Catching Up...

Hi all! Sorry it has been a while since I posted- I know what you were thinking, there goes another new blogger running out of steam after two weeks!! I have no excuse, other than being distracted with a few stresses in life- its still all going on now, but I'm hoping to be able to report a positive outcome on Friday...watch this space!!

With everything going on I kinda lost my crafty motivation for a bit, but I have still been hopping around on all the wonderful blogs I follow, and checking in at the TwoPeas and Hero Arts Flickr Pool galleries and getting all inspired by the creativity out there! I have done a little stamping here and there though, and thought it was about time I got them posted on here!!

First up, I wanted to say a huge thanks to Daria (DJC) over at Two Peas for the oh so cute Hero Arts Birds and Branches cling stamp set she sent me after I won the random drawing for a RAK in her Stamptoberfest challenge. I couldn't wait for it to arrive, and as soon as it came in the mail I sat myself down and had so much fun playing with it (after perusing the HA Flickr Pool for inspiration of course!!). Here's what I came up with so far...

I stamped this little guy onto two different patterned papers and then cut the wings from one and body from the other and after stamping him again on some white cardstock I adhered the body over the white cardstock image, and used foam dots to adhere the wings, giving them dimension. I coloured the crown and beak using prismacolor pencils. I created the background by stamping the flower stamp from the same set repeatedly using bundled sage and peeled paint Distress Inks. I then inked over the bottom with bundled sage, and the top with tumbled glass to give the look of a sky. The orange piece was inked in spiced marmalade and then I ran it through my Texture Boutique using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings and was stamped using black Stazon.

I also made another quick birthday card which I have sent out to one of my friends back in England...

This was a really easy card. I just stamped the big birdy onto white cardstock and then stamped the balloon (from Hero Arts Birthday Messages) to look like he was holding it, cute huh! It made me smile! I adhered it to a metallic blue card, and then to add a little detail I used my new Martha Stewart Score Board to score a border around the image, and then used a white gel pen to make little dots inside the border. Finally, as I thought he needed a little dressing up, and because I am becoming a little obsessed with gems, I put purple gems over each of his white spots on his back. Simple, but cute, I thought!

Thanks again Daria!!

Phew, this is going to be a long post as I still have 3 more projects to show you, hehe!! I guess I have been a little more creative in my blogging absence than I originally though.....

Next, a couple of cards inspired by Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Holiday series over at TwoPeas. I can't wait to see those videos every Monday morning, with only a couple of weeks left I will miss them when the series is over! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the projects focused on stamping with paint. I had bought a set of Paint Dabbers after watching the original series of Thinking Inking but hadn't used them yet, so after watching the new projects I was determined to give them a go. I picked up the Hero Arts Flower Medley stamp at Michaels (along with some other goodies of course, hehe!) and thought it would be perfect to use with my paints.

I inked up the stamp with Lettuce and Pool Paint Dabbers to give the effect of grass and sky, and stamped it onto white cardstock. Then I coloured in the flowers using finger daubers and Wild Honey and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. I dry embossed the white piece using my Texture Boutique and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, and then stamped the sentiment from the Hero Arts Birthday Messages set using black Stazon. I tied a bow around the card with ribbon, adhering it with Glossy Accents. I adhered the pieces onto a metallic brown card and added a little dimension and shine using gems in the center of each flower, and a pearl in the middle of the bow. This one will be going to my Nan for her birthday at the end of the month, and I'm excited to be able to give it to her in person as I will be in England for her birthday for the first time in 5 years, yey!!

My next card inspired by the Thinking Inking classes used the technique Jennifer explained, using alcohol inks on sticky back canvas. I had both of these items and had not been finding much use for them, so as with the paint dabbers, I was excited to get some new ideas.

The colour combo for this card was inspired by the current EBTKS challenge. I inked a piece of sticky back canvas with various blue (can't for the life of me remember which, sorry!!) alcohol inks, adding a few drops of pearl mixative to give the fabric some shimmer. Once it was dry I white embossed Hero Arts Snowflake Tree onto the canvas, and 'stitched' around the edge with a white gel pen. I stuck it to a metallic card and stamped the sentiment (from Hero Arts Holiday Cheer Messages) using black Stazon. I couldn't resist some pearls in the center of some of the larger snowflakes on the tree, and a snowflake button stuck at the top!

Finally, I wanted to try my hand at stamping on candles again. Anne Gaal's November blog challenge is to stamp on a candle, and Hero Arts Blog challenge this month is to create a handmade gift (or gift tag), so what better time to have another go at it!!

I stamped Hero Arts Blooming Butterfly onto tissue paper with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink. I then wrapped the tissue paper around the candle and heated over the image with my heat gun until the wax melted through the paper. Once the image was completely melted onto the candle, I trimmed off the excess paper and again gently heated over the edges until they melted into the candle. I added a ribbon, and pearls, all adhered with glossy accents to add a little more prettiness to an already pretty candle!! This will be going to my best friend for her birthday, yey!!

Ok, I think I'm done.....oh wait, I must report that I have been progressing slowly but surely with Weight Watchers! I weighed in today and got my first 5lb sticker, yey me!! You know what that means- time to order my first 5 Copics, wahoo!!!

Last but not least, I have to take a quick moment as tomorrow is Veteran's Day to say how proud I am of my husband, Jason, who served 11 years in the US AirForce, and also to thank all of the men and women who have served in both the American, and English military, past and present. You are all in my thoughts every day.

Lynsey x

Feeling thankful for my Mum!

As most of you will already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It is so important for us women to remember to do our self exams monthly and to actually GO to the doctor if we find something that seems unusual, or get unusual pains, to get it checked out. I learned the importance of this ten years ago when my Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had been experiencing tenderness and numbness, and was a little worried but kept putting off doing anything about it thinking it would go away. She didn't feel a lump, so figured it couldn't be anything too serious. Luckily, her coworker convinced her to go to the doctor and just get it looked at. The next few months were a whirlwind, as she was rushed through the notoriously slow NHS to be treated for advanced breast cancer.

It's not something I like to think of often, but sometimes I just have to take a minute to be thankful that Mum got the courage to go to the doctor that day. If she had put it off much longer, she may not have been with us today. I know I often take my Mum for granted, especially for everything she has done to support me through my health issues the past couple of years, and I can't even imagine how hard life would be without her. She was so brave throughout her battle, and I can happily report she is now healthy and happy! I wanted to take some time this month seeing as it is the tenth anniversary of her diagnosis, and also breast cancer awareness month to hopefully spread a little awareness myself, but also to let my Mum know how much I love her, and how thankful I am to have her in my life. As I have been getting into card making over the past month, I decided what better way to celebrate my mother than by making her a card!

I was inspired to create this card by the sketch over at EBTKS Challenge #25, and I will be entering it in their challenge to hopefully spread a little awareness over there also!

I made the ribbon stamp myself using my Cricut, Cuttables stamp sheet, SCAL, and a free SVG from SVG Cuts and then clear embossed it onto the pink stripes that had been adhered to the card front. The sentiment was printed from Word onto the backing piece which was cut using the Accent Essentials Cricut cartridge and inked with Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I inked white ribbon with Worn Lipstick and folded it to form the awareness ribbon, and added a little bling with the gems! Finally, as I thought it was missing something, I 'stitched' around the card using a white gel pen!

Love you Mum!! xxxx