It's Almost Time!

Put the Kettle on, make yourself a drink and settle yourself on the Sofa to watch Lavinia Stamps on Hochanda.

At 11am and 3pm today Jo Rice  will be demoing some of the wonderful new stamps that have been released today. 

So hit the record button so you can revisit her handy hints and tips on how to recreate her work.

If you keep your eyes open, you might even catch a glimpse of some of these cards. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Calling All Lavinia Lovers!

Can you believe our luck, On Thursday the 22nd of August, there will be 10 new Magical stamps being released at Lavinia Stamps!  

 I shared a sneaky peak of some of the wonderful new releases last week and today I'd like to share a few more,

some of which you might actually see if you tune in to Hochanda  at  11am and again at 3pm on the very same day!

So don't forget to watch as Jo Rice makes her screen debut for Lavinia Stamps!

Thanks for stopping by, 

Julie.x

Sparkle and Bling

The new challenge theme has started at 

Lavinia Stamps.

The theme for March is 

Sparkle and Bling

For my DT sample this month I decided to get out my brushos sprinkling a tiny amount on to a babywipe and dabbing it over my cardstock to create the background. Once dry I stamped the Moonpods using Momento, using my Misti so that I was able to build up the intensity of the Tuxedo black ink before using Copics to colour. A generous amount of glamour dust , some inky stitching, a scattering of gems and a computer generated sentiment complete my card. 

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

JFF March, Happy Birthday,

Sweet Stampers, add a sentiment.

If you fancy being in with a chance of winning 

a £40 voucher to spend at Lavinia Stamps, 

just ink up any of their stamps and follow this months challenge theme.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Let It Snow

Can you believe that it's November already? That means that the new Lavinia challenge has begun and the theme for this month is 

"Let It Snow"

Something a bit different from me, I haven't had my Brusho's out in ages so thought I'd have a bit of a play. 

First of all I flicked Masking fluid over my paper and left it to dry. I then stamped the Spring trees in Versamark, slightly moved my stamp and then inked and stamped it again with black Versafine, before adding clear embossing powder and heat embossing. I then stamped  the moon, masking the areas that I didn't want to add the brushos to. I added a little Purple, Turquoise and Ultramarine into separate areas of my mixing pallet then sprayed a little water into each one. At first I brushed the diluted colours randomly over the sky then sprinkled a little extra powder to add a bit of depth that I felt it needed. When the card was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid, this gives the look of lightly falling snow. 

I mounted the focal panel onto navy card, tied some bakers twine before mounting it onto my folded card.

For my second card I again flicked masking fluid over my card then stamped Zen Snowflakes randomly over my backround before using clear embosing powder and heat embossing. I then used the leftover mixed brusho , watering it down slightly and brushing it over my card. I then again gave a good sprinkle of the powders and heat dried the card. 

After removing the masking fluid I once again randomly stamped the Zen snowflakes using the Versafine, I was going to use white embossing powder over them but when I was looking through my box, (I hardly ever use embossing powder) I discovered a powder called snowflake, when heat embossed it gives a lovely white/silver/holographic  glittery effect. I stamped my words onto white card, matted it onto navy card and added it to my matted focal panel.

I love the dimention that has been achieved using the different techniques here.

I'm using these cards for the following challenges:-

SR352, Glitter,

HJC84, Trees,

Unicorn 15, Snowflakes,

Merry Christmas 5, Anything goes Christmas,

CCC46, Anything goes,

FSC116, Trees,

We love 2 create 22, Anything mixed media goes.

If you fancy being in with the chance of winning a 

£40 Lavinia voucher, 

all you need to do is ink up your Lavinia stamps and join us in the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Brusho Love

We've been having some internet issues lately so there's been very little blogging opportunity for me. 

I made this one a few weeks back and I have to say I rather love it. I had the idea in my head and just went for it. Initially the heart focal was going to be just the lined paper that I had been ripped out of a little scrap book to make space for thickness of the papers and photos. I die cut lots of hearts, folded them in half  and glued them all together using only a thin line of glue down the centres. I inked the edges and placed them but wasn't happy with the look so I  decided to spray them with water and sprinkle with red brushos. Then the magic happened purely by accident, I got out my heat gun to dry them quickly and the heart really puffed up giving the perfect look. I faked the stitching down the centre by piercing with my pattern makers tool and adding the inky stitches.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Little Red Wagon 316, Technique,

TCA4, Die cuts,

CCC100, Sprinkle.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Is This Mixed Media?

Hi there, I've been a bit busy so haven't had time to post lately, thought it was about time I shared a card that I made a few weeks ago for my lovely Sister-in-law's special birthday. Something a bit different from my normal card style but oh how I enjoyed using paints, gesso, stamping and inking,adding some brushos and generally loosing myself .

I used a selection of Lavinia stamps, cutting the wings from a butterfly and adding them to my hand cut heart. I even used a doiley, I thought I was allergic to them lol, they've been sat in a box for ages. Have to say I was rather pleased with the results. Chapter 50 was cut from a damaged book that I've had in my craft drawer for ages, it's been a while since I snipped from the damaged pages. 

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Fantastic Tues., Anything goes with lace,

Papertake, Don't be square,

TT253 Tic,tac,toe, (stamp.twine,sequins),

DVC110, Distressing,

The Craft Place, Mixed media,

We Love to create, Mixed media.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

16 Years With Only One Brusho!

As is usual with me this is so not the card I had planned in my head when the plea came from my daughter on Friday that she needed a card for Saturday. I was going to make the usual "shaped card" so I fired up the ScanNcut but as I placed the card on the cutting mat ready, I thought that maybe I'd just add some cut numbers to the front of a card.

Numbers cut out and I just didn't feel inspired till I glanced at the Emerald Green pot of Brushos and the water spray bottle winked at me from the corner. The rest is history. The card on the base was also created in the same way but with a slightly heavier sprinkle of powder and more water . Stamping,distressing of edges, some inky stitching, piercing and a paperclip complete the card. 

The Emerald Green is my bestest favourite, I love all of the colours that magically appear when you add a light mist of water.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Crafty Calendar, Anything goes,

SYSC9, Birthday,

We DoDobadoo, Spring greens,

CFTC, Birthday,

C4E, Circles,

FD, Get messy x 2.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

All Things Bright And Beautiful

It's time for a new challenge theme at Lavinia 

and this time it is

"Bright and Beautiful!"

A bit of resist stamping left the miniature flowers dotted on the inked grass and the Zen leaf standing boldly embossed and coloured.

The gorgeous butterfly was trimmed from the

 Celtic Dreams Butterfly die.

The gorgeous blue of the Brushos (sorry, colour to be added later) was painted onto the diecut and then embossed using versamark and clear embossing powder.   

I held the butterfly in place and inked the background so that pink would fill the wing area. I used the miniature flowers again around the edges of  my card.

I'm entering the following challenges:-

(to be added)

To be in with a chance of winning a £40 Lavinia voucher, all you need is to ink up those Lavinia stamps and join us in the challenge, email entries are accepted!

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Anything Goes!

I know, I know, it's a bit like buses here today, see none for ages then several turn up at the same time!

These cards are all for the new challenge at

 Lavinia where the theme is

 "Anything Goes"

I've been playing with my latest crafty buy, Brushos.

If you've seen some of the amazing creations that many of the Lavinia ladies have made using them you will be forgiven for not realising that I'd used them in 4 of today's creations.

I've a lot to learn and if you were a fly on the wall when I made this collection, you would have (in the words of Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman) "Peed your pants" I was ooing and ahhing, gasping and holding my breath, amazed at the gorgeous colours appearing on my paper and my hands and the area surrounding my craft mat. 

LOTS of baby wipes and paper towels were used in the creation of these items !

For the first two items I simply shook the tiniest amount of powder onto my mat, so tiny that I didn't realise there was any there until I touched it with my damp brush, I then just used it to paint my stamped  Hanging Lanterns.

I just LOVE the strong colours that can be achieved!

It's a good job that Tracey couldn't see what I was doing with my stamps for the next two items, I took my experimenting to a new level for me, Eileen was in my ear saying "Go for it" well actually she wasn't but I know that she would have been egging me on lol! 

I tried spraying my stamp with water and adding a sprinkle of powder, this didn't create what I wanted as the water was too wet if you get what I mean, the stamping just spread it's way into an unrecognisable splodge on the paper.

Then I remembered my bottle of glycerine, I added a tiny drip to my craft mat, added a light spray of water and painted this onto my stamp, I then sprinkled my stamp with different powders and brushed across the stamp with a dry brush. I love the look, especially on the first one here, I made the mistake on my second one of spraying the edge of my card after which caused the pigment to start to bleed, won't make that mistake again! I'm looking forward to experimenting some more. I've yet to try some of the techniques that Eileen demos on YouTube.

I wonder if she has any tips on how to remove the colours from my stamp lol! 

The last card was made after my tidy up, stamping one of my favourite images for a man's card, the Large Deer. "Happy" was cut using the ScanNcut.

If you fancy joining in with January's challenge, you can make anything you like using your Lavinia stamps or dies, it isn't necessary to have a blog to enter as email entries are accepted. You could be lucky enough to win a £40 voucher to spend at Lavinia.

I'm entering the following challenges:-

LRS132, Something old something new,(Brushos, piercing wheel)
ESC121, Something old something new, ""  ""  ""
CUYL5, Kraft,
LIM203, Family.

Thanks for stopping by,
Happy New Year!
Julie.x