More things Bright And BEAUtiful!

Here's another of my samples for this month's All Things Bright And BEAUtiful theme at Stamping Sensations Challenge.

Again, all the stamps I've used are from our sponsor for February, the wonderful Bee Crafty. The tulips are from their gorgeous BEAUtanicals range, and the butterfly is from the Birds & Butterflies set. But Bee Crafty are not just about stamps, stunning though those are. They also have lots of accessories with which to enhance your projects, including some fab MDF pieces such as the Victorian Tag Artboard which you see here. 

There is still plenty of time for you to enter our challenge, and since the prize is a fantastic £25 voucher to spend in the Bee Crafty online shop, what's not to like?! My teamies also have more stunning projects for you over on the Challenge Blog, please do take a look and they would be delighted if you paid their individual blogs a visit too. If you have already entered, or are inspired to do so, good luck! If not, I hope you enjoy looking anyway!

Bright and Beautiful Fox!

February already, so it's time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations! We have a lovely theme for you this month:

* * * * * ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL * * * * *

We are thinking along the lines of the wonderful old hymn - All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. We'd like to see your hand stamped creations celebrating the wonders of nature. Please do make sure that your entry fits our challenge rules which you can find here.

We are delighted to welcome back Bee Crafty as our lovely sponsor for February. They have a wonderfully eclectic range of fabulous stamps and stencils, and loads of other things too, and our lucky winner will be able to choose £25 of lovely new stash from their online shop.

I decided to make something other than a card for a change, using stamps from two Bee Crafty sets, Scenery Animals - Fox and BEAUtanicals - Ferns.

 I made a plaque from wooden lolly sticks and painted it with gesso to prime it. I created the background with a home made mountain stencil, punched circle mask for the moon, and Versamagic pigment inks. All stamping was done with Versafine Clair ink. The row of trees and the single fern (which I hope looks like a tree!) were stamped directly on to the plaque, while the foreground ferns and the fox were stamped separately and cut out before being affixed to the plaque.

Here you can see the beautiful scenery detail in the fox stamp.

I'm sure this will be a popular theme, and I can't wait to see what you come up with! My amazing teamies have once again excelled themselves with some gorgeous samples to inspire you, so do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. Remember, you can enter up to three times, and with such a fab prize on offer, it's definitely worth maximising your chances of winning. Good luck everyone!

Footprints on the Moon

Hadn't used the Brushos for ages, so having a few spare minutes, and some lovely new stamps from Stamps By Me, I thought I'd get them out and have a play.

First I stamped and masked the moon, and then made the background with the Brushos using the sprinkle & then spray method, blotting it after spraying to lighten it up as it was quite dark. Some of the paint leaked under the mask a bit, but I quite liked the effect. I thought it looked like clouds over the moon and gave it some dimension. Serendipity!

The Stamps By Me set has the trees, the moon and two sentiments. I particularly liked the one I've used here, but I thought the picture needed something else to help tell the story, so I added the rabbit & buzzard, along with a few grasses at the bottom, all from Inkylicious.

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Clair ink and embossed it with WOW Neutral Ultra Shimmer Regular powder, which has the most gorgeous sparkle, but the photo doesn't do it justice. You can perhaps see it a little better in the next one.

And here's the rabbit gazing at the moon! (And probably hoping the buzzard doesn't spot her!)

 

It's quite a while, well before Christmas in fact, since I had chance to make something just for the sake of it, rather than for a particular person, event or occasion, and I really enjoyed doing this one. When I make cards for family and friends, I tailor them to the recipient and usually know what I'm going to do before I begin. Not that I don't enjoy doing those too, of course, but I love having the creative freedom to pick out a few stamps and inks etc. and just see where they lead. When I started making this card I had no idea how it was going to turn out, but I'm happy with the result!

Happy New January Challenge!

Happy New Year to you all! It's time for our first challenge of 2019 at Stamping Sensations, and we have some wonderful themes lined up for you over the coming months, with some fantastic prizes too from our lovely sponsors. To get us off to a flying start, our January topic is

* * * * * FABULOUSLY FEMININE * * * * *

We'd like to see your creations in honour of the female of the species.You can choose to interpret this with your image, or colours, or anything that would appeal to the ladies, as long as your main image is stamped and your project fits the theme.

We are so sad when we have to discount entries that don't follow our rules, so we are making a point this month of directing you to the paragraph below. It will appear each month but we would like to make you aware of its significance and your responsibility to familiarise yourself with our simple challenge rules.

Please ensure you check our challenge rules here before entering, it may save you embarrassment and make sure your entry receives comments from the team and is entered into the prize draw: We run our challenge for fun in our spare time. It is your responsibility if entering to make sure you check our challenge rules, it is not our responsibility to read your posts and remind you if you fail to comply. If you do not follow the rules we will simply ignore your entry.

Anyway, that said, here's my Fabulously Feminine card.

All stamps are by Crafty Individuals, background paper by First Edition. The images were coloured with Promarkers. Here's a closer look at some of the details.

 Our fab prize this month is a super selection of stamps. Check them out on the Challenge Blog, where you will also find some gorgeous samples from my lovely teamies. We look forward to seeing your Fabulously Feminine creations!

Brighten up these grey days!

Don't know about your neck of the woods, but up here it's been damp, dull, dreary and draughty lately. Very draughty! And very damp! Not to mention cold! We've had the odd fine day, but they've been few and far between, and the unremitting grey leaves me feeling blue. I'm definitely not a winter person. Roll on the spring!

However, at least we have Christmas to look forward to, along with this month's challenge from Stamping Sensations which I hope is going to brighten things up considerably as our December theme is

* * * * * WINTER SPARKLE * * * * *

Bring out the bling, and show us your winter wonders, but please do remember that the main image of your project must be stamped and follow the theme.

We are sponsored once again by the fabulous Gordon and Justin of Be Creative, and knowing Justin's love of all things Christmassy and glittery, I'm sure they will both be looking forward to seeing all your entries as much as I am.

I've used some of the superb Be Creative products on my card.

Their Wonder Tape, Wonder Sheet and Glue Wands are my go-to adhesives for card making, and their Wonder embossing powders and crystals are to die for. I stamped the sentiment (Inkylicious) and embossed it with one of the detail embossing powders from the White Mystical set. This is a set of four white-based powders, three of which have glitter mixed in, and the one I chose is named, appropriately, Winter Sparkle. I used the same powder to make the background. I cut a piece of Wonder Sheet to size, removed the cover sheet from one side and sprinkled the powder all over it, and heated it. Both the Wonder Sheet and the Tape are heat resistant, so they are perfect for heat embossing. Once melted, the silver glitter mixed in with the white powder really does sparkle beautifully. The photo doesn't do it justice, although you can maybe see it a little better in the next one.

I diecut the sentiment with a Spellbinders die and added a few punched snowflakes (Tonic Studios punch) to finish off the design.

My lovely teamies have loads of gorgeous sparkly inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog, so do go and take a look, and I hope to see lots of entries for our final challenge of the year. Let's make Blogland sparkle!

Getting there!

Well, I have managed to make a few more Christmas cards!

I'm particularly pleased with this one, because the background is not printed paper, believe it or not, it's stamped! I love tartan and plaid backgrounds, as they are colourful and go with many themes, so when I saw this new stamp set by Concord & 9th, I was delighted! I can now make my own plaid papers in whatever colours I like!

For the topper I've used the Woodware Lino Cut Wren (which I think could also be a robin!) and embellished with poinsettia dies by Marianne Design and pine branch by Britannia Dies. The sentiment is computer generated and cut out with a die by The Works. Stitched circle dies also by The Works.

This card also fits our November challenge at Stamping Sensations, where the theme is "Get Ready For Christmas!" There's still plenty of time to enter. Pop over to the Challenge Blog for all the details.

Now, only another 60 or so Christmas cards to go.............

And panic begins to set in......again!

This is the time of year when I suddenly realise that, in spite of all my good intentions, it is less than two months until Christmas and I have hardly started making my Christmas cards! (Also just realised that my November post last year had a similar title!) So it is just as well that our theme for November at Stamping Sensations reminded me that I'd better get a move on, as it is

* * * * * GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS * * * * *

We'd like to see your take on all things Christmassy, just as long as your main image is stamped and follows the theme.

Here I've used a gorgeous new winter scene from Inkylicious (so new I don't think it's even on their website yet! I bought it at Stamp Magic last month.). The background stamps are a set of two Twinchie stamps, also by Inkylicious, The sentiment is one I've had for many years, and the make is unknown. The holly diecut is a magazine freebie. I coloured the main image with watercolour pencils and added some glitter glue for a bit of sparkle.

We are sponsored this month by the fabulous Swedish House Crafts. I'm sure this will be a very popular theme, so I will look forward to seeing lots of lovely entries! Now, I'd better start thinking about some more Christmas card making......

Autumn Colours

The theme for our October challenge at Stamping Sensations is one which I'm sure will be a favourite for many people.What better to showcase at this time of year than the

* * * * * SHADES OF AUTUMN * * * * *

The subject of your entry can be anything you choose as long as the main element of the project is stamped and you have used typical autumn colours, such as greens, yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

Nothing says Autumn to me more than the changing leaves in all their multicolour glory, so that is what I have portrayed on my card.

I stamped various leaves (both solid shapes and outlines) from a set by Stamps By Me, leaving spaces to cut out three more leaves with a die by Concord & 9th. I made a background with Brushos, using autumn colours, and adhered it behind the stamped piece, after which I fixed the diecut leaves back into their cut out spaces so that the Brusho background showed through. I was quite happy with the result but felt that it just needed a little more, so I added the sentiment (Inkylicious) and stamped a few splatters (Concord & 9th) to finish it off.

There's a £25 voucher from our fab sponsors Stamp Addicts for our lucky October winner, and my lovely teamies have some gorgeous inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog.

Whilst autumn is not my favourite season of the year (too close to winter and the cold weather!) I do love the autumn colours, so I'm really looking forward to seeing lots of lovely entries. Good luck everyone!

I Spy With My Little Eye......

And I hope lots of you will join in the game too, as our September challenge theme at Stamping Sensations is 

* * * * * SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH "B" * * * * *

Your project may contain as many elements beginning with "B" as you wish, but one of them should be the main feature of your design, which must be stamped, to comply with our challenge rules. We don't want to have to look too hard to find them!

We are sponsored this month by the wonderful Bee Crafty, (details on the challenge blog) and I've used some of their beautiful stamps for my card, on which you'll spot Butterflies, Brushos and Blue!

All stamps are by Bee Crafty, except for the sentiment, which is from Prickley Pear.

Remember, you can enter up to three projects for the challenge, and they don't have to be cards, as long as the main element is stamped and fits the theme. Should you need any inspiration, my very talented teamies have plenty for you on the Challenge Blog, and they would be delighted if you were able to visit their individual blogs too. I can't wait to see this month's entries - wonder how many "B"s I will be able to spy!

What's your favourite?

We're well into the summer holiday season now, so to keep things nice and easy our August Challenge at Stamping Sensations is an "anything goes"one but with a twist!

* * * * * ANYTHING GOES WITH YOUR FAVOURITE STAMP * * * * *

The choice of topic is yours, but your project must include your favourite stamp as its focal point! This can be an all-time or current favourite; if you are anything like me, you'll find it hard to decide! My current favourite tends to be whichever one I've just bought! However, I have several old faithful stamps which I find myself going back to again and again.

So, on my sample I've used a current favourite and some all-time favourites!

My current favourite stamp is the gorgeous "Coneflower" by Rubber Dance, who happen to be our lovely sponsors this month. They have an amazing collection of stamps and have donated a fab £25 voucher for the lucky winner.

I stamped the flowers on to a background coloured with Distress Oxide inks, stamped and cut out two extra flowers to decoupage on the front, and then embellished with my all-time favourite Hero Arts butterflies. The flowers and butterflies were coloured with Zig Clean Color markers. Backing paper is by Bee Crafty and I cut out the easel shapes with dies from The Works. Sentiment by Hobby Art.

It has been interesting to see the selection of favourites that my teamies have come up with - lots of flowers and butterflies, animals, gorgeous girls, and a touch of fantasy too! Do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them. I can't wait to see yours!