The Usual Suspects

Good morning and a very happy (but gray) Monday. After the hot, hot, hot weather of last week, it's cool and dark today and I'm loving it! (but only for a day, ok, then it can warm up again - but not too warm, and have a breeze - but not too windy lol)

Stampotique has a new challenge, which is 'birds, and purple as the main colour' Well if that isn't a challenge I don't know what is! I like purple, and I do use it, but never as the main colour. But anyway here's my piece.

I think the combined age of the stash used in this is about 250! The sentiment is from an old Andy Skinner stencil, ( I mean the stencil is old, - or do I....) and the Viva Decor texture paste is even older. I've also had Crow Line and Quails Cube for years, but you can't keep a good stamp down!

This will be another page in my cotton rag book when I've worked out how to use my Cinch which I got from QVC in 1842 and has never been out of the box, but it seemed a good idea at the time!

Take care, and have a very happy day x

I'm Twisting and Popping for Ink Art Designs

Good morning and happy Wednesday. Today I'm twisting and popping! No it's nothing to do with my age or my bad back,  it's a card I've made for the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground.

This is the front, nothing much to see here, but wait until you open it up...

As if by magic we have all this!

 This is the top

 The middle

and the bottom.

  I've made these a couple of times now following a YouTube video. They are not difficult but you do have to follow the instructions properly to get it all to work.

There are loads of Stampotique stamps here in Dot's store, and more are arriving all the time.

Don't forget to join in with our challenge this month and you will be in with a chance to win a stamp of your choice from Dot's store.
I'm entering my card into the Stampotique Designers Challenge - Anything Goes.

Take care and have a very happy day x

A Trio of ATC's

Good morning and happy Friday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my trio of Stampotique ATC's. 

I have a very happy seahorse playing in the seaweed.

Some acrobatic starfish...

And can you guess which one is me...

There are lots of Stampotique stamps here in the store, and more are on order. AND they now come wooden or cling mounted. This is a real game changer for us that are now totally dependant on our stamping platforms.

I'm entering these into the current Stampotique ATC challenge, and the Craft Stamper TIMI anything goes for May.

Enjoy your day whatever you are doing, and take care x

Well The Weather Outside is Flippin' Lovely Actually

Good morning and happy Saturday. I'm typing this on Friday afternoon, sat in the garden in full sunshine with a cold drink at the side of me, so life doesn't get much better (ok someone waving a magic wand and getting rid of Covid-19 would make it better). Unfortunately, the forecast for Sunday is a bit grim, with the chance of snow!! So in view of that, here are some Christmas cards!

The theme this week over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge is C&S, Clean and Simple, which should actually be Complicated and Stressful! 

These stamps may not be new, but they are still some of my favourite favourites!

I hope you have a happy and safe day whatever you are doing.

Take care xx

Best Of Friends

Good morning and happy Wednesday. It's a beautiful day here already, lots of sunshine, so it's a day in the garden for me. Today I'm joining in with the Stampotique Designer's Challenge which is Tags Galore.

I started by painting my wooden tag with lots of DecoArt paint, then lots of Stampotique stamping also with paint to add a bit of texture. Then I cleaned my painty stamps straight away - so not like me!

These are my two best friends Moody and Pedro.
I hope you have a great day whatever you are doing. It may not be what we want to do but at least we are still here to do it.

I'm entering my tag into the Anything goes challenge at Tag Tuesday, (thanks for the nudge Valerie)  and the TIMI at Craft Stamper.
Take care and stay safe x

Give Yourself A Hug ('cos no-one else can)!

Good morning, happy Saturday, and a very happy Easter weekend. Well, this is different isn't it! Though to be honest nothing much has changed. When El Grumpo was working he would never go out on a bank holiday 'cos "Why would I want to join a traffic jam" and now we've retired every day is a holiday!

Stampotique has a fun challenge this fortnight, it's to use your favourite quote. Well I didn't want to pick a favourite, and you can't make me, so I've chosen 3!

I started by making my background with ink, paint, and texture pastes, then added some stamping.

 Then I chose my characters that would fit nicely on the Memorydex cards.

 And then found a fun quote for them! You've gotta love Miss Snottie!

And the Dwarfy Gnome.

And if I had to pick a favourite it would be Hug Monster.

I'm entering my trio into the 

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, Add Some Texture, the

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is a Spring Mood Board, and the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge for April.

I hope you enjoy the Easter weekend, even if it is only from the back garden. Thanks so much for looking, and stay safe x

Happy Birthday To You

Good morning and happy Mother's Day, I hope you are keeping well. Over at Stampotique, there's a new challenge which is to make a birthday card, so here's the card that I've made for my nephew. He's 15 this time so I hope this fits the bill.

First of all, I made my card base, then I stamped and watercoloured my images.

 This is the front with Miguel Has A Gift.

 The card opened out. The stars have been stamped with Romantic Text.

And a gathering on the right-hand side with Happy Happy Happy, Towering Gifts, Dog Cube, Pedro, and Schmurpy.

I'm also entering my guys into the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge for March.

I'm going over to see my mum later today for a few minutes. We can all sit in the garden away from each other lol. It seems very weird but her and my dad are nearly 80 so we're not taking any chances.

Thanks very much for looking, take care, and stay safe x

The House of Black and White

I'm sad to say that this is my last post as a member of the Stampotique Design team. So a huge thank you to Carol and Jim for giving me the opportunity to use their amazing stamps. This was my first design team and I have loved every minute of being here.
The challenge this week is Black and White.

No prizes for guessing where the inspiration came from. Go team Arya!

I've used Miss Snottie

and Night.

I'm still on my holiday so I will catch up with you all when I get back.
Have a fun week, and thanks very much for looking x

Everything Has Beauty

Hello and good morning from Sunny Spain. Yep it's holiday time again, and it's also time for another Stampotique challenge. This time around Jackie has chosen 'butterflies and flowers, and all things garden' Perfect for Summer! This is what I made.

This was totally inspired by Kazza's fab tutorial, and has been made with Distress paints, inks, and crayons.

This is Carol's Flower (small)

Large Butterfly

and Beauty Verse.

I hope the weather is being kind to you wherever you are.
Have a great week, and thanks very much for looking xx

Man Up

Hi, and happy Wednesday. It's time for another Stampotique challenge, and this time Carol wants us to 'Man Up'. So this week anything with a male image goes. Here's my tag.

Only one stamp used this week, the very handsome Bowtie.
So ink up those manly men and join in with our challenge.
Have a fab week, and thanks very much for looking x

All Creatures Great and Small

Good morning and happy Wednesday. The Stampotique challenge this week is All Creatures Great and Small. I thought that I would go with all undersea creatures, so this is what I made.

This is a photo frame that's been in my stash since time began, so it's time it came out to play.

The frame was gessoe'd and painted in Dyna paints. Then there was lots of stencilling.

Seaweed was stamped and painted then sequins randomly added. Thank you Sam for my new sequin addiction lol.

The background was stamped with Daniel's Hearts and Rudy and Reggie have been painted and coloured with pencils. I put in some acetate so that I could add some sequin insides.

This was how it looked at this stage. I thought that the ammonites weren't showing up too well, so I added some black ink around the edges.

I wasn't sure which I prefered, but it was too late to change now lol.

So I had a wipe around with a baby wipe, then splattered a bit of white paint, and I'm much happier now.

I'm also entering this into the That's Crafty sea challenge.

I hope you have a fun week, and thanks very much for looking x

Boo

I know this is late, but someone seems to have stolen the whole of June, and when I find out who did it I shall deal with them accordingly... 
The Stampotique challenge has been chosen by Coby this week. Here's what she has to say.

"Say Boo to little children and they will laugh.... use the word Boo in your projects this week to let us laugh."

I don't know about laugh, I think this bird would give me a nasty fright!

I've used

Cracks
Playing Card Front
Card Corners Cube
You Did What   and
Alphabet Upper

Have a fun week, and thanks very much for looking xx

Wot No Black!

Good morning and yep Wednesday has come around again. This week the challenge at Stampotique has been chosen by the lovely Sam and it's a real toughie, 'cos there's no black allowed. Here's what she has to say.

"The first thing I usually do after choosing which stamp I'm going to use is to reach for my black inkpad. So I'm challenging myself and you to make anything you fancy so long as there is no black ink or paint etc. Have fun!"

Seriously Sam, have fun without my black ink pad, how's that gonna happen! Here is what I made

My tags started life as a gelli plate print.

Much stamping and embossing later (in blue and brown) I love Kassa's Herbert Hare. There's also Mash Up and Happy Camper Text.

Here we have Dora Doodle Dolly, Oodles of Doodles, Beauty Verse, and Cracks.

And for the final tag I've used Fishbone, Circled Circle, and Barcode Text 2.

Now it was just time to sew them to my base tag. I had black thread in my machine, so I took it out and changed it to pink, then sewed the tags down. Only then did my daughter tell me that I'd sewn them to a BLACK tag!!

 I wouldn't  have twigged to this day if she hadn't pointed it out! But,  by the magic of cropping I just have my 3 tags :-).

So put away all the black - yes even the tags, and join us in our challenge. It will be harder than you think, but fun.

Have a great week, and thanks very much for looking x