Dreaming of Fall

Happy Friday!

I hope you all had a good week :) I have been LOVING this cool weather we have been having in upstate NY this past week. I am not and I repeat not a warm weather kinda girl. This is my kind of weather dewy mornings and cool breezy nights. I just LOVE it! Autumn/Fall whatever you call it is my favourite season ever.  So I wanted to get some of my autumnal stamps out and have a wee play around. I don't know if you have been out shopping, the stores are filled with all kinds of pumpkin decor at the moment. I love seeing all the different ways you can decorate with pumpkins. I have even seen some blue and green ones this year and they are so pretty.

So I dug out some stamps and made a clean and simple card. I used my beloved distress inks and blended them straight on to the stamp then added a few rhinestones it was super easy!

Thanks so much for visiting today have a great weekend.

Mandi xox

Stamps - Unity Stamp Company, Thinking of You, Imagine It & When I Am With You
Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade & Walnut Stain
Rhinestones

Challenges
 Love to Scrap - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wed
Freinds With Flair
 

Brave Wings

Happy Friday Friends!!

I hope you all had a good week this week. I made this dragonfly tag and it comes with a wee story behind it. My inspiration came from a real life dragonfly.  I have been feeling kinda blah this week. No real reason I have just been feeling a bit run down and not myself. I have not been feeling too crafty at all either which is really unlike me.

So this all started when I decided to take a dip in the pool. It was not even that warm and the water was cold but I wanted to go in anyway. I was enjoying the water and looking up at the sky daydreaming. Then I looked down saw a little dragonfly in the pool. I thought it was dead at first. Then I looked again and saw it struggling in the water. It was drowning! So I scooped it up in my hand and got it out of the water. I tried to get it on to the side of the pool to dry off, but it would not leave my hand. Just when I got it on the concrete it climbed back on to my hand.

 Now I have never really paid much attention to dragonflies. You know I am a butterfly girl. But they are seriously the cutest little creatures with huge big eyes. I have never seen one up this close before.  Those iridescent wings are just amazing. I watched it swipe water off itself and dry off in the breeze. I noticed that it had a broken wing. The wing was clipped pretty low so I was not even sure it would be able to fly, but it did have three other wings. I kept trying to get this wee insect off my hand it would not leave me so I let it just sit there. It must have stayed on my hand for about 20 minutes.  My arm was getting sore hanging outside the pool so I shouted for my husband to come and take it from me. He grabbed leaf to to let it walk on to. Before he got the chance to put the leaf down to my hand it opened it's wings and flew away. Amazing!!

 I was kind of in awe of that little dragonfly. It was practically drowning and had a broken wing but still it survived. I was reminded that when we feel like we are drowning God steps in and scoops us up and we are taken to a place of safety. He lets us stay a while, as long as we need to dry off. Then when we are ready we can fly away. Even when we feel insignificant and incomplete. We can still fly and we can still make it despite what has happened to us. We don't need to be prefect to fly we just have to be brave enough to do it. Wow that was deep!  I will never see dragonflies in he same light again. I learned so many lessons just by rescuing that little dragonfly.

So the next day I dug out my one and only dragonfly stamp and made this tag. All inspired by my little wounded insect.  The colours were totally inspired by the wings on my  dragonfly they had little turquoise and purple flecks through the wings. I can do them no justice but this is my version.  I used the embossing resist technique on the tag with distress inks then stamped some broken script on top. On the dragonfly I used copper embossing powder on the body and distressed the wings with inks. I typed my sentiment  then cut and pasted the words. Finally I dyed some ribbon to match the tag and added some rhinestones.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog have a great weekend.
 
Mandi xox

Supplies Stamps - Dragonfly of Beauty, Imagine It & Key To My Heart, Distress Inks - Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers & Concord Grape.Embossing Powder Copper & White. VersaMark Ink. Crinkle Ribbon. Rhinestones

Challenges
Friends With Flair 
Word Art Wednesday 
Simon Says Stamp Monday
Craft Stamper Take it Make it  Embossing Resist By Anna- Karin Evaldsson. August Issue.
Artistic Inspirations
613 Avenue Create
Eureka Stamps
Sparkle & Sprinkle 
Love to Scrap - Anything Goes

Free Heart - Scottish Thistle

Hello Friends

I hope you are all having  good Monday! I was playing about with some of my older wood mounted stamps today and created this card. Can you tell I am a wee bit homesick? I was also doing a lot of reading regarding the independence vote that is happening soon in Scotland soon. This is where all of my inspiration came from.  I love this thistle stamp I don't use it nearly enough.

Thanks so much for stopping by today

Mandi xox

Supplies
Funstamps - Thistle
Distress Inks - Concord Grape, Mowed Lawn & Salty Ocean
Tartan Ribbon

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Anything Goes

Memories

Hello Friends

I hope you have all had a great week. I have been super busy this week and not had much time to blog. I have been working on this girl for a few days and just got around to finishing her today. I love this stamp designed by Angie Blom. It is called Beautiful Soul. I wanted to pair her together with a quote that I love.

"Sometimes memories sneak out of my eyes and roll down my cheeks."

 It is so true!!  So many times I have found myself thinking of someone, and before I know it I have tears streaming down my face. It is so amazing that one little memory can stir up so many emotions. We all have our own little treasure chest of memories.

I used my watercolours and alcohol markers on this project. Then stenciled the hearts and heat embossed them with silver glitter embossing power. I printed the sentiment and glued it in place. I used a little gray gem for her tear I was going for that running mascara tear drop look. I am a crier it does not take much for me to shed a tear. So I know this look only too well ha :)

 Thanks so much for stopping by have a great weekend

Mandi xox

Challenges
Friends With Flair

Winners

Hello  Friends

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend so far!  I am here to announce the winners from my blog this week.

The winner of the Itty Bitty's is Janis!! Please email Keli at kelli@unitystampco.com with your choice of 2 Itty bitty stamps tell her you won them on my blog.

The winner of my little prize bundle is Karen Ladd please email me your mailing address at mandimance@hotmail.com

Thanks so much for visiting with me last week.

Mandi xox

Tag Trio Day 5 GIU

 Hello Friends

Welcome to my final day as GIU girl. I must say that I have loved every minute of it and I have enjoyed putting all of my projects together for you to see.

So I wanted to end my week with some distress tags. I love getting messy with my distress inks and using the embossing resist technique. I chose this lovely flower stamp set called  Insightful Meadows. The sentiments are from another stamp set called  The Simple Things.

These were so easy to make I stamped all of the flowers and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. Then I took 3 different colours for each tag and swiped them on to my craft sheet. I spritzed some water and let the tag pick up the inks. I dried them 3 or 4 times in between until I had built up the colours I wanted. 

I then stamped out the sentiments on to vellum and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I attached the vellum with glue and glued it at the back of the tags. I finished each one of with some white ribbon.

I hope you have enjoyed all of my projects. Remember and leave a comment on each day for your chance to win 2 Itty Bitty stamps from Unity. Also as promised I have my own little giveaway. All you have to do is tell me what your favourite project was from the last 5 days.  I will draw two random names tomorrow  evening and highlight them here on my blog.

Thank you so much for joining me this week I have loved reading all of your comments. I hope I left you with some inspiration.  Feel free to follow along with my blog if you like what you see here.
 
Mandi xox

Challenges
Craft Stamper Take It, Make It 
Embossing Resist By Anna Karin Evaldsson - August Issue

Bold Butterfly GIU Day 4

 

 Hello Friends

 Can you believe it is Thursday already? Where did the week go? I wanted to take a moment to say a big thank you for all of your sweet comments. Also a big welcome to my new followers :) I am honored that your are choosing to follow me in blog land.

Now on to my cards :) If you did not know already I love butterflies. They are so pretty and delicate. I love this big bold butterfly stamp from Donna Downey. I made two different cards with it using white embossing powder. The top one I used with vellum and fussy cut my butterfly out. The second card I stamped directly on to kraft card and kept it pretty simple.

I really love kraft and white together it looks so clean and pretty. I added some turquoise rhinestones to finish off the cards.

I can't believe tomorrow is my last day of GIU the week has gone so fast. Thanks so much for stopping by I will see you all tomorrow.


Mandi xox

Stamps - Bold Butterfly, Feather Flight & God's Timing

Butterfly Branches GIU Day 3

Hello Friends

Welcome to day 3 of GIU. Wow is it flying by fast! I hope you are enjoying my creations. I have really enjoyed making them. I went for some home decor for today's project some butterfly branches.   I wanted to make my butterfly branches using my favourite Unity butterfly stamp called A Friend Loveth. If you look through my blog I have used this stamp many many times it is my favourite butterfly stamp. I just love it the butterflies are just a perfect size and shape for so many projects. I asked my husband to go out to the garden and bring me in a small branch. Where we live backs out on to a little wooded area so there are lots of branches laying around.  He walked in the door a few minutes later with half a tree ha!  So I broke off a few branches and sent him back outside with the rest :)

Making this is pretty easy all I did was take an empty bottle and pour some white paint inside and let it run out. I left it to dry out over night, it cracks a little as it dries but that is ok. The next day I made the label by painting some kraft card with the same white paint then stamped the sentiment with vintage photo distress ink. I distressed it a little with the same brown ink and also broken china a lovely blue colour. I  glued the label to the bottle then wrapped the neck of the bottle with some jute.

I heat embossed the butterflies with white embossing powder on to kraft card and fussy cut them all out. I used some stickles glitter glue on the body of the butterfly that matched the same distress ink. Finally I glued each one to the branches.

I hope you enjoyed my project today it was something a wee bit different. I find I get bored making just cards and like to venture out and do new things with my rubber stamps. Remember and leave a comment for your chance to win 2 Itty Bitty stamps from Unity.

Thanks so much for stopping by I will see you all tomorrow :)

Mandi xox

Challenges
 Word Art Wednesday 
Simon Says Stamp Wed

Your Wings Exist GIU Day 2

Hello Friends

Welcome to my day 2 of GIU. This wee girl is where my love of Unity all began. I saw her on a random post on Facebook and I absolutely loved with her. I had never seen stamps this adorable. I found the Unity page then discovered they were stamps designed by Phyllis Harris and she had a whole collection of them.  Phyllis captures the essence of childhood perfectly in her designs they are so amazing. I had only planned on buying one stamp set. Yes just one!! But when it arrived it was so nicely packaged and it stamped beautifully.  So from that moment on I was hooked. I went from 1 stamp to 3 baskets full in less than a year! This stamp will always hold a special place in my heart, It is called Your Wings Exist.

I used my watercolour paints on my projects. I am no expert by any means at painting but I find them much easier to work with than alcohol markers. I am not great at colouring and the paints give a much softer finish. I find I can be too heavy handed with markers.   I stamped the image using memento ink. Then I got out my paints and gave her a little ombre dress. I blended the cerise and violet paints together. I did a very light watercolor wash on the background in a few different colours. Then stamped my sentiment once it had dried.

My second project this time a tag. I used my watercolours again on this tag. The only difference is I paper pieced her dress. I also stamped the sentiment separately, then cut it out and glued it to the tag. I finished it off with some yellow ribbon and some tiny punched butterflies.  I really love making tags they are just the right size to craft with and you can fit so much stuff on them. 

I hope you enjoy my projects today - Thanks so much for stopping by I will see you all tomorrow.

Mandi xox

Challenges
Word Art Wednesday

Weeds N Wishes GIU Day 1

Hello Friends

Welcome to my first day of my first ever GIU week yay!! I am super excited to be showing you my creations this week with the wonderful Unity stamps :)  I only found out last week I would be the GIU girl this week. I had to switch out my Dec date as I will be in Scotland another yay :)

I have two cards for you today with this new stamp set from Unity. I absolutely LOVE dandelions. So when I saw this set I just had to have it. It is called Wish With Your Heart and it is on sale right now for $12 a bargain. I think today is the last day of the sale so if you like it go and grab it quick!!

So for my first card I wanted to do another black and white card. I also wanted to use my black distress ink which I bought months ago and have never used. It is called Black Soot and funnily enough it gets everywhere just like the real black soot. I love getting messy with my distress inks and kind of expect a bit of a mess. But the black mixed with water gets EVERYWHERE and it is REALLY messy  - I did warn you :)

I heat embossed the dandelion and wishes with wow white embossing powder. Then I swiped my black ink on my craft mat and sprayed it with water. I picked up the ink on the card where I wanted it to go. I dried it a few times and went back and forth until I was happy with the outcome. I left some white space to stamp the sentiment.  This card totally reminded me of a rainy day in Glasgow (my home town). Where it rains a lot and you spend a lot of time getting soaked and walking through murky puddles.  I love the contrast of the sentiment and also the colours too. It is dark with a wee bit of hope shining through.

Now on to my next card this one has a good punch of colour in it. These are colours that I would never normally put together. I saw this fabric when I was visiting Maine last month and I LOVED it. So I bought just a few inches of it to craft with. I covered  a piece of card in some of the fabric and glued it to a white card base. I then got out my distress inks and matched the colours as close as I could to the fabric and stamped away. I rounded off just two of the corners and added a couple of rhinestones to finish.

Remember and comment on each of my posts this week to be in with a chance of winning two Itty Bitty stamps from Unity. I will be choosing the winner on Saturday. I will also have my own little giveaway later on this week so watch this space.

I hope you enjoy my cards today. Thanks so much for stopping I will see you tomorrow. 

Mandi xox

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes 
Craft Stamper - Take It Make It - Embossing Resist By Anna Karin Evaldsson - August Issue
Wow Embossing Powder - Monochrome
Creatalicious Challenges Monochrome

A Friend Loveth B&W

Hello Friends

I made this quick card today for Friends With Flair. I used one of my favourite stamp sets called A Friend Loveth. I just love those butterflies this is my go to butterfly stamp and I never tire of it. I kept this card pretty simple. I just used an embossing folder to create the background. I stamped the sentiment straight on to the card. Then stamped my butterflies, cut them out and glued them to the card. Super easy :)

Thanks so much for stopping by have a great weekend

Mandi xox

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp Wed