Mystery

 I occasionally treat myself to one of the regular monthly mystery stamp sets from Crafty Roo and this card has been sitting in my draft file since  last year so I decided I'd share it with you.  I started by stamping the main background image onto a square of white card using Versamark ink and embossing with clear embossing powder to act as a resist..  This was followed by inking the background using yellow Distress Oxide and finally a few droplets of water for a bit of visual texture.  The remaining stamps in the set were the 'splats' and tiny numbers texture stamps.  A butterfly was then stamped, coloured and fussy cut, popped on top to form a focal point.  A stamped sentiment and that was it - job done

.All stamps from Crafty Roo

Apologies

 I'm afraid I've not ben too active on my blog recently but fortunately I still have a few cards which were  made last year and tucked away in my draft file.  I've not been particularly productive so far this year - along with quite a few other crafters Mr Mojo seems to have deserted me but at least I've tidied away most of the Christmas 'stuff' and should be ready to get back into the swing shortly.  The cold spell of weather hasn't helped - making cards with cold hands isn't the easiest 🙄. Excuses, excuses - anyway here's one I made earlier as the saying goes.

I've used a sticker stencil and some Distress inks before stamping the flowers, foliage and a bee.  A little colour was added to the bee and Wink of Stella on the wings.  The stopper for the jar was also stamped.  I decided to add a sentiment to the inside rather than detract from the image on the front.

Sticker stencil - Lavinia Stamps
Flowers, foliage, bee and stopper - all Lavinia stamps using Versafine Clair ink

Snippets Challenge #497

 Monday (I think) and it will be good to be back into routine weeks after the holidays.  With both of the occasions being mid-week it seems as if four weekends have been crammed into just two weeks which I've found somewhat disorientating.  Anyway it's time to visit the Snippets Playground with my latest Snippets card and there are celebrations afoot because it's been 13 years since Miss Di took charge of the keys - 11 of those years running solo until Sarn joined her a couple of years ago to ease the load somewhat.  I wonder how many kilos (or tonnes) of Snippets have been used during that time, yet the supply seems to be endless, certainly in my case as I can't bear to throw out even the smallest scrap of anything which could be deemed 'useful' 🤣🤣.  Many congratulations on this Blogoversary and thanks for making the Playground such a sunny and happy place to visit.  A very generous prize this time for a lucky winner drawn at random.

Anyway onto my card for which I've used a stamp and die set acquired very recently.  After some thought I decided to print a 'word cloud' which I had saved on the computer - this of course had to be printed onto a whole sheet of card but once it was die cut I have the large snippet of white card left over for future use.  I used a large Snippet of white card to cut a layer slightly smaller than the card blank. This was then smooshed with Distress Oxide ink and overstamped with some light circles and edged using a fine liner pen.  The little parcel was stamped onto a snippet of a gel print from my collection and the blue circle cut from another Snippet.  A bit of extra colour was added to the spots and bow on the parcel. Phew! that took longer to explain than to actually do 😉  The shades of blue are in fact better matched than they appear on the screen 🙄

Just a picture of the smaller snippets here

Parcel - die and stamp set from Gummiapan
Blue Circle - die from Daisy Mae
Circle stamp - texture stamp from Crafty Roo
Word Cloud - produced by me a while ago using Craft Artist (I think)

Allsorts Challenge #814

 The theme for the first Allsorts Challenge of the year is **Matching Pairs** (card and tag/gift bag/ envelope ...) or of course there is always the *Anything Goes* option.  Don't forget that this challenge is now running on a fortnightly basis and you can see full details of how this will work by following the link to the Blog.  Prizes this time from Lavinia Stamps.

I've made a card with matching envelope - stamping a border onto a piece of card slightly smaller than the card blank using Versafine Clair ink and then using Distress Oxide inks to watercolour around the area and then painting into the tiny hexagons, which then made me think of honeycomb so I've added two die cut bees.  The sentiment was produced on the computer.  For the envelope I simply stamped the border down the left hand side, leaving it uncoloured because I thought the Oxide inks would run or smudge if the envelope got wet while it was in transit.

It will be interesting to see just what ideas come up as matching pairs for this theme so why not see if you can surprise us 😉

Border Stamp - from Crafty Roo Designs
Bees - dies from Gummiapan
Sentiment - produced on computer using Microsoft Word

Rudolph Days

 Well, it's the last Rudolph Days challenge of the year and it will soon be time to start on cards for 2025 - time certainly flies.  This time I'm sharing a tag which I made as part of a tag book project aimed at using stamps which were revealed daily in a super Christmas Countdown (Advent calendar alternative) thought up by Kym from Crafty Roo.  I've really enjoyed opening the little numbered packets each day to reveal the stamps and have watched the videos Kym made for inspiration.  This tag is my variation on one of the tags which I thought suited the Christmas theme.  Background was inked and stamped using Distress Oxides and the flowers stamped, coloured and fussy cut.

Happy Rudolph Days everyone (and Happy Boxing Day too) - here's to a creative New Year

Stamps all from the Crafty Roo Countdown apart from the word which is from Lavinia

Tags - using a Tim Holtz die

Christmas Candle

 First of all I'd like to wish all my Blogging Friends and Followers a wonderful Christmas and the very best wishes for the coming year.

I'm also taking this card along to the Snippets Playground where there's a great party going on with a bowl of punch and the usual fun and games.  Apart from the card blank everything else came from my various Snippets collections.  A few larger pieces for the background and then some small bits and pieces for the candle, foliage and the sentiment.  Sorry no pictures of the snippets this time as most of them were really tiny so they went into the bin.  The white layer was embossed with a snowy effect.  Quite a lot of layers to the candle so it was quite tricky to assemble - got there in the end though.  Don't forget there are bumper mystery box prizes to be won so why not use up some of your Snippets and see what you can make.

Embossing Folder - an 'oldie' from Sheena Douglass (no longer available)
Candle and Foliage - dies all from Tim Holtz
Sentiment - Die from a magazine freebie set (quite recent)

Allsorts Challenge # 812/3

 I was invited recently to be part of the Design Team for the Allsorts Challenge and this is my first 'designer'  post. The challenge will run for two weeks with prizes from Oakwood  and full details can be seen on the Allsorts blog.  

The theme, chosen by Sarah, is **Use Dies** or of course, as always, there is the option of *Anything Goes*.  For my card I cut a panel slightly smaller than the card blank and lightly stencilled an area using Distress Oxide ink.  The white die was used twice and naturally I saved all of the little 'fall-out' circles.  The flower was also cut using white card and then gold embossed.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut, with a larger die being used as a backing layer.  Finally a few of the little dots were coloured with a gold pen and added for extra interest.

Stencil - from Lavinia
White circles die - from Tattered Lace (several years old)
Flower - from Tim Holtz Wildflowers #2
Sentiment Panel - from a retired Snowflake Stampin' Up set