Rainbow Journal Pages

 Hello there,

A while ago, you may remember that I mentioned just how far behind I'd got with my blogging, so I'm just trying to catch up with a few of the things that I've missed.  At the beginning of lockdown, I really struggled to be creative and my mojo just went out of the window.  It was so hard to focus with all that was going on around us.  Rainbows started to appear all over and so I thought that I would take some white A4 card and create a rainbow background.  I did this using Brushos.  Now I didn't have anything in mind when I started, so I just went with the flow and took out some Visible Image stamps.  Here are the two A5 Art journal pages that I made:

                                      

                                     

I found that that the words on the sentimet were quite poignant at the time and making these helped me find my way back into crafting.

That's all from me for today but I hope to be back with you later in the week to share two more of the Art Journal pages that I made x 

Going Round In Circles

 Hello there,

I do hope that your weekend is off to a good start.  I don't really have much in mind, so a nice, relaxing one for me.  I'm on with making some samples for the next Crafty Individuals on Hochanda in October.  I'm rather excited about these new stamps to say the least as I've designed them.  I'll obviously be sharing more news about them as the shows are getting nearer but I'm having fun with them and I hope that other people will like them too. 

Moving on to the task in hand.... I saw the new challenge posted this week for Allsorts.  Their theme is 'Going Round In Circles.'  Now I have to say that I really struggle where circular cards are concerned, so I started to have a look through some of the recent cards that I've made but not blogged and I found this one:

It's full of circles, so I think it hits the brief.  It's a gorgeous stamp that Crafty Individuals released last year and I've made this one in lots of different colours and I never tire of it.  It brings back many happy childhood memories for me as my Dad always used to take me for a ride on the carousel horses and I loved them, all the noise and the colours were just magical.  This is just  simple blended Distress Oxides and then the horse is stamped with VersaFine.  I made the outer circles using various lids from my glues and embossing powders.

Take care of yourselves and enjoy your weekend x 

Happy Dolphins

 Hello there,

Just a very quick post from me today to share another of my recent Crafty Individuals samples with you.  This one features their fabulous new Dolphin stamps (CI-551):

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Country View Challenges - I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

That's all from me for today but I hope to be back with you all again soon xx

Mid Month Inspiration - August 20

Hello there my crafty friends,

It's time for some mid month inspiration for our 'Make It Masculine' challenge over at Stamping Sensations and here's the card that I've made:

Once again, with the exception of the grass in the corner which is by Inkylicious, all the stamps that I've used came free with Creative Stamping magazine.  This card has a lovely sense of calm to it and I can just imagine sitting there watching the boat sail by.

There's still plenty of time left for you to join us and don't forget that we are very generously sponsored this month by: 

Please remember that we are a stamping challenge and so we would love to see lots of good old fashioned stamping on your work and also stamping as your focal point, thank you.

Take care and I wish you lots of Happy Crafting xx

It's Turtle Time

 Hello there and how are you all on this Sunday morning?

I've had a busy week working on my Christmas cards.  I always think that once the children go back to school in September (If that happens this year!) that Christmas is then with us before we know it.  I always start off with such good intentions at the beginning of the year but that usually falls by the wayside by March:) I'm well on the way now, so hopefully, I'll have them all done by November.

Moving onto other things, I'd like to share another one of my recent CI samples with you:

This one features a lovley Turtle stamp that was designed by lovely Dora from the CI Design Team.  For this card, I've simply stamped and embossed Versafine onto Kraft card and then I've coloured it using Derwent Inktense pencils.  It's the first time that I've ever used them dry and I went over several times to gradually build up the intensity of colour.  I finished by going over with white to add some highlights.  It's quite CAS but I was happy with how it turned out.  I usually like to use lots of ink but thought that I would try something a little different.  

That's all from me for today but I'll be back on Tuesday with some mid-month inspiration for Stamping Sensations.

Wishing you all a happy crafting day xx

At The Seaside

Hello there again,

I have another one of my latest CI samples to share with you all.  Now I'm very proud of this one, if I do say so myself as this is the first frame that I've ever made.  I love this CI stamp of the 'Grace Darling' lighthouse but after stamping and colouring it, I felt that it needed something else to give it a bit of a wow factor and also to showcase a few more of Jean Hardy's beautiful stamps.  The frame is very basic and I followed a couple of YouTube videos to give me an idea of what I needed to do.  I started with an A3 sheet of light grey paper of a reasonable weight, then used various stamps and stencils in the same colour tones as my main focal image.  I also added some all purpose filler to the waves to give them some texture (My very cheap version of embossing paste.)  Finally, I finished by using an image that I stamped and fussy cut of the seagull and suitcases.  I was more than pleased with this one as It feels quite sturdy and as I also made a matching stand which I attached to the back of it so that it can be stood up.

 I'd like to add this piece of mixed media to the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

Country View Challenges - I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Try It On Tuesday -  Words/or Numbers

That's all from me for today but just before I go, I would like to leave this message to one of my followers 'Magic Maggie'  

Maggie, I really wish that you had a blog so that I could follow your too.  You are always so kind with your comments and you make me smile with your great, Yorkshire sense of humour, thank you.  As you don't have a blog, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your on going support of my artwork, you are a star x

Needless to say, I appreciate each and everyone of my followers and I notice that I have a couple of new followers, which doesn't happen often in these days where social media platforms have taken over from blogging, so thank you for joining me on my creative journey xx

We're Under The Sea Today

Hello there my crafty friends,

I hope that you're all enjoying your weekend so far.  I've been enjoying re-visiting some of my older, neglected stamps.  When you have so many, it's very easy to over look some of your old favourites and I have to say that I tend to gravitate to my newer stamps.  

The card that I'm sharing with you today is one from my latest set of Crafty Individuals samples and I think that this one was my favourite of them all this time around.  

I've used Distress Oxides and VersaFine Clair inks in the background, which was built up gradually with Stamps and stencils.  The sentiment is from an older stamp set by Crafty Individuals and the Seahorse is from their latest collection of new stamps (CI-540)   I stamped the seahorse using VersaFine and then coloured it using my Giotto pens as water colours.  The pens are great to use like this and then you can always use the pens directly if you're wanting to use bolder colours.  When my scene was finished.  I added a couple of coats of Spray and Shine by Crafters Companion.  This protects the image and also helps to intensify the colours that you've used.  I finished my card by using a few of my Tim Holtz die cut florals...who says you can't have flowers under the sea! :)

That's all from me for today and I wish you all a week with lots of happy crafting xx

I'd like to add this card to the following challenges:

Country View Challenges - I do like to be beside the seaside

The Artistic Stamper - August's Creative Challenge - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Words/or Numbers

The Wonder Of The Sea

Hi there,

I'm here today to show you the first of my samples from this week's Crafty Individuals Shows on Hochanda.  This one uses of of their latest background papers which are actual photos taken by Malcolm, Jean's business partner.  They really are beautiful papers and just lovely to use with their seaside stamps.  Here it is:

All the stamps that I've used on here are by Crafty Individuals.

I hope to be back with you over the weekend to share more of these samples xx

Crafty Individuals On Telly Tomorrow

Hello there my Friends,

I'm here today to let you know that Crafty Individuals will be back on Hochanda with two shows tomorrow.  Jean Hardy will be sharing some new stamps and papers, which are gorgeous.  It's a seaside theme, so just what we all need to cheer us up while many of us are still spending the majority of our time at home.  The shows will be on Hochanda TV at 7am and 1pm.  Pyjamas will be totally acceptable for the 7am show :).  If you can't catch the shows live, then you'll be able to watch them of Hochanda Catch up for the next few weeks.

The card that I'm sharing with you today is a sample that I made previously but haven't shared before on here:

This card features some fabulous background stamps designed by lovely Flo Langley from our Design Team.  I use them so often now on many of my projects.  I liked this card because of it's colours. although I had no idea how it would turn out when I started!

Here's a little sneaky peek at some of my samples that I've made for the shows tomorrow.  Let me know if you spot any of them:)

Here are some of those background stamps again

That's all from me for today and I'll be back with you to share these samples in full after the shows have aired, so until then, take care, stay safe and be happy xx

Make It Masculine

Hello there,

We quite often struggle to make cards for the men in our lives, so here's a chance to add to your card stash.

The card that I've made has all been done using free stamps that came with a Creative Stamping magazine last year.  The Elephants were designed by Crafty Individuals and I find them so useful.
I brushed my card with a layer of yellow ink and then masked off the sun before adding more colour to my sky. Next, I used a mountain stencil to create my mountains before stamping the grass and trees.  The elephants were stamped, coloured and then fussy cut out before adding them to my scene.

That's my inspiration, so I do hope that you'll join us in this month's challenge.

Wishing you all a happy and colourful day xx

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Moving Along With The Times - Elephant/s

Allsorts - Make It Masculine