Merry Christmas

I sincerely hope everyone can stay safe, but things are not looking too good are they.

I always make a December Daily journal each year. I won’t have very much to put in it again this year, but we are doing our best to hold on to the Christmas Spirit. 

I started by making a little bag to hold my journal, my mother taught me how to use a sewing machine last year, but I am pretty hopeless at it! My excuse is I cannot feel my foot so I don’t know when I’m pressing the pedal ! 

For my journal I used a small book binding kit I received as a blog prize quite a few years ago. I had not made this type of journal before. You use thread to stitch  the pages in. I also cut down my old Christmas papers which I’ve had for years, so it was a bit of a mismatch. But I have so many scrapbook papers I really need to use them up.

Our Christmas tree this year. 

I wish you the happiest Christmas it is possible to have , stay safe xx 

Christmas Eve

Hello, how are you? I hope you are enjoying the festive season so far. I have finished making all of my Christmas cards, and today I have written and stamped them all! A task and a half!  I have lots of cards to share, and today I’ve chosen a card that I’ve Called “Christmas Eve” as it features Father Christmas, and his reindeer. I decided this reindeer is Ruldolph. so I have of course given him a red nose. I used watercolours, Sprinklets, white pen, and lashings of glitter. I also used some old Christmas scrapbook paper to make an extra special envelope for the card. I am on a mission to use up my mounds of patterned paper 😁

I made a larger size of the card too. 

Thank you for visiitng today, and please stay safe xx

I would like to enter “Christmas Eve “ into the following Challenges

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Paperbabe Anything Goes

We Love To Create Anything Goes

Country View Challenges Christmas Anything Goes

A Wagon full of Stars

I hope all is well with you.Today I am sharing another Christmas card.  I know some crafters make them all year round which is such a good idea.I usually make them a month or so before. I used lots of paper piecing on this Christmas card, as it is a good  way for me to use up all the little scraps of patterned paper, which I  am guilty of keeping! 

Thank you for visiitng, stay safe xx

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Paperbabe 157 Challenge

We Love To Create Anything Goes
 

Joy

Hello I hope all is ok with you. I have finally been able to post this, I have had it saved as a draft for some time.

I have made a few Christmas cards, and  as always they are all in watercolour, and my new favourite white gouache for snow. I also paper pieced the snowman’s scarf. I need to do more paper piecing, as it would help to use up some of my many pretty patterned papers.I used some of my extensive Christmas papers to make envelopes for my cards. I have also used them to make my December  Daily this year, and I have managed not to buy any of the new lovely Christmas designs! 

Thank you for visiting, and please stay safe, sadly this pandemic is very far from over xx

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour

HappyLittle Stampers Christmas make a scene

Unicorn Challenge Winter/Christmas 

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget 

Christmas Gift Tags

It is feeling a lot more wintery recently, so thoughts immediately turn to Christmas. I have all of my gifts sorted out already, I don’t actually have them yet but I know what I am going to buy.So that is a good start, thank goodness for online shopping! A few weeks ago I made some special tags to tie onto my gifts.  I still have a lot more Christmas cards to make, I hope to be able to make some more soon. The list gets longer and longer every year! 

I cut my tags from water colour card and stamped over my water coloured background with these gorgeous silhouette images. I used white Gouache  paint for my snow, and added lots of glitter too.You  just can’t have Christmas without lots and lots of glitter, but  it does get everywhere! I finished by threading some organza ribbons onto my tags.

I decided not to buy any new Christmas wrapping paper this year as I am slightly addicted to buying gorgeous Christmas wrappings 😀 So I am determined to use up what I already have. Hopefully these tags will match the papers. 

Stay safe, and thank you so much for visiting  ❤❤

I would like to enter my Christmas Gift Tags into the following challenges.

 

Country View Crafts Christmas Gifting

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour

HappyLittle Stampers Christmas make a scene

Unicorn Challenge Winter/Christmas

Happy Halloween

Just a quick post to wish everyone who celebrates Halloween a very nice day or should I say night.I am sharing a Witchy art journal page made for a challenge on Facebook. 

Stay safe xx

Happy 95th Pooh

Today is the 95th birthday of Winnie the Pooh! I have always loved Classic Pooh, as written by A.A.Milne, and brilliantly illustrated by E.H. Shepard. The first rubber stamps I ever owned were Classic Pooh ones, the  good old fashioned wooden ones.

I have created these Classic Pooh cards to celebrate this special day. I have sent them to my fellow Classic Pooh friends. I water coloured my background, and the images. I used a lot of masking to stamp the overlapping bunch of balloons. Pooh always needs honey so of course I stamped him lots of honey jars!

Pooh and friends joined us on a recent trip to the forest, and he enjoyed sitting on his thinking log.

I made a Classic Pooh cake today, with a marzipan Pooh, and a chocolate flake covered log. 

Thank you for visiting, and please stay safe, the covid numbers are high, and increasing every day xx 

I would like to enter Pooh into the following challenges

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Playing in the Autumn leaves

As Autumn arrives I feel very fortunate to live with a forest just at the bottom of our avenue. The leaves are starting to turn a multitude of browns, reds, and yellows. Due to the pandemic we have spent more time than ever visiting the forest, and I have started to keep a nature journal. I’ve gone back to childhood activities such as bark rubbing! So hoping things will improve next year…

With Autumn in mind, I have created this card for a swap. I used watercolours for the background, and also to add colour to the characters one of whom has jumped head first into the leaves! 

I added some autumnal texture by using  sprinklets in both gold and copper.

 I die cut a lot of leaves and gave them a wash of watercolour. I have some left over for my nature journal too. Tracy Easson’s girl stamp has her arm by her side so I stamped it again and snipped it off (sorry hope it didn’t hurt) to place it as if she was raising it up in the air holding the leaf. 

Thank you for visiting, stay safe xx

I would like to enter the following challenges

Try It On a Tuesday Autumn Blessings

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge

CountryView Challenges Autumn colours

Cards 4 Galz Autumn

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Always By My Side

I haven’t been crafting for  a while as I have been unwell, with a dreaded trip to A&E, but the Covid precautions were very good. Today I am sharing another card made with one of my hand drawn die cuts and a cute Mouse stamp from one of Tracy Easson fabulous stamp sets called Just A Girl and Her Forever Friend.

I used watercolours to create the background, and a circle stencil on the top of the card. I drew and fussy cut some heart balloons to tie to the wheelchair.  The sentiment also comes from a variety of Tracy Easson  stamp sets.

Today is world Sepsis day, and September is Sepsis month. I have had septicaemia 3 times, the first 2 times were very serious, and I nearly died. The second time I was even discharged from hospital with all the symptoms of  septicaemia, and I had to be rushed back in hours later by which time I was unconscious. So many people including Drs are not aware of Sepsis and it’s symptoms. It is very serious, and can leave permanent damage.  Be Sepsis Aware #WorldSepsisDay

Thank you for visiting, and please Stay safe xx

I would like to enter this into the following challenges. 

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour

Happy Little Stamper Stencil

Happy Little Stampers Dies I drew and die cut my wheelchair image so I hope that it counts 

We Love to Create Anything Goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Disabled abuse is not ok.

Hello how are you today? I am not sure what has happened to the summer, we had a few nice sunny days in July, but now we seem to have descended into Autumn.

Today I am sharing a picture, I am not sure if it will be a large card or a picture to put on the wall. 

I began by cutting  a 17.78cm square from a watercolour sheet, I used a pale yellow wash all over, followed by yellow and lemon brushos on the edges. I somehow managed to get a bit of an orange blob onto it, but it doesn’t look too bad and I will cover it up later. I stamped and clear embossed  honeycomb from Artistic Stamper around the edges. 

I drew my silhouette ( not exactly wonderfully) and die cut it. It does not die cut very well at a smaller size. I think because the spokes on the wheel are so delicate. I have cut out a few if any of my crafty friends  would like one please contact me.

I stamped bees from Indigoblu and Artistic stamper, after water colouring them, I clear embossed their little bodies, and added glitter to their wings. We have had a lot of bumble bees in our garden this year, which is lovely. 

I stamped and fussy cut a selection of flowers and leaves, all of them were water coloured and fussy cut. I used black stickles in the centre of some, and a clear beads on the centre of others. I slightly shaped some of the flowers and leaves (after I took this photo). 

I used  decoupage pads to adhere my silhouette, words, flowers, and added a few gems, and sequins too. 

I finished by edging the picture with black. 

Stay safe xx

I would like to enter this into the following challenges 

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour

Happy Little Stampers Anything with a Die

CountryView Challenges Monochromatic

WeLove 2 create Mixed Media Anything Goes

Christmas in July

Hello, and thank you for visiting, I hope you are keeping safe and well. Wishing  England lots of good luck in the Euro football final this weekend. 

Christmas in July seems to be very popular, I love Christmas but July emmm…  not so sure, but it’s good  to get a head start. So I’ve made a Snowman Christmas/Winter card especially for Lost Coast Christmas in July Challenge and Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge.

I created a background with water colours, and also coloured the snowman  using the  same medium. I stamped the image twice and fussy cut the holly  and carrot nose and decoupaged them onto the snowman. I used white acrylic paint to colour  the snow drips and sprinkled it with white glitter. I finished by clear embossing his/her eyes, and I also embossed the sentiment. 

Stay safe, covid cases are sadly increasing every day xx

The Brightest Star

Hello, I hope all is well with you. Today I am sharing a picture  which I created for the following challenges, Countryview Challenge Stencil, and Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge 

I am not sure if I will make it into a card or just keep it as picture to put on my wall. A friend sent me some of Tracey’s lovely stamped images. I used watercolours before  fussy cutting  them and  adhering with sticky pads. I created the background with Brushos, regular watercolours, lots of glitter and stencilled in a few stars. 

Stay safe, not to sure about all of the Covid restrictions being lifted in England.  Those  of us who are disabled and ill will probably have to continue to stay in. xx

Alice Day Challenge

My Alice Day Journal Page 

This year Alice Day is on the 3rd of July, there are some wonderful events happening in Oxford this year. I hope to be able to visit Oxford for Alice Day, one day. More information can be found about this years event at The Story Museum. 

In 2018 I started a little crafting challenge to celebrate Alice Day. For the last few years it has been kindly held on Facebook at UK Stampers. 

The prize for the random winner.

I am sharing some of my many Alice makes below.

Stay Safe xx

Imagination Can Take You Anywhere

We will be spending another summer stuck at home, it is the safest thing to do really. This new variant is sadly getting out of hand. Goodness knows what will happen if social distancing and mask wearing cease on June 21st.  In the meantime my imagination can take me anywhere. 

I used watercolours for the background and to also colour the girl, and paper pieced her dress. I covered the chipboard toadstools with gesso and then watercoloured them too, 

I would like to enter  the following challenges. 

Paperbabe Stamps Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour 

Unicorn Challenge For A Child 

Cardsz4Galz Summer Fun

Send a Smile 4 Kids

Pixie Pod on soft clay

The Lost Coast Challenge this week is to stamp on anything except paper. I don’t think I have stamped on soft clay before, so I thought I would give it a try. I used a cute Lost Coast Pixie from Carri's Hard Luck Pixies. I couldn’t find my craft knife (which must be hiding somewhere ) so I attempted to use scissors to cut away the excess  clay from around the stamped image. I used a pokey tool to make a hole in the top so I could hang it as a garden decoration,  I left it to dry for  over 24 hours and then painted it using acrylic paints. 

It didn’t come out as nicely as I had hoped it might, but it is always good to try something new. 

Stay safe xx

Fairy Bells

Hello, thank you for stopping by. We are enjoying lovely sunny weather at the moment, and it is about time after weeks of rain. 

Today I am being visited by this lovely Fairy, who is enjoying the magical sounds from the fairy bells.The background, fairy and flowers are all water coloured. There is lots of glitter, on the wings, but of course it does not show up in the photo. 

I created this for a Facebook challenge, but I am also entering it into the following blog challenges.

Paperbabe Stamps Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour 

Unicorn Challenge For A Child

Inspiration Station  the picture of the music score reminds me of the impromptu music created from wind chimes.  

Thank you for visiting and stay safe, sadly cases are increasing again xx

Hare Again

Well this lovely hare is back again! This time on an oval canvas, I think I purchased it in the Tiger store back in the day when we could go to the shops! Well I know we can go to the shops now, but we have decided not to. After being told to stay at home for over a year, I’m not going out shopping now when we sadly have a new variant nearby, even when  I’ve had both jabs. 

I made this canvas for a challenge on Facebook. I used acrylics, to make the background, and watercolours to colour the hare. I also used some of my chipboard toadstools which I’ve been hanging onto as they are too nice to use, but I actually managed to use them ! It is silly to hold onto things, it’s fun to use them and then you can just  buy more :  )

I’m not sure what everyone else is going to do about the feedburner for blogger, I started to follow the instructions and it said to download 1,391 something subscriber  addresses most I suspect are spam. I didn’t want to do that, and you have to be so careful with other peoples data because of the data protection act of 2018. You can’t use or pass on peoples emails to others.There seems to be more and more problems with blogger every day, blogs seem to be old hat now  and most things are on social media. 

Thank you for stopping by, stay safe xx

The forest at the bottom of our road, looking forward to the weather improving, so we can go for a stroll.

A Good Hare Day!

Hello how are you? I recently decided to treat myself to this lovely stamp set. I love hares, and this one seems to look as if he has a rather mischievous little character. I am sure I will be using him a lot. 

 

As always I water coloured everything, and this time  I also did a lot of masking for the toadstools etc. 

Please Stay safe this new Indian variant seems a real worry. xx 

 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges   

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge, 

Paperbabe Anything Goes challenge,

Chocolate Baroque Bright Sunny Colours 

Take Heart All Will Be Well In Time ..

Take Heart all will be well in time. An art Journal page for our times. 

I am entering this into the  Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge and the 

Paperbabe Anything Goes challenge

 Stay Safe,  and thank you for visiting xx 

My Support Bubble

Hello, I hope you are doing ok, such sad news we heard on Friday about the Duke of Edinburgh. We were all in tears, but he enjoyed a good, long life, and helped so many people by his good works. 

  Today I am sharing an art journal page which I created a few weeks ago. I should explain  that in the UK people who are living alone can create a “support bubble” with one other household. So this was my reason for creating this page. I used watercolours to bring Tracey’s lovely Characters to life.

Stay safe, covid numbers are at last improving in the UK, hopefully it may be safe to go out again soon... Sadly other countries are not doing so well and facing a third wave. Hoping so much that things will improve for the whole world very soon. 

Thank you for visiting xx 

I would like to add my art journal page into the following challenges. 

Happy Little Stampers 

Paperbabe Anything Goes

Crafty Creations

Unicorn Challenges include an Animal

Happy Easter

Hello how are you today? We are enjoying a few sunnier days here in London.I am looking forward to the sad COVID-19 situation improving so it will be safer to go out again.Like so many others, apart from going to medical appointments I haven’t been able to leave my home for over a year. 

Today I am sharing another card made with the lovely Anita Jeram stamps, she illustrated the beautiful and wonderful “ Guess How Much I love” books. I used watercolours to colour the background and images, and added a little flowersoft and stickles too.My photo makes it look more wishy washy than it really is. 

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter weekend.

I would like to enter my Easter Card into the following challenges

shopping our stash Peter Cottontail

Try It on a Tuesday Spring

Simon Says Easter/Spring

make My Monday Easter

Cutie Pie Blossom and Blooms  

 

Virtual Hugs

With so many of us not being able to see our friends and family at the moment, it is nice to send virtual hugs instead. This is another card using one of the lovely images by  Anita Jeram. Sending Virtual hugs to everyone who needs one xx

Thank you for visiting today xx 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges 

Happy Little Stampers Water colour Challenge

Chocolate Baroque I Love ... I love water colours I always use them for making my cards. 

Wishing you Happiness

Hi I hope all is well with you. It looks like spring is finally arriving with some sunny days predicted for next week. I have been making a few slimline cards recently, it is nice to work with a different size card. 

For this card I have used one of the stunning new stamps by Anita Jeram, who illustrated the “ Guess How Much I Love You “ books. I created the background and coloured the stamp with water colours,

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges 

Happy Little Stampers Water colour Challenge

Chocolate Baroque I Love ... I love water colours I always use them for making my cards. 

Stay safe and thank you for visiting.

Reflecting

Hello, I hope all is ok with you. Here in the UK tomorrow is the National Day of Reflection. It will be a year since our first lockdown, and we will be remembering all those who have sadly died from this horrific virus.I am not sure of the exact number now, and I dread to look it up. 

I have like so many others spent a year stuck at home, only going out to attend medical appointments. 

 I have recently been spending my time going through my stamp collection. Which was rather overflowing! I ended up with quite a collection of surplus stamps, which I gave away on facebook. I also came across the first stamps I ever owned which were some lovely wooden Classic Pooh ones. So of course I couldn’t resist having a play with them.

I used them in this little mint tin, which I altered into a little 100 Acre Wood Scene.

I used decoupage papers to cover the tin, and added a little Pooh and Piglet punch out which is also quite old! 

National Day of Reflection

We will never forget the precious lives lost.

Stay safe xx