My kind of gal.

 The new Challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad ,  is.... '.My kind of gal'.
I made this fat page [4 x 4 inches] using a digi stamp provided by our sponsor Stitchy Bears .
I also had my May page in mind to exchange with my friend.
 Please pop over for all the details and see what we have all been making.
The base layer is a floral pattern paper  covered with white mesh.
 I water coloured the image and fussy cut around the flowers.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.

On the wild side

'On the Wild Side ', is the theme for our new challenge over at Try it on Tuesdays. We would like you to  feature wild animals or birds. I hope you will pop over for all the details and see what the team have been making this time.
For my card, I used a new stamp from Inkylicious, it  needed no other additions apart from water colouring.
Plus the good old Vintage photo distress ink and blunt scissors  to age it a bit.
The base card is stamped randomly with leaves, but as you can see most of it is covered  by the kraft card layer which was also stamped  with leaves.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I am sorry I am not able to visit regularly just now, I will be having a huge catch up when I can.

Its Natural for Cheerful Stamp Pad

I made this card using a digi image, that I took into  a craft program [MCS] to frame.
It then only needed simple matting and layering with  ribbons and flowers  for a bit of interest in the foreground..
The digi image is from Stitchy Bears who is the sponsor for this challenge over at The Cheerful Stamp Pad., which has another week to run.

This is the first of a number of scheduled posts as I may not have an internet connection for a while.
Forgive me if I don't get to see you, I will catch up soon.
Thank you for stopping by I always appreciate your comments.

Secret Garden

'Alter It' is the new challenge over at
 Fashionable Stamping Challenges.
Now as this post is going to include a few photos I won't bore you with a photo of the packaging that went into the bones of this book.
Please pop over and see what my DT sisters have been making and get all the details, including the super store voucher from our sponsor Flonzcraft.
As you know we like to see stamping on your entries, this time my stamping is all inside  the book.




The packaging was covered with Graphics 45 papers, then I gave the doily a face lift by adding some Aged Aqua embossing powder, I used the same colour for the frame.
Now to the inside

All the pages were made in the same way.
The base layer given a light shading using pans pastels.
I then used a Stampers Anonymous stamp to make a random pattern over the page.
This was heat embossed  with a pale green powder from Woodware.

I used a variety of stamps for the word panels, by
Stampers Anonymous and Crafters Companion
All the images were printed on to canvas, they came from Crafters Companion CD's and are the art work of Christine Haworth.

This little book reached its destination earlier this week and is now re- homed with Valerie ,  it was made with love that just had to be shared.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments that you take time to leave.

This and that

Use your stash/scraps-nothing new. Have a search in your craft room for things laid aside just in case they could be used later. Now thats the new challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow. 'Clean it Out'.
So when I'd cleared myself a space, this was quite an easy card to put together.
 The page from the old book , under a pile of masks.
A topper and sentiment that do not match, but shaded with Victorian Velvet distress ink,  kind of look okay together.
 These  flowers were batch painted  a few weeks ago. Regular friends to my blog, I promise they are the last in this colour you will see .
The white mesh is two small pieces, the oval  shape covers the join. Even the pearl drop came from a trim I used recently.
Please pop over, to see what we have all been making and I hope you will join the fun.
Remember we like to see a vintage/shabby chic style.

Thanks for stopping by, I realy appreciate your comments.

K is for Keys

K is the next letter  over at The Craft Barn's Alpha Challenge. I chose the word Key which I think a few more folk may use so I haven't been to look until I did my pages.
After sticking down the pages in my journal,  I sprayed them with Antique Sprinkys from Inkylicious.
On the left page I used a mask and spread it with grunge paste, lightly dusting the top with mica powder before it dried. The keys are Spellbinder and Alterations die cuts.
I also used the usually binned remains of the die cut as a mask to add more keys to the page.
All extra colouring is vintage photo distress ink.
Die cut leaf sprays frame the word definition.

Thank you for stopping by I always appreciate the comments you leave.

Happy Mail

Just sharing with you the excitement yesterday when the postman delivered this package to my door.

It it is a real treasure trove, this picture does not do it  the justice it deserves,  I love all the wonderful contents.
Even the box it arrived in was decorated.

A huge thank you to Valerie who picked my name out , when she had her Blog giveaway..

Ladies Day

'Use 3 Different Techniques', is  the new Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers set by Sharon.
She gave us a list to choose from wet/dry embossing, distressing.  masking, make your own flowers, paper piecing and shrink plastic.
Please pop over and see what we have all been making this time and get all the details.
Once again  were have two generous sponsors Milk Coffee Digital Stamps and Sir Stampalot.
My 3 choices from the list are
1.  On the base card I used a  leaf Mask  colouring over  with Pans Pastels .
2.  The next layer was dry embossed, [clocks and time pieces], which I then sandpapered over to distress a little before lightly rubbing an old ink pad over the surface.
The ladies are from  Grapics 45 Ladies Diary pad.
 3.  They are layered onto a piece of coloured card that I distressed using  a pair of blunt scissors.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments.

Its in the Bag

I made this small purse to hold a gift voucher.
The purse I drew free hand as  the template I thought I had must have gone  walk about , the last time I had a tidy up. The base is plain flowered card with the addition of ribbons and flower.
The fairy  is a Stitchy Bears  digi image, coloured with water colour paints.
I made this  for the new challenge over at  The Cheerful Stamp Pad  and the theme is 'Its Natural'.
Please pop over for all the details and see what we have been making.

Thank you for taking time to stop by I always appreciate your comments.

Be Happy -[ CAS cards].

Looking around blogland this morning I read that Challenge 119  over at Less is More is to make a One Layer Card using a coloured card blank.

It is absolutely ages since I made any CAS cards . Also, I do not find them easy to make,  that is a challenge in itself for me.  So off I went and  have to say I enjoyed making these two.

The word stamps I used were from Sheena Douglas  Only Words plate.

The quirky flowers are Joffy stamps from Paper Artsy. 

The second card is  more pinky in real life. The light is not so good today for photographs. All the shading on the images is done with coloured pencils.

I will also  be joining  Challenge 44  at Addicted to Stamps and More  with my second card, this challenge theme is  Addicted to CAS.

I would also like to say hello to my new followers and thank you for following me on my creative  journey. 

Thank you for taking time to stop by, your comments are always appreciated.

Arithmetic

Week 9 of the Alpha Challenge over at The Craft Barn and the letter we are asked to use is 'A'.
So this time my word of choice is  Arithmetic.
The only stamp I used was from Stampers Anonymous, the ruler round the edge. The clock was a mask.  Telling  the time and learning to count were and probably still are,  part of the  arithmetic lessons  in the 'early years at school'.
In case you wonder about the flowers,  I did use them together with , buttons, lego, marbles, straws and many other items as props, to help the children I worked with to learn simple adding and taking away.
The shading is Pans pastels , with a few mopped up ink blots on the background.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Feminine and Fancy

The new challenge  theme at Try it on Tuesdays is 'Feminine and Fancy'.
I hope you will pop over to TioT's to see what we have all been making
We have some news as well  and  are welcoming Valerie  to our  D.T.   Her blog Bastelmania  is an inspirational place to visit.

I have had this mannequin lurking in my craft room for months, patiently waiting for a make over.

I used acrylic  paint as a base, mainly because I knew I was aiming to cover the whole thing with torn pieces of book print.
The book paper idea came from watching a demo by Indigo Blu on TV.
The next stage was to shade with antique linen distress paint.
The flower panels were stamped onto tissue using Timber Brown Staz-on, before glueing  in place.
A favorite flower and leaf stamp, painted with Pebeo Prisme paints, then fussy cut, were added
As you see, the other trimmings I used were lace, buttons, a bead edging ribbon and a small drawer  knob  at the top, just right to hang the jewelry on.


Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments.

May Flowers

Week 2 of the April Showers bring May Flowers Challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad.
I have used  this Daisy panel  image from our sponsor  Floppy Latte Designs for my  card..
The daisies were water coloured. and the edge of the panel I embossed with Frantage powder.
The additional flowers were stamped first then painted with Pebeo Prisme which gives a lovely shine when dry.
Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments

Bee Happy

'Anything Goes',  over at  Fashionable Stamping Challenges this fortnight as long as you remember we like to see some stamping on your entry. We are now sponsored by Flonzcraft and you could win a generous store voucher.  Please pop over and see what my design team sisters have been making and get all the details

As you can see I have random stamped the background using a variety of stamped images.
I used a stencil for the foreground daisy  flower, using  texture paste [coloured with acrylic paint] then sprinkled with fine glitter. I did leave the stencil in place until it dried out.
Sorry I cannot name the maker of the bee stamp, I have it it a long while.
All the shading is distress inks, dried marigold , bundled sage, and  spiced marmalade .

Thank you for taking time to stop by, I always appreciate your comments.

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers is the theme of the coming week's challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow.  Remember our style is Vintage/Shabby Chic and we would like to see lots of flowers on your entry.

We have a new sponsor this week Heather Hudson of My Artistic Adventures. There is a super prize to be won, so please pop over here for all the details.
 Catch up on our news,  as this week we are welcoming our new D.T. members.

My card was made using elements from the Vintage Chic Victorian Lilacs collage sheet. Together with background papers from a craft CD and some additional trimmings from my stash.



Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments..