Blog Break

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer.    Just a reminder of my earlier post that I'm on a Blog Break as we have moved into a new home.  I would like to thank my kind blog friends for all your wonderful words of support.  It has been an emotional roller coaster ride and we have been quite tired at times.   While we have some adjusting, we are happy with our new smaller, cozy home.  I'm excited about the new adventure :) 

My craft stash is in boxes so I will not be creating for a while as we unpack and create new gardens.   My craft 'studio' needs new tables, my husband will build shelving into the closet (I am lucky he is good at that) and the room needs to be painted before I can unpack and set up - I can't wait. 

I could not believe how many boxes were required to pack my craft 'stash'.  I wondered how I had it all organized and tucked away.   Seriously, it makes me think about how much do I really need?  I had purged, gave away stamps and other goodies to friends and charity but still so much left.   I feel grateful but I also question myself.  Do you feel that way at times?

We had to leave our massive gardens behind but we will be creating small ones and will start digging and hauling soil soon.   We have the challenge of gardening on a slight slope and making sure water drains away properly.   We moved a lot of plants from this garden below:

Take good care everyone and enjoy being creative,
Shirleyx

Partridges, Turtle Doves, Pears and an Elegant Tree

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.    This is a scheduled post as I'm on a 'blog break' while we move.

It was fun last month creating Christmas cards (they helped ease the stress) and I have two designs to show today that feature stamps from Chocolate Baroque's gorgeous new Turtle Doves set.

The background above was created with Raspberry & Persimmon Distress Inks using the acrylic block technique.   I stamped a flourish from Fancy Flourishes with Raspberry DI.

The pear tree branches & turtle doves from Turtle Doves and pear from Pears and Baubles were stamped with Imperial Purple Versafine ink.   I coloured the background branches with Prisma pencils.  The pear and birds were coloured with distress inks (using a mat, water & brush), decoupaged and popped up over the background.  I also added glitter paint to the larger birds and outlined with a white Gelly Roll pen.   Merry Christmas is from Warm Christmas Greetings.

And the card below is in a clean style:

I embossed a tree from the Turtle Doves set with gold and embellished with lots of little half pearls.  I added gold embossing to the edge of the background.  The die is from Spellbinder - Elegant Labels 4.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Thistle Butterfly

Hello everyone, I hope your day is going well.  

This is another scheduled post for this month as we are busy with moving so I'm still on a 'blog break'.     I have two cards to show featuring stamps from Chocolate Baroque's beautiful new Thistle Butterfly A5 set:

I stamped the main image on melon designer paper and coloured with Prisma pencils.   I stamped a Texture Fragment on the second layer with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.   Spellbinder Die:  Decorative Labels Eight.

I also have a CAS style card below using an image from the same set.

I blended Rasberry & Persimmon Distress Inks in the oval space and stamped a Harlequin Fragment over top before stamping the main image with Purple Archival ink.   I stamped with a Harlequin Fragment using Lavendar DI on the white background.  I stamped off on a sheet of paper so that the image was faint.   I highlighted the flower with Gelly Roll pens and added glitter.  It's a bit difficult to see the detail in the photo.   'Just a note' is from the fabulous Mackintosh Sentiments set.

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

Snowy Scenes in August

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.   This is a scheduled post, I'm still on a 'blog break'.

I have a couple more Christmas designs featuring the beautiful new stamp set Snowy Scenes by Chocolate Baroque.    I love winter landscapes they can be so beautiful.

The background above was created with Dylusions inks - Turquoise and Midnight.  When dry I stamped and embossed Big Bold Background Snowflake Outline with silver.   I stamped the church scene from Snowy Scenes with Cobalt Archival ink and then added a wash of Midnight Dylusions to the sky to darken it and blend with the background.  The actual colours are more purple than the photo shows, it's so difficult to photograph the purple.    I painted the rest of the scene with Inktense pencils, added lots of glitter and the beautiful die cut snowflakes by Joy.

I combined a few stamps from Snowy Scenes for the card below:

I stamped the images - house in the snow, bird on the fence and the beautiful sentiment,  "All hearts" with black Archival ink.   I used Dylusions inks as a wash for the background and coloured the images with Prisma pencils.  I stamped a little snowflake from the set with Lilac Distress Ink.   Again I added some pretty snowflake dies cuts from Joy and lots of Stickles, glitter and bling.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day,
Shirley

Purple Honeysuckle & Butterflies

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.

I have a couple of cards today featuring  Chocolate Baroque's gorgeous new Honeysuckle Butterfly.   They also released another set Thistle Butterfly,  both are available individually or as a multi-buy.  

This first card was a bit of an experiment.  I worked on it in a few stages, partly because I've been very busy and partly to let it dry between layers.   These are fantasy as I've never seen Honeysuckle this colour :)

I started by stamping the flower & butterfly image from Honeysuckle Butterfly with black Archival ink on mixed media paper and then dry embossed with the swirls.  Sorry but the embossing folder doesn't say which company it's from.     I used coral chalk ink to darken the embossing.

Next I sprayed with Purple and Midnight Dylusions inks.  After drying I painted here & there with white Gesso and finally I painted with Silks Acrylics over top.

I coloured the main image with Prisma pencils.   I stamped the image a second time on separate card stock, coloured and 'fussy cut' the butterflies.  I embossed them on the back with a stylus for dimension, added stickles and popped them up on the background.   I also added lots of clear rhinestones on the background as you can see.

Next I have similar colours again using Dylusions inks but I did not add acyclic paints.

I stamped the daisy image from Honeysuckle Butterfly.  I coloured it with Prisma Pencils.   The background is Midnight and White Dylusions inks.  I stamped the thistle (which I coloured with Prisma pencils) and flourish from the same set in the the background.   I stamped, coloured and 'fussy cut' two butterflies from the set to pop up onto the card.  Die set used:  Spellbinder Opulent Ovals.

And here is a look at the two new sets.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing more butterflies, I love these beautiful stamp sets, Chocolate Baroque's designer is very talented :)

This is a scheduled post, I'm on a 'blog break'.
Have a great day
Shirley