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.

Bunnies washing day

No idea what happened yesterday and only just realised this scheduled post was not where it should be.......Mr Bloggers fault of course, who else.

Before I tell you about this weeks new challenge at Allsorts, a quick reminder about the new Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge which starts on 1st July. If you have not already signed up what are you waiting for, pop over there now, we have some great themes lined up for you and of course fabby Penny Black stamps as prizes all being donated by Penny Black themselves.

This week at Allsorts, the DT were given images to use by this weeks sponsors Squiggle Stamps and the lovely Emma who is hosting this weeks challenge came up with a really great sketch to use.

I printed my image out several time so I could decoupage elements after colouring with Prismacolor pencils and Sakura pens. The DP is a an old piece from my stash and afraid I have absolutely no idea of the make.

I added a Magnolia flowers, some punched leaves and a beaded pin to embellish.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

Where's this week going ? All those jobs I was going to do 'tomorrow' remain undone and suddenly the wedding is the week after next......scary or what when I think what's to be done, not least wearing in my new shoes that still sit in the box.

But that's the least of our problems.........the Matron of Honours dress is somewhere between here and Paris where she lives. She came over for fittings twice and as there is already so much to take over for the wedding including the four girls bridesmaid dresses, they said they would send hers on when the final adjustments were made. Initially they said it was delayed because of the Volcanic Cloud.....lame excuse it seems because now they have no idea where it is other than "in France". So panic is just beginning to set on as her dress and the other four have been made in identical material so no way we could match it up at this late stage. Another call to the dressmaker shortly as she promised faithfully to track it down today.

Crafting, well just a bit and a card for some challenges. ABC challenge who are up to "U for Unused Stash - a stamp that I 'had' to have when I saw it forever ago and never inked it up, Cupcake challenge who want to see "Buttons", Tuesday Taggers who want us to go "Outside the Comfort Zone"........as I said in my last post working with circles is something I avoid like the plague. And I have followed the sketch from Creative Card Crew for the layout of my easel card. And finally The Crafty Pad would like us to "Give it a Punch".

The stamp is from Stampabilities KR1042 Jack and Jill which I stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Marvy pens. The plain circles is cut with a Nestie thorough the Big Shot and the scalloped one is a Marianne stencil. The gorgeous double sided Crate Paper DP is one of the new designs and the middle panel of the front of the card is a plain piece of linen card embossed with Swiss Dots folder then lightly inked with a chalk eye pad. The border and corners are Martha Stewart are doily lace trim, the largest flower yet another of the new ones from Magnolia and a couple of smaller ones from my stash. And finally tiny buttons across the bottom border strip.

Lilac blossoms

First things first, on behalf of Louise who I wrote about yesterday, thank you for all your kind comments and also the lovely mails I received from so many of you. I saw Louise yesterday and she is naturally very upset by this whole incident, but I know she will rise above it and share more of her splendid work with us all.

Some of you feel the guilty party should be "named and shamed", however as it was not my work I don't feel that's my call, but I will say her activity in the crafting community is such that this incident makes it doubly appalling and I sincerely hope that the crafters she repeatedly claims to know through her appearances on Create and Craft do not condone her conduct.

Now onto a new challenge and it's Amanda's turn to host Allsorts challenge this week and she has come up with a lovely balanced sketch.

And we are so excited as we have the very talented Elizabeth Allan who designs for Penny Black over in the States as our Guest Designer this month. I was lucky enough to meet Elizabeth earlier this year and spend an afternoon crafting with her, so having her join us for May really is very special for me.

Another easel card........I'm still hooked on them and have used one of the new Sarah Kay stamps my hubby picked up for me at Stampalot recently........is this a hint that I need to spend more on crafting and he thinks I've not enough I wonder......if only. But she is rather cute, just a shame about her name - Fanny's Cuddles. The gate/fence is one of the new Easter collection from Magnolia.......just because I can't bring myself to use Tilda does not mean I don't like the accessories. The tree and butterflies are from Penny Black 30-304 and the cobbles and grass art impression stamps. I used a combination of Copics and Prismacolor to colour and added Liquid Pearls here and there. The DP is Kaiser.

And finally a reminder to put a note in your diaries for 15th May........a very special week coming up at Allsorts with lots of fun and prizes. You won't want to miss out I can assure you.

Red and White for St George

Update: I always said Hero Arts should make the codes bigger on their stamps as I have probs reading them........somebody has very kindly pointed out to me that I got it a bit wrong for the above stamp, so I have amended it below and it is K5353.

There's a new challenge at Rosie D's which our teamie Lyn is hosting and has given us the theme of England/St George or just Red and White.

This card is also my entry for this weeks Cupcake challenge which has the theme Red and White.

I confess that the patriotic side of it stumped me a bit and I have gone down the easy route of red and white. I had a new Hero stamp yet to be inked up and as it is a nice shadow stamp thought it would work well with red and some bleaching.

The stamp is Hero Arts K5345 In the Garden which I stamped with versamark and embossed with detail clear onto some red matt cardstock. It's always difficult to be sure how well bleach will take and on this occasion I ended up with a brownish colour, so when it was dry and coloured the beached areas with a white Prismacolor pencil which lightened it enough for what I wanted.

I mounted the piece onto white cardstock and embossed a piece of red Bazzil using the script Cuttlebug folder. The wavy edges is EK Success Dotted Wave punch and some ribbon and pearls added to embellish. A fairly quick and easy card.

Easter chocolates

Hope you all had a good weekend. Judging by all the news I have read about the NEC round blogland, I am thinking there is an awful lot of new stash being pushed around craft desks today.

No NEC visit for me, but I still had a crafty indulgence at Stampalot pawing over yet more new goodies.........you only have to take your eye off the ball for a couple of days and new stash has arrived. So leisurely shopping without the frenetic crowds plus a new Japanese hole punch.

I have resisted buying a new one for weeks since my old one........probably my first 'big' craft purchase many years ago.......gave up the ghost punching more than one sheet. Little did I know when I bought it that the price would come down by £10.......and that what I spent on the original one would be like a drop in the ocean compared with future crafty buys. But needs must.

I have one creation to share which you today which is for this weeks Cupcake Craft Challenge which has the theme of "Spring or Easter - with lots of chocolate" I was tempted to use brown on my card as the chocolate element, but I am still besotted with this new Kaiser Craft DP and wanted to keep my card light and bright, so the chocolate is in the form of a bag of them.

My main image is Penny Black 4076K Gift of Flowers which I stamped several times to decoupage, colouring with a mixture of Prismacolor pencils and Promarkers. The circle sentiment is Hero Arts A4981, the punched border Martha Steward doily lace trim and flowers, pearls and leaves added to embellish. The bag was simply made with a scoreboard and the same image from the card decoupaged and placed on the front.

Blooming roses

Well whatever happened to Spring ? After a promising start to the week we have rain again.........hubby tells me that's good as we needed it to wash in the fertiliser he spread on the paddocks Monday. I know he's right, but oh for some warmer brighter weather.

I have created quite a quick and simple card following the sketch at Inspiration Card Sketches, but have twisted it a bit which hopefully they won't mind and it still fits the challenge OK. The rose image is Penny Black 3815J and I have coloured the roses with my new Prismacolor pencils drawing on the pastel shades of the Scrapbook Walls DP. I made three roses from the same DP and added a border and corner punched with Martha Steward Eyelet Lace. To embellish, some pearls, punched leaves and Diamond Glaze to the stamped roses.

A Special Blog Buddy Class - Is anyone interested in filling a space that has just come up on Saturday 5th June ? It's something I have organised by special request just for blogging friends and will consist of a whole day's class at Sir Stampalot (normal £25 class fee plus just for this special day, lunch on the go as well) where myself and Chris will be bringing everything along to make some special projects.......they are so special that we have not even decided what they are yet ! Our VIP group are coming from far and wide so if you want in, mail me a.s.a.p. as it will be on a first come basis.

Finally, there is a one last Hero Goody Bag on offer over at Stampalot Challenge blog so don't forget to add your name to be in with a chance of winning.