What a surprise!

I received this marvellous piece of artwork in the post on Thursday from my friend Jill who makes the most wonderful art canvasses and altered art. Amongst her many talents is art journalling, something she has only taken up recently but shows prodigious talent at.

This halloween piece is made of Gesso Board - very similar to Stamp Board but without the china clay finish. The surface is more textured and sealed with gesso.

Do visit Jill's blog over at http://ladycatfern.blogspot.co.uk it is well worth looking at some of her older posts too to see what a wide variety of artwork she enjoys. It is often a source of inspiration for me.

CD Sunday Challenge - No Embellishments

As soon as I saw this challenge I knew I was going to use this lovely view from Joanna Sheen's Cottage Gardens. It is such a long and narrow image that it really doesn't lend itself to anything other than mounting it to compliment the scene.

I have simply mounted it onto co-ordinating backing papers from the CD and also Artylicious Damask Delights. It was then mounted onto gold textured card, navy card and then onto the gold base card. The sentiment was gold embossed.

A very simple card and a very attractive one in real life although a difficult one to photograph.

Thanks for visiting and I appreciate all your comments.

Bah! Humbug! #41 - Elegance

Elegance to me is simple and classy with clean lines and so I chose a gold and white theme. The stamps are by Personal Impressions and are simply embossed with detail Gold EP and mounted on gold foil card.

The background paper with the flourish corners has been embossed using the Deb Devine Cuttlebug folder to give it some texture.

I hope you like my take on Elegance and please feel free to leave a comment. I appreciate them all.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #123 - Autumn Foliage

I love the autumn and all its colours, it is my favourite season.

This tag was made using the Joseph's Coat technique and reminds me of the willows down in the bottom wood. I have used mustard seed, rusty hinge, shabby shutters and vintage photo DI's to create the background, stamped the willow frond and clear embossed and then sponged walnut stain over the top. The willow is a stamp by A Stamp in the Hand.

The Elusive Images inchies have been embossed in copper as has the willow frond on the small tag.

This tag is destined for a memory book about the place where I live. As all my things - it is a work in progress!

Thanks for visiting and do feel free to leave a comment. I learn such a lot from what you tell me.

DragonsDream TIO #57 - As You Like It

This is my second entry - I get withdrawal symptoms when challenges go on for a whole month!

I have used a variety of tree stamps, Crafty Individuals, Clarity and I Brake for Stamps together with as many shades of green ink as I could muster. The tree trunk is made with an embossing folder and several shades of brown inked over. Elusive Images provided the bird box, which has been decoupaged, as has the front scenery and bird.

I do like making pictures and I hope you like my little scene. Please feel free to leave a comment - all are appreciated.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #26 - Embellishment Recipe

I had a great deal of fun making this challenge entry! It has turned out to be very theatrical and very colourful.I have used Crafty Ann's Venetian Mask 3 and printed it out twice onto 160 gsm card. The headress and mask have been cut out of the second sheet to be fixed with dimensionals onto the main mask. Sparkling H2O paints were used to colour the mask and they give a wonderful metallic sheen. The backing paper is from Ann's Mottled Stone Collection 4 (red/green) and the buckle from the Embellishment sheet.The harlequin stamp is by Elusive Images and has been embossed in black.Black frogged braid and lots of gems have been used on the mask and wide black ribbon has been threaded through the gem studded buckle.Come on, have a go at this challenge! We have lots of fun over at Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog and I would love to see what you come up with.

CD Sunday Challenge - Monochrome

This lovely fellow is from A Dog's Life by Peerless Designs. I couldn't resist him - I am a lifelong fan of the boxer and have kept, shown and bred them for years. Sadly they are no longer with us but we have many happy memories of them sharing our lives.

The script paper has been stamped with a French Script background stamp from Stampin Up and coloured with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The paper pierced mat is coloured with Shabby Shutters and it is all mounted onto a black base card.

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment.

DragonsDream TIO#57 - As You Like It

This tag has the title of Holiday Romance - bring back any memories, eh?

Been having a little play with some of my new stamps bought at Ally Pally and Port Sunlight.

The main image of the bathing beauty is by Crafty Individuals and was stamped with black archival and sponged with tattered rose, worn lipstick and stormy sky Distress Inks. The You Are Not Here is by Paperartsy and the corner pieces by Darkroom Door. Hope you like it because I would REALLY LIKE TO WIN the blog candy!!!

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, all of which are appreciated.

Bah! Humbug! #40 - Using Vellum

This week I have reverted to type and made a vintage card - yes! The background paper is by Papermania, the stamp by Personal Impressions and the snow flakes by Crafty Individuals. Pretty simple really - gold embossing on the vellum , the image, stamped onto watercolour paper, coloured with pencils and the edges torn and inked. The sentiment is not as cock-eyed as it looks in the photo, I assure you! I had a flash of inspiration when I was mounting the card and punched some holes with a hole punch to show the backing card through.

I hope you like my card and please feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate them all.

Bah! Humbug!#39 - Cuties

Cute is not an easy thing for me to do so I threw everything I could borrow at this card. There is nothing cuter than baby animals and mice in coats and hats has to be up there too! I brayered the background for the deer using Soothing Sunset Big and Juicy Pad and added glitter to the trees. The mice by Jayne Nestorenko are watercoloured and the background trees by Elusive Images are stickled within an inch of there lives.

I hope you like it and feel free to leave a comment - all are appreciated!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #122 - Around the World

I am rather late posting this 4 x 4 page - I have been away visiting my pal Wanda and partaking of the delight that is Port Sunlight Happy Stampers North West Show.

I have used Wanda's Tanda stampset Wild Animals and chosen Africa for my country. I have used Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks and done some double stamping. I hope you like this, I think the rhino stamp is brilliant.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a comment - I enjoy reading them all!

Crafty Ann's Challenge #25 - Digi Stamp and Favourite Colouring Medium

As autumn is well under way now I thought I might do a Harvest Festival themed card. I have used Crafty Ann's wonderful plate of apples for the main image and have coloured them in using my very favourite method of coloured crayons, blending them with Odourless Mineral Spirit (OMS) using paper stumps.

I would recommend that you put a few apples together and arrange them in a similar way to the digi stamp. This allows you to have a close look at the colours and the way the light falls on the fruit. Select the colours you want to use and lay down colour for the darkest areas. The shine needs very little or no colour on at all. Slowly build the colour up in layers and mix the crayons to give little variations of colour. Every now and then, dip your paper stump in the OMS and gently blend the colours to a pleasing finish. Add extra colour on top for detail (like the stripes of red colour on the apples above).

It is a very relaxing pastime and also makes you look very closely at what you are colouring. I am no artist - I couldn't draw an apple, but with a bit of practice I can colour one in now!
The finished coloured image was highlighted by vintage photo DI sponged around the edges and matted and layered a couple of times onto Crafty Ann's Mottled Stone paper red/green.

Thanks for dropping by and I do join us over at Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog and tell us about your favourite colouring method!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge#38 - Across the Miles

Because there is a Cuttlebug folder as a prize this week I guess I was subliminally influenced to echo it in my offering this week. I hardly use them and I should, particularly this Holly one as it is lovely and the results are so different each time.Backing paper is from Crafty Ann's Embossed Dots Earthtones collection (green). The embossed image has been swiped over with a Versamark pad and then embossed with Gold EP. The berries are red Pearlidoodles. It was then simply matted onto gold metallic card and mounted with the computer generated sentiment onto dark green and then onto the gold base card.A tiny piece of gold ribbon was attached to one corner of the image to give more sparkle.Thank you for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment. I appreciate them all.

CD Sunday Challenge - Decoupage

Joanna Sheen's Cottage Gardens CD was the inspiration for this card. As the five layers are quite bulky, I thought a very simple mount was appropriate. I used two contrasting but complimentary pieces of card which were Cuttlebugged using the Mosaics and Bubbles embossing folders. I wanted to suggest the texture of bricks and stones and also to create the impression of a gable end and roofline. I hope it worked!

Thank you for visiting my blog, and please feel free to leave a comment. I do love reading them all!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #121 - Gothic Christmas

Had a great deal of fun making this 4 x 4 page. The arch stamp is by Create and Craft (they were selling it off cheaply at Ally Pally last Saturday), the trees and Santa's sleigh are by Crafty Individuals.

The trees and the sleigh are stamped with Eggplant by Stampin' Up and the arches are coloured with Brilliance Victorian Violet. The background colour is Pearlescent Purple by Brilliance.

I hope you like my take on this week's challenge. Please feel free to leave a comment - all are very much appreciated.

I have been away from home quite a bit recently and I apologise to my regular blogging friends because I haven't been able to visit their blogs as I would normally do. I hope to visit all your blogs soon.