Holly and and a Christmas Bird - Handmade Card

Hello and welcome! 

This week I'm hosting at Allsorts challenge and my chosen theme is "Nature" so that means anything you might see in Nature, but we're making it even easier and are including an Anythting Goes option so anyone is welcome to share their new crafty makes. There are two prizes this week, a beautiful tree stamp and then we have a digital prize from Ruth Hamilton Designs.

This time of the year I need to get serious about starting to make Christmas cards if I want to have handmade cards by December, so I decided to use a Christmas stamp for today's card.

This is Penny Black's Season's Tweeting brushstroke stamp. 

For me, a stamp platform is a must when using brushstroke stamps, so I can re-ink the stamp several times. I used Distress markers to color directly onto the stamp and I did repeat the process a few times.

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On the image panel's background I used Penny Black's stamp Christmas Story randomly stamped with Antique Linen Distress ink. The little sentiment is from the Penny Black set Holiday Snippets. 

I did some paper piercing and inked the edges with Antique Linen distress ink, then tied some Natural Jute twine around the image panel before adhering to the card base. 

I don't use my embossing folders often (mainly because I simply forget about them) but I did on this card. After embossing, I wiped the Antique Linen distress ink pad over the embossing.

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Thanks so much for visiting!

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

I'm linking up here:

Cute Card Thursday - AG // Krafty Chicks - All Occasions // We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - AG // Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG Christmas // My Time to Craft  - Embossing // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - AG opt. Embossing // Dream Factory - Birds // Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - Christmas // The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up - Christmas //

Encouraging Hearts and Home @ Slices of Life

Fall Fun with Apples and Hedgehogs

Hello and welcome!

Today a new challenge starts over at the Double Trouble challenge blog and I am sharing my second card as Double Trouble's Crazy Cousin a.k.a Guest Designer!

So here are the details this time around:

Thing 1 - Trouble Maker: (required): Something, Anything, Everything

Thing 3 - Twisted Sister: (optional): Let's make a fall project and include your favorite Fall harvest item(s), e.g. apples, pears, pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, grains, scarecrow, etc.

Thing 2 - Double Dare (optional): multiply the fun by linking your project with any previous partner(s) listed below. 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge //Bitten By a Bug 2 // Color My Heart Color Dare // Crafter's Café // Crafting Happiness // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies // Creative Creases // Cupcake Inspirations // Dies R Us // Heart2Heart // If I Give a Crafter a Cookie // Kat Scrappiness

Retro Rubber Challenge // Stinkin'Inkers Challenge // The Paper Funday Challenges // Try Stampin' on Tuesday // Use Your Stuff

My favorite fall activity is visiting the apple orchard. So for my "favorite fall harvest item" I've included apples. My fall colors are "apple" red , brown and olive green. Maybe I should have colored "golden delicious" apples to make the card more fall-like, but I thought I'd color the apples in the colors of my favorite kind of apples, the Johnathan's, which are usually reddish with a bit of green.

I started out by stamping the Penny Black image Hedgie Gift on Bristol Vellum paper and colored using a mix of Zig Clean Color markers and Distress inks. I then stamped the image again on post it notes, cut out and used as a mask so I could ink up the background.

To make the background I simply inked up a large acrylic block using Peeled Paint and Tumbled Glass Distress inks. Slightly spritzed with water before stamping the acrylic block onto my Bristol Vellum paper. I did repeat this process a couple more times until I was happy with the outcome. Then removed the hedgehog masks.

Next I stamped the Penny Black flowers from the set Delicate Florals using Peeled Paint ink. I left the flowers uncolored otherwise to keep the main focus on the hedgehogs. 

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The sentiment is from the Penny Black Set Sweet Wishes.

Before adhering to the card base, I paper pierced along the edges using an old Stampin Up paper piercing template. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. And hope you'll join in the fun at Double Trouble!

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

I'm linking up here:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - use PB stamps // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // Bastel-Traum - Watercolor // Crafty Animals - Animals // Cute Card Thursday - AG // Paper Shelter - Animals

Penny Black Critters, A PSX Sunflower, Twine and Burlap Paper

Hello and welcome!

It's Saturday and that means it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, and since today is the 18th I am also sharing my midmonth inspiration card for Stamping Sensations! Great prizes at both challenges so hopefully you will join us for your chance to win! 

Our prize at Allsorts challenge comes from Stamp Addicts where you can win a voucher to their shop. At Stamping Sensations we have a prize from  Crafting.co.uk, the winner will receive a fabulous mixed media kit as well as some rice papers. And then we also have a second prize of 3 craft stencils.

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

At Allsorts Brenda is hosting and she would like to see any real animal or creature. 

This one had me worried a bit as I first thought it had to be a realistic animal as seen in nature, and not the cute style animals often seen on stamps, but then quickly realized the "real" is just to note that the animals and creatures can't be fantasy. 

I decided to use this cute Penny Black stamp from the set Critter Fun. 

It's been stamped onto Bristol Vellum using Versafine Onyx ink and colored using Zig Clean Color markers and some Distress ink. The sentiment is also by Penny Black from the set Happy Wishes. 

I used an old Whimsy Stamps Hexagon die (alternative options) to cut it out. Patterned papers are old from my stash and before adhering to the card front, I tied some natural jute  twine around the card. Oh, and I also inked the edges using Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink. Some Wink of Stella glitter was brushed over the butterflies' and bees' wings. 

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Linking up here:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge  - PB Stamps // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Crafty Catz - 2 or more DP's // Pattie's Creations - AG // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // Bastel-Traum - Watercolor // Crafts Galore Encore - AG // Crafty Animals - Animals // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned Papers // Creatalicious Challenges - AG // Sweet Stampers - Strips and Dots // Cute Card Thursday - AG // Paper Shelter - Animals // Crafty Sentiment Designs - AG // Passion For Markers Challenge - Something with B (Bird, Bee, Butterflies, Bow) // A Place To Start - Patterned paper // Cutie Pie Challenge - Cute Birthday // Incy Wincy Designs - Stripes, Dots or Checks // Crafter's Castle - AG // Crafty Calendar - AG // 

Onto my second card for Stamping Sensations where our theme is: Stamp of the Moment. Still plenty of time to join us if you haven't already or if you'd like to submit a second or third entry.

It's equally hard for me to pick a "stamp of the moment" as it is to pick  a "favorite stamp", it might be easier for those who shop for new stamps frequently but I haven't bought any new stamps for quite some time. 

But during this time of year I am drawn to sunflowers and the color yellow so I picked my favorite sunflower stamp which is an oldie by PSX.  This stamp includes a stem and small flowers too but I fussy cut only the large flower to use on today's card. You might find the exact stamp on eBay otherwise this Sunflower stamp by Deep Red would be an alternative option and there are plenty of sunflower stamps currently available. 

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Stamped onto Bristol Vellum, then colored with Zig Clean Color markers. 

To make the background I taped some painter's tape on the edges then inked with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide, next I stamped Stampin Up's French Script (old, but usually available on eBay) before removing the painter's tape. 

I added a piece of burlap cloth paper and Jute twine around the card before adhering the flower.

Sentiment is from the Penny Black set Blooming Sentiments. 

Below is a picture of a sunflower from my garden I took about 3 weeks ago that inspired my card a little bit :-)

Challenges:

Creative Fingers - AG // A Bit More Time to Craft - AG // A Perfect Time To Craft - AG // Classic Design  Challenge - AG // Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Anything But Squares // DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG // LeAnn’s World 101 - AG // QKR Stampede - AG // Rabisco Challenge - AG // The Crafting Challenge - AG // Krafty Chicks - CAS // Crafty Creations - AG // Creative Moments - AG // Lemon Shortbread - AG // Through The Craft Room Door - AG // Crafting Happiness Challenges - AG // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges - AG // Stamps & Fun = Creativity - AG // A Gem of a Challenge - AG // Crazy 4 Challenges - Flowers // 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //   Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri  // Hello Monday // Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Shelbee on the Edge Spread the Kindness //  Effortlessly Sophisticated // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life

Thanks so much for visiting!

Paper Pieced Poppies for "A Challenge for Kath" at Allsorts

Hello and welcome!

This week at Allsorts challenge we are dedicating the challenge to Kath, our dear team member who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. This week would have been her challenge week and she had picked the theme of "Favorite Stamps". We're still keeping her theme, but have decided to celebrate her style of crafting by including an option of her favorite style: Favorite Stamps with Option of Paper Pieced Flowers. Hope you will join us this week for Kath's challenge. We have some wonderful prizes to give away which I will tell you more about at the end of this post. There are quite a few prizes.

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

For my card I used one of my favorite poppy stamps from the set Blooming Garden by Penny Black.

I started out by flicking some distress inks onto the background of Bristol Vellum paper. After this was dry, I stamped the flower onto the paper, and stamped again on patterned paper then fussy cut the blossoms. For some added interest I paper pierced and distressed the edges. My paper piercing template is very old, from Stampin Up. There may be something similar available on Amazon.

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The sentiment is from the Stampin Up set Touches of Ink which I was lucky enough to win. It was stamped and die cut using a simple Nestabilities circle die, then adhered onto the card with foam tape. 

I wanted to layer the image panel onto the same red patterned paper, but I think I must have used my last bit of that paper because I could  not find any more of it. So instead I picked a script patterned paper which works just as well. I did choose a red card base (vs white - had I used red patterned paper), but before adhering to the base, I stapled a couple strips of paper onto the image panel for some more interest. 

As mentioned, here are the prizes we have this week at Allsorts:

A pretty floral Woodware stamp from Craft Stash, one of Kath's favorite places to shop.

Next a winners choice of four digital images from Ruth Hamilton Design

A £12 voucher for digital images from the winners choice of store. It has been been kindly donated by one of Kath's crafting friends who wanted to stay anonymous. 

  

Canary Bird Rose was Kath's favourite CB stamp, this will be for a winner who follows the Paper Pieced Flowers option.

Kath loved her DP's so there had to be some for a prize, this is an 8x8 pad. 

Another prize kindly donated by a friend of Kath's who also wished to remain anonymous.

You can find the link up on the challenge blog, and remember you may enter up to 3 different times for more chances to win! Anyone is welcome to join us in this special challenge for Kath.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Linking up here:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned Paper // The Crafting Challenge - Anything Goes // Crafty Sentiment Designs - AG // A Place To Start - Patterned Papers // Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp It // Use Your Stuff - AG // We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - AG // 

 Always Anything Goes & Link Parties

Taylor Made Cards 4 U // Crafter's Castle // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // 

Dare to Share //   Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri  // Hello Monday // Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Shelbee on the Edge Spread the Kindness //  Effortlessly Sophisticated // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life

Handmade Card with Penny Black Botanical Notes and Inktense Pencils

Hello and welcome!

I am back again with a new card to share as today is the start of a new challenge at Stamping Sensations! Our theme for the month of September is "Stamp of the Moment", so whatever you'd consider a favorite right now. 

Hope you'll join us and share with us what your stamp of the moment is. You could be our lucky winner who will receive a Mixed Media Clock Making Kit and Rice Papers from Crafting.co.uk.

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

For my card I selected this beautiful stamp Botanical Notes because I absolutely love collage style of this stamp and it's a joy to color! I used Versafine Onyx ink for stamping. I always have a hard time choosing "favorite stamps"because most of my stamps are favorites but this one is definitely one that caught my eye at the moment and I do reach for it often when prompted to use a favorite stamp.

Some years ago I purchase a small package of Derwent Inktense pencils  but would you believe that I have never given these pencils a chance!! Of course the hoarder I am kept them all these years and somehow I came across them again recently and decided to give them a try. 

These pencils are water soluble, so I used my Zig Detailer waterbrush. The water dissolves the color into a liquid ink. But once this is dry it will be waterproof and you can't go over with the waterbrush a second time. But it is possible to add another color after the first one is dry like I did here with the blue and purple on the flowers. I found them to be a really fun medium and now I want to get a set of skin colors to use on my hedgehog stamps. 

As you can see I kept the card very CAS. After coloring I simply die cut the image panel using Avery Elle's Wonky Stitches Die set (also available at Scrapbook.com) and also used the banner from the same set for the sentiment. The sentiment is one from Penny Black's Blooming Sentiments. It's a straight sentiment, but since it's made of clear photopolymer it can be bend easily and stamped that way.

The card front and banner were both inked with Wilted Violet Distress ink before adhering to the card. I've also added some glitter to make it sparkle a bit. 

There isn't nearly as much glitter as there appears to be on the photo below. 

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Be sure to stop by the challenge blog to see what the rest of the team created and to see the wonderful prize up for grabs this week!

Thanks so much for visiting!

You May Also Like:

• Blooming Beautiful
• Botanical Notes
• Botanical Notes Two Ways

I'm linking up here:

Crafty Calendar - AG // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB stamps // Cute Card Thursday - AG // Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act // Simon Says Stamp - Stamp It // Get Creative Challenges - AG // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges - CAS // Path of Positivity - Enjoy Nature // Use Your Stuff - AG

 Always Anything Goes & Link Parties

Taylor Made Cards 4 U // Crafter's Castle // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // 

Dare to Share //   Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri  // Hello Monday // Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Shelbee on the Edge Spread the Kindness //  Effortlessly Sophisticated // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life