Christmas Visions

Evening folks.

Just a quick post to share a card I made for a couple of challenges.

Don't know if you know but MUSE has diversified into Christmas with their Christmas Visions Challenge. This is the first time I've had the chance to play along. This week the Muse is Tracey McNeely and here is her card.

I took my cues from the snowy background, triangular trees and the snowdrifts. As the latest challenge at Merry Monday is to use newsprint, I thought I would use that for my DP. Instead of embossing the snow onto the card I found a scrap of DP with falling snow from the bits box, LOTV I think. I put the sentiment in the bottom right of the snowdrifts as I didn't think it would show up against the background DP. The snowdrifts were cut using a MFT die and the trees are an old die from Cuttlebug.

Well I said it was quick so that's about it. Al has gone off to play with his toys so its just me and the dog! Catch up TV I think.

I'm joining in the fun at -

          

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Blog Hop day 4

Good afternoon peeps.

Hope you enjoyed seeing all the STAMPloration girl's fantastic inspirational stencil cards so far because now it's your turn. 

We would love to see all your stenciled cards.

All you have to do is link up over on the STAMPlorations site. You don't need to use our stencils, any make will do. 

Here is another of my cards to show off Shery's fab stencils.

This time I've only used a small portion of the panel I made using the Foiled Again stencil.

I started by drawing around each section of the stencil onto a piece of white card with some w/c markers. Then I embossed using the stencil as an embossing folder to give it a subtle embossed texture, it doesn't really show up here. After removing the stencil I used a waterbrush to fill in the outlined shapes.

I cut a plain white panel of card with a MFT snowdrift die to expose a strip of the coloured panel and added a butterfly cut from the waste and overlaid a vellum one. The sentiment was a freebie off a mag.

OK, now its over to you. Join in at our Flash Stencil Project Linky Party  There are extra prizes available for those of you who participate in the Linky Party and link up by May 31.

I'm joining in the fun over at -

I think my card goes in the Clean and Layered category. I was influenced by the coloured embossed cupcake cases and what looks like little butterflies on the white cream topping and the shape of the spiral on the straw.

Thank You

The ABC Challenge - J is for Jewels

Thanks for stopping by and leaving those supportive comments. You can continue to comment on the girl's blogs up until May 31st for a chance to win some fab prizes.

Stencil Blog Hop day 3

Good afternoon and welcome to day 3 of the STAMPlorations stencil bloghop.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments you've left, you certainly like these stencils!

Today I've gone with a different stencil Old Rose Prints. The pattern of roses suggested a soft delicate approach so here it my card.

I first taped the stencil over a panel of white card and using some homemade embossing paste I spread it over the stencil. I removed it carefully and set the panel to oneside to dry. When completely dry and with the stencil washed and dry I placed it back over the embossed roses and inked through it with some pink DIs. 

I thought it was kind of romantic in appearance so went with the sentiment from the Noteworthy set and embossed it in gold. I looked around for some matching pink ribbon but couldn't find any in the stash so I used a die cut and inked it in the same DI as the roses. The frame for it was die cut using a Sizzix die and a couple of pearls coloured with Copics to match were added. I also inked the pink background mounts  to match as well, it beats trying to find coordinating papers!

That's about it then for today.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Comment on this post and the rest of the team's blogs for a chance to win one of the prizes. Commenting closes on May 29. Winners will be announced on June 1.

Prizes:

SIX (6) winners (2 winners per day) will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencils. Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.

THREE (3) winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate. Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

There will be extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party later on in the week and link up by May 31.

So no excuses to hop along and join in the fun. 

I'm joining in at -

                   

          Flowers                                  Use 5 or more flowers        

    Creative Inspirations - Pastel Shades    

See you back here tomorrow for some further STAMPlorations stencil fun.

Artful Flutters for STAMPlorations blog hop

Welcome to day 2 of the STAMPlorations Blog Hop. 

The card I'm showing today uses the same stencil as yesterday, Shower of Flutters but a different technique and colourway to produce a very different effect.

This time I inked the stencil with some DIs and spritzed some water over it, then used the stencil as a stamp. I love the way the water has a haphazard way of blending the ink. To finish the panel I splashed some of the left over watery ink onto the white portion.

I liked the finished panel but wanted to do something a little different so bit the bullet and die cut the tag from the panel and mounted it on a larger tag edged with a colour wash of DI. The thanks was stamped and embossed in silver, a few sequins were added and a butterfly that was left over from another project. Ribbon and twine from the stash. This just shows how versatile this stencil is as the card from yesterday's hop and this are so different but use the same stencil!

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Comment on this post and the rest of the team's blogs for a chance to win one of the prizes. Commenting closes on May 29. Winners will be announced on June 1.

Prizes:

SIX (6) winners (2 winners per day) will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencils. Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.

THREE (3) winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate. Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

There will be extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party later on in the week and link up by May 31.

So no excuses to hop along and join in the fun. 

I'm joining in at- 

             

Creative Inspirations - AG



Thanks for calling by, see you back tomorrow for more stencil goodness.

Check it out

Good morning again. 

If you are looking for my CuM post please click here.

It's going to be a busy day here on my blog as I will be back later on to share another card in the STAMPlorations Blog Hop!

Any road, as its Tuesday it must be time for a new challenge at Cardz4Guyz, where we aim to show you that making cards for the men in your life is not as tricky as you may think!

This week out theme is -

Use Checks or Gingham

Yep, we want to see lots of checks on your projects, be they be of the gingham or plaid variety, just make them the star of your card. Here is my take.

My staring point for this card was the latest sketch over at Sketch Saturday.

Once I'd seen the sketch I flicked through my stamps for a suitable image  but then thought of this freebie from a mag ages ago, The three wise monkeys- Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil. I'd already printed them out for a previous challenge then not used them, I coloured the monkeys with Copics then fussy cut and mounted them on pads. The check DP was from the stash, a really old bit from 10 years ago, I'm really being ruthless using up my DPs, mainly 'cos the ink on the printer is running out! The words came with the image and the inside has the rest of the sentiment. 'Your secret is safe with me.' I suppose if you used a different DP it would be suitable for a female as well.

OK, that's it, now it's your turn, check out (sorry) the rest of the DT's inspiration and join in!

I'll join the fun over at -

Sketch Saturday - #362

      

                                                      Keep it Simple

See you back this afternoon for more STAMPloration stencil fun!

A sketch @ Cards und More

Good morning, hope you had a fab BHM (UK) and the kids aren't driving you too mad over half term  holiday (UK).

For the latest challenge over at Cards und More we are asking you to use a sketch to make your projects. Here is my card based on it.

and this is the sketch

My son is off to a wedding soon so I thought I would make another wedding card so he can choose!

As I said before I've not got a lot of wedding sentiments so I ended up doing a bit of freehand printing. The image is my go to wedding stamp from LOTV coloured with Copics and then fussy cut. The ribbons are from the sketch as are the puffy hearts which were left over from making my daughter's wedding invites 10 years ago! The panel behind the couple was embossed using a Cuttlebug ef and the spotty layer was also embossed with a EF from Couture Creations. The central aperture and frame were cut with MFT pierced circle stax.

OK, that's about it, be inspired by the sketch and join in.

I'm joining in at -

Creative Inspirations - AG 

Penny Black and More - Dies and Punches

Stencil Hop at STAMPlorations

Good afternoon crafty friends

Today sees the start of a fantastic week of stencil goodness over at STAMPlorations.

After the success of the previous one we are having another blog hop and this is my card using one of the fab new stencils from Shery.

This one is made using Shower of Flutters combined with Trendy Butterflies Stamps and Noteworthy sentiments.

I started off by placing the stencil on a piece of white card and inking the background using DIs. While the mask was still in place I stamped some grasses 

Carefully removing the stencil I then stamped over the white shapes with the matching stamps in black then coloured the larger ones with Copics. The sentiment was then stamped in black and the edges of the panel inked in black before mounting up on pads over a 5x7 card base.

You can see another stencil technique used here

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here.

Comment on this post and the rest of the team's blogs for a chance to win one of the prizes. Commenting closes on May 29. Winners will be announced on June 1.

Prizes:

SIX (6) winners (2 winners per day) will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencils. Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.

THREE (3) winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate. Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

There will be extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party later on in the week and link up by May 31.

So no excuses to hop along and join in the fun. 

I'm joining the fun over at :-

     

See you back same tomorrow for more fantastic stencil inspiration.

Wedding Brad

Morning all, hope you are well.

Just a quick post to show you a card I made for a few challenges.

I love it when I can combine them, it gets the creative juices flowing and ideas bounce off each other and the challenges focus the design.

It was really muggy yesterday afternoon so I came in just before tea and spent a very pleasurable hour playing with some ideas for a card and here is the result.

Over at Less is More they would like to see some METAL, CASology's cue word is Wedding and Inkspirational's cue is Purple with the twist of wedding or love. 

My starting point was this metal brad I've had in the stash since I did my daughter's wedding scrapbook nine years ago! The next problem was how to frame it, well going down the wedding theme I chose a heart which I die cut from a Spellbinders panel with a Little B die and then inked it in purple before adding the brad and gluing it down on the base card before stamping the greeting in black and popping the top panel up on pads. I must admit I struggled with finding a greeting, must stock up on some new ones that include wedding ones!

Job done.

I would like to join in over at:-

                

Use some metal

Wings n Things

Good morning everyone. 

Today sees the start of the Spring Bank Holiday weekend and also a new challenge at Fantasy Stampers. This time we would like to see your projects on the theme of -

WINGS and THINGS

I received some new stencils in the post the other day and I've been having fun playing with them. This is my first card that I have posted using them.

The stencil is from ARTplorations and is called Flutterby. Now why am I posting a card made with a stencil when we are a stamping only blog challenge. Well I used stamps to create the pattern on the butterflies wings. 

To make this, I first cut a panel of white card then taped the stencil over it. Then I stamped over the spaces using STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies and Eclectic Florals set with DIs.

Not wishing to waste the ink on the stencil I took a monoprint from it and will use it in another card.

I then washed the stencil and when dried I placed it back over the printed pattern. I then inked through the stencil with Versamark ink and then removed the stencil and used clear embossing powder to intensify the colours of the butterflies.

To complete I trimmed the panel down and wrapped some linen thread around adding a LOTV tag greeting and a fussy cut stamped butterfly, then mounted on pads onto a cerise base card.

Job done.

OK, now it's over to you.pop over to the main blog to check out the rest of the DT's inspiration then join in. 

I'm joining the fun over at -

                                                 Stencil it

     

                                         Pink, Blue and yellow

Thanks for popping by and leaving such supportive comments. :)

Sending Sunshine

Evening all.

Well the sun is out at last. The day started off a little damp and cold but is ending on a high.

It's also highly appropriate that Less is More's latest challenge is - Hello Sunchine!

Here is a little card I made earlier when it wasn't sunny.

I should have taken the photo a little earlier when the sun was in, as its made it a bit tricky to photograph, all the gold and shimmer is catching the light, so apologies for the picture quality.

I used my MFT Sunray plate die for the sun and mounted it below a frame cut made by extending a square die. The card has a subtle linen effect that the sun has bleached out in the photo. The sun was cut from some satin yellow card and the background panel is some textured gold card I've had for over 10 years, I'd saved it 'cos it was too special to use but hey, you've got to bite the bullet sometime!

The greeting is from Personnel Impressions and sequins and beads (gold) are from the stash. These were given to me by my late Aunt who used to sew ballroom dance dresses for my cousin Helen and I used them for my daughters dancing costumes far too long ago to think about! Talk about hoarding!

Any way, that's about it for today, hubby is out playing with his toys and today at Chelsea (flower show) is starting soon so better get a wriggle on!

I'm joining in at -

Theme Week - Hello Sunshine

Photo Inspiration

Hi folks, its time for another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps .
This is my DT card for your inspiration.

This week it is our 

As you can see this was quite a literal interpretation, but that doesn't have to be the case. You could go with the colours or just take a couple of elements and run with that, the choice is yours.
Luckily I had a birdcage stamp that was free on a recent mag purchase so that was my starting point.
I used the sketch over at CAS Colours and Sketches for the layout, popping the right hand square up on multiple layers and cutting out the other two. The branch is a MB die with some white leaves cut from a scrapped MB wildflower corner diecut and some freehand ones. The purple birdies were cut freehand after stamping with the birdcage. The sentiment is from STAMPloration's Bloom Sketches.

This week we are sponsored by



who are offering a $15 coupon to the winner
and



who are offering 5 digis.

So why not pop over and check out the rest of the DTs fab inspiration projects and join us.

I'd like to join in at:-


         

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon. :)

World Wildlife

Morning all.

Tuesday means another challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week our challenge is

WORLD WILDLIFE

That's a pretty wide remit so plenty of scope here for your masculine creations.

This is my card for you today

I made this for my Son in Law's birthday. He's mad on penguins, so I thought I would make him a card on that theme. I did try to get a stamp set but they were out of stock, so it was down to punch art again. I'm amazed what you can make with a few punches and die cuts when you set your mind to it!

I used a variety of circles, ovals and a heart punch to make these cuties. The background was embossed using a falling snow ef and the flaps were covered with sections of a snowflake ef in white on the black box card base.

The banner was stamped then cut freehand and mounted on two cocktail sticks!

OK, that's about it from me for the moment. Pop over to the main site to check out the rest of the DT's inspiration. If you feel like a month as a guest designer just add GD after your name

I'm joining in over at:-

Loves Rubberstamps - Black and white and a touch of colour

Allsorts Challenge Blog - No squares allowed  

(Plenty of circles and ovals and the box is a cuboid, even the banner  is a curved shape.)

Penny Black and More - Dies and Punches

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

Sketch #34

Good afternoon and welcome.

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

I love a good sketch and I must admit that sometimes I'm a little too literal in my interpretation, so this time I've gone a little off piste with my DT card.

Looks all quite normal until you look at the sketch!

When I first saw this I thought of the obvious interpretation, but then the wavy lines on the edge reminded me of a set of card blanks I bought over 12 years ago that were quite expensive. As they were sort of special I kept them for special projects, and there were still a couple left in the stash as I had forgotten all about them and tastes move on.  If I was going to use them it meant mirroring the sketch and then I thought about using flowers instead of butterflies. I kept the same pattern, 1 large and 3 smaller flowers. In the end though I had to make a card base myself as the colours left weren't quite right, a bit too pale and pastely!

The large flower and sentiment are from the Bloom Sketches set and the small from the very useful Eclectic Florals. I stamped the flowers with DIs then washed in the petals with more DI and water, then fussy cut them and worked the petals with an embossing tool and mat to give them some depth. I added a few leaves from my leaf box( all my left over green gets used to punch leaves when I've a spare moment) to add even more depth.

As usual Shery is offering the following prizes:-

Winner (voted by the design team)

 2 stamp sets (3" by 5") if you use STAMPlorations stamps, 1 stamp set if you don't

+ guest designer spot in a future Sketch Challenge

Top picks 3 digi stamps 

+ the option to be a guest designer too in the next Sketch Challenge if you will use a STAMPlorations digi stamp (to be provided ) OR if you already have STAMPlorations 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.

So no excuses not to have a go and join in.

Pop over to the DT's blogs for more inspiration and info on their designs and check out our fab GD.

Carol Mayne GD

Becca DT

Laura Jane DT
Nonni DT

Sari DT

Tenia DT

Wei Wei DT

I'm joining the fun over at-

CAS on Sunday - Cheer up Buttercup

Stamping Sensations - Flower Power

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon. :)