I’m Late! … I’m Late!! … 🍁🍂

… for a very important date!

Hi everyone, what with one thing and another I’ve neither had much time nor motivation to make my September calendar page, so for the first time ever the first of the month rolled around and it wasn’t ready! ☺️ I finally managed to get myself into gear though yesterday afternoon, so here it is. This page is inspired by a previous autumnal card I made here, with a few changes to reflect the bigger space on this page. I particularly wanted to incorporate toadstools into the design, as they are the printed illustration on the page.

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm, and created a background by blending Sundance, Sahara, Russet Orange and Paprika Elements inks, working outwards with increasingly darker shades. I edged the panel with Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink in Bordeaux to add depth, then began stamping. I stamped Tree Goddess Luna using Nocturne VFC, then a variety of Toadstools at varying heights and some trailing oak leaves using Pinecone. I then added in some landscaping and a harvest moon using Vintage Photo Distress Ink, hill and circle masks. I then stamped some falling leaves in various autumnal shades, and masked the tallest toadstools so I could stamp background trees using Portobello VFC and autumn text using Sand Dune. I added a couple of loved up hedgies and a heart (a nod to our wedding anniversary this month) plus an owl flying across the moon, then coloured the toadstools and leaves with Zig pens and the fairy wings with Sakura Stardust pens. To finish I added some white Posca accents, then attached the finished panel to my calendar.

Here’s an angled pic to show the sparkly wings. 

Stamps: Lavinia Luna Tree Goddess, The Wallace Family, Elfin Cap Cluster, Oak Leaf Flourish, Oak Leaves, Spring Trees, Brodwin and Maylin, Wild Foliage, Mushrooms Mini, Leaf 1 Mini, Single Heart Mini, Winter Spice;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Sundance, Sahara, Russet Orange, Paprika); Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink (); Tim Holtz Distress ink (Vintage Photo); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone, Portobello, Sand Dune); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (Red, yellow, orange); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia acetate Hill Mask and Circle mask.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Colourful Options (September) - Warm Earth Tones

Crafts Galore Encore #151 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals #109 - Include an Animal

Creative Inspiration #42 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations (September) - Hello Autumn

Four Seasons (September) - Fall

Heart’s Quest #87 - Anything with a Heart Goes with option Red Hearts (2nd entry)

Heart’s Quest Fantasy #54 - Anything Fantasy Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (September) - Harvest Moon

Love to Craft #94 - Anything Goes

Love to Scrap #181 - Anything Goes

Moving Along With the Times #193 - Four Legged Friends

Outlawz Anything but a Card (September) - Anything but a Card

{PIN}spirational #341 - Orange, Red, Brown and Yellow

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Stamp It

We Love 2 Create #8 2026 - Anything Mixed Media/Papercrafting Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #768/769 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Sunflower Meadow

Hi everyone, I’ve been missing in action for a couple of weeks as I’ve had a week’s holiday in Weymouth, where we had a fantastic time in a charming olde worlde cottage in the old harbour quarter with great sightseeing and wonderful hot sunny weather. Not really had any time for crafting, but I had to get busy over the past couple of days as my August calendar page was due! Inspired by the illustration of Bumble and Hum on the calendar page plus the summery weather we have been having, I created a sunflower meadow scene. It’s not my best as I felt a bit rushed, but at least I can turn the calendar page over now!!

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and stamped the focal sunflowers and bees. I masked them with masking sheet then created the background by blending Elements inks. I removed the masks and coloured the sunflowers and bees with Zig pens, adding some white Posca accents, plus some gold Wink of Stella. I stamped some additional meadow flowers and grasses, which I also accented with white Posca. Finally I added Glossy Accents to the sunflower centres and added a sticker sentiment.

Stamps: Lavinia Open Sunflower, Bumble and Hum, Summer Flowers, Field Grass, Winter Foliage;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Lagoon, Blue Toll, Green Parrot, Pine); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado,Shady Lane, Sand Dune); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Wink of Stella (gold); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); Glossy Accents;

Other: Lavinia sentiment stickers 6.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #43 - Anything Floral Goes (5th entry)

Creative Color Girlz #7 - Summer

Everybody Art #603 - Summertime (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (August) - Summer

Girlz & the Art of Letters #32 - F is for .. - TOP 3

(Flowers)

Outlawz Anything but a Card (August) - Anything but a Card

Paper Funday (July) - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters (July) - Flowers (2nd entry)

Try It on Tuesday - Summer Blooms

Word Art Wednesday #762/763 - Anything Goes

Here are a few photos from my recent holiday …. Some lovely scenery and great places to visit in that part of the world.

Weymouth Harbour

Portland Castle

Chesil Beach

Portland Bill

Cerne Abbey

Cerne Abbas Giant

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury

Stonehenge

Salisbury Cathedral

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Summertime … and the livin’ is easy

Hi everyone, well here we are in July, so it’s time for my latest Lavinia calendar page, which this time I managed to complete a full three days ahead of turning the page over! This month’s design was guided by the presence of moss flowers in the page illustration, so I decided to create a summery floral wreath with Pris the elf on a swing in the centre - here it is.

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and created a soft inky circle by blending Elements ink using a circle mask. I  stamped Moss Flowers around the circle, then added various mini foliage around the outside in shades of green. I stamped Pris sitting on a swing in the centre, then coloured the flowers with Zig pens. I stamped a couple of butterflies, dragonflies and a mini bee to fill out the scene, and coloured them with Sakura Stardust pens and a touch  of Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on the bee’s wings. Finally I added a few white Posca accents, and edged the finished panel with gold Posca pen before attaching to the calendar.

Stamps: Lavinia Moss Flowers, Swing, Pris, Winter Foliage, Flower Pots, Fairy Bugs, Mini Flutter, Bee Mini;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Green Parrot); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Portobello, Avocado, Shady Lane); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Sakura Stardust pens (Orange, yellow, turquoise); Spectrum Nour sparkle pen (clear); Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Place to Start #202606 - Anything Goes with option Anything but a Card (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #42 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #149 - Anything Goes

Everybody Art #603 - Summertime

Fab ‘n’ Funky #640 - Something Beginning with B (2nd entry)

(Blooms, butterflies, bee)

Four Seasons (July) - Summer

(Inspired by the yellow and orange flowers and the bee)

 

Heart’s Quest Fantasy #53 - Anything Fantasy Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (July) - Whimsical Wings

Make My Monday #291 - Blend 2 or 3 Colours

Moving Along with the Times #191 - Use a Colouring Medium

Outlawz Anything but a Card (July) - Anything but a Card

Paper Funday #89 - Anything Goes

Papercraft #131 - Sunny Days & Bright Hues

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #758/759 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Indra

Hi everyone, wow it’s June already … where does the time go to? As usual for this year, I am sharing my new Lavinia calendar page on the first of the month, which I actually made a few days ago. I was very lucky last month to receive a Lavinia gift voucher from a friend for my birthday, so I treated myself to a couple of older stamps which I have often admired but never purchased until now. The main one is Indra, a gorgeous and very large intricate moth whose wings really remind me of a Zentangle. Having got this stamp last week I decided I just had to use it on my calendar page.

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and stamped Indra at an angle in the centre. I then created a stencilled brick wall background with Elements ink. I stamped the honeysuckle and coloured it by painting with watered down Posca glitter pens, which I also used to colour Indra. I masked Indra and stamped xxx down the right side, again colouring the hearts with Posca glitter pen. Finally I added a sentiment word masked off from a larger sentiment, then attached the finished panel to my blank calendar page. I was a bit disappointed as I made a bit of a mess of the grungy script stamping, but my husband kindly said it was looked like part of the overall grungy effect (bless him!)

Stamps: Lavinia Honeysuckle, Indra, Background Script, Deeper than the Ocean;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Confetti); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Posca glitter pens (pink, red, yellow, green, orange); Sakura Stardust pens (red, clear); Posca pen (white); fineliner pen (black);

Tools: Lavinia stencil - Red Brick.

Challenges I would like to enter:

A Place to Start 202606 - Anything but a Card

Crafty Catz #714 - Anything Goes

Fab ‘n’ Funky #638 - Use a Stencil or Embossing Folder

Heart’s Quest #86 - Anything with a Heart Goes - HONOURABLE MENTION

If You Give a crafter a Cookie #217 - In the Garden

Just Us Girls #825 - Stencil Week

Little Red Wagon #860 - Create Your Own Background - FEATURED

NBUS #87 - Use Your Never-Before-Used-Schtuff

Outlawz Anything but a Card (June) - Anything but a Card

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin’ - Flowers

Word Art Wednesday #754/755 - Anything Goes

I’m looking forward eagerly to receiving another order of crafty goodies from AALL & Create, as I was very lucky to also receive a birthday voucher for them from a dear friend - hoping the new stuff may make me feel inspired to do a bit more frequent crafting. 🤞🏻

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Celebrating May

Hi everyone, it’s May Day already … where is the year going to? April has flown past, so it’s time for a new Lavinia calendar page. This month’s calendar illustration was the cute mice celebrating and generally having a good time, so I thought I’d go with that. It’s also my birthday this weekend, so the celebratory vibe is also a nod to that! Also after nearly a month without a post on here they are suddenly coming along like buses - that’s two in a couple of days!

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and stamped Teapot Cottage and the Fairy Path. I then masked them and created the landscape and sky by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. With the masks still in place I stamped flowers sprouting from the teapot and Tilly the mouse emerging - I always think she looks so joyful! I then removed the masks and stamped the meadow flowers, bench with a birdie perched on top, and more dancing mice. I added some background trees on the hills and stamped foliage and blossom on them using the tiny stamps which come with the Spring Trees. I coloured the teapot and path with Zig pens, and dotted the meadow flowers with white Posca topped with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. I added some bluebells and yellow poppies to fill out the base of the scene, and added various white Posca and pastel pencil highlights to the scene. I finished off with  a butterfly and flock of birds in the sky. 

Confession time … the swirling mist coming from the teapot spout is to hide a few marks where my pink blossom somehow ended up in the sky as well as on the trees!

Stamps: Lavinia Teapot Cottage, Fairy Path, Bench, Tilly & Tango, Summer Flower, Wild Poppies, Garden Poppy, Bluebells, Dandelions, Tree Scene, Small Trees, Spring Trees, Magical Mist, Fairy Bugs, Bird Collection, Birds;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Olive, Pine, Lime Pinch, Blue Atoll, Lemon Drop, Sundance); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Shady Lane, Avocado, Very Peri, Baby Pink, Golden Meadow, Portobello, Acorn); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, yellow, clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); pastel pencil (white);

Tools: Lavinia Hill, Mini Hill and Circle masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps & More! #516 - Make Your Mark

Ally’s Angels #105 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #147 - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals’ Corner #276 - Anything Goes with option Spring

Creative Artiste #126 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

Double D - Tea or Coffee

Ellibelle’s Garden Party #14 - Anything In or From a Garden - TOP PICK

Four Seasons (May) - Spring

Lavinia Creative Challenge (May) - Flower Spirits

Love to Craft #91 - Anything Goes

Outlawz Anything but a Card (May) - Anything but a Card

Paper Funday #86 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - 4 Legged Friends

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #750/751 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope if you’re in the UK you enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend, whatever you’re doing.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

April in the Secret Garden

Hi everyone, this week it was time for me to get busy again to make my Lavinia April calendar page, and this month I managed to complete it with a day to spare - woo hoo! I was racking my brain trying to think of something slightly different from my previous springtime calendar scenes whilst incorporating the bunnies that illustrate the page, when I suddenly had a mini brainwave! I’ve always thought that the flowers which form part of the fairy stamp ‘Moments Like These’ look rather like open tulips, so I decided to use the fairy but also incorporate the flowers into the foreground too - a lot of very fiddly masking was required there, let me tell you! 

I cut a piece of white stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm, and created the background hills and sky by blending Elements inks using hill and circle masks. I then stamped the fairy, masking the flowers and stems with low tack tape, then stamping them using appropriate colours of Versafine Clair. I stamped the Spring Trees on the right mid foreground, and used the matching small foliage stamp to give them a cloud of green leaves. I stamped the tulips from ‘Moments Like These’ in the foreground in various colours, then added the bunnies. I added a little foliage amongst the flowers and hanging foliage top right, and a flight of geese. I coloured the fairy wings with Sakura Stardust pens, and added white Posca and Stabilo pencil highlights to the scene. Finally I thought that the centre ground still looked a tad bare, so I stamped the Secret Garden sign, then stamped again onto kraft card, cut out and attached before attaching the finished panel to my calendar.

Stamps: Lavinia Moments Like These, Spring Trees, Vine Flourish, Flower Pots, Wild Hares (large), Ducks, Secret Garden Sign;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Blue Atoll, Pine, Lemon Drop); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Avocado, Hawthorn Rose, Cheerful, Summertime, Portobello); Sakura Stardust pens (pink, yellow, orange); Posca pen (white); Stabilo pencil (white).

Challenges I would like to enter: 

Beautiful Blossoms #39 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Card Concept #225 - Spring Flowers 

Creative Crafting Uncles #75 - Spring and/or Easter (2nd entry)

Creative Moments #280 - Bunnies and Blooms (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #634 - Easter/Spring

Four Seasons (April) - Spring

Lavinia Creative Challenge (April) - Faerie Glen

Love to Craft #91 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Love to Scrap #178 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Moving Along With the Times #188 - Anything Spring

Mix It Up #82 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Outlawz Anything but a Card (April) - Anything but a Card

Papercraft #128 - Joy of Spring (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sparkles #198 - It’s Springtime! (2nd entry)

Sweet Stampin’ - Spring or Easter

Word Art Wednesday #746/747 - Anything Goes

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Spring Has Sprung!

Hi everyone, it’s March and spring is officially here, though looking out at the weather here in the UK you wouldn’t necessarily notice! Confession time … yesterday was time to turn over my Lavinia calendar page for March, but due to a variety of reasons I hadn’t made it - eek! So yesterday afternoon I thought I’d better get busy, and here is the result. 

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and first stamped the cottage and fairy path. I then masked them and created the hills and sky by blending Elements and Distress inks using my hill and circle masks. I stamped the fairy washing line (which I treated myself to last week specifically so I could make this page!), carefully masking it so that the washing was stamped in Nocturne while the end trees were stamped in Shady Lane VFC. I stamped Sky the fairy then added some stamped trees on the background hills, adding spring green leaves from the Spring Trees set. I then coloured the cottage and path with Zig pens, and fairy wings with Sakura Stardust pens. Unfortunately my Zigs didn’t blend well on the cottage - I have recently bought a new pack of super smooth stamping card and have noticed it definitely doesn’t blend as well as previously! So … I stamped another cottage onto separate card, coloured it with watercolour pencils, cut out and attached. I added a few finishing touches by stamping a fence, various foliage and bluebells around the cottage and the edges, a flight of birds and lastly some background spring wording.

When my husband saw the finished result he enquired about the absence of any March hares, or (having been brought up in Wales) daffodils. I had to tell him that sadly Lavinia don’t make any daffodil stamps (he replied that as a Welsh company, maybe they should!); but I added the hare sitting looking at the fairy, just for him! ❤️

Stamps: Lavinia Sky, Woodside View, Fairy Path, Fairy Washing Line, Skeleton Tree Scene, Trees, Spring Trees, Bluebells, Thyme, Winter Foliage, Gate & Fence, Forest Hares, Birds, Words of Spring;

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Olive, Pine, Lime  Punch, Sundance, Lemon Drop); Tim Holtz Distress ink (Tumbled Glass); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist, Pinecone, Acorn, Shady Lane, Avocado, Very Peri, Lilac Bloom); Kuretake Clean Color watercolour pens; watercolour pencils; Sakura Stardust pens (pink, yellow, green); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia Hill mask and circle masks; My Favorite Things cloud stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (March) - Anything Goes with option Things With Wings - TOP ROCKER

Country View Crafts (March) - Spring Into Life

Cardz 4 Galz #270 - Wings

Crafts Galore Encore #145 - Anything Goes 

Crafty Catz #708 - Anything Goes

Four Seasons (March) - Anything Goes

Lavinia Creative Challenge (March) - Spring Awakening

Outlawz Anything but a Card (March) - Anything but a Card

Simon Says (Monday) - Whatever the Weather

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #2 2026 - Anything Mixed Media / Papercrafting Goes

Word Art Wednesday #740/741 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

I’m just hoping that the weather will finally get the memo that spring is here, and we can see an end to the relentless rain we’ve been having! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

February ❤️

Hi everyone, January has been and gone already, so it’s time for me to share the February page on my Lavinia calendar. Last year I did a very sweet and cute February page of loved up wintry hedgies, so this year I decided to go in a different direction with my steampunk heart, and the theme ‘key to my heart’. This is vaguely inspired by a Jo Rice design though it actually turned out very different!

I cut a piece of white Pink Frog super smooth card 19.5cm x 14.5 cm, then stamped and heat embossed the focal heart. I masked the heart then stamped and heat embossed an arrangement of cogs down one side. With the mask still in place I created a smooshed background by applying Blue Lagoon Elements ink to acetate, spritzing with water then dabbing onto the card. I stamped the wooden platforms and mice, then stamped the key and heat embossed in gold. I coloured the heart with Zig pens with gold Posca for the cogs, added Stabilo pencil and Posca white shading to the mice, then stamped a texture stamp in red around the edges. To finish I stamped the word ‘love’ from 3 different sentiment sets randomly onto the background, then matted the finished piece onto my calendar.

Stamps: Lavinia Heart (Large), Cog Set 2, Cog Set 3, Tilly and Tango, Basil and Bibi, Hobbit Door Accessories, Key (Small), Texture 2, Heartfelt Verses, The World Is Full of Beauty;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Blue Lagoon); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Strawberry, Twilight); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Versamark; clear and gold embossing powders; Sakura Stardust pen (yellow); Posca pens (white, gold); Stabilo pencil (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (February) - Anything Goes with option Animal Magic

Crafty Catz #706 - Anything Goes

Country View Crafts (February) - Hearts

Creative Color Girlz #1 - Anything Hand Coloured Goes

Creative Moments #278 - Love and Romance

Dream Factory #146 - Love Actually

Heart’s Quest Challenge #82 - Anything Goes with a Heart, with option Red or Gold Heart

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #213 - Happy Hearts

Inkspirational #360 - Word Prompt

Krafty Chicks #805 - Anything Goes with option Embossing - TOP PICKS

Outlawz Anything but a Card (February) - Anything but a Card

Pearly Sparkles #116 - Hearts

Shopping Our Stash #566 - Love Me Do

Simon says (Monday) - Have a Heart

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin’ - All You Need is Love

We Love 2 Create #1 2026 - Anything Mixed Media / Papercrafting Goes

Word Art Wednesday #736/737 - Anything Goes (3rd entry) 

I’ve still not been finding much time for crafting with everything that has been going on during the past month, but I hope things may be moving into calmer waters, so we’ll see what happens! 

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,