Stamping for the Weekend and Friday Sketchers

Afternoon all, bit light on the postings afraid this weekend and apologies that I've not been doing my blogging rounds as I should, but spent good deal of time at hospital yet again, not going into details suffice to say not nice and painful. And looks like more rain and if the BBC can be relied on it won't be much different for the next few days........ only upside as far as I can see is for the horses, the grass it growing like a triffid. And I guess it's just what the Aussies were hoping for as we had them on the rack at the weekend (I'm on cricket now) and now they smell a draw. (Update - we won !!)

I'm combing two challenges here, this weeks nice sketch from Friday Sketchers and Stamping for the Weekend which is based on "Rock and Roll and offers three song titles and you must depict one in your card - I have gone for Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan........confess I don't remember this one, but in the 70/80s I had other things on my mind apart from music - try a new baby or four for starters ........ but ask me about Queen and some of Freddy's greatest moments and there would be no problem........strutting his stuff at Wembley in those oh so snug white shorts with frayed edges (yes I was there) that yellow tee shirt and not forgetting the white skin tight jeans, ermine cloak and crown, oh my, what Freddy couldn't do with a mic stand isn't worth remembering........oh I could go on for ages on this one, not that I'm an eternal fan or anything you realise......... put it like this, if Verdi or Andrea Bochelli's not on my i pod, Queen is the rest of the time.

Now, anough waffle and on to my card, the image is a Sarah Kay which I have coloured with Promarkers. The DP is Daisy Bucket and Sandylion. Leaves are cut on Cricut storybook, inked with Tim Holt china blue and heat embossed with iridescent powder and the Hero Arts flowers have been inked with the same TH ink and versamark then embossed with detail clear giving them Always About Colours Chris's 'peanut' treatment.

Spoonful of Sugar 54

Well, got one challenge posted earlier then blogger went into meltdown again so decided to put my mind to working on a sample board for an extra Sir Stampalot class next month with the new My Minds Eye DP's and Hero stamps. And I amazed even myself, six cards, board completed and I'm really quite happy with 'Colours of Nature', lots of lovely yellows, bronzes and oranges. Can't share yet, but will do so nearer the time.

But all of this means I'm all behind with my blog visits so sorry everyone, I've not really abandond my blog buddies. And of course theres the lurking issue of the new laptop ........ It's so not true that computers are only as good as their users. I was feeling so pleased with myself that everything was working so well and left just my Cricut to transfer from my desktop ........ that's right this is where it all went pearshaped. So Wayne, the very nice man in Utah is helping me out yet again and hopefully all will be well with the world again shortly.

So back to my outstanding challenges I continued the messy ink techniques explained in my previous post and created a backgrond in the same way for this weeks A Spoonful of Sugar challenge which is a sketch by Sonja which is also my card for this weeks ABC's challenge "Q for Quilt".

The 'quilty' part is the bottom section using small squares of a coordinating Sandylion DP. Main image, yes you got it ........ Stampendous P107 - OMG - I don't even have to check the product code on this one anymore ........ I'm telling myself I need to buy another one just in case it gets lost or something dreadful happens to it ........ well you never know what might happen to a stamp expecially when it's loved as much as this one. The greeting is Art Impression F3143 and the scroll down the side Inkadinkado 97632 all stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear. I like the colours on this one, but feel it's a bit too busy for me, but who am I to question the designers requirements and I think it's actually growing on me, so they were right all along.

And if you are still with me at the end of this garbled diatribe thank you for your perseverance, it's just been one of those days that seems to go on forever, but at least I achieved most of what I wanted to do and with Wayne's help the day should end on a cricut note. Oh how naff is that ?

Special birthday card

Been asked to make a special card for a lovely lady called Lyn who works at the nursing home which cared for my dear Dad right up till his death at Christmas.

I make them lots of cards for residents and fund raising days, my way of saying that you for all their love and care during the three years Dad lived there. Lyn loves decoupage and lilac is her favourite colour and as I want to make this a bit special thought a stick pin made up in matching beads would add that extra touch.

The main image is PB 3865K which lends itself well to decoupage, stamped and embossed simply in black and detail clear and the decoupage layer stamped onto Sandylion DP, diamond glazed and green stickes added to the centre of flowers whilst DP is still wet. The bottom section is My Minds Eye DP which I also used for the '50' cut on Cricut Storybook. I also decorated the envelope with a greeting and off stamped the floral image as well.

More Glimmer mists

Thought I would make one more as the flowers from this morning's GM session are still scattered round my craft room, conservatory - well everywhere really so they dry out properly as I went in a bit heavy on the mica spray.

The main image is stamped with Magenta 26032P using versafine sepia and detail clear emboss onto a base sprayed with turquoise, daisy and gold GM's to match the flowers.

DP Sandylion, paper flowers, gems and buttons to embellish.

Cupcake challenge 38

What a lovely theme this week for the Cupcake challenge set by "Claire, better known as CraftyC who would like to see Numbers on your card/project".

I have used a stamp which I really love and had for years, but not used that often, but as it's a bit arty to my mind and I need a '27' birthday card for an art student, thought this was ideal. It's from Rubber Stampede 3729H and has been stamped onto acetate with stayzon and laid over a GM'd background using lilac, gold and bubblegum. The card itself has been repeat stamped with another good old favourite Hero H2365 using versamark dazzle champagne and then chalked. I then stamped over the edges with Hero F5042 using brilliance crimson copper then heat embossed with detail clear.

The DP is Sandylion which I have also used to punch out butterflies which have then been diamond glazed and gems added plus ribbons to finish.

I'd be thrilled if you take a look at this post on my blog to see if you can help.

Stamp Something Challenge

This weeks challenge for Stamp Something is 'Shapes' using a minimum of two different shapes. The card I have created is a design I have used several times before which uses up lots of scraps of paper, ribbon etc., - unusual for me given that I'll be the first to admit I'm not a thrifty crafter. The design is always popular at demos as it offers people lots of ideas of how they can use their stash in their own way. In this one I have used one of my favourite colour combinations of yellow and blue. All stamps are Hero Arts unmounted with the exception of the Penny Black butterfly, all stamped with versafine majestic blue and embossed with clear detail onto Bazzil and Sandylion.