Hip Hip....... Ive made it to another post, that's a 50% improvement on last time lol.

 Clarity stamps, stencils and blending brushes with die based inks. Sue Wilson dies. 

To make this one I placed the house stencil down first and brushed blue and yellow ink through the design. 

I removed the stencil then placed the inner stencil in place and lightly brushed black ink around it. 

Removed that stencil then placed the inner stencil from the countryside landscape in place and brushed more black ink round it. 

Lastly I stamped the animals in place.

 I used the ever popular Clarity Groovi system for this one. Such a clever system and so easy. It's opened up parchment craft to so many people who previously didn't think they could do it, didn't have time or had no interest because it always seemed old fashioned and not for them. Clarity have made the designs modern and funky and so interchangeable. And its speeded up tracing your design no end.  There's a growing number of children grooving away now too, it cant be a bad thing can it? I have discovered that Kuretake Zig Brushable pens work pretty well on the parchment. Alcohol pens tend to go streaky, and water-based pens take ages to dry so you smudge them if your not really careful, but the brushables are permanent and fast drying even though they are water-based ink. A great discovery for me and that's what I used on this sample because I wanted strong colours to show through the parchment. It works well I think.

This was a card I made with Polkadoodles stamp soup sets. Its a bit of a mixture of Lavender Tea and Lemonade Fizz. If you haven't seen these yet and you are a stamper its well worth checking them out. its all elements, such as leaves and petals etc and you make up your own designs as you like.  I stamped these with versamark ink and clear embossing ink onto black card.  Then I used Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints over the top.  I love this technique, you can get such fantastic and bold results. The background mounted layer is a Cosmic Shimmer spritzer on white card. 

That's it for this post, thank you for popping by xxx

Back from the dead (figuratively speaking)

Well hello anyone passing by. I'ts been a tad long since I was here, I am sorry but I've had a good excuse honestly. Just ask my mum, she'll write me a sick note to explain lol.

Seriously though I have been quite poorly. I've had so many different medications and treatments I've lost count. None have really helped except regular infusions of a type of Chemo. Some have made me so ill I honestly felt like I was dying. That sounds a little dramatic maybe but if you've never been there just pray you never do.

Now I promise you this isn't a post to get pity and people feeling sorry for me and leaving sympathetic messages, believe me after two and a half years of feeling utterly crap I'm so over it.  Sometimes you just need to get things out of your head and write them down. I don't feel sorry for myself, well not often anyway. I don't deny I have my moments, but on the whole I get on with what I can with a happy heart.  Between the Lupus and medications I started losing my hair and in March last year I had to accept that it had gone too far and I shaved my head of what was left. I have the biggest collection of hats and scarves you've ever seen lol. I will tell you though that I hate it, but it is what it is and no amount of worrying or wishing is going to change it.

I know there will be those among you readers that have illnesses that you cope with like me, there are so many different diseases out there with no cure, little understanding and woefully underfunded for research. Many fall prey to depression and I know only too well how that feels, but I'm lucky, I made a conscious decision back in 1999/2000 when I was diagnosed that I would do everything in my power to not go there, not get that bad and so far I've managed to resist the pull of the dark nightmare.  Yes, I have days when I feel down and sorry for myself, I wouldn't be human if I didn't, but I've always been strong enough to pull myself out of it and get back to enjoying what I can. For me life is way to short to waste it pitying myself. It doesn't do any good, and it eventually turns you into a miserable bitter person and that's not for me, no way no how.  My family have been very good, my close friends and of course Colin my long suffering partner. I don't think any of them will ever know just how much help they are to me, especially in the bad times. I'm so thankful to them for their love and support, and a couple of them that continuously go way above the norm. These people are angels pure and simple, and my debt and gratitude to them could never be paid in this lifetime.

So there you have it. The reason for me being quiet and abandoning my blog. Some people find blogging helps them, but for me it was just something else to try and fit in, something to concentrate on when I had no concentration or focus. When you are struggling to just get through the day doing the bare basics then blogging really isn't high on your priority list.  I am going to try blogging regularly again though. I cant promise that I will stick to it but I can promise to try. After all, I have a couple of years worth of crafty makes to catch up on. If you are among my friends on Facebook then you will likely have seen most of what I post for quite a while, I will be filtering in any new makes though so it may be worth checking now and again.

Talking of crafty things here are a couple of projects for you. They are all Claritystamp samples using Clarity stencils and stamps. I hope you like them.

 Spritzers, stencils and stamps.

 Stencils and ink

Stencils, stamps and glitter embossing paste.

That's it for now, hopefully I will be back soon and not in two years time!!!