Followers

Sunday, 5 October 2025

WLS October - Autumn

Good Morning everyone and welcome to October.  

Its time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping  and the theme this month just had to be 

ANYTHING AUTUMN
but if thats really not for you we always have the anything goes option as long as you use stamps.  I love autumn just as much as spring.




A5 Ivory card blank.  I stamped the toadstool image twice onto ivory card with dark brown ink.  One I watercoloured with inktense pencils and cut out and the 2nd one i cut into a rectangle panel...to this one i added a die cut frame from a textured gold satin, I then decoupaged the toadstools on top with glue gel.  

As im still attempting to use up 6x6 paper pads I raided the drawer for papers in colours that matched.  I took a dark brown printed paper and matted onto gold satin...as its a 6x6 paper on an A5 card I cut it in half and covered the middle section with a different paper - thus extending its length.

I decided i wanted some of the green used in the topper to break up the background colours and lift it so found a green paper than matched, cut into strips and added on a wonk.  I then added the topper with foam tape for a little dimension.

Computer printed sentiment die cut into an oval to finish. 


Difficult to show the gold satin, but when the light hits it, it really shines, it has a slight embossed pattern in it too - another one thats been in the drawer for 10+ years! 

**

Version 2
Topper made the same way, just different papers with leafy patterns
 

I made 8 versions in all so a good dent on autumnal papers - which are all years old.

Items Used:
aall&create stamp #1078 'Mycelium potions'
spellbinders foliage frame die #S6-006 'branching out'  (very old set)
oval stitched dies
derwent inktense pencils
various patterned papers
CraftUK ltd cream linen 300gsm cardstock
Gold satin card


We have an amazing prize of Lavinia stamps this month 






So hop over We Love Stamping to join in with your Autumn stamped projects to be in with a chance of winning. Just get creative with your stamping - you can use physical or digital stamps.

I hope you all have a good week ahead.  Emmax





Id love to enter the following:








 

Friday, 3 October 2025

Pumpkin Season - Creative Artiste Oct

Good Morning everyone

Im still waiting for my eye op so vertigo and extreme nausea still plaguing me, I  can only spend about 5mins looking at a screen so this post has taken weeks to type up so I hope it all makes sense - luckily blogger allows us to plan and schedule these posts well in advance if we need to.


Its Autumn and Its October so for my make for creative artiste this month ive made a pumpkin scene and had great fun making it too.

Over at Creative Artiste its always anything goes as long as you use mixed medias, at least 3 Different types

This is very much an assemblage make for me as no stamping or cutting out involved and all the leaves were die cut previously from my inky scraps.  So I just had fun with texture paste, crackle paste, acrylic and shimmer paints and bringing it all together in a little scene.....which doesn't happen over night😊



Approx Size: 10x8"  Wooden pumpkin from the works a few years ago.  I also decided I wanted to use some of the tim holtz paper dolls I have had for years and keeping in a safe place.  I made this for a friend who I know loves all things Tim Holtz so the ideal opportunity to use the paper dolls.

We've got an end of season pumpkin picking scene.  See below for photos of how i made the background.  Once I had finished the background and adding shimmer and shine to the pumpkins I added some of the dolls to look like they are sat on the giant pumpkins and leant up against them.  

I then added lots of die cut autumn leaves which I have a bag full off as I always die cut any left over inked pieces into leaves as they are always useful. So the leaves were inked up with various brushos, distress inks, oxides, mica sprays, pixie powders etc....  I arranged them to look like they are blowing around in the breeze and falling from the trees.



Close up off the pumpkin pile and dolls



Love this little doggy, he has a little pumpkin beside him and is just wondering if he will chase some leaves.....I added a little plastic spider on one pumpkin...it is a little spider but compared to the size of the chap I guess its huge! lol   To take off the plastic shiny finish i covered it with black gesso 

I painted the edge of the wooden pumpkin with black and then edged the front with gold and orange dora paint 

***

now onto how I did the background
I first covered the wooden pumpkin with acrylic paints, then adhered the polystyrene pumpkins and painted them with gesso and added some texture paste here and there to the background and ground.  The large pumpkins I cut in half as they would have been too deep - this also makes them go further too - the polystyrene is fairly easy to cut with a craft knife. 
I then built up the colour of the pumpkins and background using acrylic paints, slowly building up the layers until i was happy, this is quite a slow process for me and comes together over days.  It needed to be dark and in shadow amongst the pumpkins to help give the effect of a deep pile of them.  Also dry brushing on several layers to the background to build up the colour.  To help the pumpkin stack to stand out the main background pumpkin is a much darker orange almost red and the smaller ones more yellowy orange.


I dried brushed on a top layer of cadence dora paint in orange and gold so the pumpkins really shimmer in the light - although hard to capture in photos but it is sparkly.  I very lightly added touches of the dora paint to the main mdf pumpkin so it catches the light in places - less is more as the cadence dora paint is very shimmery
I wanted the main pumpkin to have a gnarly tough skin effect like you get on some pumpkins that have battled the weather and garden wildlife so they sometimes get a tough rough skin.  I added texture paste and some crackle paste in areas.

Items Used:
Mdt pumpkin from 'the works'
Polystrene pumpkins from ebay
Tim Holtz ideology pumpkins
Tim Holtz paper dolls
Spellbinders leaf dies
Cadence dora paint 'gold & orange'
Acrylic paints
Ranger Crackle paste
Texture paste

My dad has grown a bumper crop of pumpkins this year with the dry weather so the girls are delighted and i guess we will be living on soup all winter😁

Do hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT has created and to join in with your creative mixed media makes - we love seeing how you mix those medias.

Wishing you all have a very happy October. Emmax


Id love to enter the following:






 

Thursday, 18 September 2025

WLS Sept#2 Cute

Good Morning everyone

Half way through September so time for more inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

CUTE
There is always the anything goes as long as you use stamping if cute's not your thing.

Cute isn't really me but this cute elephant is on a stamp set from art by marlene so I decided to make a couple of baby cards, first time id inked up this stamp.


DL size (approx 4x8") I used cream linen card for a softer feel than white.  I stamped the elephant with blue ink onto the cream linen and watercoloured with distress inks and cut out.  I stamped it a 2nd time onto cream so that I had its tail and die cut into an oval and added the watercoloured version on top with glue gel. 

I then searched my papers and found this floral one with pinky purple tones that went well with my inks so i die cut to fit the base and adhered.  I die cut a fancy oval from pink mirror card and added my elephant topper to this and then the card front.

Sentiment stamped, matted onto more pinky mirror card and added to the top with foam tape. 

Sadly the photos don't do the pinky mirror card justice, but it is lovely when the light hits it. 

and a blue version



Made the same way, this time i matted onto a matt blue cardstock that matched the blue inks used in the elephant.


Items Used:
Art by Marlene stamp set 'goofy animals' (STAMPBM63)
Baby bottle die set (brand unknown)
Spellbinders oval oval die sets S4-140 petite ovals & Elegant ovals S4-425
Patterned papers (very old)
craft consortuim pink mirror card
CraftUk ltd cream linen cardstock
Distress Inks - picked raspberry, shaded lilac, seedless preserve, chipped sapphire, salty ocean, wild honey


We have an amazing prize of house-mouse stamps this month kindly supplied by oakwood





So hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning - we love seeing how creative you can get






 

Sunday, 7 September 2025

WLS Sept#1 - Cute

Good Morning everyone

Time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

CUTE
So right out of my comfort zone , if cute is not for you, you can always go with the anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Looking through my stamps I don't have many that are cute, but found this cute mouse image that a friend had stamped and sent to me which is called Ballerina Mouse by Pink Ink designs.  I thought it would be ok for my niece Charlottes birthday.


6x6" card which I made from acetate.  After colouring the mouse with alcohol markers i went searching for a paper and found this one with rainbow tones which also picked out the pinks, purples and blues in the colouring.  I folded it and adhered inside the acetate card so that is shows through. 

I die cut a frame from teal and white card and added to the front with foam tape, i die cut circles from the same colours and adhered flat in the middle, to this I added the mouse on a 'wobbler' so she dances around.  I then computer printed the sentiments die cut into fishtail banners and added to the front with glue gel.

2 pink glossy hearts added to the sentiments and glitter glue added to the wings to finish.

(After finishing and looking at it a while I realised that if I had thought it through I would have cut the backing paper so the circles were more even on each side.... which I could have done as it was a 12x12 paper but Im sure my niece won't even notice that)

The wobbler gives lots of dimension


Whenever I make an acetate card and added a paper insert, i will always add the frames and such to the front first as i then add the glue behind these to hold the insert in place, therefore no glue shows through the acetate.

Charlotte decided she wanted a recorder for her birthday so we all needed ear plugs! lol 

Items Used:
Pink ink stamp 'ballerina mouse'
Spellbinders and MFT circle dies
Fancy square nesting dies
MFT fishtail banner dies
Alcohol makers
Make & Create Patterned paper (the works)
hunkydory acetate
CraftUk ltd white linen card
Jellybean teal pearl card
Wobbler
Heart gel stickers  





We have this fabulous prize of house mouse stamps this month kindly supplied by oakwood so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning.  Get as creative as you can with your stamping and have fun.

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Crafty hugs Emmax




 

Friday, 5 September 2025

Blue frog ATC trio - Sept Creative Artiste

Good Morning everyone

September has started so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything goes MIXED MEDIA - we need at least 3 different mediums



I decided for a change to make a trio of ATC's.  I used this fab frog stamp set from aall&create and what I had left on my desk.  So we have a blue tree frog as I had scraps of this pale blue dotty paper.  I had a piece of inked background with shades of green, blue and pink which made my bases.

Each atc is 3.5x2.5" in size

I started by cutting my inked background to size, I then inked through a circle stencil with pearl white dora paint and through a dotty stencil with glossy glaze.  I added some text stamping in grey and a dotty mark stamp with green.

I stamped the lily pads onto lemon inked card which was on my desk but a good contrast to the blue.  I stamped the dragonflies and waterlily onto white card and coloured with alcohol markers in pink - this picks up on the touches of pink in the background. 

Stamped the words onto more of the dotty paper, cut out and arranged  to finish.  See below for each individual atc

You can make out the pearl stenciling better here.  I used a yellow paint pen to add colour to the frogs spots.

Photos don't show it well, but the bottom left corner you can just make out the glossy glaze dots.  I inked over them with stormy sky distress ink and the glaze resists it, also inked all the edges with the stormy sky.

For this happy chappy - by that expression he must be feeling croak😆, I torn a scrap of white card, inked blue and added to the bottom to 'ground' him & added a few doodles with a fine liner to give a water like effect.  I had a die cut piece of foliage left over which i added behind him.  

Heres the background before adding the extras, you can just make out in the light the shimmer of the white dora paint on the bigger stencilled circles and the glossy glaze with the small dotty stencil...also some of the ink sprayed background was pearlised so when the light hits them they shimmer and dance with the different finshes

Items Used:
Aall&create stamps #521 'Be hoppy'
Cosmic shimmer airless misters - green, pink & pearl teal
Cosmic shimmer glossy glaze
Cadence Dora paint 'white'
Distress Inks - stormy sky, picked raspberry, wild honey, lemonade
Posca paint pen - yellow
Stencils - circles & dotty
Patterned paper scraps


Do hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT created and to join in with your multiple different mediums projects

Thank you for stopping by.  Due to the vertigo and nausea Im not getting much serious crafting done so thankfully I was very well prepared with my DT projects, still hoping to get my 'new' eyes soon! So I apologise for not keeping up with comments on your projects but about 5mins of screen time is all i can manage before having to lie down again.  Big hugs to you all Emmax



Id love to enter the following