Garden

Afternoon folks.

I hope you are all safe and well after the second bite of the Beast from the East!

We didn't have that much snow but the wind was cutting. This morning the sun was out and it made things a little better but we are still waiting for spring to arrive, as are this month's lambs who have suffered these last few days. Many have succumbed to the cold, we managed to rescue two at the weekend but lost two more, another two were found curled up in the field this morning never to awake. It's hard when you look after stock and not a lot you can do when the weather hits. 

I do hope spring is not far off as the garden looks so bare, there are a few early daffs in pots by the back door but the rest are keeping their heads down. 

Over at CAS Watercolour Challenge their theme is garden and as it was so cold this weekend I stayed indoors and had a bit of a paint and this is the result.

I've had this stamp for awhile but not used it, so the theme gave me the push to ink it up!

I decided to stamp it onto a die cut panel of white card with Memento Tuxedo Black, then heat embossed it with a clear dull EP so that I could add my watercolour within the detailed lines a little more easily. As it is such a detailed stamp, I used my Zig watercolor brushes rather than paint or DI.

I love iris, but I don't have a sunny enough garden for them, I may just have to dig another bed in a sunny spot just so that I can add some. I do grow alliums, I grow them in pots and add them where I want them, they have the flowers after the foliage so it can look a little unsightly if there is no foliage to hide the leaves as they die back. The flowers on the other hand are stunning and I must have at least 5 or 6 different varieties, from the very large specimen varieties to the little bobble headed ones. They look great in the wild flower meadow I'm trying to make from what was a field. 

A simple greeting from Marianne was stamped and embossed to match the flowers.

On the bright side of lamb rescue the OH took a picture of our dog Max doing his nursemaid act with one of the rescued lambs.

The wonders of a hot water bottle, honey and a warm range ended up with this lovely pic.

Red 43 and Max paraded around the kitchen before being reunited with her ma, the lamb taking great interest in my oven gloves and curtains. Luckily she didn't leave any nasty surprises! Getting her back to mum was a different matter and involved me getting mobbed by the rest of the ewes as we tempted her back into the field closer to the house with a bucket of feed. 

Max is an odd dog, he is very protective of his charges but has a sixth sense when the lambs are not going to make it and came to tell us of their demise. The other rescued lamb ended up with a waterproof jacket and was put back with it's mum and sibling in the small paddock at the back of the shed. It looked quite happy to have it on and Mum accepted it back without a problem.

Joining in over at:-

Uniko challenge

Morning all. I'm here to announce the start of a brand new challenge over at Uniko with this card.

I've used the scattered polka dots stencil and the colours from the challenge, together with the celebrate greeting from the new release Birthday Sentiments.

To start I took a panel of white card and using DIs, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean inked through the stencil, masking as I went with Post Its.

From my stash I selected sequins that were roughly the same colour and scattered them amongst the dots. A small diamante gem makes it extra sparkly, a tip I found on Jennifer McGuire's blog. The celebrate was heat embossed with silver EP to match. The completed panel was then mounted up on pads on a white base card. 

The sequins and gems remind me of sewing sequins onto my daughter's dance costumes many years ago. I found out the hard way that you can't just sew a strip of them onto a Lycra costume or they will ping off or not allow the Lycra to do it's thing. A small bugle bead is the best thing to anchor a sequin on a previously stretched outfit.

Anyway that is way back in the past but the latest challenge is fresh and awaiting your involvement!

For added inspiration check out the rest of the DT and our fab guest for this challenge Michele. 

Design Team

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Julie - that's me
Linda

I'm joining in over at:-


Celebration card with sequins

Playing with Distress Oxides

Hi and welcome to my blog.

Usually on a Wednesday I toddle off to a card class with my bestie Di, but for one reason or another I didn't make it this week, so I played in my craft room with my Distress Oxides. This is the result.

I came across the water bleaching of DI technique a while ago, here and here, but I've never tried it with DO's before. Jennifer McGuire was playing with them so I thought I would too.

I started by stamping these lovely roses from Uniko and used white EP to heat emboss them.

I don't have many colours in the DOs so when it came to inking my panel I used the only two greens I have, Cracked Pistachio and Twisted Citron. The resulting panel was too pale so I added some Mown Lawn DI, not really dark but probably dark enough for the technique.

Using a small watercolour brush, some water and a  piece of kitchen roll to remove the resulting colour,I went ahead and 'bleached' away the colour from the roses and leaves. To create a little dimension in the flowers, I left some of the areas on the petals darker by lifting off the water with a paper towel sooner rather than later. The result is softer than the plain DI technique.

My sentiment is from a set I picked up at Port Sunlight in the sale tub of a stall, I cut the the thanks off and replaced it with a Create a Smile die cut thanks. 

The rain is falling again and we have our first lamb casualty. The OH has just finished his rounds bringing in a lamb that had fallen asleep in a hollow which then filled with water and chilled it down. Hopefully a session next to the range will warm it up and it can go back to its mum. 

I'm joining in over at:-

   

Inlaid die cut holly

Good evening folks.

Over at ATSM we have moved onto our theme of -

HOLIDAY

I know Easter isn't that far off but I don't send nearly as many Easter cards as I do Christmas ones, so here is another for the stash.

I used the theme over at the brand new challenge set up by the lovely Loll, CAS Christmas, which is holly.

This Tim Holtz Sizzix Christmas trio die was purchased last year but didn't use it so this is it's first outing. I die cut a panel of white card with it, then ensuring I retained all the tiny bits, then coloured the holly branches with Copic pens and replaced them carefully back into the panel. The Believe, from STAMPlorations, was die cut then covered with Versamark and heat embossed with gold EP. I stamped the sentiment from Uniko under that and mounted the panel on a white base card. I didn't like the gap in the holly twigs above the first 'e' so cut some more berries and added them to cover the join.

We have some rather large holly bushes in our field hedgerows that were full of berries last autumn. The birds love them, especially the fieldfares which swoop down from Scandinavia to gorge themselves over the winter. I disturbed a flock of them last week when taking the dog out, they must have been picking off the last few berries from the hawthorn.

OK, that's all from me but please check out the rest of the DT and join us this week.

Joining in over at:-

AG

Woodland Folk

Morning all.

Hope all is well with you and you are ready for a brand new challenge from Cardz4Guyz.

This week our theme is -

THINGS WITH TAILS

So, kites, birds, airplanes, animals etc would fit the bill, just so long as it's clear that tails are involved!

Sorting through my stamp stash, I came across these cute woodland creatures by DoCrafts, sat on a log amongst the spring flowers.

As the stamp was quite a complicated one, I kept the design simple, just a crisp white border around the Copic coloured panel. The sentiment is SU's From the Herd simply stamped in black.

As I said a very simple card but the colouring took awhile!
There's lots more tail inspiration over at the Cardz4Guyz blog, go check it out.

Joining in over at:-

Spring Cuties

Forest Friends

Only Die Cuts

I can't believe it's already March and with all this snow and biting winds it certainly doesn't feel like spring is nearly here. Still the old saying goes, March in like a lion and out like a lamb, so hopefully the end of the month may feel a little more seasonal!
As it's the beginning of the month it's time for a brand new challenge at HLS CAS. Here's my inspiration for you, can you guess the theme?

Yup, we are looking for projects on the theme of home.
I made this card awhile ago and got my dates mixed up and it was destined for last weeks challenge at CAS(e) the Sketch, never mind.
I die cut the sentiment using my MFT little alphabet dies from a panel of white card and the house, trimmed down from a First Edition Christmas street scene diecut, is cut from the same cardstock.
On the base card, I marked where the sentiment was going to lie, then inked it lightly with Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean DI to create an interesting background, before gluing the top panel down. I placed some double sided tape across the back of the house to keep all the little bits back in place, before popping it up onto pads for a little more interest and dimension.

For more fab inspiration, check out the rest of the team here, then why not join us.

I'm heading over to join in at:-



             
                                          Use pastel colours       The type face reminded me of the challenge ID                                                                                                              

One layer Poinsettia

After all the hectic activity of the last couple of weeks, I've had a breather but now at a loose end. With the lousy weather staying inside crafting is definitely the way to go!
Over at Merry Monday the challenge is poinsettias and CAS on Friday is OLC so here is my take.

It's a fab stamp from STAMPlorations, which I embossed in gold and then washed in some colour with my Zigs. A simple sentiment from Uniko was stamped and heat embossed with gold too.

Nothing much else to say, a very quick and simple card.

Keep warm and safe out there in this Arctic weather.

Joining in over at:-

     

     One Layer Wonder