Mum

Good Morning crafters, hope the weekend finds you well.

As it's Saturday it must mean it's time for a new challenge over at Fantasy Stampers.

This time the theme of our challenge is -

MUM'S THE WORD

With Mother's Day in the UK nearly here you could go down that route but I chose to make a birthday card. 

I used an image from LOTV which may now be discontinued Teddy For Mum.

I coloured him in Copics to match the DP and then fussy cut him out.

I had seen a layout similar to this on the LOTV Ideas to inspire site and thought teddy would look good in it. I added some landscape details using my MB Country Landscape die and a MS grass edge punch. The papers are from a free set of NitWit papers in a mag, Bonnets and Bowties. The clouds were die cut using a Joy set from textured card.

OK, pop over to the main blog and check out the rest of the DT's inspiration then join us, we love it if you did. If you fancy being a GD for a couple of posts then why not add GD after your entry, a bit of fun to test the waters without all the DT responsibilities.

As I said a couple of days ago, the first lambs are down from the lambing sheds so I thought I would add a photo to show you. Its not too good as the ewes are very protective and hurried their charges away when I approached!

I shall enter the following challenges-

The Crazy Challenge - For my Mom

On the edge

Evening folks. 

After a dodgy start it's been a lovely spring day today, we will probably count the cost of it tomorrow with a touch of frost.

There is definately spring in the air as our first lambs have come down from the lambing pens this afternoon, 12 ewes and their lambs all frolicking in the sun, such a happy site. I didn't take my phone when I went to look so no photos. :(  Must remember to get a photo or two tomorrow.

Any way I have been in te craft room having a play as I was inspired by the card over at Muse by Shona. I loved the soft stamped circles with the tiny hearts. I had it in my mind to use butterflies as the challenge at Less is More is 'Wings'

After a couple of false starts I ended up with this.

I loved the soft embossing Shona used and it was a little tricky to photograph on mine, so I took a few others to show it off better, not sure if they do!

This is Shona's lovely card

In the end after trying various butterfly stamps I went with some punched butterflies mounted on Silver Pearl embossed discs and diecut circles. The greeting is from Clearly Besotted and the stamped butterflies from Do Crafts. I kept the colours roughly the same, colouring the outlined butterflies with matching Copics.

Here are some more views of my card.

              

The first shows the pearly embossed background discs and the second the diecut front.

OK, it's getting a tad late now so I will finish and get off to bed, early start in the morning as AL will have to go check on the lambs.

Holiday at ATSM

Hi and welcome to my late night post for Addicted to Stamps and More.
This week our theme is -

HOLIDAY

This is my card which is based on one by the lovely Loll Thompson (here).

I used my Sizzix panel die to cut the holographic Jali panel which I placed flat on a plain white base card. The Christmas baubles are from this weeks sponsor's STAMPlorations digi collection. I fussy cut them after colouring using Copics and silver embossing powder. The sentiment was cut from a Go Kreate die in white then coloured in Copics to match the dark blue bauble. The stars from the original stamp were cut away and replaced with a selection of pearls and sequins.

As I mentioned we are sponsored this week by 

The winner will win a 10$ gift certificate for their store.

Pop over to the main ATSM site and check out the rest of the DT's fabulous inspiration and then join us this week.

I shall also join in at the following challenges-

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sequins and Pearls
Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes
ABC  Christmas Challenge - D is for Die Cut

Thanks for calling around!

Little Boy Blue

Good morning folks, and welcome to the new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This week DT member Jan has chosen the theme:-

LITTLE BOY BLUE

So what can you come up with?

Here is my card for this weeks challenge.

I apologise for the quality of the photo, I tried lots of angles but it was either too dark or too bright, this was the compromise!

I found this little stamp when moving some stamps to a new storage trolly. It was one I bought years ago on my first trip to the Harrogate Craft Show. I think it was from a bargain bin at the Stamp Man stall along with some holly leaves, a star and a couple of key stamps!

I stamped in Broken China DI then embossed in clear embossing powder, The squares were die cut using my MFT pierced squares and mounted on the background panel which I made from scratch by inking a Darice EF in Broken China, spritzing with water then closing the folder over a piece of card and pressing firmly. The stitched ribbon and buttons from the stash were glued across the bottom third of the striped panel. The sentiment is from a Molly Bloom set.

That's about it, why not pop over to the main blog to check the DT's inspiration out and join in.

I shall also enter the following challenges:-

The Male Room - Make your own background paper

Creative Inspirations - Buttons

Thanks for popping by, see you back again soon.

Masking

Good morning, an unusual extra post because we didn't go to our Son's this week as hubster is a little under the weather as am I. So no craft class for me but I do get extra time in the craft room.

It's my friend's birthday in a few days and I have made a card for her. She loves red flowers so I had to include some here. She retired from work at the same time as I was ill many years ago and has been a great support over the years. I don't know how she fits all her commitments into the day. As well as looking after her Mum, she is converting a bungalow with her husband, babysitting for her youngest, taking me out for lunch, housekeeping for her Son and Daughter in law in Italy and even walking the dog for her middle son! I don't really know how she had time to fit work in!

Anyway here is the card I made for her.

There are a few challenges around that I was thinking of when I made this.

It is One Layer week over at Less is More with the extra theme of Love, OLS has the theme of blend

and ATCAS is masking!

To make the card I stamped my first daisy in red DI then masked it before stamping the second then again with the 3 leaves, I overstamped all the masks with script greetings in black before removing  them and colouring using Copics.

That's where the blending came in as I used 5 reds to get the dimension right on the petals and 4 greens on the leaves.

That's about it then, thanks for calling by and see you again soon. Don't forget to leave a comment then I can reciprocate!

Bonsai Tree

Good morning fellow crafters.

Today, as it's Tuesday, means a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.
With Chinese New Year around the corner we have gone all -

ORIENTAL

Now again I was a bit stumped but then I thought of a card I made way back in September (here) but that was too girly but I thought I could do something along those lines, you know not flower arranging but similar. There a few challenges out there that have the same theme and they inspired me to create this card.

Bonsai. I think this is blokey enough, I know girls do it too but it seems to be more of a male thing.

I did think of stamping and I swore I had some green flower soft in the stash somewhere but sadly not so I used cloud die cuts in green Core- dinations card scraps and a couple of branches cut in brown using my MB die, which I layered up to give a twisted bow look to the trunk.

The base is a Spellbinders Label 25 die with the top cut away and a strip of red card added.

For added interest I used textured card and cut a square panel using my MFT pierced square dies. Sentiment simply stamped in black is from the stash, of unknown origin! It could be Molly Bloom.

I shall enter a few challenges with this such as-

I went with the tree branches and the Oriental theme

Simply Create Too - Anything Goes

My Time to Craft  - Oriental

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - For the Boys

OK, that's about it from me. Pop over to check out the rest of the DT's inspiration and have a go.

Thanks for stopping by, come back again soon. 

STAMPlorations Sketch #28

God afternoon folks.

Today sees the start of a new sketch challenge over at STAMPlorations. 

Here is my take of this week's sketch.

and this is the sketch.

For my card I chose to focus on one of my Stamp Club stamps in the Sugar Rush set. 

I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black then coloured the wafer cup with Copics. I coloured the cherry in Copics also, then added Glossy Accents to make it more lush. The texture on the ice-cream I made using Stampendous chunky white embossing enamel over a squiggle of Versamark pen. I like the look of some of the black showing through. I thought the sundae cup needed a lift so I mounted it on a circle that had been textured using the same Sizzix die as the panel.

The central panel I made using some NitWits stripey dp to match the colours in the sundae then overlaid the lattice work panel on top to give more interest.
My dieplate for the panel was smaller than I wanted so I extended the cut by first cutting to just before the end then moving the die plate to match the first cut area then cut again carefully placing the die in the machine so I would not cut fully through. I think if I did it again I would make it even longer to get rid of the curved edges.
The pink border was cut using a Fiskars border punch. The sentiment banner was stamped with the ENJOY from the Trendy Butterflies set and embossed with detail gold.

If you enter you get the chance to win these goodies-

Prizes:

Winner

prize: 3 digi stamps

guest designer spot in Sketch #31

2 Top picks

the option to be a guest designer in the Sketch #31 Challenge if you use a STAMPlorations digi stamp (to be provided )
or clear stamp (if you already have them)

All winners and top picks will receive a personalized guest designer badge that they can display on their blogs, as well as a STAMPlorations guest designer watermark.

Frequent Players Spotlight: Play in all 3 challenges for the month and gain entries to a random drawing. Prize is always going to be a stamp and stencil pack.

Pop over to the STAMPlorations Blog and check out the fab GDs and the rest of the DTs work.

Sue V GD

Carol Dunham GD

Lee  Ann Barrett GD

Becca DT

Laura Jane DT

Sari DT

Tenia DT

Wei Wei DT

OK, that's a wrap, hope to see your entries over at STAMPlorations.

I shall also enter the following challenges:-
Allsorts - Not Birthday
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes except a digi
ABC Challenges - D is for Die Cuts
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes, option of a sketch

Bye, come back soon.

CASEing Kylie

Good morning fellow crafters, hope I find you fine and dandy.

Today sees a ne challenge over at Fantasy Stampers. We are going all girly this time with our theme of -

PRETTY IN PINK

We are also saying hello to a couple of new team members, pop along to check them and the rest of the team's inspiration out. Here is mine -

I made this with a couple of challenges in mind.

Over at Time Out they are CASeing KYLIE of Addicted to Stamps's card -

Isn't it so pretty. 

I took inspiration from her tag, flowers, ribbon and embossed front as well as the pink and white colourway.

I embossed the from panel using an old EF, I'm not sure of the make but it's probably it's first outing!

I cut a tag using a Marianne die from their CR 1254 set and added a chiffon ribbon bow to match my base card made from bubblegum pink Bazzil. I stamped one of my STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches daisies and heat embossed in white before colouring with DI Picked Raspberry in w/c style. The leaves are from a Hero Arts set, Stitched Frames embossed and coloured as before using some Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemon and Mowed Lawn DI. I fussy cut them all and adhered them to my tag. The greeting was from a Woodware set stamped in Picked Raspberry.

I shall also enter the following challenges:-

As You Like it Challenge - CAS or Fussy 

I'm really a CAS girl at heart, I don't do fussy!

Sweet Stamps BLOG challenge - Pink, White and one other colour

Simply Create Too - Anything Goes

edited 15/2 to add HLS - Embossing

Thanks for popping by, call back soon.

Off out for a little crafty me time now, leaving Al and Max to their own devices!

Less is More 4 year anniversary

Good afternoon bloggers.

Unusual for me to be posting on a Wednesday but I made this card earlier in the week and only just got around to posting.

Over at Less is More they are celebrating their 4th year with their challenge blog. 

It was one of the first challenges where I felt I was at home. I was trying to find my style, many cards at the challenges I had come across in the early days were very busy. Now I'm not knocking that style but I was never happy layering it all on and it costs the earth to post a card like that! So when I found Less is More it was a relief to find a home from home so to speak. So I just had to play along to say thanks for inspiring me to bring forth my inner CAS!

The theme for this challenge is -

PINK and GREY

I have seen lots of cards over the last couple of years that have used this colourway, especially dark grey and vibrant pink. So this is my version -

I stamped a Dylussions background stamp in Versamark over the grey card panel then embossed in clear. The HAPPY from my STAMPlorations Boxed Bloom set was stamped then embossed in white and the BIRTHDAY was die cut using my MFT alphabet dies in bright pink Bazzil. To feminize it a little I added a few beads and crystals before mounting it onto a plain white base card.

I shall also enter the challenges at :-

Thanks for calling around, hope to see you back again soon.

Anything Goes Challenge #131

Welcome back to my late night post for the next challenge over at ATSM. This week our theme is -

ANYTHING GOES

A very broad remit here, always a struggle with so many ideas flowing through my mind. Anyhow this is what I came up with after thinking about a few challenges.

This week we are sponsored by -

Who are offering 4 digis from the store to the winner.

In my card I used one of their images from Connie Fong - Tori the Dragon, Raining Hearts, isn't he cute.
The digi comes with a few more hearts than I wanted to have on the card so after using Copics to colour, I fussy cut him out. As the latest challenge at Virginia's View is a shaker card I decided to go down that route.

I die cut the heart aperture using my Little B hearts but for something different I raised the heart panel up on pads above the base. I used some Forever Friends dp with little red hearts under the shaker and then added some red sequins and a few bugle beads.

The challenge at ATCAS is Hugs and Kisses so I stamped the FF greeting in red to finish the card off.

I shall also enter at Mixed Media, although I forgot to include some tiny red buttons in the shaker before I stuck it down! Hope I still qualify.

Allsorts - Love is all around

OK, that's it from me. Pop over to the main site and check out the rest of the DT's fab inspiration and join us this week.

Puppy Love

Morning all and welcome.

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. As with a lot of other challenges in blogland we are getting romantic but with a little twist. This week our theme is -

PUPPY LOVE

Well when I saw this I couldn't get Donny Osmond out  of my mind, LOL, it did give me a few headaches but of the design nature!

My mind was blank. I had lots  of ideas but non really suitable for a fella. I did a bit of browsing on the internet and saw a T-shirt with a logo on that just made me smile so I borrowed the words and came up with this.

The words were printed onto some wooden plank dp then I added a red punched heart and some spoon bowls from a MFT die with the handle cut off to finish the paw print. I was rather proud of the end result.

Pop over to the main site to check out the rest of the DT's work and join in.

I shall enter the following challenges:-

The Male Room - Valentine

I took the panel background from the photo and the red heart.

Creative Inspirations - Love is in the Air

Sweet 7 Designs Challenge - Puppy Love

Thanks for calling around, see you again soon. :)

Stamps and Hearts

Hi folks and welcome.

Today I'm posting a card for the new monthly challenge over at STAMPlorations.

This month our theme is -

Prizes:

Winner
(voted by the design team)
prize: 2 stamp sets (3" by 5") if she used our stamps, 1 stamp set if she didn't
+ guest designer spot in the April Challenge

Top picks

prize: 3 digi stamps 

+ the option to be a guest designer too in the April Challenge if they will use their winnings OR if they already have our clear stamps

All winners and top picks will receive a personalized guest designer badge that they can display on their blogs, as well as a STAMPlorations guest designer watermark.

Frequent Players Spotlight. Play in all 3 challenges for the month for entries to the random drawing. Prize is always going to be a stamp and stencil pack valued at $10.

Now I'm sort of overdosing on Valentine's cards at the mo, so this is very understated and needn't be for Valentine's at all. It's so romantic to receive a single red rose at any time, hint hint!

This uses the stem rose that Shery posted for us to use in our DT application, it's gorgeous to colour, I used Copics because  it is a very crisp image and I thought it deserved a graphic approach to the colouring. I softened the OL image by adding a bow made from georgette ribbon. I added the LOTV greeting tags with added hearts with a little bit of chord and left it at that. 

Pop over to the main blog to check out the rest of the wonderfully talented DT and our fab GDT of Kim, Loll and Karen.

I shall link up to the following challenges -

PINspirational - Photo

I thought about the chord around the bag and the heart

Rather appropriate I think!

CAS on Sunday - flower/s (just the one!)

Thanks for calling around ,see you again soon.

Sit back and relax

Here I am back again with my card for the latest challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

You didn't take to last weeks topic so hopefully you will find this week's more to your liking -

KICK BACK and RELAX

So quite a broad church for this week, you could create a retirement card or simply a birthday card with a relaxed feel! That's where I went with my DT project for you this week.

I was going to use one of my LOTV stamps but in the end I remembered a free digi from a magazine a few months ago that fit the bill. The layout was inspired by one I'd seen on the LOTV website.

It uses an embossing folder and some scraps of NitWits papers from the box on a white basecard. The image was coloured using Copics then fussy cut. The RELAX sentiment was from a LOTV circular sentiment set and the other was from a Woodware set.

Quite a quick card once I'd sorted the image out! 

Pop over to the C4G site to check out the rest of the DTs inspiration and join in.

I shall join in at the following challenges:-

Digitally Sweet Challenge - Anything Goes

A Gem of a Challenge - Lots of layers (Hope 5 is enough!)

Clear it Out Challenge - Anything Goes

OK, that's about it, thanks for calling around, come back soon. Leave a comment and if life allows I will try and return the compliment. 

Colour Challenge

Good morning peeps, hope I find you well this Tuesday morning.

Today it's double post Tuesday so I will be back later with the new challenge at Cardz4Guyz but first it's a new challenge over at Cards und More. This time we would like to see your projects in -

PURPLE, TURQUOISE and GREY

These are my daughter's favourite colours so it reminded me of the DP I used for her birthday card way back in June last year. This is a NitWits paper from the 'Promises' set and I also used it a couple of weeks back for my fairy card. Anyway it includes the colours needed for this challenge, but I went down a different route this time following a sketch from CASe this Sketch. So here it is for your inspiration -

The sentiment panel is from a LOTV stamp set and I stamped it in Memento London Fog to get the grey element in. The white and turquoise panels were die cut using my MFT Die-namics pierced rectangles. The butterfly was cut out of the same DP and the filigree one from the turquoise card. I added a few iridescent beads for the butterfly's body. Strips of the DP were layered onto the white base card to create the stripes.

That's it then, check out the rest of the DT's inspiration and join us.

I shall enter the following challenges:-

CASe this Sketch 

Love Rubberstamps Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #27

Good afternoon folks, I am proud to be able to say that it is my first post of the official new STAMPlorations challenge design team. Today it is the launch of our next sketch challenge.

Here is my take on the sketch

and this is the sketch for you to use.

To start I masked off a strip to one side and stamped a background birthday text stamp in black. I then added a strip of NitWits paper down the left hand side.

For the main focus of my card I used one of the Boxed Blooms which I stamped and heat embossed in white. I then used a Versamark pen to draw another square around the box then embossed again in white.

I used the colours in the DP in DIs to colour the bloom using a w/c technique. I extended the petals and stem into the space between the stamp and the extra border with a couple of brush strokes then filled the background with a blue wash.

The happy was stamped using part of a Bloom Sketches phrase in black and the birthday was diecut using a Spellbinders die from black card.

So that's it for my first official challenge post, check out the rest of the girls and the GDs over at the blog and have a go,you never know unless you do.

I shall enter it in the following challenges:-

CAS on Sunday - Flowers

Allsorts - Flower Power

CASEplorations

Welcome to a brand new concept from STAMPlorations,

Now for those who are not familiar with the term CASE, it originally meant "copy and share everything" which would mean replicating the card, but we'll interpret it as "Be inspired by the card. Notice various elements of the card design and use them in the creation of your card."

This is the card that we will be CASEing, by Julie Ebersol

and here is my CASE.

For my card I took the obvious elements of Julie's card, Cupcake, splatters, frame and chalkboard banner.

I used the It's Your Day set from STAMPlorations and heat embossed it in white on black before distressing it a little with scrapings from a white pencil crayon and rubbing it over the surface to replicate the effect of a chalkboard. I created the cupcake from scratch by folding some copy paper then inking with DI in Vintage Photo to replicate the cupcake paper. The frosting I made by cutting out a shape freehand then embossing in shabby white embossing powder then adding Copics to give a little bit of added colour and textural effect. I added some little beads as sprinkles as I didn't have any gold sequins!

I'd no gold chord either so used an inlay border of gold mirror card cut using my MFT Die-namics pierced rectangles. I added a few splashes of Worn Lipstick DI and some more little beads.

So that's my CASE, now over to you for your turn to have a play.

The rest of the girls over at STAMPloration  have lots more inspiration for you if you need it and even if you don't, it will be well worth a visit!

I shall enter this in the following challenges:-

         

Little One

Morning all, hope the white fluffy stuff has stayed away and you are fine and dandy.

The call went out on Friday, 'Mum, I need a birthday card for a one year old. Have you got one?'

Well no I hadn't but I combined a few challenges and came up with this.

I remember making a card for Ben's 1st birthday quite a while ago now and I didn't really have much that works for such a small child's birthday, so I used this image from LOTV called Balloon Bunny again.

I dug out an old Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder and a scrap of NitWits paper from the scrap box. I coloured the bunny to match using Copics, then fussy cut him and placed him on top.

I used one of my favourite sketches from a few months back from Sketch Saturday and as it's an Anything Goes challenge this week that works well.   

On this occasion I mirrored the sketch as I wanted the balloon within the aperture.

Over at Less is More this weeks Lucky Dip choice is Little Ones.

So that fits rather well with this card.

I have been eyeing up the challenge at showCASe your style where the inspiration picture is balloons, not sure if this will be acceptable but I don't have any balloon stamps on their own and the set of dies I ordered have yet to arrive.

OK, that's a wrap as they say.

Thanks for popping round and come back soon.