More cosmic shimmer playing

Hi there! It's time for a new mid-month theme for our inspiration posts over at Stamping Sensations, and we are looking at 'something new I've tried recently'. 

I decided to go with Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders, which I have shown you a smattering of before. Just in case you didn't see my last post, the pixie powders are like brushos in that they are in powder form, but they are mostly just single colours and pearlised so they have an amazing sheen. They come in a fine tipped easily squeezable bottle like the ones stickles come in but bigger, and depending on how much you tilt it more or less comes out. You can give it a light tap or squeeze it. The colours are lovely and vibrant, but turn pastel shades with more water, rather than going muddy. They are also water soluble so can be mixed with water to make a paint. I've used them for the background, to splatter and as a paint on this next card, using Hobby Art Dandelion Wishes stamps. 

 

The paper that you use them on does affect how they react, and I did find watercolour paper or cartridge paper worked best. I used the pixie powders like brushos on the other cards.

I stamped various stamps from Woodware and Inkylicious in versafine black and clear embossed over it.

This last one does look a little muddy compared to the others, but I had swooshed it on the mat to soak up some excess first.
Thanks for looking and I do hope you have had the opportunity to enter at Stamping Sensations this month.

With a number

Hi there! The current challenge over at Allsorts this week is to use a name or a number on your card.  Here is the card I made for Meg's boyfriend on his 21st. I used stamps from Honey Doo crafts and watercolour markers. The background paper was from Craftwork cards tartan pack. the sentiment was computer generated (Can't believe I don't have a 21st stamp!)

My second card was a commission from a friend who wanted a 50th birthday card for a Francophile who loves flowers. This is what I came up with. The background stamps were Waltzing Mouse ones (no longer available) The sentiment is from Little Claire, the Eiffel tower was a do crafts stamp and the leaves are from Inkylicious.  The background was created with ink dusters.

I added prima flowers and dots of liquid pearls. All dies are spellbinders.

Thanks for looking!

Harbour Villages

Good Evening! As it is the summer holidays I've taken inspiration from some of the many places we have visited over the years and created some scenes. For both of my cards I have used the Hobby Art set 'Harbour Villages'. The first also includes the Seashells set too. In each case the stamps were stamped onto watercolour paper in versafine ink and coloured with Zig clean clean color markers and Distress markers, with a waterbrush. Both backgrounds are made with an Inkylicious stamp and ink dusters. A few spots of  brass liquid pearls finished them off.

One of my friends says they remind her of the North Yorkshire coast, the top one Staithes and the bottom one Whitby. Do they remind you of anywhere?
Here are a few photos of picturesque village scenes from our holiday in Pembrokeshire.

There will be more to come soon!

August at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is.....

***Anything Goes*** 

As the title suggests we want to see your projects featuring stamping. I have used Gummipan feather stamps (Available from our sponsor this month) and a sentiment  from Hobby Art. I used a kaleidacolor ink pad called Calypso.
I made a second card using the same design...

This time I used a sentiment from Inkylicious and the Cappuchino Kaleidacolor ink pad. 
Our Sponsors this month are a relatively new company called Swedish House Crafts. They are very friendly and reliable, run by crafters for crafters. I ordered several Gummipan stamps that arrived promptly and are unique designs and good quality red rubber. Several of their sentiments made me laugh out loud! 
 Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the gorgeous creations from my multi talented teamies, and I look forward to visiting your great entries but please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.
Thanks for looking!

Janie's flowers

With all the beautiful stamps that Hobby Art have produced recently I had to have a play with some of my purchases as soon as as I could! I opted to play with Janie Burnett-Bleach's Floral mix set. For the first card I used my inktense pencils - a birthday present from Steve. The poppy on the far left is decoupaged and added with 3d glue (shhhh, it is hiding the bodge I made of colouring it the first time round 😂). I also added a few highlights using a white gel pen. It isn't perfect, but I was reasonably pleased with it in the end. I am entering it into the current chalenge at Allsorts where there is photo inspiration of poppies!

My second card uses stamps from the same set. This time I painted the flowers with distress oxides. I placed a mask over the centre and dusted tea dye distress ink over it. The sentiment stamps are also from Hobby Art. I added dots of perfect pearls to the flower centres and around the circle to finish it off. I made a better job of the masking this time too!

This is such a beautiful set, and I am sure I will be playing with more of the stamps soon!
I'm off to enjoy a Saturday night doing absolutely nothing, lol. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Rudolf day for July

It's past the 25th of the month so time for Rudolf day for July. Here is my offering. I stamped the berry branch stamp (inkylicious) in olive grove memento ink then used 3 colours of liquid pearls for the berries. The greeting is from a Honey Doo set and the snowflake on the base card is from Crafty individuals.
I've not managed a second card this month I'm afraid, but I will have 3 for next month.
Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look. It is the best way of keeping up with making your Christmas cards.
Thanks for looking! 

Krafty cottage

Here is a card made with the Hobby art Old Barn stamp set. I was trying to get a sepia effect with zig clean color markers, but I might have been better using distress markers for a more vintage look. All images were stamped in versafine vintage sepia. I also used the wheat stamp from the 'In the Cornfield' set on the base card, colouring it with coloured pencils.
If you haven't tried Hobby Art stamps, then I can highly recommend them! They are exceptionally good quality, excellent designs and lots of them work so well together, especially the scene-it stamps. My collection is growing and I have had to extend it to a fourth folder recently! I can also tell you they have amazingly good customer service too. It really is like shopping with a very good friend! They have a super talented design team too, and there is lots of inspiration in the gallery on their website.
I will leave you with a photo of me with Jenny, taken at Doncaster in June. She is a really lovely lady.

Three days left until we break up for the summer. Soooooo tired! Thanks for looking!

Open Garden Scheme

A couple of weeks back I remember I told you I had visited a couple of gardens that people had opened to the public as part of the National open Garden scheme. This is where they open their gardens and charge a small fee for opening which goes to a charity. Many sell plants and have refreshments on sale too.

All of the photos here were from the first garden we went to, just a short walk from our house. They have a smallish plot, but it is on several levels and is chock full of wonderful plants, particularly Clematis, Roses and Hosta.

I took rather a lot of photos of these two entwined clematis

This stunning apricot rose had a wonderful scent too - quite spicy

I rather liked this geranium - such delicate colours

This clematis head was huge!

I loved the sunny faced pansies too.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon!
On the way back, Steve and I talked about our own garden and thought about what we had seen. In both gardens there were definitely not enough bees! Our marjoram is flowering at the moment and is a mass of bees. It is good to know we are doing our bit for the bee population. If I could have my own 'collection' of plants, I think I would choose something like Lavender - beautifully scented and a haven for bees.
What would you choose?

Fennel and Pixie Powder

I love using my Small Fennel Woodware stamps for CAS cards, and I thought they would go well with the Cosmic Shimmer pixie powders I bought recently. I am quite pleased with the results. 😃 The pixie powders are like brushos in that they are in powder form, but they are mostly just single colours and pearlised so they have an amazing sheen

I bought 5 colours originally, but went back and bought 5 more a couple of weeks later. You just scatter them onto the card and spray with water.

Here are some close up shots so you can see the shimmer. I stamped over the backgrounds in versafine black and clear heat embossed.

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments. 2 and a half weeks to go till I break up. This is the longest term!

July at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is.....

***Anything with Flowers*** 

As the title suggests we want to see your projects featuring your favourite flower stamp.  And please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.
As our sponsors this month are Crafty Individuals, I am using my favourite flower stamps from them. the first card uses Crafty Individuals CI-302 and Crafty Individuals Paper Book 3 Springtime. For the second card I used Crafty Individuals CI-411 and CI231. In each case the stamp was stamped onto silk art card in archival ink and coloured with Zig clean clean color markers and Distress markers.

Jean and Malcolm have a huge range of unique rubber stamps, papers and other crafting items, all amazing quality and value. You can find their online shop here They are offering a fabulous £35 voucher as our prize. If you win and need help spending that, I am definitely your woman 😁😁😁 There is also a second mystery prize on offer, too!
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the gorgeous creations from my multi talented teamies, and I look forward to visiting your great entries!
I finally finished writing reports and that has coincided with the arrival of some lovely Hobby Art stamps, so my crafty time is sorted for this weekend. 
Thanks for looking!

Happy Rudolf day for June

 Can't believe it is Rudolf day again already! Who stole June? I am going to be short and sweet today as I am writing reports and hoping to do at least another three this evening. My first card is a single layer card. I masked off a strip with masking tape and stamped stamps from the winter spruce set from inkylicious on either side. I added dots of glitter glue and liquid pearls. After removing the tape I stamped the sentiment (Personal Impressions) in the space.

 

My second card has a background stamped with Crafty Individuals snow flakes (not very well) and a panel with a stamp from Inkylicious. I'm disappointed with this one. I might try adding some sparkle to it to see if it improves.

Do pop over to Mo's blog and take a look. It is the best way of keeping up with your Christmas cards.

I did have an hours break this afternoon at an open garden on our street, and I will share the photos of their stunning roses and clematis soon.

Thanks for looking! 

Happy Father's day

Here are the two cards I made for Father's day this year. The first is for my Dad. We were chatting about a holiday he took some years ago where he visited Skomer in June. There were puffins everywhere! This was the ideal opportunity to use my new puffin stamps from Hobby Art , the current monthly special. I coloured them with a mixture of Zig clean color markers and distress markers. I am entering this one into the current challenge at Penny Black and more where the theme is anything goes

For my Father-in-Law I used one of Dora's digis - a squirrel drawn from one of my photos. I used a woodgrain embossing folder and made a circular aperture in a piece of Kraft card. The leaves are from a stamp set by Hobby art. You can find Dora's digis here on her blog.
I do hope you are having a good weekend and not suffering too much with the heat. Do forgive me if I don't visit so much for a couple of weeks as I am writing reports at the moment - five done, 22 to go!