Say It With Flowers

Morning everyone!  Now I know I said that I would show you the rest of Mum's snowflakes but I thought I'd hold onto them for a bit and wait to see if we get any more snow and post them up then so that it is 'seasonal'!!

So instead I've got a flowery card for you today which I thought I'd enter into the Penny Black At Allsorts Say It With Flowers challenge.  I used one of my favourite Penny Black stamps called Clusters and used another favourite PB stamp - Scrolling Along to decorate around my main image and the background panel. 

I stamped the burgundy panel with Moonlight White Brilliance ink and the Mince Flourish stamp by Judikins.  I'm afraid that I can't remember whose the 'Friends Always' stamp is but the 'Birthday Wishes' is a Craftwork Cards Oh My Words! Message.

The flowers were coloured using Coloursoft pencils and then glittered using Stickles.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Bright Flowers

Morning guys.  I know I keep saying this but I really don't know where the time keeps going to!!  I had fully intended to post something up yesterday and what with one thing and another I never got round to it!

So before I start seriously crafting and lose myself for hours I thought I'd post this card up now!  I had a few days off over Christmas and sat down and played around with some of my stamps and this is one of the cards that I produced for Sir Stampalot.  Sir Stampalot have been really good to me over the years and I am always promising them to send them some cards and finally I made good on my promise!  The main image is by Penny Black and called Windflower which I inked up using brush markers and lightly spritzed with water before stamping it out - just like you see me do on the Basics and Beyond DVD.  The wording was taken from a Penny Black clear stamp set, the flourish (on the flower panel) is by Judikins, dotty swirl is by Denami and I have absolutely no idea whose the flourish is in the bottom left corner of the card - it's too long ago!!  I do remember that the green panel was embossed using my Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug folder!

By the way.....................why is it that when you duplicate colours from a real life flower it ends up looking not quite right??  I actually took these colours on my flowers from real life flowers that were in a gardening catalogue and I don't actually like mine whereas the proper flowers looked great!  NOT FAIR!!

Penny Black stamps and Marvy Le Plume II markers from Sir Stampalot
Judikins and Denami stamps from Stamp Addicts

Whiff Of Joy GD Challenge

Hi guys!  I thought that I would be brave and have a go at entering Whiff Of Joy's GD challenge which is currently running.  I love the Whiff Of Joy range of stamps so to be able to work with them for a couple of months would be a dream job!

The challenge is to follow a recipe -
1 x cardstock, 2 x pieces of patterned paper, 1 ribbon and 1 button!  This was SO hard to do as I do like to embellish my cards with extra little bits but I am quite proud of myself as I followed this recipe to the letter.  (I did wrap my piece of ribbon around my card twice but I did only use one piece so hopefully this is ok!!)

The papers I used were by Bo Bunny (black) and Basic Grey (light blue).  As you can see I embellished my one piece of cardstock by punching it with my Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace punch that came from Stamp Addicts.  I also added a little subtle stamping to the background papers too by using my Judikins Mince Flourish stamp (also from Stamp Addicts) around the edges of the papers but I kept this very muted so that all the focus would be on the main image.  Then in two of the corners I applied some dots of Baby Blue Liquid Pearls

Here is a close up of my main panel which is of Willow With Flower Basket.  I stamped her with Graphite Black Brilliance and coloured her using Copics.  I also subtlety stamped that Mince Flourish again around the edges of the panel using a light blue inkpad and then overstamped the wording which came from the Tiny Phrases stamp set by Woodware.

Lastly I added some faux stitching with a fine black pen and then applied some Stardust glitter glue to parts of Willow, the grass area and around the main panel.

Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!

Some Spring Cheer!!

By now regular followers of this blog will know that I live in the south east corner of the UK which is supposedly one of the warmest parts of the whole of the United Kingdom.  I say 'supposedly' because whilst I was watching our local news and weather I was informed that today we were colder than Scotland (the northern part of the UK), and to be honest I can quite believe it as it was freezing out there and has been for the last few days.  We have been well below the average temperature for this time of year as we have only been hitting about 5c - apparently normal temperatures should be around 10 or 11c.

So I thought I would cheer myself up a bit and post up a pretty flowery card to remind myself that it won't be long before all the spring flowers start to make an appearance - with a bit of luck!!

The flower stamp I've used is one of my favourite Brushstroke stamps by Penny Black called 'Blush'.  I simply coloured the stamp with brush markers and then stamped it three times onto my panel without any reinking so as to get some variations in depth of colour.  Along the bottom of the panel I stamped Judikins's Mince Flourish by colouring the stamp using a green brush marker and stamping along the base of the panel - again without reinking the stamp between each stamped impression. The wording (taken from the Penny Black clear Salutations stamp set) was stamped using a Brilliance Graphite Black inkpad and the Denami Large Dot Swirls that you see on the background panels were stamped using the Brilliance Starlite Black inkpad which is much softer than the Graphite Black. 

I hope you like it and reminds you all that (hopefully) it won't be too long before we get some warmer weather!

Background panel - Arabella by Basic Grey from The Stamp Man
Penny Black stamps from Sir Stampalot
Judikins and Denami stamps from Stamp Addicts
Prima flowers, self-adhesive pearls and nailheads from The Craft Barn

Lilac Windflowers

Morning guys.  I was going to post up the other Craft Barn Funky Flowers card that we did but on reflection I thought that I would give them a rest and pop this card on here instead.  This was a result of one of my 'play' sessions that I had just after Christmas when I had a little bit of time!

The main image is by Penny Black and is called Windflower - hence the title!!  The wording is also by Penny Black and is from their clear Salutations stamp set - both of these items I got from the lovely people at Sir Stampalot who do a vast range of stamps!

The flowers are a bold stamp so I used my water-based markers directly onto the rubber stamp, then lightly spritzed the stamp with water to blend the inks and stamped out onto card. (You can see me do this technique on my Basics and Beyond DVD.)  To soften the white background I took my Judikins Mince Flourish stamp (Judikins), coloured the rubber with a water-based marker and stamped down the left side of the panel. Using this same marker I then lightly sponged the background. 

The dotty stamp that I have used as a border is by Denami. This stamp, the Judikins stamp and the ribbon came from Stamp Addicts.

Hope you like it!

A Flower For You!

I thought that today we would have a rest from the Funky Flowers (as I have more of these to show you) and go with a card that I did last summer for my Colouring Techniques DVD.

As I think we all know by now, I love the colour lilac and if I combine it with another colour it is normally with blue but for a change I decided to go with green for this card and I was actually quite pleased with the colour scheme.

The main image is by Penny Black and was stamped onto watercolour card and then watercoloured using water-based markers along with a water brush.  The flourish stamp (Judikins) that you see around the panel was stamped using a green water-based marker and then I gently traced over the stamped impressions with my water brush to soften the lines.

The flowers were punched out from Basic Grey background papers and Bazzill cardstock using my retro flower punches.

Materials used:
Penny Black Mouse from The Glitter Pot
Judikins Mince Flourish (around main panel and on green panel) and Mince Flowers and Leaves stamp (on lilac panel) from Stamp Addicts
Retro flower punches from The Hobby House
Friends Always stamp from a Hero Arts clear stamp set from The Glitter Pot

Hope you like the card!!

When I Could Make Cards..........

Morning guys.  Here's a card that I made last year back in the days when I could craft!!  The main image is a Sugar Nellie stamp available from Funky Kits.  The subtle flower background stamp and the flourish in the top left corner are both by Judikins and the daisy flower in the bottom right corner is a Stamps By Judith stamp. The background paper is by Denami and all of these products are available from Stamp Addicts. Lastly the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards and came from The Craft Barn as too did the tiny Prima flowers.

Here's a close up of the image which was stamped onto watercolour card and coloured using dye-based inkpads.

Watercolour Flowers

Morning everyone.  First of all my thanks to those of you who have commented on my last two posts especially to those who commented about my colouring!!  I really feel do love those Copics!!

For todays post though I thought I would go back to a technique that I used to do years ago (which you will also find on my DVD - Basics and Beyond).

I have always loved Penny Black stamps and in particular their Brushstroke range as you can make such stunning cards with these with very little effort.  Also because there are no stamped outlines you can pretend that you actually painted it yourself!!  To get this sort of effect you need to use water-based pens such as Marvys or Tombows.  You then take several complementing colours and colour directly onto the back of the stamp, spritz with water and stamp out onto your cardstock - simple but very effective!!  (Look out for a project coming soon in Craft Stamper using these stamps where I show you step-by-step how to do it!)

And here is a close up of the flowers.  The particles that you can see are specks of glitter glue as I always lightly add a touch of glitter glue over these stamped impressions to give them life!

Stamps used:

Main flowers and wording - Penny Black from Sir Stampalot

Flourish - Judikins from Stamp Addicts

Dotty swirl - Denami from Stamp Addicts

Stamp Addicts Demo Day - Card 6

As promised here is another of those cards that I made using the Stamps By Judith range for when I was up at Stamp Addicts for their Demo Day.

I know that I have said before how much I like these stamps. I love flowery stamps anyway but these appeal to me so much because you can make different arrangements so easily. I only used the flower pot stamps this time around to stamp them into but of course you can put them into many other receptacles too such as buckets, jars, vases, watering cans etc... Or of course they can just be stamped coming straight out of the ground.

I think that (grudgingly!!) I must agree with Sarah (from Stamp Addicts) that it did me good not having pink and lilac pencils in the tin of Polycolor pencils that she sent me as it did make me use other colours for a change which made me think about different colour schemes both at the time and since.

The background paper that you see on the left of the card is by Daisy Bucket. I just jazzed it up a bit by stamping a couple of stamps onto it to make it tie in more with the main image.

As already mentioned the image was coloured with Polycolor pencils combined with paper stumps and Zest-It blending solution. Prior to this all the flowers and pots were stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance as I have found that StazOn tends to bleed slightly with both the wax from the crayons and the solution whereas Brilliance doesn't providing it has been heat set.

Stamps used:

Stamps By Judith
F-239 Small Single Daisy
F-36 Medium Flowerpot
C-55 Small Flowerpot
AAA-140 Sprig-let
AAA-04 Dots
AAA-141 Grass Tuft
AAA-195 Open Daisy
F-214 Birthday Wishes

Denami
M65 Large Dot Swirls

Judikins
2972G Mince Flourish

All the stamps and materials used on the card are available from Stamp Addicts but don't forget that they can't show the Stamps By Judith images on their website so you will need to give them a ring to order any. (Their contact details can be found on their website.)

Stamp Addicts Demo Day Card 4

As I write this I am absolutely shattered as I have been working hard all week trying to get my samples done for The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Weekend!! Luckily I have made it and I just hope that everyone likes what I have created with my new stamp range. I will soon find out!!



Meanwhile here is another version of stamping flowers into pots. For variation I have used both the medium and small flowerpots. This time I have stamped the Simple Daisy and the Tall Aster into them and added the Sprig-let as foliage at the top of the pots. All of these are by Stamps By Judith and are available from Stamp Addicts. Don't forget they can't show these images online but they do sell them.



Hope you all have a great weekend. I will report back in due course as to how my weekend went! Wish me luck.................

Stamp Addicts Demo Day Card 3

You'll never guess what?? I have now got some cards together using my new stamps and what's more I didn't struggle with them either!! I think this is the first time ever when I haven't had to think and re-think when using my own stamps for the first time! So Dawn (All Pink Girl) I think your advice must have worked about pretending they were someone elses!! I will load the cards up onto my blog at some point but for now I will continue with the ones that I made for Stamp Addicts.

I have got to say that I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment (which won't last!!) as all the Stamp Addicts cards came together easily for me as well. Mind you I really love the interactive flower stamps by Stamps By Judith - I just don't think you can go wrong with them.

For this card I stamped the medium flower pot 3 times and masked the top of the pots just with a straight edge of a piece of scrap paper. This then enabled me to stamp all my flowers into the pots. You'll notice that I also stamped some shrubbery bits in the pots too which helps it to look more natural. All the colouring was done with the Polycolor pencils (which I LOVE) and the Zest It blending solution. These pencils are so easy to work with and blend together really well. I most definitely need a large set of these at some point!!


Stamps used :

Stamps By Judith
H-195 Fine Poppy
F-239 Small Single Daisy
F-188 Simple Daisy
AAA-04 Dots
F-36 Medium Flowerpot
AA-66 Swirl Flower
AAA-140 Sprig-let
AAA-141 Grass Tuft

Judikins - 2972G Mince Flourish

Denami - M65 Large Dot Swirls

All stamps and materials can be bought from Stamp Addicts. (The Stamps By Judith stamps will not feature on their online shopping as they are not allowed to upload the images but they are all in stock - you will find both their email and telephone details on their website.)

*****************

So tomorrow I am zooming off to The Craft Barn for their Extravaganza Weekend where I will be demoing with my new stamps along with Copic Ciaos and shrink plastic on the Saturday and Coloursoft pencils and Sansador on the Sunday. If any of you live close enough to drop by it would be great to see you and don't forget to introduce yourself!! I am absolutely rubbish at names though and although I often recognise faces I can't always put the right name to the face so I'll apologise in advance now!! Anyway hope to see you there...........

Stamp Addicts Demo Day Card 2

Morning Guys. Here is another card using that same Large Design Square but this time with different flowers stamped into it. The technique used for this card is exactly the same as the one I posted yesterday and the flowers were coloured using the Polycolor pencils and Zest-It blending solution.

The green background paper is by Daisy Bucket and I can't remember who the blue one is by but they are both available from Stamp Addicts. You'll notice that I stamped some imagery onto these papers using either the Dotty Swirl by Denami or the Mince Flourish by Judikins. The Dotty Swirl was stamped with Brilliance Starlite Black which is a very soft black with a shimmer to it and the flourish was stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black.


Stamps used :

Stamps By Judith
F-239 Small Single Daisy
AAA-04 Dots
H-218-HK Large Design Square

Judikins - 2972G Mince Flourish

Denami - M65 Large Dot Swirls

All stamps and materials can be bought from Stamp Addicts. (The Stamps By Judith stamps will not feature on their online shopping as they are not allowed to upload the images but they are all in stock - you will find both their email and telephone details on their website.)

Stamp Addicts Demo Day Card 1

So finally here is one of the cards from last Saturday. I stamped the large design square 3 times onto white card then stamped it again onto scrap paper. Using a craft knife I cut out the square following the inside line to create a reverse mask - imagine a square aperture in a piece of paper. This was then placed over each stamped square in turn so that I could stamp the flowers within the squares. As I knew I would be colouring the flowers with the Polycolor pencils and Zest It blending solution combined with paper/blending stumps, I did all my stamping with Graphite Black Brilliance as I have found that StazOn tends to bleed slightly when you add the blending solution. If you click on the image you should be able to see that I also very lightly stamped some green dots into the squares as well just to take away the starkness of the background. I stamped the background papers (Daisy Bucket) with a Judikins flourish stamp using the Graphite Black Brilliance inkpad too.


Stamps used :

Stamps By Judith
F-189 Tall Aster
AAA-04 Dots
H-218-HK Large Design Square

Judikins - 2972G Mince Flourish

All stamps and materials can be bought from Stamp Addicts. (The Stamps By Judith stamps will not feature on their online shopping as they are not allowed to upload the images but they are all in stock - you will find both their email and telephone details on their website.)

The 2nd Workshop Card

So here is the other card we will be making today and as you can see a hint of brown crept into this card too. I quite like wearing pink and brown together but had never done this colour scheme before on a card but I think it worked out quite well! (The only trouble is the brown colour reminds me of chocolate and I keep wanting to rush for the Cadbury's Dairy Milk!)

The main image stamps that you see here are all off of the same Judikins stamp set and the papers are by Denami. I stamped and embossed another Judikins stamp (Mince Flourish) to create the background on the pale pink panel and then simply added some punched out flowers from scrap pieces of paper and card to embellish the card further.

This is the 'girl' that is most like me from this particular stamp range as I just LOVE to shop!

Stamp Addicts Workshop

So tomorrow I will be off up to see the Stamp Addicts girls. I am just keeping everything crossed that the weather will be nice and that I don't encounter any major hold ups. Every time I have driven up to Bedford I have been snarled up in traffic so it would make a really pleasant change if it could just go smoothly this time!

This is one of the cards that I have designed for the workshop. I thought it would be nice to use the new girl stamps and although this is a congratulations card for someone who has done well at school/college it can easily be turned into something else by replacing the books with a different image and altering the wording.

Yet another different colour scheme for me too! I don't often incorporate brown into my cards but I thought that it went quite well with my favourite colour of lilac!

As you can probably guess all of the products that you see on the card can be bought from Stamp Addicts - the strips of paper you can see is from a 12x12 sheet by Denami.

Doesn't Time Fly??

I can't believe how quickly we are getting through this year and am astonished to think that a week tomorrow I will be heading up the motorway for my workshop at Stamp Addicts. (Originally when we arranged it - the end of May seemed so far away and now it is almost here!)


Anyway in honour of my forthcoming trip to Stamp Addicts I thought I'd take the opportunity of loading up a card we did on one of my previous workshops up there. The flower stamps were stamped with a pigment inkpad and embossed with Sticky embossing powder and then gold leaf was applied over the top. As well as the Sticky embossing powder holding gold leaf it will also take foil and glitter too. The flowers were from a Printworks set, the wording from a Denami set of 3 wording stamps and the background is one of my favourite flourish stamps called Mince Flourish by Judikins. All of which you can get from Stamp Addicts.

Over the weekend I will be putting the finishing touches to the cards that we'll be doing for this coming workshop so look out for these either next week or the week after!

Peace Girl 2

Well this is it the very last card that I did using the new Judikins's stamp sheets from Stamp Addicts. I believe the background papers that I used here came from The Craft Barn but I can't remember whose they were - it's too long ago now!

As you can see I used the Judikins flourish to frame the girl's head in order to give the appearance that she is sitting outside under some foliage. I hope you like it!

The Last Of The Girls

This card was made using the Peace Girl stamp sheet by Judikins along with pretty background papers that I bought from The Glitter Pot. Both the loud flowery paper and the black and white strips of paper are by Daisy Bucket.

The black and white print out shows you all the stamps that you get on this particular stamp sheet.

Tunes Girl 2

Oops! I had fully intended to post yesterday but I was eager to get cracking on catching up with stuff yesterday and then I just never made it back to my computer! Thankfully I can now hold stamps and inkpads and although I had to press the bigger stamps with my elbow, instead of my hand, at least I was able to get on! So before I run away from my computer this morning and attempt another busy day of catching up I thought I would post up the second Tunes Girl card.

So here it is. As you can see I used some of the same background paper as for the other card but this time combined it with a brown spotty paper by My Minds Eye which I had purchased from The Glitter Pot. All the stamps used are by Judikins including the flourish in the top left corner which of course are from Stamp Addicts. The layered circles were done with my Nestabilities dies.

Back To The Girls

Good morning to you all. I must just thank Brenda and Lisa for your kind comments regarding my poorly hand - they were very much appreciated. It seems that something is working although I don't know if it is the pills, the ice or the rest so I will keep all three up today and hope for great things tomorrow. At least today I can actually pick up light things! Yippee!! (Thanks for the info Lisa on the Rosehip - I'll certainly make a note of that.)

As you can see from todays card we are back with the new girl stamp sheets from Stamp Addicts. The flourish you can see is by Judikins and is a firm favourite of mine - this too is of course available from Stamp Addicts. All the other stamps used were from the Tunes Girl stamp sheet. The stripey background paper is by Daisy Bucket and the dotty black background paper is by Pebbles Inc - both from The Glitter Pot. The images were stamped with Stone Grey StazOn and watercoloured with Zig Brushables.

I've uploaded a print out of the stamp sheet as well so you can see exactly what you get.