Happy Birthday Allsorts

This week the Allsorts Challenge Blog is celebrating its 14th Birthday and their challenge is Anything Goes. So I thought I would pop along and join in the fun. For this card I have used one of Lisa Hortons Stencil, Embossing Folder and Die sets (kindly lent to me by a friend). I really enjoyed having a play with this gorgeous set. The base card is 7x7 and I cut the mats using a Chloe die set, I used distress ink pads to colour the stencils and then mounted everything up using glue gel. I would like to wish Allsorts a Very Happy Birthday and wish them many more.

 Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Use Yellow

I'm back again today to share a card that I've made for the Allsorts Challenge this week which is Use Yellow.  I recently treated myself to the Tim Holtz Perspective Butterfly Die and I've been itching to use it. This challenge seem like the right time to get it out and give it a go. The background has been made using oxide sprays in yellow tones, when dry it was cut to size and then I went over it with a Lavinia stencil using Scattered Straw Distress Ink. After cutting the butterfly from 300 gsm card stock I blended Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Inks over the butterfly, then I inked all over with Versamark and embossed with Wow Clear Gloss embossing powder. I will admit to this die being far bigger that I first though when I bought it. The card base is a 7x7 and as you can see the butterfly at an angle fills the space. I've not added a sentiment to the card yet as I'm not sure where it's going to go.

I'm also going to pop along to the Butterfly Challenge this time. Although my card does not fill all of the requirements it is using a yellow which covers the Jasmine colour and off course the butterfly is there too. And finally as this is new and not been used before I'm going to pop along to the NBUS challenge too.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue
 

Wings

I'm just popping in today with a card for the current challenge at Make My Monday which is wings. For this card I made a background using Distress Inks and then stamped using Lavinia Stamps. I couldn't resist using this beautiful fairy swinging from the branches, she looks like she's having so much fun. I coloured the flowers at the bottom using Distress Pens and added some sparkle to her wings with a sparkle pen.

I'm also going to enter the Challenge over at A Bit More Time To Craft which is Anything Goes.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Rudolph Days

It's time again for another Rudolph Days Challenge, I can't believe how fast it seems to come around every month. My card or should I say cards this month I have made with a favourite stamp of mine from Stampendous. I seem to use it each year and try to do something different with it each time. This year I stamped it using Salty Ocean Distress Inks and then dragged the colour using a wet brush and a little of the ink from a refill bottle when needed. I then coloured the holly using a Distress Marker  and red glitter glue. I used Stickles to add some sparkle to the houses and snow and then some Tonic Nuvo glitter glue on the oval. I added a sentiment that I had received on a free stamp set from a magazine to finish.

 Another 8 cards to add to my growing collection.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sentiment In Focus

Two weeks ago I managed to blog every day and I was hoping to keep it up or at least blog more often. But like most things life has other ideas and last week my Mum was rushed into Hospital. I'm glad to say that she's on the mend now and should be coming home this afternoon. I'm waiting for a phone call as I'm posting this card. Hopefully I will be able to resume blogging again. My card is for the current challenge over on the Allsorts Blog which this week is Sentiment In Focus. For my card I used all Crafters Companion Products, starting with a 3D embossing folder which was given the distress ink treatment. Then I used one of the sentiments which was a fairly recent release form Crafters Companion, I distressed the edges with the same colours that I used for the embossed background.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Inky Background

Over on the Back To Basics And Beyond challenge blog they are asking for you to make cards with Inky Backgrounds. This is something that I love to do, so out came my card and inks and this is what I have come up with. I used Peeled Paint, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed distress inks onto Sheena Stamping card. Then I dribbled water over the background to lift out some of the colour before using this beautiful Squirrel stencil from Sweet Poppy over the top. I used Tim Holtz's Black Soot Archival ink to get the image really black (this is a pad that you have to make up yourself from a reinker bottle and blank ink pad). I them mounted onto some cream card and then onto a 6x6 black card blank. The sentiment was cut out of scraps of Cream and Black using a Paper Boutique die.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Music

I made this card for my Great Nephews 18th Birthday which was a few days ago and I hadn't got around to showing it on here. Then just now I noticed that the challenge this time over a Cardz 4 Guyz was Music. So now would seem the right time to show you and also enter the challenge too. I used distress inks for the background and also a stencil from Sheena Douglas. The sentiment stamp was  a free one from the front of a magazine and the other two are from Visible image. The 18 Today was from All Occasions Dies and all was put together with a piece of Silver mirri card and an 8x8 black card base.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

One Layer Butterflies

It was quite a busy time last week, with hospital visits everyday, thank you all for your good wishes. Father-in-law is still in hospital with a chest infection we're hoping he comes home later this week and Sister-in-law is now at home with no diagnosis as to what is wrong. She has to return for more tests though and has been given six weeks off work. Right now onto my card today, this has been made for the current Butterfly Challenge, which is only for a few more hours so I'm getting in by the skin of my teeth. On the 6th January I went with my friend down to Eileen Godwin's and took one of her wonderful workshops, we made one layer cards just like this one. So when I got home I knew that this was what I would do for the challenge, it was just a case of finding the time to tidy a little so I had room to craft. Well I managed it this morning and this was the result. An A6 one layer card using Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar distress inks and then Picked Raspberry through a butterfly stencil. I then used the edge of a Visible Image stamp around the edges using Real Red from Stampin Up and then finally I used the Butterfly stamp from Visible Image and sentiment stamp from Crafters Companion.

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:
Butterfly Challenge - O is for one layer and or the colour Ultra Pink
Allsorts Challenge - No patterned papers
A Bit More Time To Craft - Anything Goes

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Last Rudolph Days For 2017

First let me say sorry for being absent for the last couple of weeks, what can I say except I've been off enjoying myself. First at Craftaganza, held by Crafters Companion, which was up in Durham. Then the following weekend I attended a weekend workshop held by Clare Chervill from My Creative Spirit, this was making a beautiful Graphic 45 project. I'll show you photos later. Now onto today and its time for the final Rudolph Days Challenge for this year. I managed to take part every month except May when I was out of the country. This has meant that I have managed to make quite a stash of cards already to pop into the post next month. I would like to thank Maureen for holding this fun challenge every month, it certainly helped me build my stash up. This year I have enjoyed playing with my embossing folders and distress inks to make some of my Christmas cards. Some of the folders have been new and some I've had hidden away for a while, they are great for batch making. Here are four that I had fun with.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Playtime

Friday morning I decided that my stencils which were house in 3 A4 boxes could do with sorting out. In my cupboard I had some 6x6 scrapbooks that were unused, they looked ideal for the 6x6 stencils. after a productive morning filling 4 6x6 scrapbooks with the 6x6 stencils and a clarity stencils book with the clarity stencils I was inspired to get out the inks and have a play in the afternoon. Below is the result. I started with the flower stencil (sorry I've had this stencil so long I can't remember where it comes from) and some gesso which was splodged though the stencil onto some white card, this acts as  resist for the inks over the top, which came next when the gesso was dried. Then I went back with the same colours and inked through the stencil. I chose colours that I would not normally reach for, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and worn lipstick Distress Inks. Then I used a stencil from Peerless Designs which again I've had for sometime but it was unused. I inked through the stencil with Archival black and used the word dream from another unused Peerless Designs set at the bottom. Finally I highlighted some of the black before matting it onto a 7x7 card base.

I'm going to enter thins into the challenge over at Stamping Sensations which this month is anything goes.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Perfectly Created Chaos

There is a new challenge on the block over on the Perfectly Created Chaos blog hosted by Dori. This is my second entry into the challenge, my last one being 21 Again. For this card I have used From Land To Sea by Stampin Up, I started by colouring my white card with blue distress ink then in the same colour over stamping with two of the stamps from the set, the ships wheel and the tentacles from the jelly fish. Then in black I stamped two turtles and coloured these using a couple of shades of green pencils. I then added the sentiment in the corner and then ran the black ink pad around the outside edge of the page before mounting onto a 6x6 card blank.

Thank for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

21 Again

My post today is another of the four 21st Birthday cards that I had to make recently, this one from Mum to Daughter. I've used Lavinia stamps for this one with  Mustard Seed and Worn Lipstick distress inks for the background. The poppy pods were coloured using a distress pen in Ripe Persimmon and then a Wink of Stella over the top and also on the wings. The flowers were made using Tattered Lace duo folders and dies, coloured with the same distress inks as the background and I coloured the gems to match. I would also like to enter this card into the new challenge that has started over on the Perfectly Created Chaos blog which is Stamp It. Do pop over and take a look and maybe even join in too it runs until the 20th September.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

18th Birthday Card

I've been very quiet on the crafting front this week as we have had our grandson 4 days instead on the normal 2 days. But as I had a card that I made a couple of weeks ago but had not posted it on here , I thought I would show you this today. I used some new stamps from Sheena Douglas and the trusty Distress Inks for the background. I love these stamps, they are so handy for making cards for the younger generation and the older rockers of course. Hubby is off playing golf this weekend and now I have caught up with the housework and ironing I'm planning some serious crafting for the next couple of days.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

It's Been A While

Well my travelling is over for the next couple of months, we returned from Williamsburg, Virginia in the US last Thursday and hit the ground running.  As well as being Fathers day on the Sunday it was also our Grandsons Christening, I'm glad to say that everything went well on the day. Which is more than I can say for my PC, I have windows 10 and have got on very well with it despite reading about other peoples problems. That was until Saturday when it lost all of my apps and refused to work properly. Luckily I have a very tech savvy friend who has been able to sort it out for me, so fingers crossed it continues to behave.

My card that I'm showing you today is for my Father-in-law to give to our Great nephew next week on his 18th Birthday (mine is still a work in progress). I made it using stamps from Brett Weldele which I brought from Art From The Heart called called Dandy Robot (they have a large selection of his stamps here). I also used Stampin Up's Gorgeous Grunge and Timeless Textures to create the background. I started with a blank piece of white card and coloured the background with Broken China distress ink and then using various other colours of blue in distress inks over stamped. I then stamped my main images in Blueprint Sketch DI and coloured by dragging the colour out with a damp paintbrush. Then in MCS I made a further backing sheet with Congratulations on your 18th Birthday to the size I require to pop around the main topper. Again I coloured with Broken China DI before putting everything together on an 8x8 card blank.

I'm off now to finish the card that we will be sending, I hope to show you on another day, but before I go I would like to enter this into the Alphabet Challenge which at the moment is  I for inking up.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and for leaving your comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Rudolph Days Challenge

Wow the 25th of the month sure came around fast this time. I made my entry into the Rudolph Days Challenge at the end of last week, as I knew that today would be hectic. Not only do we have our Grandson for the day, but tomorrow we are up and off at stupid o'clock as we are going to Canada for a holiday. Still most of the bags are packed now just that last few bits to be added. For my card this time I have again gone for snowmen and this lovely stamp I picked up last September at Ally Pally on the Creative Expressions stand for just £3.00 (wood mounted). If I remember correctly it was originally  by Jayne Nesterenko. I stamped on to watercolour card and embossed with black embossing powder before using Aqua markers to colour them. I finished off by going around the outside with blue distress inks.

 As normal for this challenge I made a batch of 4, so my stash is growing every month. I normally like to get around and look at what everyone has made, my apologies for not being able to do that this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

When I'm 65

Yesterday it was Hubby's birthday and he's reached his official retirement age, although he retired in 2012. We had a quite day together and finished it off with a trip to our local Indian restaurant. I had asked him what he would like to do to mark the occasion and he decided on a birthday tea, so later today I have family and friends arriving for just that. There is going to be loads of sandwiches, nibbles and cake all washed down with party drinks no doubt. As it's his 65th we are celebrating by going away and for this trip we are of to Vancouver and also an Alaskan Cruise. This is something that we have both wanted to do for sometime now. I'm also hoping to meet with a couple of blogging friends while there.

Below are a couple of the cards that I made for him, the first covers his favourite hobby, Fishing. And the second his latest obsession Golf. For the Fishing card I used an image from Joanna Sheen's Nostalgia Collection and dies from All Occasion dies and Tonic. The image show two children a girl and a boy, we have one of each, hubby often took them both with him while fishing but I certainly did not dress my daughter in dresses.

 The second card was made using the Fairway to Heaven stamp from Indigo Blu. It was coloured with distress inks and distress pens with the sentiment being made on the PC.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge

I was inspired by the colours of this months Chocolate Baroque challenge and also by the the tulips that have just opened in my garden. So using one of last years Year of Stamping Tulips made the card below to enter.

I stamped the smaller of the two stamps using Memento ink and coloured using distress pens, I then cut out the image and mounted onto gold mirri card. The background was made using distress inks and then over stamping with a flourish stamp from the Patchwork Butterflies set. Finally the sentiment is from the Amazing Birthday set.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Rudolph Days

I can't believe how quickly the last month has flown by and it's the 25th of the month again. Time to play along over on Scrappymo's Rudolph Days challenge again. I was lucky enough to win the die from last month's challenge, a lovely holly die which I shall look forward to using in the future. This month I have used this gorgeous snowman from Stampendous. I stamped in versamark onto watercolour card stock and then embossed with Wow black sparkle embossing powder. Next I coloured using Aqua pro markers and a water brush. Finally I went around the edges with stormy sky distress ink before mounting onto a 6x6 card base.

 Another four cards to add to my growing collection for Christmas 2016.

Happy Easter to everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Great Weekend Away

Well the retreat last weekend went really well, despite the fact that there was a terrible accident on the M42. Which held up traffic all day, Hubby and I took a detour and missed the last part of the motorway and arrived early afternoon. However a couple of the other ladies who left later sent me a text a 8.00pm on the Friday evening to say they were 27 miles away from the hotel. But they were sitting in a traffic jam, they finally made it to the hotel at 1.30 in the morning. Despite this we were ready to Craft at 9.30 on Saturday morning (all 8 of us). Our first day was spent discovering the delights of The Art Journal (ran by Mickey) and various ways to decorate the page (I'll show you some of what we did at a later date). The following day was a workshop that I ran and another (ran by Elaine) where we decorated a box frame (again I'll show you later, when I get it finished). The workshop that I ran was to decorate a canvas, and the idea behind this is that you decorate several canvases with photos and then join them together, sort of like a family tree.

My first canvas was my sample and used a photo of the family when they were much younger. First I added paste through a stencil and then when dry painted with a mixture of gesso and a few drops of vintage photo distress ink mixed in. When all of this was dried I gently rubbed a little gold gilding wax over the paste areas. The photo was placed in a frame made from a cricut cartridge, along with some swirl and the wording also cut on the cricut ( this could be done with other cutting machines or suitable dies). After distressing with vintage photo they were glued into place.

This second canvas was started at the retreat and finished at home, and shows my in-laws on their wedding day back in 1949. My next job is another canvas only this time with my parents on their wedding day. Glad to say there were no hold ups on the way home Sunday evening.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sprinkled With Fairydust

I love the warm colours on this months Chocolate Baroque Challenge and have had them sat on my desk for a few days now. When I saw Claire's inspiration card over on the blog this week it reminded me that I had these stamps in the back of the cupboard and it's been a long time since they came out to play.

So after a bit of a rummage this is what I came up with. My card base is A5 with the topper made slightly smaller. With distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick and Barn Door, I used my brushes to achieve the background sky and hills. Next with black onyx and stamps from various sets I created my scene. The sentiment is from a set that I can't find on the website but included similar sayings to the one on the card. I added Wink Of Stella in clear to the wings and lifted the colour from the toadstools at the bottom and coloured with a white opaque pen.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue xx