New Favourite Stamps For The New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone, and happy new challenge at Stamping Sensations! For our first challenge of 2020, we would like you to showcase your

* * * * * FAVOURITE STAMPS * * * * *

For this challenge, your favourite stamp should be the main element of your design, and must also follow our challenge rules, which can be found HERE, if you want it to be eligible for our prize or top 3 place. Our sponsor this month is Tattered Lace, and there will be a fab prize for the winner. Full details on the Challenge Blog. 

Now, I thought this would be an easy challenge! But trying to single out a favourite from all my thousands of stamps (I've been collecting them for over 30 years!) proved well-nigh impossible! So I decided I would have to choose one from my latest favourite stamp range, which is Aall & Create, and in particular the stamps designed for them by Tracy Evans.

I've used one of Tracy's most recent designs, the gorgeous teasel from set #240, for my card.

The circular part of the background was made with distress oxide inks, brushos and an Aall & Create stencil (#61) on my round gel plate. The corners were sponged with ink and some detail added with another A&C stencil (#27). The leaves and flower head were lightly coloured with Arteza coloured pencils. The sentiment is from Aall & create set #213.

As usual, there's plenty of inspiration for you over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog. It's really interesting to see the variety of stamps which the DT have chosen as their favourites. We look forward to seeing yours!

February Challenge at Stamping Sensations, and a strange phenomenon

Since Christmas, my mojo seems to have disappeared. I reckon it's taken itself off to warmer, sunnier climes, given the cold, grey, wet and dreary weather we've been having here lately, and I can't say I blame it. However, I need it back, but how to attract it? One look at the state of my craft room was enough to suggest the answer!

A mega clear out was long overdue. The task was so daunting, I'd kept putting it off but I knew that a good tidy up would go a long way towards making me feel like crafting again. One of the main problems was not being able to find anything I needed without having to shift piles of stuff out of the way first. I store all my unmounted stamps in A5 ringbinders, and when I first set up my craft room, five years ago, they all fitted into a small bookcase. Not any more! As my collection grew, the extra binders had to be crammed into odd spaces here and there on other shelves, which was really annoying.

Then, a few weeks ago, my daughter announced that she had a large, tall bookcase that had become surplus to her requirements, and would I like it? Would I??! Of course, that meant I had to bite the bullet and start the grand clear out! To cut a long story short, what once looked like this



now looks like this!

So much tidier and more efficient, don't you think? Anyway, the clear out is just about finished, (as well as the stamp shelves I have two walls of built-in floor to ceiling shelves and drawers to store everything else) and I now know where everything is again.

But - and here's the strange thing - although I have removed a considerable amount of rubbish and stuff I didn't want to keep, and have gained more storage space with the new bookcase, there doesn't seem to be any more room on the other shelves than there was before! If anyone has an explanation for this odd phenomenon, I'd be very interested to hear it!

Fortunately I managed to clear enough space on my desk in time to make my sample for this month's challenge at Stamping Sensations, where our theme for February is

* * * * * ANIMAL MAGIC * * * * *

As usual, you may interpret this however you wish, as long as the main element of your design is hand stamped (or a hand coloured digital image) and reflects the theme. Please do check that your project fits our rules, otherwise it will not be eligible for the prize or top 3, and may not be commented on, in fairness to others who do follow the rules. And you will not want to miss out on this month's fabulous prize, kindly donated by our lovely sponsors Tattered Lace.

For my card I have used some of the latest new Lavinia Stamps, which are absolutely gorgeous. The range includes badgers, foxes, squirrel and snail, all perfect for our challenge theme, as well as some beautiful fairies.

All stamps on my card are by Lavinia Stamps. I stamped and masked the moon before creating a background with an Inkylicious mountain and valley stencil and pigment inks. The badger, fairy, flowers, foliage and distant trees were then stamped over the top, and a bit of sparkle added with some glitter glue to finish.

I'm entering this card in the Lavinia Stamps Creative Challenge for February, where the theme is "The Full Moon".

There's some stunning Animal Magic by my lovely teamies over on the Challenge Blog, so do go and take a look, and they would be delighted if you had time to visit their individual blogs too. I think this will be a popular theme, and am looking forward to seeing your entries.

Anything Goes with a twist!

It's time for our August Challenge at Stamping Sensations, and this month we thought we'd leave the theme up to you, but - there's a twist! It's

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH A STAMP AND A DIE * * * * *

Your topic can be anything you choose, but you must use at least one stamp and one die in your project.

Our sponsor this time is Tattered Lace, who have the most beautiful dies designed by Stephanie Weightman. They have generously donated a fantastic £50 voucher for the winner to spend in their Online Store.

I've used a Tattered Lace Owl die on my card (one of a set of two), I believe this set  - Owls -  is exclusive to Hobbycraft. I adhered the owl to brown card and then cut round it by hand.

The background was made with my Gelli Plate and a Crafter's Workshop stencil. The "branch" is by Inky Doodles, All other stamps by Chocolate Baroque, except for the tiny butterfly with the sentiment, which is by Just Rite. The tag die was a freebie from Papercraft Essentials magazine. The "moon" was stamped with white acrylic paint to get a good opaque colour. I gave the owl some twinkly eyes with a couple of stick on gems.

My lovely teamies have some stunning samples for you this month, don't forget to check them out on the Challenge Blog, and I will look forward to seeing all your wonderful stamp and die creations!