How is it going?

I hope you are well and coping in these strange times. Three weeks into social isolation here and this week I haven't had a whole lot of mojo. I've sat in front of my craft table and not done anything constructive, card-wise several times. It just didn't feel right to be having fun creating with everything that is going on. On Thursday I knew I had to get myself motivated to make a birthday card for Meg, which needed posting and I will share with you in due course, and finally found a bit of inspiration. After that I decided I should create a scene I'd like to walk through, even though the countryside is a little too far to walk to at the moment.

So here is my riverside scene with stamps mostly from Crafty Individuals except the one at the top, which is from Inkylicious. The background scene is on satin finish art card, brushed with very old adirondack inks. the background stamping was done with memento ink. I stamped the kingfisher in versafine clair onto watercolour card and coloured with zig clean color markers and a bit of white gel pen. Finally I cut her out, shaped her a little with an embossing tool and stuck her on with 3d glue. Did you know the female kingfisher has a black upper bill and a red lower bill?
I'm entering this at Allsorts, where the challenge is something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The old is my adirondack inks in mountain rose, pool and peach bellini, and the blue is my kingfisher.
I'm also entering it at Penny Black and more, where the theme is Anything Goes.
I hope my card gives you the same feeling of peace that I got from making it. Maybe we could have a virtual stroll along the river and spot kingfishers together.
Thanks for looking!

Favourite Stamps at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning and Happy New Year! As it is the first Sunday of the month, it is time for our January challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month we have a lovely theme....

****Use your Favourite Stamps****

For my card this month I used stamps and stencils from Inkylicious and a little white gel pen and liquid pearls. My favourite stamps are the inkylicious moon and tree, but I do reach for the splatter stamp and the willow  twigs on a regular basis too!

  The background was created using ink dusters, sponges and inks.  I used memento lulu lavender to stamp the moon and to blend the paler to darker inks. Adirondack mountain rose and peach bellini made the moon shine section of sky. Dusty concord, chipped sapphire and black soot Distress inks formed the darker sky and the hills, using a mountain valley stencil.  

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

Our prize this month is from  our lovely sponsors, Tattered Lace.  Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates and more details of that prize! Thanks for looking! 

Rudolf day for September or Santa Real Estate!

Hi there! It is Rudolf day for September over at Scrappy Mo's and I have 3 cards to share with you this month. I think I have now caught up on not entering in July! The first two cards are both using Inkylicious stamps. The cottage stamp is called Winter Lodge. I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle and coloured with promarkers. I added glitter and a sentiment stamped in Memento Nautical Blue.

The same goes for my second card, but I used some fluffy puffy stuff to make the snow - not very effectively, though! I added snow drifts and sky shading with my ink dusters and mountain valley stencil.
My third cottage is a Chocolate Baroque stamp. I stamped it in Adirondack Stream onto watercolour paper and used a water brush to add shading. Once it was dry I added lots of stickles. The stamp I used in the sky is an Inkylicious Christmas tree and the sentiment is a very old one from Stamporium, that I seem to use every year.

Meg was happily settled in her new home last weekend and has spent the week finding out about what is on offer at the university. She has joined a couple of martial arts clubs - Judo and jiu-jitsu, hoping to find something to complement her Karate. The house seemed very empty for a couple of days, but I am coping, lol! I am suffering with the first of the seasons colds, a sinus based thing that makes me look very seasonal - I could give Rudolf a run for his money with this glowing nose! Thanks for looking!

July Challenge at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! Another month at Stamping Sensations has flown by! We had some brilliant entries for June, but now it's time for a new challenge, in which we would like you to

* * * * * FEATURE A CREATURE * * * * *

Show us your projects featuring a creature (or creatures!) of land, sea or air!

Please do remember that as we are a stamping challenge, your entry must include some stamping if you wish it to be considered for our prize or Top 3 positions. It would be a shame to miss out, as our sponsor this month is once again Little Claire Designs, who have very kindly given us a most generous £35 voucher for the lucky winner to spend on their website.

As soon as I saw our topic for this month, I knew which stamp I would use! The beautiful Hedgehog  on Little Claire's Silhouette 'Whisper a Wish'

 I stamped the base card with Inkylicious delicate vine in shades of pink and orange. I used silk art card and masked around the edges with masking tape. I then used my ink dusters to make the scene using peach bellini and sunset orange Adirondack ink.Finally I stamped the silhouette stamp in archival black ink.
You can feature any type of creature in your entries this month, and of course remember you can enter up to three times with any type of cards or projects. The DT have featured some simply adorable creatures in their samples, so do go over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them.
If you are looking for more creatures, you can check out my garden photos below. Thanks for looking!

Darn!

Just a quick post to let you know that I am having internet problems, but having bent the ear of someone from virgin media this evening, normal service should resume on Friday.

Here are a couple of cards to be going on with in the meantime, both using the woodware clear magic stamp, Wheat. The sentiment on the second card is from Inkylicious.

Thanks for looking and hope to be back soon!

Inky playtime

On Mother's Day I allowed myself a bit of inky playtime with my ink dusters and some inkylicious stamps. I began by making a mask with a cd, cutting out the centre to make an aperture.

I then used ink dusters, Memento and Adirondack ink and a mountain and valley stencil to create some hills and sky. After removing the aperture mask, I stamped the thistle with versafine tuxedo black around the edge of the circle. I stamped the rabbit in the same ink. Finally I inked up the middle-sized northern pine with Memento northern pine and espresso truffle, adding a 'shadow' from the rising sun using the ink duster pinched together at the end. A few highlights were added using a sakura gellyroll clear stardust pen, which you can see a little better here:

 My second card uses the same techniques but different stamps.

The leaves and trees are from one of my oldest sets of Inkylicious stamps, Flight of Dreams. I added tiny punched flowers and dots of distress stickles around the edge of the circle. The birds are from the set 'Prickly shrubs'.
If you aren't sure how ink dusters work, you can check out my video tutorials on Youtube. If you are heading to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC this weekend, be sure to visit the Inkylicious stand and take a look at all the new stamps. I wish I could be there myself!
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Cards for Steve and a bit of Karate

 Two weeks ago it was Steve's Birthday. At the time I wasn't feeling very inspired and made this, apologising to him for his cards being all a bit the same recently. As time has passed I have decided I rather like it after all. All stamps are from Inkylicious and it was ink dusted and stamped onto inkylicious silk art card using Memento and Adirondack inks.
My Valentine card for Steve was only created in haste on Valentine's day (Thanks, Ofsted!). Again they are all Inkylicious stamps, and inks are mostly distress inks with a little bit of memento ink too. This time I used smooth copier card that I bought from Anna-Marie Designs at Doncaster Dome, last october. I have to say it is great all purpose thin card - great for using promarkers on and also great for using with ink dusters.

Whilst I am here I will also share with you that I passed my grading on 8th February, and I am now a 2nd Kyu brown belt.

This means I get a little black stripe on the end of my belt and I have one more grading before beginning to train for my black belt.

 And finally here I am receiving my certificate from our area Sensei, Sensei Karl. I have to say that without the coaching I have received from Meg, I really don't think I would have passed. She is regularly leading parts of karate classes as a run up to her sensei training, and coached me at home in the run up to grading.

 

Two posts in two days - can you tell I am on holiday?! 

Thanks for looking!

A scene

I have seen a number of scene cards created with Majestix stamps by Card-io that use orange and purple and had been meaning to have a go making a scene with those colours. Here is my first attempt using Inkylicious stamps (Twiggy Branch, A Winter's Tale and Silhouette Deer). I stamped the wreath first using twiggy branch, before adding the colour. I used my ink dusters with adirondack inks in peach bellini and Cool Peri, although a bit more purple colour might be better. I used the cool peri to make my snowdrifts, but then highlighted with my clear stardust pen and a water brush. Finally I stamped the deer and the trees. I finished it off by adding dots of green gold and pearl liquid pearls, and then got carried away with three different lots of stickles too, lol! I mounted the panel on a 7x7 card, matting and layering with black and purple. The Deer aren't on the website yet, but like the rabbits in my last post, I am sure if you ring, Deby will pop them in with your order.
Apologies that the photo isn't the best. It has reached that time of year when I only see the house in daylight at the weekend, so this was taken under my daylight lamp. I really enjoyed making this card, so expect to see some more using these stamps and colours!
Thanks for looking!

More scenic hills

Here is a card I made a little while ago, and forgot I hadn't posted it. I was quite pleased with the colours. The stamps are all from Inkylicious and I used adirondack inks in lettuce, citrus, eggplant, peach bellini denim and espresso. the sentiment is stamped in memento Danube blue.
I don't know what the weather has been like near you, but we have had quite a bit of rain here. Twenty eight 5 year olds who haven't been outside all day can be a bit lively by the time home time arrives! Tomorrow we are taking them to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire for the day, which we are really looking forward to. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather improves and we can get out in the gardens for an hour in the afternoon!
Thanks for looking!

Autumn Owls

I am rushing in last minute for Allsorts this week! I made this card with Inkydoodles (owls, mushrooms, branch and butterflies) and Inkylicious (delicate vine) stamps, ink dusters, Adirondack inks and promarkers. I also added a bit of sparkle with a gellyroll clear sparkle pen, which hopefully you can see here...

The theme at Allsorts this week is Autumn, and the weather is definitely getting more Autumnal by the hour!
Thanks for looking!

Anything goes at Stamping Sensations for August

Good Morning! It is the first Saturday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. For one month only we are launching on Saturday rather than Sunday. This month we are giving you free reign and saying anything goes for our theme. I am sharing with you a couple of cards I have made recently.

First up I have a birthday card for my brother- in- law. He loves the outdoors and so I had a good excuse to use the old beech tree set from Inkylicious again! For those of you that missed previous posts about it, this stamp has been made in the image of a tree that my dear teamie Lynne can see from her front garden - how exciting! The background was dusted with memento inks in Grape Jelly, Bahama blue and dandelion. I used Adirondack Peach bellini around the sun.
My second card is another birthday card for a lovely friend who loves foxes. For this I used all products from Inkydoodles.

The leaves and fox were coloured in with promakers. The background was created by putting an Inkydoodles stencil through the cuttlebug and then dusting it with rusty hinge DI. The blackberries and acorns are also inkydoodles stamps.
Our prize this month is donated by Tonic studios. It is a fabulous die set...
and matching punch! Pop over to the challenge blog and see the fabulous inspiration from my lovely teamies. I look forward to seeing your entries!

Summer Crafting, Inkylicious style

Meg and I took a quick visit to Summer crafting at Doncaster today. If you are going tomorrow, do make a bee-line for Inkylicious on B02, not far from the main entrance. Deby has some fabulous new stamps on show, and one is particularly important to my dear friend, Lynne, as she sees this tree from her garden every day!
Here is the card I have made with it this afternoon.

I used my ink dusters to dust the sky with memento inks in dandelion, rose bud, lilac posies and elderberry. You will see quite a few using this ink combination over the next few weeks! The set of stamps is called old beech tree and includes two buzzards, the tree and two sentiments. I added a bit of cow parsley in the corner and extended the ground a bit with a distress marker.
My second card features more new stamps, a gorgeous set called fern leaves.

For this one I used Adirondack inks in peach Bellini and Mountain Rose, Distress inks in crushed olive and shabby shutters, and Memento inks in lilac posies, olive grove and espresso truffle. This is a card for another wonderful friend who is going overseas for a couple of years. I will miss her very much.
My final card is made using some older Inkylicious stamps called Summer Morn, and the same ink combo as the top card.

The little flower in the corner is made using the Blooming Marvellous set. The background was made by running a stencil (inky doodles) through the cuttlebug with an embossing mat and then sanding it.
Well, I'd better go. I have 5 birthday cards to make this weekend!
If you go to Summer crafting, I hope you have a lovely time, and that it isn't as packed as it was this morning. If I were you I'd also take a bottle of water with you if the weather is as hot as it was today!
Thanks for looking!

Rudolf Day for June with snippets

I am dashing in for June Rudolf Day a little later than I had anticipated! I missed Sarn's posts due to blogger dashboard issues and I don't seem to have a clue what day it is at the moment, lol!
I have gone for two trees again - the small Christmas Tree Flourish from Inkylicious, with a musical background.
Here is the first...

I used the edge of the tree to make the border and Adirondack inks in Aqua and Pool. the sentiment is also from Inkylicious. I did add irridescent glitter, but you can't really see it in the photo.
For my second card I used the same stamps with wild honey distress ink and versafine tuxedo black.
The Dies are all from spellbinders and the red spots are red stickles.
I used snippets for both, so I'll be skipping off to Miss Di's Snippet playground with them too.
Meg and I spent yesterday looking round at Birmingham University. It was definitely worth going to look at possibilities for courses next year, although a little disappointing in how elitist some of them are. I won't have a rant, but I did feel a bit cross at one point and then very proud of how resilient Megan is. 
Thanks for looking!

Inkylicious Willow Trees

If you went to Ally Pally and stopped by the Inkylicious stall you may well have seen this gorgeous tree stamp. I love it! It is so delicate and beautiful. I have been playing with it for a few days, and I can see it will be used lots! For my first card I ink dusted the base card in dandelion, lilac posies and tuxedo black Memento ink. I then did the same with a silk art card panel, masking off a moon/sun. I stamped the tree and added spots of quickie glue to all the buds on the branches before sprinkling with irridescent glitter. Here is a close up.

I then stamped delicate vine in black onto the base card to form a sort of frame adding some punched flowers with liquid pearl centres. I think it needs a sentiment top left, but can't decide which one to use yet! All suggestions welcome!

My second card is a one layer card. I masked off a panel that I dusted with Adirondack inks in mountain rose, slate, black and denim, masking a moon. I removed the masks before stamping the tree and added spots of star dust stickles. With this sky I was trying to recreate a sky we had during that smoggy week we had at the beginning of April. I may well try that sky again with a pinker sun next time.
If you need this tree, keep an eye on the Inkylicious Website or look out for Inkylicious at Stamp Magic, Doncaster Dome on 8th June 2014 or Summer Crafting, Doncaster Race course on 12th and 13th July.
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!

Inspired by a photo

Some time ago I found this photo on Pinterest and popped it in my Tree Folder for future inspiration. (Please do take a look at it.) I was intending to try and recreate it soon after, as some of my fellow pinners did, but I ran out of time as usual. I was lacking in the mojo department and went to my pinterest folders for inspiration last night, and when I clicked on this one Mr Mojo leaped out and just about bopped me on the nose! Okay, I will show you! Here is the main image created on silk art card.

I used  my ink dusters, Adirondack inks in sunset orange, sunshine yellow, peach bellini and slate. I also dusted and stamped with memento tuxedo black.There are just three Inkylicious stamps used for this (Black Forest, the birds from Windswept, and Bullrush).  I added a few details with a fine black pen and a white gel pen. I have taken a whole load of photos and the colours look different in every one! I didn't use any blue or purple ink at all!
Here is the whole card.

I took this one by the front window. I left the top left of the base card blank so I can add a sentiment later - it might become a father's day card yet!
And here is the one I took by the back window...

I think this is probably the most accurate colour-wise.
I matted and layered the main image onto some A6 sized scraps of paper that I found in my snippets drawer, so I will take it to the snippets playground and get some fresh air with Miss Di and the girls!
Thanks for all your lovely comments last week. It was a very busy week, but I am hoping things will slow down from now on. Off out in a little while to see Science on Stage which Meg is singing in again this year. 
Thanks for looking!

Pretty in Pink at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month, and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month our theme is  

Pretty in Pink

I am sure most of you realise that I don't tend to do 'pink and girly', in fact I very rarely use pink on it's own, and wasn't sure what to do, but then it came to me! I made a scene in lots of different shade of pink! I know it is a bit unusual, but I think it works okay!  I used my ink dusters and a range of pink inks, namely Adirondack shell pink, Mountain Rose, Cranberry and Watermelon, Impress cherry pink, and memento Lilac Posies. All stamps, ink dusters and mountain /valley stencil are from Inkylicious..That is a lot of Pink ink that I own!!!  If you haven't seen ink dusters before take a look at my ink dusters page which you will find the tab for under the title of my blog.

We have a great prize on offer this month (all three pictures), donated by Stix 2 and the Stamping Sensations DT, take a look!

We hope you will come and join in with the pinkiness over on the challenge blog! Do take a look at my teamie's wonderful and inspiring creations too!
A quick wave and welcome to my new followers. Thanks for joining me on my blogging journey. Thanks for looking!

Christmas and Birthday Scenes

Here is the Christmas card I sent to Brenda this year. I know she has received it so I can post it now! The base card was stamped with a Visible Image background stamp, Gaudette. The main panel was stamped on glossy card stock using a combination of memento Grape Jelly ink and Adirondack Pool. the trees are Inkylicious Black Forest and the stag is from Stampscapes. I used my mountains and valleys mask and ink dusters to create the snowy drifts and I pinched together the ink duster bristles to make the tree shadows. I finished it with ribbon and a sentiment from craftwork cards. Sorry about the awful photo. I don't see the house in daylight until the weekends at the moment.

My second card is for a friend for her birthday. For this I dusted the middle background in impress lemon yellow ink then added Memento Bahama Blue and Danube Blue each side of the yellow. I stamped the inkylicious grasses and seed heads (Build a meadow) in Danube blue and added a few silver gel pen highlights and stickles. I do like these colours, although again the photo doesn't do it justice!
Thanks for looking!

Another new Inkylicious stamp

I needed a birthday card for a very dear friend, so I decided to ink up a new Inkylicious stamp. This one is called Jasmin Garden. I ink dusted the background with Adirondack Peach Bellini, mountain rose, Memento lilac posies and grape Jelly. I then decoupaged the butterflies/ moths and coloured those with gelly roll sparkle pens. This panel was layered on a dark purple panel. The base card was dusted with the same inks and stamped with some similar flower silhouettes from the Summer Morn stamp set. I had intended mounting the panel in the centre, but it didn't look right, so I moved it until the horizons met and decided to stick it there! Off centre, but better than in the middle! What do you think? I went round the jasmin garden stamp frame with a lilac promarker and added faux stitching to the dark purple layer with the gelly roll pen.
Thanks for looking and don't forget to sign up for my follower candy here.

New stamps!

When I was at Doncaster I was handed a voucher for 10% discount from Inky Doodles. I ordered from them and received my stamps very quickly. Excellent service, thank you! Two lots have gone away for Christmas, but I couldn't resist breaking out 'Backgrounds two' and having a play! After randomly filling 3 sheets of scrap paper with a multitude of different patterns I decided I'd better get on with the card I needed to make!

That patterned panel was easy to stamp and although it isn't perfect, I don't think I will ever need to buy papers again! The owl stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. I used a mixture of adirondack (pool, peri) and memento inks(teal zeal, grape jelly). The border and nestie (timeless rectangles) are both from Spellbinders.
Please forgive me if I don't visit and comment very much for a couple of weeks. I am busy at work and bringing lots home too. A few makes here and there plus DT comments are all I am managing at the moment. Don't forget to pop your name on my blog candy above if you are a follower. I am only counting followers on Google friends connect (the default one on my blogger dashboard) as that has been around since I first came to blogland five years ago, and so have some of my followers on here! If you join now, I might even break the 250 mark, and if you leave a comment you will be eligible for the draw, however long you have been following. 
Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments

More trees!

I have been using my new trees and one or two other stamps to make more Christmas cards and gifts. This first card features the black forest stamp and also Musical Melody. I used Adirondack inks in Pool and Cool Peri - I love this colour combination. The central panel is on silk art card using my mountain and valley stencil. All of the pieces of card on this one are snippets, so I am rushing off to the snippet playground with it. Miss Di says they will let me play on whatever I like now I am a brown belt, lol!

I've also made another easel calendar using the timeless rectangle spellbinders. 

I made the scene using memento inks and ink dusters in much the same way as the tree scene on my second video tutorial. I used the inkylicious twiggy trees, birds from the windswept set and a quote from a set of hobby art landscape quotes.

I picked out a bit of detail on the tree and reflection with a white gel pen.
If  you are going to the NEC then look out for all these stamps on the Inkylicious stall. Thanks so much for your lovely comments. There is just one day left on the follower candy which I will draw on Saturday. Thanks for looking!