Tag It With Birds

How are you all doing in this icy weather. I hope there hasn't been any broken or damaged limbs. I don't know about the rest of the country but we couldn't step foot outside yesterday, even school was closed and that's unheard of. Every surface was just sheet ice and it stayed like that all day. We live on quite a steep hill and luckily one of our neighbours shouted a warning after they'd had to help numerous people after they'd fallen outside.

Being confined indoors was a perfect reason to craft so I got back into challenge mode and did my entry for Tuesday Taggers, which this week is a Bird Tag.


I used the free stamp from Craft Stamper this month and used colourbox chalk inks to colour the tag and stamp the bird. The swirls were from a foam set from QVC. I was quite dubious about the foam but they stamp really well and were incredibly good value for money.

Thanks for stopping by. I've heard it should be a balmy 6oC by Sunday, that sounds exciting, I may even be able to go and see what a mess my greenhouse is in, I've not been down there for weeks. It's probably just a mouldy mess-Lovely!!

Burst Of Colour

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. What a contrast in the weather. We had gorgeous sunshine on Saturday and howling gales and torrential rain yesterday. Perfect crafting weather with the photos I took on Saturday though so I'm not complaining.

I think I've just scraped in with the Tuesday Taggers challenge of a "Burst Of Colour" this week, which is again sponsored by The Craft Barn.
I hope my card is colourful enough to qualify, I got stuck with the blues again but tried to inject some colour with the green holographic matting card.


I've used one of the Stamptivity stamps again on a pencil watercolour background. The BP was made with a flower head stamp from an Autumn Leaves set and stamped with a mixture of watered down and full strength Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord Distress inks and the sentiment was from Crafty Individuals. The dragonflies were cut out and stuck on and then stickles added here and there.

I hope your Monday is going OK, we have had a Training Day which has extended half term nicely. Back to normal tomorrow though.

Thank you for stopping by.

Such Dark Weather

I'm glad to see from your comments I'm not totally nuts and lots of other people have embossed in funny places!!

Is it dark and dull where you are or are you lucky enough to be having some sunshine?

I've had to have a light on all week and it's been impossible to take any decent photos of anything so I'm going to have to show you a card I made for a friend's birthday ages ago and it's similar to ones you've seen before so apologises for that. I am working on something at the moment but it's not finished yet!!


I made this card for one of our lovely neighbours whose well into her seventies but is so active and always on the go she puts me to shame. She loves flowers but hates pink so I had to try using colours that are totally different for me. I quite like them now though. The stamps were Elusive Images Wildflowers and the inks were colourbox pigments.


While I had my stamps out I did another strip in different colours and layered it up with some cuttlebugging.

I hope your week is going well and thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Where Does The Time Go!!

I can't believe it's Thursday already. Where are the weeks going, I really don't know, sometimes I wish they'd slow down just a bit.

I'd better get on with this post otherwise it'll be Monday again and I won't have done it!

Firstly I'd just like to say a huge thank you for all the lovely comments I've had recently. I love reading them and they are always full of such wonderful encouragement. The crafty blogland community is a lovely place to belong too.

It was my best friend's Wedding Anniversay back in September and this was the card I made for her.


Those trusty Inkadinkadoo mindscapes stamps again. I just love them. This time I inked them with the Muted Moods set of Colorbox inks which are beautiful. The image was clear embossed. The BP is an offcut of pink paper in my scrap box which was cuttlebugged and some darker pink ink wiped over to highlight the embossing. The blue BP was off cuts of Basic Grey.

The flowers were darkened with the same inks to match and some stickles and gems added.

I really must try using some of the sketches out there to alter my style. When I look back at my cards, they all tend to be laid out the same. It must be time for a change.

Thank you for visiting and I hope your week is going well.

Summer Days

I have not been a good blogger this week. I've been fighting with Google. For some reason it wouldn't let me access anything on blogland yesterday but thankfully seems ok today so I'm going to get this post done quickly in case it changes it's mind.

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine. It seems like summer has come back again for the time being, lets hope it lasts.


Because it's been so nice I thought I'd show you a couple of cards I made playing with my favourite Elusive Designs Wildflower stamps that feel really summery. This set of stamps are the ones I reach for the most and are so versatile, I just love them.


These were simple cards. I just used two stamps and some coordinating chalk inks to create a scene and then matted them onto plain card and added a silver peel off edging. I shall add a greeting later when I know who I'm going to send them too. I shall definitely be making these again in different colours.

Thank you so much for looking.

Time Flies

This week's TIO challenge is Time Flies. It certainly does, I can't believe we are nearly in August, where has the last year gone!!!!

Both Freya and I have entered a tag again this week, but we did them separately so they are very different this week.


Freya stamped her butterflies (from inkadinkadoo) on vellum and painted them with gold glimmer mist to make them curl. Her background was sponged with chalk inks and the clock was taken from the internet and painted with pink glimmer mist. The little butterflies were stamped with pink brilliance ink.


I took a different clock face from the internet and liked the idea of a dandelion clock and the flying seeds. My background was sponged with the brown set of colourbox pigment inks and the dandelion (from Autumn Leaves, it was the Stampology Fine & Dandy set, one of my favourites at the moment) was stamped in black and clear embossed. I did the same for a second image on scrap paper and then just cut the seeds off. The clock face had brown ink applied and I hand drew the hands in.

Thank you so much for looking and the wonderful comments you leave us. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, whatever the weather!

Tag It On Challenge

The theme of this weeks Dragonsdream Tag It On challenge was to create a postcard. There have been weeks when the theme of this challenge has made me think about what to do for a few days, but this one had me completely stumped. Tags I understand but postcards!!!!, so I decided to have a break this week.

I was blog visiting a few days later and I saw Debbie's postcard and it was really beautiful. It also made me realise that I probably could do something worth entering, it was only like doing a big tag.

Then on Friday I started with an absolutely streaming cold. Reading everyones blogs I know I'm not on my own and along with everyone else you are so loath to go anywhere because everyone is so frightened about Swine Flu, even though YOU know you've only got a heavy cold. We were due to visit my Mum in Law for lunch yesterday but I quarantined myself and stayed behind so had several hours to myself and even though I didn't feel my best decided to have a go at this postcard.


I inked it all over with Whispers Whisper Blue and then went round the edges with chestnut brown. I used an Elusive Images french set, can't remember the name now, for the background which was inked with various whisper inks. The address was done with whispers Royal blue and then distress faded jeans to get a shadow effect. The swirls were a Heidi Grace set and the stamp of the lady was from Crafty Individuals which I enlarged slightly by scanning it in to the computer first and then printing it and adding the same colour inks before sticking it on. The swirls were coloured with colourbox ink and the flowers were from prima. Small gems made the centres.

Thankfully this afternoon I'm feeling much better and my nose has stopped running at last so I shall be able to go back into the world tomorrow, which is good because Freya has to go to school for her last day of term, one day, I ask you!!!!

Thank you for visiting and I hope you've had a lovely weekend.

Treasures

Before I start today I must just say thank you to all my lovely readers for the comments you left about the cake in the last post. I was blown away by them. You gave me an idea for a future post with your comments about the sugar roses looking real. I am just about to start some more for a wedding cake for the end of July and they are really easy to make so I shall take some photos as I do them and show you all so you can be amazing your friends and families by trying them for yourselves!!

I also forgot to say, the lady whose cake I mentioned can be seen here. If you like cakes it's definitely worth a look.

Now back to crafty things. The theme for this weeks Tag It On challenge was "Treasures". What did we consider to be treasures in our lives? That was the brief and the tag had to contain at least one stamp as usual.

Mmmm long thoughts on this on. Family obviously was my first treasure, but that was hard to represent so I decided on my garden and flowers which as most of you know are my other passions (along with crafting).

I started on a tag and stamped some flowers and was merrily bowling along when I suddenly looked and it was so similar to other things I had done I stopped and began to think again. Doing flowers and nature was just too easy, I need a challenge so I rethought and this is what I ended up with.

The tag was run through the cuttlebug using the agapanthus folder which I had pre inked with colourbox chalk. This represented my flowers. I added the little gems for interest and the butterflies for a bit more nature. I then stamped on the words which all mean something to me.

-I treasure my memories of lots of things, people dear who are no longer here, happy holidays and events and just little things that make me smile.

-I treasure the Joy I find in my family, my crafting, the lovely countryside we live in or just hearing a favourite song on the radio.

-I love my lovely hubby and beautiful daughter and all my family very much and treasure them all.

-And lastly I treasure the dreams for the future, we all need to dream!!

Once again Frankie challenged us very well.

Butterflies and Dragonflies

What a lovely Tag challenge we had this week at Dragonsdream.

After the last few weeks of head scratching I couldn't help smiling when I saw "Butterflies and Dragonflies". Oooh this was more like it. I am spoilt for choice in the number of butterfly and dragonfly stamps I have, the only difficulty was which one to use.

In the end I opted for a new set of Stampendous stamps, Butterfly Beauties and the moonglow "Outback" mica powder The Stampman had tempted me with a few weeks ago and this is what I ended up with.


I inked the background with a coarse sponge using the blue colourbox set of inks and edged it with the usual chestnut whispers ink.

The background butterfly was stamped with versamark and the mica powder applied and set with hairspray. I then stamped the flourishes randomly around the edges in a darker shade of the same blue ink set.


The rest of the butterflies were stamped on a bit of scrap card, using a green colourbox pigment ink and the mica powder applied over the top and set again, just to give them a sheen. I cut them out and stuck them on top of the flourishes and added gems for the bodies.

Thanks Dragon for a lovely challenge.

Scorching Saturday

Hasn't it been HOT!!!!!! What a gorgeous day. Hope it's been as good for everyone else.

I've done absolutely nothing today apart from pottering in the garden, filling a paddling pool (again), drinking coffee with my Sister-In-Law and reading a book. What bliss.

It's now 10pm and I shall do a bit of crafting with a cool glass of wine-does that sound tempting?

I have managed to finish a few more cards with that box of glimmer misted papers I found last week, so I thought I'd share another one with you tonight.


I had sprayed the background with starburst stains and already stamped a blue fern on this one, but it didn't really work and had been left in the box so I decided to change the colour scheme and stamped other Artylicious meadow flowers in a green and then the main one in fuchsia pink. I then inked up a piece of stampboard in the same blue as the background and stamped the same flower in the pink and just placed it on top to give it another dimension. The edges of the stampboard were sanded back to make them stand out.

I stamped the main white card with the same flowers but in a paler blue ink and just added the sentiment and some blue organza ribbon.


The main stamped image has a lovely golden sheen to it when the light catches it from the starburst stains.

This was definitely a case of leaving something alone when it was not working and coming back to it with fresh eyes.

Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday.

Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden

Week 2 of the Dragonsdream Tag It On challenge is Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden. Perfect for a family that share their home with so many fairies. No, I have not lost the plot, regular readers will know what I mean.

Anyway, I had a rough idea of what I was going to do and had a lovely afternoon just playing with lots of stamps and glimmer mists and this is what evolved.


I sprayed the tag with Cherry Blossom glimmer mist and let it dry and then Key Lime Pie. It was then stamped with Artylicious meadow flower stamps using green colorbox chalk ink for the background and then brighter pigment inks for the thistles. I coloured the flowers in gently with pencils to make them stronger.

The fairy was a stamp I have had for years and years. I stamped and cut her out and coloured her in with Sakura stardust pens but then spent ages trying to get her on the tag. She just wasn't right with the stamping. In the end I decided to hide her so stamped another stalk and leaves for the thistle and popped her behind it. I think this worked in the end.

The words were printed off the computer onto more glimmer misted paper and inked. The edges of the whole tag were then inked with green & chestnut whisper ink.

These tag challenges are becoming quickly addictive. I lost about 3 hours somewhere yesterday afternoon and still haven't found them!!!!

Sucess At Last

I hope you have all had the glorious sunshine we have had today, it was so warm we even had our lunch in the garden. A perfect end to a lovely week, although it'll be really hard to get back to normal tomorrow with work and school.

After hours of pondering and then giving up and re pondering after asking for Blog land help my computer whizz of a husband has just solved my comments picture puzzle in about 30 seconds. Don't you just hate it when that happens. He's a star when it comes to sorting out technical things.

I didn't have my comments section on a separate page and now I do the pictures appear as if by magic-Hurray!!!!

My cards tonight are yet more cuttlebug creations. I shall bore you to death with these.

For the first one I inked my folder with the Marvy Blending Blox shades of sunset ink and ran it through the cuttlebug once for a dark impression and then spritzed the ink that was left on the folder with water and embossed again and this was the result, a lovely pale hint of ink.

I stuck pink gems in the middle of the flowers, inked the backing card with a color box peony ink and stamped the wording in the same colour to tie in.

The second one was for my sister's 12th Wedding Anniversary, which is today so I can post it now, although I'm not sure whether she reads my blog or not.

The heart and greeting was swiped after embossing with brilliance ink pearlescent orchid, which I also used to ink the background card to match and I stuck tiny pink gems on the swirls.

The ribbon was from DCWV. By the way, it is stuck on straight although it looks wonky. My polka dots were not quite straight, but this was my 3rd attempt at getting them straight and so they were near enough!!!!

Hope you have a good Monday.

A Little Bit Of Heaven

Today, not only has the sun been shining but we have had a lovely day out in my favouritest place. Perfect.

We have been up to The Lakes, to Ambleside, which is just under 2 hours from here, so not a bad run and one we try to do as often as we can. I just love it up there, the hills, the lakes and the lovely views in every direction. It was not too busy today and the Rhododendrons were just coming into flower and there was blossom everywhere you looked, just beautiful. I took lots of photos, we had a yummy lunch and I had a lovely laze in the sun while Freya and her Dad played football in Borrans Park.

I feel too sleepy after all that fresh air to do much crafting tonight but I did finish some cards yesterday so I thought I'd show you one of those.

I have at last mastered the correct side to ink a Cuttlebug folder thanks to some tips from my blog friends and have done lots of playing about with various colours and inks. This card was made with the colorbox cats eyes browns stack. I just wiped various colours on and got quite a nice combination. It went well with the DCWV glitter stack paper which I cut into strips and used with mirricard. The flowers are from Papermania which are held together with a brad from my craft box.

Colorbox are one of my favorite inks and while browsing tonight I found a lovely blog with some wonderful candy to give away, a huge multicolour ink pad which is totally gorgeous (take a look at the piccy on my sidebar). If you love inks it is definitely worth checking out on Dorothy's blog here.

A SCRAPBOOK PAGE AT LAST

Oh what a lovely sunny warm day it has been here. I have spent the afternoon pottering in the garden and have also cleaned the windows, that's bound to make it rain tomorrow for sure!!

Tonight I thought I would share with you one of my Scrapbook Layouts. I have been scrapbooking for the last 3 years and am totally obsessed with it. I love documenting little events that would otherwise be forgotten and never go out without my camera in my pocket, despite the groans from the family, although I think they have become used to being continually snapped. It also gives me lots of opportunity to try out all sorts of crafty techniques, there always seems to be something new to experiment with.

This layout was inspired by a beautiful bouquet of flowers my husband gave me for our last Wedding Anniversary. He rarely buys me flowers, so these were extra special and I took lots of photos to remind me of them and wanted to use as many as I could on this page. Because of this I decided to keep the rest of the layout quite simple.

The background paper is from the new Nonsense paper pack from WeRMemoryKeepers, one of my favourite at the minute. I used a strip of matching ribbon and then a wide strip of matching dotty paper from DCWV to put my title on, which was just coloured chipboard letters. To make this more interesting I tried Chesseholing, which is just punching different sized holes with the Crop O Dile. I decided to stick this strip on with foam squares to raise it up a bit so that you could see the punched holes better.

I used a Prima stamp for my journalling and date but didn't have any photo anchors in the right colour. In the end I stamped them using Kelly Panacci stamps & colorbox chalk inks and used glossy accents to make them shine.

I love how the colour combination came together. Although our Anniversary is in the Autumn the flowers were bright and light and just right for scrapping with the lovely spring papers.