Winner of the Big Giveaway is..

Thank you to all the lovely people who entered. Sadly there can only be one winner, but there will another giveaway in the summer, just because it is nice to give. 

The lucky random winner of this wonderfully large collection of  goodies is....

Congratulations Linda please email gillslap AT yahoo.co.uk with your details.

You may notice the giveaway post says 14 comments but I replied to one comment which is why it says 14. 

Encouraging Card And Secret Message Tags

Hello, I am on the Indigoblu Blog today with a special card that I created to be encouraging, and supporting. A handmade card and written message can mean so much in difficult times. I also wanted to include some hidden tags for secret messages or gift cards.

Mindfulness #2

 Thank you for popping by. I would like to enter this card into the following challenges
Paperbabe Anything Goes and Heartfelt Challenges Anything Goes 

Emerging Butterfly Into Our Wonderful World

Did you see the lovely Kay on Hochanda tv yesterday?  They had some truly spectacular offers on the beautiful Indigoblu stamps ! If you missed the shows you can still watch them on Hochanda  tv online. I have written a little step by step incase anyone was interested in how I made the card shown above. 

 Butterflies are an excellent example that sometimes changes are good and can even be beautiful.

Indigoblu Stamps Used  :- Victorian Garden, Anemone and Daisy,   Live,Laugh,Love

Step 1.  I painted Warm Tan paint over my 7x7 watercolour card, while still wet I crumpled up some copy paper and patted it down onto the paper, which left lots of interesting creases and textures.

Step 2. Some thin plastic was next to be used to add some textures. I sponged some Olive waistcoat paint  over the crumpled plastic, and spritzed it with water before laying it down onto the watercolour paper and tapping my fingers lightly over it. It left  interesting patterns.I repeated this process using the Peppermint Tea paint

Step 3. I sketched the outline of a pupa shape and cut around it, and also cut a slit in the middle so the butterfly could escape.

Step 4. I then covered the pupa with texture paste. I used the side of a palette knife to score some markings on the pupa.When dry I painted it with Peppermint Tea, and Olive Waistcoat paints.

Step 5. After stamping and embossing  half of the butterfly in Black, I lightly added some colour to her using Grandmas Teacup and Lemon Meringue paints.I fussy cut the lovely butterfly and slotted her into the pupa.

Step 6. Black embossing powder outlined the flowers from the Anenome set and the leaves from the Live, Laugh,Love set very nicely, and I coloured them with the Marshmallow, Wimberry Pie and Pantry White paints. When dry I fussy cut all of the flowers and leaves. I then added some shape by curling the leaves and petals around a pokey tool,  which gives them a more natural look. 

Step 7. I stamped and embossed “Let Your Dreams Be” sentiment from the Victorian 

garden onto the background.I flicked several colours of paint over the picture to add some little dots of colour and interest. 

Step 8. As my blank card was white,  I edged the watercolour paper using a black ink pad so it would stand out nicely.

Step 9. A real twig was perfect to hold the leaves and the pupa.I used sticky foam pads to adhere the pupa, leaves, and the flowers which completed the picture.

Step 10. To make the card stand out when it landed through someone’s door, I Stamped some flowers onto the corner of the envelope. 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you managed to get some of these gorgeous stamps!

I would like to enter my Emerging Buttefly into the Craft Stamper Take It Make It  Challenge and the 

 Try It On A Tuesday Natures Beauty Challenge. 

My Blog Giveaway 

If you would like a chance to win and all of the goodies in the picture below just click here : )

Spring Joy

Well it looks like Spring might have actually arrived - at last ! I have been playing with my new Distress oxides, and after experimenting I ended up with a colourful background for this Spring Joy scene. 

I love Hares I don’t think I have ever actually seen one in the wild in person, but I adore them. I sat this darling hare by Hobbyart in his meadow, and stamped and fussy cut a flower stamp to keep him company. I love using dried flowers and items from nature, so of course they made up the meadow too. 

Some Hares were so full of Joy they jumped into the air over the meadow! I stamped my hares by Clarity Stamps which have always been a favourite of mine, but then when Lavinia Stamps released some similar hare stamps, I had to get them too! I wonder if there are any hare stamps I don’t have... no, no don’t tell me ... : )

 I stamped my assortment of hare stamps in a curve over the main hare, they look like they are having lots of fun! 

By the time I was finished it was much too large for a card, so I punched some holes in the top and hung it up with some pink raffia.

Thank you for visiting the hares today, have a lovely day.

I would like to enter  Spring Joy into the following challenges

Craft Stamper Take It Make It 

Stamps and Stencils In The Meadow 

Fashionable Stamping Animals

Crafty Nomad Bunny Hop

My visit to the Alexandra Palace Craft Show

I met lovely Jenny from Hobbyart

Unfortunately it was pouring with rain yesterday and was very misty, so Alexandra Palace did not have its usual magnificent views over London. It it was wonderful to meet so many lovely people. I took lots of photos to share.

A collection of beautiful cards by the talented Hobbyart Design Team.

The talented Barbara Gray giving a lovely little demo.

Some lovely cards by Inkylicous, I am sure I spotted my friend Sandra’s stunning work there.

Some gorgeous Alice in Wonderland makes from Dolly Dimples.

I was really looking forward to the Anna Marie stall, but sadly they had sold out of a lot of things the day before.

My goodies - a stamp by Hobbyart, and one from Clarity, a stencil too all with nature themes. A beautiful unique fairy stamp from Inkylicius. I also found some Distress Oxides at a good price! I found Tim Holtz Resist Spray, which I have had my eye on for a while.

 Last but not least I treated myself to a gorgeous die of children holding hands, and one of them holding a teddy bear ahhh.I used to work in a playgroup for under fives years ago before the coma and before I became very ill and disabled.

I am looking forward to playing with my goodies. Sad Indigoblu were not there, but they are very busy with their popular Dirty Weekend workshops. I will be receiving their new stamps to work with soon.Lots of crafting ahead.

Thank you for visiting, wishing you a happy crafty week xx

Imagitation can take you anywhere !

I am always finding pressed flowers in between book pages, so after  experimenting with stamping on pressed rose petals  ( please see this post) I thought I would try using punches with them. I began by gluing my pressed rose petals onto card, I used a Pritt glue stick. I then  used the beautiful  Fiskars punch to create lots of  rose petal butterflies. 

I created a sky background with watercolours, and stamped the lovely little Phyllis Harris Stamp by 

Unity onto card.After giving her some colour I carefully cut around her, and adhered her to the background. I wanted the butterflies to float her up and away to a magical land. So I arranged the butterflies above her and drew a line from the butterflies to her hands. I stamped the brilliant quote next to her,  I love that sentiment - imagination really can take you anywhere...

Thank you for stopping by, I am off to Alexandra Palace tomorrow for the big craft show.

Blog Giveaway 

If you would like a chance to win and all of the goodies in the picture below just click here : )

Suffragettes 100 Years

It is 100 years since the suffragettes won some women in the UK the right to vote. I wanted to pay tribute to these brave women with this collage picture.There is a step by step about how I created it on the Indigoblu Blog Thank you for visiting. I would like to enter this into the following challenges,thank you.

Country View Challenges I have used a chipboard backing from a Watercolour pad and I have also reused some plastic packaging.

Stamping Sensations One for the Girls this definitely is !