Embrace the Magic

 There are always new things to tempt me with Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusives.

Light and Wonder stamps and dies and Lights of Aurora DSP arrived, and this was my first play with them.

The layout was inspired by Emma Goddard (coastal crafter).

I cut an aperture, placed the die cut tree and paper behind, and gave it a splattering of inks.

I then punched an oval, stamped the sentiment and fussy cut “magic”

For the second card, I did the same but without the splattering, and another sentiment.

I’m taking this over to the Snippets Playground, as I used snippets of white for the sentiments and I have the insert of the aperture ready to use as another snippet 😃.

The second of these cards went to Miss Di’s Hubby, and may have inspired her recent card 😉,

Snippets Playground # 518

and the first went to Darnell and her husband, who is recovering from a nasty accident.

Darnell runs a blog for our “never before used stuff”, so I’m taking that over to 

MyNBUS #80

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Non traditional village

 I’m cracking on with my Christmas cards, how are you getting on?

Yuletide Village was a favourite stamp set from SU last year.

I used the masking technique to create my village and

used non traditional colours for fun.

We have a beautiful church in the village, up on a hill.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Losing a dear pet…

 Losing a beloved pet is really hard. I made this one for a friend whose dog sadly died recently.

I used a Gummiapan clouds stencil, and Cardio stamps, Festive Fun and Waterside Walks.

This one is for all the pets we have lost but loved, and gave us great joy.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Play guitars

 Here’s one I made for a music lover who enjoys his guitars.

It was fun designing the guitars with some SU papers and Gummiapan dies.

I love teeny things, and the Gummiapan dies are adorable, even a little tiny cassette tape 😍.

The background papers are SU too.

Enjoy your day

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Cheers!

 A fun one today….at least I hope my cousin found it fun 😂😳.

We have to roll with these gags at our age 😂

It’s made with old SU papers, and lots of SU sentiments, probably retired.

It was fun to put together, a bit of fussy cutting, and a paper insert.

Enjoy your day!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

So Grateful for autumn

 I do like a square card, autumn colours, and this stamp set, Soft Seedlings (Stampin’ Up!)

I did this as a thank you card, using one of the stamps in the set to create the background.

The paper Players #760 CAS Foliage

Inkspirational #352 Seasonal (autumn)

We Love Stamping (anything autumn)

Stamping Sensations (autumn)

Allsorts traditional christmas

 Today’s card was put together for the Allsorts Challenge #834, 

asking for traditional Christmas colours, red, gold and green….

I got out my bits n bobs tin from I-don’t-want- to-remember how long ago!

While searching for names of sets, I noticed some are on selling sites.

(See below for details)

I have some blank cards left from SU Beary Christmas, so I used this red one,

It provided the background for the pines and baubles.

So I’m rushing over to the Allsorts Challenge #834, 

as it closes soon, and as always there’s a fabulous prize.

Retired sets used: Stampin' Up, Beary Christmas, Beautiful Boughs, Decorated Pines,

 Clarity sentiment sheet “christmas”, Gummiapan “merry”.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Calm & Bright Kit from Stampin’ Up!

 As soon as I saw this kit I had to have it. It’s so pretty, and will add to my Xmas stash.

I love the colours and little details…

The pictures in the kit were taken with a different ink, Grey Granite, so I tried that first.

Here’s all the three designs

The house card on the right (below) was inked with Lost Lagoon Ink, the ink spot that’s in the kit.

It does stand out more.

I tried to replicate the design using my own old dies from SU…

Detailed Poinsettia, Home Together, & Card Front Builder.

I’m taking this over to Jingle Bells, “pink Christmas”, 

where Stephanie and Lauren are donating to breast cancer research foundation.

Below shows my attempt alongside the kit version.

I even used some of the left over pearlescent paper from the kit 😃

I’m also taking the pink one to the Snippets Playground #517,

here’s some of the snippets used…

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Beary’s Balloons wooden stamp

 

A very old wooden stamp, “Beary’s Balloons”, I think a Penny Black A785E.

Stampin’ Up! Everyday Arches dies

Some old SU papers, strip of card, fussing cutting and sequins, coloured with pencils and blender pen.

Have a Beary good day!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

By the sea…..

 Well the weather has been good again, and the autumn colours are starting to dazzle us,

so here’s a last beach day card remembering the sunny days of summer…

After splish splashing in the sea the family have popped back to the fish n chip shop…..

……as someone stole their chips 😂

Taking this to Seize the Birthday #315 

Inkspirational #352   (summer)

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

An ATC for autumn

 An ATC for “Tag-along and ATC’s”

I messed around for hours  a while until I decided to use a scrap of grapefruit card

that was almost the exact size for an ATC, it just needed slight trimming one side.

I used a beautiful but long retired SU stamp (Soft Seedlings)for the leaf background.

The A&C Acorn Collage set had the words, and I used the seed heads from the SU set,

stamped using three coloured inks, then fussy cut.

I edged the sides of the words with a blend pen, maybe I should have done the same on the main card?

Any tips welcome, as I am very much a novice in this area.

I’m taking this to:

Tag-along (and ATC’s) autumn challenge

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

A tag for autumn

I made a tag using some lovely stamps I won, and was gifted. (I have a few still not used!)

I always admire people’s collage style designs, but don’t really get much time to “play”,

as any spare time is mainly used for making the cards I send.

I used a tag cut with a retired SU set, it has a lovely shape and detail.

Stamped and watercoloured images, (AALL & create), 

fussy cut the mushrooms, (Lavinia Spotty Toadstool)

and added black twine that’s recycled from a clothes shop label.

I’m not sure there’s enough colour contrast?

Any constructive tips welcome, as I am very much a novice in this area.

I’m taking this to:

Tag-along (and ATC’s) autumn challenge

MyNBUS (first time I’ve used the stamps)

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Hey Girlfriend in the pink

 Hey there, just a simple card today for a niece who is growing up fast.

This is a cute retired stamp from SU, which I just gave touches of colour using blend pens.

I did have to make a mask to place the balloon behind the middle girl.

Sometimes less is more…plus she has the option of colouring in the rest of the image 😃

Have a great day

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Peaceful Garden

 Hi, today I’m sharing some cards I made with the Peaceful Garden suite from SU.

Stamp and die set Peace on Earth, DSP Peaceful Garden, EF Peaceful Greenery.

I cased the first two from Mary Deatharage, stampsnlingers.com.

I used secret sea two tone paper for the embossed layer and label.

I distressed the EF with a sanding tool, flipped the paper to white emboss the sentiment.

I love the doves, but mainly the tiny envelope!

On this one I used my finger to rub over the embossed layer with white ink.

I then did a Christmas version using an idea by Lisa Bowden, madetocreatewithLisa.

I love how this uses one sheet of DSP, cut with 3 nesting arch dies.

This is then layered up with 3 separate arches cut from cardstock.

I hope you can see the sparkly dove and branch

I would like to thank you for leaving me some lovely comments, it really cheered me up.

I’m entering the Snippets Playground challenge #516,

 as lots of snippets used for doves, envelopes, sprigs, sentiments.

 Also Allsorts challenge 833, with the first card, “anything goes” as I don’t think doves count as woodland critters.

Edited to add to “my NBUS #79” blog, as this is the first time I’ve used this set, and it’s another chance to send best wishes to Darnell and her husband.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

When it rains…..

 We’ve been away recently, and I knew my sister would be missing us, as she recently lost her husband,

so I took this pre stamped image (stamp was borrowed from a friend), and coloured it in.

It even got to her before we were back home!

We’d been to North Wales, Nefyn area, to visit family.

Unfortunately the weather was absolutely awful, relentless gale force winds and torrential rain.

We were in our old motorhome, with a drive away awning attached.

Almost every seam and zip leaked from the force of the rain.

Some of my craft stash was soggy, but luckily not too much was ruined.

I came home with a stinking cold, and we found a problem with our boiler had leaked through the ceiling,

all over my craft desk 😩! Again luckily not too much was damaged, as I’d tidied it before going away.

Whilst we were away there had been a difficult funeral in the family, and we  also heard that our neighbour has submitted an appeal to build a large house very near our boundary……

….I do hope we are due some good luck soon!

I don’t normally offload like this, but thanks for reading if you got this far,

and you know what they say……when it rains……!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

FMS Uniko Wonderful Day

 I’m having a play with some new to me stamps from Uniko, 

this one is Wonderful Day, which happens to be discounted at the moment….HERE

It has some fabulous sentiments too, and lots more images.

I wanted to try a clean and simple card, and saw the Freshly Made Sketches sketch challenge #704

I used peach, pink, blue and yellow inks. I did alter the position of the sentiment,

mainly because I hadn’t noticed it on the sketch, silly me 😂🙄

I hope you have a good week

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Patterned Tags

 As soon as I saw this new set from SU, I had to have it!

It makes very simple tags, that I layered onto contrasting card…

The two on the left have old ombré glittery card  

Taking these to the following challenges:

Tag along and ATC’s (anything goes for the tag in the centre)

 Allsorts #832 (leaves / anything goes)

NBUS #78  (never before used stuff)

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx

Two cuties using well loved wooden stamps

I’m trying to make as many Christmas cards as possible, 

so I stamped a few images, and try to colour them in when I get time.

 This one is for We love Stamping (make it cute)

I used a white gel pen to scribble over the white fur, the rest is done with pencils.

I used SU stitched rectangle dies, snowflake embossing folder, Inkylicious sentiment.

(You might just see the embossed snowflakes)

The next one is for Stamping Sensations (CAS)

Another old wooden stamp, a Love2Craft die set, won in the Snippets Playground,

and an old SU sentiment.

This time I highlighted the fur with a blue pen.

I think I will add a star or snowflake above his nose,

what do you think….star or snowflake?

I’m also taking them to the Snippets Playground #515,

as lots of small snippets of card from my stash were used for the layers.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx