Pink and black.

Here's one I made earlier. Totally untraditional colour combination for Easter, but I do love the combination! This is a new Saturated Canary digital image. I have coloured her with copics and the papers are old Echo park ones. Shock horror but I have almost finished the pad of papers! So I'm rocking the stash reduction self challenge! The die is a Noor design one.

A Gentle break and return

I've been missing from my blog in absolutely ages! I have had a bit of a time of it and lost my crafting mojo, big time! Unfortunately I'm having to have a slow return as my hands are giving me a lot of pain and so anything I make takes me ages because the discomfort and the fact that I keep dropping things doesn't make me smile! Unfortunately I had to stand down from my design team position from Di's digi downloads too which made me really sad as I loved working with Di's digi stamps but I knew I couldn't keep up with it as I have good days and bad and that wasn't fair of me to keep letting people down. So, please don't be too harsh as my colouring is not very good on this one, but it's the first card I have made in months and it's for my Mum for Mother's Day. I had a rummage through my stash and found some pretty organza ribbon, some old echo park papers, a magnolia vintage tag die with some snippets used to make the tag.....Kathy would be pleased.....and I have dug out some frantage, and white embossing powder, which |I used on the magnolia stamped butterfly , coloured with vintage photo distress ink and I hand sewed around the image....it took me ages but I like the effect and it saved me trying to haul my sewing beast on to my table! The image is a Saturated Canary image called May.

Include a pumpkin.

It's challenge day again over at Di's digi designs and we are thinking about Halloween inspired makes, using the theme include a pumpkin. Here's my cute teddy...pretty sure that he wouldn't scare anybody. He has been coloured with promarkers.

My Final entry for the Sugar Bowl challenge

Here is my third and final entry for the Sugar Bowl challenge. I have coloured this little beauty with promarkers and she has been glittered on her wings with glamour dust. Papers , as always, have dutifully come from the enormous paper stash that I have at my disposal! They don't seem to be going down though, yet I have used loads!! Flowers are from the stash that my dear friend Diane gave me before she moved to Spain. Hugs to her. xxx

Sugar Love

Christmas isn't that far away.....! So with this in mind I have been on  a Christmas card making mission! I have treated myself to a couple of Sugar Nellie digis. I know not everybody likes digital stamps, but I love them! This little bunny was a free one that came with my order. Hope you like and I am going to eneter it in to the sugar bowl challenge with the theme of anything goes. He's quite a versatile little chap because he could be used for so many different occasions. Papers are old ones and he has been coloured with promarkers.

New Di' s digi designs challenge.

Another fortnight and another challenge over at Di' s digi designs. This week the theme is too cute to spook. Here's my creation. Love this wee bear. He has been coloured with promarkers for a change!

Sugar Nellie love

Whilst in my " let's look through my stash" phase I have found loads of Sugar Nellie stamps that I love, but they have not all been inked!  This one is pretty I think, very dreamy! It has been very simply coloured with promarkers....but I think it suits this style. I'm going to enter it in to the sugar nellie challenge blog which is anything goes.

Christmas before you know it!

I have been sorting out my craft stuff and succeeded in finding things that have been long forgotten including my promarkers, so they came out for this little cutie! It's a di's digi download and it is still available over at Di's store.

Animals acting like humans.

Over at Dis digi designs challenge. The challenge this week is animals acting like humans. These sweet sewing mice caught my eye and I enjoyed colouring then in with promarker! I have been trying to destash and all I am succeeding in doing is digging stuff out and saying "ooh I like that! " then I use it and don't get rid of it! I am using stash up though!

Last Lili of the week.

Such a cute Teddy, carrying his presents on his sledge! This Lili of the valley stamp is called " Christmas bears sledge" bet that took a lot of thinking about! I have dug out a martha stewart punch for this one and again been using up the Lakeland sentiments. Papers are old papermania ones that are a little glittery and sparkly, which sadly doesn't show up very well. Anyway, it's Friday everybody so enjoy the weekend. x

Light the lamp

Love these sweet carol singers and just loved colouring these sweeties. Papers from my stash...yep old ones! Bits of left over ribbon and the snowflake is a noor design one, sorry cant' rememebr the number or name. The stamp I have used is a Lili of the Valley one and it's called " In the lamplight"

Retired stamp

This little sweetie is now retired from Lili of the valley. It's called Christmas magic. She has such a sweet little face. Hardly any doilies left now and that's the last of that red ribbon and only a couple of the hearts left. Plenty of papers still to go though! At this rate I'll be able to buy new papers in several years time!

Feeling Blue?

I just love these little cuties posting their letter, probably to Santa! I'm still on my quest to use up bits and pieces! So I have used very old papers from several years ago, doilies...I only have a few of these left now and scraps of card to cut the snowflake. The little heart stick on was a freebie from a magazine a while back....so yay my stash is reducing...be it very slowly! The stamp I have used is called Festive Post, but at the time of writing I see that it's out of stock.

Christmas is coming!

Whilst I was away on holiday I coloured in a little stash of Lili of the valley images. Some of them, I am ashamed to say, have never been inked up, so I have decided to go through them all and use every single one! That should keep me busy! I just love colouring and These images are just so cute and cry out for lots of pretty patterened paper and embellishments. I can't resist them. being a good girl though I  am trying to reduce my craft stash by using up neglected embellishments, or sentiments, ribbons etc, so that I can buy more once it's all gone! Ha hum.....that's what I have told hubby as he looked at my paper mountain!! We don't talk about the stamps....it's easier not to! So first up is this cutie. The papers are very old ones from my stash , the ribbon is a snippet that was in my stash, and the sentiment is years old. the stamp I used is called Winter walk and is still available to buy at Lili of the valley. My image has been coloured with copics, my favourite colouring medium.

Crafty thoughts!

I met my friend Kathy yesterday at the tollgate tea rooms, which is a lovely little place serving enormous tea cakes, real tea with proper tea leaves, excellent if you like the taste of tea and a snug, cosy feel to it, even if the wood panelling did attack my ankle as I opened the front door, and the lights went out and the parking spaces were quite limited as it was busy! Anyway, catching up with Kathy was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed our natter about the important things in life like stash, what you use most, haven't touched for years and the shocking truth you are faced with once you look at how much of it you have! Kathy told me about the summer club she had been involved with and told me that she had loads of patterend paper that she hadn't used and some things she had given to a friend as she no longer used which included peel offs. She also talked of being liberated to paint....this set me thinking once I got home. I too have loads of stash...I NEED it all you understand, but some of it has been very neglected and at the time cost a fair bit of money. I looked through my colouring mediums and discovered some LYRA aquacolour crayons. I dusted them off and thought to myself I wonder! "Liberation " ran through my ears and brain!!

I spritzed the back of this stamp with water and scribbled........yes SCRIBBLED three colours on to the back of it I then pressed down..........oh............not a very crisp outline and a bit splodgy. In temper I stamped it again, trying to remove the colour and low and behold my second print was much better. Rightly or wrongly I then got hold of a black fine liner and thought I'd try to define the image... Ok , it's not perfect and a wee bit clunky, but I think I might try this again with a different stamp as I quite like the effect it gives. It's sooooo different from my normal work and is VERY CAS for me! It's better from a slight distance than close up, but for quickness and easiness, I think it's great!

 

Then I thought about the peel offs that Kathy had talked about. I have loads of them and I do use the fine lined ones but can't remember the last time I used the more solid ones.  I dug out my promarkers this time and I haven't used them for ages either, some of them were not in a good way! I also dug out my buttons and I realised I do have a button addiction, but they don't get used! I quite like this for quickness and simplicity too.

It's amazing when I look back at old cards that I made using the same ingredients, how much more stylish the results are. I thought this would make a lovely little notelet to send .

 

So thanks Kathy, our trip out was very productive. Next weekend I'm going to dig out some more " old stash" and I'm going to enjoy using it in new ways!

 

Fabulous fall colours

Over at Dis' digi downloads challenge the challenge this fortnight is fabulous fall colours. This is very appropriate here as the council have drastically cut back the trees behind our garden. You would not believe how much light has flooded back in to our house and oddly how much it has lifted both mine and my hubby's mood! It has also shown up the dust, but hey that's a good thing because it's forced me to declutter some stuff as well. Anyway moving swiftly on, this is my little effort for the challenge. Loved colouring this little cutie and enjoyed making the huge bloom as well!

Off out this afternoon with a crafty pal for a coffee and I see that the sun has come out....in the misheard words of my four year old nephew....." The sun has got his "hap"on....hip hip, hip hip hooray." Bless..he started school this week and after his first visit he said " I don't think I'll go there again, I didn't think much of it!" His next visit, he asked his mum how long he had to stay and she told him " two hours" so he promptly went up to his teacher and said " I'm only staying for two minutes mind!"

Happy Birthday

Here's the card I made for my dear auntie' s birthday today. The image is from di' s digi downloads. Love these cute mice.

Makes updates.

I've been hiding away here....lost mojo...feeling a bit down in the dumps and more than a little stressed out with stuff. Not something I want to express publically. Have missed quite a few of Di's challenges..well being posted anyway. I have been doing them! So here are the ones I have not put on my blog. I have a break away soon and I can't wait....peace, tranquillity and nobody badgering me for everything and anything, this is just what I need...there's just a small matter of putting up a tent with the hubby! We have a new tent and had a practice run yesterday. We are still speaking, so there's hope yet!

Two little makes this weekend.

I have so many stamps and papers they are coming out of my ears! Thought it was about time that I had a play with them as I was seriously contemplating giving it up. I rarely get time to do it and am not always pleased with what I do, but thanks to some friends lovely comments and a bit of a pep talk I have decided that I should carry on with it, but somehow make time for it, order it and set myself little goals. There are so many tempting things to buy out there, but I/we don't need it! I'm listening to my inner self and I know I love colouring so ink pieces of art aren't me. I don't do CAS, not because I don't like it, I do, some people do magnificent work that's stunning, but it's not what I do best, in fact it's never done well by me...it's not in my skill set!

 I have been beating myself up a little that other people have moved on in their crafting journey and I haven't, I'm where I am, I just love creating with copics and promarkers and that's it! I have inks, watercolours, h2os, pencils, distress inks, the works....but again I'm never pleased with what I do...so my crossroads was met...stop and go back , turn left down the sewing/knitting aisle, right down the paint and ink aisle or straight on down the copics aisle. I'm opting for straight on,on the straight road, doing the colouring that I enjoy with the pretty embellishments, sometimes over done, that I enjoy and stay focussed on that road until my colouring is perfect and I no longer cut wonky edges!
I just hope I have made the right choice.

Load on the flowers.

Another fortnight passed by! This week over at Di's the theme is load on the flowers. I'm off out in a mo, so back later x

Oh no I have just noticed a peel off trying to escape!