ANOTHER CAT CARD

I'm entering another cat card into the Cat Blog Hop at Her Peaceful Garden - I didn't realise we could enter more than once on different days.  I've been overwhelmed by the number of comments I have received - sadly with the advent of social media I have found that blogs don't get a lot of comments but I have been pleasantly surprised and it's lovely to read them and leave comments back.

My card today uses an old favourite site of mine Cherry Pie Art Stamps which hasn't seen any ink in a good few years.

I stamped the set first in Hero Arts Intense Black and then stamped the cat words inside the bigger cat. I then added some Tim Holtz Distress Inks in varous colours and a touch of white pen for the whiskers. I added Tri Spectrum Noir glitter pen in clear on all the black ink which gives the little black cat its own sparkle. I added some gold pen around the outside and layered onto black cardstock. The background paper is from Stampin Up and I added some paw prints all the way round.

I'm also adding this into the Lavinia World Challenge 



 

DOOR HANGER

I'm using some old Cherry Pie Art Stamps here for my project today - I say project because it's neither a card nor a scrapbook layout.  Its a Door Hanger.  It's going to hang on my door so hubby knows if things are going well in the craft room or not lol!  It's reversible so I'm hoping the one showing the most is the one where I'm not stuck for ideas.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Try It On Tuesday - I was delighted to be chosen as one of their Top Five last week for my destination Tag 

And also Retro Rubber who asks us to use stamps older than one year and this week it is Anything Goes.  My stamp is a Cherry Pie Art stamp which I purchased in 2007!  Definitely older than a year!





 

BUBBLES

A great little challenge over at Addicted to CAS #134 this week - bubbles. Now I didn't think I had anything which would remotely fit this theme - it just goes to show what you can find when you rummage.  And this is what I managed to come up with:

The bubbles came courtesy of an old Cherry Pie stamp - I've used SU Bermuda Bay Ink and card stock, SU Tangerine Tango and SU Pear Pizzazz for the inks.  The fish and the grasses and the sentiment come from Jar of Love and one of the little fish has been cut out with its matching framelit and popped on a dimensional.  I've just added some ribbon to match and then left it alone to keep it as CAS as I could.  There is a bit of Wink of Stella on the bubbles to make them shine.  I also used a very old crafting tool I found in the cupboard to make the paper wavy as if it's under the sea.

INSPIRED BY

A new challenge again for me today - Inspired By and their challenge this week is a lovely inspirational photo.




I do enjoy the challenges that have these lovely images - there is so much to be inspired by.  Blue is a colour I realise I don't often use - most of my blue inks are quite dry too so maybe there is a purchase ahead? 

Here is my interpretation of the image.  I've used SU's Night of Navy for my ink - stamping it off for the background.  The background tea stain type image was made with Tim Holtz Stencil - Splatters.  The diagonal images are from Cherry Pie Art Stamps.  The Tea Cups are from Stampin Up's A Nice Cuppa.  I've used some Washi Tape and some scraps of other papers for the background.  The ribbon at the bottom is SU Sweater Trim Ribbon - keep a thing long enough and you eventually find a use for it lol!

Thanks for dropping by and please leave me a comment so I can come and visit you.



I'm delighted by card was chosen as the winning card this week.




 

MYTHICAL

What a lovely challenge over at Inkspirational Challenge this week - definitely a chance to use some of my Cherry Pie Art Stamps which formed the background for this card and also this unicorn stamp.  I have had this stamp for over ten years and never inked it!  It just goes to show keep things for long enough and they become useful!!!




The Unicorn stamp came from a company years ago called Scottish Borders Stamping - I don't even think they are still going.

 

WEDNESDAYS WOES

A strange title for my blog post today but this card I'm showing took me ages!  I just couldn't seem to get it to do what I wanted it to - I knew I definitely wanted to use the image of the girl which is an old Cherry Pie Art Stamp and I was inspired by the gorgeous colours on Addicted to Stamps Challenge blog.  Eventually I produced something I was half way happy with so I'm going to put it into two challenges.

Addicted to Stamps gave us these inspiring images to work with.




As well as the Cherry Pie stamp I've also used one from Stampin Up's Beautiful You set for the sentiment.

The image of the girl was versamarked in SU Pacific Point ink and then clear embossed so she has a shine to her.  The background on the card stock uses Tim Holtz Dot Stencil.

I'm also adding this into the Retro Rubber's challenge this week which is Anything Goes.


 

CHERRY PIE ART STAMPS

The Challenge over at As You See It is a colour challenge and it is a wonderful serene palette as shown below and titled Serenity!





I opted to use one of my Cherry Pie Art Stamps from the Abundance set which I haven't used in a long time. I think she looks rather serence don't you?  I've kept to the palette of pink, green and grey as per the challenge, although annoyingly my Powder Pink which isn't that old is completely dry already.  So I switched to an old SU ink which I have had over ten years which is still going strong - Regal Rose.  The ribbon and the cardstock though is still Powder Pink.

I've added an old sentiment from SU which was from a set called Small Script for the love at the bottom of the card.  The background uses Tim Holtz Dot Fade stencil again which I inked in Grey.  It's nice to get old stamps out and give them a new lease of life.

 

JOY OF SETS COLOUR CHALLENGE

This month's challenge over at Joy of Sets Facebook group which I run is a colour challenge.  The colour choices are Stampin Up's Crushed Curry, Tranquil Tide and Night of Navy.  Quite masculine colours really but I wanted to try and produce a non-masculine looking card.

I've used a combination of stamps for this one - the wording is from a retired Project Life set by Stampin Up called Remember This - the easel is from Painter's Palette, the image of the woman is a Cherry Pie Art Stamp and the background is made with Tim Holtz stencils.

We have had a snow day in the UK because of the storms bringing us a lot of snow which meant I couldn't get out of my village to get to my part time job - hence I've been able to get inky fingers again which has been a long time coming.  It's been so nice to have a day of crafting - and I've caught up with some scrapbooking pages and some projects.

I'm adding this to the Time Out Challenge which is looking for something bold - I think these colours count as bold colours.





 

COLOURS OF AUTUMN

Well I've gone from Winter and snow to back to Autumn again - two seasons in one day lol! 

This time I'm joining in with Retro Rubber challenge again and they had a picture for us to take our inspiration from with the colours of Fall or Autumn as we say over here in the UK. I'm also including this in Inkspirational Challenge this week whose theme is Trend.  Well I'm right on trend here with Autumn and I'm thinking retro stamps are trendy right now too!

I turned to my trusty Cherry Pie Art stamps again and some old rubber stamps I've had for over 10 years but they are still going strong.  I think the main image of the girl is called Flora - I've also used an old Hero Arts collage stamp called Love, Life, Beauty and a Cherry Pie stamp with the butterfly on it comes from a set called Art and Butterflies.


 I used some SU Island Indigo as the cardstock and embossed the sentiment from Beautiful You in Copper embossing powder.  Some copper thread wound round the cardimage also adds a bit of detail.  The stamping of the girl was done with an old SU spectrum Stampin Pad - its a shame you can't get these any more - its a great way of getting different colours on one stamp.


 

YULE HAVE FUN!

Excuse the pun in my title but I couldn't resist it - another Christmas card from me today - well Yule card to be exact.  This one is inspired by the Paper Players who have a sketch for us to follow:

 I've used an embossing folder for the holly as a background - the papers are from the new SU designer series papers.  The Yule stamp is a very old one and I'm not sure where I got it from - the Christmas Tree is a Cherry Pie one and I love that it says Happy Christmas in lots of languages.

 Another card to add to my growing Christmas Card Stash!


 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER

I have a lot of friends who groan when I mention Christmas this early but really us crafters have to get ahead of the game - it's no use waiting until December to start making our cards is it?  So I am going to challenge myself to make some Christmas cards for some Challenge blogs over the next few weeks, that way I should have a good amount of Christmas cards in all different styles.

The challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches this week is a Sketch -

 I often find Sketches challenging as I tend to follow them to the letter and really need to use them as guidelines rather than rules - you know the phrase out of Pirates of the Caribbean lol!

 My card uses a very old Cherry Pie Art stamp with all the Merry Christmas's written in different languages - it has been my go to stamp for Christmas for manyyears.  I masked it and stamped two trees full of glitter behind it - I'm not sure where the other tree stamp came from.  The sentiment is also one of my favourites as Meet Me In St Louis with Judy Garland when she sings that song is one of my favourite Christmas Movies.


I'm also including this in Watercooler Wednesday's Challenge this week which is all about Christmas .

RETRO RUBBER

I was so pleased to find this Challenge Blog - Retro Rubber - especially as I am returning to some of my old beloved stamps that I haven't used in quite a long while. 


Their Challenge this week is a sketch challenge -  I found this quite daunting at first until I saw the inspiration from their Design Team and decided to think a little outside the box.



 


 I have gone to my Cherry Pie Art Stamps here for this card.  These stamps have to be from about 2004/5 and could be even older.  The name of this set is Mix Collage #3 and I have also used the music stamp from a set called Renaissance.

 I've used three Tim Holtz Distress Inks on the Very Vanilla paper - Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Aged Mahogany.  It is layered on to Early Espresso Cardstock from SU and some jewels added onto the stars.


 

BOO!

I've been getting out my Cherry Pie Art stamps again and making a Hallowe'en type card - all about the Orange shades in this card. 

 I've used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and SU inks Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie and Early Espresso.  There is one retired SU stamp used here which is the Boo word.

 I'm adding this card into the following challenges:

That's Crafty - Get Your Spook On
Tuesday Taggers - It's Hallowe'en Time
Deep Ocean Challenge - Hallowe'en




 

WHAT A WEEK

So this week has been a week of sorting out my craft room - getting rid of some things and finding old friends that had been put in the back of the cupboard.  It's a little bit like Christmas come early as my favourite Tim Holtz and Cherry Pie Art Stamps make an appearance.  

My card was inspired by some long walks I have taken lately with my dogs.  I adore trees - they make me feel safe and secure and here are some pictures of two of my favourites.

Copper Beech

This beautiful copper beech lives in my front garden.  This is looking up into the tree - at the moment it still has its green leaves and hasn't yet started to turn them that gorgeous copper colour yet as we have not had a frost.
 

The Yew is one of my favourite trees and I am very lucky to have some very old Yew trees at a nearby Iron Age Hillfort.  A place for reflection and planning.  The Yew lives a very long time and it is very feasible that these trees were here during the Iron Age.  The oldest known Yew is The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire which is said to be over 9,000 years old!

So as you can see my card was very much inspired by my wanderings this week.  I've mixed all three stamp companies in this card and the sentiment pretty much sums up where I am at the moment.  I'm walking a different path altogether with many new adventures on the horizon.

The challenge over at Time Out challenges this week has given us an image to be inspired from.  I'm using the sticks from their image to tie in with my card.

 Thank you for stopping by.


 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

WATERCOOLER WEDNESDAY WWC139

Good morning all - its a gorgeous day here in Hampshire, England. The sun is shining and the leaves are turning.  The dogs are happy playing in the leaves and everything sounds rosy doesn't it?  

 Well the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a slight difference to my blog and that is the omission of anything to do with Stampin' Up!  I have resigned as a Demonstrator for all sorts of reasons, none of which need to be stated here.  Suffice to say I am now free to use other stamps on my blog.  My blog has been going for over 10 years, before SU and will continue after SU.  It has become my online diary and when I look back over the years it is suprising how much has changed within blog land and even in the fashion of crafting.

My entry for the Watercooler Wednesday challenge this month is not a card - but it is something that's dear to my heart at the moment.  We all lose our mojo in life and especially in crafting.  I have made this door handle and as you can see it has two sides - one says I'm on the ball and everything in the craft room is just fabulous - the other side shows that mojo has truly left the building.

 

 The stamped image is from a Cherry Pie Art Stamp set.  I have loved these stamps for many years and, although sometimes my crafting supplies get thinned out - these never go anywhere.  And they will be making some much needed appearances in the future posts.

As I emerge from the world of SU I need to reacquaint myself with great stamps and would love any suggestions you may have.

 HAPPY CRAFTING

 

Leonardo in Green

I found another new challenge blog on my travels today - Sunday Postcard Art - are looking for a postcard of your favourite artist - you'll find it here.

I've done Leonardo In Green - all stamps are Cherry Pie. If you like the look of the green inks - pop along to This Thursday this Thursday 19th June as these are the first prize up for grabs!

They are Colorbox Queue inks.

I'M HOOKED!!!!

Whilst surfing today I came across Chris' blog and , as mentioned below, she has a challenge running to do with Hands. She wanted us to draw around our hands and fill in with stamps. I'm hooked - I loved doing this one and will probably be doing so many you'll be sick of seeing them.

This one is called WITCH HAND?

All Stamps Cherry Pie, of course!