"JUST ONE WORD" .......

Hi there lovely bloggers - hope you had a wonderful Christmas?  
Have all those mince pies sent Mr. Mojo to sleep?  Yep - same here!
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Fear not - the lovely Chrissie and Mandi - those fabulous  Less Is More Divas have given us all a kick-start with a fab. challenge - to use "JUST ONE WORD" on your card. 

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Recipe: -

Very Vanilla SU cardstock

Inkadinkado stamp, which I have used on my blog a couple of times before - sorry, but I love it!

Stamped with Ranger Jet Black Archival ink then brayered with Weathered Wood DI to give a cloudy effect. (I think there may be a couple of thumb prints in there too but they are of course meant to be small clouds)!!!

A soft touch of Victorian Velvet DI to colour the dress.

"Forever" from the Anna Griffin stamp"Forever and Always". ("and Always" was masked with sellotape before inking, then removed before stamping).

The finished piece was layered onto black card and attached with 3-d foam pads.

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I would like to enter my card into the following Challenges:-
Dutch Dare Challenges - Favourite Things (This "Monsieur and Madame" stamp, and Distress Inks).
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes.
The Artistic Stamper - Vintage.
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Hi and welcome to my new Followers Kim, Shirley and Laura.
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Love to all, with wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful 2012.

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS FROM AN ANGEL ..........

Hello fabulous friends, followers and visitors!  

I am popping by with a card, to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and 

a very happy and peaceful 2012.

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Thank you so much for your wonderful inspiration and friendship during the past two and a half years - some on-line, some in real life - all of it has been appreciated 100%. 

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 My Christmas card has been made with one of the beautiful stamps I was lucky enough to win  at  Glenda's  "Chocolate Baroque White Christmas Challenge" (please see the link in my sidebar). The  image is from a set called "Christmas Angel of Light".

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Recipe:-

Image stamped onto cream card with Black Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder. 

Coloured with Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, using Cut 'n Dry Foam, and Ranger Pen Nibs.

Edges distressed with scissors.

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Image layered onto a roughly torn piece of "My Minds Eye - Mabel" paper, also distressed and inked around the edges.

Sentiment - two HOTP stamps.

Gold leafing  Krylon pen around edges of  black base card.
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~ Have a wonderful Holiday, wherever you may be ~
~ Lots of love ~

WISHING YOU A STEAMPUNK NEW YEAR!

Hi peeps, hope your weekend has been brilliant, and are we all ready for Christmas?!!
(Did I hear someone say "NO")?!!
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 A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win the Plain and Simple challenge at QUIRKY CRAFTS, (thanks DT ladies), and as well as three fab. digis, my prize  included a Guest DT spot in this week's Challenge. 
Hope you will join in the fun - just pop over to Quirky for all the challenge details. The theme is  Quirky Christmas or Steampunk New Year, and this week's generous sponsor is
 Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps .  

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The fabulous "Steampunk Fairy" and "Steampunk Corner" which I used on my card are from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps, and although Steampunk is something new for me, I thoroughly enjoyed working with these images, and the Fairy was a joy to colour. 
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Recipe:-

 I used Copics to colour the Fairy image, cut her out with the Stampin' Up "Top Note" die,  inked edges with Vintage Photo DI. 

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Base Cardstock - SU Baja Breeze, layered with Co-ordinations Cappucino.

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Tim Holtz Idealogy Findings on the Steampunk Corner.

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For the larger cog, I printed an enlarged Corner image, punched out the main cog, added an eyelet and a circle border from the Cuttlebug "Stamps" set of dies. It always reminds me of a cog but looks great round a circular sentiment too.

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The tiny calendar page is a snippet from a sheet of TH paper.

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Sentiment from Layers of Color Art Stamps, inked with Jet Black Archival.

Sequin waste inked with Vintage Photo DI.
I ran a black extra-fine Pilot Pen around the die cut after attaching it to the card. 
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I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:-
THE SECRET CRAFTER - New Year or Celebration.
CRAFT ROOM CHALLENGE - Die Cuts and Punches. 
SUNDAYS WITH CRISSY - Anything Goes.
ALLSORTS CHALLENGE - Blue and Brown.
Update - January 1st 2012 - 
Artist's Choice Award from Sundays With Crissy,
and a Top 3 Badge from Craft Room Challenge - many thanks!

Have a wonderful week everyone - lots of love ~

LET IT SNOW!

Hi lovely Bloggers - hope you are all having a happy week?

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LET IT SNOW is the theme chosen by Chrissie and Mandi this week at 

LESS IS MORE,  and guess what -  we woke up to a thin coating of the white fluffy stuff in this part of West Yorkshire this morning, and very pretty it looked too. 

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This gorgeous Hero Arts Penguin is another of my all-time favourites!  

I masked the central  image, and then there were three!

Images stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.

Lightly coloured the hats and scarves with Copics. 

 SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the "snowy" ground and hat bobbles. 

Sentiment from Lili of the Valley.

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I would also like to enter the following Challenges:-
Oldie But A Goodie - Christmas Animals (image must be over 6 months old - my Penguin is 3 years old)!
Paper Minutes - Clean and Simple, not much colour but lots of white!

~ Love to all ~ 

GREEN TREE-MENDOUS !

Hello lovely bloggers - hope you're keeping warm, dry and safe in this wet and windy UK weather.

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A short post today, with my offering for the GREEN challenge at LESS IS MORE.

The image is Indigo Blu "Tree-mendous", inked with Versafine Spanish Moss, Color Box Moss Green and  Color Box Olive. I applied the inks to give a slightly darker shade towards the tree trunk.

The layers of cardstock are left-overs  of River Rock (love this colour) from SU, and a dark green from Bazill (no idea what it's called)!

The heart is punched from a snippet of red glitter card which I LOVE.

Ribbon from stash

Sentiment from a fabulous set by Layers of Colour Art Stamps.

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I am also entering this card into Jules' Snippets challenge at Always with a Heart
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Hope you are all ready for Christmas now, with cards made, cakes baked and all that jazz - 

have a great weekend - love to all ~

CHRISTMAS MEDALLION ORNAMENT.................

Hello lovely bloggers -it's jolly cold in this part of the world today - we had lots of white fluffy stuff this morning so the hilltops in the distance look fabulous in the winter sunshine. Hope you are all warm and cosy wherever you are!

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At THE STAMP MAN ,the challenge this fortnight is to Create An Ornament - it doesn't necessarily have to be Christmassy, but I just happened to have this Medallion Stamp, (the design is called "Raintree") which makes a rather nice festive ornament and looks a bit like a large snowflake (kind of)!
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For anyone not familiar with Medallion stamps - the idea is that you stamp the image several times, cut out different sections from each stamped image, add glitter or colour, then layer up with 3-d foam pads, starting with the largest sections at the base.

I have also repeated the snowflake back-to-back so the ornament looks the same on both sides.

If you are into box making, the medallions make a beautiful box topper too.


Not a very good photograph, but here it is!

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A very warm welcome to my new followers - Cazzy, Marja and Claire.
Have a happy week everyone ~ love to all ~

A SNIPPET FROM CRAFT STAMPER 2012 .........

Hi lovely Bloggers - I am not  normally one for "blowing my own trumpet", but I am Soooooooooo excited, and I just had to share this with you - hope you don't mind.  

Here is a  little snippet from the January 2012 Craft Stamper, (page 39)!!  

This is the first time I have submitted my work so I am over the moon.  I  am not allowed to  show you the full image - you will have to buy the Magazine!! (on sale now)!

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~ Love to all, and a warm welcome to my new Followers - Carla, Miranda and Michelle ~