THE MALE ROOM - GEOMETRIC #197

Welcome back to another month's challenge at The Male Room and we would love to see your Geometric projects.  I realised this is something I don't often do so it was a good challenge for me.

I used a stencil for my geometric background and used a number of Distress Oxides Inks and also some Distress Crackle Paste to give added texture.  The stamp is from Tim Holtz.  This card was actually for my son's birthday-  there is a certain film we both love which has a song about a moustache - and if you know the film you'll know you can't stop singing the song once you see this card!  

PEARLY SPARKLES - MONOCHROME #106

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles and our choice for you this month is Monochrome.  

I covered my whole cardstock in Distress Oxide Peacock Feathers.  I then stamped the lovely flower stamp from Tracy Evans in Versafine Clair Warm Breeze.  I then took a wet paint brush and removed some of the colour to give the white effects.  The bird also from Tracy Evans was also stamped in Warm Breeze and I used white embossing powder for the sentiment. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - ANY OCCASION #489

It's time for those Any Occasion cards this week at Addicted to Stamps & More.  I chose to go with a Thank You card because you never know when you might need one. 

I started my card with an embossing folder from Tim Holtz - I thought it looked like  mice tails.  The image is from Anita Jeram from her set Thank You.  I stamped the image first then inked round it with Distress Oxide in Dusty Concord and a touch of Iced Spruce and then added some water splashes.  I added some pen squiggles to the paper to look like he'd written something.  

I'm adding this into the following:

Creative Inspiration - AG 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG 

THE HOLLY AND IVY CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE -

Welcome back to another challenge at the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. As always the challenges are Anything Goes.  I've chosen one of the lovely stamp sets by Tim Holtz for my card called Watercolor Trees.  I stamped the tree image in the centre - added a soft colour wash around it and then added lots of stars with another Tim Holtz Stamp.  The sentiment is also from the same set.  It's one of my favourite Christmas sayings as I love the song by Judy Garland from Meet Me In St Louis. 

I'm adding this into the following:

52 Weeks to Christmas 

CRAFT - Christmas 

Time Out - Favourite Movie - as mentioned mine is Meet Me In St Louis 

Creative Inspiration AG 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday - AG 

Rudolph Days Challenge - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - BIRTHDAYS #488

Welcome back to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this time we are back on Birthdays.

March is a very  busy month in our household with no less than four birthdays for my daughter, son, son in law, and husband just sneaks in on 1st April but still four major birthdays in a two week period!  

This was the card I did for my daughter this year - I love using these stencils by Lavinia Stamps and creating a little scene inside.  All inks are Tim Holtz.  I did add a few drops of Nuovo along the edge of the bottle too. 

I'm adding this into the following - 

Addicted to CAS - stencil - not sure if this is CAS enough though 

Allsorts - Feminine 

Heart's Quest - Fantasy

Polkadoodle - AG 

Creative Moments - for a special lady - this was for my daughter 

Creative Knockouts - Birthday Wishes 

THE HOLLY AND THE IVY CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE - DESIGN TEAM MEMBER

I'm delighted to be a member of the Design Team for The Holly and the Ivy Christmas challenge.  It's a great way to have a load of Christmas cards already made by the time December comes around.  The challenge is a fortnightly one and is always Anything Goes.

I wanted to play with that cute little set I won recently from Polkadoodles called Tails of New York.  This time I wanted the little critters to be looking up at the sky and to see Santa.  I inked the background with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Chipped Sapphire and Iced Spruce.  I used Distress Inks to colour in the animals.  The santa and reindeer set is a very old one I have from Sunny Studio called Here comes Santa. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Tiny Text Christmas. 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #113

For my DT piece for Creative Artiste Challenge Blog this month I was inspired by Alison Bomber of W0rdsandP1ctures and her Violets stamp set for Paper Artsy to create a 3d piece out of an old cheese box.  I have made these in the past but totally forgot how much fun they are to make.

The whole box was covered with Gesso and I use Liquitex. I then covered the base of the box with Tim Holtz Distress Paint.  You can see it but the cheese labels which were still on the box came through and gave a great addition of texture.

I then created my own tissue paper with Alison's stamps and covered the edges of the box with this.

For the front of the box which has the inside I added a piece of card which I had in my stash from an earlier gel press play so that really decided my colours.  Luckily it was in a shade of violet.  I added some background stamping - I cut out the violets many times to stick in various places on the piece.  I tucked a bit of lace behind the violet and added some wash tape words.  I also added some lichen from my garden - some Tim Holtz Funky Thinlet leaf dies - and can you spot right in the middle a tiny little air plant.  It is a baby from one of the plants in my home.  I think he looks right at home there.

I continued the theme on the back of the box - I used  Distress Paint in Brushed Corduroy to give a sort of bark effect.  I added an extra stamp of Alison's from her Pressed Umbrels set.

I love how it turned out and it may even get pride of place on the Easter table with some little chocolate eggs tucked in.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - AG 

The Outlawz Challenge - not a card 

Polkadoodle - AG 

Gem of a challenge - AG 

Let's craft and create - AG 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Creative Moments - For a Lady - this would be perfect for Mother's Day 

The Outlawz Festive - Spring 

As you like It - colourful to bring the colours of spring after the dire winter 

CRAFT - Spring 

Creative Inspirations - AG 

Simply Ellibelle Wed - AG 

We love stamping - Spring 

The crafting challenge - spring

The four seasons - Spring 

Mix it up - AG layers 

Secretstamper - Creative Creases 

SPRING

We've been having some gorgeous Spring weather this week here in Wales - and doesn't the sun make a big difference.  It's been so long since we've seen it!  I've been busy digging my veg patch ready for planting my seedlings later and just generally having a tidy up of the garden.  I've still been doing a bit of crafting though and am loving these new stamps by Alison Bomber for Paper Artsy.  The one I have is called Apple Blossom and I also have one of her new stencils - Twiggy! 

And just to show that the stamps can also be used for non Springlike images - I've teamed it up here with a stamp by Lavinia to create a moody scene. 

I'm adding these into the following challenges:

DD Triple B - Bids, Blooms 

Let's Craft and Create - AG 

Stencil Fun - plus splatter 

The Paper Players - Spring flowers 

Dragonfly Dreams - Gardening 

Stamping Sensations - hello spring 

We love stamping - Spring 

THE MALE ROOM #196 - MIXED MEDIA

It's time for another challenge at The Male Room and we want to see your Mixed Media cards this month.  This challenge is just perfect for me as I do love a bit of mixed media and regulars to my blog will know this is one of my favourite ways of playing with our hobby.

I started off by using a gel press to create my background and some Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Salvaged Patina and Victorian Velvet.  Once it was dry I white embossed one of Alison Bomber's stamp sets EAB30 for Paper Artsy Stamps and the William Shakespeare words from that set.  Why Shakespeare?  Well that will become clear when I tell you about the sentiment!

I also added some extra texture with some texture paste through a small leaf stencil by Creative Expressions.

The leaves are Tim Holtz Thinlets called Leaf Fragments. They were in my stash as the result of another play with the gel press and some Pixie Powder from Cosmic Shimmer.  

I stamped a tree from Lavinia Stamps on the far left and attached the leaves. The sentiment is a quote from Shakespeare - it comes from a little pack of cards I found recently which I had bought about 20 years ago for hubby as he loves Shakespeare.  Each card has a quote and information on where that quote was used.  I think this one really suited the leaves falling off the trees. It is taken from Shakespeare's King Lear.

I'm adding this into the following

Unicorn Challenge Blog - Male Cards 

Simply Ellibelle - AG 

Paper Funday - AG - twist of weather - wind 

Simply Ellibelle - I Spy - no DP

Simon Says Stamp - favourite technique - mixed media especially using texture paste 

LOVE TO CRAFT - #85 MEET MABEL

It's time for another challenge at Love to Craft. Our theme is always Anything Goes and we look forward to seeing what you show us.  Our Challenges start on the 1st of every alternate month at 9 a.m. UK time and end at 12 noon on the 15th of the following month.

I have chosen to do a tag for this challenge. Most of the products used on here are Tim Holtz using some of his collage papers in the background as well as stamping and some extra pieces of Ideaology, including a paper doll and I'm calling her Mabel.   She was coloured in with some of Tim Holtz Distress Crayons to add a bit of colour to her outfit.

I would really love to add some stitching to my tags but I don't have a sewing machine and wouldn't really know what to do with one if I did - so I did it the long way round and poked some holes in the side of the tag and added some twine through them.  

I'm adding this into the following:

Sweet Stampin - special women 

A perfect time to craft - AG 

Crafts Galore - AG 

Lost Coast Portal - Women 

INSPIRATION STATION #71

It's time for another challenge for Inspiration Station this month featuring these cute bunnies and I look forward to seeing how they inspire your creativity this month. 

I used a couple of products from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and some of Tracy's older stamps for my card.  I first stamped the gorgeous snowdrop in Versafine Verdant and Shady lane - adding both colours to the stamp to get a variation of colour.  The background stamping are also Tracy's stamps.  

I then used one of Tracy's new stencils the hare SS2 to create my hares using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink and Tim Holtz Crackle Paste.  I cut them out and added them to some burlap ribbon on the bottom.

PEARLY SPARKLES - ANYTHING BUT A CARD

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles.  This month we want to see Anything But a Card.

On my own FB craft group we run a few swaps and our swap this month was ATC's with the theme of spring flowers.  These were mine using some old stamps and new stamps by Tracy Evans. 

The backgrounds were all made with spritzing some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks on to the mat and picking up the colour.  I kept the colours soft as I wanted the flowers to shine rather than the backgrounds.  I adore Lily of the Valley and even had it in my bouquet 40 years ago!  I have some growing in pots in my garden so hopefully they will spring forth soon when the weather gets warmer. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #507 CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More Christmas challenge.  I was lucky enough to win a Polkadoodles challenge a few weeks ago and won a voucher.  I spotted this gorgeous stamp and just had to have it!  One of our favourite Christmas songs is Fairytale in New York and this just brought that song to mind. The stamp is called Tails of New York and is by Polkadoodles.

I started off my card by using a stencil from Sizzix called Cosmopolitan The View #2.  It was just perfect for the little dogs.  I stamped the dog stamp and used Tim Holtz Watercolour Pencils to colour them all in. I'm not a great one for batch making as I get bored easily but I could see me doing this next year more than once. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Rudolph Days Challenge - AG Christmas 

Shopping our Stash - 1 layer card

The Holly & The Ivy - AG 

Stencil Fun - AG

Dragonfly Dreams - CAS 

We Love Stamping - CAS 

Addicted to CAS - Pet 

Creative Moments - Cute 

TRYING TO KEEP IT SIMPLE

Challenge blogs are supposed to do just that - challenge us and I found the challenge at My Time to Craft really made me think outside the box.  When I spotted their challenge this week of a 1, 2, 3 recipe I really fancied having a go - after all I love mixed media and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at my cards.  I went with 3 inks - Distress Oxides in Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio and Dusty Concord.  These are not my usual colours so that was also a challenge for me to see if they went together. 

I started the card by smooshing Cracked Pistachio and Dusty Concord - drying in between each colour until I was happy with what I got.  I used the stamp/stencil set by Tim Holtz called Botanic Collage.  It comes with a rose stamp and a butterfly stamp. They were my 2 things - I used the rose stamp once completely then stamped off the word part of it as background stamping.  I stamped the butterfly in Cracked Pistachio and cut it out.   I edged the butterfly in Peacock Feathers and added some extra around the outside of the card.  

The word sentiment is also Tim Holtz - another small stamp set with a stencil called Phrases and Sayings and I thought it went well with what I was trying to do.  That was my no 1.

I found this a very hard challenge.

I am adding this into the following:

My time to craft - 1, 2, 3 recipe 

We Love Stamping AG 

Polkadoodle - AG 

Alphabet Challenge - W is for Wings 

Craftycatz - AG 

Creative Fingers  AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #486 - MAKE YOUR MARK

I've had this little bunny stamp for quite some time and not used him much.  He's an old one from Aallandcreate by Bipash BK. I thought it was time he got an inking for the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge of Make your Mark this week. 

I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in the following colours - Pumice Stone and Antique linen for the bunny.  Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn for the leaves.  Spun Sugar and Picked raspberry for the flowers and Mermaid Lagoon for the bow. The Spring sentiment is from an old Tracy Evans set.