A first page in my black journal

Hi There! I thought it was time I did a couple of pages in my Dylusions black journal. I hadn't started it yet, despite having it for several months! 

I began by brayering 5 colours of Dylusions shimmer paint down my pages.

I added distress texture paste at opposite corners through the fernando big ones inkable.

Next I stamped some of the smaller Doodle art Mandala stamps in versafine clair ink in the spaces. 

I also stamped a range of the mandalas from both sets onto scraps of white card. 

I coloured these using highlighter pens (These are Zebra Mildliners and have a fine tipped end that is good to colour with) and cut them out.

I also stamped and cut out the top half of the sentiment from ticker tape 1.

I stuck these onto the page using matte medium. 

Here is the finished page at two different angles so you can see the shimmer. I was tempted to add more stamping in the background, but didn't want to cover up the shimmer paint. 

I used:

Dylusions mini black journal

Shimmer paint in Fresh Lime, Polished Jade, London Blue, Crushed Grape and Bubblegum Pink. 

Ranger Mini brayer

Distress Matte Texture paste

Big ones inkable - Fernando

Doodle art mandalas 1 and 2 (available as a bundle and seperately) 

Ticker Tape 1 stamp set

highlighter pens

Versafine Clair ink

White card scraps

Matte Medium

There is a brand new challenge over in the Bee Crafty Stamps facebook group where you can win £20 worth of stamps. Hope you can come and join in the fun! 

Thanks for looking! 

Silhouettes at Craft-a-Scene

The theme this month at Craft a Scene is Silhouettes. Now I was thrilled that they liked my card so much last month, and wasn't at all sure what to do this month, but after a fair bit of mulling, opted for an interpretation of one of the photos taken last week. Here is the card...

and here is the photo...

Well, it had to have a moon/sun on it and a bird too! I brayered the background with Adirondacks in Peach bellini, Sunshine yellow, Sunset orange and Pitch Black. The tree is an Andy Skinner stamp by Personal Impressions and all other stamps are from Inkylicious. I added a few lines and spots of white gel pen to highlight the twigs in the corner. The black panel was embossed and then rubbed over with rub and buff.
The die-cut leaves are a Marianne die and the roses were hand cut and rolled from gold paper. Here is a close up so you can see them better.

I think this is going to be Meg's Birthday card, as she took the photo and she also loves her birds of prey.
Before I go I want to mention the wonderful lady from whom I learned how to use a brayer. She doesn't know me from Adam, but I have spent many a happy hour looking at her work and following her tutorials. I first discovered her work back in 2008 and have learned so much from her. If you have never visited Michelle Zindorf's blog 'Freedom in Creating' make sure you pay her a visit. She is truly inspirational, and does it all for love, giving freely of her talent. She isn't the only one either. There are many other amazingly talented and inspirational crafters out there too, and I am so delighted to have found this great challenge, along with the fabulous DT for even more inspiration.  Isn't the internet an amazing thing? Well, thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day.

Less is More plus a bit of Brayer fun

 It has been a few weeks since I managed to enter Less is More, but as I am enjoying a few days of crafty play, I thought I'd better turn my thoughts to this week's Challenge where the theme is one word. I have looked through lots of stamps and finally came up with this.

A very simple watercoloured house. The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque and haven't been inked nearly enough!
 There are some fabulous CAS cards on show from Chrissie and Mandi, and I am looking forward to spending a little time visiting my fellow LIMettes.

My brother has a birthday in early January, and as a keen bird watcher I thought I would use my pheasant stamp and silver birches from Clarity stamps. I stamped and masked before brayering the sky and stamping the Inkylicious trees in the background. I then used my ink dusters to put a few shadows in the snow and coloured the pheasant with promarkers. The base card is stamped with the clarity small feather stamp in very pale blue. I often make him cards that would double as a Christmas card... well, serves him right for having a January birthday!

Next up is my first play with my Christmas stamps. The Stampscape set is called The light and the sea. The only stamp that isn't from that set is the foliage on the right, which is from the Andy Skinner Winters tale set. It isn't perfect brayering, and there are a few stamps hiding fingerprints (note to self: new handcream and shiny card are not a good combination!) but never mind. I was please with the colour combo. Bet you Brenda will be able to tell you the colours of Adirondack I used in both!
A very happy New year to you all and thanks so much for your lovely comments this year. I really appreciate them. Thanks too, to all of my followers for your continued support.

I will make a mid week card!

I have been doing little bits of this card since Tuesday and I was determined to finish it today.

It is an easel Christmas card. I brayered a background with Eggplant and Peach Bellini Adirondack inks before stamping in Memento Paris dusk. The lovely cottage is Art impressions (T-1221), The fence is from a set by Lindsay Mason called 'Build a snowy scene' and the Fir trees are from Inkylicious. I added a few highlights and shadows with promarkers, white gel pen and glitter.
Here is a close up of the scene...

and here is the poinsettia 

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Allsorts - Christmas easel cards
Ladybugs crafts ink challenge - Non-traditional Christmas colours

Thanks for looking! Don't forget there is still time to pop a comment on my candy post here

Brayer or dusters?

I know there are lots of  people who prefer either dusters or brayers, but I have to say I love both and have no particular preference. I love the way I can create shafts of light in woodland using a brayer, like these two examples a la Barbara Gray, but inspired by Crafty Linby's cards here.

For the first I used the Clarity silver birch and 2 sizes of Birch leaves with big and juicy waterfall. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

For the second, I used the same stamps as above, but also added two Lavinia ferns. The ink was Adirondack Butterscotch, Lettuce, Meadow and Bottle. Both examples were done on Silk Art card.

However, I also love the versatility of Ink Dusters with which I find I can create softer landscapes and add patches of colour and shading. I've had another play with my ink dusters and 'flight of dreams' stamps from Inkylicious, using my Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad.

I am entering this card into this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is 'You've been Framed'.  

I've also had another go at a beach scene, this time trying for a more sunset/ evening feel - I don't know how successfully though!

 I used a mixture of Big and Juicy soothing sunset, Memento desert sand and rich cocoa, and a touch or two of walnut stain and dusty concord distress inks. I used the Seascape memories and essential grasses stamps (Inkylicious). I used white gel pen to add a few little highlights where the sun is catching the water. The lovely little shells on the base card are also from the seascape memories set, stamped in chalk ink and brilliance inks. I'm entering this card into the latest challenge at Stamping for the Weekend where the theme is holidays.

So, there is definitely room in my crafting world for both brayers and dusters. Thanks for looking!

A lovely day

Yesterday Meg and I went to another Blog Girl day at Sir Stampalot. We met some lovely new people like Nikki, Lynn, and Tracy and really got to grips with our brayers, led of course by the lovely Brenda. Here are a few of my cards.

It is always lovely to meet up and enjoy a bit of social crafting whilst developing those skills, and trying new things. Thanks for a fabulous day!

In Fantasy land at Sir Stampalot

Good morning friends! Today is the first day of May and that means it's time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our theme this month is"Magical Worlds" and it can be as simple as a single butterfly or full of fairies, unicorns and wizards, it really is up to you.
I went for fairies this time and here it is!

It is a double easel card with squares brayered with Hydrangea big and juicy, and stamped with two Lavinia fairies and Hobby Art (Anna's collection - Just for you) stamps. these and the sentiment are mounted on nesties Fleur de Lis squares. the border along the bottom edge was made with an x-cut corner punch. Here are some close ups of the brayered panels.

You can see I added a little bit of glitter to the flowers.
What is the prize I hear you ask...

More lovely goodies from Sir Stampalot!
Hope you are able to join us this month with your magical creation. Don't forget to pop over to the Stampalot challenge blog and take a look at the fantastic work my talented teamies have created.  I look forward to visiting you. Thanks for popping by and for your lovely comments.

A couple of thank you cards

The theme at Less is More this week is Thank you or Congratulations. I opted for a couple of thank you cards, but I'm not thrilled with either. The first features some Hobby Art stamps with an Inkylicious tree and has been watercoloured with Distress inks. This base card wasn't a great surface to watercolour on, so the shading wasn't how I'd wanted it.

The second card was initially just going to be the inchie stamps (Inkadinkado) stamped directly onto the base card, but I tried and decided it needed some colour. I stamped again onto some glossy cardstock brayered with Big and Juicy spice, then cut out and stuck on. Using Macro on my camera has made it look less straight than it actually is!

The sentiment on this one is from Waltzing Mouse. I might try it again with some other colours. Any suggestions? Thanks for looking!

A couple of Birthdays

Well, here is Steve's Birthday card. I got the Brayer out, but had 4 attempts before I managed this one! I managed to smudge a couple, and then wasn't happy with the ducks flying over. I used Adirondack inks in Butterscotch, Terracotta, Purple twilight and Eggplant. The moon was coloured with scattered straw distress ink. The stamps are from stampscapes (bulrushes), Hero arts (Silhouette grass) and Lavinia (Ducks). The sentiment is from a clear set by personal impressions. The theme for Stamptacular Sunday this week is 'Whateva!' so I'm entering it in their challenge.
My next card was for a lovely blogging buddy who celebrated her birthday last week.

The papers are from my Artylicious Essence of nature cd, The ribbon was a gift from Lesley aka Crafty Mamma and the Sweet pea fairy Stamp was from the lovely Brenda. I coloured the stamp with promarkers and added quite a bit of glitter with my quicky glue pen. Here is a shot from a different angle so you can see the glitter a bit better.

All that glitter should meet the requirements of the sweet pea stampers challenge blog where the theme is glitz and glamour, so I'm entering this one there too.

Snow day 2 - well, Ice day really

Another day of school not being open, as the snow from yesterday had formed sheet ice. Several staff had fallen over, so it definitely wasn't safe for the children. So, what to do with my time? Finally I got inspiration and time at the same time! I finished Steve's Dad's Birthday card:

I used papers from my funky hand dreams come true cd, an image from the internet recoloured to match the papers and some scrabble letter stamps (Stamporium).

Next I made another Kokopelli card for a friend's birthday. I used stamp and bond and gilding flakes - this time I used the variegated red flakes (Crafty Notions).

Then I made a birthday card for a workmate who loves Tigers. This used a digi drawn by my talented friend Teri and is available from her blog shop Delicious Doodles. The base card was stamped in Wild honey Distress inks with the Hero arts leaf swirl.

My final two cards feature a Hero Stamp called Starry Night. I brayered the ink onto the stamp to get even coverage, using big and juicy waterfall and hydrangea  The base card was cuttlebugged and then punched down the edge. The edge of the inside of the card was then sponged to match the stamped image.
I also braved taking the car out to see if my route out of Nottingham to the A52 is clear of snow. It was, so Yes, I'm going to try to get to Sir Stampalot's Demo day at Peterborough tomorrow! Thanks for looking!

Halloween!

Good Morning! It's Tuesday and here is my DT offering for Tuesday Taggers where the theme is Halloween with some deep purple. there is also a lovely prize on offer from the Craft Barn.

Last year I picked up a set of Inkadinkado clear stamps principally for the spider and spider's web in the set (I'm unusual in that I love spiders). The witch is another from the same set. The trees are a Lavinia stamp and the background was brayered with B&J Hydrangea.
If you pop over to Tuesday Taggers you will see some amazing inspiration by my amazingly talented teamies.
Thanks for stopping by and I do hope you can join in this week.

And breathe...

Good evening, and may I say how good it is to be back in blog land. Ofsted is over, my sleep pattern is getting back to normal and it's half term (phew!)! I managed a little while at my craft table today working on DT cards, but then I thought I would show you this card I made for a friend at work a couple of weeks ago, as I haven't blogged it yet. The wheat (Hero Arts) and Grasses (Elusive images)  were stamped onto glossy card that had been brayered using B&J soothing sunset.
Very simple, but she loved it.
Thanks for all of your lovely comments regarding the inspection. What can I say? - it went okay. It could've been better. They could've been a little more pleasant. I really don't know why anyone would want to be an Ofsted inspector, and am fed up with them changing the goal posts so often.  Now I want to forget about it and enjoy a week off. Hope you all have a very relaxing weekend and the weather cheers up very soon!

Autumn Breezes at Sir Stampalot

Good Morning and welcome to October! This month at Sir Stampalot we have a theme of  Autumn breezes with buttons and a bow. Prepare yourself for lots of photos as I wanted to show you all the different parts of my criss-cross card!

Here it is sat on my window ledge. I started off with some pieces of glossy card stock and stamped some leaves (Hero Arts Clear design: scattered leaves) using Big and Juicy Spice. I then inked up my brayer, took a bit of the colour off and brayered diagonally across each panel.

The small leaf stamps on the central panel are from the same set and the corrugated card band around the card was coloured with creative colour sprays(Crafty Notions). The little leaves were cut with a newish die from Joy crafts using pearlescent paper.

On the reverse side of the central panel I cut an oval from some Artylicious Essence of Nature paper and placed more leaves around it, giving an area for a sentiment. The orange buttons were from very old stash (My Mum's button box, inherited about ten years ago, but the buttons are probably circa 1960!)

So there you go. Hope you like it. I certainly had fun with my Brayer! You can probably see I got a bit carried away! Now, drum roll please, as I'm sure you will want to see the amazing stash you can win this time round...

Isn't it wonderful? So, if you would like to be in with a chance of winning this lovely stash, take a look at the fabulous inspiration from my fabulous teamies over on the Sir Stampalot challenge blog and get creating!

Lovely trees

When I saw Glenda's new stamp sheet from Elusive Images I couldn't resist. I'm sure I've said before that I'm addicted to trees and the new essence of nature sheet has plenty! This is the first stamp I cut out and used. I brayered a background with Big and Juicy spice, masking the moon. I removed the mask and sponged Adirondack butterscotch lightly across the moon. matted on to black paper I mounted it on to a plain white card stamped with the sentiment (Personal impressions).

This is the blue version, brayered with big and juicy waterfall. They are very very simple, but I think in this case less is more. I've spent today doing lots of stuff for work and jobs at home, so hopefully I should manage some play time tomorrow. Thanks for looking and I hope you are having a great weekend!

Books galore at Tuesday Taggers

When our lovely Teamie Michelle chose the theme of Books at Tuesday Taggers I knew exactly what I was going to do. For several years I've had the Garden Fantasy sheet of Non Sequitur stamps, and there is a girl on it that always reminds me of the ghost of Cathy from Wuthering Heights. I got out my stamps, my brayer, a big and juicy pad (Hydrangea) et Voila!

The tree stamp is one I picked up from Encaustic art plus at Elsecar heritage centre. With clear embossing the outline of the girl the brayered ink wouldn't go right to the edge, but I think it makes her look quite ghostly. I finished it off with a quote.
Thanks for looking and I do hope you can pop over to Tuesday Taggers and join in the fun. Whilst you are there check out the amazing examples for our fabby DT!

Bring out the bling for Sir Stampalot!

Good Morning! It's the 1st August and time for the next Sir Stampalot Challenge where the theme is 'Bring out your Bling'. I've been playing with my Score-pal again, and made a diamond top card. I used Big and juicy waterfall ink brayered over a swirl (Art Impressions -T2773) stamped in versamark for the background. The Dragonfly is an Inkadinkado clear stamp from the 'Mindscapes' set. I added kaleidoscope embossing powder, stickles and gems. Everything used on this card is available from Sir Stampalot. Here's a close up with some more detail.

So, I guess you want to know what the prize is? Okay then. Feast your eyes on this little lot!

Papers, card, pens, stamps, punches and lots more- a massive pile of stash! So now you need to get thinking about bling. Take a look at my lovely teamies projects on the Stampalot challenge blog for some real inspiration. Thanks for visiting and I hope you join us this month!