New Year and New Challenge

Hope it's not too late to say Happy New Year everyone, and to wish you everything you wish yourself for 2013.

Being the first Sunday of the month, we have a new challenge for you at Stamping Sensations, and what better theme to begin the new year with than

** FRIENDSHIP ** 

I think that speaks for itself, and we would love to see your interpretation of what Friendship means to you.

We have a fabulous sponsor for you this month - STIX2! They have given us a wonderful prize. A huge selection of essential items, well worth an entry!

Now, my usual new year's resolution is not to make any! However, if I were to make any crafty ones for this year, it might be along the lines of thinking outside the box, or at least getting out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to do something different. So here's my card for "Friendship".

What's different about that then, I hear you ask! Flowers and butterflies are never far from my cards. Well, yes, but - they're red! Red is not my first colour of choice for a card. I don't like colours that shout at me, I much prefer cool, soothing ones - blues, purples, and greens. But having said that,  I do love poppies, and poppies are red, so....

It might also have something to do with the fact that Brenda sent me a package of gorgeous goodies for Christmas, which included some delightful dotty red ribbon which I couldn't wait until next Christmas to use!

I decided that it would go beautifully with some Chocolate Baroque poppies, which I stamped on to red spotty paper and on to plain white and then I paper pieced just the flowers. 

 I cut out the image and the red spotty frame with Spellbinders dies, and then added just a touch of colouring to the butterfly and bud with a red Promarker. I tried paper piecing the leaves too in green, but felt that introducing a second colour lessened the impact, so I left them plain. 

I didn't have any suitable background paper, so I made some with some more Chocolate Baroque stamps. A lovely friendship sentiment (also by Choc B) and a few punched  butterflies (Martha Stewart) completed the card.

So that's my celebration of friendship. My lovely teamies have made some gorgeous samples to show you, so do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. I look forward to seeing yours!

More treemendous inspiration!

We're halfway through our December challenge at Stamping Sensations, where our theme is "Treemendous". I wanted a change from cards and Christmas stuff, so I made a little notebook.

 I cut an aperture with a Spellbinders Nested Maple Leaf die and stamped a little scene to go inside it. The trees are by Inkylicious and the fence and sheep by Hobby Art. The background hills and foreground grasses are hand drawn. The two small maple leaves are from the same die set, and the corners are cut with a Woodware punch.

 I stamped the same trees on each page for a bit of inside interest, bound it all together with my Bind-It-All, and finished it off with a ribbon hanger and fibres for decoration.

I also had to make a quick birthday card. Very clean and simple, it took me about 10 minutes!

Same maple leaf die, a Crafty Individuals tree stamp, a peel off greeting and various layers of paper.

Anyway, I hope that's given you some more tree inspiration. If you haven't entered our challenge yet, there's still plenty of time. Oh, and we have made a couple of slight changes to our rules! We realise  not everyone has time or can afford to make projects just for a specific challenge, so we have removed the restriction of 6 challenges and you can now enter any number of challenges as well as ours. Also you can enter up to three cards or projects of any type (rather than each entry having to be a different type of project). We hope that will help to make entering easier for you, and we look forward to seeing lots of lovely creations!

One more thing! We are getting very close to 1000 followers, so it's candy time at Stamping Sensations! Click on the link on my side bar to take you to the challenge post for all the details!

In celebration of trees

In keeping with this month's theme (Treemendous) at Stamping Sensations, I thought I would just share a few photos I took yesterday and today. 

Very cold and frosty but glorious sunshine yesterday, then a light dusting of snow overnight and mist this morning as in the final photo, which was actually taken through my lounge window!

A Treemendous finish to the year!

It's our final challenge for 2012 at Stamping Sensations, and the theme is

TREEMENDOUS!

Plenty of scope there. They could be Christmas trees, if you haven't yet finished your Christmas cards, or if you have and you can't bear to contemplate any more festive foliage, any other kind of tree will be perfect! If you're a lateral thinker you might go for family trees, or shoe trees... or not! But whatever your arboreal aspirations, we want to see them!

Trees being one of my favourite topics, I have really been looking forward to this month! When I was at Stamp Magic in October, I couldn't resist buying the fabulous Inkylicious Christmas Tree Flourish, and that is what I've used for my card.

I stamped it with Versamark ink on to white card and embossed it with WOW Neutral Ultra Shimmer embossing powder, which gave it the most gorgeous shimmery sparkle which unfortunately is hard to see in the photo. I then covered the whole thing with Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain, which the embossed areas resisted, of course, and matted it first on to white card and then a piece coloured with the same Distress Stain. The computer generated sentiment was cut with a Nestie label die, and the little snowflakes with a Tonic Studios punch. Quite a simple design, but I don't think the tree needs anything more to complement it.

Our lovely sponsor this month is Visible Image, a British company based in South Wales, who have a fantastic range of stamps. They have given us this amazing selection for our prize.

So, if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning, show us your Treemendous creations. Just remember that your entry may be combined with no more than five other challenges (that's 6 in total including ours), otherwise sadly it will be ineligible. My talented teamies have come up with some brilliant inspiration for you, so don't forget to check it out on the Challenge Blog. I can't wait to see yours!

More Christmas Inspiration!

Our Traditional Christmas challenge at Stamping Sensations seems to be going down well, as we have lots of gorgeous entries already, but there is still time to add one (or two, or three - see our new rules, details on the Challenge Blog!) if you haven't already.

I made another card, again using one of my all time favourite Christmas stamps - the Hero Arts holly - but this time as a background, coloured with Distress Markers. The wreath pictures are from the "Christmas" miniatures book by Crafty Individuals, and the sentiment is computer generated and cut out with a Nestabilities label.

Don't forget our lovely sponsors this month, IndigoBlu, are offering a 10% discount until December 15th. You will need this discount code SSNOV12 to order.

Beautiful day

For weeks up here the rain has seemed never ending. Everywhere has been waterlogged. Ponds have been appearing in the fields where there never were any before. Some of the country roads have been like mini rivers. Our poor hens must have been thinking they were ducks. We had forgotten what the sun looks like.

Then, at last, this morning we woke up to clearing mist and deep blue sky. I just had to go out and take some photos. First of all, down to the loch.

Then this afternoon I went for a walk along the riverbank.

It's now just over a year since we moved up here, but I still marvel at the fact that we are lucky enough to live in such a wonderful place.

Just wish it didn't rain quite so often! (Though I am certainly grateful it's not snowing!)

Stamping Sensations - Traditional Christmas

It's an exciting day for us all at Stamping Sensations as we launch our first challenge under our new name! I expect everyone is now well into Christmas card making, so our theme for November should certainly appeal! We'd love to see your projects celebrating a

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS

Our fab sponsor this month is IndigoBlu, who have given us a stunning prize! A Flitter Glu starter set, containing everything you need for wonderful gilding effects, a gorgeous tree stamp, and a special edition Movember set which is really fun! We also have a little extra prize from Stamping Sensations.Have a look on the Challenge Blog for full details, and also to see some great inspiration from my fantastic teamies and this month's lovely guest designer.

I've used the IndigoBlu Bare Forest stamp as the focus for my card, stamped over a background made with Inkylicious ink dusters and Distress Inks. The holly accent is an old wood mounted stamp from Hero Arts, no longer available, although they now have the same design in a slightly larger cling stamp. The sentiment, stamped on a Nestabilities label, is one of the first stamps I ever bought, about 20 years ago! It was made by a company called Embossing Arts.

Not only are IndigoBlu giving us that fabulous prize, they are also offering everyone a 10% discount off their products until 15th December! How cool is that?! Simply go over to our Challenge Blog to get your Discount Code.

Can't wait to see all your Christmas creations this month. Good luck everyone!

.

Stamping Sensations - A new chapter for Stampalot Challenge

It seems hard to believe that it will soon be our Challenge's third birthday! From very small beginnings on Brenda's blog it has grown into the fantastic challenge it is today, and that's all down to YOU, the wonderful crafters who keep coming back to support us month after month. A HUGE thank you to all of you! We think it is now time for a new direction, and so we have a brand new name -  STAMPING SENSATIONS - and a fresh new look! We also have new sponsors, so you can look forward to some fab prizes! Oh, and we have a new-look logo (find it here!) for you to display on your blogs, so please grab it and spread the word!

Our challenge has always been Brenda's baby, so I'd like to let her explain all about its renaissance. Please go over to the Challenge Blog and learn about the exciting things we have planned for the future.

Our November challenge will begin on Sunday, the 4th, with a theme we know you will love. Hope to see you then!

Birthday cake

I had a lovely birthday yesterday. A big thank you to everyone for the gorgeous cards and good wishes which I received. I'm looking forward to spending some birthday money at Stamp Magic on Sunday!

My daughter made me a birthday cake, and my two grandsons (aged 7 and 3) decorated it. I thought they did a brilliant job, and must show you a photo! Their idea for the decoration came from some pictures I have on my craft room wall. They are by an artist called Sue Fenlon, whose work I really like. Here's a link to her  website gallery . Please have a look at it, then you will see why I think the boys did such a good job imitating her style.

I loved the little ladybirds at the bottom! The plaited edging is made of marzipan, done by Ewan (the 7 year old) all on his own. He said he decided on that for the edging because I recently taught him how to plait. The single candle was a "token" one, as there wouldn't have been room for the number of my age, Or, as my son-in-law put it, "One candle for every 59 years!"

Oh, and the cake part was delicious too!

Sir Stampalot October Challenge

Last month's inspiration photo obviously proved a bit daunting, but this month at Stampalot Challenge we have an easier task for you. We want you to

PUNCH AWAY!

Simply include one or more elements using punches on your project! (But please note that dies do not count as punches! It's fine to use dies as well, but your entry must use at least one element made with a punch, otherwise it will not be considered for the prize or top 3. Also, please remember that if you enter your project in more than five other challenges, it will not be eligible for ours. See the Challenge Guidelines at the top of the challenge blog for full details. )

On my card I've used a border punch and butterfly punch ( both by Martha Stewart) and a punch (make unknown) with a corner design incorporating 3 different sizes of flowers which I punched lots of to make the lilac flowers. The lilac stamp (Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps) is one I bought in the USA about 17 years ago. I coloured it with Promarkers before adding the punched flowers. The tiny flowers each have a dot of glitter glue in the centre. The background paper is an old one by K&Company (now sadly discontinued) and the ribbon came from a grab bag bought at a show.

My talented teamies have come up with some absolutely gorgeous designs, so do pop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them.

Due to pressure of work at Stampalot Towers, the photo of this month's prize was not available as we went to press, but rest assured that it will be as fantastic as always!