Sunday 31 March 2013

Clarity stamp challenge entry...

Hello bloggers, happy Easter!!

I'm entering this card into the Clarity stamps challenge, right at the last minute!
I coloured La Petite Musique with my copics, and made the flower with Tim Holtz tattered florals die.


Time for another Lavinia challenge posting tomorrow...
Enjoy your day and thanks for popping by..., don't eat too many eggs!! :) xx

Thursday 28 March 2013

Vintage butterflies

Hello everyone!

I'm entering today's card in Rhedd and Rosie's challenge, which is Vintage/Shabby.
These lovely butterflies and the word are from Inkylicious, the crackle background is from Visible Image.
I managed to blend Antique linen and Tattered rose distress inks (thank you Pauline and Eileen! :) ) in the background and then used my tattered rose DI pen on the butterfly wings.  The pearls I bought yesterday from Whitstable Stamp Craft in their bargain sale for £1.50 for a big bag... Oh I do love a bargain!!


You may notice that my comments box now pops up as a separate page, this is because I've heard from Eileen Godwin and the Rhedd and Rosie's challenge blog that embedded comment boxes can mean some comments are missed, don't know why but I'm doing what I'm told and using the pop-up box instead!... :D   Thank you for visiting, have a very happy Easter and enjoy the break! xxx



Wednesday 27 March 2013

PanPastels and a bargain stamp set!

Hello bloggers!

Only one more day in school, then it's Easter hols, hurrah!!

I visited my local craft shop today - Whitstable Stamp Craft, they were having a clearance sale of stuff they have used in classes.  I bought a dear little stamp set that I've used on this card for 50p - what a bargain!!
I used PanPastels to make the yellow and red background, I love how easy they are to blend.  It's a very simple card for a change!




There's only 4 days left of the very first Lavinia Stamps Challenge, with a £40 Lavinia voucher prize, so if you haven't entered yet - get busy!!

Also, I have to tell you that I've had a sneak peek at Ryn's fabulous new water effect stamps...Wow, they're going to knock your socks off!!!

Thanks for popping by... xxxx


Monday 25 March 2013

Happy Birthday Louisa!!

Hello bloggie friends!

I've made a card for my friend Ann's daughter, Louisa, Happy Birthday for tomorrow sweetie!!

I saw a card very similar to this on Facebook that had been made by a lady called Belinda, for Elizabeth Craft Designs.  The birds are made from Elizabeth Craft Designs dies called Birds 709, and the word is  Hello 722.  The leaf stamp is a dylusions stamp from the Further around the edge set.
I sprayed the background with dylusions inks, stamped the leaf design, then bleached out some of the ink from the leaves with water.  I LOVE doing this... so therapeutic!


I had a good day yesterday, this is what my craft 'space' looked like on Saturday...


...and hubby was not impressed!!  So he took me to Staples, bought me some draw units...
and now my craft 'space' looks like this!.....


Ahhh, that's better!  Thank you Paul! xxx

Hope you all have a lovely evening, thank you for visiting! xxx




Friday 22 March 2013

Spiral shell

Yippee Friday night has arrived again!

Hello everybody, hope you have a crafty weekend ahead of you...
I've been working with Spiral Shell from Designs by Ryn, such a pretty stamp!  The sentiment is from Inkylicious and I thought it was quite apt for this card.  I love turquoise and purple, they really zing together!



I'm off into Canterbury tomorrow morning and I'll be rootling around in our local art shop to buy more watercolour paper and maybe some gilding wax too... mmmm, can't wait!

Have a lovely weekend everyone... thank you muchly for visiting, please leave me a 'hello' comment! ;) xx


Tuesday 19 March 2013

A little reward....

Hello lovely peeps!

I finished my assignment this afternoon - phew! so I decided to treat myself to a crafty hour... I was inspired by my team mate Shirley's beautiful card made with Ryn's sea dragon, and decided it was time I did another watercolour/fishy card...
I used Tombow pens on watercolour paper to make the turquoise background, then I 'blew' green ink across the paper to make the seaweed - great fun!!  I dusted Ryn's butterfly fish with perfect pearls to make it shine and stamped leafy branch around the edge.


I've been playing with my beautiful Lavinia stamps too, but I can't show you that as it's for the challenge blog another time!! ;)

Thanks for popping by, hope you'll leave me a 'hello' message! xxx


Monday 18 March 2013

Hurray, welcome and thank you!!

Hurray, I've now got 20 followers!!  Welcome to Karin (my new fellow Designs By Ryn DT member!), Jennie, Chris, Miranda, Denise and Mary, and to all my lovely followers thank you so much for taking an interest in my craft 'doings' !!  xxxx

Gold leaf

Hello, happy Monday!

I know this isn't a very seasonally appropriate tag, but I really enjoyed working with these colours for a change!  The leaves are from Inkylicious and the famous droplets are from Ryn.  Not sure if it shows on the photo, but the tag is edged with gold pen and the droplets are coated with 3D gloss - they really look wet!  I'm so looking forward to Ryn's brand new water droplet stamp - I expect they will become just as famous and well-loved!
I hope you like... :)




Thanks for dropping by, love to have a comment from my visitors too! ;) xxxx





Saturday 16 March 2013

Flutters tag

Happy weekend everyone!! :)

I've put together this little tag with a butterfly stamp from Inkylicious called Flutters 1, the vine stamp from Lavinia stamps, and a mini chicken wire template by The Crafters Workshop.  The background is made with my favourite dylusions inks!


I've had a few comments from new visitors lately, thank you very much and welcome to my blog! :) xx



Friday 15 March 2013

Twinchie 3

Hello all!

Here's my entry for the third Twinchie's challenge, which is 'flower' or 'flowers' this month.


I liked this challenge, it meant I could use my fav stamps from Ryn again!! :)

Thanks for visiting, I do appreciate it! xxx

Thursday 14 March 2013

Visible Image stamps

Hello Bloggers!

I know I'm supposed to be studying... and I am, honestly! but I had a couple of new stamps arrive from Visible Image so I had to have a quick play!!  I think the images are so strong in their own right that you really don't need to do anything clever with them.  What do you think?


I'm not sure why, but the picture has come out looking a little pink, but it's definitely just black and white! :)

Thanks for dropping by! xx


Tuesday 12 March 2013

Sea frame

Hello bloggers!

Here's my first 'Designs By Ryn' card as an official DT member.... :D
I'm into 'frames' at the moment, I like how I can really focus a dramatic stamp in the centre.  I've used lots of stamps by Ryn on this card, Sea Bubbles, School of Fish and the Spiral Shell.  The 'imagination' is from Visible Image's 'Free your imagination' set.  I made the frame with watercolour paper, and my fav technique - tombow pens and water. I made little pearls in the sea bubbles with Liquid Pearls, and added a bit of glitter with Waterfall Stickles.


I hope you are all having a great day, thanks for visiting!  Please leave me a comment to say Hi... xx



Monday 11 March 2013

I'm on Ryn's Design Team!!!!

Wow, what an amazing day.... I've been invited by Ryn to join her amazing design team!!!
I feel very honoured to be numbered amongst Eileen Godwin,
Shirley Deatcher and Miranda Degenaars.
If you haven't already found Ryn's website, you can pop over there now by clicking on this LINK.  I love Ryn's stamps and can't wait to start working for the team!!
This image is taken from Ryn's website:



slide


I also just wanted to say thank you very much to everyone who has supported me by becoming a follower, subscriber, or by leaving me a comment! :) xxxxx


Saturday 9 March 2013

Another Ryn and Lavinia blend...

Hello bloggers!
Hope you are all having a fab weekend?  Horrid weather, but at least it's staying light for longer, soon be time to change those clocks to 'happy time'!!
The card I made today uses 'leafy branch' from Designs by Ryn and 'Fall fairy' from Lavinia stamps.
I hope all you ladies (and gents!) with crafty blogs have entered the Lavinia stamps challenge???  £40 to spend in the Lavinia webshop has got to be worth the effort hasn't it?!!  If you enter the challenge though, you can only use Lavinia stamps, so this card would not be allowed.  If you don't have any Lavinia stamps, pop over to the website and have a browse, the stamps are beautiful!


Not sure I will be able to post much on my blog over the next week, I've got an Open University assignment  due in on the 20th, so I'd better get stuck in to my studies...

Thanks for popping by, please leave a comment so I know you have visited me! :) xxxxx

Friday 8 March 2013

Daisy tag

Hello bloggers!

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!  (ooo, showing my age there I think! :) )  What a week, glad it's come to an end and I can enjoy a glass of wine....
Today I'm showing you a tag that I made using dylusions inks, with Ryn's lovely droplets stamped over the top.  Every time I use this stamp I'm amazed at how life-like the droplets look!  Ryn has designed some new water droplets, I think she said they are available in April... can't wait!  The daisies along the edge are Ryn's too.


The daisies were stamped onto watercolour paper that I coloured with Tombow pens and then sprayed with water to blend.  Rather surprisingly, I had ribbons to match too!

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment so I know you've called by! xxxx

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Using Lavinia's Scene-scapes...

Hello bloggers!

Just thought I'd show you how easy it is to make a card with one of Lavinia stamps Scene-scapes.  These are 15 cm square cards with beautiful backgrounds printed on them.  It's really quick and easy to stamp some foliage and a focal point on these cards, and hey presto it's done!!  My daughter needed a birthday card for her friend Faye, so I made it quick before school.  Apparently Faye liked the card, phew!!


I used willow leaves, witches cat, lily pads and butterflies, and then dotted Stickles around to make it sparkle.  You can't actually see the glitter on this photo, but it is there I promise!

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment as I'd love to know who's visited!  xxxx




Sunday 3 March 2013

One for the boys...

Hello bloggers!

I made this card for one of my husband's cousins, nothing like anything I've done before!
I just think the 'inky' raven is amazing... all the stamps come in a set called 'free your imagination', from Visible Image.  It was quite strange only working with black ink, part of me kept trying to put a bit of pink in there somewhere ha ha!  I think I might use those gorgeous feathers with my hummingbird stamp somehow...


It's a good job I made this earlier today, I've just been on a walk with my dogs, merrily chewing gum (disgusting habit I know...) when an enormous filling fell out of my tooth!!!  I'm now waiting for an emergency dentist to call me back - why do these things always happen on a Sunday?

Thank you for visiting, please leave me a comment, and welcome to my new followers!! :)  xxx



Friday 1 March 2013

Lavinia Challenge blog is up and running!

Hello Bloggers!
Just to let you know, the first Lavinia stamps challenge starts today!  The theme for March is 'Anything goes'... so do whatever design you feel like (so long as it uses Lavinia stamps of course!)
The fab prize is a £40 voucher (yes, 40!!) to spend on the Lavinia stamps website... how fantastic is that??
Click HERE to get to the challenge.

Here's my first post for the challenge


I used PanPastels for the background.  The pretty little fairy is called Felicity (small) and she is sitting on the large toadstool.  I've used wild grass under the toadstool, and willow leaves hanging down.  The little stars (number 1) are a bargain, only a pound!!!  All of these stamps are available on the Lavinia stamps website.

Good luck everyone, have fun!! xxx