Rainbow Lady's Challenge #163 - Hand Made Flowers

Here is my second card for this challenge - this time using Caroline's flower that she kindly provided for us!  That will teach me to make sure I read all the challenge details before getting stuck in!
I have used a backing paper from Jak Heath and superimposed the trellis digi (also from Caroline) on top.  Caroline's flower has been printed onto parchment, cut out and assembled, the centres being glittered with Stickles.  The foliage stems are a Marianne die cut and I thought they rather looked like sunflowers.  The sentiment is a digi from TLC.
Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment - all are appreciated - even ones that tell me I have used the wrong flowers!

Nature Watch

John and I run the gauntlet everytime we go in or out the backdoor as this is what is directly above our heads!  The swallow family have, for the first time whilst we have lived at Redmoss, successfully managed to rear a family in this location on the house.  Usually it ends in tragedy due to the rain coming from the east, but this year everything seems ok and the youngsters are only a day or two away from making their first flights.  Swallows breed every year here in the eaves but the backdoor position is usually avoided.  Poop gets thrown over the side by mum tidying up and we get hit by it!!

Here are grey seals enjoying the sunshine on the rocks at low tide at Portgordon Beach on the Moray Firth.  Seals bask in the sun at many places near to where we live and it is easy to find a vantage point to watch and enjoy them.  They are very inquisitive and swim quite close when we walk along the beach, having a good look at us, no doubt!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #163 - Hand Made Flowers

I love having an excuse to make flowers!  Usually they are rather large and grungy but today I thought I would try and make some dainty ones for a change.  I have made them all using paper punches and out of 160gsm white paper, with the exception of the centres for the daisies which are 80gsm.
The paper punches used are Boho Blossoms from Stampin Up for the daisies and little blue flowers and a small sun-ray punch from Floral Punches for the centres of the daisies.  An ordinary single hole punch made the centres for the blue flowers.  I moulded them into shape using a deet tool and moulding mat after brushing the edges with either pink or blue ink.  The daisies are 3 layers and the blue flowers 1 layer only.  The more you make,  the quicker you get at making them!

The sentiment is from Clarity Stamps and the foliage punches are by Stampin Up (branch from bird and branch punch) and Tesco.  The white base card was inked around edges with DI Spun Sugar and embossed using a flourish background stamp (Stampin Up) and a sparkly pale pink embossing powder.

Thank you for visiting my blog and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate every one.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #46 - Summertime and the Living is Easy

Over at Crafty Ann's we are having a summertime themed challenge and hope you will all join in and give us your thoughts on easy summer living!

I've gone for a comfy chair, a straw hat and the perfume of the flowers in my shady part of the garden.  The backing paper is from Ann's Mottled Stone collection and the stamp is called Morning Glory.  It is a lovely digi stamp and comes in three designs - plain, with script background and with trellis background.  I have used the trellis version for this card and printed it over the backing paper.  The chair stamp is by Serendipity and the pot of purple daisies are by Stampin USA.  All the images have been coloured with Copics.  I have mounted the main image onto a thin border of mauve card and then onto a cream mat that has been punched with the Martha Stewart Trellis Punch.  My base card is lemon to match the backing paper.  The sentiment is by Elusive Images to which I have added three toning pearls.

Thanks for visiting and I do hope you will join us in the Summertime Easy Living challenge over at Crafty Ann's. 

DragonsDream TIO # 89 - Pressing Matters - Embossing

Helen has chosen Embossing for our TIO challenge this week.  I fancied trying something I haven't done very often,  dry embossing on vellum.  My image is one I have had for ages and never used, a bouquet from Elusive Images.  I stamped it in black versafine and coloured the petals and leaves with pencils on the reverse.  I then embossed some of the detail on the reverse with a medium sized embossing tool until I was happy with it.  The grungy flower is simply made with 6 layers of paper scrunched up and dampened and held together with a brad.  Form the flower whilst it is damp by pinching the layers with your fingers.  It has got to be simple if I do it!
I do hope you will join us at DragonsDream TIO this week and show us your take on the theme Embossing. Don't forget to use at least one real stamp in your creation.

CD Sunday - Dreams

Just got the boy for this card - my grandson James!  We can all live in hope, dream on son.
The boy and bicycle is a free digi from Beccys, the motorcycle is from Clarity Stamps and the sentiment is a freebie from the very talented Bethany .
My backing paper is from Joanna Sheens Victorian Companion CD3, the digi is coloured with Copics and the motorcycle has been embossed on patterned paper in black detail ep.  The sentiment is computer generated.
Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy reading them all.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #162 - Pets

This is my first attempt at making a scrapbook page and is a tribute to my lovely boxer dogs.  They are all gone now and I still miss them every day. " Let's have some fun"  was their byword and we certainly had plenty.  The backing papers by Dovecraft reflect their colours and marbled stripes and I can almost feel their lovely soft black velvety muzzles.  Keeping dogs and going on holiday do not mix.  We have gotten used to our holidays now so no more dogs for a while.
The stamps are by Joanna Sheen and stamped in Versafine.  The mountboard square has been triple embossed.
Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate them all.

DragonsDream TIO #88 - Look to the Skies

The lovely Elizabeth is leading this week's challenge over at DragonsDream TIO and is Looking to the Skies.

As I bought some lovely Stampscape sun and moon stamps at Ally Pally in April, I decided to give a few of them an outing on this tag.  The background is alcohol inks on glossy card to give the look of deep space and the sun and moon images are stamped onto an acetate overlay.  The phases of the moon have been given the silver foil treatment on the reverse.

I do hope you will come and join us this week, we would love to see you.  Please don't forget to include at least one real stamp in your creation.

Message in a Bottle

We have had new floors laid at Redmoss over the last fortnight which has meant John and I have had to make ourselves scarce.  We spent most sunny afternoons watching the seals on the rocks at low tide at Portgordon beach.  On Thursday, John found a plastic bottle on the shingle and inside was a pencil written note.  The letter was from 8 year old Igor from Central Primary School, Peterhead - about 60 miles east, along the Moray Firth.  He had put it in the water on 26th June this year.  John is writing back to him at the school  to let him know he found his bottle and how far it had travelled.

CD Sunday challenge this week is to have a nautical theme so I could hardly resist using this Joanna Sheen Messy Rabbit stamp of the unfortunate bunny having to row for his life out in the ocean and including Igor's message in a bottle.  The backing paper is from Pattern Resource CD Nature and the sentiment is from TLC .

Thank you for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.  I enjoy keeping in touch.

Christmas Card - Two Challenges

Bah! Humbug! challenge this week asks for a different shaped card from a square or rectangle, and Rainbow Lady's challenge is A Stitch in Time.
My card is octagonal (made with the Eazi Box Board) and the festive flowers involved using a darning needle to sew the gold lurex thread through the scallop circle punched centres.  I do hope this is enough sewing to qualify, as this is as good as it gets on the needlework front from me!
The sentiment is from DoCrafts, the ribbon from my stash and the highlighting was sponged in white Brilliance ink.  The sentiment was embossed with red Sparkle ep and is lovely bright and shiny in reality.  I am very pleased with the way this card has turned out  as it was a total experiment.
Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.  Do leave a comment as I love to keep in touch.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #45 - Dry Embossing/Debossing or Both

Embossing is the challenge at Crafty Ann's for the coming fortnight.  I love all the many techniques you can use for embossing and have incorporated a few different ways on this card.
My base card has been dry embossed using a hexagon shape from the Eazi-Box Board.  The corners have been dry embossed with a pattern from the Red Glitter Girls board.  Again using the Eazi-Box Board, I have embossed and cut out the backing mat from Ann's Mottled Stone Collection and cut a smaller version out from the co-ordinating Polished Stone Collection and run it through the Tiny Mosaics Cuttlebug folder.  I have then lightly wiped an embossing pad over the raised design and embossed with gold ep.  A small gold foil circle was embossed with the Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls Embossing folder.
The flower is a pre-coloured 3D long petalled flower, again from Crafty Ann that has been cut out, shaped and glued together using Stewart Gill Byzantia crystals to form the centre of the flower. 
I do hope you will join us in the challenge at Crafty Ann's and look forward to seeing your wonderful creations.

DragonsDream TIO #87 - Project Tim Holtz

I am delighted that we have an easy challenge this week over at TIO after the crippler that I set last week!  Dragonlady is asking for Tim Holtz inspired tags, using Ranger products and/or made in the style of Sir Tim of Holtz.  My tag is almost all Sir Tim influenced, however the style embraces the artist Beryl Cook (my DH says it is heavily influenced by the comedienne Beryl Reid - but I won't bother to explain to the younger readers out there!).
As always I have to make a picture and I just love anything to do with architecture or houses.  I was tempted to draw little people and chandeliers  in the windows but restrained myself.  The shapes are die cut with TH Artful Dwellings and Mini Openings and coloured with various Distress Inks and Distress Stickles.  The landscape is coloured with Distress Inks and I have used micro beads for the foliage at the base of the middle house.  They are fun to use and I love the effect and dimension they create but weird to watch rolling about as though they were magnetic.  The sentiment is from Clarity.  I hope you like my tag which, as always, is brightly coloured and not really very TH at all - more PlaySkool - but it is my interpretation of the theme.

I do hope you will join us this week and show us YOUR interpretation of  Project Tim Holtz over at DragonsDream TIO and I look forward to visiting to see your creations.

CD Sunday Challenge - Handbags

I had "one of those days" yesterday and decided to do a cheeky card.  Not having much in the way of handbags etc. I had to use the Seaside Battleaxe stamp from Funstamps and a few small stamps that were a free gift from Elusive Images.  The backing papers are from Kirsty Wiseman's CD Patty Pictilicious.  I stamped the base card with Stampin Up's wonderful Confetti stamp set (series of tiny backgrounders) in their Certainly Celery ink.  The sentiment is computer generated.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment - I appreciate them all.

Bah! Humbug! #27 - Meeces

Mice sitting at the edge of their mousehole, silhouetted by the light of a frosty moon, watching Santa and his sleigh heading out to deliver gifts to all the boys and girls.  

I wonder how the story ends?

The mouse family is by Clarity Stamps, Santa and sleigh by Crafty Individuals, the rest of the scene is created by sponging shades of yellow, apricot and navy inks around a mask for the moon.  A bit of glitter was added with a Sakura Stardust pen. The Ho Ho Ho sentiment is by Docrafts.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment - I love your opinion.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #160 - In The Country

My card reflects all that I love most in the countryside, the animals and the lovely old buildings.  The farmstead stamp is by DarkRoom Door and was a lucky purchase at Ally Pally earlier this year as was the set of vintage farmyard animals by Artemio.  You will note that the horse features twice!  I wonder why??? The images were stamped in black Archival ink and the background was brushed with Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks.  The small star stamps are by Lavinia and the sentiment is by Joanna Sheen.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment as I love to read them all.

DragonsDream TIO # 86 - The Age of Chivalry

I have always been fascinated by knights in armour and the Arthurian legends so plead guilty to choosing The Age of Chivalry for this week's TIO dream!  I have coloured the tag in shades of Grey, Barn Door and Dried Marigold.  The background latin text is from Non Sequitor, this has been overstamped with chivalry stamps from Elusive Images.  The main image of a knight and his lady is by Elusive Images and has been embossed in Grey Slate ep, the shield, from the same set,  has been stamped twice in grey and barn door and dusted with dried marigold.

Please come and join us over at DragonsDream TIO this week and show us your heraldic dreams.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #44 - Get Well/Thinking of You/Just Because

Crafty Ann's Challenge this fortnight is to make a Get Well or a Thinking of You or a Just Because card.  I chose to make a Get Well card as I have lots of family due into hospital for operations over the next few weeks.  I have always been a big fan of the FlowerPot Men so I focused my card on Little Weed!

I have used Ann's precoloured Gerbera sheet and brown embossed dots paper.  The flowerpot was stamped onto card, coloured with crayons and then given a good coating of Crackle Accents and left to dry overnight.  The smiley face sticker was from Tesco's. 

I do hope my card brings a smile and I hope you will join us over at Crafty Ann's and take part in the fun!