best of light for taking photos, so some are a bit on the gloomy side.

These new stamps are very different to any other I have ever worked with and when I first picked one up I though hmmmmmmm........here's a picture of what they look like close up.............

But wow, I need not have worried, they stamp beautifully. I have tried them with a variety of different inks, embossed with detail clear and even inking the stamp and spritzing. And the price is fabulous, check them out.

Above are the three on the cards in this post. They are all pretty fine detailed but stamp superbly - stamped above with versafine black.

(Inked stamp with Aquamraker and spritzing before stamping onto watercolour card. Sentiment is from one of the new Hero Arts sets which are shipping shortly)

This one was a really good test of the stamps, but again I got excellent result.

So in conclusion I can full recommend the stamps both for quality and value for money. Any questions about the specifics on any of my cards please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk