Inspiring colours

September already, the nights are fast drawing in and there is a definite autumnal feel in the air up here in rural SW Scotland. Whilst I love to see the autumn colours, I'm not looking forward to the return of the cold and the dark nights of winter, especially after the washout summer we've had. However, it's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations, so I am hoping for lots of lovely entries to brighten things up! This month our theme is

* * * * * PHOTO  INSPIRATION * * * * *

You may take your inspiration from the gorgeous colours in the photo, or go floral with the beautiful iris, but as always, your main image/focal point must be stamped if you want your entry to be considered for our prizes or top 3. And we have some lovely prizes for our winners this month, a first prize of stamp sets from Hero Arts, and a second one of lovely ribbons and gems. See the Challenge Blog for full details.

For my card, I've used a stunning Echinacea stamp by Imagination Crafts, sentiment dies by Brittania Dies, Prima flowers, and ribbon and backing papers from my stash.

For even more inspiration, do hop over to the Challenge Blog, where my teamies have some superb samples for your delight. We hope you enjoy our September challenge!

Celebrate Spring with Flowers!

Well, the nights are getting lighter, the daffodils are in bud, so it must nearly be spring, mustn't it?! We're still shivering in the cold up here in Scotland, there is snow on the hills all around us, but it can't be far away now, can it? One of the things I love most about spring is the appearance of all the spring flowers with their beautiful colours which chase away the gloom of winter. So what better theme for Stamping Sensations March Challenge than

* * * * * FLOWER POWER * * * * *

Anything floral is what we'd like to see, but please do remember that, being a stamping challenge, we need to see a stamped image as the focal element of your project if you want it to be eligible for the prize or a top 3 spot.

And it is a super prize this month! Making a welcome return as our sponsor is Be Creative (see all their details on the Challenge Blog), who have donated no fewer than six of their stunning top quality paper pads, and four packs of pearl and gem embellishments for the lucky winner! These really are the best quality, and the designs on all the paper pads are simply gorgeous.



I've used one of my favourite papers from the Be Creative pads for my card. I just love the colours on this design, and the roses and butterflies.

The Crafty Individuals bicycle stamp with its flower basket came to mind when I was thinking of what to put on the card, and the Be Creative bottle caps just fitted the wheels! Two Prima flowers became the spokes, with Craftwork Cards Candi as the hubs. The bicycle, Prima flowers and Candi were all coloured with Be Creative alcohol markers.

The bicycle was cut out with a Go Kreate die, and a butterfly cut from one of the Be Creative papers was added. The Hobby Art sentiment was, I thought, rather appropriate.

There's lots more inspiration over on the Challenge Blog, and I can't wait to see all your gorgeous floral creations!

March Challenge

Spring is on the way, so for our March challenge at Stamping Sensations we'd love to see your interpretation of

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Lots of scope in this one, I think. Anything that's outdoor-related (eg. fields, flowers, trees, seaside, gardens, mountains, children playing or any outdoor activity to name just a few ideas) should fit the bill. Here's my take on the theme.

The gorgeous Summer Poppy Meadow by Crafty Individuals  (our fantastic sponsor this month) came to mind immediately. I coloured it with watercolour pencils, but then went over the foreground poppies with Promarkers to make them stand out. A black Sakura Glaze pen highlighted the centres.

To make the background, I stamped a Crafty Individuals poppy (a freebie with an order) randomly, and then clear-embossed it to act as a resist while I sponged all over with VersaMagic ink. On top of that I stamped my favourite flourish (Crafty Individuals CI-182) .I cut black middles for some Prima flowers to echo the poppies, and finished the design with a Fiskars border punch, sentiment from Crafty Individuals CI-209 and ribbon from my stash.

Crafty Individuals is one of my favourite stamp companies. Not only do they have such wonderful stamp designs, but also gorgeous background paper books, masks, dies and other accessories, and their service is second to none. Do have a look at their newly revamped website. Jean and Malcolm, the owners, have a fabulous prize for this month's winner. Who wouldn't like this superb set of stamps?! Something for every occasion there.

Last month's theme really caught people's imagination (we had 159 entries!) and I have a feeling this one will do the same. Don't forget to check out my lovely teamies' inspirational samples on the Challenge Blog!

Flower Pounding

There are many examples of flower pounding about on the 'net, and they're all beautiful! I've been meaning to have a go at it for ages and never got round to it, but when I found out it could be done with the Cuttlebug, I was determined to try it! I won't go into all the details as there are lots of tutorials available, including a good one here (google Cuttlebug & flower pounding for more), but I found I got the best results using a good quality watercolour paper. Thinner papers didn't work so well.

One of the great things about the technique is that it is so quick and easy! Since moving to our new house, we haven't had chance to do much with the garden yet, but there are plenty of wild flowers growing in it! I wouldn't dream of picking wild flowers in the wild, as it were, but I think it's ok if they're from your own garden. Most people would call them weeds there, I guess! Anyway, before I picked them, I photographed them, so that I could use the photos on my cards along with the pounded papers. Here are the results.

Ivy Leaved Toadflax

Red Campion

Cow Parsley

Common Wood Sorrel

Buttercups

(This pic was of a nearby field, though the flowers I used were from the garden. We haven't got that many!)

And my favourite, Germander Speedwell

Supplies used on the cards: The pounded papers for backgrounds, Nestabilities frames and labels, Fiskars border punch, small butterfly punch by Martha Stewart, medium butterfly punch unknown, large butterfly Memory Box dies (two dies), bee stamp by Hobby Art, sentiments by Hobby Art, Paula Pascual, Paper Artsy, and Inkylicious (part of stamp), Prima flowers, ribbons and rainbow paper from my stash.

Can't wait to do some more, but after weeks of gorgeous weather, it's now windy, grey, cold and very wet, so I'll have to wait until the flowers dry up a bit!  We've had some lovely evening walks while the weather's been good. About a week ago we went across the fields opposite our house, and came across these characters, sitting outside the entrance to their den.

There were five altogether, some obviously young ones, and three disappeared down the hole as we approached, but these two seemed unconcerned and stayed there for a while, watching us watching them, until they too went down into the den. We used to get urban foxes in our garden at the old house, but I've never seen more than one at a time before. It was amazing to see a whole family of them together like this! The wonders of living in the countryside. We're loving it more and more. However, there are downsides. A few minutes ago the power suddenly went off. We get occasional power cuts for no apparent reason. Oh no, I thought, I'll have lost all that post I've just spent ages typing in! Fortunately Mr. Blogger had kindly saved it for me, so here it is!

Stampalot June Challenge

Well, our Medals and Monarchs theme for last month's Stampalot Challenge must have flummoxed many of you, as there were only 59 entries! Or maybe you were just too busy out enjoying the lovely sunshine we've had over the past couple of weeks. Anyway, I think you'll find this month's theme a bit easier. It's

COLOUR BINGO

Here's the grid. The brief is to choose a line in any direction, or the four corners, and incorporate those elements in your project. Please tell us in your post which you have chosen. See the  Challenge Blog for all the details and some great samples from the DT.

I've used the centre horizontal line - turquoise, polka dots and brown.

Sarah Kay image, coloured with Promarkers and cut out with a Nestie frame, Ella Blue papers ( by g c d studios), a couple of ribbons, Prima flowers and a sentiment by Paula Pascual. Of course, normally I don't do cute, but the Sarah Kay image just seemed to go so well with the lovely weather!

As usual there's a great prize on offer, and it's something a bit different!

                                

It can be used as a big kit to make your own calendar, but it can equally be used in parts in several smaller projects.  It includes a blank calendar (for any year), loads of Basic Grey papers, buttons, ribbon, K&Co stickers, month & motif rubons, several glue types, gelatos etc., etc.

Hopefully it will inspire lots of entries this month! I look forward to seeing them all.



Butterflies and Blossoms 2

I've been wanting to make an exploding box for ages. I got as far as making the box and decorating the outside a while ago, but never finished the inside. Anyway, finding myself with some time when for once I had nothing I needed to do and nowhere I needed to go, I set to work and completed it. And since I had always intended it to be on my favourite theme of butterflies and flowers, and since the Sir Stampalot Challenge this month is just that, and since the challenge allows two entries as long as they are different types, I'm entering it along with the card I made earlier!

Here's the closed box. The papers and butterflies are from the Artylicious Butterfly Bliss CD, with Prima flowers.

Inside there are three layers. The square printed pictures are from Crafty Individuals, stamps also by Crafty Individuals along with Cherry Pie and Art Impressions. Other decorations include stickers, more Prima flowers and text printed from my computer.

Looking down on the inner layer:

Middle layer:

And finally the outer layer:

I've really enjoyed this challenge, and all the other entries I've looked at so far are gorgeous. Of course, I know we wouldn't want the butterfly theme every month, but...... maybe every few months?? ;-)

Swirls and curls, and the case for digital stamping

My big reorganisation is still ongoing, but I managed to clear enough space on my desk to make a card for this week's Tuesday Taggers, the theme being Swirls and Curls. For the first time ever, I've used a digital stamp, the Hero Arts butterfly.

I'd previously bought a few digistamps from other companies because a) I thought I ought to try them and b) I liked the pictures. However, subconsciously I think I was reluctant to use them because they were not "real" stamps. I have thought about it for quite a while now, and come to the conclusion that there are parallels here with digital photography. Many people said originally that digital photography was not real photography. Now, especially with the advent of digital SLRs, even some of the diehard darkroom aficionados have embraced it. Photography has been a great interest of mine for many years but I never had the opportunity to have my own darkroom, so I joined the digital revolution with enthusiasm. I decided that whichever way the image was captured, the end result is what counts.

I think that this argument may also be used with stamping. Whether made with ink and rubber, or ink and printer, the image which appears on the paper is to all intents and purposes the same. It's what you then do with it that matters. This is illustrated very well by Jennifer McGuire in her video on the Hero Arts blog. I watched the video, checked out the Hero Arts digistamps, and that clinched it for me. Apart from being very good value for money (because each digistamp set comes with lots of extras) many of the HA digistamps have rubber equivalents (some of which I already have!), giving lots of scope for combining the two. Also, the digistamps can be resized, so there are endless possibilities.

Inspired by Jennifer's butterfly demo, I coloured mine with Distress inks and then overstamped it (real stamp!) with the HA flourish. To fit the swirls and curls theme, I stamped all over the base card with the flourish from Crafty Individuals (who are sponsoring this week's TT with a great prize!) and then added some swirly background papers from the gorgeous new Papermania Capsule Collection. A Martha Stewart punched border and a few Prima flowers completed the design.

I should add (in fact I'm doing just that!) that "real stamping" will always be my preference, and it's not often that I make anything without some stamping on it. However, digital certainly has its place too; it's just a different way of arriving at the end result, and I think we are very lucky to have so many and varied artforms available to us to create with.

I would be very interested to hear any other views for or against digital stamping!

Starting them young, and Allsorts Challenge week 40

Well, I had a great week up north, albeit exhausting! Needless to say, I didn't get any cards made, though we did have time for a bit of crafting. My four year old grandson had two birthday parties to attend while I was there (his social life is far more hectic than mine!) and he wanted to make cards for his friends. He decided to do some stamping, and here's what he made.

It was all his own design. He chose the inks and stamps (Clarity Stamp, Stampscapes, and Non Sequitur) and just got on with it. All I did was cut it out and mat it for him. I thought it wasn't bad for a 4 year old. He then decided he liked it too much to give it away! So he made a couple of other cards for his friends. 

I'm still trying to catch up after my week away, so apologies if I haven't managed to get round to everyone's blogs. I feel as though I've been out of circulation for ages. However, I did get a card made for this week's Allsorts challenge, whch is to incorporate a tag, ticket or label in the design.

I went for a vintage look. The background paper is old stash (Anna Griffin I think), overstamped with a Crafty Individuals text. I also used a Martha Stewart punch and Prima flowers. The flower centres are made with micro beads (very old stash!). The photo is of my maternal grandma. I was looking for something in my sewing box the other day and came across my thread cutter, the sort you are allowed to take on aeroplanes. I'd forgotten I had it. It's a circular blade set in a case which exposes parts of the blade, similar to this by Tim Holtz. I don't do so much sewing these days, and even less flying, so I thought my thread cutter would come in handy for distressing paper, and as you can see, it worked really well. And it's much prettier than Tim's!

A Bear

The theme for this week's Tuesday Taggers is Teddy Bears, with a lovely prize on offer sponsored by The Craft Barn. Now, of course I don't do cute, but this week I just had to rise to the challenge. I want to introduce you to my bear. He was given to me when I was born, and has been with me ever since (a long time!).

Here's a picture of him (and me) in his youth. [I've just noticed that the lace on the edge of the gown I'm wearing in the photo is remarkably similar to a Martha Stewart Zig Zag edge punch design!] My bear was very smart then, with a beautiful golden coloured coat and soft brown paws, and inside him he had a musical box which played the tune of "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf"! That long ago ceased to function, unfortunately, and nowadays he's looking a bit worse for wear.

I can't remember what I used to call him when I was little, if indeed I ever gave him any other name than teddy. But now, he's very definitely Fred Bear!

Anyway, here's the card I have made in his honour. I only have a few bear stamps, but this one seemed very fitting as not only is it a very traditional style of bear, by PSX, but it's also one of my oldest stamps. To show him off I coloured him with Promarkers and set him in a Nestabilities frame against some My Mind's Eye paper, embellished with a Martha Stewart punch, a few Prima flowers and some ribbon. The sentiment is by Rubber Stamp Tapestry.

My old bear's glory might be somewhat faded now, but I'd swear he's still got a twinkle in his eye!

Experimenting

I'm still intrigued by the notion that it's possible to create interesting backgrounds by taking colour off rather than putting it on. This time, using the same materials as in my previous post, (Distress Inks and encaustic art card) I wanted to see whether I could make a pattern with the Victoria Cuttlebug embossing folder. I inked up the card as before, and then lightly sprayed the open Victoria folder with plain water on the side with the raised (as opposed to indented) pattern. Then I laid the inked side of the card over the wet side of the folder, closed up the folder, gently smoothed it over and straightaway removed the card before it got too wet. NB. I didn't put it through the Cuttlebug! I blotted it with a piece of kitchen roll and was pleased to see that the pattern had transferred to the card pretty well.

From the patterned card I cut and embossed a Nesties Labels 2. I wanted to put a border around it, but the next size up would have made one too wide. So I coloured around the edge, following the embossed line, with a Promarker instead. Because the lighter areas of the pattern showed through, it gave the effect of a shadow. To complete the card I added a panel of white card embossed with the Victoria folder in the usual way, a few Prima flowers and punched leaves and some sheer ribbon. The sentiment is by Penny Black.

Halfway through the holidays

We've just had a lovely few days in Dumfries & Galloway, in spite of the rain, visiting places we hadn't been to before. On one day we followed the Galloway Kite Trail around Loch Ken. The trail was formed after the successful re-introduction of red kites to the area. The highlight of the day was seeing 50+ red kites descend on the feeding station at Bellymack Hill Farm. Food is put out there at 2pm every day, but the birds start to arrive before then. Wonder how they know what time it is! It was an amazing sight. Just a pity the weather wasn't better. Note the Scotch mist in the background of the photo! The rain was blowing straight into the hide from where we were watching, and I could only hope my camera would survive the soaking. (So far so good!)




It's always great to get away for a while, but withdrawal symptoms soon set in, so back to the crafting! My first task when I got home was to make a wedding anniversary card for my daughter and son-in-law. It's their 8th this year, traditionally bronze & pottery. I'd been waiting for an opportunity to use a gorgeous background by Lesley Wharton, aka The Paper Engineer, which she generously gave away as a freebie on her blog. The colours seemed just right for the occasion, and it didn't need any more than a few Prima flowers and an image from Crafty Individuals to complete the design.


I'm still trying to use up my existing stash, rather than buying new stuff. It's not working 100%, but I am definitely buying less new and using more old, so I'm considering that a success! I've had some gorgeous Daisy D's papers for ages and have kept getting them out to look at from time to time. They are lovely quality and the most sumptuous colours and designs. Believe me, making the first cut into them was not easy, but I managed it. There are several sheets of each double-sided design in the pack, and so I have decided that if I keep one of each, using the rest should be quite painless. As with the previous card, the papers needed little embellishment. I used three different papers for the background, dividing them with narrow gold peeloffs, and a fourth for the scalloped circle around the greeting. The Spellbinders ribbon tag was made from the reverse side of the scalloped circle paper. Of course, all the papers co-ordinate beautifully. A couple of Prima flowers, and a Craftwork Cards Circle Message finished it off.

Only three more weeks of the hols left.....