My Travel Notes - Birthday Card

Hello Everyone

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying whatever weather has been chucked at you, wherever you are. For the record it's dull and threatening rain here in Ayrshire. This has got to be the quickest post in history today - I have some packing to do! The card I'm sharing was made for my son, Alun, on his 46th birthday.

Like his sister's dream of owning a VW Campervan - see Sunday's Snippet post, Alun has his dreams and this plane is something like one of them. At the moment he flies a microlight but hopes to change it for something a bit more substantial ... his mum would be pleased with that too. Flying around in a flimsy looking machine that is powered by what sounds like a lawn mower engine doesn't fill me with confidence!

How I made it:
- I began by making the topper. The Molly Bloom image was stamped on to white watercolour paper using Stazon Jet Black Ink. Actually this was my second attempt - I really fluffed up the first by using the wrong ink pad! I then watercoloured it, using the illustration on the stamp packaging as a guide, with Spectrum Aqua markers.

- Next, I trimmed it down and matted it on to a layer of gold card and another of light turquoise - both pieces found in the snippet mountain. 

- The base, a 6" square Kraft one, was covered in a sheet taken from Papermania's All Aboard 6x6 paper pad. A band made from a scrap length of gold card and a strip trimmed from another sheet of patterned paper, edges inked with Vintage Photo distress ink, was then attached across the middle of the card.

- The words and tag were cut from another two sheets from the same paper pad, edges inked with the Vintage Photo, and adhered, sort of randomly, on the base paper. 

- The topper was then adhered to the card, slightly off-centre to allow the design on the paper to be seen.

- The final touches were to add the Dekromount die-cut word, son, coloured with one of the Aqua markers (Buttercup) already used in the colouring of the stamped image, and write 'Happy Birthday' with a Pigma Micron 03 black pen on the banner flying from the plane. 

I'm submitting this card to the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 190 - snippets of gold and light turquoise cardstock used.

Seize the Birthday - Anything that Flies!

Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog - Challenge #158 - Holiday

And the reason why I'm packing ... I'm sure you're dying to know! I'm off to the Flower Show at Southport this weekend, by car not microlight!, and I'm so looking forward to it. I've got my fingers crossed that the showers forecast will skip the where we will be just for the day ... a little bit of sunshine would be good too but maybe that's asking for a bit too much :)

Of course, I wish fair weather for you wherever you are this weekend too :)

Sunday Snippets

Evening Everyone,

After a very quiet day, doing not much all, I finally got my mojo on and dipped into the catch-all box again to create two cards. Surprisingly yellow cards too ... I think it's well documented on this blog that yellow is my least favourite colour. I also managed to use up a bunch of snippets for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 189. It's always a bonus when the snippet mountain is reduced, even by a little.

For this card I've used one of the NBUS twinchie stamps that came free with an issue of Craft Stamper magazine, coloured using watercolours. The background is a scrap from a Gelli plate print - created some time last year! A scrap of orange card, some very old ribbon, butterflies decorated with Stickles and amber dew drops make up the rest of the materials on this card.  Apart from the colouring of the stamp this was a super quick card to make.

This card was even quicker to make. The topper is recycled from a bought card I received last year. I like the image so much that I trimmed it down and saved it. The yellow textured card, left over from a project, was the perfect match. Some orange cardstock, amber dew drops and a polka dot flower were all that was needed to complete the card.

And that is that for this evening. I'm off to have a cuppa with the EM and watch David Walliums get up to some jolly japes as an amateur detective.

I hope you are all having a very enjoyable evening.

Two More Brusho Background Cards

Evening Everyone

I hope you are having a good weekend and, if in America, a wonderful 4th of July celebration.

I've been making more Brusho backgrounds, combining them with heat embossing, to make two cards.

To create this background white card was misted with water before randomly brushing on gold Aquatint Ink (E70). While still wet Purple and Leaf Green Brushos were sprinkled over and left to dry. Next I stamped the Thistles (Lavinia Stamps) using VersaMark over the background and heat embossed with Seafoam White powder (Docraft's). The finished piece was matted with lilac cardstock before mounting on to a white card base. The final touch was to add two punched butterflies decorated with Crystal Stickles and three lilac gems as embellishments.

The background for this card was created using Orange, Purple and Brilliant Red Brushos. For this one I went for a dramatic effect by heat embossing the stamped Thistles with Stampendous Midnight Black powder. The panel was matted on to a piece of dark orange cardstock which has a texture effect printed on it. Again the embellishments are punched butterflies, decorated with Black Diamond Stickles, and gems - black to match the thistles. One of the butterflies was punched from the orange cardstock and the other from a leftover scrap of the Brusho background.

The insides using leftovers.

And the backs too.

It's been a funny old day, raining cats and dogs early morning, brightening up later, and all the time warm. After last night's downpours - we escaped the thunder and lightening here - some of the taller plants in the garden were in a sorry state. So my job this morning, as soon as it stopped raining,  was to go round with the secateurs and do a bit of tidying up. After that we took a trip to the garden centre to buy some new rose bushes. There's a 20% off offer this weekend ... with our membership 10% off that gave us three bushes for the price of two - too good to miss. So guess what we will be doing tomorrow? That's right, digging holes and planting rose bushes :)

Have a great Sunday.

Thinking of You

Evening Everyone,

I hope you are all well and that you've had a good day. And a very warm welcome to my newest followers, Lynn and Traby1 ... neither of you appear to have a blog - yet! Perhaps that will change soon and we'll get to know you both better.

Posting here has been somewhat erratic this last few weeks but hopefully that's just a temporary glitch and normal service will be resumed as my energy level returns to normal. In the meantime, I've a little Thinking of You card to share with you.

The topper, part of a collection of ready stamped images that were a gift from a crafty friend a couple of years ago, was coloured during my recent watercolouring session making this card a quick and easy make.

How I made it:

- first, I embossed the front of a white card base (A6 size) using Erwin Snellen's Autumn Leaves background folder from Nellie's Choice. I know it's well past autumn but I wanted a nature themed background for this folder and the leaves could pass for poppy leaves - well, in my world anyway :)

- next, I matted the topper on to a snippet of moss green core'dinations card then wrapped some narrow satin ribbon, also moss green, round the topper and finished off with a bow. 

- finally, I matted the Thinking of You greeting (I think it's from Craftwork Cards but I've had them so long I can't be sure) on to an oval mat punched from what was left of the moss green card. 

I said it was quick and easy!

I will be submitting this card to the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 162 - where anything goes as long as it includes snippets - the green card and the satin ribbon

Clear it Out Challenge Blog - this week's theme is anything goes as long as something from stash is used - that's everything!

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Favourite Colour Combo - mine is always red and green and it's not just for Christmas :)

That's me done for today so I wish you all a very pleasant evening.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday Snippets - those Field Poppies again

Evening Everyone,

Just a quick post for Di's Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 160 as I'm still supposed to be taking it easy ... but it's so difficult not to come out to play :) However, I will keep it brief and hope you won't mind.The two cards I have to share were made long before Christmas but I was so busy I never did find time to post them then.

This card used up some Gelli plate print I had leftover, scraps of silver mirror card and a snippet of pink card for matting and layering.

The poppies on card this were stamped on to scraps of white card, using various shades of blue and green watercolour paint - just experimenting with colour really - and then matted on to snippets of aqua cardstock.

And that's it for this evening. I'll do my best to take a peek at all your snippet makes over the week but apologise in advance if I don't get round you all ... it's 'baby steps' for me at the moment.

Hope you have all had an enjoyable weekend and that the coming week is a good one.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday Snippets on Monday - Yellow Poppies

Evening Everyone

Welcome! I trust this finds you all well and that Monday has been a good day for you.

I have another watercolour and snippet make for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 155 and it's those Rubber Necker Field Poppies again ... can you tell I just love these stamps?

I just love how every impression looks so different depending on the unpredictability of the watercolour paints/inks and whatever combination of colours used. I've added a few gold sequins for a touch of sparkle. The stamped image and the piece of yellow Gelli print have been matted and layered on to snippets of grey card.

The yellow base card came from an inexpensive mixed colour pack found in The Works a very long time ago - the inside is white. The finishing touches were the orange card candy and the pre-printed gold embossed greeting.

I did intend posting this yesterday but somehow never got around to it ... not feeling 100% at the moment so not ticking much off my seemingly neverending to-do list ... sigh!

On a much brighter note, my aunt Jean and cousin Lorraine are flying over from Australia for the Christmas holiday and I'm so looking forward to seeing them. It's been 40 years since they were last here in Scotland so there's a lot of catching up to do :)

Thanks for popping in. I wish you an enjoyable evening and a good day tomorrow.

Happy Crafting,

Blue Field Poppies - A Snippet Make

Hello Everyone

I'm lagging behind with my posts this week but hoping to catch up today and tomorrow. First up is the snippet make I should have posted on Sunday for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 153.

The card has been made almost entirely from snippets or recycled materials. Even the topper, one of my watercolour experiments with  my current favourite stamp, Poppy Fields from Rubber Necker, and several distress inks from Ranger in shades of blue and turquoise, was made using some glossy card which is the recycled back of a card received last year ... I save way too much stuff!!!

You might be able to see ta gleam or two in this shot ... there's just the teeniest sprinkle of glitter around the flowers. No list of materials today ... most of the snippets used are so old I couldn't even venture a guess as to where they came from. What I can tell you is that I recycled the greeting from a birthday card received sometime in the last couple of years and trimmed it to a pennant shape for this card.

And that's me done posting for today. I hope to be back with another share tomorrow. In the meantime, I wish you all a lovely evening.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday Snippets - Get Well Card

Evening Folks

I hope you've had an enjoyable weekend. Ours has been okay but for a couple of things. First, our car failed it's MOT on Friday and the bill to repair it is going to be rather hefty :(  Second, well, you can see why below.

For consolation, I took refuge in the craft room and after finishing a couple of sewing projects I made this little get well card for my teenage grandson, Alun, who became ill on Friday ... Friday was an all round bad day here ... and has, on doctor's orders, had to stay in bed for 72 hours!

One for Pixie's Sunday Snippets - Week 151. The watercolour piece was leftover from a play practice session I had recently. This was my attempt to create, using watercolours and a brush, the same effect as can be had using a certain Stampin' Up stamp that is very popular at this time! I think the sentiment stamp (Inkadinkado) is very apt and one that Alun will appreciate :)

The washi tape butterfly trim is from stash and the green matting and layering came from the snippet pile.

Alun is a dedicated Celtic football fan so green was the obvious choice and luckily I found this green card base tucked away in a drawer.

And here's the patient himself. He has apparently had a bad reaction to a stomach bug. Happily, I can report that he is on the mend now and will be back to normal, and school, very soon.

I'm nipping off now to watch the Strictly results show - can't wait to see who is in the dance-off at Blackpool.

I wish you a lovely evening.

Happy Crafting,

Watercolour Poppy Tag

Afternoon Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying your day.

Here, the hatches are battened down and we are hunkering in just waiting out the storm. I can see the old sycamore from the window and it is being battered about really fiercely. So much so, I fear it may be just facing one gale too many this time. I hope it survives, not least because if it comes down it will be right on top of the EM's new shed!

So it's going to be a day of crafting for me or, more correctly, a day of tidying up in the craft room. There's so many odds and ends lying about, bits of my experiments, snippets of card, photos to be scanned, etc., etc., that I've decided it all has to be dealt with before I do anything else. Which brings me to this tag:

The grey textured base has been sitting in my 'to be used' box on my desk for, well, I can't remember how long. It could be as long as two years! It was part of an embossing experiment, you might have gathered by now that I like to experiment, a technique using leaves and flowers sandwiched in cardstock and put through the Cuttlebug. This resulted in some interesting textures, most of which I did put to good use at the time but I could never think what to do with this piece. I can't even remember what type of leaf this was but the card was white scrap which, after embossing, was inked with a grey ink pad, possibly Memento London Fog. 

Determined to use it in this tidy up and to try out my newest find, Poppy Field from Rubber Necker, a stamp designed to be used specifically with watercolours, or inks that can behave like watercolours, e.g. Ranger's distress inks. I've never tried this type of stamp out before so it was quite a revelation! The stamp comes in two parts, the first is for the flower part and the second is for the outline and stem part. There's a great set of YouTube demos on how to use these stamps - check out the Poppy Field one here. I used a selection of lavenders and mauves to colour the flowers, Ranger's Milled Lavender and Memento Elderberry, Lulu Lavender and Grape Jelly, and Archival Black for the stem section.

Once dry, I painted in some gold detail with Aquatint paint - better seen here in this photo. The sentiment, from the same stamp set, was stamped in Archival Black too. The butterfly was created using a snippet trimmed from the background, inked over with the Milled Lavender and Elderberry inks and inking the stamp, an IndigoBlu freebie, with the gold paint ... it's a thick paint so works quite well for stamping. Once dry it was cut out and attached to the tag which was then adhered to a base of mauve card - yet another scrap from the snippet mountain. Eyelash fibres and purple gems provided the finishing touch.

I'm submitting the tag to the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #16 - Butterfly with a Tag.

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147 - anything as long as there's a snippet used somewhere

All Crafts Challenge October/November - Anything but a card

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge - Challenge #18 - Layer It!

That's me done here for now but the storm is still raging outside. Despite that, the EM has ventured out, though only to the local shop in search of a newspaper. One of the plastic pails we use in the garden has blown into the long border, coming to rest under that sycamore tree ... it will stay there until I think it's safe to go out again!

I hope conditions are rather better where you are, but if not do take care and stay safe.

 

Whatever, I wish you, as usual, much Happy Crafting,

Experimenting with Watercolours - Sunday Snippets

Good Afternoon,

Actually, it's not really a good afternoon here ... it's windy and wet. Apparently it's only going to get worse because the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo is heading our way! That being so, you know where to find me, holed up in my craft room experimenting even more with watercolours. Which is what I've been doing whenever I had a spare moment recently and now I have a couple of finished cards to share with you.

This background for the topper on the first card was created with Aqua Tint brushed over white cardstock. I dampened the white card with water before brushing on the colour in a sweeping motion. I think you can see that I went back with more colour several times trying to get a sort of landscape effect. Once the ink dried, I splashed some water droplets over the surface - this has a 'bleaching' effect adding a bit more interest to the finished background.

The fabulous stamp used is a Penny Black slapstick cling called Dreamy. Forest green cardstock from Papermill Direct was used for the card base and the matting with a scrap of white (same source) for layering. The greeting, from Stampin' Up's Wetlands set, was stamped up with VersaFine Olympia Green.

The background for this second card was made by mopping up paints, leftover on the craft mat, from the first and then adding just a little sprinkling of Leaf Green Brusho crystals in the areas that were the dampest. The images, zen poppy pods from Lavinia Stamps stamped with Archival Black ink, have been painted with a combination of Aqua Tints and Brusho crystals in shades of red, yellow and green.

The topper is matted on to a snippet of red American Crafts cardstock and then layered on some of the green card leftover from the first card. No sentiment or greeting on this one ... that way it can be used as a notelet.

And as I've manage to incorporate a fair few snippets into these cards, I'm off to submit them to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147.

Would you believe it, since I started to write up this post the sun has come out to play! It's still windy but so nice to see the sun again, however briefly :)

The EM put on his domestic god pinny this afternoon and has been baking up a storm, fruit scones and my favourite low-sugar fruit cake ... the aroma wafting through the house is simply gorgeous.

Just discovered that the Christmas Movie channel has returned ... it's only the middle of October and we haven't even had Halloween and Bonfire Night yet!!!

I hope you are well and having a wonderful weekend.

Happy Crafting,

PS: Have you seen that I'm celebrating with a giveaway ... do check out the sticky post at the top of this blog for details.

WOYWW - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 280

Good Morning Folks,

It is still morning here, but only just ... I still don't know where the time goes - really!!!

Anyway, on to the business of this fine, though fresh and definitely autumnal, morning. That is, to show for the delectation and delight of all WOYWWers everywhere what's on my workdesk this morning, which means checking in with Julia, our revered head desker, over at the Stamping Ground.

More new playthings - Aqua Tints. I've been testing them out since they were delivered last Saturday and generally having a lot of fun. So what you can see is lots of little bottles of watercolours and all the pipettes and brushes that come with them - very school science lab! At the back is a colour chart put together to remind me what's in those pots. To the left is a small selection of stamps pulled out because they might work well with the backgrounds made so far, and to the right is the lovely Penny Black stamp you can see stamped on to the green piece at the front. Up behind that is a couple of Clarity stamps already used on another background posted here earlier this week and beside these some tubs of Brushos ... it occurred to me that mixing them with Aqua Tints might create some interesting effects - see the blue piece on the right.

Basically that's it on my desk for today but I thought I'd also show you what's just to the left of it too.

This is the top tray of my trolley, close to hand and full of all things watercolour and ink related.

Before I go, I'd just like to mention that this is my 1001 post! And if you scroll up to the top of my blog you will see that I'm celebrating my 1000 post with a giveaway. I hope you will take part by leaving a comment there and so give yourself the possibility of winning.

I see it's lunchtime now ... that's the morning gone then ... so I'm off for a bite to eat but I will return with the intention of visiting as many WOYWW desks as possible.

In the meantime, I wish you a happy WOYWW day and a wonderful week ahead.

Happy Crafting,

Serengeti Snapshot for Sunday Snippets

Afternoon Folks

I hope you are having a great weekend and a super Sunday. Ours has been spent doing much the same as the rest of the week - painting! The EM has been painting the hall and I've been painting with watercolours. I'm over simplifying, of course, but you get the picture ... he's been hard at work and I've been slacking keeping out of the way of the paint fumes :)

What you see is my first attempt to paint a background using the Spectrum Noir Aqua Tints that the postie delivered into my eager wee hands yesterday. After recording and then watching just about every Sheena Douglass demo on TV recently I simply could not, in the end, resist ordering a set ... an early birthday present :) The EM was all for it, said why not, you deserve it - I'm swishing my hair Cheryl Cole style as I type, of course :)

Sheena made the tints look so easy to use, as they need to be for an amateur like me :) You may recall that some time back I enrolled on a class aimed at water colouring for card makers. What with one thing and another I didn't make much progress but now I have no excuse not to start again!

It's small, the base is white card measuring just 4"x3" ... big enough though for me to try out this technique of swooshing colour about. All the colours used are from the Perfectly Primary set and the stamps are from an African Safari Silhouette set from Clarity Stamps, stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with Stampendous Midnight Black powder.

The EM loves bright colours so he immediately claimed this as his own. It reminds him, he says, of photos he's seen depicting the Serengeti, hence the title. As he intends framing it I've kept the matting and layer to just black and white ... a rummage through the snippet mountain produced scraps of black perfect for the job.

Now I'm off over to link with Di's challenge at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 146 - where anything goes as long as it has a snippet or two on it somewhere.

Many thanks to you for popping in ... leave a comment if you have time because it's good to know that I'm not here on my own just blethering away to myself :)

Take care and enjoy what's left of the day.

Happy Crafting,

Live Every Moment - Card from Water Colour Class

Evening Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the weekend.

I'm still here! A full week since I last posted ... where does the time go? The EM is still suffering with sciatica,  very frustrating for him as he is able to do a lot less than usual - and he's not a man to sit around doing nothing. The antibiotics have done the trick for Bonnie, The Boss,  and she seems to have recovered well from that nasty ear infection. And, me? I'm just so busy I don't seem to be able to find a great deal of time to do any crafting ... even for the water colouring class. Fortunately, I can pick it up later when things have settled down again.

Talking of the water colouring, this is the last piece I managed to do a couple of weeks ago. The colours are much bolder than previous samples due to using Ranger's distress inks instead of the water colour paints, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers. The effect is created by squishing ink on a stamp block, spritzing with water, then 'stamping' on to water colour card.

It's a very simple card. Once the ink was dry I stamped the sentiment (IndigoBlu) on to it and then matted it on to black cardstock (Papermill Direct). This was then mounted, using dimensional adhesive, on to a card base made from the same black cardstock. Amber gems from stash decorate the card.

And that is that - I said it was easy - and apart from the drying time, quick too.

Must go ... I have a cup of tea going cold. Hope to be back again soon ... that is, sooner than a week next time.

Take care and happy crafting,

WOYWW 261 - What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Good Morning Fellow Deskers ...

... and all,

Here we are , one week on from the big 5-year WOYWW anniversary and I'm still chasing my tail! Still trying to get some crafting done, still not making much progress, still too many distractions and still wishing an extra couple of days could be added to my week.

So here's what's on my desk this morning. Looking significantly better than last week but there's still too many works in progress and not enough finished items to show you. In fact, the only finished pieces are the two fabulous 5-year celebration ATCs received from BJ, on left, and Cindy, on right. You can see mine, together with the matching cards, on the right, not quite finished yet ... they will be in the post just as soon as they are, I promise. On the right is evidence of one of the distractions I mentioned earlier. I've enrolled on a class on watercolouring for cardmakers - more in a later post - so what you can see is some of the inks used and a couple of my pathetic attempts. Hopefully I'll improve with practice.

Another of the distractions! This is the view from the craft room window showing the newly planted alpine/scree garden and the newly dug out long border ... another work in progress. Yesterday we planted out an area of it with plants that are pink flowering ... other colours to follow :) The chair, in one of the hot spots, is where The Boss snoozes for much of the day.

And talking of The Boss - here she is, another distraction. I was all set to take a photo of the desk when she hopped up wanting to snuggle up. As you can see, I'm not too practiced in taking selfies :) She has been a very poorly old girl this week, an ear infection necessitating two injections from the vet, so she is feeling a wee bit sorry for herself and needing/demanding extended cuddles.

Not sure why I'm telling you this? Well, it's because of the weekly bloghop around the world's crafty desks brought to us by our amazing Head Desker, Julia, over at the Stamping Ground ... pop over here for a fuller explanation and, if you haven't done so already, do join in ... you'll find Deskers love nothing better than to peak at other folk's desks.

To close, I wish you all a happy WOYWW and a wonderful week ahead. As always, I hope to peak at as many desks as possible ... hopefully, there won't be too many distractions today :)

Happy Crafting,

Spring Broom Wall Hanger

Evening Everyone,

It's been another busy and disruptive day at the present Casa Worthington ... I may have said this before so at the risk of repeating myself, I hate moving house!?!?

So it's been a case of NOMWW - Nothing on My Workdesk Wednesday - and no time to play, sigh, or not much time because I did sneak in for a few minutes to finish this small wall hanger.

 I've rather tired of making cards for the time being, besides I have a drawer full, so I thought I'd make something to hang on the wall instead. And I know Spring feels as though it's a long way off but it will come again, surely!

The base is a 6" square piece of recycled cardboard packaging covered in a patterned paper, the design is a paint distressed looking one, perfect for this project. The background is stamped with the Broom stamp from A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady set, first in Versafine Vintage Sepia and then VersaMark brushed with gold mica powder. The sentiment, stamped in Momento Rich Cocoa, is from Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy Spring.

To make the topper, a stamp block was inked with three shades of Adirondack, Sunshine Yellow, Peach Bellini and Willow, then sprayed with water to create the background. Once dry it was stamped with the same Broom stamp as used on the background. This was then coloured with Memento markers in yellows and greens.

The ribbon and the embellishments, gold die-cut butterflies, gems, pearls and sequins are all from stash.

I'm submitting this to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground Week 90 - the topper is made from snippets of white and brown card. While I'm over there I'll take the opportunity to see Di's first Zentangled project ... something I have yet to try, and as it looks so complex and arty, I may never try :)

I hope you are all well and that Wednesday has been good to you.

Take care and happy crafting,