June at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! I hope that you are well and doing okay in these strange times.  It is June, and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations and the theme this month is

***Make it Colourful!***

My card had a liberal coating of distress oxides in blueprint sketch, peacock feathers, citrus twist and fossilized amber. I then laid a damp mandala stencil over it. Once dry I stamped the gorgeous Leave your fears behind stamp set in black versafine clair.

Our fabulous sponsors and makers of this stamp set this month are the lovely Visible Image who produce amazing stamps and stencils that are unique, original and different. Their samples are often accompanied by colourful backgrounds, hence our theme.

Here is another card using some of their stamps that have sadly been discontinued.

 Please remember we are a stamping challenge and the focal element of your work must reflect the theme (i.e. colourful). Whist we prefer conventional stamping, digital images are allowed. You can check out the challenge rules here.

Do go to the challenge blog to check out the breathtaking creations from my multi-talented teamies. You can also find more details of the fantastic prize!

Thanks for looking!

June at Stamping Sensations

Good morning, It's time for our June challenge at Stamping Sensations and this month we are looking for

 ****Show your true colours****

 As the title suggest we would love to see your hand stamped creations showing us your favourite colours. I am sure you will come up with lots of fabulous and colourful designs. 
My card features my favourite colours of blue, green and purple (oxide inks), along with stamps and a stencil from our wonderful sponsors this month, Visible Image.
Our prize this month is a £25 voucher for the Visible Image online store. There are so many gorgeous stamps and stencils to choose from too!

Please ensure you check our challenge rules before entering, it may save you embarrassment and make sure your entry receives comments from the team and is entered into the prize draw. We run our challenge for fun in our spare time. It is your responsibility if entering to make sure you check our challenge rules.

Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the gorgeous designs from all my talented teamies! They really have made some wonderful cards again this month! 
As this goes live Lynne and I will be making our way to Doncaster Dome for Stamp Magic for a lovely crafty day. My shopping list isn't huge but we will wait and see what we find there! 

Thanks for looking!

Milestones

The challenge at Allsorts this week is Milestones, and they are asking for anything with a number on it. A little while ago I made this card for a friend's son. He loves listening to live music and so I made a background with a Bee Crafty Stencil and distress inks, before stamping the Visible Image drummer with Versafine ink. The Happy 21st Birthday is a stamp set from Little Clare (no longer available, unfortunately) that has interchangable numbers and greetings and is very useful. It is a very simple card but was well received and considered very 'on trend' by Meg and her friends! I am going to try a few more cards like this but using distress oxides and versafine Clair inks for a more grungy look.
Hope your week has gone well and thanks for looking! Your comments are very much appreciated. 

June at Stamping Sensations

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for our June challenge at Stamping Sensations. This month we have a lovely easy theme....

********Anything Goes********

My Card this month features stamps from our sponsor, and the backgrounds are a mixture of brushos behind the sax player, and distress inks on the background through a stencil.

Even though it is an easy theme, we need you to play by the rules:

Please can I remind you we are a stamping challenge so must see a stamped image which reflects the theme as the focal element of your artwork , this means:

Stamping must be the central point of attention and interest

 We are pleased to welcome back Visble Image as our sponsor this month, with a fabulous £25 store voucher for our lucky winner. There are some wonderful new stamps and stencils on their website that are on my shopping list...😉
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations from my talented team mates, may featuring Visible Image stamps!
Thanks for looking, and I look forward to seeing your entries.

June at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the Month and time for a new Challenge over at Stamping Sensations! This month's theme is.....

***Use your favourite stamp*** 

As the title suggests we want to see your projects featuring your favourite stamp. The choice is up to you but we do need to see something stamped.  And please note: if we do not comment on your entry it will be because it does not follow the theme, qualify under our rules, or because we are asked to sign in or provide additional data to comment. We do not want to be rude but we do want to be fair to those who do follow the rules.
As our sponsors this month are Visible Image, I am using my favourite Visible Image stamps leave your fears  and where your dreams take you as well as my favourite Moon from Inkylicious.  The background was created with Memento inks and ink dusters along with the stencil set that comes with the moonscape stamp. The Visible image stamps were stamped in versafine black ink and a little highlighting was added to the crow in white pencil crayon.

 

The prize this month is a generous £35 voucher for the Visible Image online store! Another challenge I wish I could enter myself! 
Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at all the gorgeous creations from my multi talented teamies, and I look forward to visiting your great entries!

Sparkle and Shine

 Good morning! Hope you are having a lovely weekend so far! When I saw the challenge at Allsorts this week I knew I had a card that fit the bill! I made this for my lovely colleague Sarah, who keeps me sane every day! I used Visible image and Inkylicious stamps, along with Distress inks in mermaid lagoon, picked raspberries and seedless preserves. I dusted the inks onto silk art card and used a stencil and a baby wipe to remove some colour in places. When it was dry I stamped the rain drops (Inkylicious) in memento black, adding a bit of sparkle with a gelly roll clear stardust pen. When it was dry I stamped the girl and the sentiment (visible Image) in Versamark and embossed with Be creative black sparkle embossing powder. It really was very sparkly, but unfortunately the camera hasn't really picked it up. It didn't help that there wasn't enough natural light either. Here is a close up where you can see a little bit of twinkle, but not half as much as there was in real life!

 I stamped the base card with Visible image stamps in the same inks and dusted with the same inks. The matting and layering was done with snippets so I am nipping off to Miss Di's snippet playground with this too.
We have just returned from a few days away in mid Wales. The rain certainly didn't dull Nature's sparkle. Here is the view from our cottage... Sheep rather than gold at the end of that rainbow!

 We spent a day at Lake Vyrnwy and saw more rainbows...

 There is some beautiful scenery around the lake and there are several waymarked RSPB walks giving stunning views of the lake.

 Here is a close-up of the tower on the lake. It may house various instruments to do with the reservoir's water, but whoever designed it make it look like something from a fairytale!

 The waterfall looked so beautiful surrounded by the Autumn colours and the sun provided beautiful spotlights as we walked.

Thanks for looking!

February Mid month inspiration

In our mid month posts at Stamping Sensations, we are going to showcase for you a technique that we have tried out. I saw some wonderful samples from Visible Image, our sponsors this month, using shaving foam marbling technique and I knew I had to have a go. I have marbled with shaving foam before using a variety of inks and dyes, including re-inkers and food colouring, but not half as effectively as the samples I saw. They had used Dylusions sprayed onto the foam. The colours were amazing!

So, if you want to have a go yourself, you need shaving foam, a tray, a ruler and some inks, sprays or dies.

• First spray the foam into a tray and smooth over the surface so it is larger than your paper.

• Next spray the foam with your inks. Use a cocktail stick or paintbrush handle to mix up the colours a bit. 
• After that, lay your paper or card onto the shaving foam, pressing down so colour touches all of the paper surface
• Lift the paper off and use the ruler to scrape off the shaving foam
• Leave to dry

Here are a few samples using a mixture of Visible Image and Inkylicious stamps

I hope that has inspired you to have a go yourself! Thanks for looking!

February at Stamping Sensations

Good Morning! It is the first Sunday of the month, so time for our February challenge at Stamping Sensations, where this month we have a nice and simple theme of........

********Anything Goes********

For my card I created a shaving foam marbled background using Dylusions, and stamped and embossed the Jazz it up saxophonist and the sentiment from the Play it loud set. These stamps are all available from Visible Image (see the link below). The adhesive Music border is from Be Creative.  The Usual rules apply, you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges, use any make of stamp......but can I please remind you we are a stamping challenge and stamping must be the focal/predominant element of your work. Conventional rubber/acrylic stamps and digital images are acceptable, but pre-coloured digital images and toppers are not. It so upsets us to see names come out in the draw who are not eligible for the prize because they have not read the rules. 
Now onto the sponsor and prize this month

Visible Image Visible Image is a clear stamp designer and manufacturer based in South Wales, UK. Their stamps are hand poured and hand cut using the finest photopolymer available. Each stamp is deeply etched, 4mm thick, to ensure a crisp clear perfectly stamped image. They are offering one lucky winner a fabulous £35 store voucher. How great is that?
Do pop over to the Challenge blog and take a look at the inspiration from my multi-talented teamies, and I look forward to visiting your fabulous entries!

Inky playtime

A few weeks ago I had a play with dylusions and shaving foam to make some backgrounds. I had asked about some of the wonderful samples on the Visible Image stall at Doncaster Stamp Magic, and Helen and Mark told me that this was the technique used. I couldn't wait to try it! Thank you for the inspiration, Theresa Morgan! You can check out her blog here. Both of my pieces were done using the shaving foam and dylusions onto copier card. I stamped the wonderful Visible image stamps in memento luxe ink and embossed with clear  powder. This technique bleached very easily, and I added a little pastel blue promarker to shape the eye. I also added a little white gel pen to help the sentiment stand out from the background. I gave this card to Meg.
I was a little more pleased with the second attempt, as I managed to make the marbling streak free. I asked a few people what they thought I should do with it, and the majority said 'Frame it!', so I did. Whilst shopping for Meg at Ikea yesterday, two square frames 'fell' into the trolley!

Not sure where to put it now!
Thanks for looking, and I hope to be round to visit you all soon.

Playing with goodies from Doncaster

 When I was at Doncaster last week I bought several stamps from Visible Image. I needed a card for a colleague who plays the drums, so I pressed this one into use straight away, along with the sentiment from Inkylicious. I created the background by using a technique that I learned from Jean on the BJ Crafts stall.
I used a mixture of silkies and stencil paints applied with cut and dry and thinned a little with Magic-Blend blending solution (all from Imagination crafts). I then put the bubblicious stencil (Inkylicious)over the top and secured with stencil tape. I used a baby wipe to remove some of the silkies and stencil paint before rubbing over a little sparkle medium with the cut and dry. This technique requires good smooth card stock that will stand being rubbed with a baby wipe (300+gsm) and the right sort of baby wipes (Huggies don't work - economy Sainsburys ones do). Finally I stamped and heat embossed the Drummer (Visible Image) in black

Here is a closer view from an angle to show the sparkle bubbles a bit more clearly. It is definitely a technique I will try again. I am looking forward to having to time to try some other techniques I saw, like dylusions on shaving foam, but I have 28 more reports to write first!
Thanks for looking!

A baby card or three

I needed a baby card for a colleague a little while ago, and I happened across these stamps as I was wondering what to do. They are Visible image stamps that I treated myself to a couple of years ago and I hadn't got round to inking them up. Now I don't normally do pink, but the recipient does, so I used Spun Sugar Distress in and memento rosebud for the sentiment. The Die is timeless rectangles. I dusted middle of the die and the hands panel with Spun sugar and added faux stitching round the base card with a distress marker.
I then went on to make a blue and a yellow version...

 

using Tumbled Glass and Salty ocean Distress ink...

 using Memento dandelion and peanut brittle inks. In real life this one looks much more subtle! I was so busy I forgot to take photos of these until after dark today.
I will leave you with a few photos from the garden today...

 A Californian poppy,

 A blackbird,

A cream spot ladybird,

 A male house sparrow

 and a wood mouse at the 'all you can eat bird food buffet' (sorry he is a bit out of focus)!
Thanks for looking!

Christmas and Birthday Scenes

Here is the Christmas card I sent to Brenda this year. I know she has received it so I can post it now! The base card was stamped with a Visible Image background stamp, Gaudette. The main panel was stamped on glossy card stock using a combination of memento Grape Jelly ink and Adirondack Pool. the trees are Inkylicious Black Forest and the stag is from Stampscapes. I used my mountains and valleys mask and ink dusters to create the snowy drifts and I pinched together the ink duster bristles to make the tree shadows. I finished it with ribbon and a sentiment from craftwork cards. Sorry about the awful photo. I don't see the house in daylight until the weekends at the moment.

My second card is for a friend for her birthday. For this I dusted the middle background in impress lemon yellow ink then added Memento Bahama Blue and Danube Blue each side of the yellow. I stamped the inkylicious grasses and seed heads (Build a meadow) in Danube blue and added a few silver gel pen highlights and stickles. I do like these colours, although again the photo doesn't do it justice!
Thanks for looking!

A bit of Free and Easy Stamping

Good Morning and welcome. it is the first day of the month and the beginning of a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our theme for this month is Free and Easy, so you can chose what ever you like for your project this month.

I have chosen to make a one layer Christmas card in non-traditional colours, using one of Visible Image's lovely stamps, who are sponsoring us this month. This is one of the Tree Trio set. the borders are Debbie Moore stamps and the sentiment and star are from Woodware.   I used Adirondack inks with my ink dusters to make the scene, and stamped the star in versamark before brushing with mica powder.

I took this second photo in artificial light to show the sheen of the mica powder.
My second card is another one layer card for a lovely lady who is a reading volunteer at our school. I was inspired by the autumn colours we saw last weekend, in fact I am altogether still in Autumn mode and suffering from Christmas denial, lol!

 For this I used Masking tape, Kaleidacolor Autumn leaves ink, ink dusters and the inkylicious skeleton leaf set.
Now onto the prize. Feast your eyes on these gorgeous stamps! A wonderful and very generous prize! 
 
Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the wonderful inspiration from our amazing DT.
I hope you are all better prepared than me for the next few weeks. I can't believe there are only 25 days to go! Dad goes for his second hip replacement on Wednesday, so I am going to be toing and froing for the next few weeks. Hoping they find an alternative to surgical stockings this time! I will leave you with a couple of photos from the drive home from dad's yesterday.

It was a quite spectacular sunset. Can you name those ink colours, Lynne and Brenda?! Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

More trees!

Well, it is Mid Month at Stamping Sensations so here are a few more trees to inspire you.

This first one was made using the largest of the trees from Visible Image's tree trio and the Gaudette background stamp. The tree is embossed with a mixture of metallic green and gunmetal embossing powders. The layers of card are all coloured and stamped with Distress inks. The music on the base card and the pattern on the green card are both Inkylicious stamps.

Next up is another card made with the Christmas tree Flourish stamp from Inkylicious. The sentiment comes with the set too. Here I used Pool Adirondack ink, creating the border around the edge with the edges of the christmas tree. Whilst the ink was still damp I added a little bit of wow brass sparkle embossing powder. A few gems and pearls finished it off

Tree-mendous December at Stamping Sensations

It is the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Stamping Sensations. Our theme this month is Tree-mendous, and yes, I did pester to have this theme!

 I thought it would be a good one for December, as it could be a Christmas card, or it might be a card for virtually any other occasion! I created a scene using a tree stamp from our sponsor this month, Visible Image and although I put Christmas Greetings on it, I think it  would be suitable for most occasions. I used my ink dusters and my current favourite set of Adirondack inks (Peach Bellini, Mountain Rose, Eggplant and Denim) I also brushed  a few blobs of glitter glue over the water.
I also made another Christmas card, this time featuring a rather gorgeous tree from  Inkylicious.

I used distress inks in Bundled sage and Tea Dye for the background, and stamped the tree in Vintage photo. I added a mixture of gems, pearls and blobs of copper tulip paint. The sentiment is also from Inkylicious.
Of course, if you are super organised and have finished your Christmas cards, then you could do a tree card suitable for a birthday or other occasion. When you have just pop it on the challenge blog and we will pop over and visit you. Check out the makes from my DT buddies, and the huge bundle of gorgeous stamps from our Sponsor, Visible Image, also on the challenge blog! Thanks for looking!