Made A Card!

Well, that's such an unusual occurrence at the moment that I though it deserved an announcement! I've been so busy lately that I've had very little time for crafting. However, I've just got some gorgeous new Inkylicious stamps which simply had to take precedence.

First I stamped the Lattice in Versamark ink and embossed it in clear powder, then coloured over it using my Inkylicious Ink Dusters and Adirondack inks. The background paper was coloured in the same way and then overstamped with the Damask stamp. Both stamps are repeatable, which is great because you can cover any size paper with them. I cut out the lattice and the brown frame with Spellbinders Labels 8 dies. The small label with the sentiment is also by Spellbinders, and the sentiment is by Inkylicious.. Butterfly die by Cheery Lynn, poppies die (coloured with Promarkers) by Memory Box. I saw the idea for fastening the ribbon with D-rings on a blog somewhere (I think!) but unfortunately can't remember where. Happy to give credit if someone can let me know where it's due! I though it was a neat idea, but it took me a while to find D-rings small enough. Eventually got them on eB*y.

I've a couple more new stamps still waiting to be inked up. Just need some more spare time!

Is it Spring??

Well, it's April, so it must be, but it sure doesn't feel like it up here! Although the last few days have been sunny, it's still very cold, and there is still snow on the ground in places. And looking at the weather forecast for the next few weeks, I won't be putting my thermals away just yet!

Anyway, it really is April, even if the weather doesn't think so, and we have a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. The theme is

** SPECIAL OCCASIONS, OTHER THAN BIRTHDAYS **

Lots of scope with this one. Anniversaries, weddings, new babies, retirement, graduation, new home, get well soon, congratulations (eg. for new job, passing exams, driving test) even sympathy cards. I'm sure you can think of many other Special Occasions. Just remember NO BIRTHDAYS!

Mind you, the winner this month will probably think it's their birthday! Our April sponsors are PDA Card & Craft, and they have given us this most generous prize!

The lucky recipient will be spoilt for choice! I used to live near PDA, and I miss being able to pop into the shop for a good browse! However, their mail order service is brilliant, so at least I can still buy their products. They are probably best known for their fantastic selection of top quality blank card and paper, but they have lots of other craft goodies too, including stamps (from many companies), dies and stencils, a huge range of embellishments, pens, punches, inks (including Distress), embossing powders, adhesives and beautiful printed papers, one of which I have used for my card.  I've been saving it for a long time, it's almost too pretty to use! But I decided it would be perfect for this card, and anyway I've got another sheet to keep!

PDA also stock the Marianne Design frame die, which I used to cut out the butterfly image. The butterfly stamp is one I've had for years, and I've no idea who made it, it doesn't have any ID on it. I coloured the image with Promarkers and inked around the edges of the frame, and along the border. The butterfly punch used to make the border is also anonymous. It's actually a corner punch, but I took out the corner guides so I could do the border instead. I coloured one of the punched out butterflies and stuck it just above the sentiment, which is by Personal Impressions.

My lovely teamies have some superb samples for you to feast your eyes upon, and if they don't brighten up this unspringlike Spring, I don't know what will! Do hop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them. I'll look foward to seeing your Special Occasion creations!

A Card For Brenda

The lovely Brenda (of Floral Fantasies) is celebrating not only her 4th Blogaversary, but also gaining almost 4000 followers. To mark these fantastic achievements she has invited her followers to make a project which reflects her blog, however we like to interpret it. Whenever I think of Brenda, images of flowers, trees, butterflies, fairies, silhouettes and general inkyness come to mind, with a touch of vintage thrown in for good measure! I think I've managed to incorporate most of these in my card!

I made the background with my Gelli Plate, using metallic acrylic paint and a Crafter's Workshop mask. This was then simply overstamped with various images.    I added a paper doily, a few tiny flower buttons, a butterfly and a sentiment, cut and framed with Nesties. A touch of glitter glue on the fairy's wings and the butterfly completed the picture. Here are a couple of close ups of the details.

All stamps by Chocolate Baroque, except for the bit of background text, which is by Hero Arts.

Since I first met Brenda, she has been a wonderful source of inspiration, and any time my mojo goes walkabout, I can be sure that a look around her blog will bring it back. Not only that, Brenda is incredibly generous in sharing her talent and creativity. So I'd just like to say thank you and congratulations on reaching these marvellous milestones, Brenda, and long may you continue to inspire us.

Unrepeatable!

One of the characteristics of the Gelli Plate is that it is highly unlikely you will ever get identical prints. This can be a good thing, because half the fun is not knowing what the print will come out like until you see it. However, it can be annoying when you get a really good print and know you'll never be able to repeat it!

I was playing with some Crafter's Workshop masks, one of which was the Mini Roman Letters (by Dina Wakley). This is the first print I made with it. Possibly my best Gelli print yet!

I didn't want to cover up too much of it, so all I added was some stamped clocks (Crafty Individuals), a column top (Non Sequitur) (I think it's actually Greek but I'm pretending it's Roman) a couple of gods (part of an Aspects Of Design stamp) and a printed picture (Crafty Individuals).

Think I might have to keep this card. I'll never be able to make another like it!

Gelli prints

Been getting messy with my Gelli plate.....

The pile of prints is growing!

Made a card with the one bottom left in the first photo. (Butterfly: Chocolate Baroque; Flower: Technique Tuesday; Text on background:Hero Arts; Sentiment: Inkylicious; Label: Spellbinders.)

Now, what to do with the others.......

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!

More Fur and Feathers at Stamping Sensations

Just a quick reminder that our theme at Stamping Sensations this month is Fur and Feathers. Entries are coming in nicely, but there's still plenty of time to enter if you haven't already. I've made a couple more cards on the theme to show you.

For the first one I tried to think outside the box and came up with this Art Deco lady with her feather headdress.

She's a stamp which came free with DoCrafts Magazine, and I coloured her with Promarkers and cut her out with a Nestie die. The feather stamped on the base card is one I've had in my stash for many years. I found it in an oddments bin in a shop somewhere. There are no maker's details on it. Until now, I had never used it! Each time I've had a clearout over the last few years I've decided it could go and then changed my mind at the last minute, thinking that just maybe I might have a use for it one day. That day came. Finally, my hoarding of stash is justified!

The dark BP was free with Making Cards mag. The sentiment is by Hero Arts, stamped on a Nestie label, with real feathers, photo corners and feather charm from my stash. I added a couple of stick-on gems to her headdress and sash for a bit of bling.

I went back to the obvious for my second card, which I've called Mysterious Forest!

The birch trees are made with a Crafter's Workshop Mask (it's called Aspen Trees, but I reckon they're birches!). I sponged the background through the mask, and then shaded the trees to give them a bit of dimension. You'll find several little creatures hiding amongst the branches. A Little Claire's owl (small part of a large stamp), a Lindsay Mason squirrel, a Hobby Art deer, and a Crafty Individuals butterfly, again a (very tiny!) part of a stamp. The foreground grasses are by Inkylicious, and the sentiment is from IndigoBlu. The badger (mounted on Stix2 foam pads) is by Personal Impressions.

 There are lots of gorgeous cards entered for the challenge so far, and I think it's going to be very difficult for us to choose a winner! I wonder if it will be yours.......

Been playing.....

....with my new Gelli Plate! It's rare these days that I have time just to play and experiment, but I've been itching to get my hands on one of these and couldn't resist any longer, so I had to make some time!

My first attempts at prints were rubbish! Put too much paint on and it just got muddy. I get cross if I can't do things straightaway, and have to keep telling myself that, like most things, it just needs some practice. I wanted to make some backgrounds for cards, and eventually I got one I was happy with, and had to make the card forthwith!

For an earlier print (rejected!) I had used some skeleton leaves as masks, but they didn't show up very well. However, the leaves looked quite good covered with the paint. I decided to try stamping on one, and embossing it. I used an Inkylicious stamp, the same one I used to make the background print, and I think it worked quite well.

 I sprayed over the background with a Crafty Notions spray ink (a gold shimmer, but unfortunately it doesn't really show in the photos) and then overstamped it with a  a Stampin' Up text stamp. The sentiment is also by Inkylicious. The centre picture, which quite fortuitously matched the Inkylicious flower stamp, is from a Crafty Individuals Miniatures book (Flowers and Butterflies), and I framed it with a Nestie die.

The paints I used on the Gelli Plate were old ones (10 years +!) and I think half the problem was that they had become too thick. I couldn't seem to get a smooth thin covering with them. Living up here in the wilds of Dumfriesshire is wonderful, but craft shops are thin on the ground, to say the least. I wanted new paints, but couldn't wait for mail order, so on Friday I made my first solo expedition down into Carlisle since we moved up here, and visited the recently opened Hobbycraft! It's so long since I was anywhere with decent supplies that I was like a kid in a sweet shop! I found the paints I wanted (plus a few other bits and pieces - well, it made sense to get them while I was there and not have to make another journey, didn't it?!) but will now have to make some more time to try them out.

Watch this space!

Ps. Note to Sally, you HAVE to get a Gelli Plate!!

Fur and Feathers

We had some wonderful entries for our January theme at Stamping Sensations. Already it's February, though, and time for a new challenge. This month it's

FUR AND FEATHERS

Plenty of scope there, I think. I decided to go for feathers, being unable to resist these adorable owls by Little Claire.

I wanted the owls to be the centre of attention, so, after colouring them with Distress Markers and cutting them out with a Spellbinders die (Labels 10), I kept the rest of the card quite simple. The background papers, which just happened to go perfectly with the image, were a freebie from Making Cards magazine. I computer-generated the sentiment on to a Spellbinders tag, and the diecut flourish is a Marianne Design.

Our sponsor for this month is once again the fabulous Stix2, and just look at what they have generously donated for our lucky winner!

My lovely teamies have excelled themselves with their creations this month, so do go and check them out on the Challenge Blog. I think this is going to be a very popular theme, so I'm looking forward to seeing lots of Fur and Feathers!

The Force of Nature

A rapid overnight thaw combined with torrential rain and gale force winds meant that the scene which awaited us this morning was in complete contrast to yesterday's. What a difference 24 hours makes! All that rain and melting snow had to go somewhere. The beautiful vistas in my previous post have been replaced by these incredible views.  I couldn't replicate all of yesterday's photos, simply because many of my viewpoints were inaccessible today, but I think you'll get the picture. If you haven't seen the previous post, do have a look and compare.

This first one shows how quickly all the snow disappeared, in just a few hours. 

The others show where it all went to!

Picture No.6 in yesterday's post shows a gateway next to a tree by the river. Here (below) you can just see the top of the gate, which gives an indication of the depth of the water. Scary!

 The river does flood quite often, but this is about the worst I have seen it since we moved here. The water you can see in the next two photos is not usually there!

The normal course of the river follows the line of trees in the centre of the next picture and then bends off to the right in the distance.

The next view is looking in the opposite direction. The direction of flow is from left to right in front of the line of trees across the middle of the picture. The tree at the LH end of the line at right angles (the tree by the gateway in the earlier pic) is normally high and dry at the edge of the near bank!

Normally I would walk through this little wood alongside the river. Couldn't do that today!

The sky is now blue again, although it's still very windy. It's two hours or so since I took the photos and already the water level has dropped quite a bit. I always wonder what happens to the creatures which live in and around the river when it floods, but they seem to cope! We saw a large hare this morning, and some swans were swimming happily on the new lake which had appeared! I'm not sure where the otters go, but they seem to come back eventually. We found a dead otter, sadly, by the roadside a few weeks ago, but have seen more otter tracks since then, so hopefully there must be several around.

This is certainly a fascinating place to live!