In the Forest!

Jenny's challenge this week over at the Wee Memories blog is called "In the forest", this card is another that's out of my comfort zone I much prefer the flowery, pretty style, I find it hard to do cute.  Never mind I am up for a challenge and will have a go at anything!!

The only animal type stamp I have is the Hero Arts "Spot the Dog" and the Baby Deer but,  when I first started stamping the lovely Kathy sent me some images to practice with and this Owl was amongst them. Perfect for this challenge, I coloured him with copics then added some googly eyes, the background sky is embossed and then distressed with Tumbled Glass, around the moon I have also added Scattered Straw ink.  (What would we do without Distress Inks I use them on almost every card I make!! )
Hope you are having a good weekend.
Sallyx
Supplies: Hero Arts Owl Stamp. Embossing folders Swirl and Snow.  Distress inks, Tumbled Glass and Scattered Straw. Hero Arts Jems.

Play Date Cafe and a difficult challenge!!

This is the inspiration photograph for this weeks challenge at "The Play Date Cafe" and this is the challenge!!

Time to shake things up a bit and get really creative! Are you ready?
It's the first...'colour horribilis' challenge! Sarah Anderson is our host with the creative idea for this week, so let's just see what this is all about....."Are there any colours that don't go together? That clash?  Or is it just the tones of the colours that don't work out?

Navy Blue, hot pink and mustard yellow."

I really struggled to come up with a card that I actually liked, after playing with some flowers and ribbon and all sorts of combinations of paper I eventually made this card.

I love this bird cage die cut from Tim Holtz, I already had the cage cut out in a piece of old music paper, I just distressed it with Chipped Sapphire to give it dimension.  The bird is cut in hot pink card and then run through the cuttlebug in the "writing" embossing folder to give some texture.  Although the ribbon looks black, it is navy blue and the yellow shading is also Distress Ink, this time Scattered Straw.

I am not sure if I really like this but its going to be my entry this week as I can't think of anything else.  My mojo is a bit lacking as, all I can think about is having to go back to work next week after having such a lovely summer break.

I have realized that this card also qualifies for "The Simon Says Stamp and Show" Tim Holtz inspired challenge.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend, and if you are from the UK have a great Bank Holiday Monday!
Sallyx
Supplies: Hero Arts Digital butterfly, Distress inks in Scattered Straw, Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass.

Cupcakes!!

Now that I have finished the invitations I have had time to make a card for Jenny's challenge over at the Wee Memories blog "Sweet Treats with Ribbons". The challenge is sponsored by May Arts ribbons.  They have some really lovely ribbons in their store.

I wanted my card to look like a table with the cupcakes on, the background "tablecloth" is stamped with the Lace Background stamp from Hero Arts and the doily is created with the Starburst Lace stamp which has been embossed in white and the rubbed with Worn Lipstick distress ink.  The ruffle gingham ribbon is from May Arts and I found it in the UK here .
The cupcakes are a digital image from Squigglefly, I have coloured them with copic markers then added Glossy Accents to the cherries and Perfect Pearls and Glitter to highlight the cupcakes.

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps, S5341 Lace Background, S5317 Starburst Lace. Distress Inks, Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick. Cupcake image, Squigglefly.

Just had to show you a photograph of these amazing peppers and chilli's that my neighbour gave to me yesterday, he grows them in the green house where he works, lots of varieties here and such lovely bright colours.  I just need to decide what to cook with them.  Apparently I have to be careful with the orange ones as they are very hot!!
Sallyx

Tea Party Invites

As promised here is a photograph of the project I have been busy with for the last few days, a colleague at school has asked me to make invitations for a 90th Birthday Party.  Her MIL is 90 in October and they are having a Tea Party for her.

It took me ages to decide which stamp to use, she wanted flowers, so this Brocade stamp seemed perfect, I love the way it looks like chintzy wallpaper.  I stamped the image and embossed in clear, then distressed with Tea Dye ink.

I was inspired by this project by Jennifer McGuire to add a sentiment to your base card.  After following the tutorial  I added  "Lets Celebrate" and adjusted the colour to silver grey.

Supplies:Hero Arts CG198 Paper Art.  Tea Dye Distress Ink. Ribbon and Pearls.  Spellbinders Scalloped Ovals.

Hope you are having a great week, only 10 more days and the school summer holiday is over, as always its whizzed by and I have only done a few of the things I was hoping to do, never mind!
Sallyx

Brocade.

Julie Ranae has chosen this weeks colours for the Play Date Cafe challenge and I love them, I almost left it too late for the challenge this week as I have been busy making party invitations for a friend.  Managed to find an hour this morning and quickly made a card.

I have just got a new stamp from Hero Arts called Floral Brocade, it reminds me of a William Morris fabric, very Art Nouveau. I stamped it onto some light green textured card and embossed with Antique Verdigris, I'm really pleased with the result as it actually looks like fabric.

I got out my old favourite the Heartwinged butterfly, coloured it with copics and then added Glossy Accents to give a sheen.
I must get back to the invitations now, I will post one later.
SallyX

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps. CG187 Floral Brocade. F5158 Heart winged butterfly.

The winner is!!

My DH has just drawn the winner for my blogaversary candy and the winner is..........

SHAWNA!!

Shawna said...


Congrats on your blogaversary Sally! Love your work!


Congratulations Shawna, please email me your address and I will get your candy in the post.

Lots to do today in the garden, hopefully there will be time for more card making later.
Sallyx

Peacocks!

My lovely hubby took me craft shopping to The Glitter Pot yesterday my favourite stamp store, its about an hours drive from us but it has an amazing selection of stamps.  I got a couple of the new Christmas Hero Arts stamps and this beautiful Peacock stamp.  I was tempted after seeing all the lovely creations on the Hero Arts flickr group.  I love all the inspiration there and all the members are so friendly.

I used my cuttlebug swirls folder to create the large peacock tail, its water coloured and then sprayed with perfect pearls to give a shimmer ( a job to see in the photograph). I also used my new wood grain folder to make the back panel.   The Peacock is embossed with white and the coloured with my brush markers and water.  I also highlighted the blue dots with Glossy Accents.  This is for the Hero Arts challenge this month "Keeping in touch"

Supplies: Hero Arts stamp CG184 Peacock.  Cuttlebug folders Woodgrain and swirls.   Brush markers.
I am looking forward to the weekend we have a barbecue to go to , I hope the weather improves! Hope you have a good weekend.
Sallyx

P.S. There is still time to enter for my Blog Candy Giveaway here if you haven't already done so.

Marigolds!!!

Just a quick post today, I just wanted to show you the first card I have made with the prize stamps I was lucky enough to win from The Play Date Cafe Challenge 38.  I was able to choose a stamp from Artistic Outpost and this is the gorgeous set I decided on. (It was a hard decision!)

Don't forget there is still time to enter for my blog candy giveaway check here for details.

Sallyx

Two challenges and two new cards!!!

Before I tell you about this card please take time to visit my previous post here and enter the draw for my Blog Candy giveaway to celebrate my year of blogging.

I wanted to make a card for the challenge over at sweet Jenny's blog this week and the theme is "Button, Brads and Bling". Now I have hundreds of brads in my stash so this was the perfect opportunity to open up the packets (shame on me, I buy things and never even open the packets, I hope I am not the only one guilty of this.)

I had some background scraps left from making this card and decided to add some smudges of purple to match the flowers and butterfly, I also added some Glossy Accents to the butterfly to make it stand out a bit.

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps S5213Dots and Flowers. S4878 Old Letter Writing. CL342 Everday Sayings.  Hero Arts Digital Butterfly image. Distress Inks: Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint. Prima Flowers.

Its great being on school holidays I get loads of time to create, after seeing the colour scheme at the Embellish challenge this week I had to give it a try, love these colours together.

The challenge also said "Quirky, Cutsey and Clean" I find it hard to keep my cards simple, I love adding buttons, ribbons and bling so I hope this qualifies.

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps. S5341 Lace Background. CL342 Everyday Sayings. Cuttlebug Butterfly and Martha Stewart Border Punch.

Both these cards also qualify for the current Hero Arts Challenge "Keeping in Touch"

Sorry for the long post, I just thought I would add another photo of my holiday, this is me in Italy enjoying a delicious peach Bellini.

Hope you are having a good week.

Sallyx

Its my one year blogaversary!!!

I can't believe that I have been blogging for a whole year today, after lots of debating and discussions with my son ( I was worried about the technical aspects of starting a blog) I plucked up courage and took the plunge on 16th August last year and I have loved every moment of it since!!!
Everyone who has visited has been so kind and  have always left such encouraging comments so I want to do a little giveaway to mark the occasion, if it wasn't for my followers I am sure I would have given up long ago. 
I have collected together a few little items and to be in with a chance of winning please leave a comment on my blog and perhaps become a follower if you have not already done so.

As you can see there are a few Hero Arts items,  they are a particular favourite of mine.  I will draw the winner (hopefully at Random Org if I can work out how to use it, if not it will be the old fashioned paper in a basket type draw) on Sunday 22nd August.

Good Luck
Sallyx

Yummy Ribbon!!

Have just visited Lucys fabulous blog, check this out a new online shop "The Ribbon Girl"  I love ribbon especially Gingham check these out I will definately be ordering some , red is great for Christmas and I love black on a mans card.  They also have a blog with a great giveaway.

Talking of giveaways its my one year blog anniversary today, be sure to check back later as I will be having a little giveaway of my own to celebrate!!

I am back in the groove!!!

At last I have found time for a little crafting and this card meets two challenges that I am keen to enter. The first is  The Play Date Cafe and the colour palette was chosen by Sarah this week, it was a little tricky not my usual choice of colour but I had a go anyway, after all it is a challenge!

This is the challenge colours and this is my finished card.

The background is distressed with both Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint and then stamped with two Hero Arts stamps in fact I have used 5 Hero Arts stamps in total (hope I haven't over done it ). This card also fits the challenge running over at Hero Arts this month the themes are 'Keeping in Touch' and 'Back to school'.
Its been hard to get my creative juices flowing again after the holiday but just checking out a few of my favourite blogs has helped.

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps. S5213 Dots and Flowers, S4878 Old Letter Writing, F5158 Heart Winged Butterfly. CG119 Flourish Background . LL019 Ribbon Messages. Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint distress ink. Hero Arts Flowers.


Here are a couple more of my holiday photos, this first one is of a little church in the Piazza at  Cervo, I love the colour of the Bougainvillea plants growing all around Italy.

These colours are bound to inspire a card very soon!!!

I am sure if there had been a gust of wind this lady and her balloons in the Piazza in Torino would have taken off, the sky looks amazing in these photos and yes it really was that colour for the whole of the holiday, back in England its dark a gloomy today.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend, we are off to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Bristol tomorrow, hope the weather improves!!

Sallyx

I am Back and I can't wait to craft!!!

I have just spent the last two weeks driving through France and Italy with my lovely hubby, we arrived home yesterday and now I  have some brilliant memories and a suitcase of washing! This photograph is of Cervo in Italy and it was the view from our apartment balcony in Liguria, Italy. This shot was taken in the evening sun, the light was amazing and I now know why artists have always flocked to the south of France and northern Italy to paint, I wish I was an artist as I was totally inspired but taking lots of photos was the best I could do!!

This is Hubby sitting outside a gorgeous little cafe in the town of Arles in southern France, Vincent Van Gogh spent many years here and painted lots of his most famous paintings in and around the town.

This stunning garden inspired this famous painting.

Now its back to reality, lots of washing and ironing to do and the garden is so overgrown its going to take ages to sort! I still need to craft though and have itchy fingers that need to stamp, hopefully I will have time at the weekend.  I will upload some more holiday photos as well and I promise to visit lots of blogs and catch up with all your cards!
Please keep an eye on my blog as I will be having a little giveaway next week for my one year blogaversary, as a way of saying thank you to all of you who have left me such encouraging comments.