June WLS #1 - Sports & Hobbies

Good Morning everyone

Its a new month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme for June is

SPORTS & HOBBIES

Although I come from a family big into playing and watching sports and before my MS I was fairly sporty myself I have absolutely no sport themed stamps and I wasn't going to buy new just for this challenge, so Ive gone down the hobbies root,  and what better hobby to start with than arts and crafts! 

Black DL card (approx 4x8.25")  I first stamped all the art elements onto white watercolour paper, coloured with derwent inktense pencils and cut out once dry.  I worked out what size i wanted my panels and cut white linen card to size and stamped the sentiment towards the top in black.  I matted this onto rainbow printed cardstock which i tore the edges to show the white core to help lift the colour and add some 'crafty' interest!  Now i say i matted it - its actually 2 strips adhered either side and i flipped them - so the rainbow of colours runs opposite ways up and down - just for a fun element.  I then adhered this to the card front with foam tape.

I then got arranging all the art products which did take a few attempts until i was happy with them.  Some I adhered flat and others with glue gel. 

Just a close up - on the paint pallet I purposedly added some of the paint colours over the edge to make it look like a well used set - these art supplies are well loved!  I used a silver paint pen on the 'ferrule' (metal parts) of the paint brushes and added white gel pen highlights. 

Items Used:

(creative expressions) Jane Davenport stamp set CEJDCS023 'HeArt Supplies'

Creative Craft stamp set 'craftiness sentiments' (company closed)

Derwent Inktense pencils

CraftUk Ltd white linen cardstock

Black cardstock

Rainbow printed card from Lidl

White gel pen

We have this fabulous prize from Visible image for the lucky winners so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in with your stamped creations

Thank you all for stopping by once again.   I finally have my check up apt for my eyes on the 22nd June - so ive come to the conclusion, any time frame they give you you need to double!  Then after that waiting for the next round of lasers...its a bit like how long is a piece of string with the nhs these days...but good news my mojo is slowly returning, nearly 2 months with no crafting is unheard of for me so I was beginning to worry😓     I hope you all have a good month of June, not sure where the sun has gone as y/day was so windy they had to cancel the Royal Cornwall show which is sad as its the biggest date in the calendar for Cornwall and lots of farmers spend months prepping for it.  Big hugs Emma

Id Love to enter the following:

https://colorfuloptions.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-2026.html - rainbow option

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https://paperfundaychallenges.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-2026-challenge-88-anything-goes.html - stripes option

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-17-challenge.html - used paper and scissors to cut out all the images

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https://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2026/06/crafty-catz-challenge-715.html

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https://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2026/06/challenge-324.html

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Into the forest....

Good Morning everyone

The first Friday in June so time for a new challenge at Creative Artiste where the theme is always anything goes 

MIXED MEDIA

Using at least 3 different mediums

I have another one of my shadow boxes made from a cat food box....of which i have a never ending supply!  This time we are in the woods at dusk surrounded by trees watching the hedgehogs come out to play😁

Box size approx 20x16cm /6x8" and 3" deep

See below for step by step.

Once all the trees were in place I added reindeer moss to the floor, added a couple of trees to either side with a little chipboard birdie, 3 small printed toadstools and my 2 hedgehogs.  Ive had these chipboard hedgehogs for at least 10 years so about time i used them.  I first covered them in brown paint in 2 tones, darker at the bottom and lighter at the top, to the top where the spikes are i very lightly dry brushed on diamond cadence dora paint - when the light hits it it really dances. 

I stamped the quote onto a sage green cardstock die cut into an oval, covered with mod podge and adhered into place with glue gel covering the join in the trees.  I added  more die cut foliage around and behind the oval to frame it and added another little wooden bird.

The foliage was die cut from cardstock i had painted with green cadence dora paint so it really shimmers when the light hits it.  Ive had these tiny wooden birds for years and still using them - it was a big pack. I left them natural as they match the tones of the reindeer moss

The trees ive added half way at the sides were 5 layers of die cuts so nice and sturdy and stand up well.

I love how the light emanates from deep in the woods...who knows what magic is going on in there.  My nan always called this time of night 'The gloaming' which always conjured up a more magical feel than 'dusk', a bit like twilight that always sounds more mystical than dusk! lol  For those who don't know gloaming is Scottish...My nan had long lost her Scottish accent accept when she used her many Scottish words and they always came out in a Scottish accent

and a close up of the hedgehogs, this is as detailed as i dared to get with them, i think if i had attempted putting in eyes & ears it would have ruined them

and onto the box base

After the box was coated in black gesso i then coated in a layer of dark blue and teal paint as i wanted a more dusk/nighttime look.  Then i added lime green and yellow to the back of the box as i wanted the feel of a luminous light coming from deep within the forest - i brought this slightly onto the sides of the box too.  Once dry i dry brushed on midnight blue and black to help build depth, you can see from the right hand photo that the yellow is still visible even through this dark paint but it makes it part of the scene rather than just yellow on top.

(colour is correct on the left one - right one was photographed at night before i moved onto next step)

I covered a sheet of scrap card in green cadence dora paints using light and dark greens, ones dry i die cut into foliage and adhered to the back of the box, this really shimmers in the light and also then has the effect of the light in the forest catching the leaves.

I die cut lots of birch trees from brown 300gsm cardstock and adhered 3 layers together to give me more of a chipboard.  I then dry brushed on brown acrylics to give more realistic bark then just the plain brown cardstock.  I have 2 very old memory box birch dies - 1 is one truck and the 2nd is several trunks joined together, this joint one i used for the background, i used one and a half across and then as its not tall enough, cut up another one for the top, knowing that i would be hiding the joins....if you click on the photo it will bring it up bigger for you to see closer if you wish

The outside of the box, i added texture paste through stencils and in other areas just dabbed on with my pallet knife.  Over dry i covered in the same midnight blue, teal & liquorice black paint used on the inside and once dry, dry brushed on the same lime green and yellow paints.  I finished the corners with metal corner protectors.

The start of my shadow boxes.  I cut up cat food boxes and covered in brown paper saved from packaging.  I cut to 3" deep but you could have a really deep shadow box and leave the full depth of the original box

You can see other cat food box make overs here

                      

                                  autumn shadow box                                       snowy cabin

Items Used:

Inkylicious 'forest quote' stamp

Toadstool digitals 'Mixed Media Toadstools' from Double Helix Digitals on Etsy

Memory box dies - 'Tall birch' & 'Massa leaf' 

Impression Obsession birch tree die 

Kiasercraft wood birds

Texture stencils

Texture paste

Cadence dora paints

Folk art acrylic paints

Hop over to Creative Artiste to join in with your mixed media makes and see what the rest of the DT has come up with this month.  Any project welcome as long as you use 3 or more mediums.

Wishing you all a happy month of June. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://diytozts.blogspot.com/2026/06/wyzwanie-96-recykling-upcykling.html#more

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https://craftingacutabove.blogspot.com/2026/06/june-challenge-and-july-anniversary-news.html - tree and leaf dies used

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https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2026/06/challenge-202606-june-2026-anything.html - anything but a card

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-june.html

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https://pinspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/06/pinspirational-challenge-338-june-blue.html - blues and greens

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https://do-allkreatives.blogspot.com/2026/06/114-verpackung-box.html - Ive created my project from a packaging box 

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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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