Gothic Arches

http://www.sugarlumpstudios.com/ebook/Gothic%20Arches.pdf is the link to a lovely E Book on Gothic Arches pop over to Gothic Arches Blogspot for more info there are lots of lovely pics of Gothic arch tags and pieces of art.....totally awesome and very generous of Nancy to share all the amazing pieces of art with everyone.

DAD....

Another card today in celebration of fathers day.....hope all those fathers out there are taking it easy, feet up watching sport on TV.....just like any other day really lol, I know thats not fair they do deserve a rest, For todays card I have used a digi download and cannot for the life of me remember where I got it from....memory like a goldfish, if I remember I'll let you know. I cut up the paper in squares and then mounted them, the word dad is part of the download which I added glossy accents to the top of the letters for added dimension. The image is from B Line stamps, I inked the background with Weathered wood and stamped the image with Stormy Sky, added some silver embossing to the edges and then swiped black around the edge as well. Tried to keep it simple with a vintage feel.

Challenges.....
Allsorts....sketch, altered it slightly by adding the word dad underneath the squares.
Sweet Stampin.......Clean and simple.
Praire Fairy.....Dad birthday or Fathers Day.
Raise The Bar......Fathers Day.
Polka Doodles.....Male Card.
Crafty Cardmaker.....Cards for men.
Fab n Funky.....Just for Dad.
Rosie Dee.....something blue

Wedding...

Morning peeps todays post is a sneeky peek at a new challenge that will be starting on the 1st of July called Just Inspirational Challenge, but being as I miss the launch date as I'm on my holls I thought I'd share with you my first DT card.....so watch out for the new challenge. I have coloured the LOTV image in with distress inks: Victorian velvet, tea dye, bundled sage, and mahoghany, the papers are all from Papermania...confetti wedding collection, the flower is from Prima, just love these .....of course I had to spritz it with glimmer mist, pearls are from Kars and the corner flourish is a sizzlits.

Challenges
A Secret Crafter.....wedding/anniversary.
Papertake....Ice cream flavours....coffee, strawberry and vanilla.
Oh La La......flourishes and pearls.

Venice Album

Evening peeps I haven't done anything today as a little person is fast asleep in his cot in my craft room so making a card is out of the question......I have to smile at the way my grandson goes to sleep he looks like he's sitting crossed legged with his arms crossed above his head but lying down....most peculiar. I thought I'd share a page or two from the album I'm working on from our holiday to Venice last year...I think I need to get a move on as we're off on this years holls next week and I will want to do another album again. I've ordered some stamps from Scrapz as Karen has ordered me some Italian stamps which should arrive the day after I get back.....they're Cherry Pie ones who do some lovely Italian images apparantly they were an Italian company who moved to America.
This page features the ornate lamps that line parts of the lagoon, my son took the photo for me.....I'm pretty hopeless.

Tag in background has swiped in distress inks and then I sprayed white crafty notions paint on it

which gives a lovely marble effect, over stamped the lamps in distress inks and balck ink.

Stiched the photo in black thread.

Lamp stamped onto grungepaper and embossed in black soot

added stickles to the lamps to get some glimmer.

Flower Pounding.....

Evening peeps......got a late card in due to the footie being on, sorry I'm not a fan of the game....don't all shout at me at once. The card that I've just made was inspired by a posting on the spellbinders blog this morning called flower pounding...never heard or seen this before but its easy and effective for backgrounds, I picked 6 pansy heads and placed them face down onto water colour paper and then ran them through the big shot, I let the pigment from the flower heads seep into the paper for a couple of mins. and then peeled the flower heads off .....leaves a lovely impression with quite alot of detail on. I then inked the rest of the background in Dusty Concord and finally spritzed the paper in irr. gold glimmer mist.....I think I have an addiction to this stuff. The fairy image is from Crafty Individuals.

Challenges
Crafty Creations....stitching
Little Red Wagon......beads, in the centre of some of the flowers.
Creative beli......rub ons.
Gingersnap Creations.....fairies.
Everybody art.......sketch.
Stamp with fun....fairytales.
Lots to Do.....Birds/wings, there are wings on the fairy.
Charisma .....all about bling, glimmer mist, gold swirls,jewel.

Summer...

The sun has got its hat on hip hip hooray...........you can hum along if you want to, nice to wake up to a blue sky and not one cloud in it, so todays card is for some of the summer challenges out there. Featuring a Cuddly Buddly stamp called Annie and Friends painted in Sakura pens and h20's papers are also from CB and are called Patchwork collection, I've used the colourway plum. Flowers wers spritzed in glimmer mist and were from Papermania which I've had for ages....well it seems like ages, actually got them last year.

Challenges
Just Cute Bears....here comes Summer
Crazy 4 Challenges...light pink,purple and green.
Paper Sundaes .....sketch.

I must tell you something that my grandson did yesterday as it tickled me and made me laugh, we have a mat in the kitchen by the door and he dragged it and turned it over, now its brown rubber on the back with an imprint on it and I have to admit it does look like a chocolate bar.......my grandson suddenly says  hmmm choclate...(thats the closest I can spell it to how he says it) bends down and sniffs it ...then goes urghh, it was so funny the way he did it.......pure innocence.

                                                      Have a good day everyone x

Everything is coming up roses......

Thought I'd share some piccies of the flowers in my garden as this year the roses and clematis have done really well...unfortunately so have the weeds so my garden is looking a little like a jungle just wish the sun would stay out a bit as the clouds have returned again and it looks like rain this afternoon I'm sure the weather forecast man promised sun yesterday.......

have a good day everyone off to work in a min.

hugs x

A Compendium of Curiosities.

Morning.....yay the sun is shinning only thing is with all this rain we've had, the weeds have grown like mad will have to make an effort to get out there today and start weeding.....should be fun with Ethan, weeding and kicking a football at the same time, well us women can multi task can't we lol.

Today card is for a new challenge that has been started called A Compendium of Curiosities by Linda at L3 Studios, each Monday she will randomly select a page from Tims book and that will become the technique challenge of the week......super idea I think as if your're like me I buy books with the full intention of trying things out and then kinda forget to do them....so no excuses now, the challenge is being sponsered byEclectic Paperie so yesterday saw the start of the first challenge and its page 35.....which is stamping with water spritzed on your stamps to get a bleached effect without the bleach....never done this before so this is my first attempt.....used Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Forest Moss, and bundled sage for the background, I used stamps from Paper Arsty hot picks, the grass, a thistle and the moth which I added a little rock Candy stickles to to add  some bling....girls gotta have her bling, the sentiment was stamped onto metal and spritzed with Denim and Twilight glimmer mists the nail effect thingys were distressed with black acrylic and green viva precious metal paint.

Baby card

At least we have had a pleasant day today although it is looking overcast now....my brother-in-laws sister is due to have her baby tomorrow by C. Section so all be well he's going to be an uncle again tomorrow, so my sister asked for a card last night so I thought I'd make one today for her ready for tomorrow, the image is W.O.J, I've gone for a vintage feel to this card colouring the image in with distress inks and distressing the edge of the card in Tea Dye as well. the card is a lovely shell pink colour embossed by bazzill, I've used coffee coloured ribbon on the top of the punched lace borders, lots of stickles in Platinum on this card for lots of glitz, flowers punched using an X cut punch and again edged in stickles. Swirls were stamped using Tea Dye with the flourish stamp from crafty Individuals.

Challenges
Whiff of Joy....sketch
Praire Fairy......Glitz and Glitter,
Stamp Something Friday.......Happy Something,
Polka Doodle......nursery rhyme, rock a bye Baby.....I have sung this to my Grandson from the day he was born he associates it now when he needs to go to sleep....bless.
Creative Inspirations.....Babies.
Stampavie........dots.

hugs from Daniele x

No 1 Dad

Morning peeps...I can't believe that I have come down with another fllippin' cold, this is the second in the last 3 weeks....getting fed up with it now. So please excuse me whilst I sniff, cough, run for another tissue etc. hopefully this cold won't go viral....my attempt at morning humour. Todays card is for Fathers Day being as its next week, the image is one of the cars from B Line stamps and is on the usual glimmer mist waste card...couldn't tell you the colours as there is about 2 weeks worth of misting on it.....makes great backgrounds for stamps when you're in a hurry, I save all my sheets of card so that I always have some to work with, the papers are from The Paper Cellar.....wedding, why its called wedding I do not know as none of the papers look weddingly...not sure if thats a word oh well, the printed tag and the small round thingy is from Graphic 45, I embossed doodle dots using Distress black soot embossing powder...nice dull look.

I hope you don't think I'm advertising drinking and driving

just noticed the rum advert......

Challenges include

Our Creative corner...use the corners....I have used one lol
Allsorts.....use lace and or buttons
Alphabet challenge....G is for green
Paper Cutz......Fathers day card
C.R.A.F.T.......Fathers day/mens card
Cooking it up with Katie....Emboss, some green and a ribbon
Charisma.....spots and stripes.
The Pixie Cottage....sketch and opt of Fathers Day
Simon Says.....2 Paptterned papers and 3 types of embellishment, tag, buttons and thingy I made.
Stampavie....dots.
Ink on my Fingers....theme is numbers hope No 1 Dad counts Hels...not only is Hels celebrating her 40th Birthday she has some awsome blog candy up for grabs
Theme Thursday....theme is men with hats, the driver is wearing one.
sweet Stampin challenge......doodles

Have a good weekend

sniff sniff cough splutter....I know I'm feeling sorry for myself

hugs from Daniele x

Angelic

Gosh I'm shattered my grandson has not stopped all day with the exception of eating his lunch and was still running round when his dad picked him up.....early night for me tonight I think, I did managed to get a tag done, he sits on my lap and we have to play with the brushes and punches whilst I do a bit here and there, finished it off after he had left......the doctor keeps telling my blood pressure is abit high....bit of a joke when you are chasing round playing horses with your grandson, the last time I visited the docs he told me to take more excercise...is he having a laugh or what!!!
Today tag is using one of my first and favourite stamps from Crafty Individuals.....shes so angelic looking, I distressed the tag using Victorian Velevet, Broken China and dusty Concord with a smidge of fired brick around the edges, spritzed the tag with Irr.Gold Glimmer mist.

 The music stamp is also from CI and was stamped onto acetate as were the wings which I coloured in on the back with Viva Precious metal paint, the wing stamp is from Clear Art Stamps, the lace is pleated down the edge, flowers are from the usual waste sheets after misting and I embossed the centres in gold adding diamantes to some of the centres, the small ceramic roses are from stash....got them ages ago at a bead fair.

Challenges are
Rainbow Lady......take a trip to fantasy land and add a tag.Gingersnap Creations.....following on with their theme of wings.....use acetate.

Everybody Art.....things with wings.
Crafty Angels....use your favourite stamp.
Die cut dreams.....angels.
Tag Your It....needle and thread open to interpretation, Lace is made with thread

Thanks for taking a peek

and leaving a comment

much appreciated.

Venice Tag

Morning fellow bloggers............its raining again, I hope that wasn't Summer last week oh well more excusee to craft and when the footie starts I shall take myself and a kettle up to my craft room and stay there I think until its all over...Todays tag is a Venice inspired tag so it'll end up in my album that is slowly coming  along. The images are from Crafty Individuals, I've used german scrap to frame on of them, the keys I won in a challenge a couple of week ago they are from http://www.kut4u.com/ you get 16 keys/plates in a pack for £1.99...I must admit they look great painted in gold and then  sprinkled gold embossing powder on them to get that lovely textured effectt, the tag has been distressed in Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord and then spritzed with Irr.Gold glimmer mist......just love this colour combo.

Challenges
Kard Krazy.....a tag featuring your favourite things, fave place Italy in particular Venice, colour Pink, Purple and Gold, flowers.
C.R.A.F.T......news print.
Paper Cutz....use an image of a car/plane on a travel project.

Hugs from Daniele

P.S the weather man has just said its goining to be nice tomorrow....yay

My Time To Craft DT card

Today is Tuesday and that means another challenge at My Time To Craft.....today challenge is called Xtra Special someone, I have used the lilac image from Cuddly Buddly.....love this flower head image, the papers are also from CB, I have put dots of stardust stickles on the diamonds as well as the centres of the flowers, the image was coloured with twinkling h20's.

Hugs from Daniele x

Orange/Pink.....

Not sure what happened to Monday so I'll be posting a couple of cards today instead, I have Tuesdays off from work but I have my Grandson Ethan for the day....back to work tomorrow for a rest lol, I'm sure all you ladies out there know exactly what I mean.
The first card today is a Magnolia ....Tilda from the Christmas collection, I've gone for pink and orange as the colour theme as the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is to use your favourit colour.....Pink and your least favourite colour.....Orange however having put the two together I quite like the colour combo so maybe this will become my favourite. Papers are from Cuddly Buddly....digi download, the image was coloured with the usual sakura and h20's, pearls are from Hobby House, which reminds me I must get some more, the ribbon is Papermania, lace and flowers are from stash, Stardust stickles for all the glittery bits.

Other challenges
Pollycraft......ribbon and bling.
Sketch and stash......sketch, the newest stash are the papers from Cuddly Buddly.
Cupcake......dazzle us.
Crazy4 Challenges.....pleats, the lace was pleated under the ribbon.
Magnolia Down Under......polka dots.
Just Magnolia.....add pleated lace
A Spoonful of Sugar....Floral delights
Tuesday Taggers...All that  blooms

                                                            Hugs from Daniele x

who pinched Sunday

Ok its official...Sunday def. has less hours in than Monday because Mondays always go slower than Sundays...I got up this morning took my usual cuppa up to my work room and before you know it, its 11.30am I'm still in my nightie getting inky and its nearly half way through the day......I should have felt guilty but ....I didn't and then before you know it, its 9.00pm, Ok I did go shopping this afternoon for a couple of hours with my daughter who wanted a pair of shoes for work....I had to laugh as when we got home with the lush pair of high heels she had brought she said they weren't that comfortable but she just had to have them and besides she doesn't wear shoes at work anyway....why she didn't buy slippers I don't know.
Haven't got a card to show you today as I've been working on a holiday album from our visit to Venice last year, so I'll post the 3 pages I did today over the next couple of days.
I'm having fun doing it but I think it will take a while to fininsh as there are some more stamps that I've found that are a must have......if anyone knows a British stockist for I Brake for Stamps please let me know as they have a lovely masquerade mask that is a must have.

The papers I've used are from Crafty Individuals, the flowers are made from glimmer misted card....the usual left over spritz card as is the fleur de lys border. The stamps are from Dark Room Door, my son took the photos for me as I'm pretty hopeless so I give him the camera and just point out what I'd like a photo of, the background has been distressed with the inks dusty concord and broken china.

Challenges
Stampin for the weekend......Summer/travel theme.
Our Creative Corner......Summer.
Raise The Bar.......Summer.

.....and another

Phew its been warm today sold alot of ice cream .....sorry for the run on fairies folks but I'm quite enjoying colouring in these sweet images from Cuddly Buddly, something different tomorrow. Image painted in with h20's and sakura with lots of glamour dust, papers are patchwork in colour plum another digi download from Cuddly Buddly, the flower is a punch from X Cut.

Challenges

Stamp Something Friday.......use a digi item, the image and the papers are a digi download,
Friday Sketchers.....sketch
Daring Cardmakers....use pearls
Alphabet challenge......F is for flowers.
Cooking it up with Katie.......Wing it, pink, petal.

Paperplay.....Flowers and sparkle.

hugs from Daniele x

Flying Fairies

What a gorgeous day its been today clear blue sky and a lovely breeze to keep things at just the right temperature, I have managed to do a DT card for Cuddly Buddly It was lovely sitting in my craft room with all the windows open looking over the garden......sheer bliss, unfortunately its back to work tomorrow for a reality check, only another 3 weeks to our summer holls just got to pack my paints and pens and stamp out lots of image for me to paint whilst I'm away.....sitting in the Italian sun, painting/crafting...sheer bliss.
Todays couple of cards are another digi image from the fairy range at Cuddly Buddly called fairy Flight....sassy fairy with flip flops lol! Painted in h20's, Sakura pens and the usual glamour dust for extra bling, the papers are from the Patchwork collecction this time in the orange colour way....thought it was time for a colour change so I chose a colour I don't usually work with.

Challenges
Play date......use the colours peach,pale peach and lemon.
Truly Scrumptious.....sketch.
Stampavie.....summer,
Papertake......Summer Fun
Sir Stampalot......Punch it
Charisma......flowers

My second card featuring the fairy in flight is for the Cuddly Buddly challenge for this month....pop over to the forum and join in the fun with Lindas challenges you could win £5 to spend in store,

another challenge for this card is theme Thursday.....use bright colours

Too Old.......!!

Had to share this piccie with you of my grandson Ethan and my hubbie when they went round the car museum yesterday......It looks like Ethan is thinking of something with his finger on his lip.....but what, probably "did they really have cars like that Grandad when you was young".

                    Ethan got behind the wheels of Brum...well not the real one although it was there.

Bird Song

Morning fellow crafty bloggers....todays card kinda evolved from having a guitar on.... to having  a bird, I wanted to do a music tag but the guitar stamp I have didn't look right, the background of the tag is stormy sky and broken china with a good spritz of Twilight....in glimmer mist, fabby colour the photo today does not do it justice so will try again later to see if I can capture the bling from all the glimmer mist.

 I have stamped the bird...from paper Arsty in stormy sky onto the background of last weeks spray waste card as are the flowers...waste nothing me, I stamped the music onto acetate and secured with eyelets at the bottom and then made a fringe, the off cuts of the fringe I put under the acetate to give the illusion of a nest.....just playing around at this point.

The background ribbon effect is also from waste card with a distressed edge done in stormy sky.Just loving corrugated Kraft at the moment it looks great glimmer misted again doesn't show but it looks great. The words are from Paper Arsty...hot picks again.I have put a hidden message into the side of the tag.

Challenges are
Gingersnap creations........carrying on with the theme of flight, wings.
Kard Krazy.......tag featuring music.
Tuesday taggers.....Touchy, feely,texture is the theme and they are sponsored by Tanda Stamps.
Everybody Art......summer
Sketch and Stash.....sketch my newest stash is Twilight glimmer mist brought on Sunday.
Pollycraft......hidden message
Paper Sundaes....Kraft and blue.
Secret Crafter......buttons and blooms.
Ink on my fingers......flight

Off to the dentist now.....I know its going to hurt, ....my pocket that is, all that stash I could have brought instead of having a crown.

                                                            Have a good day
                                                           Hugs from Daniele

my Time To Craft DT card

Just got back from a day out, the plan was to go to Bird world at Bourton-on-the-water in the Cotswolds as well as the motor museum with my son and grandson but the great British weather put paid to that as its rained most of the day so Bird Land is on hold until another day, we did manage the museum, after that we ended up in Cheltnam.Mind you I'm thrilled to bits that I have been picked as a Ginger Gem again this week....Its a great challenge site that gives you some great inspiration and tutorials by lots of talented ladies.
You are probably aware that this is the last challenge at 'its a crafters companion challenge' as the company has now set up their own blog with a monthly challenge there, so Rachel who has run the challenge site is now in the process of setting up a different challenge blog.....so watch this space as they say.
Today's DT card for My Time To Craft and is following the theme of Wild Things....now mine is a cutie card featuring a free digi download from Cuddly Buddly as I must confess I have nothing that would fit the theme.....and elephants are a wild animal lol, the papers are also a digi download from Cuddly Buddly called Patchwork in the colour Plum......still on offer with 25% off.

Challenges
Pink Elephant......use bright fun colours, apt name of a challenge site since my card features a pink elephant.
Paper Play.....up in the air, includes balloonns.