Fairy in a Bottle

 I had a bit of fun recently trying to decide which of my many stamps would fit and look good inside a bottle and this is the result.  I cut a piece of white card to fit onto a  card blank and then used one of the fairly new Lavinia stencils to apply some ink for the bottle, adding a stamped cork.  I have to admit I felt a bit bad about actually enclosing her in this way but then thought that as she is magical, no doubt she'd be able to escape if she so desired 😊😊.  Mad I know but that's how my brain works.  Some foliage and a  'shroom complete the scene and a sentiment was composed using Word.  There was some second generation stamping of text to give a little interest to the background.

 

Sticker Stencil and Stamps - all from Lavinia

There's news today of a brand new monthly challenge and you can read all about it HERE - officially starting on 1 May so plenty of time to get your brains thinking along Tag and/or ATC lines

Allsorts Challenge #820

 The theme for the next fortnight at Allsorts has been chosen by Ellie, who would like to see some **Spring Flowers** or there is the usual *Anything Goes* option.  Prizes  are from Aall & Create. 

For my DT card I've chosen to feature snowdrops which I think are one of the earliest signs of Spring.  I started by cutting a panel of white card and a slightly larger one of light green.  A polyplate was used to stamp a 'streak' of green as a background, adding a few stamped grasses.  The snowdrops were stamped in grey onto a scrap of white card, coloured and die cut before adding to the card using thin foam pads.  The sentiment was prepared on the computer and die cut with a small stitched rectangle.  The snowdrop stamp and die set has been in my stash for many years and the other elements are more recently acquired.

Edit - it would appear I might have been misinformed about Clearly Besotted as it does appear that they are still trading - SORRY🙄

Snowdrop - magazine freebie from Clearly Besotted 2019 (sadly no longer trading)
Green Background - Polyplate from Crafty Roo 2025 (again sadly no longer trading after 1 April))
Sentiment - prepared using Microsoft Word
Stitched Rectangle - die from retired Stampin' Up stitched rectangle set

Rudolph Days

 Happy Rudolph Days for the month of March which is nearly at an end.  If you don't know how this works you can read all about it by following the link.  I've been busy in the garden whilst the weather has been nice rather than in the craft room so I had a little rummage in my pot of  'useful bits and bobs' and pulled out a couple of snowmen, some trees and a scattering of stars.  These were all a bit small to make much of a card so decided to put together an ATC using a snippet of gelli print and a torn scrap of white paper for the snowy ground.  It never ceases to surprise me just what you can actually fit onto a card which is only 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches 😃 and they are great fun to make.

  

Snowmen - stamps and dies, possibly a magazine freebie (I've forgotten, sorry)
Trees - from a long retired Stampin' Up Christmas set
Stars - possibly from a Tim Holtz seasonal die set

Spring has Sprung!

 There seem to be so many Spring-themed challenges going the rounds at the moment and for once the weather this year seems to have also realised that Spring has indeed sprung.  This card isn't for any of the challenges but whilst mulling over ideas I realised that I have quite a lot of craft CDs which have been very neglected, so I had a look at the images on a couple of them and printed some floral pages.  They do  look somewhat dated - to my eye anyway but here's a card I decided to make using some primroses which came with matching background paper.  The background was trimmed to fit the base card and was backed with a slightly larger piece of toning dark green card, which was also used to back the floral panel.  A simple stamped greeting was cut using a punch and there it is - a simple to make card.  I feel that card making these days seems to be far more creative with the wide choice of stamps, dies and so much else at our disposal - what do you think?

Primroses - from Floral Fantasy CD by Joanna Sheen (from 2008 would you believe)
Punch - from Stampin' Up (long retired)

Spring at Stamping Sensations

 The theme for the current Stamping Sensations challenge is **Hello Spring** or the usual *Anything Goes*.  My card is a floral one and I reckon the colours are saying 'Hello Spring' although I think the actual flowers might be more Summer time ones which would take my card into the Anything Goes category.  I started by smooshing two colours of Distress Oxide ink, followed by adding some visual texture using stamps in the same colours.  The flowers and leaves were stamped onto spare pieces of white card, coloured using Zig markers and then fussy cut.  The sentiment was also stamped and coloured to match.  I then shuffled the components about until I was happy with the arrangement and then decided to add some strategically placed stamped vines onto the background.  This card was inspired by a video made by Kym (Crafty Roo) and the floral, vine and sentiment stamps were the final surprise to open on Christmas Day last year as part of her Christmas Countdown project (variation on an Advent calendar).

All of the stamps were part of the Crafty Roo Christmas Countdown for 2025

Snippets Challenge #502

 It's lovely to see the sunshine again today but still pretty chilly outside so I'll need to wrap up warm to pop along to the Playground with my card for the latest challenge.  This time I've used some of my white snippets - one larger one for the background and some smaller pieces for the rectangle and the little house.  I've not included a photo because I felt that just seeing three pieces of white card could be boring for you  😉.  I started with the larger piece and smooshed some ink until I was happy with the result, followed by over stamping with the keys background stamp.  I also stamped a larger key at the base of the small die cut rectangle.  The little cottage was stamped onto an even smaller snippet, coloured using pencils and then fussy cut.  The sentiment was also a snippet from a part sheet of computer generated ones produced some time ago and which I keep handy so that I can cut them as and when required.

Keys - stamp sets from Crafty Roo
Cottage - stamp from Lavinia Stamps
Rectangle - die from Stitched Rectangles, Stampin' Up (retired)
Sentiment - computer generated, banner die Creative Expressions

Allsorts Challenge #819

 The theme for this fortnight on the Allsorts Challenge has been chosen by Lynn and she is asking for **Feminine Projects** and of course there is the *Anything Goes* option.  Prizes this time will be from Stamp Addicts.

For my DT card  I have a 100th birthday card to share and I thought such a milestone deserved a larger card than I normally make.  This was a commission and I was told that the lady loved pretty colours and flowers. For many years she was a member of a Patchwork Group so I thought that the background paper was very appropriate and then I set about finding toning colours for the layers and the flowers.  All of the white elements were cut using some pearlescent card; the flowers were cut using dies from two sources and arranged around the central numbers.

Background Paper - from a selection of 12" papers which I've had for a long time
Decorative Layers - Die set from Tonic, probably no longer available
Flowers - Dies from Creative Expressions and Spellbinders
Numbers -  dies from Amazon (possibly Globeland)