BOTANIQUE

I'm playing along with the sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps which is below. 

I used a stamp from Sam Poole for Creative Expressions called Botanical Collage.  I kept the colouring simple with some water colouring with Tim Holtz Watercolour Pencils and a touch of shimmer on the butterfly from Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.  I added some butterfly washi tape behind and on the little circle behind the smaller butterfly.  I stamped the background with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood in a similar stamp to the grid stamp on the Botanical stamp.  

TIM HOLTZ BIRD TAG

I have a new purchase of some Tim Holtz dies Funky Nature and wanted to have a play as soon as I got them.   I hadn't even spotted the lovely feather die when I bought them and this was definitely the one I wanted to use first. 

I used a Tim Holtz tag die for my tag and used some good paper that could cope with the inks I was going to throw at it.  I used some Distress Oxides in Speckled Egg and Crushed Olive with a touch of Salvaged Patina for the background.  I added some Texture Paste through a stencil in Delicate Blue by Cosmic Shimmer.   I used the same colours for the die cuts - adding a touch of Vintage Photo into the mix.

The bird is another of Tim Holt dies and I just added a touch of script stamping to give him a bit more interest.   I added some Tim Holtz Washi fabric tape, some lace and a twig for the bird to stand on.  The sentiments are from Tim Holtz Ideaology.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

I Spy - something with wings 

NBUS - new dies 

Triple B - Bird 

My Time to Craft - Die cuts 

Inspire Create - something new - new dies 

Alphabet Challenge - Birds 

CHRISTMAS CRAFT CREATIONS - NON TRADITIONAL COLOURS

Our challenge this month at Christmas Craft Creations is non-traditional colours and there have already been some great ideas in the gallery from the team and all of you playing along.  Here is my contribution.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks on my background in mainly Speckled Egg but then added some added drops of pinks, oranges and purples.  The branches are stamped in Versafine Morning Mist.  

The image of the girl is a very old rubber stamp from my stash - she's so old I wasn't sure she would still even stamp but l luckily it still works.   The wording behind her is from Alison Bomber and her new word Christmas stamps with the wonderful In The Bleak Midwinter poem from Christina Rosetti.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Peace on Earth Christmas - 

Daring Cardmakers - Something Old - the old tag stamp - something new - the background word stamp

Outlawz Challenge - Christmas 

POTS AND FLOWERS

I was inspired by the challenge at Just Add Ink #698 to create this lovely blue card.  Their challenge is choose 2 items from Leaves, Flower, Pots.  What a great challenge.  I had to go to my trusty Tracy Evans for this and used a few of her lovely stamps.  The little pot is from her set Containers and teh flower is from Friendship Florals 

I'm adding this into the following

Just Add Ink - Flowers, Pot 

The sisterhood of Crafters - Flowers 

We love stamping - Spring - or AG 

ART DECO

I was lucky enough to be gifted a lovely stamp set by a member of my own Facebook Group The Joy of Sets last week.  Some beautiful Art Deco images of men and women and probably not a stamp set I would have chosen but I had great fun using it.

I used a gel press for the background with Victorian Velvet Distress Oxide and added a Tim  Holtz word stamp in the background.  The die cut is a new one  from Creative Expressions and I added a panel behind it with the same stamped words and added a touch of bling to the centre of the flowers.  The woman is from the Art Deco set and she was embossed in Versafine Chianti.  

I'm adding this into the following:

Dream Valley Challenge - Make it female 

Crafty Gals Challenge - AG 

NBUS - new stamp set and die cut 

Unicorn - Use Dies 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS CC436

Welcome back to another colour challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Such pretty spring colours I look forward to seeing what you create with them. 

I started my card by using my brayer to layer the three inks on the left hand side of the card with some added pink on the right.  I then used some of Tracy Evans' new boutique stamps called Malva for the background and the cut out flower.  I used some old Stampin Up stamps and dies for the branches from A Jar of Love.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I added a few embellishments to finish off the card. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Try it on Tuesday - Song Title - Hello by Lionel Richie - I used to listen to him all the time when I was younger and haven't heard him in such a long time. 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Make your own background 

Cupcake Inspirations - Flowers 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA - APRIL

Welcome to another month's challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where our challenges are always Anything Goes as long as you've used at least 3 different types of medium.

I rarely share my journals but I wanted to just show this double page spread this month.  The tissue paper in the top left and bottom right actually came wrapped around a garden gift from a company called A Blackbird Sang and the garden accessory was wrapped in this lovely paper.  It was far too good to throw away and became the inspiration for this page.  

My journal is an old leather bound book hubby bought me years ago and it has handmade papers in it which can be a bit tricky when working on so I always cover the pages with lots of gesso before I begin.  The background colours were made with Sam Poole Botanical Stains in Carrot Top Green and Tea Leaves  from Cosmic Shimmer - I loved the way they turned out. I added some background stamping with some Tracy Evans stamps and two of her birds.  The feathers are from Stampin Up.  I doodled on some flower images and added some strips of Washi tape.  

I'm adding this into the following challenge:

Make My Monday - natural birds 

Here's my calendar page also for March - a year long challenge I have set some of my members of my FB group to create our own calendars for 2025.  I'm adding this into the following challenge:

Beautiful blossoms 

Simon Says - Monday - Spring flowers 

Dream Valley - Spring flowers 

Here is a place to Start - AG with flowers 

Stamping Sensations - Spring 

The Male Room #185 Embossing

Our challenge this month at The Male Room is embossing. I used an old embossing folder I have and inked it in Distress Ink and used Distress Metallic crayons for the raised part of the leaves.  I added some Tim Holtz die cuts and a die cut Happy Birthday sentiment from my stash.  This card actually became my card for my son's 30th Birthday and for that I added an extra heart and a 30 but left it blank on this one.  

I love how the embossing turned out and will be trying that again. 

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #435

Our mood board this challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments  is very spring like - I wish we were enjoying spring here in the UK but we have had constant rain for months!  

I've used the image of the wellington boots for my card - I created a yellow background with the gel press and added background stamping.  All stamps are by Tracy Evans - both her old stamps and her new Boutique stamps.  I cut out the flowers and the boots and layered them onto the card.  

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

I Spy - yellow 

Outlawz Colour challenge 

INSPIRATION STATION - APRIL

Welcome back to another challenge from Inspiration Station. I was inspired by the globe in our picture to create this mixed media tag using stamps by Bipasha BK from Aallandcreate. 

I used a stencil from Tim Holtz and some texture paste to create some of the background.  Lots of grungy inks and stamping to go with the great images which I stamped on tissue paper.  This allowed the globe and phone image to be seen rather than cutting them out.