DragonsDream TIO #85 - Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Sea

Over at DragonsDream TIO this week Zoe has taken us all Beside the Sea!  As you can see, I have gone to  Blackpool complete with the sunburn and Kiss Me Kwik hat.  The rather portly lady is courtesy of Funstamps, the sun, bucket, spade and sandcastle from Rubadubbadoo and the tower was a freebie in a magazine.  The rest of the scenery was drawn by yours truly.  I have gone for the 'saucy postcard' look and coloured the images with copics to get the bright colours needed.

I do hope you will join us this week and show us your interpretation of Beside the Sea.

DragonsDream TIO #84 - Let's Face It

Good morning you lovely people!  The challenge at TIO is Let's Face It and is being led this week by my friend and fellow DT member Wanda.

My tag is covered with some lovely gold and grey cherub printed tissue paper that I bought yonks ago from Lakeland.  I only found it recently when tidying up!  How I wish they hadn't stopped selling craft items.  My main image is stamped onto acetate and then gold foiled on the reverse.  The stamp is by Creative Expressions.  The grungy flower is  simply made by punching out about six layers of toning paper, putting a brad through to hold and then spritzing it and moulding the petals before allowing to dry.  When it was dry I gave it a squirt of gold Spray and Sparkle.  The leaves are punched in gold paper.

I do hope you will join us over at DragonsDream TIO this week and I look forward to seeing what you have created.

Craft Room Challenge #2 - Altered Paper Dolls

This is a first for me!  I have never made a doll of any sort before and it certainly got me thinking!  I used a free template from Mirkwood Designs and altered the size as the original measures 11".  Graphics Fairy supplied the boots, hairstyle and bodice.  Her hair is courtesy of my sheep Jeffrey and the ivy stamping is from a stamp by Flowersoft.

Thanks for the challenge - I enjoyed doing something totally different.  Do feel free to leave a comment, I should like to know what you think!

CD Sunday Challenge - Tassels

I've gone all formal with this one!  I had half a sheet of the lovely blue and gold metallic chinese paper from Joanna Sheen's Ivory Cats and was determined to use it somehow.  I cut out the tag shapes with my new TH  Artful Dwellings die, stamped half a Clarity diamond trio onto the sides of each point and embossed with gold ep.  With one of the smaller Clarity corners, I stamped into the point and embossed again with gold ep.  I attached my tassel through the smaller tag.  The gold mat is made with Grace's Frame Cuttlebug embossing folder and I used a royal blue base card to fix it to.  The gold flourish at the top is a Nestability Floral flourish and it is only about the second time I have ever used that set.

I hope you like my card, it is rather formal but sometimes this type of card comes in very handy.  Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment - I love hearing from you.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #43 - Christmas in June

It's that time of year again!  Crafty Ann has challenged us to make a Christmas card in June! I do hope you will join us and make a start on the many cards we all need at Christmas. 
For my card I have used Ann's seasonal Garland which I have coloured with pro-markers and then highlighted the baubles, bows and holly with Glossy Accents.  The fir bough was coloured with pencils to give it a lighter look.  The background was stamped with a tiny dot stamp in pale grey to give the impression of snow.  The image was mounted onto a dull gold foil card and then onto Crafty Ann's Mottled Stone paper in turquoise.
I do hope you will join us and look forward to seeing all your creations.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #157 - I am Sailing

I love this stamp of the girl looking out to sea, it is by I Brake For Stamps.  Fortunately for me it has a sailing boat in the distance, otherwise I would have been struggling for a suitable image for this challenge!  The shell corners are by Crafty Individuals.  The images were stamped in Stampin Up Not Quite Navy and coloured with pencils for a softer look.  I added two rows of jute string around the picture to give it a nautical look and mounted it onto some seagull paper from Joanna Sheen.

Thanks for visiting and do feel free to leave a comment as I enjoy reading them all.

DragonsDream TIO #83 - Numbers Game

For this tag I have actually dusted off my Cricut and cut something out!  The design comes from "Graphically Speaking" cartridge and was cut out twice so that I could layer up some portions of the design for added dimension.  The script was stamped in black Archival ink over a red tag and coloured around the edges.  The die cut was stamped with various stamps, music, alphabet, hearts, crackle background etc. and then a portion was glittered, Crackle Accented, embossed or decorated with Dotties in black and white.

I do hope you will join us at DragonsDream TIO this week and show us your creations for the Numbers Game.

A Crafty Kind of Truffle - June Tag Challenge - Wedding

Nice to be able to make something light and summery on such a miserable day up here in the Highlands.  This tag also demonstrated to me that I really must get a few wedding stamps as, apart from this freebie from Papercraft Inspirations magazine, I had none!
I cut my pink tag with the TH Bigz L die and ran it through Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder and added a daisy border along the bottom.  I then sanded the raised pattern and swiped a white Versacolour pad over the embossing to tone down the pinkiness.  Lace, and pearls were added together with a flower die cut from velllum.  Irridescent pearls were added to the centre.  The bride and groom were embossed in white onto vellum and cut out with an oval Nestie then attached to the tag using pearls to cover up the glue marks.
Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment as I enjoy reading them all.

CD Sunday Challenge - If the Shoe Fits

Beccys Place provided the digi for this card.  It is called Old Boots and you can find it here.  The boots are coloured with crayons as I wanted a softer look than you would get with Promarkers or Copics.  The sentiment is by TLC and the backing paper is from Joanna Sheen's American Frontier CD. 

Thanks for dropping by and feel free to leave a comment as I appreciate them all.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #156 - Ticket to Ride

Thoroughly enjoyed making this card as it contains everything I love - vintage and architecture!  The lovely tram stamp is by Personal Impressions, the buildings and ticket stamps are by Crafty Individuals.  All coloured with Copics with the exception of the ticket and foreground which has been sponged with DI Tea Dye.  The backing paper is a vintage map of Paris and was provided by The Graphics Fairy.

Thanks for visiting and do feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate every one.

DragonsDreamTIO # 82 - Winged Things

This week's challenge over at DragonsDream Tag It On is Winged Things.  Being a bit of a cynic, I am afraid I was immediately visualizing flying pigs!
The porker on my tag is stamped in black Archival and is from a set of vintage farm animals by Artemio.  The wings are by Clear Art Stamps.  The sentiment is from Creative Expressions, as are the background aeroplanes which are stamped in DI Pumice Stone.  The rest of the background is colour dusted with SU Certainly Celery and Sage Shadow.  The lovely brass winged heart was an impulse purchase from my local craft shop yesterday.
I do hope you will join us at TIO as we love to see what you make of our weekly themes.  It is so good to see such diversity in all your creations and there is always something new to learn.

CD Sunday Challenge - Digi Day

The digi is called Joy by Sugar Nellie and has been coloured with pencils.  The background papers are by the ever reliable Ms Kirsty Wiseman from her CD Patti Pictilicious.  The bow was tied by me FIRST time and I have added a small stack of buttons tied with a linen thread,  to carry the colour scheme through.  I bought this digi as soon as I first saw it as it reminded me of my own daughter Eleanor when she was little and before she would only wear football shirts and shorts/leggings.

My pal Jen also decided to choose this digi, so it has been a bit of a challenge this week in more ways than one to meet her very high standards and to come up with something different!

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate them all very much.

Down On The Farm!

It  was haircut time at Redmoss for Whitney and Jeffrey last night.  It is surprising the things you do for a Saturday night out in the countryside!  They were transported to a neighbour's farm and expertly sheared by Farmer Michael.  In the second photo you can see Whitney (who is rather plump) having the treatment whilst Jeffrey looks nervously on.  The whole procedure, including toenails cut,  took about 30 minutes then they were whisked off home again and in their own fields by 10pm.  They will be very grateful for losing their coats as it has been very warm for them just lately.  Next job will be to put a pour-on on them to keep the flies off them when their coats start growing through in about 3 weeks time.

Sentimental Sundays Challenge - Inspired by Song



Billy Joel's 1973 hit song Piano Man was the inspiration behind this card.  The piano player stamp is by StampsHappen and has been stamped onto watercolour paper and then coloured with a waterbrush and reinkers.  The piano keys have been stamped and embossed and added as an embellishment.  The sentiment was a free gift with a magazine.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment, I find them all very encouraging.

What a Lovely Surprise!

Just thought you might like to see the new additions at Redmoss!  One of our lady pheasants gave us the great honour of being introduced to her new brood of 10 (I think) chicks.  She brought them out last evening onto the terrace where we feed all the birds.  In this photo they are just making their way  back, after tea,  into the woods nearby.  This is what it is all about!  Marvellous!

Crafty Ann's Challenge #42 - Use More than 1 Image

Over at Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog Ann has challenged us to use more than one image in our design.

I have made a notelet gift box which holds four A6 cards very nicely. The sides to the box are concertina folds and so the box is quite roomy inside. The instructions can be found here.

The lovely peacock digi is coloured with Sakura pens and shimmers beautifully and the lotus blossoms have been decoupaged. The fancy edge on the box was cut with a Tim Holtz On the Edge die. The gorgeous blue backing paper is from Ann's Mottled Stone collection.

Do come and join us over at Crafty Ann's, you will be made most welcome and we love to see your creations!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #155 - Sunrise/Sunset

Talk about use it or lose it!  I haven't used my brayer for yonks and didn't I find out today!  My offering for Rainbow Lady this week is a rather romantic seaside ATC of someone walking their dog along the beach. This little silhouette stamp was a prize purchase at Ally Pally this year from StampScapes along with a little guy rowing a boat.  The pier stamp is from a wonderful set by Rubadubbadoo.  The grass stamp is from Creative Expressions.  I have used Soothing Sunset Big and Juicy inkpad for the background and the very lovely Paris Dusk  by Memento for stamping the images.

Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate them all very much.

DragonsDreamTIO #81 - Timepiece

What a wonderful theme to dream on this week!  Dragon Frankie has chosen timepieces and my mind was soon dreaming gardens and nodding off to sleep in a lounger under the trees.  What better to measure the time, in a leisurely way, than by than a sun dial?

My main image and sentiment is by Serendipity and has been stamped in Walnut Stain DI and watercoloured with reinkers.  The background stamp of a weeping willow is by StampCamp and has been inked up with a variety of green inks. The background is a combination of Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint DI.

I do hope you will join us at DragonsDream TIO this week (see sidebar for link) and I look forward to seeing your wonderful creations.