Just For A Change

Much as I enjoy my card making, which I've been doing for over 30 years now, I do like to pursue other crafts as well. The silver lining in the lockdown cloud has been having more spare time to revisit some of my old favourites and also to try new ones. I've been needle felting for quite some time, but it was only recently that I attempted my very first wet felted picture. I used one of my photos for reference. The scene is Criffel (the hill) viewed from Newbie Barns, on the Solway Firth. 

And here is my felted interpretation of the photo. Had to use a bit of artistic licence for the oystercatchers - there are several in the photo, but you'd need a magnifying glass to see them!

It was a steep learning curve, but I was quite pleased with my first effort. I've also become a big fan of Mum's Makery needle felting templates (designed and produced by the wonderfully talented Samantha Loughlin, owner of Mum's Makery), which make it so easy to produce beautiful felted flowers and other items which are 3D rather than flat pictures. These are a few of my makes with the templates.

The templates can also be used for 2D felting, as with the mushroom in the next picture. The conkers, acorn and berries were made freehand, and the small leaves with mini sugarcraft templates.

The beauty of the templates is that they enable consistency in shape and size of the felted pieces.

I returned to 2D felting for a birthday card which featured a detachable bookmark, with the addition of some hand and machine embroidery over the felting. Having made the bookmark, I used coloured pencils to extend the picture on to the base card.

For anyone who would like to take up a new creative hobby which is easy to learn and doesn't require a lot of expensive materials to get started with, I can definitely recommend needle felting. Check out the Mum's Makery YouTube channel  for loads of brilliant tutorials, and also the fabulous and very supportive Mum's Makery Facebook Group to see what it's all about. As well as deriving great satisfaction from being able to produce the finished articles, I also find the process very therapeutic. Must be all that stabbing..........! 😉
 

Summer's End, and September Challenge At Stamping Sensations

 I don't know about where you are, but up here it is definitely beginning to feel like the end of summer. The temperature has dropped, leaves are beginning to turn, blackberries are ripening, the barley field opposite our house has been harvested, ploughed and resown (the local gulls have been very interested!), and the new crop is already sprouting. Over the last couple of weeks we have had just about every type of weather except snow, and including much more rain and wind than is usual for this time of year. I am hoping, though, that there will still be a good few fine days for being outside in the fresh air, whether it be on a walk or just in the garden, before the winter starts to close in.

Which brings me nicely to our theme for this month's Stamping Sensations Challenge, which is 

* * * * * THE GREAT OUTDOORS * * * * *

As the title suggests, we want to see outdoor scenes - countryside, mountains, hills, valleys, lakes, rivers etc. Our usual challenge rules apply, in particular the main element of your project must represent the theme, and must be hand stamped, or a hand coloured digital image. 

Our September winner will receive two A4 stamp sheets from the Rare Earth Illuminated Florals Collection, a prize well worth entering for. Full details are on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog.

My Great Outdoors scene uses the majestic stag which is part of the Stag & Hare set from Hobby Art.

I stamped and masked the stag, made the background by sponging pigment inks over hand cut hill and valley stencils, and stamped various other images to complete the scene. All stamps are by Hobby Art.

The inspiration for my card was the beautiful scenery around where I live, though I've taken a bit of artistic licence! We don't have far to travel to be out on the moors and hills. We are sometimes lucky enough to see foxes and roe deer in our immediate vicinity, but we would have to go a bit further afield to see a big red deer stag with its magnificent antlers, such as this one! 

Should you need any inspiration for your Great Outdoors projects, my teamies have plenty of stunning vistas to show you over on the Challenge Blog. We look forward to seeing your entries.

I'll leave you with a few photos that I've taken in or from my garden this week.

"You needn't bother tiptoeing, I'm just resting my eyes."

"Three wings? They're just showing off!"

"Oy, you lot, don't forget your masks!"

"It's ok, lads, I think we've got this social distancing lark sorted."

More Masculine Makes

 Here's my mid-month reminder for Stamping Sensations August Challenge, where our theme is "Make It Masculine". 

The background was made with Distress Oxide inks on watercolour paper, which I stencilled over with a stencil by Aall & Create. The music stamp is also by Aall & Create. The sentiment is a magazine freebie. Background paper from my stash.

We have had lots of lovely entries for the challenge so far, but there is still plenty of time to enter and be in with a chance of winning a fab trio of stamp sets by Crafts Too, all of which would be perfect for masculine designs. The challenge ends on September 2nd.

A Difficult Subject?!

Do you, like me, often struggle with cards for men, or boys? If so, never fear, Stamping Sensations is here! Our August challenge theme is 

* * * * * MAKE IT MASCULINE * * * * *

and the Design Team have some fabulous samples for you to give you some inspiration. You can see them on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog. Not only that, the prize for this month is this trio of gorgeous stamp sets, all of which would be suitable for male relatives and friends (though I'm sure that anyone would appreciate the beautiful designs).

To be eligible for the prize, the masculine element of your project must be the main image, and it must be hand stamped, or a hand coloured digital image. Please take a few moments to read carefully our challenge rules, which are HERE. It is such a shame when we have to disqualify an otherwise gorgeous entry because it doesn't fit our requirements.

I don't often use clean and simple designs on my cards, though I do like them, but I needed a birthday card in a hurry, and I thought the CAS style would suit this lovely new Oystercatchers image from Woodware.

I simply stamped all the images straight on to the base card and coloured the birds' beaks and feet with Zig Clean Colour pens. A touch of Gelly Roll clear glaze pen gave them a glint in the eye. The large oystercatcher image and the small flying birds are from the Woodware set, the sentiment is a magazine freebie. It probably took me about 10 minutes from start to finish, very simple but I do like the graphic effect, monochrome except for the pop of red. 

More Creatures!

There's still time to enter our July Challenge at Stamping Sensations, where the theme is "All Creatures Great And Small". Our lovely sponsors this month are Crafty Individuals and I've made another card using some of their products.

The background paper and the papers I used to paper piece the birds and butterflies are from various Crafty Individuals Background Paper Books.On the background sheet I toned down the area I wanted to stamp over with some diluted acrylic paint. I stamped the Three Birds ( CI-544) on the background and twice more on different sheets. I cut out their bodies and wings from the 2 extra sheets and and mixed and matched the different sheets when assembling the birds. The wings were popped up on foam pads.

I decided to give the birds some fashion accessories! The right hand bird's hat and middle bird's bag are from elements plate CI-335, The left hand bird's hat and the "Hats and Bonnets" sign were cut from the CI-285 "Hats and bonnets" stamp. The butterflies (from CI-231 elements plate) were also stamped on the patterned papers and cut out. All of these were also attached with foam pads. I added some colour to the birds' beaks and legs with Arteza brush pens.

There's a super prize on offer from Crafty Individuals, a £25 voucher to spend in their online shop, where you will most definitely be spoilt for choice! If you haven't entered already, why not have a go? All the information you need, along with our challenge rules, can be found on the Stamping Sensations Challenge Blog.

Creatures of all sizes!

July already, and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations! It's one of my favourite themes too!

* * * * * ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL * * * * *

We want to see any type of real creature on your projects - animals, wild or domestic, birds, bugs, butterflies - but no teddy bears or fantasy creatures such as unicorns or dragons! And please note our usual rules, that they must be the focal point of your entry, and they must be stamped and fit the theme. A small stamped element added to a mainly stencilled or die cut project will not be eligible. We prefer conventional hand stamping, but do allow digital images as long as they are hand coloured.

If you don't have any creature stamps, look no further than our wonderful July sponsor Crafty Individuals, who have the most amazing designs of all types of animals, birds and butterflies, as well as all sorts of other stunning stamps, papers and accessories. The have donated a fab £25 voucher for the winning entry, to be spent in their online shop.

Crafty Individuals have been one of my favourite companies ever since I first discovered them, many years ago now, not just for their fantastic products but also for their excellent customer service. All the stamps I have used on my card are by Crafty Individuals.

During my most recent craft room tidy up I rediscovered some old ink sprays. Many of them were dried up and had to be disposed of, but a few were still ok, so I decided to use them to make a background. A couple that I had were shimmery, the others were plain. My background is a mixture of both.

I stamped the Hare And Moon (CI-508) first on watercolour card, and masked it, before spraying the background. I did actually spray some of the shimmery ink through a stencil (by Bee Crafty) but it doesn't show up very well, though I rather like the effect. I grounded the hare by using another mask and sponging with pigment ink. I stamped the crow (from the Crow Plate CI-361), and the grasses from CI-495 Perching Pied Wagtail (masking off the bird before inking) and from CI-207 Ferns And Grasses set.

It just so happened, (quite unintentionally!) that where I stamped the crow was over some of the shimmery spray, and the shimmer showed through the ink. It gave the crow a sort of ethereal, dream-like quality, which tied in rather nicely with the sentiment, which is also from the Crow Plate. Serendipity!

My teamies  have come up with some superb samples once again, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them. I promise you will not be disappointed. I am really looking forward to seeing this month entries!

Even More Colour!

I'm loving this month's theme at Stamping Sensations! Entries are coming in nicely for our "Make It Colourful" challenge and it's great to see such bright and cheerful designs.

I made another card using stamps from our June sponsor, Visible Image.

I stamped the flowers and butterflies with Versafine Clair Ink on Cass Art hot press watercolour card and coloured them with diluted Distress Ink reinkers, using a waterbrush to blend the colours. I splattered drops of the inks over the design with a fan brush and added liquid pearls to the butterflies' bodies. I hand wrote the sentiment and stamped the colour splash (a magazine freebie designed by Visible Image) over the appropriate word.

It was a very quick card to make, and I really enjoyed the process. Sometimes I prefer to work with more muted colours for a softer effect, depending on the subject, of course, but at the moment I'm definitely going through a bright and colourful phase!

Our June challenge runs until the 1st of July, so there's still plenty of time to enter if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a fab voucher to spend in Visible Image's online shop.

Let's brighten things up!

Wow, we had a bumper bunch of floral entries for last month's challenge at Stamping Sensations! It was a real delight to view them all. Hopefully we will have a similarly copious crop for our June challenge, the theme for which is

* * * * * MAKE IT COLOURFUL * * * * *

This should be a nice, easy challenge! We want to see lots of colour in your projects. However, please remember our challenge rules. We are a stamping challenge, so the main element of your design must be stamped, and must reflect the theme. (We prefer hand stamping, but hand coloured digital images are acceptable). Your entry should contain a link to Stamping Sensations Challenge. The full list of rules can be found here. Sadly we had to discount several entries last month which did not adhere to our rules, such a shame as it meant they were not eligible for our prizes or top 3 spots.

This month we have a return visit from our wonderful sponsors Visible Image, who have generously offered a fab voucher for our lucky winner to spend in their online shop. They have the most amazing stamps and stencils, so please do check that your entry qualifies to be in with a chance of winning.

All stamps and stencils on my card are by Visible Image.

I began the design with only the vaguest of ideas as to how it would proceed. First I stamped the flower, stem, butterflies and sentiments and embossed them with clear embossing powder. During my most recent craft room tidy up I rediscovered my Twinkling H2Os. Couldn't remember the last time I used them. I had forgotten how bright and pretty they are! I decided they would be perfect for colouring the elements of my design. Unfortunately their beautiful sheen doesn't really show up in the photo. 

It turned into a bit of a back to front card, as I did the background last! With the embossing protecting the main elements, I was able to paint the background with Brushos, which I then overstamped (the yellow dots) and stencilled (the purple blobs along the bottom, which are part of the Butterfly Ink stencil). Finally I sponged pigment ink around the edges to pull it all together. The finished card is nothing like I had originally envisaged, but I quite like it, and it is certainly colourful!

Bluebells!

A quick reminder of our May challenge at Stamping Sensations, where our theme is "Say It With Flowers". Full details of the challenge, sponsors and prizes are on the challenge blog. The challenge is open until the 3rd of June, so there is still plenty of time to enter!

My first sample for the challenge (see my previous post) used a beautiful digital image by our lovely DT member Dora, who is one of our sponsors, and for the one shown here I have gone for the lovely bluebells from the "Spring Foliage" set by Chocolate Baroque, our second sponsor for May.

The background is watercoloured and stamped with another stamp from the Spring Foliage set. The butterfly, bee and sentiment are magazine freebies. I coloured the image with Zig Clean Colour pens and die cut it with a die from The Works..

The bluebells around here have been glorious! Another good year for them, I think. We are lucky enough to have some in our garden.

The bees like them too.

Today was the first really dull and damp day we have had in several weeks, but a gorgeous male yellowhammer dropped into the garden to brighten things up.


We have several visiting regularly, and it is a joy to watch them, along with all the other beautiful birds, butterflies and bugs we get here. Even this monster beetle, which scuttled right by my foot in the bathroom yesterday!

Flowers All The Way!

Whilst butterflies feature high on the list of my favourite topics, flowers are also right up there so I am delighted that the theme for our May Challenge at Stamping Sensations is

* * * * * SAY IT WITH FLOWERS * * * * *

We want you to show us your very best floral creations! Please remember that we are a stamping challenge, and the focal element of your project must reflect the theme. This means that flowers must be the main subject of your design. A few added flowers as an embellishment will not fit the criteria, and will not be eligible for the prizes. We prefer conventional hand stamping, but do allow digital images as long as they are hand coloured.

We have not one but two fabulous prizes this month! Our sponsors are the wonderful Chocolate Baroque, who have generously donated some of their fantastic new Blueprint stamps, and our very own Dora, who as well as being a member of our DT, is also a designer of the most beautiful digi stamps. She is offering a choice of four of her lovely images for the lucky winner.

As tulips are amongst my favourite flowers, I have used Dora's gorgeous tulip image for my card.

Having printed out the tulips onto watercolour paper (Cass Art Hot Press), I coloured them with Arteza watercolour pencils and diecut the image with a die from The Works. Before removing the panel from the die, I sponged around the edge with pigment ink.

The background paper has been in my stash for years! I bought it from Lakeland back in the days when they used to have a craft section in their shops. There were several different papers in the pack (I bought two packs!) and I have used up most of them, but the one I have used here has always been my favourite, as it is so pretty with the tulips and lovely spring colours. I did think twice about cutting it up for the card, but it fits so perfectly with the image, and since I had two sheets left, I decided to do it!  I will be keeping the remaining sheet!

Because the paper already has an appropriate printed sentiment within the pattern, I didn't think it needed anything adding to it, other than a little diecut butterfly (magazine freebie die).

 

Our lovely daughter, who is doing the shopping for us during the lockdown, surprised me yesterday with this gorgeous bunch of the real thing!

They are currently on the windowsill of my craft room, where they are outshining the needle felted one I made recently!

My teamies have a profusion of beautiful floral samples for you - they really have excelled themselves once again. Do go and have a look at them over on the Challenge Blog. We are so looking forward to seeing your entries and hope you will enjoy this month's challenge.