Wednesday, 28 October 2026

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #529 - ANY OCCASION




I'm sharing an Autumnal card to day for our Any Occasion theme at ATSM.  I created the background with a soft layer of Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo and then I used an old Creative Expressions leaf stencil and Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  My collaged panel uses stamps by Alison Bomber and the fragment leaf die by Tim Holts.  I stamped the word meadow onto some fabric. 

A great card just to cheer someone up because it's Autumn and most welcome after our hot summer here in Wales. 







Monday, 26 October 2026

SIMON SAYS STAMP MONDAY CHALLENGE - GUEST DESIGNER - TREES.







It's my final week as Guest Designer for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and it's been a real privilege to be part of this fabulous group again.  Our theme this week is Trees and I apologise in advance if my Christmas card is too soon for you in October but I couldn't resist using the wonderful Watercolor Trees by Tim Holtz for my card.

I started off with creating a background for my card with some Distress Oxide Inks in Frayed Burlap, Festive Berries and Antique Linen.    I then added some of Tim's Christmas collage paper as my background focus.




I layered some of Tim's Christmas Large Collage Strips to the side.  I loved the image of the lady with the Christmas Tree.  




My tree was stamped with Distress Ink and spritzed before stamping to give it a real water colour feel.  I used Peeled Paint for the first stamping and Rustic Wilderness for the second stamping.  The red details are Distress Ink Festive Berries with a touch of sparkle.  The sentiment is part of the same stamp set and it was what drew me to the set years ago as I had been looking for a lovely sentiment that just said O Christmas Tree.  I edged it with some Antique Linen Distress Oxide and Ground Espresso - my favourite brown ink.  I added a touch of cheesecloth from my stash behind the tag. 

I found the perfect sentiment in Tim's Christmas Sticker Book.  

These are the products I used:


Tim Holtz Stamps 


Tim Holtz Ideaology


Distress Inks


Distress Oxides



The lovely people over at Simon Says Stamp are offering one lucky participant a $25 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp.  A great opportunity to treat yourself to some new goodies. 





I'm adding this into the following:

AAA Christmas Cards - Traditional Christmas






Monday, 19 October 2026

SIMON SAYS STAMP MONDAY CHALLENGE GUEST DESIGNER - HALLOWEEN/SPOOKY




I'm delighted to be sharing my card with you for this weeks challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the theme of Hallowe'en/Spooky.  I don't really celebrate Hallowe'en here in Wales as they do in the USA.  For me it's a time of remembering my family members who have gone before.  The original idea of leaving food out was for deceased family members to come and eat with us once again and over the years in the US that was changed into Trick or Treat.  I still remember the old ways so my card is a muted card hopefully spooky in nature.

I recently purchased from Simon Says Stamp the fabulous moon masks from Tim Holtz and this was the starting point for my card.  I used the solid circle first and used Distress Inks to create the night sky.  I added the moon part of the mask and used Distress Ink Pumice Stone.  I added some yellow sparkle around the outside of the moon to give a glow.

My creatures come from Lavinia Stamps. I used the fabulous owl looking down on the magical Ashfoot hare.  He was actually facing the wrong way for my project so I stamped him on some acetate and then added that to the card stock so he's facing the way I want.  I've also seen people do this with a brayer tool but I haven't tried that method yet.

I added some Lavinia foliage to the sides and lots of sparkle with some sparkle pens adding a touch of shooting stars with a white gel pen. 

The quotes come from Tim Holtz Clippings Sticker Book and were just perfect for the time of card I was going for.



These are the products I used for my card:

Distress Inks


Stamps from Lavinia


Tim Holtz Products


Other


I look forward to seeing what you all create for this theme - and don't forget the very generous $25 voucher one lucky person will win.  A great way to treat yourself to some new goodies. 






I'm adding this into the following:
Kreativtanten - Hallowe'en
Crafty Calendar - Hallowe'en
Cardzforgalz - add an animal 
CRAFT - Halloween 




Wednesday, 14 October 2026

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #528 BIRTHDAYS



Birthday time here again at ATSM and I've gone back to basics with this card.  It's so long since I did a card which is a lot more CAS than my usual mixed media style.  I've not played with the Tim Holtz snarky cats in a while so thought I would give them an inking.

The background is a great old background stamp by Stampin Up called Drybrush and I use it quite a lot for backgrounds.  Here it's been simply stamped in Versafine Morning Mist. 

I used an old embossing folder which I thought looked like tangled yarn for the cat.  I stamped and cut it out and coloured it in Rusty Hinge and Dried Marigold.  I still have some of these googly eyes from years ago so they got used also.  





Monday, 12 October 2026

SIMON SAYS STAMP - THINK PINK












I am back again this week as Guest Designer with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with a Think Pink challenge.  I just had to use the lovely new stamps by Alison Bomber - Rose Edition AB059.



I used water colour paper and did a light water colour wash of Iced Spruce  and Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink to give a soft background.  I used Tim Holtz water colour pencils to colour in the rose using a watercolor brush to add the paint.  I used Worn Lipstick, from set 5 and Picked Raspberry from Set 1.  Twisted Citron from set 2 and Peeled Paint from set 1 were used for the leaves. I added some background stamping from another of Alison's sets Fodder Berry Edition EABF I used the tiny word stamp and Pressed Grasses EAB40 I used the dots stamp. 

I also added some stamping with Tim Holtz Flower Jar CMS297 and coloured the water in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide. 

The sentiment comes from Tracy Evans set The Miracle of a Flower  TE59.



Don't forget too that one lucky entrant will win a $25 gift voucher to spend in store at Simon Says Stamp - you have to be in it to win it!  Good luck everyone. 

Here's my list of supplies:

STAMPS


Alison Bomber - Fodder Edition EABF
Alison Bomber - Pressed Grasses EAB40

Tim Holtz - Flower Jar CMS297
Tracy Evans - The Miracle of a Flower TE59

DISTRESS OXIDE INKS:



WATERCOLOR PENCILS


Extras:


I'm also adding this into the following
 








Monday, 5 October 2026

SIMON SAYS STAMP GUEST DESIGNER - TAG IT TIM HOLTZ






I'm delighted to have been asked to be Guest Designer again over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  It's always a pleasure to be part of this fabulous challenge group and the first challenge this month is Tag It - Tim Holtz.  This is right up my street.  Who doesn't love Tim Holtz?  The hardest thing is to choose which of Tim's products to use.

At the same time as being asked to be the Guest Designer I was very lucky to also have won the Wednesday Birthday challenge which offered me a $50 coupon to spend with Simon Says Stamp.  This was a great chance to get some new Tim products some of which I've used in my tags below.

I created two tags and decided to show both as I couldn't decide which one to show.  This is how the tags started out.....



..... And this is how the tags finished.  




Do join in with the challenge - don't forget you also get the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend in store.







Here is a list of the supplies I used to make my tags:

For the Blue Tag :

Stamp Sets 
 
Field Notes CMS396 - which was my new set from my winnings 

Stencil

Plus and Focus from the Botanical Collage set 




Distress Oxides : 


Tim Holtz Ideaology


For the brown tag:

Stamp Sets


Distress Oxides:



Ideaology


 I'm adding these into the following challenges also:



INSPIRATION STATION #90




Welcome back to Inspiration Station #90 and our visual prompt for you this month should get you thinking.  I've created a tag for my project.  

The background is a gel print of a leaf that my 3 year old grandson did with me.  He loves playing with the gel press and now when we go on walks he's always picking up leaves and saying here you are Grandma this is for your paint!  Precious times! You can see the image of the leaf on the left hand side of the tag.

I used the cute little set from Waffle Flower called Fall Greetings.  The leaves are the top say Hello and have been embossed with Copper Embossing powder.  The pumpkin image doesn't have a cat but does have birds and I've coloured the image in with Tim Holtz Marker Pens.  I still have some that work. 

I've added some naturally hand dyed wool to the top - this was dyed with iron modifier.  It gives a lovely autumnal brown.





I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Tag Along - all things Autumn 
Try it on Tuesday - Autumn's Beauty


Friday, 2 October 2026

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #131




Welcome back to another challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge.  I have a canvas for you today inspired by the image of the cottage you can see.  It had been something I had seen in a magazine some time last year and I cut it out wanting to use it on some sort of project.   My daughter had been talking about how when she's older and her kids are grown, they are 3 and 7 lol!, she and her hubby would love to move from the farm to a little place by the sea.  This was probably in my mind when I created this canvas.  

I covered it first in white gesso and then played with some old stencils and some texture paste and Distress Ink in Black Soot.  I really need to buy myself some black gesso - I thought I had some but can't find it!  I added extra stamping with some stamps by Studio Light and Waffle Flower.  A company I have purchased garden things from wraps them in this gorgeous tissue paper with the bird on - I've saved lots of it and use it in my collages.  The Imagine sentiment is from Visible Image.  










Thursday, 1 October 2026

PEARLY SPARKLES - #124 TRICK OR TREAT


Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles - our theme for you this month is Trick or Treat.  But don't panic if you are not into Hallowe'en - you could choose something that is a treat for you to use - maybe a favourite technique or stamp set or even colour.  

I've recently purchased the Moon Masks from Tim Holtz and am having great fun using them on projects.  I've created a tag here which has a nod to Hallowee'n especially as I added the words BOO to it!  This was a very old old Stampin Up stamp from a tiny set I have still kept.  My grandkids love to play with the spooky images. 

I used a variety of Distress Oxide inks for my background including Wilted Violet,  Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot and a touch of Wild Honey. I added the moon to the far edge of the tag just for effect and added some bird stamps from Waffle Flower.  I also added some grass stamps by Alison Bomber from her EAB40 set.  I attached an old Tim Holtz Ideaology potion token and some netting which I inked in purple ink.




I'm adding this into the following:

Craft Rocket - Halloween 
Give a crafter a cookie - Round moon and spooky Boo
Inkspirational - halloween cookie inspiration 
Tag Along - Halloween 


MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - EASEL CARD



Our challenge for you this month at Moving Along with the Times is an easel card.  It's been years since I made one of these as my style has definitely changed in the last few years and I find myself making less cards so this was also a challenge for me!

I created my base for my card out of a piece of 12" x 6" old scrapbook cardstock. I simply folded it in half and then half again on the one side.   I have these gorgeous papers by Craft O Clock that are just so lovely I don't want to cut them but I decided today was the day.  I used some of them for the background and the co-ordinating piece for the base.  I cut a tag out of the same paper and added a co-ordinating moth.

Of course I had to add some stamping and I used the grasses from Alison Bomber's set EAB40.  I also added a stamped image of the bird from a Tim Holtz set.  

To help the easel part stand I added a chipboard quote also from Craft O Clock and added a sentiment to the tag so it could be used as a birthday card.  I love the colours of these papers and thought they were so perfect for an October card.  






I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz - also Easel Card 
Simon Says Stamp Wed - use patterned paper 
Birds, Butterflies, Blooms, I've used all 3 
The Paper Players - Landscapes