TOTALLY TOADSTOOLS

I love toadstool stamps and have been looking for a really good set for a long time.  When I saw this new release from Visible Image stamps I was right on it.

I've used a Visible Image stencil here too for the background using Distress Oxide in Brushed Corduroy and Peeled Paint for the edges.  I stamped the toadstools in Versafine Claire in Nocturne and used coloured markers to colour them in.  The green for the grass is Versafine Clair in Shady Lane.  The card was inspired by one of the DT card's for the new release. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Global Design Project #gdp307 - Thank You

Addicted To Cas - Nature

Crafting Happiness - AG 

Get Creative - AG 

Crazy 4 Challenges -Farmer's Market - if they were mushrooms! 

Less is More - Spots

Just Add Ink - N for Nature

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT 522

Anniversary

Our challenge this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday includes this great sketch with the added prompt of Anniversary.  It's my wedding anniversary next month - 36 years with my hubby.  Three days later our daughter gets married and then we move house - well actually move country - from England to Wales!  Lots going on in our household over the next month or so.

My card uses a Stampin Up Mask for the background with some Tim Holtz Speckled Egg.  I used some old SU cardtstock for the bands and ran them through the Painted Texture Embossing folder from SU.  The flowers is an old set by Clearly Besotted - I do like stamps with jars of flowers.  The sentiments are from my stash and I added a few little heart gems.

SWEET STAMPIN - LOTS OF LAYERS

LOTS OF LAYERS 

Our challenge at Sweet Stampin this week is Lots of Layers.  I wanted to create my own background papers for my layers - I used an old SU stamp and some Tim Holtz Distress Ink and stamped over the layers - I added SU Night of Navy Cardstock behind each layer.  The butterfly was added from my stash.  A very simple card which gives a great effect.  A little addition of some fine linen thread finished off the card.

CHRISTMAS HOLLY

I'm playing with a new stamp set for me today from Creative Expressions called Winter Flowers and Foliage.  I realised I had a distinct lack of these type of stamps in my stash and this set fitted the bill for me.  I must check out whether they have matching dies as I'm not great at fussy cutting.

My card today takes inspiration from the sketch at Global Design Project #GDP306.

I used the cutting dies from Spellbinders which cut out the lovely shapes and outline.  I stamped the holly in the middle of the small one using Versafine Clair in Nocturne.  I used some Mont Marte art markers to colour in the leaves and berries and a touch of white gel pen.  I cut out some extra holly leaves and popped on dimensionals.  The sentiment is an old one from my stash.

I'm adding this into the following challenges

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG

Addicted to stamps - Christmas 

Crafty Creations - AG 

the Holly and Ivy - AG 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #SC371

Here's our sketch for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I used a new stencil I've just purchased from Creative Expressions which is the gorgeous butterflies.  I cut out a circle and stencilled the butterfly over it and the base layer card.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in a mixture of Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon.

I had an old piece of SU DSP with the black and white butterflies and sponged the butterflies with the same inks.  The small butterfly is from Wendy Vecchi and the sentiment is from Visible Image.  I added a touch of Dazzlign Diamonds to the main butterfly.

INSPIRED BY.....

I was inspired by the new challenges over at Inspired By and thought I'd try and have a go at the Christmas one.  It feels like winter here in the UK anyway with dark skies and rain and I even had to put the heating on yesterday!

I realised that I really don't have very many Christmas foliage type cards or dies so had a hunt in my stash - most of it is in boxes ready for moving but I managed to come up with something which I think fits their sketch and the Christmas image.

I started off by using a Sunny Studio stamp from their Holiday Style set which is the lovely fir branch - I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough and stamped it in a circle.  I used the Tim Holtz Wreath Die and some Holly dies from Mixed Media Christmas to create the holly wreath and the foliage behind.  The candy canes came from another Sunny Studio set called Mug Hugs which I cut out and tucked behind the bow, which I covered in Dazzling Diamonds. I added jewels as holly berries.

I added a Tim Holtz stencil with the Christmas Foliage in Peeled Paint and added an old sentiment stamp from my stash.  I layered it onto some kraft cardstock, 

I'm also adding this into the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

Addicted to stamps #142 - Christmas 

The sisterhood of crafters - use leaves 

Watercooler Challenges - Occasion

The Holly & Ivy Xmas - AG 

christmas Kickstart - Photo Inspiration

SirStampALot - Celebrate Christmas 

Excited to say my card was chosen as a Top Sister for The Sisterhood of Crafters 

My card was chosen in the top 3 at Addicted to Stamps

FEELS LIKE HOME 2

Maybe it's because I've been in limbo the last six months waiting to move house - surrounded by boxes with most of my crafting stuff packed away and getting very frustrated with it all but this new set from Stampin Up is featuring in a lot of my projects at the moment.

I've used the colours from Global Design Project for this card - I started by making an inky background with the three colours then stamped the image on top.  I used a water colour brush to add some extra colours into the actual image and then cut it out with a Spellbinders Frame.  The colours seem to have come out somewhat darker on my phone than in real life.

The sentiment is from the same set cut out with a Tim Holtz tag die and I added some old SU ribbon.  I used Versamark on the background card stock to add the flower stamp.

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #TSOT520

Here's our challenge for you this week at Try Stampin On Tuesday.  You have options to just use the technique or getting inky - using our sketch or combining both challenges.

I love getting inky so I was up for the whole ink splatter technique.  I used a stencil from Visible Image with the gorgeous butterfly.  It helped as the butterfly's wingers taper into those lovely inky dots. I added extra ink splatters with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The sentiment is from a Visible Image stamp set called Free Your Imagination stamped with VersaFine Clair ink in Warm Breeze.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness - AG 

Pammies Inky Pinky - AG

Get Creative - AG 

FEELS LIKE HOME

I love this new set I got from Stampin Up - it's a great one for colouring and I've used it a lot recently on a few cards- some I can't show yet.  This one I can though as I took my inspiration for the colours from the Just Add Ink challenge.

I used VersaFine Clair ink in Warm Breeze to stamp the image.  I coloured it some of it in with Stampin Up Cinnamon Cider - one of my new favourite colours especially for the Autumn.  I only coloured in a few parts of the image and then tore the edges and edged it in some more of the CC ink.  I cut out the sentiment with a Tim Holtz tag die and added an old SU heart embellishment.  I used the Painted Texture Embossing Folder by SU for the background and lightly coloured it with the Cinnamon Cider and edged it with the VersaFine Clair.  I layered it all onto some SU Black Cardstock.

I'm adding this into the following challenges -

Simon Says Stamp Monday - use Dry Emboss - background embossing folder 

Dream Valley Challenge - Emboss

Creative Crafters - AG 

World Wide Open Design Team - AG

Inkspirational - Journey

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #IC370

A great mood board for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I chose to use the butterflies top right for my card.  

I used a new stamp set for me from Creative Expressions called Butterfly Splash - a great set with 9 butterfly stamps on it, some greenery and two great ink splodge stamps lol!  I started off the card by using the greenery stamp at the bottom, the lavender stalks are from Tim Holtz wildflowers stamp set.  I stamped the butterflies in Versafine Clair inks.  I then used various pastels from the new Stampin Up pastel set to cover the whole image.  I went over the pastels with Tim Holtz Distress Glaze.  The colours seem to show up better in real life - whereas here they look a bit muted.

The happy birthday stamp and matching die cut is from a Clearly Besotted stamp.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Path of Positivity - Enjoy Nature

Stamping Sensations - Celebration 

COOL CATS

I have lots of favourite animals - and cats are right up there at the top - I have three of my own - various rescue cats through the years.  And as well as domestic cats I do love the big cats.  This cheetah stamp from Stamperia is one of my favourite.  Inspired by the challenge over at As You See It which is Zoology or your favourite animals I decided to have a play with this stamp.

Here I've turned it into a tag - the background was made wit Distress Oxide Ink in Brushed Corduroy and I added a Tim Holtz stencil over the top in Gathered Twigs.  Added some splashes of water to remove some of the ink.  I actually did this after I had stamped and inked the main image - just being careful not to get ink on the image.  All the image was inked with Distress Inks and then I added Tim Holtz Distress Glaze over the top of the ink to make it pop a bit more.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.  I added some ribbon and lace to finish off the tag.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

As You See It #256 - Zoology 

Snarky Stampers - F is for ......fierce 

Crafters Castle - AG 

Creative Artist Mixed Media - AG 

Colormyheart Complementary colours Blue/Orange 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT 518

Optional theme - ocean

Here's our sketch for you this week with Try Stampin on Tuesday with the optional theme of ocean.  I don't do a lot of ocean themed projects - I'm more of a woods girl - but I so loved doing this card.  I used the gorgeous stamps I have from Kaisercraft called Mermaid Tails which are years old.

I started out by making my background with lots of Tim Holtz distress inks and then added some Texture Paste over a stencil to crate the bubbles and give lots of texture.  I added inks over the tops also so it wasn't just a mass of white bubbles.

The side panel had the same stencil but without the texture paste.  I stamped the images in Versafine Clair Warm Breeze which stamps really well over all that texture.  I added a touch of linen thread for the anchor.  The sentiment is from the same set and was fussy cut out.  This is such a fun card fold too - I hope you enjoy playing along.

I'm also adding this into the following challenges :

Cardz4guyz - shades of blue 

Retro Rubber - AG 

Path of Positivity - Enjoy Nature

Dragonfly Dreams - summer fun

The paper players - beside the sea

Rainbow Card Challenge - Teal

Creative Fingers - AG 

FabnFunky - I can see the sea

The sisterhood of crafters - the ocean is calling 

My card was chosen as a top 3 for the following challenges

SPARKLES CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE - CHRISTMAS MUSIC #127

Our challenge over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge #127 this month is Christmas Music.  I used a favourite set from Visible Image called Santa Claus - you can't help but start singing or humming this once you see this sentiment.

I started off with a piece of water colour paper and used the snow stamp from the set with some Versamark Ink.  I then heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks in blues and blacks to represent the night sky.  

I used Stampin Up Watercolour Pencils to colour in the Santa and then cut him out.  I've added Stickles to his hat and fur on his coat and glossy accents on his beard and moustache.

To make the roof I used the chimney stamp upside down and repeated it and then added the chimney stack on top.  Liquid pearls were added to represent the snow on top of the roof.  

The sentiment in the banner was cut out and I used a stitched framelit for the remainder of the sentiment popping them up on dimensionals. 

We love Chocolate Baroque - Favourite Stamps

Dare 2b Artzy - AG 

Love to craft - AG 

Pearlysparkleschallenge - AG 

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas 

Send a Smile for Kids - Christmas 

Christmas Blog - Songs for Christmas 

Creative Knockouts - Christmas in July 

Krafty Chicks - AG 

FabnFunky - Christmas 

Male Room Challenge - Christmas 

Merry Little Christmas Challenge - AG

The Holly & The Ivy  - AG 

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes - Optional Colour Palettes

Welcome to another month's challenge over at 613 Avenue Create - as always it is an Anything Goes challenge but we also have the options of some wonderful palettes as inspiration for you.  I chose palette no 3 for my inspiration with that lovely image of the trees.

I started my card by laying down a soft layer of Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Salty Ocean. I then used a Stampin Up Mask as a stencil for the trees using Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  The blots for the leaves were made by a stamp from Visible Image set called Free Your Imagination - I used various Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber with a touch of Fired Brick to add a deeper depth of colour.

The birds are from another Visible Image set Leave Your Fears Behind and the sentiment is from yet another Visible Image Set called Tree of Life.