Cow Birthday

Hi there. I have a card to share to day using a stamp set from a company I hadn’t heard of – until the craft show in Doncaster a few weeks ago.:

The stamp company is ‘Time For Tea Designs‘ and they seem to have quite a few quirky stamp sets, and matching quirky sentiments – just up my street.

This stamp set is called – appropriately – ‘Moovellous‘, and I am loving that cow stamp. This set comes with the cow, the birds, the flowers, the fence, the trees, the grass stamps – in fact the only thing not from the stamp set is the background light blue paper, (I did say I was going to try and use paper from my stash) and the grass edge die set.

Once I had stamped all the images, I coloured with a selection of Copics, and then die cut them with my Scan’n’cut – with baited breath as I had already coloured everything…………..

I managed to take the photo during daylight hours outside – and caught one of my cats in the background – that black and white blob thingy………!!

Another close-up of the card and colouring:

Once I had die-cut the grass, I thought it looked a little plain, so I stamped some of the grass images from the stamp set in a green which shows only slightly – I think an Altenew green – but it does give a little more interest.

Challenges I shall be entering:

Aud Sentiments – animals and a sentiment

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Color Throwdown – green, yellow, light blue, Kraft

Cut It Up – die cuts and a sentiment

Welcome Baby Boy…

Hello there. I have a simple card to share today, using an old Altenew stamp set:

I have had this for ages, and maybe used it a couple of times, and it was only when I saw the colours for one of the challenges that I thought this would be perfect to use the set again.

I used a light blue Altenew ink, along with a grey for the animals. The background yellow piece is a piece of Stampin Up card I received from my local Stampin Up demonstrator (thanks Shell) when I placed an order last week. She also sent me a few packets of the teeny tiny dimensionals – will definitely use them, and I thought this yellow background was perfect for some added interest.

I don’t usually use background papers and card, but I have so much of it – I’m going to have to start and use it more often. That way it will create more space in my craft room – which I can fill again! :)

Challenges I shall be entering:

Dara and Diane – Double D challenge – jungle

Inspire, create, challenge – basic grey, mango melody, pool party (substitute colours used)

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Watercooler Challenges – occasions

Kind Thoughts…..

Well hello again everyone. I have been crafting so much since the builders finished their work on our bathrooms that I have a card to share today – and – I have joined another Design Team! I have been accepted to The Alphabet Challenge DT and have created a card for the new challenge beginning today. The letter is ‘K’, and for our challenge it stands for ‘Kind Thoughts’.

Such a great theme, with so many possibilities. This is my card:

I stamped the new Altenew ‘Playful Plumeria‘ in orange, purple, and red – using all four layers for the flowers, and then used some green for the three layer leaves.

Once I had stamped all the images, even though I have the matching die set, I used my Scan’n’cut again – I had to put it through twice – without moving the card – as I needed it to cut a little deeper for this thicker Neenah card-stick.

I raised the flowers with 3D silicone gel, as I like to move them around a little before settling on position, and just pushed the leaves underneath. Lots of flowers, lots of leaves, and all coming from the one branch….

I had some left over so made another card – just because I could:

The sentiment is from the same stamp set, and I feel fits perfectly with the ‘;kind thoughts’ theme for our challenge. I do hope you can come and join us – remember the theme though, as I think there were some entries last time that didn’t meet the challenge theme – and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery.

Be sure to visit the Design Team too – there are some fabulous cards on their for inspiration.

Challenges I shall be entering :

Lemon Shortbread – atg

A bit More Time To Craft – atg

Happy Little Stampers die cut challenge – atg with die cuts

Brown Sugar Challenge – atg

A Butterfly and a Tulip…

Hello everyone. Did you imagine I was going to tell a joke about a butterfly and a tulip, walking into a bar……. :) :) hmmm – I might have to think of a joke about that.

It’s my turn to host at Cardz4Galz and I chose the theme of ‘Wings’……….I thought that would create a lot of varied creations and I hope you can come and join us this time.

By wings, we mean exactly that – birds, butterflies, dragonflies, fairies, dragons……such a wide interpretation, I can’t wait to see what you create. The Design Team has some interesting and varied inspiration, so I hope you have a look and see how they have each created their projects.

I decided to go CAS – very clean, very simple – well, once I had decided where I was going with this………. :)

I used the Simon Says Stamp ‘Sweet Tulip‘ wafer die, and cut it out four times from card with double-sided sticky adhesive, so I could stack them all together for dimension.

The butterfly die is from Spellbinders – very old, very much used by my mum in the past.

I used some Distress Oxide in Carved Pumpkin and Barn Door on a piece of card stock, blended, then cut out the back of the butterfly. The inner butterfly cut from black card-stock to create some drama.

The sentiment is from a stamp set from Crafters Companion, and stamped in Altenew Obsidian pigment ink for the crisp letters.

I look forward to seeing you in our gallery……….. :) :)

I shall also be entering this into the following challenges:

AAA Cards – CAS and made in minutes with option of summer

Uniko challenge – flowers

Addicted to Stamps – CAS

Blue Antique Roses

Hello there. The builders have gone and I made a card for the both of them – who says a man can’t have a card with flowers on? Not me!

I used the Altenew ‘Antique Roses‘ again – love, love, love them flowers, and I mentioned in a previous post ‘Grey Antique Roses’ that roses are my favourite flowers:

The leaves stamped in the Gentleman Grey inks, and added the background of the Altenew ‘Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover Die‘ for some subtle interest. The sentiment is also Altenew from another stamp set.

I took this photo against one of our flower troughs – I liked the contrast of the flower colours, and here is one without:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Midsummer Blues

The Flower Challenge – use your favourite flower

Pencil Poinsettia

Hello there. There is another challenge starting at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The them is anything goes as long as it’s Christmas. I took the opportunity to break-out my Polychromos pencils to colour a Poinsettia stamp:

I do have to apologise for the light on the photo – but we’re in the middle of a lot of high winds and rain, so I’ve had to manage with what I have….. :)

I bought this very large poinsettia stamp at a recent craft show, from Sheena Douglass. Now Sheena is someone I have watched and admired for many years – I like her style of stamps, her water-colouring, her designs – I just wish I could emulate even half of what she does.

During the craft show I must have stood and watched her for over an hour, and she has broken out on her own producing a range of stamps, card, and water-colours – a couple of items I have used here.

I began by stamping the image in a red Stazon ink – I wasn’t sure if I was going with water-colours, but in the end I went with the Polychromos pencils. Four or five shades of red to begin with, then realised that the red Stazon gives a good dark impression on the veins of the leaves, so I went with three red colours mainly.

I was considering some green leaves – but love the overall effect of the red…..very much ‘in your face’! This image was die-cut on my Scan’N’Cut – I think I;m getting to grips with it now – it’s still a work in progress, though.

The background is a piece of water-colour card, wet with water, then I dropped some of the green Sheena water-colour ink onto the card – tilted it a little to make it run more, as I wanted a kinda messy background for the poinettia.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and embossed in silver, and I even added some silver flourishes – from the same stamp set – behind the poinsettia before sticking it to the card.

I do hope you can come and join us for this challenge, and I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. :) :)

Other challenges I shall be entering:

Trimmies Craft Challenge – Christmas

Colour Crazy Challenge – anything goes colouring

Dream Valley Challenges – Hand coloured image

Grey Antique Roses

Hello everyone. More time to craft today, so I have created a card using my new Altenew ‘Antique Roses’ stamp set:

I began by stamping the flowers using Altenew ‘Gentleman’s Gray‘ oval inks, using all four colours for the flowers themselves, then using the black ink for the centre detail. I did the same with the leaf clusters, but these are only three layers, so I used only the lighter three inks.

The background grid is from Waffle Flower, a die I have had for a while, but never used, and cut out of a grey card stock.

The sentiment is from MFT – a very well loved and used stamp set…….

Here is a photo where my actual rose bush is casting a shadow on the card – quite fitting, I think:

The only part of my garden I have anything to do with, and don’t let the gardener anywhere near, is my rose bush and little miniature rose garden. (I let him do all the heavy garden work – but my roses are sacrosanct) These roses smell absolutely gorgeous, especially in direct sunlight where you can catch the aroma just by walking past.

I shall be entering the following challenges:
Fusion card challenge – photo colours as inspiration

Seize The Birthday – birthday with the option of flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – add a die cut

Daring Cardmakers – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – (one background die cut, 2 word sentiment, three roses, 4 leaf clusters, 5 colours – 4 greys and a black)

The Flower Challenge – favourite flower (roses)

Wonderful Wycinanki

Hello there. I have had a wonderful crafting day today. The weather outside is very blowy and rainy – the perfect day to craft. The builders aren’t here at the weekend – so a quiet and peaceful time. Hopefully they’ll be finished by Monday……..the bathrooms looking fabulous – if I do say so myself!

Anyhoo – the card I am posting today is for a few challenges I was inspired by, especially as a very, very fast delivery of some of the new Altenew stamp sets from Seven Hills Crafts:

The weather meant I had to take photos indoors, and even though I have a light box and a light tripod – it still doesn’t seem good enough for the photos – so please bear with me.

I used four Catherine Pooler inks as these stamps are quite solid, and I knew I would get a good stamp with those inks.

I played around with the layout until you see what I ended up with – and it’s even a one layer card……..a complete change for me!

There are so many little images in this stamp set, I am sure there are hundreds of ways to make a card with them, but I like how this came out, and even that the sentiment just straddles the image.

I shall be entering the following challenges:


Color Throwdown – green, yellow, lavender, pink

Watercooler Challenge – feminine

Crafty Sentiments – anything goes

Altenew August Inspiration – photo inspiration (pink flower)

Penguins, Quarters, reindeer

Hello there everyone. There is another challenge starting at ABC Christmas Challenge, and this time the letters are ‘P’ for Penguins, ‘Q’ for quarters, and ‘R’ for Reindeer.

Here are my cards for this challenge:

P for Penguins, Q for Quarters
R for Reindeer

I was so inspired by this challenge, that I did cards which covered all three letters. I hunted through my MFT stash to come up with the images, and I even enjoyed colouring them! I know – I don’t usually…..

For the first card I used some Distress Oxides and ink blended a background, cutting out four squares as a backdrop for the penguins. The embossing folder is from Sue Wilson. The die-cut sentiment is from Altenew, and stacked with three layers for dimension to match the height of the squares.

For the second card I used the same embossing folder, ink blended – just a little – some of the blue Distress Oxides, but used the de-bossed side, instead of the embossed side.

I hope you can come along and join us this time, I am sure you have something suitable in your stash for at least one of the letters – if not all of them. I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. :)

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – Christmas with the option of reindeer

Dis Digi designs – things with wings or a tail

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

My Time To Craft – Christmas in July

Black and White with pop of red……..

Hello there. Peace and quiet here again today, so I’m making the most of it. I have been swatching some of my inks and have done my Distress Oxides and my Catherine Pooler inks, moving to my Altenew inks – but run out of the little stamp pockets.

They are due to be delivered from Amazon again today – but an email to say they couldn’t access my house – ridiculous. No-one has come near me this afternoon – and I have CCTV to prove it!!!!! This has happened a few times before – I think it’s a Sunday driver who can’t be bothered. I’ve called Amazon – but what can they do about it? Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Sometimes I wonder why I pay for Amazon Prime……….

Now – rant over – over to the card I have made:

I first stamped the Uniko ‘Large Background Tropical Paradise‘ stamp using Altenew ‘Obsidian’ ink – a gorgeous clean and crisp image from this ink. Love it.

Then I die cut the Hero Arts ‘Wood Frame Infinity die‘ out of black card stock to frame to stamp.

Moving on to the flowers, I used Altenew ‘Hibiscus Garden 3D’ die set, cut out of white card with double-sided sticky sheet on the back, then each layer coloured with three tones of reds with my Copics.

Three leaf clusters from that same die set cut of black card, and all put together as you see. with the leaf clusters hanging over the edge of the frame. I do like that look, and have used it before – and bound to do it again, I’m sure.

Challenges I shall be entering:

Paper Minutes – black and white with a touch of red

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Craft Rocket Challenge – anything goes

Die Cuttin’ Divas – anything goes with die cuts