100th Challenge @ MUSE: Christmas Visions

Afternoon folks.

I noticed the other day that MUSE: Christmas Visions are celebrating their 100th challenge. Is it really that long ago, I remember it starting so well.

Any how I decided I had just the thing for an entry.

This Penny Black poinsettia stamp belongs to my bloggy friend Linda who lent it to me when we were on retreat last November. It has sat in my to finish box since I water coloured it way back then. So as the MUSE pic here uses a poinsettia, one of my fave images for Christmas it fit the bill perfectly.

I used DIs to w/c the image, adding depth and shadow with a small brush after blending the initial inked flower. I used a neutral DI for the background as I had already done a similar card with a blue background here and wanted to try something different. The sentiment is also from Penny Black and is embossed with gold EP then the w/c panel was trimmed and mounted flat on a base card.

So off to take the dog out before the heavens open again!

joining in over at :-

Had to use a poinsettia image and gold embossed sentiment!

     

Anything Goes                           Anything Goes

Blooms

Afternoon folks.

The wall to wall blue skies of the last few days have flown today but it is still very warm. There may be heavy showers tomorrow and to be honest the garden needs the rain.

I made most of this earlier in the week but just grabbed half an hour after lunch to finish it off.

The other week I bought some dies from the stamp fair at Port Sunlight and this is the first time I've used these Altenew Rose Flurries. 

I cut a whole page of them, the dies are attached quite firmly to the backing so left them on, just moving a few that were mounted inside the larger ones. I then used my Copics to colour the different elements. The RV group work really well with the blue stenciled background.

I made my own stencil using Altenew's Watercolour Stripes, as American coverplate dies are too wide and short for standard UK A6 card bases. After a bit of extra masking of my base card, I inked through with Salty Ocean DOx ink then moved it down and added another panel. My sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Day, white EP on black. A few sequins complete.

Joining in over at:-

    

Every man needs 'is 'ut

Good morning.
I have an extra card to share with you as GD for the new challenge at The Male Room.

It's for the the theme of -

I chose this image because it reminds me of the first garden shed we had when we got married. It's now over 40 years ago, and my OH has managed to increase the size of 'is 'ut with every house move! As I said with the title, a man needs his shed or hut or somewhere he can tinker and not get under your feet! The OH now has the choice of 3, the big shed, the tractor shed and his man cave, otherwise known as the Bull Pen because of it's previous incarnation. When we bought our barn this was a total ruin and took many years to be returned to use, the only problem is that the phone signal is too weak to reach through the thick walls so if someone wants him I have to go rouse him. He did make me a fantastic craft room so I can't complain too much.

Anyway down to the nitty gritty, this LOTV image was stamped and coloured with Copics before mounting on a small piece of kraft card. The textured panel was made using a chain link EF and the sentiment was from a set free in a mag.

Please check out the rest of the DT for some more fab inspiration, then why not join in.

I'm joining in over at:-

Pile It On Challenge #142 - Sports/Hobbies and/or Make Us Laugh

Skating Snowman

Hi and welcome to a post to announce the start of the new challenge over at ATSM.

Can you guess the theme from my card?

Yup, its 

Another chance to add to your stash or you could go with a summer holiday themed card, the choice is yours!

As you can see I went with the Christmas theme and the latest challenge at CAS Christmas -snowmen,

I've had this jolly skating snowman for awhile, I stamped a few when we had a crafty meet up a few years ago, I think the firm stopped production a couple of years ago. I kept the colours pretty neutral colouring him with Copics before fussy cutting him out and mounting him on a panel embossed with a Cuttlebug EF and a die cut snowdrift. I added a little Wink of Stella to his hat and scarf tassels before adding the panel to a white base card. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

So, if you want more inspiration check out the rest of the team here and why not join us.

Joining in over at:-

   

 AG Christmas

    

K for Keep it Simple

You're Special

Morning all.
It's time for a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This time we would love to see your projects on the theme of-

SCI-FI or STEAM PUNK

Don't have too many occasions to make cards on these themes so after a root around in my stash and a look at some challenges, I came up with this.

I used the layout from CAS(E) this sketch! and some stamps from Paper Smooches.
The planet was made by cutting a partial circle using an extra large Spellbinders die then cutting again with a Sizzix Confetti plate die, gluing the pieces back with double sided tape before stamping the aliens. I added some shading on the planet with a pencil, blending to get a softer effect before stamping the large alien again, colouring him with Copics and fussy cutting him out, then mounting him on pads. The sentiments are also Paper Smooches.

Check out the rest of the DT here for more fab inspiration.

I'm joining in over at:-

      
                                             Make a birthday card

CUTplorations, a reminder

Just popping by to remind you that there is still time to join in over at STAMPlorations month long Things with Wings blog hop and linky party.

Here's my card using the dragonfly layering dies, Magical word die and a sentiment from Born to Roam.

We have two or three large ponds around us and the mayflies and dragonflies are always buzzing around the garden, a real sense of summer. The dragonflies are huge and often give you quite a shock if you should be passing when the buzz by! I went with the smaller mayfly idea and coloured one outline accordingly.

The background was made with a load of the cut outlines arranged on a panel of white card and the coloured one added on top together with the silver Magical. The sentiment was stamped and embossed in white on black card. My dragonflies wings were made by placing a die cut vellum dragonfly under the coloured one, drawing in the veins with a Copic pen.

To finish, I trimmed the panel down and mounted it on pads over a white base card.

If you want to join in here are a few details about how to enter and a little incentive if you are wavering!

You can link up as many winged-themed projects as you want as long as each project features dies/die cuts and is in its own separate blog post 

Non-STAMPlorations products are OK

Shery is offering prizes,  $15 for the winner voted by the design team and two randomly chosen winners of $5 GC

For more winged die cut inspiration check out the DT here.

Joining in over at:-

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Things with wings

Uniko Challenge, Meadow Birthday

Morning all. 

It was a busy week for the Uniko DT last week but after a bit of a chill session and a 'bit' of housework, I'm back with a card to announce the new challenge over at Uniko.

The design was based on this rather appropriate photo.

I started by creating a background to echo the pattern on the suitcase with the Stylised Flower stencil and some Twisted Citron DOx on a die cut panel of white card.
The next step was to cut an oval of black card and stamp and emboss the greeting from Birthday Sentiments. To frame it I stamped and cut out two of the small sprays from Originally Organic Additions and some of the flowers. I wanted to create an even spray so not satisfied with using the same image I mirror stamped two more onto previously die cut sprays.
If you are not familiar with mirror stamping, all it is is stamping first onto a larger stamp then use this image to create a mirror image by stamping the image onto card. The resultant image is a little paler than the original but a fine liner soon sorts that out! There's lots of videos around such as here, here and here that explain the process.
I coloured the sprays with Copics using the colours from The Paper Players as close as possible and completed the wreath around the oval.

So are you ready to play along?

Well, just in case you need some more incentive to play along with the challenge here are the details of the prizes.

  
THE PRIZES

• Main Winner Chosen By the DT - £25 eGift Certificate
• Random Twist Winner - £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
• Random Uniko Stamps Winner - £4 In Stock Clear Stamp Set of Winners Choosing
• Top 3 Chosen By DT - 150 Loyalty Reward Points

You've got plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge. The deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) on Friday 22nd June 2018 (7.00pm EDT).

OK, that's about it from me but check out the rest of the team for more inspiration here.

GD Sue
Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Julie - that's me
Linda

Joining in over at:-

     


Stencil It!

It's release day at Uniko

As it says at the top of this post it's time for the full May release at Uniko.

All the stamps the DT have previewed over the last few days are now available on the website and in person at today's Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight until 4pm. So if have a ticket ( sorry no tickets available on the door) and you want to meet some of the DT, why not pop over and say hello and treat yourself to some of the release.

I'm heading over there too but wont be on the stand other than to say hi to Bev and the girls, as my bestie is staying with us and coming with me for a bit of a girly day out.

So first card off the rank is this one using a leftover strip from my card here.

I teamed it with some of the die cut flowers from here, a fussy cut leaf from the Nature's Treasure's II stamp set and a sentiment from the Birthday Celebrations set. The leaf was inked with Twisted Citron DOx and the flowers were coloured with Copics. The composition reminds me of the fresh green of new shoots in the garden with the addition of pretty flowers.

My second card again uses the leftover from an earlier card and the same Birthday Sentiment repeatedly stamped and embossed with white EP on a strip of black card and mounted on matching pink card stock. A few sequins complete.

This third card also uses the rotating stencil technique, this time with the Honeycomb stencil.

Using the blue card and ink gives a more masculine look to this card than the pink of the flower one above. I used an old Spellbinders oval to cut the scalloped edge. The stamped and embossed Simply Said Blocks II and a few dots of Glossy Accents complete.

When I made the first card with the Organic Additions stamps and dies I thought that the aperture would make a good shaker element when filled with acetate so here is one in purple and gold.

My base is purple and I coloured the gold embossed pattern with a deep violet Zig pen.

My final card shows that you don't need to use the dies simply to cut out the stamps but can be used on their own. The large explosion stamp is simply stamped onto the base card before the addition of the die cut ones.

So have we tempted you this week? Hope so and should you have tickets for today's Happy Stampers Festival don't forget to say hello to us on the Uniko stand.

If you can't make it then simply check out the rest of the DT along with our GD Anna.

GD - Anna

Bev
Deborah 

Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - that's me
Linda

Lindsey

Sarah G

Sarah P
 Wiebke

Introducing... 5th - 11th May 2018, here you will see a closer look at the products being released with a daily blog hop with the Uniko DT.

Release Day! Saturday 12th May 2018 9am BST you will get to see the products in their entirety and purchase them HERE on the website! As usual there will be a Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!

Extra PRIZE Info! Alternative prizes will be offered to those that may already own the prize offered. Winners will be announced on Saturday 11th on the Winners Page HERE. 

I'd like to join in a few challenges:-

   

                                                In the Pink                                                            

     

Pink or blue.  Traditionally it has to be blue for a masculine card and my daughter hates pink!

       

           Acetate and or Vellum                                                                Gold/watercolours/flowers        

                                                          

Channeling Roy Lichtenstein

Hi and welcome to the last of the introducing posts from Uniko's May release.

Tomorrow sees the launch of the full range of stamps, stencils and dies that we have been showcasing all week. They will be available on the web from 9 o'clock and in person from the Uniko stand at the Happy Stampers Festival at Port Sunlight but only if you already have a ticket. If you do go pop by the stand and say hi to Bev and some of the DT.

Here is my card using the second set of dies to go with previously released stamp sets, Explosions and Explosions Additions.

The first thing that came into my head when I saw the stamps was Roy Lichtenstein, a Pop Art artist specialising in comic strip style paintings. When I taught Y6 many years ago, we did a whole series of graphic images based on his style.

To start, I planned the layout and cut some squares and rectangle of white card and stamped them in red, blue or yellow using the shaded dots stamp. Secondly I cut a couple of die cut cityscapes one in black and one in thin yellow card. From the black one I pushed out a few of the windows, then glued the yellow one behind. A strip of double sided tape secures the little bits when you take it carefully out of the die. This was then stuck onto one of the panels. The rest of the images were stamped onto the die cuts using my jig mention here, before arranging them on a panel of black card. then a red base card.

Fo more explosive ideas, check out the rest of the DT here.

Bev

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Julie - that's me

Lindsey

Sarah P

See you back tomorrow for the full release big blog hop!


Joining in over at:-

  
AG                                              AG