A wonderful weekend and other news

Half term started well with Lynne arriving from Scotland on Friday night. On Saturday we went up to the Be Creative Launch and did make and take sessions throughout the day. It was lovely to meet everyone who came along and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Here are just a few of the creations made by people who visited.
Here is Janet with her wonderful creation...

 

Helen and her sister made the next two...

I am only sorry I didn't get the chance to snap a few more as we went along. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and look forward to doing some more workshops soon. One of the popular products that we were trying out was the Be Creative Alcohol Markers. As a member of their design team, I was lucky enough to get to play with these beauties...

There are 100 different colours in the range and I am very impressed by the quality of the ink. Here is a colour chart that I made whilst I get used to them.

 

The day I recieved them I just couldn't do anything but colour, and here is what I did!

Digi image is from Teri at Arti Doodles.
On Sunday, which was Lynne's Birthday, we went to Stamp Magic at Doncaster Dome. We bumped into lots of people we knew and had a great time. It was lovely to see some new things being demoed too. We had so much fun, especially when my purchases were put through a till and they came out as this!!!

 Seriously, I didn't spend that much!!! I can't wait to get playing with my goodies, but Steve is off work this week so we are going to have some time together. I am also looking forward to seeing what Lynne does with her goodies too!

I will leave you with a card made with more Be creative papers. The poinsettia was coloured with Be creative markers and the Die is from Frantic Stamper, also available from Once Upon a Stamp.
Thanks so much for looking and for all your lovely comments. I hope to catch up with all you lovely people who leave me comments soon!

Stamp Magic Time!

So who is going to Doncaster to Stamp Magic tomorrow? I will be there, but on my own as Lynne is not able to visit this time, and Meg is deep in revision as her A levels start on Monday. I have already made my shopping list and am very excited to see some different exhibitors this time. I will of course be visiting the stalls of all my favourites like Inkylicious,  Inky Doodles and Little Claire.
No doubt I will bump into some lovely friends. Drop me an email if you fancy saying hello.
My card is made using Inky Doodles stamps, promarkers and ink dusters.
Thanks for looking!

A Wonderful Weekend!

Last weekend it was Lynne's Birthday, which was the day before Stamp Magic, so she came to stay for a few days, so we could go to Doncaster together.
I can now share the card and a small gift I made for her.

 The card was made using ink dusters, Memento inks in dandelion, rosebud and elderberry and Inkylicious stamps, including the old beech tree, that was made from a photo of a tree near Lynne's house.

I made a stampboard pendant, using spring distress inks and grape jelly memento ink. Whilst the fern was still wet I applied clear embossing powder and set with a heat gun. As the challenge at Allsorts this week is embossing I am entering the pendant there.
We met up with some friends whilst we were at Stamp Magic. It was lovely to see you, Jane, Brenda and Lesley! Hope you enjoy playing with your new crafting goodies!
We bought quite a few new goodies too, and I am looking forward to sharing what I make over the next few weeks. It is half term, so I am enjoying a bit of playtime!
Thanks for looking!

Summer Crafting, Inkylicious style

Meg and I took a quick visit to Summer crafting at Doncaster today. If you are going tomorrow, do make a bee-line for Inkylicious on B02, not far from the main entrance. Deby has some fabulous new stamps on show, and one is particularly important to my dear friend, Lynne, as she sees this tree from her garden every day!
Here is the card I have made with it this afternoon.

I used my ink dusters to dust the sky with memento inks in dandelion, rose bud, lilac posies and elderberry. You will see quite a few using this ink combination over the next few weeks! The set of stamps is called old beech tree and includes two buzzards, the tree and two sentiments. I added a bit of cow parsley in the corner and extended the ground a bit with a distress marker.
My second card features more new stamps, a gorgeous set called fern leaves.

For this one I used Adirondack inks in peach Bellini and Mountain Rose, Distress inks in crushed olive and shabby shutters, and Memento inks in lilac posies, olive grove and espresso truffle. This is a card for another wonderful friend who is going overseas for a couple of years. I will miss her very much.
My final card is made using some older Inkylicious stamps called Summer Morn, and the same ink combo as the top card.

The little flower in the corner is made using the Blooming Marvellous set. The background was made by running a stencil (inky doodles) through the cuttlebug with an embossing mat and then sanding it.
Well, I'd better go. I have 5 birthday cards to make this weekend!
If you go to Summer crafting, I hope you have a lovely time, and that it isn't as packed as it was this morning. If I were you I'd also take a bottle of water with you if the weather is as hot as it was today!
Thanks for looking!

A busy weekend

 

I've just made this card for my friend's daughter's birthday. I used Inkylicious daisy fields and  delicate vines stamps and my ink dusters. The inks were cherry pink and lemon yellow Impress inks, Slate Adirondack and on the base card Big and Juicy soothing sunset. I used a fine pen to put the dots round the ink dusted panel, and a few dots of glitter glue. I am entering this in the Allsorts challenge this week where the theme is 'In the Garden'.

I had a lovely trip to Doncaster with Lynne on Sunday where we did some shopping and I also did a bit of demoing on the Inkylicious stall (Thanks for letting me play Deby!) Thanks to all those people who popped by and for all your lovely comments. I really enjoyed it and it helped to curb my spending, lol! As a result I have put a new page on my blog with tips for Ink dusters on it. Currently there is just some info about inks, but I will add to it some more in the summer. 

Meg didn't come with us to Doncaster on Sunday as she was busy...

She graded to brown belt! I am aiming to do the same in September. There are three Sensei that have helped us on our journey, and two of them were there to see Meg grade. Sensei Alex is stood just behind Meg on the first photo and Sensei Xavier is in the second photo. The Giant in the third photo is our Area Sensei - Sensei Karl, who describes himself as a 6 foot 6, 18 stone skinhead -tongue in cheek but just a teeny bit scary! Meg reckons I should have my photo taken with him too, but as I am less than 5 foot tall, he may have to kneel, lol! Meg was highly praised by Sensei Karl, which is a real honour. I am so proud of her!

Well, I'd better go. Thanks for looking!

Grassiness for Father's Day!

Here is my Father's Day Card, and for those of you who are regular visitors he is doing very well! He had his hip replacement in March and is now managing to walk a good mile, sometimes more several times a week. He is looking forward to going back to play table tennis, but he can't for another month. He is 84 and very active! He loves to watch the birds and has always done a lot of walking, so a swallow over the reed beds seemed an ideal choice! All stamps from Inkylicious and the background was created with Ink Dusters, Adirondack, Impress and Distress inks.

 

The next card is for Steve's Dad. At 92 he is a little less active than my dad, but still manages a weekly shopping trip to town and loves to go and sit on a park bench in the local nature reserve/park. There were thousands of dandelions there a few weeks ago, and he too loves watching the wildlife. The stamps are mostly inkylicious, with a few Hobby Art and a Lavinia park bench.

Then I decided to have another play with the Whispering Winds stamp. It is so simple, but so versatile!

First I made a sunrise with Impress and Adirondack inks. I dotted a gold gel pen on the seed heads too.

Next I used the off-cut to make a CAS card inspired by the paper packaging that comes with the stamp - some of Deby's own art work. I used a touch of gold embossing powder on the seed heads this time.
I also made a CAS card using the Poppy Lea stamp.

Finally I have a card to show you that a friend of mine made. She used to make lots of cards until she was very ill in 2008, and her eyesight, hearing, speech and dexterity were affected. Having never used an ink duster before this is what she produced after a little lesson from me!

I am very proud of my student!!! I am hoping she will be encouraged to dust off her stamps and start making cards once more.
Tomorrow sees the wonderful Stamp Magic show at the Doncaster Dome. I will be there and will probably visit the Inkylicious stand for a little while, so if you see me come and say hello! I will be there with Lynne from Creative Lynks who has come down to visit for the weekend. She is my partner in crime when it comes to crafty spending, lol!

More vintage, less pink!

here are some more cards using the Inkylicious vintage stamps. First there is Vintage Voyage. Above was stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with distress inks. The paper was made with the almanac stamp and Tea Dye distress ink on scrunched copy paper.

This one was much simpler, stamped on silk art card and coloured wioth the dusters, mostly, and a bit of distress marker

Next we have the Vintage birds, again stamped on silk art card and coloured with Distress Markers and almanac in the background.

The same stamp, same type of colouring, gelli plate background paper made with the skeleton leaves and the flourishing vine.

And finally the vintage butterfly, first on watercolour paper and coloured with water-soluble oil pastels and an Adirondack colour sprayed  background. 

This last one was coloured with distress markers on silk art card and a starburst stains background on scrunched paper. The iridescence here is not apparent but it did have a jade green shimmer. Please forgive me if I don't get round to visiting you back over the next few days. We are awaiting an HMI visit at work so I'm extra busy at the moment. I will try and get round to popping over to visit you at the weekend. I've got stacks more cards to show you, as I made my father's day cards and several birthday cards last week during half term. thanks for all your lovely comments. If you are going to Doncaster on Sunday I may see you there!

More sneaky peeks

Here are a few more peeks at the things I have made for the next Inkylicious show which will be on create and craft at 11am on Sunday.

 lovely silhouettes...

 gorgeous vintage stamps with masculine and feminine themes...

Hope you are finding these glimpses tempting! Inkylicious will also be at the Doncaster Dome on Sunday 9th June as will I so let me know if you are going.
Thanks for looking!

Normal service is resumed (Hopefully!)

Well, I've finally finished my reports and handed them in, so I've had a night of chilling out! I came home and did a bit of creating in the kitchen (made fish cakes with prawns, chilli flakes, lime zest and spring onions) and then made a card whilst watching Springwatch...can you tell?!

This gorgeous stag was one of the Lavinia stamps that flew into my hand at Doncaster on Saturday, along with about 7 others that I am sure you will see in due course! The ferns and leaves are all Lavinia too.
It was great to look around, but the two most inspirational stands for me were Lavinia and Inkylicious. There were some stunningly beautiful cards on display and I came home with plenty of goodies from both. I am now like a child in a candy shop, not knowing what to try next! Whilst we were there Lynne and I bumped into Lesley (aka Craftymamma) and Judith (Poppy Cottage). It was lovely to see you both.
Whilst I'm here I'd like to say a big thank you to all of  you who visit and comment, even when I'm a less frequent visitor. I really appreciate it. Hopefully I will get to visit you all over the next few days. Thanks for looking!

Lots of goodies!

Now where am I going to put it all? I'm afraid I spent a little more than I intended, but about half of it is being put away for Christmas, so I'm not feeling too guilty. There were some really good exhibitors at Doncaster, my favourites being Crafty Individuals, Lavinia Stamps and Clarity Stamps, from which I bought the stamp below. Barbara Gray did a super demo that involved using a brayer to create a reflected image, so I had to come home and have a go myself. Not identical to hers, but very much in the style. I'm itching to get some of the others out of their packets, but I really don't have time right now. I need to get my things ready for tomorrow and get to bed at a decent hour.

All set for a trip to Doncaster!

Tomorrow Lynne and I are off to Doncaster to the Stamp Magic show. I'm really looking forward to it. I have made a few cards for Crafty Individuals, which I will be handing over tomorrow. They use all crafty individuals stamps. I have been trying to vary techniques and styles with these.

My shopping list isn't huge as I'm trying to be good, but some of the things I buy will be distributed amongst relatives for my christmas pressies - I feel less guilty that way!