Twofer Birds

I'm playing along in another challenge, I can't believe it.  I'm surpassing my expectations already.  These Dyan Reaveley stamps (and a stencil used on the grass area) were a magazine freebie, and are perfect for Darnell's Twofer challenge.

The sentiment on the left-hand card is from one of my sets, Birds of Paradise.  All the other stamps are from the freebie set.

I'm entering this second one into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple

Other freebies in the same magazine included stamps and stencils from Ranger Letter It, Dina Wakley and Wendy Vecchi (great haul!!).  Watch this space....

A Sneak Peek And A Couple of Challenges

Helloooo!  I've not been playing much in challenges lately, been a bit busy with one thing or another, including making samples for my new release of The Bee's Knees Christmas stamps.  Here's a little sneak peek of what I've been up to.  You'll get to see them in full next week:

I've managed to find time to make some cards for challenges this week.

My first card uses a tree from a NBUS Tim Holtz set, and a star from Technique Tuesday, all coloured with Distress Inks (of course!).

I'm entering this in CAS Watercolour Challenge - Tree:

and Simon Says STAMPtember Tim Holtz:

The second challenge is Twofer - Leaves:

I used the larger stamp from the Leaf Canopy set by Altenew to create a watercoloury birthday card using Distress Inks and spritzing (sentiment by Stamps By Me), and also a wedding card, which was totally inspired by this card of Karen Dunbrook's.  This time I stamped in my much-neglected Distress Oxides then die-cut the image.  The background was created with a 3D embossing folder (Crafters Companion Ornate Lace).  The sentiment is a peel-off (gasp!).  Don't judge, I've got a boxload of them to use up :D

Butterfly Twofer

This month's Twofer challenge is all about butterflies, so how could I not play along with my Layered Butterflies set??

I made the first card for the CAS Watercolour Challenge - Rainbow, then realised I hadn't watercoloured, I'd sponged and spritzed.  Duh!  But I am entering it into AAA Cards - Inspired By Nature. The inspiration came from something I found on Pinterest.

ETA: Apparently it does qualify for CAS Watercolour Challenge, so I'm in there!

My second card came about from using one of my new toys from my trip to Port Sunlight on Saturday, an 8x11 Stampendous Creative Palette (basically a gel plate, thinner than the Gelli Plate, and crucially at half price).  I used Dylusions paints on the palette, and also stencilled with them using STAMPlorations stencils.  I stamped the butterfly then coloured it with coloured pencils, making a pattern on the wings as I went.  The sentiment is also from STAMPlorations.

I'm adding this one to the Simon Says Monday challenge - Stencil It.

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Not Just For Christmas

This month's Twofer challenge is all about Pets, so I couldn't resist playing along with these two cards.

My first card was inspired by the current challenge at The Library Challenge - 101 Dalmatians.

I used one of my new stamp sets, Hashtag Walkies, and set to work with a black paint pen to create two faux-dalmatian coats.  Then I masked the images while I sponged the background and stencilled the sentiment.

I also made a Christmas card, and found two new-to-me challenges to enter:

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Feature A Creature and

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes + Christmas

The background was in my stash from my attempts at a Jennifer McGuire technique using alcohol inks, which I won't be trying again!  But waste not, want not.  I stamped the image onto the background, then again onto cartridge paper.  I used Distress Oxide re-inkers two watercolour the images, then fussy cut them and stuck them into place.  The Season's Greetings sentiment is from Layered Holly.

Toffee tiptoeing through the, erm, daffodils!

Watch The Birdies

Ive finally got round to playing in Darnell's new challenge, Twofer.

I almost played last week.  I had the cards ready, photographed, blog post half-written (I was going to use my STAMPlorations Spotlight post), when I realised my cards were actually flowers, not feathers.  So here I am, with some feathers (and the attached birds).

I made a baby girl card (there's the chick balancing on mum's head), and

a get well card.  Just sloshed some Distress Inks around then mounted the panels onto base card.  I'm also playing along with this card at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add A Sentiment.

I've been watching Sir T!m's sneak peeks and Creativation videos, and my credit card is groaning.  Already I can't live without the glass craft mat...
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