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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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

 

Christmas Decoration - Creative Artiste December

 Good Morning all

Its the 1st Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything goes mixed media - using at least 3 different mediums.  

The DT have gone with a Christmas theme fitting the season but you can join in with any theme.

Ive made a light up stained glass effect decoration for the wall or internal door.  It is 8x8" in size and Ive thrown lots at it - glitter paste, halo paste, alcohol inks, brusho's and some white gesso for the snowy effect.

I first added gold glitter paste and green halo paste to a piece of acetate with snowflake and star stencils.  Once dry I added blue & purple tone alcohol inks to the back

See below for how I made up the frame... once that was finished I die cut pine branches from brusho powder stained cardstock and my deer from brown card - for the deer I layered 3 together to give them a chipboard like feel and give the antlers more stability.  I tore some white card to fit the bottom and dabbled on white gesso to look like snow for the deer to stand on.  I added the pine branches in place with some mini fir cones.  

To finish I splattered on white gesso to look like snow and dabbed some onto the pine cones and deers antlers. 

You can see the texture paste on the bauble better here, the gold glitter paste is very shimmery and the halo paste is subtle but when the light hits it it has a green pearlescence 

And showing it all lit up

I made up a frame using nesting dies, white card and gold mirror card adhered together and then run through an A4 snowflake embossing folder.  This frame I added over another frame cut using a large bauble shaped die - behind the bauble frame I added the acetate.  By layering several frames together its given it all rigidity to hold upto being handled when turning the lights on and off and hopefully give a few years of enjoyment.

I die cut white card with the largest die I used for the front and adhered clear micro lights to the middle, taping into position.  I then added foam tape around the outside edge and adhered the front panel on top - the foam tape adds space for the lights to sit comfortably in place.  I adhered the light switch and battery pack to the very back of the decoration for easy access.

Items Used:

Cosmic shimmer Ultra sparkle texture paste 'sahara gold'

Stamperia Halo paste 'Green' K3P70B

Tim Holtz alcohol inks - shades of blue

Brusho Powder 'sea green, turquoise'

White gesso

Creative Craft XL Stretch circle dies

Spellbinders ornament die set (old)

Tattered Lace A4 snowflake embossing folder (old)

MFT deer dies 'die love' (quite old)

Pine branches dies (? so old ive forgotton the brand)

CraftUK ltd smooth white A3 card

Gold mirror card

Hop over to Creative Artiste to see what the rest of the DT and Guest DT have created and to join in with your anything mixed media goes. 

This is the last make for my 1st year on the DT at Creative Artiste as we have a break in January.  Its been great fun stretching my brain cells for so  many different mixed media projects this year.  I thought it would be fun to see them all together, just click on the link below each if you would like full details

     

Snowdrops                    Bee Awesome 

                          

       In the nest                                   Butterfly suncatcher

        

                        Key to the heart                       Mother Earth

                             frog ATC trio                        Lemon Wreath

 

                                Pumpkins                            Autumn

Thank you for all your support and encouragement this year.  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year.  Big hugs to you all Emmax

Id love to enter my Christmas decoration into the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/11/i-spy-with-my-little-eyesomething.html

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https://die-cut-divas.blogspot.com/2025/12/decembers-challenge-is-christmaswinter.html

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/12/winter-season-december-2025.html

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Mums birthday

Good Morning everyone

Today Im sharing the card I made for my mums birthday.  Ive gone full on flower power this year with these lovely hydrangeas I built up.  By using brushos & pixie powders to colour the cardstock I was able to get a quite realistic colour for some of the bushes my mum has in one of her gardens.  Growing up I always remember my gran wanting Blue ones, every blue one she planted turned Pink and my other gran (nan) always wanted a pink one but they all turned Blue, even when adding various additives to the soil they would eventually change colour😁

7x7" scalloped card base.

I first coloured 3 sheets of A4 card with brushos and pixie powders and let dry.  Once dry I die cut alot of the petals, I then shaped the petals with an embossing tool to give them more concave curve.  I die cut a circle from the same background so that I could build up my flower - by using the same colour as the flowers any gaps aren't noticeable.  I then got building, starting from the outside working in, adhered the outside ones flat and using more glue gel on the inside ones to get more dimension and a more realistic shape.  Each die cut petal had a hole in the centre so i added a drop of lime green stickles glitter glue to hide that.  I made the flower heads in 3 slightly different sizes.

I die cut lots of leaves from green coloured brusho card.  I used a brick embossing folder onto a piece of white card slightly smaller than the card front, lightly inked over it with peeled paint & dried marigold distress ink and added it to the front.  I then arranged the flowers and leaves until I was happy with the look. 

To finish I die cut 'mum' from the same card as the flowers and added.

This shows the colour better, with the pixie powder there is a shimmer when the light hits it 

With the brick embossing folder technically i used the debossed side as the bricks should be the embossed and the cement debossed but that side of this embossing folder never looks good to me for some reason so i always use it this way round.

Here you can see the dimension better

Items Used:

Hydrangea die - brand unknown as I bought secondhand 

Crafters companion 8x8 brick embossing folder

Crafters companion alpha dies

CraftUK ltd 7" scalloped card blank

Ranger Stickles 'lime'

Distress Inks 'peeled paint, dried marigold'

Brusho Powders 'Ost blue, purple, rose, lime & leaf green'

Cosmic shimmer pixie powders 'plum'

 Thank you for stopping by once again and taking the time to visit and comment.  I appreciate both.  Happy Crafting. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftingacutabove.blogspot.com/2025/02/february-anything-goes.html

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https://cyhtp.blogspot.com/2025/02/anything-goes-with-twist-of-something.html - F is for flowers

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2025/02/february-2025-challenge.html

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https://daisychainchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/02/challenge-93-layer-it-up.html - 2nd entry

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