Rudolph Day - June 18

Hello there,

I hope to find you all well and happy, and enjoying the heatwave if you're here in the UK.

Before I start, I have a few new followers and I'd like to say 'Hello and Welcome' to you all.  I really do appreciate your support and I hope you'll visit often.

I'm here today to share with you a card that I've made for this month's 'Rudolph Day' challenge over at Scrappy Mo's.  Now any regular followers of mine will now be beginning to notice just how much I love this stamp by Penny Black.  I think this will be the third time that I've used it in this challenge.  In my defense,  I have changed the colours and added little bits here and there.  In today's offering, I've added a die cut Deer and some stamped Rabbits.

I'll be back with you on Sunday morning with a card for our new challenge over at Stamping Sensations, so I hope that you'll join me.  Until then, be happy x

Visible Image Mid Month Inspiration

Hello there,

It's time for a little mid month Inspiration over at Stamping Sensations and I'd like to share another card that I've made using the 'Face It' stamp set from Visible Image.  This time the eyes are closed which I thinks creates a very moody and thoughtful looking card.  I also think that it looks quite dramatic in blacks and greys.

The background was made using Brushos and the tree stamp is by Andy Skinner.

That's all from me for now, so I'll wish you a happy and peaceful day x

A Dedication To My Wonderful Dad

Hello there,

As it's 'Father's Day' today here in the UK, I really felt that I wanted to make a card that I could dedicate to the memory of my wonderful Dad who sadly passed away many years ago.

My Dad used to have a fabulous garden and he used to grow all of our flowers and vegetables.  I remember them being in long, neat rows, and he used to plant a few plants or seeds each week, so that we had a constant supply of food throughout the summer and autumn months.  I guess as a child that I took this for granted, especially when many of my friends were eating the then new and very fashionable ready meals that had just started to appear on the market.....what a fool I was, and what I wouldn't give to have my Dad here again today to thank him for all he did for us.

I feel absolutely blessed to have had such an amazing Dad and for all the happy memories that I have of our time together.  What's that saying...... Don't cry because they've gone, smile because they were here. :) xxx

Here's the card that I've made, and that I dedicate to him:

On this card, I've used some gardening stamps by 'The Stamp Man' that I've had for years and never  

used until now.  Unfortunately, these stamps are no longer available. The trees are by Inkylicious and I’ve used some Floersoft on the bare tree.  

I hope that your day will be a special one where beautiful memories can be made x  

I'll be back with you tomorrow with some mid-month inspiration over at Stamping Sensations.

Ladies Night Out

Hello there,

I hope that you're enjoying the weekend so far and that you might have something nice planned for today.

I'd like to share a card with you:

The stamp of the lady is by Flonzcraft, and I think she looks rather elegant all dressed in pink, don't you?  The step stamp is by The Stamp Man and all other stamps are by Inkylicious.

Wishing you all the very happiest of days x

Pink Elephants

Hello there,

I hope that you're all still enjoying the sunshine.  We seem to have missed all the thunder storms here that were supposed to happen, although it has been very muggy at times.

I had just about given up hope of getting this month's copy of Creative Stamping magazine when I managed to get a copy on a visit to York last week.  I love every single image on there and it's definitely one of their best sets of stamps to date.  As the magazine is now just a penny short of £9, I have to really like most of the stamps before buying it.  I bought this one without any hesitation as I knew that I would use the stamps again and again, especially for those hard to make masculine cards.  I've made four cards to date and I'd like to share one with you that I've made for a lovely lady that I know who's about to have a baby girl anytime now.  The Elephant image is wonderful but I wanted to do something a little different with it, so here goes:

The colours that I've used are all pinks, greys and lilacs as I think they work together really well.  Let me know what you think?

That's all from me for today and I hope to back with you all very soon x

Anything Goes at Stamping Sensations

Hello there on this Sunday morning,

I do hope that you're all keeping well and happy.

It's time for a new challenge at 'Stamping Sensations' and our theme this time is 'Anything Goes.'  That's a nice easy one this time, so why not get your stamps out and join us.  We are very generously sponsored this month by 'Visible Image' and so I've used their stamps as inspiration.

I'm a fan of  Visible Image stamps and so I've made my card using three of their stamp sets: Face It, Leave Your Fears Behind and Alphabetical.

I started my card by stamping the Face It stamps with Versafine and then heat embossing them to avoid any smudges.  Next, I made masks for the eyes to keep them nice and white.  I then dabbed some Distress inks onto my craft mat, spritzed them and pressed the card into it.   I've made my own mask for this stamp set using acetate.  I did make several before I finally found a shape that I was happy with.  It's amazing how different the face looks with different shaped masks.  I used the mask over the face and then used a sponge dauber and pink ink around the face to give it some definition.  I then brought in the Leave Your Fears Behind set in to add the birds and trees around the face.  I had the idea to create a fringe with the band of trees stamp and I think it's worked reasonably well in framing the face.  I don't have the 'True Colours' stamp by VI, so I made my own text up from the Alphabetical set.  All of the black stamping was heat embossed.  Finally, I gave my girl a little make up, some blue eye shadow and some red lippy.  Not my colours but I think they suit her, she's definitely showing her true colours :)

That's all from me for now, so I'll wish you a happy and peaceful day x