Mmmmm

Morning all.

It's Tuesday again so it must be time for a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week we would like to see your masculine creations on the theme of -

SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH M

Now, I was again scratching my head and trawling through my stash of stamps to find some inspiration for this challenge, as nothing sprang immediately to mind. Then I saw the latest challenge over at Card Concept and came up with this.

and this is the inspiration photo that fired up the little grey cells.

I saw this and thought Mates, Menagerie, perhaps Masking and Missing you!

I've had the DoCrafts stamp for a few years, another bargain bucket buy, it's from the Woodland Friend's set. The characters look quite sad so I used the miss you sentiment from the same set and the background was SU Hardwood in DI Weathered Wood. After stamping the 'Mates' on a log, I coloured them using Copics, then fussy cut them and mounted them flat on the hardwood panel. This was then popped up on pads on a white base card.

So what will you chose to be inspired by?
Check out the rest of the DT's inspirational cards over at the Cardz4Guyz blog and why not join in.

Circles

Good afternoon folks.

I've managed to find a quiet hour in the craftroom this afternoon to make a card for a couple of challenges.

Over at CASology the cue word is circles, where as Anita's Muse card features circles and Time Out cases Tracey McNeely, so I thought why not combine, so here is my card.

I started by using a STAMPlorations bubble stencil to create a white embossed background for my panel, which I then inked with some Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar and Tumbled Glass DIs. 

The squiggle was cut in vellum using a Tim Holtz die and the hello is from an Avery Elle die. I scattered a few silver sequins to finish.

Here is Tracey's card, I used the idea of vellum, white embossing and the colours for my interpretation. 

This is Anita's card over at Muse, they are both so soft and delicate.

So hope my card will fit the bill.

Good Friends

Good Morning folks and welcome to another challenge over at Fantasy Stampers.

This week we would love to see your projects around the theme of -

STEAMPUNK

Now, this is a topic way out of my comfort zone but never the less I put my thinking cap on and decided that it was all about technology fused with the natural with a touch of Victoriana for good measure. So this is what emerged from my meanderings in Googleland!

Using the idea of nature made mechanical which I saw in quite a few images. 

I die cut some MFT butterflies and over stamped the wings with some cog dies from Papermania's Chronology series, free with a magazine a few years ago, embossing with gold EP.

 The butterflies were coloured with some Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers DI and the bodies and antennae were made from some gold wire. I die cut some cogs from gold card, mounted the sentiment phrase from LOTV on a large one and embossed a strip of white card with a Tri-Boss folder from the same Papermania collection. The layout and colours were based on the latest challenge over at Fusion.

So Steampunk with a CAS twist!

Here is a closeup of the butterflies.

So, now it's your turn to join us, we'd love to see what you come up with.

Check what the rest of the DT have done in the inspiration gallery over at the Fantasy Stampers site.

Don't forget we need to see traditional stamping as the focus of your project, otherwise any style will do.

I'm joining in over at -

                       

      Dang missed the deadline! :(                     words                             

That Craft Pace Challenge - Steampunk

Thanks for stopping by. :)

My Favourite Thing

Good morning and welcome.

There is a new challenge blog about to launch, well next week to be precise and I'm on the DT!
Cardz4Galz is the femine off shoot of Cardz4Guyz.

As an introduction to the DT we are sharing our favourite things.

Regulars will know that I'm a rather CAS, clean and v simple, girl at heart but I also love to colour my images with Copics, oh and I love LOTV stamps! Here is my card using LOTV's James the Bear. 

I made this card for the latest challenge over at Less is More, hope it's CAS enough,

their challenge this week is TECHNOLOGY. I thought of being all clever and printing something off t'internet but others had already done it, so I went with this image from LOTV and added a fun stamped sentiment from a set I picked up in the sale a couple of years ago, Stampendous 'Bot Quotes'

As this is for a girly DT I added some pink, (stereotypical I know Nich), touches but added some polkadot DP from the stash and used a pretty pale green card base, that I cut down from DL size that has been in my stash for more years than I care to remember. Kept the embellishments to a minimum just a bit of twine and ribbon from the stash.

James was coloured with my Copics, he looks so sad and apologetic so rather fits the sentiment I think.

I hope you will support this new enterprise and I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the DT and seeing your feminine creations of all styles. Hope to see you all back next week for the first challenge.

I'm going to join the latest challenge over at:-

technology

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Dee's Christmas Stamp set

Welcome to a post to announce the launch of a new stamp set by the wonderful Dee at STAMPlorations.

This latest set is called Christmas Bell Medley.

Here are a couple of cards I made using these fab new stamps

                                         

As you can see from the rest of the set I've only scratched the surface of what you can do with these beauties.

The observant of you may have recognized elements of my ATSM post earlier today, here.

   

For the silver bell garland I was inspired by a vintage card with glitter overlay on a printed background I found on line. For this card I stamped the bells masking as I went, adding some holly leaves, berries and some silver evergreen boughs. I coloured the leaves and bells with Copics and to sparkle up the bells I doodled patterns with a Versamark pen before adding fine silver embossing powder. The panel was die cut with a pierced rectangle from MFT and mounted on pads then the greeting was stamped on the base card.

My second card is really quick and easy. I stamped and masked the holly leaves, berries and evergreen boughs on a square of white card then coloured using Copics and added Glossy Accents to the berries and holly leaves. With my Versamark pen I flicked some areas of the evergreen and added a dusting of white detail embossing powder to represent snow and stamped the greeting in red. The top panel was cut using a MFT pierced square then double mounted on red and gold mirror card before mounting on a cream square base card from my stash.

To celebrate the release we are having a mini blog hop.

For more details of prizes and time scales, pop over to the main blog but if you comment on this post you could win!

I'm joining in over at:-

               

                                                               Sparkle

Sweet Stampin Christmas - Festive Decor

Vintage bells

Hi and welcome to a scheduled post to announce the latest challenge over at ATSM.

This week out theme is -

HOLIDAYS

For my DT inspiration I went with a vintage feel OL Christmas card.

For more information on the stamp set used pop back later! (here)

The bells were stamped and masked while the evergreen boughs were stamped in a mix of DI's, Chipped Sapphire and Mowed Lawn I think! I used Copics to colour the bells and then drew the strings freehand using a black fine liner.

The snow in the background was made by stamping small circles from Balloons and Banners by STAMPlorations embossed in detail white embossing powder. For a vintage feel I used a dark cream/ latte coloured cardbase.

This week we are sponsored by Kylie at 

Wow, thanks Kylie.

So check out the rest of the DT and join in.

I'm going to join in over at:-

I've just gone OL without the twist!

Oh Christmas Tree

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Christmas Card for a Guy

Good morning and welcome to a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.
This week we would love to see your masculine creations on the theme of -

KRAFT and BLUE

I went down the Christmas route for my inspiration card.

I used one of my favourite layouts, plenty of interest but not too fussy, just the thing for a masculine card. I was tempted to add a bit of bling to the snowflakes but resisted!

I stamped a panel of blue snowflakes on white card, using my Personal Impressions Snowflakes stamps in Salty Ocean and Stormy Sky DI. The pale one is the same Stormy Sky but a second generation stamp.
The blue strip is a bit of waste from another project that didn't make the grade but I made it using some Ultramarine Brusho with clear Versamark embossed over in clear, giving the mottled effect. The snowflake was a magazine freebie that is a swine to remove from the die! To give a little extra lift I shadowed the white one with a silver mirror card one. Finally I stamped the greeting using Merry Christmas from Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler set onto a strip of Kraft and embossed in white.

Short and sweet today with this CAS interpretation. Now it's over to you. Check out the rest of the DT's fab inspiration then why not join us this week.

I'm joining in over at -
        

DIs Stormy Sky and Salty Ocean                                                                
and Brusho Ultramarine                                                              

                                     
Thanks for stopping by!

Patterned Paper Muse

Good afternoon.

Just posting a card I made for this week's MUSE challenge. I saw Michele's card and thought yes I can use some of my stash of DP but when I looked through it I couldn't find any I thought suitable, typical! So while at my class on Wednesday evening I found a 12 x 12 by Kaisercraft that also fit the challenge at CAS- ual Chic. The hard bit was deciding where to cut it, it was such a pretty paper, so this morning I bit the bullet and this is the result.

This is Michele's inspiration card

I'm afraid I don't have suitable butterfly stamp but I do have one of my favourite butterfly dies by Memory Box. I cut it from gold then the solid one from vellum and pink card. I also cut the Happy Birthday from the same gold and pink. 

I cut a tag from the center of the DP and offset it over the aperture left so that the black base peeks through. I cut out a rose and some leaves from the off cuts and mounted it on pads in the corner. The ribbons I found in my enormous stash,

That's about it, I think I've got most of Michele's recipe

Patterned paper - any colors

(stamped), die cut, and (embossed image)

with a sentiment on a tag!

I'm joining in over at -

      

Thanks for stopping by.

Music speaks

Good afternoon and welcome to a post to remind you about the current challenge over at STAMPlorations.

Here is my card for your inspiration

This month our theme is

or if you like a sketch

This time I went with the theme only, stamping a score stamp to create the background before over stamping with the flowers from the Bloom Sketches set. As the score looked a little vintage I went with a w/c wash for the flowers before adding the white embossed sentiment on black from Dee's Artsy Impressions - Blooming Buds. I thought the card needed a little something else, so I decided to die cut a panel and then give it a black border. To do this I marked where I wanted the die, then fussy cut along the edge of the flowers to allow the die to slip in behind. After cutting the opening I cut a matching black panel and placed it where the original diecut had been removed, then trimmed the die cut stamped panel so that it left a fine black border and then replaced it. The whole lot was then mounted flat on a black base card.

Please check out the rest of the DT's fab work along with that of our GD, Keia

All the details about prizes are also on the main STAMPlorations blog.

I'm joining in over at -

         

Thanks for stopping by. :)

On your Christening

Good morning again. Please scroll down for my Cards und More post.

It's a double post Tuesday which means there's another challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week we want to see projects that focus on -

EMBOSSING 

Heat or dry or both if you want!

Here's my card using embossing folders.

My Son in Law's friend's son is being christened shortly so they asked me to make a card for the occasion.

I used a stamp by LOTV for the image which I coloured with Copics and cut out using a MFT pierced rectangle die. Although its for a christening, it is for a boy so I kept the embellishments to an organza ribbon and bow but used some of my Inka Gold wax in platinum and steel blue to give the card a special feel. The background panel was embossed using an old folder of unknown make and then rubbed over with a little of the platinum wax to bring up the texture. The blue panels were embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss dot folder before being covered in a mix of steel blue and platinum.

The sentiment and name were computer generated.

That's about it, now it's your turn. Check out the rest of the DT's for more inspiration.

I'm joining in at -

For the boys

ABC Challenge - R is for recipe  (Ribbon/ Die/Blue)

Thanks for visiting. :)

Ben's hectic social life!

Good morning everyone. 

Just popping by to share a card I made for the latest challenge at Cards und More.

This time around we would like to see your projects that have -

NO PATTERNED PAPER

As my Grandson has just gone back to school, so his hectic social life has started again. This time he was invited to a doubled up party for a couple of lovely girls in his class. They are not girly girls as their party was a sport skills one so Nich asked for the cards not to be too girly. So here is the card I made for one of them using an image from our challenge sponsor, Little Miss Muffet Stamps.

I used a new set of stamps to make the pattern behind the aperture, they are from Inky Doodles - Print Backgrounds 2. They allow you to make your own backgrounds and I finally indulged after class on Wednesday last week. I used Copics to colour the digi image to match the pattern then fussy cut her out. I edged the base card with a mix of DI in Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon, these are new colours which I bought the other day in a set of mini pads. The top panel was embossed using a v old Cuttlebug embossing folder after the aperture was cut using  one of my favourite dies, MFT stitched circles stax, it's my go to for cutting apertures in this style of card as it's just the right size.

OK, that's me done. Pop over to the main CuM blog and check out the rest of the DT's fab inspiration and check out the prize offered by our sponsor-

of a 12$ voucher for their store.

I'm joining in over at -

favourite die

Stamp and inks!

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Moonshadow

Good morning all.

The sun is out, Al has gone tree cutting and the dog has been walked and feed. so all is quiet!

Yesterday evening, after my daughter and family went home, I spent a few minutes in my craft room playing. It was all very quiet, Al out, Max asleep shattered after disappearing while out with us for a walk yesterday afternoon and not coming back until much later, looking very contrite! Obviously found something very interesting in a pile of logs.

Anyway I thought I would make a quick card for a couple of challenges that caught my eye.

I masked off a square using Post Its, cut a curve into another and added a large circle as well. I inked the top of the square with Faded Jeans DI then removed the circle die and stamped part of a Heartfelt Creations -'Magnificent Spruce Trees' above the mask. I cut another curve in a Post It, then stamped a larger section of the same stamp over the mask. The moon was given a little more definition with a little Weathered Wood and a few moon shadows were brushed on, stars were added with a white gel pen.

Have you ever walked by moonlight and seen your moon shadow? It's something quite magical, which I've only experienced since we moved to the country where the night sky is not polluted with street lights. It's even more magical when the fields are covered in crisp white snow and the shadows are dark.

After removing the masks I stamped the Christmas Wishes using a LOTV stamp.

I'm joining in the challenges over at :-

 

OLC - Wishing!                                                 

Thanks for stopping by. :)

Birthday Wishes

Good morning peeps and welcome to the weekend!

This week at Fantasy Stampers we are starting a new challenge. We would like to see your stamped projects on the theme of -

AUTUMN LEAVES

A little early I thought for this subject but as I walked the dog yesterday there were quite a few leaves turning in the hedgerow.

Here is my card for your inspiration.

The background is the stamped element here. I took an oak leaf stamp from the Creative Expressions Autumn Foliage set and used Dried Marigold to stamp all over a piece of orange card. I then cut out some leaf shapes using my NEBUS set of  dies by MFT I bought ages ago, from a piece of black card. This top panel was then popped up on pads over the stamped base and the bottom 1/3 was wrapped with twine with a couple of die cut leaves from the stamped scrap and a white embossed LOTV greeting tag added.

OK, now it's your turn. Just remember any style is fine but you must use a traditional stamp in your project.  Pop over to the Fantasy Stampers page for more inspiration from the rest of the team.

I'm joining in over at -

        

Holly, no ivy

Hi, welcome to the latest challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More.

This week we are in our free for all challenge -

ANYTHING GOES

For my inspiration I used a few of the challenges out there, I always need some spark for this type of challenge, so much easier when you want to enter!

Here is my DT card for your inspiration.

For my card I mainly used the colour theme at Less is More but it also had a nod to HLS Christmas and MM's Holly and AAA spectacular embossing. My lovely friend Loll at HLS got me interested in Inka Gold so it was the perfect opportunity to use it on this background, made by mixing emerald green with a little dk brown Brusho, just to take the brightness down a notch. I then embossed the panel with an old Cuttlebug script folder and dragged some Inka Gold -gold over it with a bit of cut n dry foam (top tip Loll!).
I cut the MB candle die from white, dark green and gold and layered them up to get the effect I wanted before attaching it to the embossed panel. The greeting, a freebie from a mag last year, was stamped and heat embossed in gold detail.

This week we are sponsored by

who are offering the winner a $15 coupon to the store 

and

who are giving a prize of 5 digis from the store.

So now it's over to you, check out the rest of the DT, if you haven't already and then join in!

I'm joining in the fun at -

Merry Monday - Holly                                                                 

               

Colour Challenge - Green and Gold



Spectacular Embossing

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon? :)