Embellish It With The Stampman

Hello lovely Crafters. Another week nearly done and another year older for me. Yes it's my Birthday today-yikes...how old!!!!

It's also time for a new theme over at the Stampman Challenge Blog and this week we are asking you to "Embellish It" and that's anything you like so we're hoping to see all sorts of lovely projects.

For my DT project I made a background with Dusty Concord and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks by splatting them on my craft mat, spraying with water and then swooshing the card round in the ink. I daubed the dried card with some starburst stains for my first bit of bling.

The panels of the butterfly have been clear embossed to create a tile effect and I stamped the butterfly again with the distress inks onto Shrink plastic for the little ribbon embellishment.

Some left over card made the strip at the bottom which has been embellished with some card candy.

Don't forget to pop over to see what the rest of the team have created and as always there is a £10 Voucher on offer for the winner to spend at the new Stampman online shop.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend whatever you are up too.

WOYWW 138

Afternoon lovely Crafters and WOYWW friends. I hope I find you well this Wednesday.

My desk today is back in my Craft Room. You may well wonder why it changes from week to week. Well, as most Crafters I know, I take over most of the house when I'm crafting and sometimes if it's really cold I craft at the dining table and then when it's sunny I prefer my Craft Room as it gets all the afternoon sunshine. Today has been a sunny day, or partly, so you find me in my lovely room surrounded by all my stash.

It's been a colouring day. I treated myself last week to the new Polkadoodles Pretty Sweet CD which is full of cute girls. It seemed a better option and than buying lots of stamps and my daughter loves them too so we can print off the Digistamps and colour them to our hearts content. I'm not generally a cutie type of person but there are times when you just need them!!

This is the first card I've made and I was especially pleased with the punched flowers after being inspired by the very talented Jules who makes these all the time.

Pop over to see the Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE to find out what WOYWW is all about if you still haven't discovered why Wednesday is the most important day of the week.

Before I shuffle off and get on with some desk hopping I thought I'd leave you with a photo I managed to snap out of my craft room window last week of those spectacular sunsets we had.

Has any one been lucky enough to see the Northern Lights this week? I was desperate to see them on Monday when it was clear but my Hubby very kindly pointed out that I needed to look North after I kept saying I couldn't see anything out on the window. We face East-West!!!!! I had to go and stand in the garden but still didn't see anything.

Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW 137

Morning dear crafters and lovely WOYWW friends. I'm not going to trot out the usual "hasn't the week gone quick" as we all know it has and it's far more interesting just to get onto desk stuff. If you want to join in the fun of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, then get yourself over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

I've spent the last few weeks indulging in my first love of scrapbooking. The creative juices have been a bit sludgy and each layout has taken me days, I must be the slowest scrapper in the world, still I'm enjoying myself and that's what it's all about isn't it?

On the work in progress on my desk I've had a go at creating my own paper with paints and inks. I've been enjoying the new Scrapbook Magazine Scrap 365 and being from the Craft Stamper stable there are always interesting articles about getting messy, which inspired me to do just that with this one. I've been trying to find some papers to match and am just at the stage of cutting them up and seeing where it all goes!!

So that's me this week, it's been a funny old week, I hope the next one is a bit better, but for now I'm going to get a cup of tea and enjoy seeing what everyone else has been up too.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Lovely Winter Walk

Afternoon lovely Crafters. I hope I find you well this Sunday evening. Haven't we been blessed with gorgeous weather here in the UK for once. I love the cold, crisp, bright days.

We got out at last for a lovely walk in the beautiful countryside we have on our doorstep this morning and I thought I'd just share a couple of photos with you. The light was lovely, although we didn't have the sparkling sunshine of yesterday.

It's already frosty again and the fog is coming down so hopefully we'll manage a few more days of proper Winter before the wind and rain returns.

Before I sign off, I know I'm not alone in having trouble in leaving comments and I've just found out that after thinking I'd fixed the problem, I haven't, so I apologise if I've left any funny looking comments over the last few days. I've now switched to Chrome and that seems to be working at the moment, fingers crossed.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've had a lovely weekend.

Seeing Red at The Stampman

Hello lovely crafters. I hope your week has gone well and you are winding down for the weekend. For once the forecast here in the UK sounds OK, cold and bright, my type of weather. We might get that walk in we've been promising ourselves since Christmas.

We have really enjoyed seeing all your favourite creations of 2011 over on The Stampman Challenge Blog. There are some amazing things but now it's time for the first challenge of 2012 and to start you off the very talented Vix has asked us to see red. Either lots or just a touch, it's up to you.

I have been organising my new stamps that Santa very kindly brought and so needed a new book to store them in so I decided to make the cover for my DT project.


It's the time of year when we start thinking about hearts so I decided to make a grungepaper heart that was inked with Red Brick Distress ink, run through the cuttlebug with a swirl folder and then sprayed with mica powder. The second heart was stamped and embossed with iridescent embossing powder.


The layers were stamped using various Aspects of Design and Tim Holtz stamps in Red Brick and archival ink and the writing was computer generated and then traced using my new light box. Yes Santa was very kind!!


The rest of the Team have created some gorgeous things so don't forget to pop over and check them all out. Jill is offering a £10 Voucher to spend in her online shop as always so lets see all your red creations.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to catch up with some blog hopping. For some reason Mr Blogger seems to have changed the Comments Box on some blogs and it's taken me two days to figure out how to access them, yes I know, but I've figured it out now so have some catching up to do.

Have a great Friday and enjoy the weekend whatever you are up too.

WOYWW 136

Well, here we are at Wednesday and time to share those workdesks again. I thought that with a new year the weeks might slow down a bit, no chance of that, I only seem to have blinked and Wednesday is here again. Although it seems more like March than January. Isn't it mild? I had a look at the garden yesterday and there are crocuses out, roses from last year and a red Salvia that has flowered continuously since last June!! These poor plants will be so confused if we actually get any temperatures that look more like Winter.

Anyway, I digress, here is my desk today.


I come into the showing off category this week!!!! Santa brought me a glass mat and I love it, no more swapping mats around to do different things. I catch up with you all eventually, I know Julia has been shouting glass mat praises for months!! I've been making cards with one of the gorgeous Polkadoodles CD's on it. Lots of cutting out involved but it's been quite therapeutic to sit quietly and snip away listening to the radio.
Here's one of the cards I've made.


If you want to join in with all this What's On your Workdesk Wednesday desk swapping then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia HERE.


Just before I go and make some lunch and settle down for some serious desk hopping I thought I'd just share our Christmas cake with you. You may remember these snowmen from a previous post. Well they danced around our cake happily and now that the cake has all been eaten, yes we are cakeaholics in this house, they have been safely put away for next year. As you can see my writing piping needs some practise although the piping round the bottom was done by my 10 year old daughter!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday.

WOYWW 135-A mess....Nothing New ThereThen!!

The first WOYWW of 2012 and a very Happy New Year to you all. I'm sorry I was missing in action last week, I completely forgot it was Wednesday until someone mentioned it about 10pm and by then it was far too late to post my desk, not that there was anything on it other than a pile of ironing that didn't get done before Christmas and you wouldn't have been interested in that I know!!

Normal service has been resumed this week though and here is my desk as of 9.30am this morning.


I'm in full card making mode to restock my supplies before other things crop up and my beloved Cuttlebug is getting a good work out. I've been looking out at driving rain all day so it's been prefect to be cocooned with the radio on.

If you haven't yet got yourself involved with the weekly ritual that has become What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday then pop over to see our esteemed Head Deskmistress, Julia, HERE and get desk hopping.

Short and sweet from me today. I need to get round and catch up with you all. It seems ages since I've had a chance to blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all staying safe in this wild weather.

The Stampman 3rd Annual Awards

Evening folks. I hope you've all had a great Christmas and are enjoying some rest and relaxation now that all the hectic time is over. I've been totally confused over what day it is being out of normal routines which is a lovely feeling and have been busy doing Christmassy things like playing games and doing jigsaws with no crafting in sight!!


Jill is holding her Annual End Of Year Awards over on The Stampman Challenge blog and has asked the team to share their favourite project of 2011.


I chose my Nightime project which was one of those that just evolved. I had no real plan in my head but it just grew into something that seemed to work and that for once I was reasonably happy with.

We'd love you to share your favourite project from the last 12 months with us. It doesn't have to be something that was created for a Stampman challenge, it can be anything that you've made that has become your favourite for any reason. Just up load it onto the challenge site HERE and you could be in line for one of Jill's amazing prizes. She is going to select the winner from random who will then receive a £30 voucher to spend in the online shop. There will also be several runner up prizes. All the details can be found on the challenge site.

All that remains is for me to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year and I'd just like to thank all my lovely followers for your continued support and encouragement over the last 12 months. I feel truly blessed to have made so many friends, some real and many only in cyberland and I look forward to many more chats and laughs over the coming year. You are an amazing bunch and you never fail to brighten my day.

WOYWW 133 Christmas Has Arrived

Afternoon lovely Crafty Friends and WOYWWers. It's time for a last nosey at all your desks before the big day arrives and on the Winter Solstice too. If you have just come out of hibernation and have missed all this WOYWW fun then get yourself over to our DeskMistress Julia, HERE and join in all the fun. It's addictive.

I love this week full of preparation and expectation, it's my favourite time. Lots of cooking and wrapping with Christmas songs on the radio and of course food shopping, not looking forward to that bit.


Here's my desk today with those last minute pressies still being made. I can't tell you who the box is for but I can tell you it started life as a persil tablet box!! I've got some lovely goodies to put inside.


I was lucky enough to be the very happy recipient of some of Lunch Lady Jan's Christmas bunting and here it is gracing my Craft Room. I can't get in there to craft at the minute, it seems to have been taken over by Santa!! but I love seeing the bunting hanging there.


And this last photo is for Jozarty. She asked what our favourite traditions are and one of ours is putting all the baubles we have collected and made over the years on the tree. A lot of them are handmade by both Grandma and DD and they all find a space. We also buy a new decoration each every year so as you can see it's very full but I absolutely love seeing it twinkling in the corner and especially love how the lights shine on the wall behind. Magic!!

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a very Peaceful and Healthy New Year and special wishes to Julia, the lady who brings us altogether on a Wednesday and who we have to thank for many new friendships.

A New Technique For The Stampman Challenge

Afternoon lovely bloggers. Well, just a week to go now until the big day. It's been soooo cold here this week but at least we missed the winds. We were just reminiscing back to last year, can you believe we were under mountains of snow. Doesn't look like it'll be a white Christmas this year, I've checked the forecast and it looks like it'll be mild and damp!!

Over at The Stampman Challenge our lovely teamie, Sue, is asking you to think about a new technique you haven't tried before so if you want a break from all the preparations why not have a go. Jill is offering a £10 voucher to spend at The Stampman for the winner.

I struggled to think of something, as you know I love playing with all sorts of things, but then I remembered seeing a demo somewhere recently where they were stamping with alcohol inks. It appears you can stamp with anything if you try hard enough. Anyway, I'd never tried this.


I made a background by putting the inks on my craft mat with some blending solution and then slooshing some glossy card round in it. The I stamped with the gold mixative and sure enough it works brilliantly. Just for a laugh I then tried with the steam alcohol ink and that worked too although it spread out when it hit the blending solution on the paper but I quite liked that.


The dragonflies were stamped and I then tried colouring them with promarkers which did work OK. Vellum wings were added to the big dragonfly and some stickles.

I inked up some pages from an old book with the alcohol inks and pleated them across the bottom on the page, something else I've never done before.

The rest of the design team have created some beautiful projects with techniques I need to try now so don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog for a peek.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely weekend, whatever you are up too.