Emboss Resist!

The Lily Pad Blog has a new challenge using one of my favourite techniques "Emboss Resist" so I had to have a play!  I made up a few of these circles in different colours but this Autumnal one was so pretty I had to use it first.  As you can see I have used up lots of scraps of text paper in the background and some Hero Arts stamps on the main image.  CG107 Old Letter and CL383 Antique Engravings. 

Hope you are having a fun weekend.

Back To School

This Fridays new release over at Tiffany Doodles is this fabulous "Back to School" digi, perfect timing for all the children going back to school after the summer holidays.  Although my card is for my DD Francesca, she is of to live in Taunton next week ( that's about a 3 hour drive from us) where she is doing her PGCE.  For my American friends it stands for Post Graduate Certificate of Education, in other words a teacher training programme.  I am really going to miss her as I have got used to her being back at home, we are moving her in on Tuesday so there will be lots of tears I'm sure!

I really enjoyed paper piecing this little school house!

Its a holiday weekend here in England and we have a big party to go to on Sunday,  My Godson Lee is 30 and all his friends have been arranging a mini music festival in a field near us.  Tristan's band as well as 5 other bands are playing so it should be fun, lets hope the weather holds!

Before I go while surfing the net my son found this amazing site, how about those fabulous wood block stamps, so intricate and so much work involved in making them.

Lavender Bags

 After my holiday in France I was inspired to make some Lavender Bags but didn't have the right stamp for the job, after sending a plea out on the Hero Arts flickr group for ideas of where I could get one the lovely Judy came to my rescue.  As you can see I have the perfect stamp now and have been busy making bags.
I have stamped the image with Memento Black ink and then coloured with my Copic markers. Then after stitching the bag I have tied with some gingham ribbon.

Here is another bag using some Hero Arts stamps. As Jacqueline rightly said the bags can have any design so I made some more using my Hero Arts stamps.

Hope you have a great weekend

Polka Dots!!!

 This weeks challenge theme at The Shabby Tea Room is "Polka Dots", I love polka dots and the paper I have used is a digital paper freebie from Chubby Birds.  I have had this kit for ages and am not sure if its still available, I have done a quick search on 2Peas but can't find it!

Its a very simple card for me but I have resisted adding anything else as I like the end product.

This is the inspirational photograph from The Shabby Tea Room, I think it must be soup but I am not sure!!

I Love the School Holidays!!!!!

 Oh how I love the school holidays, even though the weather is not brilliant, it means I get to sit in my craft room and create!!! As you know I do love a colour challenge and the colour inspiration photograph at CR84FN36 this week is so sunny and bright, I love it!!

I was really inspired by Suzanne's lovely card and this bird cage stamp is a new purchase that I couldn't wait to ink up.  The text background is a page torn from an old book that I found in a second hand shop, I love how the pages have aged!

After a days fun I need to get the tea on, hope your week has started well.




Supplies: Cage stamp from WoodWare.  Hero Arts CG245 Classic Fabric, S5341 Lace Background.  Martha Stewart Butterfly punch. Tim Holtz Bird Die.

Another Crafty Day!!!!

 Woo Hoo I have made my first Christmas card,  challenge 15 over at the CAS-ual Friday blog gave me the perfect opportunity to dust off my Christmas stamps. An unusual colour scheme for Christmas I know but I am pleased with the finished card!

I managed to get two cards made today and this second one is for the current Hero Arts Challenge of creating a scene, not my usual style but I had fun with this one.
I am really loving the school holidays! long may it last !!!



Supplies:- Top Card. Hero Arts Stamps CL459, Ruby Red embossing powder, pearls and wool.
Bottom Card:-Tiffany Doodles Sailboat image. Hero Arts stamps, CL479 Dictionary Greetings, S5215 Clouds, CL497 Find Joy.  Blue colorbox ink, Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. Fiskars Cloud Die.

Felt Flowers

 Another entry for the "Fabric or Felt" challenge over at the Lily Pad, this time I have made some felt flowers using the rolled method.  This card also qualifies for this months Hero Arts challenge as I have a butterfly on my card.

Here is a close up of the flowers and leaves, I have also added a small chain stitch to the leaves.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.



Supplies:- Hero Arts stamps, S5435 Graph Background, CG211 Magical Background, CL488 Congrats, CL383 Antique Engravings, Distress inks Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive, Pearls and felt.

Fabric or Felt

The Lily Pad have set a new challenge today to use "Felt or Fabric" on a card, I have been playing with this canvas fabric for a few days now, trying out various inks ready to make my Lavender Bags so this challenge came at the right time!!
After much experimenting with various inks I have found that Memento Dye based inks seem to leave a really crisp image.


As you can see I have used my favourite "Hydrangea" image from Hero Arts and the background is "Old Letter"  I added a few seed beads to the flower to give a little sparkle, the lace is all the way from France.  I picked up a few bits in the Antique Market in Nice and thought it finished the card perfectly. 
Just a quick post today.


P.S. My new blog header is inspired by my holiday!!

Shabby Tea Room Challenge

 I have been wanting to try out some more digital images from the Tiffany Doodles Shop and when I saw this inspiration photograph on The Shabby Tea Room challenge blog I decided to have a go.  The theme is Tea and Green and Blue.  Although the image I have used is really a coffee pot it really reminded me of the pots in the photograph.

I have paper pieced the coffee pot with some blue and white paper from Prima  and then coloured in the flower images with distress inks used as water colours.  The Camellia flowers are coloured with copic markers.

Its been a beautiful sunny day  and I have spent lots of time in the garden, hope its sunnny where you are!



CR84FN 35

I am really into Lavender and Green at the moment so this colour swatch from CR84FN was definitely calling my name, although when I had finished my card I had such a job to get a photograph showing the true colours that I almost decided to give up!

 In the close up you can see the background I made with Pumice Stone and Milled Lavender Distress ink, I then distressed the edges before setting it into the frame.

After stamping the Hydrangea I have cut it out and pop dotted it to the card adding some tiny pearls for dimension. 
I am also going to enter this into the Moxie Fab Worlds Fanatical about Botantical Challenge.

Its been so good to be back in my craft room, lucky me as I still have 4 weeks of school holidays left!!



Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps. CG196 Canvas Stripes, CG139 Cling Dots, S5324 Simple Frame, K5376 Hydrangea. S5435 Graph Background.  Distress Inks, Pumice Stone, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and Tea Dye.

Lucy's Lovely Lines challenge

If you are looking for the current Cards Pattern Sketch card and the Tiffany Doodles Challenge card please see here.

I made this card for the challenge over at the Lily Pad Blog set by Lucy Abrams but I realize that I am too late , never mind I will post it anyway.  Its a very simple card made using the cuttlebug elephant die cut and lots of pretty pink scraps of paper. I have also added a small border using the Magical Background die from Hero Arts.

I am still recovering from my Holiday in France and have a pile of washing and ironing the size of a small mountain lol.  I can't wait to get creating again, in the meantime here are a few photos I took in sunny Nice.

This is one of the old Art Nouveau hotels on the seafront lit up at night, so pretty!!

This is the beautiful home of Claude Renoir the painter, now a fabulous museum and gallery.

This is Renoirs stunning garden looking over to the medieval hill top town.

Some old houses in Nice, the light was amazing and you can understand why all the old impressionist painters loved to live and paint in the South of France.

Every day in the square next to our apartment they held a farmers market, all the produce was of such a high quality and always beautifully displayed.  This is the local soap stall, the soaps are made from locally grown flowers and the smell from this stall was amazing! My favourite was the lavender!

Hope to make some cards tomorrow.

Card Patterns Sketch 127

This Saturdays Card Patterns Sketch 127 is sponsored by Tiffany Doodles so as part of the design team I was asked to make a card.

Such a great sketch and so easy to work with, I decided to use this digital image by Tiffany called Flower Vase. This is one of my favourites from Tiffany's shop, go check it out as there are so many great designs to choose from and so reasonable too!

I used just the flower section of the image and copied it 6 times in two different sizes, next I reversed three of the flowers for a different look.  They have all been coloured with copics and then highlighted with a white gel pen. After cutting I pop dotted some on position for more depth.

The Card Patterns challenge finishes on Friday, Aug 12th at 11:59pm EST , why don't you give it a try? cant wait to see all your creations.

This card also works for the Kraft Krazy challenge over at the Tiffany Doodles Blog .

Simply create a NEW card using any digital stamp. (check your freebie stash!!)!! You may use any stamp you like for this challenge! You have until the 21st of the August, to play!

Don't forget to add your card to the Tiffany Doodles Flickr Gallery - (only if you use a Tiffany Doodles digi stamp) Tagged with: TD15