Flower power for May at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our theme this month is Flower Power and our Sponsors are Crafty Individuals.
Here is my card.

I used the springtime background papers and CI 395 along with Distress inks in Mermaid lagoon, abandoned coral, fossilized amber and cracked pistachio. I ink dusted the background first, then stamped the flowers. After that I used a fine paintbrush and water to remove some of the colour so the daisies appear white, blotting with a paper towel as I went along.  I added a punched flower (tonic) and some fern leaves using a frantic stamper die, oh yes, and some glitter. 

The prize this month is a wonderful £35 voucher to spend with Crafty Individuals. Check out the online store as they sell such an amazing range of stamps, dies, masks and other goodies too. I love it all, and you couldn't meet nicer people than Jean and Malcolm! 

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the wonderful inspiration from my very talented teamies.

As this goes live I am putting the last minute preparations in place for a bit of a party this afternoon. We are entertaining family and friends to celebrate Meg's 18th. Do help yourself to a piece of cake! 

 Lets hope the weather is good enough to venture into the garden, as we might not manage to fit them all in otherwise! 

Thanks for looking! 

Punch away at Stampalot

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for another Stampalot Challenge. The challenge this month is to use Punches. Here is my card.

I used a stamp from Ruth's Tonic studios chrysanthemum set, coloured with coloured pencils and blended with a versamarker pen. I stamped the foliage in versa mark and then brushed wild Honey, Picked raspberry and festive berries Distress inks over the top. the flower border is a Tonic studios punch. I then used 2 different sizes of daisy punch (woodware) to make the little flower, which I mounted on a punched circle and added 4 punched leaves(X-cut).
Please pop over to the challenge blog and take a good look at the gorgeous creations of my teamies. I think you will agree that their creations this month are so inspiring. You will also find details of the prize, if not straight away, then in the next few days, hopefully. Looking forward to seeing your fabulous creations using punches. Thanks for looking.

Saying it with Flowers at Allsorts

The challenge at Allsorts this week is to say it with Flowers. I was asked to make a Diamond Wedding Card for a colleague's parents, so set to work. Unusually for me I didn't stamp at all! I had made a few roses using the tutorial Brenda directed me to,  on Lee's blog and a five petalled retro flower punch. Here is a close up

I coloured them with Victorian velvet and wild honey distress inks, then dotted crystal glaze onto the petals. I also used a tonic punch, Nesties, a Marianne die, a cuttlebug embossing folder, Hero Arts gems and a computer generated sentiment.
Now I have been reminded by the lovely Di, I'm submitting this for her crafty snippets challenge . The silver paper was two separate snippets, the roses were made from some white linen card that had been trimmed from a larger sheet because it was a bit discoloured (It was donated to me by  the lovely Lynne. It was in her loft, and she had forgotten it was there!)
Thanks for looking!

Free and Easy February at Allsorts

Allsorts are having another free choice week this week, so it was the perfect opportunity to have a play with more trees, Adirondack inks and ink dusters. This first card uses the Lavinia trees in black, with a landscape sky created using eggplant, pool, denim and mountain rose. The stitching stamp is from Waltzing Mouse and the buttons were from Sir Stampalot.

My second card is an easel card. It features all Lavinia stamps and inks in Sunshine yellow, peach Bellini, Mountain rose and Slate. I used a tonic punch for the border.

I added a few shadows on the leaves in the foreground, some roots on the tree, a little trunk detail  and a few fronds of grass round the bottom of the fence. I could have done with using a pen that was slightly paler, but never mind. There was a rather spectacular sunset here this evening with orange and bright pink in abundance. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo in time.
Welcome to my new followers Mandy, Victoria, Ellie and Louise. Thanks for following and I hope you enjoy looking around my blog.
Hope everyone has a great evening. Thanks for looking!

crafty snippets

Here is my crafty snippet card for Miss Di this week. I used the remains of papers from a very similar card I made earlier in the week. The border was taken from some pieces that my friend Lynne punched with her new Tonic border punch, when she popped in on Saturday! There were two short strips lying there just begging to be used! The sponging round the edge of the image looks more pink than orange in real life. The main image is from Inkylicious with a Waltzing mouse frame around it.
Thanks for looking!