WLS May#2 - All creatures great and small

 Good Morning everyone

Time for some midway inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme is 

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

I went with one of the smallest creatures (mouse) last time so this time its one of the largest creatures and this fabulous whale stamp from aall&create, this is another one thats been neglected for a while too so good to get it out.  I have teamed it up with one of my brusho/pixie powder backgrounds - I have a draw full of backgrounds as I often have sessions making them when i don't feel like properly crafting... plus I make such a mess using brushos that its good to get lots made at once and then one lot of clean up!

Card Size approx 5x7" die cut from navy blue cardstock, I felt the rounded corners on this die set picked up on the curve of the whale nicely. I die cut my brusho & pixie powder background to fit the card front, then stamped the whale stamp with blue versaclair ink and then used a circle embossing folder - this to pick up on bubbles in the water. I then lightly inked over the top with chipped sapphire distress ink to just help the embossing stand out a little bit more - not too heavy as i still wanted it to be in the background.  I used posca paint pens on the background stamping to add a little bit extra colour, using yellow and white on some of the hexagons.

I then stamped the whale onto a pinky patterned paper which is not a very realistic colour I know but a nice contrast to the background!  I added some white pen highlights, curved her body and adhered into place with glue gel.

I then die cut some seaweed bits from green holographic card off cuts that were on my desk.  Sentiments stamped onto white with the same blue ink and adhered into place - these sentiments come from a ZinskiArt mermaid set but fit well i feel.

You can make out the mica of the pixie powders in the background better here and the holographic seaweed, both shimmer & dance when the light hits them like the sparkle of sunshine on the water.

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and version 2 which is more muted

Made almost the same way as the first one but this time i started with a background made using oxide inks so very muted.  I die cut an old tim holtz holey die into the background and matted onto silver holographic cardstock.  The whale was stamped onto card that had been sprayed with blue & purple ink and bright pink mica spray.

Hard to really show off the holographic but you can make it out more on the bottom of the photo, with the matt finish of the oxide background it really shimmers and dances - i went with this to give the effect of bubbles in the water

Items Used:

aall&create stamp #390 'sea life'

Funky Fossil 'ZinskiArt' stamp set 'Making waves'

Funky Fossil stamp set 'weird fish'

Sizzix circle embossing folder (very old!)

? Nesting dies

Dawn Bibby die set DBC0371 'Into the deep' embellishment set

Brusho Powders

Cosmic shimmer pixie powder

Chipped Sapphire distress ink

Distress Oxide - shaded lilac, cracked pistachio, tumbled glass & iced spruce

Versafine Clair ink 'Medieval blue'

Silver & green holographic card from Aldi

Navy cardstock

We have these lovely stamps from aall&create as the prize this month so hop over to We love stamping to join in, as well as the all creatures great and small theme we always have the anything goes option as long as you include stamping.

Id love to enter card one into the following:

https://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/05/challenge-136-not-square.html

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2026/05/critter-crazy-challenges-110-anything.html

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https://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2026/05/challenge-105.html

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https://creativefriday.blogspot.com/2026/05/creative-friday-411-jedes-tier-ist.html - all animals permitted

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WLS May#1 - All creatures great and small

 

            Good Morning all

Its the first Sunday of May so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme is 

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

So lots of choice there but you can always go with our anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Having hundreds of stamps suitable for the theme I decided to go literal and use some of the smallest and largest animal stamps I have and to lessen my choice even more I decided to use old stamps not seen for a while, this made choosing much easier for me, so to start with we have a little happy mouse

                              Card approx 5x6" Made from black card.  I decided to use this very old paper pad as the camera paper went with the mouse perfectly, so everything is from the paper pad apart from black and white cardstock.  

I stamped the mouse onto yellow paper from the pad and cut out.  I stamped the nose and camera again onto different colours and paper pieced onto the main image.  I used a pink alcohol marker to add colour to the tail and ears and a white gel pen for his teeth and eyes.  I then die cut the polaroid frame from white and the inner section from a blue paper, on this blue paper i once again stamped the mouse so that i had his whiskers in place, over this i adhered the yellow mouse.  Matted onto black cardstock.

I matted and layered various papers from the pad and added to the base card, adding the polaroid on top with foam pads at a jolly angle.  I cut the sentiments/speech bubbles and arrows from another paper in the pad.  

                                               

Just a close up on Mr Mouse.  Sadly Katzelkraft stamps are another stamp company that is no more.  

A Jolly bright happy card for either children or those young at heart cheerful adults and I smiled all the time while making it so its win win😁🐭

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamps SOLO179 'La Souris photographe'

Echo park 6x6 paper pad  'Here&now' by Lori Whitlock (very old)

Sizzix polaroid die set (old)

Black and white card

Pink alcohol marker

White gel pen

Hop over to We Love Stamping to join in where we have these fabulous stamps from aall&create for the lucky winner

                             

                                                  

My blog is like buses at the moment, nothing for weeks and then 3 posts all at once😀 Im still waiting on the next appointment to fix my eyes and my mojo gone on a round the world cruise I think - luckily I was ahead on my DT makes but hopefully mojo comes back soon!

Thank you all for stopping by once again.  I hope you all have a good month of May. Big hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/2026/04/569-april-16-2-or-more-pattern-papers.html

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https://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-636-use-colours-pink-blue-or.html

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2026/05/critter-crazy-challenges-110-anything.html

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https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/03/pinspirational-challenge-337-may.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2026/05/atg-love-those-pretty-papers-may-2026.html

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Tri-fold shutter card for Creative Creases

Good Morning to you all.

I have 2 posts today and both very different so be sure to check them both out...or hop over here

Im honoured to be guest DT over at Creative Creases Challenge once again

This time I decided to use an old tattered lace die set to make an A4 tri fold shutter card.  Its years old and was preloved when I bought it so it must be over 10yrs old and been gathering dust!

I also wanted to use some old paperartsy flower stamps so have gone for a full on summer vibe.

A4 white die cut card base.  I then made my own blue sky background which you can see at the end of the post, this i then die cut with the matt layer dies from the set.

I stamped the flowers with dark blue ink so a bit softer than black and coloured with alcohol markers. I then fussy cut the flowers and got arranging, adhering some flat and some with pinflair glue gel for dimension.  I added them in 2 different bunches so that depending on what angle the card is stood at you mostly see different flowers.

I stamped 2 butterflies in purple, added soft colour, cut out and added to the panels along with 2 flower heads.

The quote was stamped in blue and added to the middle.  Touches of diamond stickles glitter glue added to the flower centres and butterfly wings for a little bit of sparkle to finish. 

The quote 'There are always flowers for those who want to see them' - it was originally a vertical stamp but wouldn't fit the middle panel so by cutting the words up I made it fit😁.

I coloured these flowers more like red poppies.  The foliage was such a fine stamp I didn't fancy fussy cutting so i stamped it in green ink and coloured completely over the top with green alcohol marker and then cut out.  To make my arrangements i cut the heads and stems off some so that i could stick at different angles and make more realistic, the foliage i cut into small pieces and tucked in among the flowers.  

and onto my background below

My background.  I started with a sheet of white A4 and added turquoise and ultramarine brusho powders.  Once completely dry and to soften the vibrancy a little i used an A4 shell stencil with matt lilac acrylic paint.  I then added lots of stamping with various inks and stamps using 1st,2nd&3rd generation stamping - basically just stamping until no ink left on the stamp.  The main text reads 'spread a little happiness wherever you go' this is an aall&create stamp set.

To finish the background i took this sun swirly stencil and used gold acrylic paint, sadly photos don't pick up how shiny it it, but when the light hits it, it adds a subtle bling to the background

Items Used:

Tattered lace A4 shutter die set (very old)

Paperartsy stamps 'JOFY 11' 'JOFY14' 'EKC03'

aall&create stamps #851 'rise&shine #628 'spread a little happiness'

Shell and swirl stencils (?brand?)

Decoart gold paint

Folkart matt paint

Alcohol markers

Brusho powders 'turquoise, ultramarine'

Versafine Clair inks 'medieval blue' 'green oasis''monarch''purple delight'

Ranger stickles 'diamond'

 

Hop over to Creative Creases to see what the talented DT created and to join in with your fancy folds.

When I made this a few weeks ago it was wild, wet & windy so I was thinking of sunnier days, since then my mojo has gone on holiday...hopefully it returns soon as I do have birthdays to make for!  Its been beautiful weather last couple of weeks in Cornwall - windy but that is ideal for drying the washing as long as you add plenty of pegs😁 And hat it definitely needed for my walks but it was beautifully and sunny so you can forgive the wind.  I hope you all have a wonderful month of May. Emma

 

Id love to also enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/04/ellibelles-garden-party-no-14-anything.html

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https://do-allkreatives.blogspot.com/2026/05/113-blumen-als-blickfang.html

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https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/05/miucb-83-anything-goes-optional-stamp.html - stamped background

 

Mermaid Triptych

Good Morning everyone

I have 2 posts going live today both very different so do pop back again later...or hop over here

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is always anything goes MIXED MEDIA, so using at least 3 different mediums, but the more the better.

Ive gone for something a little different this month and made a triptych home decor scene using these funky mermaids and fish from Funky Fossil and some fabulous printed acetate from stamperia for the backgrounds and then added lots of different mediums and textures.

Approx Size overall is 14x7" (35x17cm)

Approx size of each panel is 4x6" (15.5x10.5cm)

See below for how I did the backgrounds. 

 

I stamped the mermaids onto white card and used alcohol markers to colour the skin, hair & facial features.   I then stamped the mermaids and fish onto various scraps of patterned paper in a rainbow of colours and cut out, the pieces for the mermaids outfits I paper pieced onto the base images - thus limiting the colouring in I needed to do and the bonus of using up some very small offcuts of pretty papers....personally I find cutting out therapeutic and colouring in stressful...

I then started arranging the mermaids and fish onto the background panels with glue gel, adding a few shells, sea glass and pebbles collected over the years from Cornish & Breton beaches.

I stamped the sentiments onto white using black ink, cut out and adhering into place to finish

Being an accordion design you can alter the angle and viewing point of the scenes

'Mermaid Kisses & Starfish wishes'

I added white posca pen highlights to the mermaids and fish

'Swim your own way' & 'make some waves'

'Salty Air & Mermaid Hair'

All the mermaids and fish were covered in a coat of glossy mod podge to protect them and this also stiffens them so they stand up better to being handled more.

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and now onto the backgrounds

I could only get 2 tags out of one sheet of A4 so picked a 2nd sheet with similar under tones 

Panels in progress - you can see close ups below.  I die cut them from very thick acetate by stamperia - the dies don't cut all the way through as its so thick but do add a good groove for me to go around with the scissors.

1. add texture paste through stencils - blue for the scales/waves and glitter paste through a bubble/dot stencil

2.  add torn pieces of washi tape and text stickers

3. dry brush soft white acrylic to soften the edges of the texture paste and washi tape

4. over stencil with foliage for seaweed effect with matt green acrylic paint

For Christmas I was given a pack of PET (plastice) stickers with various prints on them, i used a few of the text ones here - see bottom right corner, the white text with circles and a orangey splodge - they work well on this acetate to add details without needing to stamp and they completely blend in.

I picked this washi tape with shades of green and purple to pick up on the colours in the mermaids

Dry brushing matt soft white over the top just softens the blue texture paste and some of the shine in places of the acetate - just adding more interest for the eyes.  I also added some lines with the edge of an old store card and the soft white paint. I used the stencil this way up to kind of give the feel of waves.

Just showing them mounted onto the petrol blue tags, this matches the blue of the metallic texture paste. Originally I planned to just have the acetate panels joined together but felt they needed framing to draw the eye in.

Items Used:

Funky Fossil stamp sets - 'making waves' by zinski art & 'weird fish'

Label dies

scales Stencil

Stencil Bubble/dots & foliage

Stamperia clear prints SBA419 'Alchemy' range

aall&create washi tape (old one)

Stamperia glitter paste 'Arctic Ice' K3P62

Rich relief paste multi Titanium 'antique turquoise' 1505524

Folk art acrylic paints

PET stickers

Im going to have to start writing the name of the stencils on the actual stencil with a sharpie i think as the more i get the more i can't remember the brands/names of them and im not that organised I keep them all in the packaging.  Funky Fossil brand is good as she has her brand embossed into the actual stencil which helps.

 

Hop over to  Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT have created and to join in.  Anything mixed media goes so it can be a small little project like an ATC or tag upto a large canvas and everything inbetween - we'd love to see your creations

Id love to enter the following:

https://pixiessnippetsplayground.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-531.html - all the papers used are snippets

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2026/04/april-2026-stencil-fun-challenge.html - Ive used dots, foliage & scales stencils

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/04/challenge-848.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/04/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-may.html