Crafting with Dragonflies, Wedding Blog Hop.

Hello Folks, it's time for another challenge over at Crafting with Dragonflies but this time, things are a little bit different, because we are holding a blog hop. There are prizes at each of the Design Team member's blogs, and if you collect clues along the way, you can win a prize at the end as well. So you need to start at the main blog, and work your way along the line, so you should have come from Ina's blog. Don't worry, I will let you know where to go at the end.

Our blog hop is a wedding themed blog hop, so firstly, I'd like to chat to you a little bit about my own wedding. I've been married for 27 years this coming November. Now it's always very cold in November here in the UK, and this particular day was no exception, I was freezing, and really wished that I had worn something warm underneath my wedding dress! My veil was blown off three times, and someone was nearly run over trying to retrieve it for me.

 However, I have very happy memories of the day, and was extremely lucky to have all of my family around me. Lots of them had to travel long distances, including my own parents, and so I was really happy to have a big get together.

I carried red roses on the day, the same as my Mum when she got married, which was very important to me. My Husband recently bought me a dozen red roses when we celebrated our 25th wedding Anniversary in Paris, so he remembered how significant they were for me.

I have chosen to use an image from one of our sponsors Digistamps4joy called 'Juliette', this is a lovely image, and I loved the flowers around the frame as soon as I saw it. I have coloured them red to resemble red roses, and although my card may make an unusual wedding card I still feel that it is very romantic. I have added some lovely lace and a prima flower sprayed red. The sentiment is from Inkylicious.

Now when I got married, I had everything planned down to the last detail, the dress, the flowers, the shoes etc. I was very traditional, and I wanted to get everything right. I even had a blue garter, and some new jewellery. However, on the day, my Mum and Aunt who were helping me get ready were asking, 'well what about something borrowed?' I hadn't even given it a consideration! So my Mum hastily gave me one of her hankies which I hastily tucked into my sleeve, and that was that, I had my borrowed item.

Once the hop is over, I will be randomly drawing a winner from the commentors on my blog and giving a prize of some Hampton Art cling mounted stamps. I will draw a winner on 7th August, and announce the winner on 14th August in line with the deadlines on the main blog.

Don't forget to head over to Barb's blog to look for the next clue. I hope you worked out what mine was!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Dry embossing

Hi folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Artistic Inspirations challenge blog. The theme this week is dry embossing. I have made two cards this time, although one was from a few weeks ago, as I gave it to my Father-in-law for Father's Day. I used an image called 'Feet up and a cuppa' which is very apt for him, even the wild hair and big nose seems to suit him quite well! He laughed when he opened the card, which was quite fortunate, as he did at least see the funny side.

Anyway, I coloured  my card with pencils, and then used a houndstooth embossing folder to create a textured background. I used a sentiment from Visible Image. Lots of coloured matting picks out the colours from my image.

The second image is called 'Veedub', and I wanted to create a girly card with this image. I printed the image onto to some retro patterned paper that I had been hoarding in my stash for ages, and decoupaged it onto another image that I had coloured with pencils. I then added another coloured layer for the bumper. I punched some flowers which I then embossed with a dotty embossing folder, and attaced them together with brightly coloured brads. I also added a computer generated sentiment using a retro style font, which was a free download.

Our sponsor this week is Dr Digi who is offering the winner 1 digital image of their choice.

So please hop over to the challenge blog and see what my team mates have made for your inspiration, and have a go at entering the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Journal update

Hi folks, I have a few more journal photos to show you, from the Valerie Sjodin art journalling workshop that I have been working on lately. You may remember my previous post, and you can find the link to the class in that post.

I have drawn several more pages, and even managed to get some colour onto the front page using acrylics as Valerie suggested. So excuse the top heavy use of photographs in my post, but here goes:

I have used the phrase 'what colour are your wings today?' and surrounded it with flowers and dragonflies. I am hoping to make this page very colourful, it already is in my mind's eye!

This page is very heart based.

I am using various themes, but always with hearts running through the different areas.

I still have a border and then the all important colour to add.

Finally, here is my front cover, with some colour added, so that you can see what the rest of the journal might look like once I start to add the colour to it:

Hopefully, I'll be back in a week or two with another progress report. I am fitting my journalling around everything else, but it can be picked up and put down very easily for a few minutes at a time. I have found that it is a very portable kind of artwork as well, and often take it out and about with me.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Golden Poppies

Hi Folks, I have a poppy sample to show you today. I love poppies, they are my favourite flower, so I have really enjoyed working with these lovely stamps. For my sample, I have created a wrinkle free distress background, and then used a poppy stencil over the top with two different colour green inks. With the poppy stencil still in place, I added a script stencil, and used a permanent marker to write over the words. Once the two stencils were removed, the poppies have script over them.

I stamped the main image onto white card, adding two little dragonflies from the Flora and Fauna stamp sheet. This is another beautiful set of stamps with some amazing poppy images that would go really well with this new set. I coloured my image with Distress Markers. I made a flower using handmade paper that had been coloured with re-inkers. I simply scrunched the layers up while they were wet, and set them with a heat gun. This makes the flower set really hard. I added a brad to the centre of the flower and placed it onto some lovely olive green ribbon with some Crealie leaves.

This card really makes me think of hot Summer days, and we are certainly enjoying those at the moment! Thanks for stopping by, xx

Altered Tag Book

Hi Folks,  I have a project for you today showcasing the Fancy Flowers stamp sheet from Chocolate Baroque



I have a huge amount of alterables lurking in my stash, and knew that I wanted to make some tags using these new stamps. So I decided to use a tag book which I covered with patterned papers. I then  stamped the edges of the front cover with a flower stamp from the Wisteria Lane stamp sheet. I added a sentiment from the Artistic Affirmations stamp sheet. I stamped the flower head three times onto white card, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured the images with my Copic markers. Once I had worked out the position of the flowers on the tag, I stamped the dotty stems, again, from the Wisteria Lane stamp sheet, onto the background. I then attached the flower heads.

For the tag, I stamped the texture background from the Texture Fragments stamp sheet, using clear embossing powder. I coloured the background using Distress Inks, and then ironed off the clear embossing powder, to create a faux batik effect. I sprinkled the background with water, and dried it with a heat gun. I stamped the flower image twice, using archival ink, masking the first image, before I stamped the second one. I bleached the images, and then coloured them using Inktense pencils and a waterbrush. I added a sentiment from the Artistic Affirmations set to my tag, and a piece of lace that I coloured with Distress re-inkers and water. The swirls around the edge are from one of the flowers that also belong to this stamp sheet.

I die cut a couple of Crealie butterflies, then ran them through an embossing folder, before swiping some black ink over the raised areas. I added some yellow flat-backed pearls to make the bodies. I have added some crinkly green ribbon to the top of the tag for now, but will take it out if I put the tag into my book.

I'll be back in a few days with another sample to show you, thanks for stopping by, xx

Daisies and Butterflies

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at Crafting with Dragonflies This week the challenge is to make a card with an unusual fold. I have made a triangle trifold card, using an image from one of our sponsors, Delicious Doodles.

I found a tutorial for my card here and there are lots of other great ideas to be found on the blog. I used two square cards taped together to make my card, it was really quick. I then measured the card, and made my coloured card and backing paper half a centimetre smaller each time, as per the instructions.

I coloured my image with Polychromos,  and added some cream seam binding ribbon to close the card.

I added a lovely sentiment from Chocolate Baroque inside the card:

Our sponsors this week are Delicious Doodles, who are offering the Winner 4 digis of their choice

and Di's Digi Designs

Please pop over to the Challenge blog to see what my team mates have been making, and why not enter the challenge? Simply make a card with an unusual fold.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

bunnyzoescrafts Pink and White

C is for challenge Flowers

Papermakeupstamps Anything Goes

Ladyanne'schallenge Monochrome

Stampinfortheweekend Photo Inspiration

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Something a little bit different

Hi Folks, I want to share some photos of an online course that I have been participating in recently. It is the Embellishing edges and Text workshop with Valerie Sjodin, and I have to say that it has been really inspirational. It is a self-paced mini workshop, showing you simply how to create shaped edges for a journal, and then how to add colour to those edges. However, you can look at Valerie's blog for lots more inspiration. There is a Facebook group that you can join if you want to, but it is not compulsory.

This is the front cover of my journal, as you can see, I haven't added any colour yet, it is just drawn out in pen, ready to be painted. I am planning my pages and drawing most of them before I add paint, because I can do this on the move, while I am sitting in the car, watching TV, visiting my parents, etc. My journal is based on the word 'Tranquility', something that I feel I am often missing in my life. I have looked for lots of quotes that reflect this feeling, or something similar, and it has been a lovely rewarding experience. You may have noticed that my blog motto is 'with crafting comes tranquility', I really find that when I craft, a lot of my stress just slips away. I have certainly found it with this journal.

Here is my first attempt at colouring the Valerie Sjodin way, it's okay, bit I need to refine the technique a bit. You can see how colourful the journal will be!

Here is a virtually finished inside page, minus the colour of course. There are strong links with Zentangle with this course, which is so great for me, as I get to flex some of those techniques that I do not use often enough. You will see tangle patterns throughout the journal as and when I show you pictures during its completion, I'm sure.

Here's another decorative edge using a phrase that I really like.

This is the flap underneath the outer cover, with some more great words to tie in with my central theme.

I will be back to show you some more progress once I have managed to complete a bit more. I have some half finished pages, but I'll save those for next time. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Vintage Christening Card

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. This time the theme is vintage with lace. I have used a beautiful image from one of our sponsors this week 'A Day for Daisies', they have some lovely images for all occasions, but I do love their fairies.

I cut my image out using a decorative Nestie shape, and inked around the edges, with the die still in place, so that the edging looks like lace. I've coloured the image with my trusty Polychromos pencils, using the cream pencil as a blender, to give everything a very vintage tone. I love the look that this gives. I created a computer generated sentiment, and gave the shape the same treatment as the main image. I used Scattered Straw Distress Ink to colour the edges. I added some toning buttons and some pretty turquoise lace to finish my card.

The rest of the DT have made some beautiful cards for your inspiration, so please hop over to the blog to take a look.

Our sponsors this week are A Day for Daisies who are offering the Winner a $12 Gift Certificate to spend in the shop:

 Eureka are offering the Winner 5 digis of their choice:

Why not have a go at entering our challenge? Just make a card with a vintage theme, and add some lace. You do need to be a follower of the Crafting With Dragonflies blog to participate in the challenges.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Bunny Zoes Crafts Wings

KaboodleDoodles Pastel Colours

Make it Monday Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar Things with Wings

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Fur or Feathers

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Artistic Inspirations Challenge blog. This week, the theme is 'Fur or Feathers'. I have chosen to use an image from our sponsors Floppy Latte of two kissing swans. This image is great for weddings or anniversaries. I have used some lovely embossed card for my background, and coloured the image with Pencils. I have added a sentiment and some heart gems to finish. I chose to stick to soft pastel shades of blue and white, so that I can give the card for almost any Anniversary except Golden or Ruby! However, this card is earmarked for a special couple already, so it won't be sitting in my box of cards for long.

Why don't you join in the challenge, and make something with a fur or feather related theme?
 It can be anything you like, a card, box, tag, mixed media project, etc. We would love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Thinking of you

Hi Folks, I have a 'Thinking of You' card to show you today. I used a lovely piece of backing paper from the Prima Firefly range. These papers are so versatile, and I love the colours in this range. I stamped and embossed my background stamp using Wow embossing powder. The stamp is from Chapel Road stamps, and  is great, full of lovely words, like 'happiness, tranquility, love, 'etc. I then coloured the background with a selection of green Memento Inks. I added some hollyhocks using some texture paste coloured with acrylic paint through a stencil. The butterflies are made from chipboard and have been covered with paint and crackle glaze from PaperArtsy.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Majestic Peacock

Hi Folks, here's another Peacock sample, using the fabulous new stamps from Chocolate Baroque

I created a background using the wrinkle free Distress method, using shades of turquoise and purple. I stamped a peacock onto some watercolour paper, and coloured the image, using the same shades as the background. I added some gems to the tail, for a bit of sparkle. I stamped the large deco feather onto some navy card using Versamark ink, and then embossed the image using gold embossing powder. I added a mat of the same colour navy behind my background card, and a decorative frame behind the peacock image.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Secret Box

Hi Folks, it's time for another challenge over at the Crafting with Dragonflies challenge blog. This week the theme is to make a box. I have chosen to make a secret box, and I found my template here the website has a great tutorial jam packed with photographs.

I made my box using two sheets of kraft card, plus a little bit of spare that I had lurking in my stash of card oddments that I always save for these occasions. I covered the panels with some co-ordinating papers in blues and greens. I stamped some meadow flowers from a stamp set from Crafty Individuals, and used an image from our sponsor for the top of my box. I have added some ribbon, and a flat-backed gem to complete my box.

Our sponsors this week are QKR who are offering a prize of 5 digis of the winner's choice.

Sassy's are offering 4 digis of the Winner's choice:

Why not have a go at making a box and enter our challenge, there are lots of interesting templates available these days to make boxes. The link that I have provided at the top of my post has some great templates, and Splitcoast Stampers is another great website.

There is also a digital freebie up for grabs over on the challenge blog  at the moment to celebrate us reaching the 100 follower mark.

I am entering my box into the following challenges:

bearly mine challenges Anything Goes

through the craft room door Anything Goes

Crafting Musketeers Use a stamped image

Digi Galore Anything but a square

scrap it girl Use your dies

Make it Monday Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, xx