One For The Boys

I made this card for one of the adult Grandson's birthday. All the stamps and papers are from a Creative Stamping magazine , I am always happy to find new stamps for masculine makes and I particularly like the sign post stamp that can have different words added. Just had a lovely afternoon walking round the water gardens at Fountains Abbey, it is one on my very favourite places, it wasn't too busy this afternoon but it always has the most peaceful atmosphere of any place I know, good for the soul. We didn't actually get as far as the Abbey this time, next time we will start from the Abbey end. We did manage a visit to the tea rooms though for coffee and scones!
 I'd like to enter these challenges

Watercooler Challenges                  -  Anything goes Masculine
Cardsz4guyz                                   -  Travel or transport
Shopping our Stash                         -  Yo Dude - Masculine

Nature's Beauty

New challenge at Try It On Tuesday and this time it is Nature's Beauty.  For my card I have used a bigger card than I usually do in order to use this bird stamp which I have had for a while and only used once before.  I have no idea what type of bird it is so have used artistic licence to colour it..Lots of layers of foliage ,mostly Inkylicious stamps but the bird and flowers are Hobby Arts Nature Reserve. Do pop over to Try It On Tuesday and see the rest of the design teams art.

Any occasion

I had some fun creating these cards with some free images that came with a craft magazine, I made these last night and lo and behold today my friend arrived with a birthday present for me including two of these fun Katzelkraft stamps so expect to be seeing more of them. I'd like to enter my card into these challenges

Watercoolerchallenges - occasions (get well card)

and 

4Crafty Chicks challenge - raining cats and dogs

these are the other cards I made

(I did rather case this one from the magazine)

and

Diamonds Are Forever

This Penny Black Cat stamp is called Diamonds are forever, I've had it a very long time but every now and again it gets another inking. Just stamped in Versafine and added some flowers round the

the bottom of the card, coloured with Pro Markers and a little bit of inking round the edges.  I'd like to enter this into

Fashionable Stamping Challenge        -  Animals 

and

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything goes

New beginning

Just had a quick play with some of the stamps from this months Creative Stamping, I wasn't going to buy it this month but I wanted to make a new baby card and I have to say it does have some very useful stamps with it, also some lovely papers so even though it has gone up in price yet again it fell into my shopping bag!   I'd like to enter my card into two challenges

cardz4galz  - Button and/or bows
 and
Allsorts - New beginnings

Glamourous Day

I've seen a couple of challenges for Black and White plus one other colour, I do love a Black and white card and I knew immediately which stamp I wanted to  use.  This B Line Design stamp was sent to be in 2007 by a friend, I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was not in a good place. I found out then who my friends were and who were there for me, they are all still around today and even if we don't see each other as much as we used to I have always appreciated them.
Anyhow back to my card, very simple as I don't feel it needs any embellishing. The Glamorous Day stamp is from a free set from Creative Stamping.  I'd like to enter my card into these challenges

Penny Black and more  - Black and white + one

Retro Rubber Challenge - Anything goes with an old stamp (2007)

Shopping our Stash - Black and white + one

Recycling

At Try It On Tuesday today the challenge is to recycle something. I have been gradually sorting out my dies and transferring them into DVD type boxes with magnetic sheets.  The ones I had already done have been sitting in an old cat food box for a few weeks now so thought it was time I smartened it up a bit, here's the original box

 I gave it a coat of white acrylic paint, inside and out (gesso was all dried out in bottom of jar)then two coats of a green pearl paint which I have had for years, its quite transluscent so didn't get a very good cover

Then I covered all of the outside with some patterned tissue paper using gel medium to apply it, finished it off with some tissue type washi tape round the edges. Its still needs a coat of either PVA glue or something but I'm waiting to make sure everything is totally dry before I do that.
Here's the finished project.

Do visit the Try It On Tuesday page to see the rest of the design team projects and join in our challenge.

Bird and blossom

I've had this Crafty Individual stamps from before Christmas, sitting amongst a pile of unused stamps. I had a couple of pieces of inky paper laying around on the table so thought I would try stamping on it, the idea being I could bleach out the bird and flowers to colour them, didn't work as planned, I had used some of my home made ink sprays and whatever I had used wasn't going to shift.I ended up colouring the bird and flowers with distress inks, I rather like how the birdie came out  even though the colours were not what I intended, I used Salty Ocean on the bird and it came out this pretty greeny colour instead,one of those happy accidents to my mind, the flowers on the branch and the ones at the bottom were both coloured with Festive Berries and look totally different.

I'd like to enter my card into 

Make My Monday - Things with wings

One For The Girls

This month at Stamping Sensations the challenge is One For The Girls. Please remember we are a Stamping challenge and the main subject/focal image must be stamped, a small sentiment or tiny butterfly will not suffice.  There is a very generous prize of a 

£25 voucher from Be Creative to be won

For my card I have used Stampin Up Beautiful You set, one of my favourite sets

Follow the star

Time for a new challenge at Sparkles Christmas and this month Helen has chosen the challenge "Feature a creature " For my card I made the background with pan pastels and then stamped the three wise men with Momento ink rich cocoa, the verses are from Stampin Up Star of light set and the merry Christmas  is from a freebie set I've had for a couple of years, I really like the script style on it..

Rudolph Day Card

Even though it feels as if this winter has gone on for ever I can't believe it's almost the end of March. We have had several very spring like days, washing out on the line and a few jobs tidying up in the garden, enjoying the new growth and the bird song BUT all the time wondering what we are going to get over Easter with the gloomy weather forecasts !  I've just made this little card for this months Rudolph Challenge, they do seem to come round very quickly, I have stamped up a few more of these but haven't had time to colour them yet, this is an old Penny Black stamp that I came across while I was looking for something else. I will add some glitter later but wanted to get it scanned on my blog and I didn't want to get glitter on the scanner plate, takes some getting off if it dries on there. I'm also entering my card on The Holly And Ivy Christmas Challenge which is always anything goes as long as its Christmas

Call Of Spring

Time for a new challenge at Try It On Tuesday and this time we have a mood board and the theme of Spring.  For my card I started out with a distress oxide background, stamped the bird and nest and then various bits of foliage and the bird song music, I bleached out the flowers, bird's breast and the eggs and recoloured them with the same colours of inks I had used for the background . The challenge runs for two weeks so hope you will join us.

Just playing

I'm not one for fancy cards but I came across a bag full of kits that I have bought at various times at the Harrogate shows from Whichcraft, none of them have been used,  which just goes to show how I get carried away when I watch demonstrations at the shows.  My Sister In Laws birthday is this week so I thought I'd have a go at a stepper card, didn't use the stamp which goes with the kit but used this pretty little stamp from Crafty Individuals and I was quite happy with how it turned out. Should be busy making more cards for my charity box but feeling a bit short of inspiration right now.

Spring Birdies

I had stamped another of this birdie stamp when I made the last card so decided I might as well colour it and use it. The background is made with Distress oxide inks and then embossed with the flower folder. The bird and flowers were coloured with Promarkers and I then cut it into a circle and added a few extra flowers. I'd like to enter these challenges

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Birds

and

Passion For Pro markers - Spring

Spring is in the air ?

I don't know about where you are but I can tell you that here in North Yorkshire it is most definitely not spring like ! Today it has rained all day and its still so cold, I'm just so fed up of this winter it has gone on for far too long !   My card is a little more cheerful than me with this happy little bird in her nest, a Stampendous stamp I have had a long time. Background is pan pastel and everything else coloured with Pro Markers.  I'd like to enter my card into

Fashionable Stamping Challenge  - Springtime 

and

Crafting With Dragonflies - Birds/Feathers