Winter Wonderland

No, we haven't had any snow yet, although the weather forecast is saying we might get a bit this coming week! In case the post title has misled you, let me hasten to explain that

* * * * * WINTER WONDERLAND * * * * *

is our December Challenge theme at Stamping Sensations!

We have a cracker of a prize for you this month! Once again we are sponsored by Chloe of Chloe's Creative Cards (Stamps by Chloe), who has generously donated a bumper bundle of her gorgeous stamps and accessories, and our lucky winner will also receive a bonus prize of beautiful ribbons from Crafty Ribbons.

I like this month's theme so much that I've made two cards for it! 

The first one uses a stamp from Chloe's "Snowflake Cluster" set for the background, along with a sentiment from her "Christmas Mini Messages" set.  Country Landscape die is by Memory Box, Santa's sleigh stamp by Crafty Individuals, and the snowflake die, which is by X-Cut, was a magazine freebie. The snow is made with Fluffy Puffy Stuff (love the name!) from Inkylicious, to which I've added some glitter. The background snowflakes are also glittered.

My second card is an easel card. All stamps are by Inkylicious. The tree scene (Treescape 1) in the oval is, I think, my new favourite stamp! It reminds me very much of the countryside around where I live, and it could be used to create a scene for any time of year, as it wouldn't be difficult to add some greenery to the bare branches for spring and summer, or suitable colours for autumn. However, it certainly makes a gorgeous winter scene too. 

I used my ink dusters to colour the sky, having masked off the lower part of the picture, and a moon, and added a touch of glitter glue on the snowy fields.

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The deer and rabbit were stamped and cut out, and mounted with foam pads, as was the sentiment. The oval was cut with a Spellbinders die, and I cut out the sentiment panel by hand, having first punched out the little snowflakes with a Fiskars corner punch. Background papers were a freebie from Making Cards Magazine.

Here's a side view.

I think the tree scene will be featuring on many of my Christmas cards this year. And probably some spring, summer and autumn ones too!

Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing lots of  lovely Winter Wonderland scenes. Last month we had a phenomenal number of entries, over 300! Can we better that this month, I wonder?! If you should need any inspiration, have a look at the DT's stunning examples on the Challenge Blog. My terrific teamies have really outdone themselves this time, and I know they would really appreciate it if you were to visit their individual blogs too.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas? No, it's ages away yet! Isn't it??

After a brief chilly spell a couple of weeks ago, the weather has turned so unseaonably mild again that it doesn't seem possible that Christmas is just around the corner. But it really is only a few weeks away! So to get us in the mood, the November Challenge at Stamping Sensations is simply

CHRISTMAS!

If, like me, you've hardly even thought about making any cards yet, now's the time to get going and show us your festive creations. Our lovely sponsors for November are the wonderful Little Claire Designs, who have generously donated a £35 voucher for the lucky winner to spend in their store.

Now of course, I don't do cute, but I make exception for some of the gorgeous Little Claire stamps, especially their Owl designs, one of which I've used for my card. This is the Christmas Owl Tree.

I stamped the owl tree, coloured it with Promarkers, cut it out with a Spellbinders die and sponged green pigment ink around the edge while the card was still in the die. 

The base card was stamped with the Classic Holly (Hero Arts) and the sentiment (freebie from Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine). The Owl Tree was matted on to patterned paper (Hot Off The Press) with foam pads and adhered to the base card. Oh, and the photo bombing (or should I say card bombing!) character in the corner who couldn't resist getting in on the act (and who for undisclosed reasons I'm calling Steve!) is from another Little Claire owl stamp, the Little Owl Family!

As always there is plenty of gorgeous inspiration over on the Challenge Blog, so do go and have a look. For more details of each project, click the name link above the relevant photo to go to my teamies' individual blogs. I look forward to seeing all your Christmas creations!

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Although my favourite season is spring, I do love the glorious autumn colours and misty mornings. And evenings, come to that. When I looked outside last night just before bedtime, it was like looking at a fantasy world. The sky was quite clear, but there was a low mist lying over the fields, with just the tops of the trees peeping above it. Lit by the moonlight, it was an eerily beautiful scene. Just wish I could have photographed it, but my camera sadly isn't up to the job. On Friday we had a day and night of torrential rain, quite a shock after such a dry September, and the river here flooded over its banks for the first time in several months. The weather has turned decidedly chilly too, time to break out the winter woollies, methinks!

Anyway, let's warm things up with our October challenge at Stamping Sensations, where we are celebrating the season with a theme of

WARM AUTUMN COLOURS

We would like to see lots of lovely greens, browns, yellows, oranges and reds.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Imagination Crafts, who are donating a very generous £35 voucher to the lucky winner.

I've used the Lillies Decoupage Stamp Sets by Imaginations Crafts for my card.

I began by stamping the image with black Brilliance ink and heat embossing it with clear embossing powder. The background was then coloured with Distress inks. I decided to leave the flowers uncoloured so that they would stand out. The Decoupage stamp sets are, obviously, ideal for 3D decoupaging, which would also have given more prominence to the lillies, but as the card was to be posted, I wanted to keep it quite flat.

I matted the image on to a piece of textured green card and layered it with a diecut by Britannia dies on to to the base card, which had been stamped with one of the stamps from the set, in the same Distress ink colours. The same stamp and inks were also used on the tag, along with a sentiment from the set. Some diecut leaves (Cheery Lynn) and autumn-hued threads completed the card.

For some truly gorgeous autumn inspiration, do hop over to see the wonderful projects my talented teamies have posted on the Challenge Blog. Thanks for looking!

Been doing the dusting....!

Inspired by Sally's fabulous new Inkylicious ink duster video tutorial and her stunning sample cards, I decided to have a go at doing something similar with my Inkylicious tree.

I kept it quite simple, a) because that's how the tree looks, up there on its hill all by itself, and b) because I needed to make it quickly and get it in the post for a friend's birthday!

Having first cut a circle mask for the setting sun, I made the ink dusted background using the colours of Memento Inks which Sally used, but substituting Danube Blue for the Bahama Blue, which I don't have. An Inkylicious Mountain Valley Stencil helped to produce the receding hills. I love these durable and reusable masks, much better than fiddling about with torn pieces of paper.

Once I was happy with the background I stamped the tree and buzzards with black Versafine ink. I wanted the base of the tree to go right across the card so I extended it using a black pen. The sentiment was ideal for filling in the space at the top left of the picture. All stamps are from the Inkylicious Old Beech Tree set.

Come and have a flutter!

Last month at Stamping Sensations we had a bumper crop of entries - over 350 - which was fabulous, and huge thanks to everyone who joined in. This month our theme is

***** THINGS WITH WINGS *****

One of my favourite topics, of course! My winged thing is a beautiful fairy by Lavinia Stamps. I've set her against a background created with Inkylicious ink dusters and Memento inks, surrounded her with foliage by Inkylicious and Lavinia Stamps, and glittered her wings. The gorgeous poppy ribbon was bought at the Stamp Magic show earlier this year, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the company selling it.

Here's a close up of the fairy, gazing at the moon!

Our lovely sponsor for September is Crafty Devils, who have donated a very generous £35 voucher to be spent on their website, and I can promise you that the lucky winner will be spoilt for choice!

As always, do have a look at the stunning projects my brilliant teamies have made to inspire you. Thanks for looking, and I will be looking forward to seeing lots of beautiful Things With Wings fluttering by to join our challenge.

"The Shire"

Proud Grandma alert!! My young grandson, Andrew, aged 5, saw the picture I made with my tree stamp and Brusho paints (see here) and he wanted to make one.

First he punched a circle from a post-it note to make a mask for the moon. Next  he made the Brusho background by dipping a paintbrush into the powders and tapping it over the paper where he wanted the colour. Then he sprayed water over the picture until the colours had merged to his satisfaction. He did all of that with instruction but no physical help.

Having finished his background, he compared it with mine and decided that my picture was too plain, as it only has the tree and a bird. We looked through my stamps, and he found the Hobbit Door (Lavinia Stamps) and said that he wanted his to be a picture of The Shire (from Lord of the Rings. He's a big LOTR fan!) He chose some other stamps to go with the Hobbit Door (from Lavinia, Inkylicious & Hobby Art) and decided where they all should go. I helped him to hold the stamps as he was stamping them, just to make sure that he didn't smudge the images, because it would have been a shame to spoil his lovely background, but everything else was entirely his own work. He finished by colouring the door surround and the tree with coloured pencils.

We both decided that his artwork was far superior to mine!

Anything Goes at Stamping Sensations!

Summer certainly arrived last month at Stamping Sensations  and it was an absolute treat looking through all the beautiful entries full of gorgeous summer blooms! But now to this month, and we have an open theme for our August Challenge. It's

*****  ANYTHING GOES  *****

You can enter any project on a theme of your choice. The only stipulations is that as we are a stamping challenge it must contain some rubber (or polymer!) stamping done by hand. Any project which uses only digital "stamps" (which are of course not stamps but clipart) will unfortunately not be eligible for the prize. And it would be such a shame for you to miss out on the prize opportunity, because this month it's a stunner!

Our wonderful sponsors are Tonic Studios, and just look what they are offering the lucky winner! Absolutely gorgeous and newly released!

For my card I've gone with a Scottish theme. I took my inspiration from the thistles which have now replaced the spring bluebells on the bank across the road from my craftroom window, and also from this month's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

 

 

I'm still loving my Brusho paints, and have used them to make the background. I'm also trying to challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone a bit with my colour choices. Not too sure about this one but I *think* it works ok.....! I'd got in my head that the official Games tartan had orange in it, but when I checked later it's more pink! Oh well, never mind! The thistle silhouette (Chocolate Baroque) was stamped on to the background and surrounded with the Tonic Studios Celtic Circle die (from which I cut out the middle with a Spellbinders circle die to make it into a frame). The border at the side was made with the Tonic Studios Celtic Border Strip punch. The final touch was the tag with the sentiment (Chocolate Baroque) which I thought was quite appropriate to the ethos of the Commonwealth Games as the "friendly games".  I sponged around the edges of the tag with pigment ink, trying to match the Brusho colours as closely as I could.

 

I love open themes, as there are always some lovely surprises among the entries! I look forward to seeing yours!

 

 

The Tree - the sequel!

The Brusho has been put to one side for a moment while I tell you about something far more exciting!

For the background to this story you need to read my earlier posts about The Tree, see here (scroll to end of post) and here.

The Tree is an old beech tree which stands alone on top of a nearby hill. I see it every day from my house. It is quite a landmark, and, tree lover that I am, it has fascinated me ever since we came to live here. I have taken hundreds of photos of it. I don't know how old it is, but it must be quite old. It has been there through all seasons and withstood all weathers, buzzards and crows dwell in its leafy heights, the sheep and cows enjoy its shade and shelter. What a story it would tell if it could speak!

This is the view I see of it from my garden, up on its hill in the distance.

I managed to make one of my photos into a digistamp, but being a stamper at heart, I really wanted it in rubber. Chatting about it with my good friend and fellow Tree lover Sally, it occurred to us that Deby, the lovely lady who owns our favourite stamp company Inkylicious, and who is surely a kindred spirit as there are none of her stamps that we don't like, might be interested in turning my digi into a stamp. So when we saw her at Stamp Magic last month we asked her, and she was!

This is the photo which became my digi.

You can imagine my excitement when I received the stamp this morning! Not only has Deby made the tree into a stamp (and you can see from the photo above how faithfully she has reproduced it), she has also included two buzzards and two sentiments to make up a brilliant set! I love it! Of course, I had to ink it up straight away, and here's the result!

For the first card I wanted to show the image of the tree alongside a photo of it in its setting, so have kept it quite simple, with just some stamped greenery around the edges of the card as a backdrop. (All stamps by Inkylicious, of course!) The background to the tree was lightly coloured using ink dusters and Memento ink.

Back to the Brusho for my second card! I masked a circle for a moon, sprinkled and sprayed the Brusho over, stamped the tree, extended the base to fit the frame with a black pen, stamped the buzzard, and matted it with a black border on to a 7" x 7" card base. I think I will frame this one.

This will be a great design for a man's card. All the men in my family will probably be getting a variation on this theme for their birthdays for the next year!

Well, I have lots more plans for The Tree, but wanted to share these with you just now. I have to say a huge thank you to Deby for my fabulous set. She's a star! And by the way, if anyone else likes it, I think Deby will be putting it on the Inkylicious website in the near future.

 

Brusho Meadow

On a roll with the Brusho now! This card took about 15 minutes to make!

Sprinkled various colours of Brusho on  to water colour paper, sprayed it with water & blotted it. Stamped over with Crafty Individuals stamps. Mounted it with a narrow black border on to a 6" x 6" blank card. Quick, easy and colourful!

One layer at the Butterfly Challenge

Challenge No. 10 at the Butterfly Challenge is One Layer. I decided to see whether I could recreate the card in my previous post in a one layer format. It involved a lot of masking! My base was a 7" x 7" blank card.

To begin with, I outlined the main image area very lightly with pencil, so that I could see where to place the masks. I used a waterproof masking film. The first ones went around the outside of the area so that I could stamp and clear emboss the grasses inside. With the masks still in place, I then sprinkled on some Brusho (this time sandstone rather than black, for a change), lightly sprayed it with water and blotted off the excess. The butterfly was then stamped with Versafine ink. As before, all stamps are by Chocolate Baroque.

I removed the outside masks and then masked the main panel instead. Next I stamped the grasses at the edge of the card. By this stage it was looking okay but a bit untidy where a bit of the Brusho had leaked under the mask. The final step was to draw the black frame around the main image with a drawing pen, which covered the untidy edges and pulled everything together.

Looking at the two cards side by side, I don't think this one is quite as crisp looking as the original version and I think I prefer the effect of the black Brusho rather than the sandstone. Perhaps brown ink rather than black would have gone better with the sandstone. However, given the limitations of the one layer format I was quite pleased with it, and it was an interesting exercise to try.

More Brusho

Here's another card I made while playing with my Brusho paints (see also my earlier post here).

For this one I embossed the ferns first with Versamark ink and clear embossing powder on watercolour paper before sprinkling with the Brusho powder (I used black only) and lightly spraying with water. The embossing resisted the wet paint. I blotted it with a paper  towel to remove the excess ink. Next I stamped the butterfly, followed by the ferns again, this time with Versafine ink on the right hand side of the card blank. I had considered colouring the butterfly, as on my earlier card, but decided not to as I rather liked the graphic quality of the black and white, with just the hint of colour in the Brusho background. I matted the picture with a thin black border and stuck it to the card. All stamps are by Chocolate Baroque.

In this close up you can see the effect of the Brusho more clearly. It's great stuff to work with. Think I'll be playing with it again before long!

Summer at last!

Just hoping the last two weeks aren't all we're going to get! For once, Scotland seems to have had better weather than the rest of the country but as we start our school holidays this week, I fear things will probably revert to form before long!

Anyway, it's a new month, and at Stamping Sensations we are brightening things up whatever the weather with a theme of

***** SUMMER BLOOMS *****

Garden glories or wildflowers or weeds, we don't care which, just show us flowers galore! But please do remember, as we are a stamping challenge there must be some hand rubber stamping on your project. Entries containing only digital images will not be considered for the prize or top 3.

 

Making a return visit as our sponsor for July is the wonderful Heartfelt Creations, who are generously offering a voucher to the value of $60 to spend in their online store.

 

 

They have asked us to point out that should the prize winner live outside the USA, a charge for postage, packing and shipping will apply.

 

For my card I've taken inspiration from the masses of beautiful wildflowers adorning our hedgerows just now.

 

The background was colour washed with diluted Distress Inks on water colour paper, then various flowers and a couple of butterflies were stamped over. Some of the flowers were coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils. Stamps used were from Lavinia Stamps, Chocolate Baroque and Crafty Individuals. The sentiment is by Inkylicious.

 

Flowers are, of course, one of my favourite topics for cards, so I am really looking forward to seeing lots of lovely entries full of summer blooms! My fabulous teamies have definitely excelled themselves this month with their gorgeous creations, so don't forget to check them out on the Challenge Blog if you are in need of inspiration. Thanks for looking!

Just playing

Woo hoo, it's the school holidays! No work to prepare, nowhere I needed to go, nothing I needed to do for the time being, so I decided it was time for a play!

Recently on Pinterest I've been admiring various artworks (some of which I've pinned on my Bister and Brusho Art board) using something called Bister, or Bistre. Having never heard of it before, I had to investigate! It seems to be popular in The Netherlands, and there are some great examples using it on the Stampinback Blog. I really fancied having a go at something similar, but I don't have any Bister. Then I remembered that, quite some time ago, I bought some Brusho powder paints, although I didn't do much with them at the time. As far as I can tell, Brusho and Bister appear pretty much to be the same kind of product. I'm not quite sure whether to call the Brusho paints or inks, as they behave similarly to both.

Right, I thought, I'll have a go with the Brusho and see whether I can get similar results. The trouble was, I couldn't find them! I knew they must be somewhere in my craft room. So I spent a whole day and a half (yes really!) going through all my stuff with a fine tooth comb, so determined was I to find them. I even looked in cupboards in other rooms in the house, just in case for some strange reason they had migrated elsewhere. By last night they still hadn't turned up, but at least I now have a very tidy craft room!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually realised there was one box I hadn't looked in, one I keep under my desk. It used to house a mixture of bits and pieces, a microcosm of my stash, if you like, that I could just pick up and take with me if I was going away anywhere. Since we moved up here there are very few occasions now when that would happen, so during my last reorganisation I had put all the bits and pieces away with their fellow bits and pieces and the box underwent a change of use. And, of course, that's where I finally found the Brusho!

It's brilliant stuff. So many different ways it can be used. I won't go into them all just now, but there's lots of info here. For my first card, I sprinkled some Brusho (sparingly - it's very concentrated) over watercolour paper and lightly sprayed it with water. The powder magically turned into paint and spread out over the paper.



I overstamped  it with stamps from Art Journey, Stampinback, Lindsay Mason and Hobby Art and filled in the gap at the side with a Memory Box diecut. I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the flowers.

For the second card my method was similar, except that I used plain smooth card instead of watercolour paper and coloured just part of the card with Brusho. The interesting thing here is that I only used black Brusho. When you mix it with water to use as a paint  it comes out black, but as a powder it's a composite of different colours which separate out when you spray it or drop it on to wet paper. The butterfly and grasses are by Inkylicious. I mixed a little turquoise Brusho with water to use as a paint to colour the butterfly.

The third card uses watercolour paper again, but this time I dampened the paper first before sprinkling the Brusho on to it. I stamped the flowers and butterflies (Lavinia Stamps) and painted the flowers as above. Sentiment is by Indigo Blu. Flower border punch by X-Cut.



The fun of the sprinkled backgrounds is seeing how they turn out. No two will be the same. I guess it may be possible with practice to control it a little more, but I'm not sure I'd want to. I like the randomness of it.

I've barely yet scratched the surface of what can be done with Brusho, and I'm sure I'll be doing some more experimenting, so thanks for looking, and watch this space!

Magic Weekend!

Last weekend I made one of my biannual visits back down south for the Stamp Magic show at Doncaster, staying overnight with Sally. The June one is always a flying visit, as it's not during the school hols, unlike the October one, but it's amazing how much we can pack into the weekend.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to the journey down, as thunderstorms and torrential rain had been forecast, but apart from some good downpours along the A66, the rest of the way wasn't too bad and by the time I got to Sally's it had brightened up enough for us to sit out in her garden with a cuppa. The next day dawned warm and sunny, and we were soon on our way to Doncaster. Stamp Magic is definitely our favourite show, just the right size, great selection of exhibitors including many of our favourite companies, and everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Our first port of call was the Inkylicious stand, which usually accounts for the greater part of my show spending. True to form, Deby had some gorgeous new stamps, which soon found their way into my basket. I also stocked up on her silk art card, which is perfect for using with ink dusters, and a few other bits and pieces. For a long time I have debated whether to get a stand for my ink dusters, thinking I would use them a lot more if I had them to hand all the time, instead of put away in a drawer. This time I really wanted one, but having decided on my budget, and being determined to stick to it, it was either the stamps or the stand, and the stamps won. I reasoned that I couldn't make the stamps, but if I put my mind to it, I should be able to make myself a stand. Another factor was that the commercial stands hold eight dusters, and I have nine!

By the time I got home, an idea was beginning to take shape. I scouted around in my craft room for some raw materials. Some offcuts of thick cardboard and a good strong cardboard tube, both which had been in my stash for about a million years. (Well, at least 30, which just goes to prove the value of never throwing away anything which might one day come in handy.)

I also found a sheet of paper (K & Company) with a lovely butterfly design all over it, rolls of self adhesive tin foil, clear self adhesive film and green baize, an old cotton reel and a button.

I cut five circles from the thick card, stuck three together to make a firm base, and the other two for the top. The trickiest part was cutting the slots for the ink dusters to hang in. Once I had all the elements cut to size and shape, I neatened all the edges with the tin foil and then covered the pieces first with the butterfly paper, followed by the clear film for durability. The base was covered with the green baize. I painted the cotton reel and stuck a button on top to hide the hole. Finally, everything was ready to assemble. Some glue seeped out at the bottom when I was joining the base to the cardboard tube, so I stuck a diecut (Spellbinders) round to cover it up. It looks quite pretty, so if anyone asks I'll just say it was part of the original design.

And here's the result.

And here it is with its cargo.

I must admit to being quite pleased with it, not least that it cost only pennies to make, with the added bonus that I've freed up a bit of drawer space and used some old stash too!

It so happens that it fits with the theme for the Butterfly Challenge No. 8, which is "Butterfly Bingo", so I am entering it there. My stand has used the line Die Cut - Butterflies - Designer Paper.

Now to go and put those ink dusters to use ........

Animal Antics

My goodness, isn't this year flying by! The first of June already, and being a Sunday that means it's time for another challenge at Stamping Sensations. We had a fantastic amount of entries for our anything goes theme last month, and a big thank you to everyone who entered, it was a real treat looking through all your gorgeous projects.

For this month, however, we have narrowed things down a bit, although I think our topic will be equally popular as it is

***** ANIMAL ANTICS *****

We would like to see your depictions of creatures from the animal kingdom.

NB. Please remember that we are a stamping challenge. If you wish your entry to be considered for the prize it must include hand stamped elements. Digital stamps (which are in effect clipart) do not qualify. Sadly there were several entries last month that were ineligible because we could not see any hand stamping on them, so please do make sure that your project includes some hand stamping. You can check out our full challenge rules here 

For our sponsor this month we are delighted to welcome back Crafty Individuals, who are very generously inviting the lucky winner to choose anything from their website up to a value of £35! Besides their fabulous stamps, they also have a gloriously eclectic range of papers, printed images, masks & dies and many other crafting accessories and "must haves", so the winner will truly be spoilt for choice.

I've made two cards for this month. Inspired by the fact that we live next door to a farm, and it is so lovely to be able to watch all the animals out in the fields, I've used some of the gorgeous images from the Crafty Individuals Miniatures Book "Nature's Beauty". and stamps from their "Winter Trees" Elements plate (code CI-209).

My second card is completely different!

Of course, I don't normally do cute, but I couldn't resist the "Max & Whiskers" paper pad by Basic Grey when it came out, as it is just so bright and cheerful. Unfortunately it is now discontinued, so I am hoarding the sheets I have left! Fortunately there are two sheets of each design, so I could use one of the cat backgrounds here! The large cat stamp (Funstamps) has been in my stash for years, and gets an airing every now and then if I have to make a card for a cat lover. I cut and mounted it with Spellbinders Nestabilities dies. The small cats, words, and the cheeky dog in the corner are from a freebie set from Papercraft Inspirations magazine. All the cats were coloured with Promarkers.

Lots of delightful animal antics going on in the DT's samples, so do go and take a look at them on the Challenge Blog. Thanks for looking at mine, and I look forward to seeing yours!

Bluebells

This is proving to be an excellent year for bluebells. Indeed, there are some growing on the bank opposite my craft room window.

The photograph was taken one evening last week. The dramatic lighting was accounted for by the fact that the sun, low and bright, was shining over us, but a rainstorm was rapidly approaching.

I was inspired to make a bluebell card for Butterfly Challenge No 7, the theme for which is butterflies and a doily.

I used my Wild Rose Studio bluebell die, and one of the papers from the "Bluebell" paper pack, also by Wild Rose Studio. One of the papers in the pack is a gorgeous all-over bluebell design, which I had thought to use, but it would have overwhelmed the focal elements. Instead I stamped some bluebells and a little butterfly (both Chocolate Baroque) on one of the plainer sheets from the pack, and coloured them with Promarkers. The die-cut butterflies (Cheery Lynn)  and the bluebell diecut were also coloured with Promarkers. The doily is the French Pastry die, again by Cheery Lynn.

I was hoping to give the impression of butterflies fluttering amongst the bluebells, just as they have been doing on the bank outside my window this week, but they are mostly Orange Tips, which I haven't managed to photograph yet as they rarely settle for long. I was able, however, to capture this beautiful song thrush today as it surveyed the garden from its vantage point on the shed roof.

And the prize is....... !

Time to reveal the gorgeous goodies which will be winging their way to this month's lucky winner at Stamping Sensations!

There's still plenty of time to enter, and as our May theme is "ANYTHING GOES" (as long as it includes some stamping, as we are of course a stamping challenge) it couldn't be easier. The DT have some extra mid-month inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog, so if you're stuck for ideas, do have a look.

My project is a Post-It Note cover. I really like making these, they make such lovely little gifts.

Hadn't made one in this style before, so I followed Kimberley Crawford's tutorial here. I used Wild Rose Studio papers, and the butterfly stamp, die and sentiment are all by Prickley Pear. I coloured the butterfly with Promarkers.

Think I will have to make some more of these! Thanks for looking!