September Challenge at Stampalot

Good Morning! It's the first Sunday of September and time for a new challenge at Stampalot. Here is my card:

 This month we want you to take inspiration from this picture, and also to include some lace.

I used the colours and the roses, and a cameo stamp seemed to fit with the design. 

I created the background by stamping the flower (Hero Arts) with Versamark and then sponging distress inks in Victorian Velvet, Dried Marigold and Bundled Sage. I made 3 roses using my retro flower punch and coloured those with Victorian Velvet, Dried Marigold and Antique Linen. 

The central panel was stamped (Waltzing Mouse) and embossed in green pearl embossing powder, and I added a few flat backed pearls as well. The cameo(waltzing mouse) was stamped in Versamagic tea leaves and attached with pinflair glue gel.

The lace was originally white but I added a bit of diluted tea dye distress stain and it began to look a bit more antique.
Now I hear you ask, what is the prize? Feast your eyes on this!

Such a lot of goodies!
Pop over to the challenge blog to see the fabulous inspiration from my lovely teamies and then lets see your fantastic creations. Sorry, I went a bit mad there with the photos didn't I?!
I'm entering my card into the Heck of a Challenge first challenge where the theme is Anything Goes.
Thanks for looking!

A mid-month Stampalot reminder

Hi folks!
Lynne and I are the featured DT members this month at Stampalot Challenge. If you want to read more about us then pop over to the Stampalot Challenge blog. We have both made some more cards for the Take flight theme. Here is mine:

As usual I used a range of Distress and Adirondack inks and my ink dusters to create the background. The butterflies were coloured in with promarkers before triple embossing and decoupaging onto the background.  Stamps by Inkylicious on this one.
I also made a tag

For this one I used Hero Arts stamps and some fabulous two tone glitter that looks green one way and bronze the other.

 This was made in much the same way as the card, but I didn't triple emboss the butterflies this time.

Lynne and I have spent many happy hours finding craft shops to visit. We started off locally and then would look for places a bit further afield  -  That's how we met Brenda at Sir Stampalot.

 Thanks for looking and I hope you have the chance to join in with this months theme. Remember you can enter up to 6 challenges including ours and you can enter more than once as long as they are different projects eg a card and a gift box.

Take Flight with Sir Stampalot

It's the first Sunday in the month and time for a new Challenge at Stampalot. This Month our theme is

    Take Flight

In other words we want you to show us any creations that feature things that fly, be it butterflies, birds or dragonflies, or even planes and helicopters!
Here is my creation.

This was my Niece's 30th Birthday card. The stamps are from Indigo Blu, stamped in Memento Black and coloured with promarkers. The die cut leaves around the edge are a Joy Crafts die. The tiny Dragonfly brads were from Lakeland in the days when they sold craft stuff for a while, several moons ago!
The prize for this month looks like this:

- Lots of lovely goodies with a flying theme! I'm really looking forward to visiting everyone's entries this month, so go and get some more inspiration from my amazing teamies on the DT, over on the challenge blog. I do hope you will join in this month.

I didn't get round to visiting as many people as I intended last night as I got all distracted by the Olympics! Wow! Another major haul of medals - Well done, team GB! I'd also like to congratulate everyone who was in the athletics stadium on their superb rendition of the national anthem when Jessica Ennis was awarded her medal. You sang brilliantly!

Thanks for looking!

What's my Crafty Passion?

Good Morning and welcome to the first Sunday in the month, in other words, time for another Stampalot Challenge. For July we are asking 'What's your Crafty Passion?' Well, where do I start?!

Distress inks, tree stamps, Hero Arts leaf swirl and old French writing to name but a few. Here is a close up of that old French writing that I stamped in versamark and brushed with mica powders...

The tree(Indigo Blu) was stamped with flitterglu and then covered with gilding flakes.

Another crafty passion I have is floral stamps, so I made a second card featuring a Penny Black floral stamp called Dreamy, Hero Arts friend definition, and the gorgeous new summer set of distress inks. I used my ink dusters over the embossed image to blend the three inks together before stamping the friend definition with shaded lilac DI from the spring set. The prize this month is this rather lovely set of goodies.

 Pop over to the Challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous creations of our lovely Design team, and then create something to show us your crafty passion.

Thanks for looking!

Bingo at Sir Stampalot

Good morning!
It is the first Sunday of the month, so it is time for another Stampalot challenge. We are playing a bit of Bingo this month and here is your Bingo card.

I chose the central column and here is my creation featuring green, polka dots and  lace.

The papers were from Pink Petticoat, and went beautifully with bundled sage distress ink, which I used to stamp the Hero arts leaf swirl. The doily die is by Cheery Lynn, and I placed a die cut circle in the centre that had been run through the cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder, and edged with gold tulip paint. The Hero Arts butterfly was stamped in black memento and coloured with promarkers. I added a bit of stickles to the wings, too. 

The prize this month is this lovely lot of goodies.

Please pop over to the challenge blog and look at the wonderful creations from the DT for more inspiration. Hope you can join us this month. Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Sir Stampalot!

Good Morning ,crafters! Let me tell you all about a rather special month at Stampalot Challenge. It might be April Fools day,  the surprises are all good ones and you are going to be spoilt rotten this month. There are a total of fourteen prizes to be won because it's our Second Birthday, so the theme this month is:

Happy Birthday

You can make anything you want as long as it's to celebrate a Birthday and this is the prize from Sir Stampalot for this months challenge winner:

But it does not stop there, as we are having a Blog Hop and what great prizes Sir Stampalot are offering in addition the the challenge prize above, one at each of the DT's blogs and another for the winner of the correct blog hop answer. I know lots of you are familiar with what you need to do, but as we are seeing so many new crafters joining our challenge, I had better briefly explain:

 Visit eAch of the DT's blogs listed below And collect the letter - mine should be fAirly obvious!

LeAve eAch one A comment to be sure you Are in the drAw for the prizes on eAch of the DT's blogs

Assemble those letters into two words - both hAve four letters and send your Answers to brenda@ibas.co.uk by noon GMT on 30th April

All correct answers will go into the draw for this super prize of HERO ARTS goodies

Here's the list of names you need to follow, each one will tell you where you should have arrived from and where you need to go next, and don't forget you need to leave a comment at each blog, otherwise you won't be in the draw for all those prizes.

Sally - That's me!
Pinky

Clare

Brenda
Ruth

Tracy
Lynne

Francesca

To get here you should have come from the challenge blog, and your next port of call will be Pinky.

This is the prize you can win on my blog:

And there are yet more prizes, because as this is a special month for us, this month Top 3 challenge entrants will also receive a little prize rather like this which Brenda has put together...........

Now there was something else I had to remember...

Oh yes, my card!

The background paper is from Pink Petticoat, and the Honeysuckle stamp is from Lavinia, coloured with promarkers. The frame is a Waltzing Mouse stamp cut out with a Nestie and the pink border is a tonic studios punch. The sentiment is also a Waltzing Mouse stamp.

Anyway, I don't want you snoozing off so I'd better shut up. Don't forget to go and have a look at the DT's gorgeous samples on the Challenge Blog, where you will also find all the details of the challenge and blog hop, and I look forward to visiting you soon.

Look out for the Blog hop

Here is a quick reminder about Sir Stampalot's Birthday bash next month which kicks off on April 1st. We have so much fun lined up and some totally awesome prizes.

 It would be really great if you would help us spread the word and add it to your sidebars. Pop it in your diary!

A Krafty Affair at Sir Stampalot

Good morning, and a Happy Mother's day to you. Hope you are being pampered! Here is my second card for the Stampalot Challenge this month made with a kit from Sir Stampalot. The kit was selected by Janice and is available from the Sir Stampalot store. Here is a taste of what we received, and the papers are double sided, so heaps of designs to choose from. 

My main image is Penny Black's 'Candid', stamped on to watercolour card and painted with Distress inks in shabby shutters and Fired Brick.

 I need to share a little bit of excitement coming your way . The first of April will be our second Birthday.  How quickly that time has gone and so many members of the DT remain the same as on day one, so I feel very honoured to be part of such a fab team.................thank you everyone, past and present, for being the best of crafting buddies..............and thanks Brenda for your inspirational leadership. Be sure to keep a look out for that post on 1st April.

Thanks for popping by!

Take inspiration from the Stampalot Challenge

Good Morning! I hope you are all feeling good this Sunday morning. A few weeks ago Brenda sent all the Stampalot DT two kits and asked them to all come up with something using each. The kits for each challenge were pretty much identical, the DPs' and ribbons varied a little but are all from the same family and it was quite an eye opener to see how they all turned out. I never thought we could all produce something so different using the same stash................ and at this stage I can hear you all asking 'but what's this months challenge', well it's simple really:

********Take inspiration********

.............from any of the DT's pieces of work or the kit itself. You can make anything you like and choose where you take your inspiration from........... perhaps some of the kit colours, pearls and swirls, or maybe one of the DT card designs and go with your own colours. All we ask is that you remember to tell us in your post which it is and of course follow the rules.
For my card I used a set of Hero Arts Clear stamps called layered flowers which I stamped and embossed in versafine vintage sepia and then painted with distress inks in Wild honey, mustard seed and faded jeans. I added glitter to the centre and pearls to the stamen. The punch is Martha Stewart doily lace and the die is a Nellie's multiframe called flower. It goes so well with the Martha Stewart punch.
My DT buddies have created some gorgeous inspirational cards, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check out their cards too.  You will see card number two in a couple of weeks.
Whoops! nearly forgot the prize!

It is being hand selected by Janice at this very moment and is sure to be fabulous!
Thanks for looking!

In the Garden with Sir Stampalot

Good morning! Hope this Sunday morning you are snuggled up warm and safe indoors! I think most of us got a fair amount of snow yesterday, and for once the forecasters got it right.  At Sir Stampalot, as it is the first Sunday of the month, it is time for a new challenge. To get you all thinking of Spring and Summer (and better weather!) we have chosen the theme  

In the Garden. 

Here is my offering.

 I made a tunnel card using mainly Art Impressions clear set for projects 1-3. This set is in the sale at stampalot at the moment so it is a bargain! I also used a few leaves from Lavinia, a butterfly from Chocolate Baroque, and a few tiny flowers from a See-D's set called springtime collection. The whole thing is stamped and coloured with a mixture of Distress, Adirondack and Memento inks. It is so hard to capture the 3d-ness of it in a photo. 

What is the prize I hear you say... feast your eyes on this lovely lot!

Isn't it a fabulous prize? Well, all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning it is to make something inspired by a garden and enter it into the challenge (with no more than 5 other challenge entries). Pop over to the challenge blog for some inspiration from my lovely teamies.
Thanks for looking!

Happy Monochrome New Year at Sir Stampalot

Good Morning and a Happy New Year to you. Today is the start of a new Challenge at Sir Stampalot where the theme is Monochrome, and by this we mean your choice what colour you work with so long as your card is all in shades of the same colourway (you can of course use white cardstock).

I went for shades of Blue, in fact it is all done with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink.  The central scene is stamped on to water colour paper and the sky was done with ink dusters. I used a water brush to pull a little bit of colour from the stamped images. The images are all from the Hobby Art Scene it coastal set and the Harbour set. The background was created with Hero Arts Antique flower design block.
The card flourishes were cut with a Marianne Design Die. The card candy and charm were from my stash, but I found this lovely set of Nautical charms on Stampalot's website that I will be buying very soon. 

The prize this month is a fabulous surprise... hand selected by the lovely Janice. I am sure you will love it!

I am really looking forward to visiting you and seeing your lovely creations. Pop over to the Stampalot challenge blog and look at the fabulous inspiration from the Design team. 
thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments.

Playing Bingo at Sir Stampalot

Well, it's the first Sunday in December so it's time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. We are having a little game of bingo, and here is your bingo card.

I chose pearls, stickles and ribbon, and came up with these two Christmas cards

The stamps are Woodware Tipsy trees paper pieced with faux stitching added. The papers are from my stash. "What is the prize?" I hear you ask. Well, feast your eyes on these goodies!

I think Santa may have had a hand in this as well as Andy and Janice!

I do hope you will be able to join in with us this month and I look forward to visiting. Pop over to the Stampalot Challenge blog for details of our rules and more fabulous inspiration. Thanks for looking!

Blues and Greens at Sir Stampalot

Well, it's the first Sunday of the month and time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. The theme this month is a colour challenge and we chose Blue and Green.

I began by creating a background using a Woodware holly swirl and versamark ink, then sponged broken china, shabby shutters and pine needles distress ink over the top. I used the same inks, plus forest moss to create a background on watercolour paper which I spayed with iridescent gold glimmer mist. When it was dry I stamped the Poinsettia (Penny black slapstick cling - Christmas pride) and embossed it in gold. The ribbon was recycled from a box of chocolates and the greeting is very old from Stamporium (no longer available). the beads used for the centre of the poinsettia were from my stash. I cut the shaped card using an XL frame Go Kreate die called frilly #1.
I'm entering my card into Allsorts Challenge this week where the theme is 'Anything but a square'.
There's lots more fabulous inspiration over on the Stampalot Challenge Blog, so do pop over and check it out!

What is the prize this month? Well, we are keeping that a secret for a little while, but I am sure I don't have to tell you how fabulous the prizes are from Sir Stampalot, and it will be just as AWESOME as it always is!

Food glorious food at Sir Stampalot

Hi There! It's the first of the month again and time for a new Stampalot challenge. Our theme for October is 'Food, glorious food!'. Well, you know me and baking, so I set to and made...

A cupcake box! How do you know a cup cake will fit in it?...

Look carefully...

And there it is!
Now, I'm afraid I got a bit carried away, cos I went on to make...

A cookie bag as well! The gorgeous papers that I used for both of these projects was a 6 x 6 pad from Kaiser Craft called the Devonshire collection. I also distressed all the edges with walnut stain distress ink. I used a variety of nesties and the Hero Arts leaf flourish, along with waltzing mouse stamps on the cookie bag. My rose was made using Brenda's tutorial and the leaves are a woodware punch.
After that I still didn't stop, but made just a couple of tiny additions...

The stamp is a Paula Pascual one from the filled with flowers set (£4.99 - an absolute bargain!) and the nestie is Blossom 3, stuck onto a cocktail stick.
And finally the prize...

What a lot of yummy goodies, eh?

Do pop over to the Challenge blog to see my fellow teamies fabulous creations for lots of lovely inspiration!
Thanks for looking!

Freebie Fridays at Sir Stampalot!

Sir Stampalot are promoting a new weekly feature, starting tomorrow. It’ll be called ‘Freebie Friday’ and will be sent via their email newsletter, so if you want to join in, you’ll need to sign up for the newsletter before end of day, today !

Follow  this link

Alternatively, you can go to the Sir Stampalot web site and sign up at the "Stay in Touch"  "Sign up to Smudges" link on the left hand side of the home page.

It's a frame up at Sir Stampalot!

Hi there! This morning sees the launch of the latest challenge at Sir Stampalot. Our lovely sponsors at Sir Stampalot have provided us with a wonderful prize this month, and here it is.

Gorgeous stash isn't it? 

Our theme this month is 'It's a frame up!' and we want to see a frame on your project - not just a border, but a frame 'feature'. Here is mine.

The papers are from My mind's eye - the Stella and Rose collection. The scalloped base card was stamped with Hero Arts old french writing and antique linen distress ink. The frame around the flower was cut using labels 18 , classic square and standard circle nesties. The flower is a magnolia stamp, coloured with promarkers and layered up to create a 3d image. 

I do hope you will join in this month. Do pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous makes from the DT. 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!