Every Dream Begins With a Wish

Hi everyone, I’ve not been around much crafting - had a very busy week plus as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve just not been enjoying crafting as much recently. So yesterday I went on a little adventure which I hope will kickstart my crafty mojo, with a visit to Lavinia’s new Dreamatorium in Ruthin for their opening weekend and Spring Extravaganza.

What an amazing place it is! The building itself is beautiful and it has been decorated in the most magical way with huge attention to detail. As well as plenty of space for both crafty supplies and home/giftware, there is also a huge new workshop area where the DT were demonstrating. It was absolutely wonderful to watch a few demos, chat with Tracey Dutton and some of the lovely DT including Jo Rice, Emma-Jo and Amanda Branston, and say hello to staff old and new including Annja, Noni, and of course the obligatory hugs from Jack! 

So far as craft goodies were concerned I was really bewildered by choice. I was actually reasonably restrained in buying new stamps, as this time I focussed on getting the new colours of Elements inks which I decided I needed only after they had sold out online … but happy days the staff had reserved some for the new shop’s opening weekend! Of course I did also buy a few new stamps … and a couple of pens … and a couple of glues and paper products! 

All in all I had a fabulous day, and congratulated Tracey on this amazing event which is clearly the result of a huge amount of hard work by her and her team.

Here are a few pics - I’m not in any of them, but I do actually appear incredibly briefly in Emma- Jo’s 4pm “live” on FB yesterday, so I was definitely there!! Hope I’ll be back before too long with something I make with my new stash!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Spring Has Sprung!

Hi everyone, I haven’t been doing much crafting recently as I really haven’t felt in the mood, but I thought I’d better get a wriggle on as it is nearly time to turn over the April page on my Lavinia calendar, which is one I hadn’t yet completed. I really wanted to develop the theme of my March page here, using similar but different stamps including some of my recent purchases. I also took inspiration from my husband’s birthday card which I made a couple of weeks ago, so here is Herbalum Bob watering his pots in the spring meadow!

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5 cm, and created the landscape by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. I then built up the scene gradually using different shades of Versafine Clair, and masking on the wheelbarrow and pots and around the tree base where necessary. I coloured the tree and pots with Zig pens, then added white Stabilo pencil shading and white Posca highlights to the scene and also highlighted the sun and flowers with various colours of Sakura Stardust pen, to add a little sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Herbalum Bob, Tree of Hope, Tree Scene, Skeleton Tree Scene, Spring Trees, Oak Leaves, Wheelbarrow, Flower Pots, Thyme Pots, Dill, Bluebells, Bird Collection, Birds, Words of Spring;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pine, Olive, Blue Lagoon, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Portobello, Acorn, Avocado, Shady Lane, Bali Blue, Paradise, Blue Belle, Baby Pink, Lilac Bloom, Cheerful); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (clear, pink, yellow, turquoise, blue); Posca pens (white, yellow); 

Tools: Lavinia Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

2 Sisters on the Blog #95 - Spring/Easter (2nd entry)

Ally’s Angels #92 - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Galz #246 - Springtime

Crafts Galore Encore #133 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #265 - Fill In the Blank: Fairy Tale … (pixie)

Creatalicious #287 - Anything Goes with option Easter/Spring

Creative Crafters #86 - Anything Goes

Creative Crafting Uncles #63 - Spring/Easter (2nd entry)

Daring Cardmakers - Celebrate Spring

Dragonfly Dreams (March) - Gardening (2nd entry)

FarmQuest General Store #26 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Heart’s Quest Fantasy #3 2025 - Anything Goes Fantasy (2nd entry)

Krafty Chicks #761 - Masculine

Outlawz Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone (March) - Anything but a Card

Outlawz Festive Friday (March) - Spring

Papercraft Challenges #117 - Spring Blooms (2nd entry)

Pearly Sparkles #105 - Anything but a Card

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Triple B (March) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies (2nd entry)

Try It OnTuesday - Spring Fling (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #3 2025 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #692/693 - Anything Goes

Having made this spring scene has put me back in the mood again for crafting, so hopefully I’ll be back with another make soon.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #24

Hi everyone, March really is flying by for me, and already it’s the third Wednesday in the month so it’s time for another I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time - please do check over on Ellie’s blog to see if you are one of our top picks. 

Ellie chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** The Dawn of Spring ***

Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

This month we are delighted to welcome not one but two guest designers - Rosi and Gerrina - so please click on their names to visit their blogs and see their fabulous creations.

Here’s my card for the challenge. I have recently made a couple cards featuring vibrant spring flowers, so I decided to go in a different direction with this one and create it with a more vintage mixed media vibe.

First I took a mid sized snippet of white card and created a soft vintage background by smooshing 3 shades of Distress Oxide, then I stamped my tag onto it using Portobello VFC. I angled the tag how I would want it on the finished card and stamped the daffodil onto it, then fussy cut the tag, attached a snippet of twine I saved from some packaging, and set aside. I cut a 6.5” x 4.5” panel from another white snippet for my background. I blended patches of DOX over the panel, spritzed with water and blotted, then lightly brayered  more of each colour over the top plus some gold metallic acrylic paint. When dry I added some background text stamping in Arctic VFC, 2 lots of stencilling using DOX and Distress Texture paste, blended shades of brown DOX round the edges and distressed with my Tim Holtz distressing tool. I stamped the daffodil again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Distress Watercolor pencils topped with gold Wink of Stella on the flower, then fussy cut and set aside. I assembled the card by attaching the tag at an angle on the background panel, then attached the coloured daffodil. I stamped the tiny hares in the corner, then stamped the sentiment onto an off cut from the original smooshed card, cut out and attached. Finally I matted the finished panel onto a 7” x 5” card blank.

Stamps: AALL & Create #623 Spring Florals, #756 Miniatures; Visible Image Sketched Tulips (background text & sentiment); Woodware Old Paper Tag;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Speckled Egg, Bundled Sage, Frayed Burlap, Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Portobello, Arctic); Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Pencils (Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint); Tim Holtz Distress texture paste; acrylic paint (gold); Wink of Stella (gold);

Tools: Visible Image stencil - Off the Grid; Darkroom Door stencil - Diamonds.

Challenges I would like to enter:

2 Sisters on the Blog #95 - Spring or Easter

Beautiful Blossoms #27 - Anything Floral Goes

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (March) - Use a Stencil

Creative Artiste #113 - Anything Mixed Media Goes - TOP 3

Creative Crafting Uncles #63 - Spring/Easter

Papercraft Challenges #117 - Spring Blooms

Snippets Playground #502 - Use Snippets

Triple B (March) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (2nd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Spring Fling - TOP 5

Word Art Wednesday #691/692 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

The I Spy Challenge will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23:59 US Central Time - so this time that is Sunday April 13th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday April 16th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

In the Spring Garden

Hi everyone, my husband loves gardening, so it was a bit of a no-brainer for me to make his birthday card a spring gardening scene with using some of Lavinia’s latest stamps. I’m also planning on making my April calendar page along similar lines but I needed to get this done first, so here it is. 

I cut a 7” square of stamping card and created the central heart by blending Elements and Distress inks through a heart stencil mask, using my mini hill and circle masks. I stamped the focal Herbalum (pixie) and wheelbarrow, then filled the wheelbarrow with stamped herb pots using various masking. I added some trees in the background including a couple in blossom, then stamped a group of pots in the bottom left corner and cute bunnies bottom right. I stamped a wreath of variegated foliage around the heart, then coloured the pots with Zig pens which I also used to “ground” the pots and bunnies. I stamped the sentiment and coloured it with a Zig pen, then highlighted everything with white Posca pen and Stabilo pencil before matting onto 2 shades of green card stock and an 8” card blank.

I also decorated the envelope to match. 

Stamps: Lavinia Herbalum Bob, Wheelbarrow, Rosemary and Thyme Pots, Flower Pots, Dill, Thyme, Skeleton Tree Scene, Tree Scene, Spring Trees, Leaf 1 Mini, Wild Hares (large), Birds;  Woodware sentiment - Made For You;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Pine, Sundance); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Portobello, Avocado, Shady Lane, Rainforest, Blue Belle, Lilac Bloom); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Press To Impress heart mask; Lavinia Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #71 - Masculine

Addicted to Stamps and More #488 - Birthdays

Crafty Catz #689 - Anything Goes with option Add a Sentiment

Creatalicious #286 - Anything Goes with option Use Green (2nd entry)

Creative Aunts #99 - Fantasy

Double D - Going Green - TOP 3

Dragonfly Dreams (March) - Gardening

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #1 - Anything In or From a Garden

Everybody Art #574 - For a Boy

Four Seasons (March) - Spring (2nd entry)

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #3 2025 - Birthday

Heart’s Quest Fantasy #3 2025 - Anything Goes Fantasy - TOP 3

Inspiration Station #71 - Inspiration Photo

Lavinia Creative Challenge (March) - Animal Magic (version without sentiment)
Male Room #196 - Mixed Media 

Outlawz Monday Greetings (March) - Happy Birthday

Simon Says (Monday) - A Bit O’ Green

Simon Says (Wednesday) - A Bit O’ Green

Unicorn #107 - Boys/Men

Word Art Wednesday #691/692 - Anything Goes

It actually took me several attempts to make this card as I had a couple of mishaps, including masking part of a pot stamp with low tack tape for inking, then forgetting to remove the tape before stamping - oops! In truth I also managed to make a black smudge on this one near the bunnies, but I think (hope!) I managed to disguise it with the foliage! Also the shading on the “grounding” isn’t as good on the envelope as my Zig pen didn’t blend as well on the paper of the envelope. Never mind - it’s done now and overall I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

I also wanted particularly to mention a brand new challenge - Ellibelle’s Garden Party -  which started yesterday over on my bloggy friend Ellie’s blog. It gives us opportunity to share anything garden related such as cards, garden photos etc … perfect for this or any time of year! 

I’m hoping the weather will be kind so that Graham and I can spend some quality time going out somewhere together over his birthday weekend. 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Celebrate Spring!

Hi everyone, it’s a lovely sunny day here today and at last we are starting to see the first signs of spring! I love it when the daffodils start to appear in the garden, so I felt inspired to use this beautiful Visible Image daffodil stamp on today’s card.

I cut a 6.5” x 4.5” piece of stamping card, masked a border then brayered Distress Oxides onto the panel and spritzed with water. I stamped the daffodil on top, then stamped again onto separate card, coloured with Zig pens with white highlights and a touch of Wink of Stella, then fussy cut out and attached. I added some grungy background stamping for a bit more interest, then stamped the sentiment in the corner before matting onto aqua card stock and a 7” x 5” card blank.

Stamps: Visible Image Golden Daffodils, Where Flowers Bloom, Sketched Tulips (the word “spring”); Uniko Birthday Sentiments (the word “Celebrate”);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxides inks (Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Paradise); Kuretake Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pen (white); Wink of Stella (clear).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #26 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Country View FB Challenge (March) - Use Flowers

Daring Cardmakers - Bring Me Flowers

Four Seasons (March) - Spring

Love to Craft #85 - Anything Goes

Paper Players #727 - Spring Flowers

Simon Says (Monday) - Use Your Favourite Technique

(I have many favourites but I do love blending and spritzing Distress Oxides)

Triple B (March) - Birds, Blooms and/or Butterflies

We Love 2 Create #3 2025 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #689/690 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

If Music Be the Food of Love … 🎵 🌹

Hi everyone, the organiser of the monthly ATC swaps in Tracy Evans’ FB group has decided that this year the themes are going to be based around verses from poems, songs or even plays - an exciting development to help us get our thinking caps on! For February the theme is 

If music be the food of love, play on!

As usual I’m pretty last minute but I really wanted to get something done. I envisaged an overall vintage look with a red rose on an old paper music sheet - I struggled initially as I don’t have any music themed stamps by Tracy .. in fact I don’t know if there are any! However fortunately we are allowed to use other branded products in the background - here’s the result.

I smooshed Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Oxide inks onto some cream stamping card, then stamped the music sheet 4 times - this is one of several old background stamps I have which as luck would have it are almost perfect ATC size - then overstamped the rose on each one.  I cut out each stamped panel and distressed the edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool, then blended Scorched Timber DOX round the edges to add depth. I stamped the rose again 4 times onto a separate snippet of cream card, coloured the flower heads with Zig pens and white Posca highlights, then fussy cut out. I coloured the rose stems and leaves on the base layer, then attached the fussy cut flower heads. I stamped the sentiment onto separate cream card, fussy cut and attached, then added mini hearts and a branched heart to each piece. I matted the panels onto brown card stock and added some gold Posca faux spatters to finish.

Here’s a closeup of one of the ATC’s…

… and here’s an angled picture to show the gold spatters.This pic is a much truer colour than the above - for some reason I couldn’t get most of the pics to show the true warm tone of the background!

Stamps: AALL & Create #831 Sent With Love, #453 Heart Grunge; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE6 Branched Heart, TE10 Quirky Birds; music sheet stamp by LotV;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, Scorched Timber); Versafine Clair (Sand Dune, Portobello, Strawberry); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (February) - Anything Goes with option Lots of Love (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #26 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Colourful Options (February) - Mood Board

(I was inspired by the colour red and roses)

Crafty Calendar (February) - Hearts (3rd entry)

Creative Inspirations (February) - Love Is In the Air (2nd entry)

Double D - The Colour Red

Heart’s Quest #71 - Anything Goes with Pink and/or Red Hearts - TOP 3

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #201 - Hearts Galore (3rd entry)

Little Red Wagon #796 - Tiny Dancer (something tiny)

Neglected Stuff (February) - Use Your Neglected Craft Stash (2nd entry)

(I haven’t used the background music stamp for years - if ever!)

Outlawz Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (February) - Anything But a Card (3rd entry)

Outlawz Festive Fridays (February) - Valentine/Love (2nd entry) - TOP 3

Pearly Sparkles #104 - Love Is In the Air (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - Red or Pink

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #259 - L is for Love (2nd entry)

Sparkles #185 - Love - TOP 3

Word Art Wednesday #689/690 - Anything Goes

That’s all from me for today. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Time to Celebrate 🎉🎉

Hi everyone, as many of you will know there are currently not one but TWO big and exciting celebrations going on in blog land right now … and  I’m also having a little celebration of my own as this is my 1,200th blog post!

First of all, Bev over at Uniko is celebrating 13 years of Uniko stamps - what an amazing achievement! She has a Birthday Card themed challenge using Uniko products with an amazing prize on offer of a £25 voucher, plus a couple of grand prize giveaways of a year’s worth of stamps and stencils - wow! 

Secondly - and equally amazing - Di and Sarn are celebrating the 500th challenge at the Snippets Playground with a special Celebration themed challenge and 2 mystery bumper prize bundles for a couple of lucky winners! 

It seemed pretty clear to me what we all need to do, so without further ado I went ahead and did it … and here’s the result.

I rounded up a couple of white card snippets and a small black one, and created the background by smooshing and spritzing Elements ink using acetate, then spattered with water using my Tim Holtz spatter brush. I stamped the Uniko snowdrops, then die cut the panel using a stitched square die. I stamped the snowdrops again onto a separate snippet of card, coloured with Zig pens and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I added some silver Posca spatter to the background then attached the fussy cut snowdrops. I stamped the word “Celebrate” directly onto the image panel, then stamped the smaller words onto a small snippet of black card, heat embossed white then cut out and attached. Finally I added a few white Posca highlights and a little more silver spatter to the flowers, and matted the finished panel onto my card blank.

Here’s an angled picture to show the sparkle on the snowdrops and the silver spatter - I love snowdrops, they are so pretty and delicate and a rare winter flower!

… and here’s a pic of my snippets part way through the project . Originally I had a snippet that was a pre-cut stitched square but sadly the ink smooshing went a bit wrong on that one, so I ended up with a different mid-project pic of my eventual snippets (in the end I didn’t actually use the 3rd stamping of the snowdrops).

Stamps: Uniko Spring Botanicals Tulips, Birthday Sentiments;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW opaque white fine embossing powder; Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, silver); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Square.

Challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Birthday #70 - Ink Smooshing (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Feminine or Masculine theme (and why)

(I love feminine themes as I love florals, fairies and butterflies … and I have much more feminine stash to choose from!)

Craft Rocket #122 - Happy Birthday (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #610 - Stitching, Real or Faux

Four Seasons (February) - Winter (3rd entry)

Inkspirational #335 - Mood Board - TOP PICK

(I was inspired by the cool blues and greens and the white bell shaped flowers)

Snippets Playground #500 - Celebration + Use Snippets

Triple B (February) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (3rd entry)

Uniko 13th Birthday Challenge - Birthday Card using Uniko Products

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

So it’s warmest congratulations to Di and Sarn for 500 Snippets challenges, and to Bev for 13 years of Uniko stamps - both are amazing achievements and well worth celebrating!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #23

Hi everyone, it’s the third Wednesday in the month, so it’s time already for another I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time - please do check over on Ellie’s blog to see if you are one of our top picks. 

I chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** No Designer Paper ***

Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

This month we are delighted to welcome Lynda (Loopyloo) as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous creation.

I am still working through completion of my 2025 Lavinia calendar, so I decided to make a scene for my March page. 

I was extremely lucky to win the Lavinia Creative Challenge in December, and as it was the Christmas challenge the prize was a £60 voucher rather than the usual £40 - woo hoo! Whilst considering my many purchasing options the latest release appeared, and I immediately thought that some of the new collection would be perfect for spring crafting so I ordered some of the new stamps along with a few older ones to help with my scene building and have used some of them on this project - here it is.

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5 cm and created the hills and sky by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. I then stamped the trees using Portobello Versafine Clair and added some spring leaves using the new Dill stamp and the teeny foliage stamp from the Spring Trees set. I stamped the teeny houses on the hill using Morning Mist VFC so they would look more distant, then added the fab new bench, Herbalum Baz and a new-to-me Forest Hare in the foreground. I stamped some poppies in yellow to reflect the illustration at the bottom of the page and coloured their stems with a Zig pen, then framed the bottom half of the piece with 1st and 2nd generation foliage using the new Dill and Thyme stamps. I stamped a little fence, some birdies on the bench and in the sky, then to finish added some shading with a white Stabilo pencil and highlights with white Posca pen.

I’m very pleased with the new stamps, as I think the herbalums (gardening pixies) are just sooo cute and quite versatile, and I’m also impressed by the delicacy and versatility of the herb stamps Dill and Thyme which are lovely for foliage, borders and/or wreaths. 

Stamps: Lavinia - Herbalum Baz, Bench, Spring Trees, Small Trees, Skeleton Tree Scene, Forest Hares, Group Poppies, Gate and Fence, Dill, Thyme, Bird Collection, Birds;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Olive, Blue Atoll, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Portobello, Pinecone, Nocturne, Morning Mist, Avocado, Shady Lane, Golden Meadow); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pen; Posca pen (white); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Stabilo pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Hill, Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #486 - Make Your Mark (3rd entry)

Ally’s Angels #91 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

As You Like It - Favourite Stamping or Digi (and why) (2nd entry)

(I love hand stamping and letting my project develop as it goes along)

Creatalicious #286 - Anything Goes with option Use Green

Creative Crafters #85 - Anything Goes

Creative Moments #267 - Cute 

FarmQuest General Store #25 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (February) - My Humble Abode

NBUS #71 - Use Your Never-Before-Used-Schtuff

Outlawz (February) - Anything Goes In a Card Free Zone (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #687/688 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

The I Spy Challenge will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23:59 US Central Time - so this time that is Sunday March 16th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday March 19th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,