Moonlight across the lake

Good Morning Peeps. Still no sign of the sun here is the Fens, but this morning it's really misty so I am hoping that might clear away into a nice day, we can but hope.

You seemed to like my inkyness yesterday and thank you so much for your very kind comment, so thought I would share another, this time a moonlight scene across the lake. As usual a mixture of stamps from Art Impressions, Stampscapes and the little boat is from a Stamp Addicts sheet which we used  a few months back for one of the Create and Craft TV shows. I tried to create some reflection in the water by sponging and reverse stamping.

I used the trusty Speedball brayer onto gloss cardstock and Adirondack inks cloud blue, denim and black. I usually leave these type of cards fairly simple, but I decided to add a little lace and ribbon to this one to give a softer feel.

I am entering this into this months Create a Scene challenge who want to see 'Moonlight'

Have a good Thursday everyone.

A landscape

So how is everyone this morning and do you have any sunshine ? Despite the weekend showing all the signs of Spring having arrived, the last three days have been dull and dark, but at least it's fairly mild.

Looking at the growing pile of files on my desk I am going to be busy this morning, so thought I had better do a quick post now before I get stuck in. My share is a simple bit of brayering with a touch of ink dusting........still loving these.  I stamped the large tree first using archival back ink and the tree from an Andy Skinner set. Then masked a sun and added the sky with Adirondack dye inks hazelnut and butterscotch, created the landscape with layers of torn paper and stamped on some more trees which are Art Impressions, Hobby Art sheep which I coloured with a white fine tip marker, hand drawn fence and some foreground foliage with Inkylicious stamps.

Thanks for popping by and have a good Wednesday.

Moonlight

Good Morning Peeps, how you all doing ? The  weather  here  looks  promising  today  and after  yet another overnight frost I'm hopeful we might see some sunshine, after all it's meant to be Spring.

I thought I would share a bit of my favourite crafty pastime, brayering of course and as lots of you know I love my suns and moons so this months Craft a Scene theme of 'Moonlight' was totally up my street. The stamp from The Unmounted Stamp Company is one a lovely crafty friend sent me for my Birthday last year..............she said she saw it at a show and thought of me, anyone would think I was a closet treeaholic.

I made several very similar to this one as I think they are perfect for Winter Birthdays, her's included. A very simple brayered background using the Speedball with Adirondack denim and black, stamped the image with archival black then sponged the hills and snow drifts. I added a rose, leaves and some lace to add a feminine touch, but I think without those it would be fine for a guy as well.  I also decorated the envibox to match, don't know if you have discovered these but they are so useful for cards with a little bit more height and protect the embellies. Nearly forgot, I added some snow with a white fine tip marker.

This is my entry for......................

Craft a Scene whose theme is Moonlight

Whatever you have planned, have a good day and hope the sunshine reaches you.

Spring Dance

This month seems to have flown by and already it's the fourth and last week of our Free and Easy February at Allsorts and my teamie Emma's turn to host the challenge.

Things remain slow going here and am having still to rely on my wheelchair so not been far at all, if you've ever tried packing one into the boot of an MX5 you will understand why. Hubby' really good and happy to take me out in his car weekends when he's not at work, but somehow the will to shop has evaded me lately. And no way am I going anywhere Sunday, my boys in red are playing Cardiff at Wembley in the Carling Cup final so it would take wild horses to shift me from the TV that day. 

Now for my DT card this week, one I did a few weeks ago when I was playing with new release Hero stamps and one of the samples I did for Sir Stampalot using Hero Arts K5540 Spring Dance. I love working with silhouette stamps and this ones lends it's self to the simplicity of a brayered background using Adirondack raspberry and lettuce, then matting and layering using Scribble Scrabble DP and Nesties labels 23. The roses are a Marianne die, the swirl Memory Box and the little birdie inked and covered in Glossy Accents, was in a bag of chipboard ones given to me by a crafty friend at Christmas.

Whatever you have planned, have a good weekend and my thanks for your visit.

Country paths

Morning Peeps...........take note I missed out the good because the weather here today is atrocious, it started raining in the night and it's been throwing it down ever since.

So lots of muddy paw marks this morning and no airing in the paddock for the horses whilst they are mucked out, something they love if it's frosty. Ben is a good boy and stands so quietly outside their stables watching and munching hay, but Heskey is a real fidget and dances constantly and can't want to get back in his stable as he knows there will be some carrots hidden amongst the fresh straw...............just like children really. 

It been a long time since I could muck out, so thank heavens for hubby and Anysia. My day holds another acupuncture session which I have been trying as an alternative to osteopathy to try and get my legs a bit more mobile and pain free after their latest hissy fit. I am open to giving anything a try which might work.................within reason that is !!

A share of a card and also the winner of the little offering on my Monday post who is................

Marja from the Netherlands

Congratulations Marjo, please mail me with your full postal addy.

Now onto my shares for today, for the one at the top I stamped the Inkylicious trees using Archival sepia ink, then brayered the sky with Adirondack dye ink watermelon masking a sun where I wanted the horizon. To create the paths across the fields I removed the roller from the brayer and twisted a rubber band round the roller, just twice, pushed the roller back into the brayer handle and  ran it across the area where I wanted the fields using Adirondack lettuce and meadow. Finally I used a piece of town copier paper to act as a mask and added the hedges using the edge of the tree stamp.

Have a good day everyone and as always, thank you so much for popping in, I really do appreciate your visits.

Edited: I have been encouraged by a good friend in Oz to enter this for a brand new challenge Create a Scene and as I love doing just that it seems to make scene, even if I don't really do challenges due to the eyes, much as I enjoy taking part.

A little brayering and a lucky win

Good Afternoon peeps, it's gone all quite in the office the last half hour so though I would do a quick post, but I bet as soon as I start to type the phones will warm up and e.mails will start pinging in, so it might be dinner time this evening before this posts.

Just the one share of a card I came up with for Stampalot. I masked the edges of a piece of gloss cardstock then stamped with black archival ink using Art Impression stamps masked the images and brayered and sponged with Adirondack due inks eggplant, black and butterscotch. After removing the masks I added the little robin and coloured his breast with Aquamarkers.

And a little bit of exciting news, I was one of the three winners of Stix 2's........the glue and essential craft accessories people.......... Christmas competition and this morning received a fabulous package of goodies from them as my prize. But afraid I can't share a picture of my work as I don't have a picture of it, I tend to take these things rather in my stride and didn't think for a mo I would be a winner and in any event my entry was more of a sample for one of their demo days than an intended competition entry.

No more news on the Royal Mail front apart from an automated response to my complain yesterday morning, I guess they work at pedestrian pace and it might be a while yet, but I will be sure to let you know the outcome.

Thanks for popping in and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.

I 'need' to make Spring cards (and candy winners)

Good Morning everyone.

Only three days to go until 'the' day and today's "Turkey" day................and gammon and several other things. My daughter and I will be popping off to collect it this morning, seemed a bit early to me but today is the day the farm shop allocated for collections, so I figure it might be heaving there.

My share above is just a little bit of inking and brayering using Stampscapes stamps inking and Adirondack inks and a Summer scene to help ward off these bleak winter days. Funny how all I have wanted to do craft wise this last week or two is make bright Spring and Summer cards, did I say how much I dislike Winter ?

And of course I need to tell you the names of my candy winners, so here they are.

Winner of my December Walnut Hollow goodies is...................

Julie

And winner of the mini  DP candy from Tuesday is.....................

Spyder

Congratulations to you both, please mail me with your full postal addys by 27th Decmeber (will re-draw any not claimed by that date).

A crane takes flight

Good Morning everyone, well I hope it will be when this pops up as I am scheduling it as by now I should be checked into hospital and become robotic linked up to machines and a "probe".....don't much like the sound of that bit.........monitoring my hearts activity for a couple of days. To say I am petrified is an understatement, not so much by the tests, more by what they may find, although they have already told me it will be a few days before I get all the results as they need to be "analysed". And being removed from my craft desk and computer will be a huge wrench, so I guess I will have to be a virtual crafter and dream cards for a while.

My share for today is one of the samples I have just finished for Sue of Animal Spirit stamps, this one uses the lovely Crane stamp and I have combined it with a bit of inking and brayering. I stuck with two colours of Adirondack dye ink, butterscotch and hazelnut. The trees are Inkylicious as is the sentiment. I stamped the crane onto Copic cardstock and coloured with Copics.

Hope you all have a good day and as always, thank you so much for dropping by.

Yet more inky fingers

Good Morning Peeps, just having a coffee break so thought I would do a quick post with a couple of shares and some inky fun.

It's pretty miserable weather here in the Fens still, typical November and getting decent photos is almost impossible as that glimmer of sunshine never arrives so these piccies are not as I would like, but I know we are all having the same problems.

For the one above I sponged Adirondack dye inks sunshine yellow and watermelon and TH distress ink broken china and spritzed with Glimmer Mist pearl, then lifted some of the ink to create a watery sun and stamped over that with a Clarity stamp using Adrondack pebble to give a soft feel. Next I stamped some grasses in black from the Andy Skinner Winter Tale sheet and then Penny Black 3381K Aspire using versamark and detail gold embossing powder. I cut the finished piece into six and mounted onto gold mirri card.

The above card is one I did at my Stampalot demo last week and very similar to one I shared a couple of weeks ago, but this time using Art Impression trees and Hobby Art cows. The background is brayered with Adirondack shy blue, denim, lettuce and meadow. The poem is computer generated an the fence hand drawn with a fine nib black pen.

Off to climb Everest

Well I'm not, but one of our Son's and his girlfriend are, so I thought I would make them a card to wish them good luck on their journey.

They are flying out to Delhi this week via Dubai, then moving on to Agra to see the wonderful Taj Mahal...........that's one still on my wish list and I have told them I want a text picture from that famous seat synonymous with the picture of Princess Diana. Then they fly up to Kathmandu and the trek to Everest Base Camp.

One of my friends asked why my kids don't do normal things like visiting the Lake District.........good question !

The  card above follows a very similar design to the Everest one and is one of my samples from the Demo day at Stampalot on Saturday which was a really fun day and as I suspected I met lots of new and familiar faces.......a big thank you to everyone who came and helped make it such a great day.

The stamp.....only the one repeat stamped, on the Everest card is Stampscapes and very simple brayering and sponging with Adirondack dye inks. The sentiment which is computer generated is a quote from Sir Edmund Hilary and I thought so apt as our son and his girlfriend are professional photographers..........they met at Uni doing the same course.

My second card uses Art Impression stamps, a hand drawn fence and again simple brayering. The sentiment is Penny Black 3227K Hope.

Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate all your visits and kind words.

Lost in translation...........

........or to be more specific in the Royal Mail postal system.................I can't believe that my package of 20 samples to Stamp Addicts for the new shows on C&C at 10am and 1pm tomorrow has not been delivered more than a week after it was sent by Special Delivery................and RM's records can't even tell me where it was last tracked in their system. And to add insult to injury, they can't................or should that be their intransigent system won't investigate until fifteen days after the "expected" delivery date.

And as I said the other day, I really loved making these ones and spend hours and hours on them and could have gone on forever with those gorgeous tree stamps. So the best I can do is share a few more pictures of some of those samples.

Another of the new stamp stamp is this one with arched windows and curtains which were fun to work with.



And the On the Water stamp set.

Another of the trees.

Have a good day everyone, the weathers non too bright here so it looks like some crafting will be in order after work.

Brayering into Autumn

When you check out the new Stamp Addicts stamp sheets here which will be featured on the new Create and Craft TV programme at 10am and 1pm on Friday 28th October, it will come as no surprise that I have totally enjoyed playing with them.

These two cards have been made using the Trees and On the Water sets, plus I have used a few elements such as the sheep from the Scenery sets feature earlier in the year but still available to buy on Stamp Addicts web site.

For both cards I used the good old Speedball Brayer and Adirondack dye inks onto glossy cardstock and the fence is just drawn in with a fine nib permanent pen. The poem on the top card was sourced on the Internet and is the first verse of 'Autumn' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning which sums up the season beautifully.

Bali, a surfers paradise

Good Morning peeps, is it cold or what here in the Fens today, the heating kicked in during the night again so a sure sign colder days have arrived.

I thought I would share the card I made for one of our son's Birthdays. I know I am safe to show it as he and his wife went off to Bali at the weekend and I have no doubt that by now his surf boards have been well and truly tested in the Bali Sea which sits within the Indian Ocean waters. He's been a keen surfer since he was a teenager and Bali has always been one of his dream destinations for surfing.

The stamps are a mixture of Stampscapes, art impression and I had the silhouette surfer with his board specially made for this card. Inks are of course Adirondack dye inks and I also used the Speedball brayer.

Have a good day everyone, I'm not likely to be about for a few days now due to the medical tests etc., I mentioned Saturday.

By the light of the silvery moon

Hello Peeps, hope your week is going well, it seems to be flying past here, almost the weekend again before I know it. So as tomorrow if Friday it means there's the opportunity to pick us some free stash from Sir Stampalot !!

Because it's Freebie Friday again.......

Which means you can choose either of these Art Impression sets value £18.95 absolutely FREE when you place an order on line for £35 between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow 7th October. Either one will be fabulous for all those Crimbo cards still waiting to be made.

I had a bit of inky fun this week making some more sample cards ready for the 'Fourth Ultimate Rubber Stamping Day' at Sir Stampalot on 29th October, grief that means it's only three weeks away now, so I need to get my skates on.

For the background I brayered Adirondack dye ink denim on gloss cardstock, masking a moon........there has to be a moon, then spritzed water and immediately blotted with a piece of kitchen towel to create the snow effect. I then stamped the main image Hero Arts K5524 Winter Scene and sponged the same inkpad to create snow drifts. Finally I sponged more ink using the edge of a piece of copy paper to give the impression of light coming from the moon. As always plenty of fantasy going on.

Contrasts of Nature

Nature never fails to amaze me, here we are into October, leaves are changing colour by the day, yet my roses continue to flourish as though it were June. In fact the floribunda in the picture below...........and that's only part of the bush.......was a present on my birthday last year, so has has only been in a year, yet has flowered constantly like a mature bush since May.

Note a lab lurking in the background

My Autumn card up top is using Ruth's new pumpkin image at A Passion for Stamps which I have coloured with Aquamarkers and covered with Glossy Accents, although that's not to clear in my picture. The corn on the nestie mat is Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grass. And the embossed panel is coredinations and new Sizzix folder, sanded down to reveal the core colour.

I also had a little play to see if it was possible to print digi images onto shrink plastic and it seems it is. I had been wondering about it for ages, but despite reading through the packaging on every make in the shop at Stampalot, none suggest it's an option. So I decided the worse case scenario was I wasted a sheet of shrinky. It would not feed through my printer at first as it was too slippery, so I sanded the leading edge both sides and it went through a treat. I blotted the images a couple of times to get rid of the excess ink, then coloured with Aquamarkers and shrunk it down to gets some tiny pumpkins.

And this one a bit more playing with the Speedball brayer, Adirondack dye inks and as assortment of Art Impression stamps. The fence against the cows is a a bit out of context size wise, but hey ho, it's all fantasy.

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.

Freebie Friday looms again

Good Morning peeps, hope everyone is OK.

The days seem to be flying by as tomorrow is Freebie Friday again at Sir Stampalot. Not sure what this weeks free give away will be, but it's been pretty awesome the last couple of weeks, so why not sign up to their newsletter Smudges here.

Did any of you see the new POW Spellbinder egeabilities on C&C this week ? I'm sure they said they were were the first to get them in the UK, but not quite true because they are all here and have been for the last weeks or so, all ready for dispatch including the gorgeous Spring Blossom dies..........that one with the cut out edge is already on my wish list.

I got so carried away I almost forgot to tell you about my two cards here. The top one has been brayered through a circle mask with Adirondack Sunset Orange and simply stamped with Art Impression U3095.................which I only just noticed says DEMO in the side which means it must of snuck home in my bag by accident.......sorry Janice.

My second share has been brayered with Big and Juicy Spice and the scene created with various Stampscape stamps.