The Stampman Challenge - Butterflies and Dragonflies

The latest challenge at The Stamp Man is Butterflies and Dragonflies. I decided to go for a kind of Nature Journal look for this card. The butterfly stamps are an old Hero Arts set which I haven't used in a long time!

 I stamped the butterflies in Archival Coffee ink. Then I cut out masks and over stamped with the Hero Arts Journal page stamp. I then distressed the edgess, added the ferns and layered up with an old book page. I even used my Distress Stains for the first time to distress the text page.

I used Tim Holtz tissue tape top and bottom, added a few finishing touches and it's done. I added interference pearl-ex to the butterfly wings for shimmer. Although you don't see that too well in the photo.

"A Miraculous Journey"

My Daughter's Graduation

As promised here are a couple of photos taken at Catriona's graduation ceremony on Thursday. I never managed to get many photos as it was pouring down when we arrived. Everyone was trying to get into shelter on the steps of the Caird Hall in Dundee. Then when we came out afterwards there was a very loud clap of thunder and the heavens opened again. At least she'll have the official photos to look forward too.

Despite the rain it was a lovely day and we were so proud of her. It brought back memories of my own graduation day 26 years ago ... arghhhhh. I thought her boyfriend Sean looked very smart too. He graduated on Friday.

On the steps of the Caird Hall

Catriona and her partner Sean

Graduation Day

Tomorrow is my daughter's graduation. She has just finished her degree in Fine Art. I really don't know where the last 4 years have gone. It seems like only a short time ago we helped her move into Halls for her first year. I will post the proud mother and daughter photo later. Many of out Stampaholics customers knew Catriona so might like to see the pictures!!

So this has been a bit of a hectic week. As I haven't had time to do much crafting I will show you the quick cards I made for Catriona and her boyfriend Sean's graduation. I hope to get some time to craft at the weekend (if my hubby doesn't drag me into the garden).

Card for Catriona

Card for Sean

Back from Holiday

Hi everyone

We are just back from a holiday on the beautiful island of Harris in the Outer Hebridies. And by all accounts we had much better weather than on the mainland. I did take some craft stuff with me in case of bad weather, but I am happy to say it stayed in the boxes!! So I have no crafting things to share with you today. And judging by the jungle that is my garden and the mountain of washing and ironing, I won't be crafting for a few days yet.

Thanks so much for the lovely comments on the posts that appeared whilst I was away. And I will catch up with all my favourite blogs soon!
Here a a few of my holiday snaps to bore you!! Seriously though, if you want to go some where breathtakingly beautiful, peaceful and lots of wildlife, then the Scottish west coast and islands are hard to beat. I have fallen in love with the Hebrides and hope to go back next year again.

Ben Luskentyre (one of the hills we climbed)

On the causeway between the island of Berneray and North Uist

Early morning view from our cottage (I was letting the dogs out!!)

The colours of the water are amazing!

Rory having a leisurely stroll along the beach at Luskentyre

Another amazing place - Scarista bay

Mean and moody - view from the cottage over looking Loch Tarbet

Black and White - Woodware Design Team

This weeks challenge is Black and White . 
I have used a lovely floral tile stamp from Magenta (26.053 M  Reverse Floral Frame) as my centre piece for this easel card. I have stamped it twice onto white card with black pigment ink and embossed it with clear powder. From one I have cut out the centre sqare and layered this onto black card. I have placed it diagonally onto the full tile. The corners are cut with a Woodware Inverted Corner Punch. I have added pearls and white Bonbon Candy embellishments. The platform to support the easel has been stamped with another Magenta stamp (14.589 F Solid Fern) and 3 of the flowers cut out from the tile image stamped onto scraps of white card. Add a sentiment and your done. Black and white is quite a striking theme to work with.

 

The inside was decorated with the same paper and a sentiment stamped (from a Stampendous set  (SSC 1053  Orchid Greetings).

A Bunch of Flowers - Woodware Design Team

This weeks theme is "A Bunch of Flowers".  I found this lovely flower stamp by Stampendous in my stash. I haven't used it for ages. I stamped it onto white card with Versamark and embossed with white powder. I then used  a soft yellow and two shades of pink pigment inks over the top using DTP (direct to paper). The excess was wiped off with kitchen towel to make the white outline pop. I stitched some beads onto the flower stamens and stitched a button into the centre. Woodware do great assorted button packs in different colour combinations. I keep them all in Ikea spice jars in my craft room.  The sentiment is another Stampendous stamp which I love. The maidenhair fern is one of the Leon-M punches stocked by Woodware. These punches are such great quality. But you do have to gently stand on them to cut. Don't worry they will last for years!!

I don't often do girly pink but I thought this kind of worked!!

A Bunch of Flowers

 Check out the Woodware Blog for more samples. It would be lovely if you could leave comments on the Woodware blog as this is a new feature for them and it would be great to get some feedback or reaction.

Sketch Challenge 1 - Woodware Design Team

This week the challenge is to use a sketch for the layout. After that anything goes.

I decided to keep pretty much to the basic sketch. I chose to use a favourite stamp of mine from Stampendous called "Agapanthus Cluster". I have used this stamps many times. There is another sample on my blog where I have used it in a different way. It is one of those stamps which has versatility written all over it. Why not check out all the other samples at the Woodware Blog

For the main panel, I sponged the sun through a post it note punched with the yellow Woodware circle punch. I used purple and green Tombow brush markers directly on the Agapanthus stamp then blended the edges of the panel with green ink to soften.

For the gold panel I stamped the Agapanthus heads several times using gold ink and embossing with gold powder. The long green strip was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder to add another layer of texture. I finished off with a little glitter on the flowers (which you can't really pick up in the photo) and a punched out dragonfly and some pearls.

 

 

Agapanthus Cluster

Away on Holiday

Things will be quiet on my blog for a couple of weeks as we are leaving  tomorrow morning to drive up to Skye and get the ferry to the beautiful island of Harris. I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of pottering. The scenery is stunning, the beaches quiet and lots of beautiful hills. Last year we saw an otter and an eagle, lots of seals and other wildlife.

This is a photo from last year.

Alfie doing a spot of rock climbing!!

The samples I have made for the Woodware Design Team are sheduled and will appear while I am away. Better go and finish my packing!!

Cards for Men - Woodware Design Team

This week we are featuring "Cards for Men". This is always a challenge!! I decided to dig out an old Magenta stamp featuring 3 elephants. It is still current and available from Woodware stockists. I have used this on many occasions in the past for male birthdays and also "Sorry I forgot". I tend to put something inside along the lines "An elephant never forgets..... but sadly your Aunty Siobhan does" . For a card maker I am a bit hopeless at times!

Deep Impression Embossing

 Here is the finished sample. I build up about 3 or 4 layers of gold and copper embossing powders on a piece of mountboard cut slightly bigger than the stamp. Whilst still hot I stamped into the molten powder to give this lovely textured piece. I then brushed over a little pewter pearl-ex powder to highlight the elephants. The dotty grasses (also a Magenta stamp) were stamped in Brilliance Crimson Copper ink along the bottom of the paper.

Check out the other DT member's cards  at the Woodware Blog

Your my Favourite -Penny Black Challange

This month's challange from Penny Black at Allsorts is to pick your favourite stamp. What can I say - I have so many favourites. I decided to go with the cute one's for a change. I love the Penny Black mice and bunnies in particular. I especially love the Penny Black tryptich style. And this one of the little mice in the walnut shells is just so cute.

I have used this for lot's of occasions including "Happy Retirement"

Then I found another one I love which is the little bunny and bird in the garden. I don't know which is my favourite out of these two. I will let you decide.

I don't do much in the way of cute these days, so I hope you like them!!