We are already halfway through our challenge at TIME OUT and have received some incredible entries so far. Its getting harder and harder each challenge to vote!! The theme for this challenge is:
Embossing with the optional twist of sparkle!
For some crazy reason I decided to try out something completely different with my embossing. It was incredibly fiddly and messy but really like the finished look:
It was very hard to take this photo and get the embossing to shine with its true colour, so I'm sorry about that.
I cut a piece of white cardstock into a rectangle. I stamped across one end with a flat border stamp and Versamark Ink, and heat embossed in gold. I then masked the embossing off with washi tape. I left a gap of card stock and masked rest of card with washi tape and spare paper. I stamped again with Versamark Ink, removed all the masking and heat embossed the thinner line in silver.
From there I repeated the process, leaving differing widths of space to emboss so not all the lines were the same. I also made sure that when I masked the embossing, I exposed the very edge of it, so it was embossed over with the next colour and there would be no gaps. Very fiddly indeed!!!!
The lines aren't perfect (I realised after a few lines that it was better to remove the masking and THEN sprinkle the embossing powder and heat, than sprinkle so it went all over the masking tape and then peel off) but I absolutely love how it all melted together and is smooth and shiny. Will definitely do this again!!!!
After all that, I trimmed down the edges and cut out a piece of black card stock that was slightly larger. This was adhered directly to the card front, with the embossed card put on top with foam tape. The 'merry' was die-cut three times, one from white card, one from gold and one from silver. They were glued together but slightly off centre so you can see the silver and gold underneath.
The border stamp is from Simon Says Stamp 'Tag Sayings' and the 'merry' die from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holidays'. The sequins are from The Warehouse.
I'm going to link this to a new challenge (for me) Showcase Your Style # 2, where they had a colour challenge that I used for my card:
And will also link this card to the Artful Crafts - Christmas Countdown Challenge where this week they are looking for 'Fancy Cards'. And of course I will link to the Uniko Studio Challenge # 16 where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my millionth entry!! Wow, didn't quite realise this would turn into such a long post! The TIME OUT challenge finishes on Wednesday 3rd December at 5pm, so you still have plenty of time to join in the fun. And if your looking for inspiration, please head over to the blog to see what the Design Team have created, their cards are spectacular. I hope to see you there!! Take care Shona
I've had a lovely Monday morning at home pottering around with housework, finishing my card, covering my cherry tree in bird netting etc. No rush and no one else around. And after I finish this I'm off to the river bank to take the dogs for a walk in the very hot sun. Awesomeness!!
I couldn't wait to get started when I saw this sketch at Just Add Ink this week. There are so many possibilities for ideas. I was wandering around blog land leaving some comments when I
came across a card with some solid butterflies stamped all over it. This
jogged my memory about a butterfly stamp that I haven't used, and maybe
it would be perfect.
This is the largest stamp I have and it just fitted on to my stamp block. It has so much detail I didn't think it would emboss very well but it totally surprised me and turned out perfectly. Why haven't I used this before??!!!
Basically I cut the front panel out of white card stock. I then stamped the butterfly in Versamark Ink and embossed in silver. I then took a bit of a risk and very gently painted it in with some Distress Ink mixed with water. I don't have watercolour card stock so as long as I don't use too much water, it turns out fine.
After drying I cut the panel into three strips. The 'thanks' was also stamped and embossed in silver but I didn't have an ink pad in a pink that would match the watercolour. So I took another risk and stamped the rest of the sentiment in Distress Ink. Hooray, it worked!! This strip was adhered straight across the three panels. A few pretty sequins and my risky card was complete. And I love it!!!
The butterfly stamp is from Couture Creations. The sentiment stamps from Winnie and Walter 'Big Bold You'. The light pink sequins from Neat and Tangled and darker pink sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
I'm going to sneak this into the Winnie and Walter - Playdate No. 4 where they have some photos and colours for the theme inspiration. My eye was instantly drawn to the silver goodness in the top right:
This is also going to be my second entry into the CAS(E) this Sketch # 101 challenge where their sketch is very similar to this card (must have had it in my mind still....):
And last (but definitely not least) I will join the Uniko Studio Challenge # 16 where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. I think this is my 4th entry, they will be getting sick of seeing my cards!!!
Whew, I haven't joined so many challenges at once for a long time. Now I have the fun task of linking to them all. How I wish the brainy computer people would come up with a way to do it all at the same time........
Sometimes I see a colour combo for a challenge and it will stick in my mind until I play around with it. This is exactly what happened when I saw the combo for The Colour Throwdown this week.
My excitement for this challenge might have something to do with the photo of the adorable little girl and her gorgeous wee hat but I also wanted to see what I could create with a colour that I never use....dark blue. This was quite a hard challenge for me, as it turns out, because after going through all of my crafting paraphenalia, it would seem that I don't use dark blue because I don't have any! No ink, no paper, not even washi tape. I found one thing and this created the idea for my card:
I found shiny, dark blue sequins along with green and pink. And of course they screamed to me 'shaker card'!! I die cut a circle from the front of the card and then used the same circle die (along with the die one size bigger) to die-cut the pink frame. I also used it to cut 3 more circle frames from white card stock. I then used the bigger die to cut a circle from clear acetate. I glued the white frames together, glued the acetate on top and then the pink frame. Unfortunately I then had to painstakingly cut small pieces of foam tape to attach to the bottom of the frame, which was adhered around the hole in the card front. After cutting a piece of green patterned paper, I tipped the card upside down to pour in the sequins and then glued the green paper over top. With the shaker done, I stamped the sentiment in light pink with a few more sequins for shine. So nice to make a non-Xmas card fit for a little girl. The circle dies are from Couture Creations. The pink paper is from American Crafts 'My Girl'. The green paper is from Echo Park 'Everyday Eclectic'. Both stamp sentiments are from Winnie and Walter ''The big, the bold and the Happy'. The pink sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh, the green sequins from Neat and Tangled and the blue from Avery Elle. I'm also going to link this to the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge # 101 where their sketch is:
And I will also link (as my third entry) to the Uniko Studio Challenge # 16 where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. I've got one card to finish and then off to bed. Tomorrow will be a day of catching up on housework and emails. Doesn't sound very exciting but its my one day this week when I don't have anything planned. So I will enjoy the peace and quiet with no need to rush. Bliss! Take care Shona
One of the many things I love about playing in challenges, is that they give me a chance to try new ideas, colour combo's and techniques that I normally would shy away from. That's exactly what happened with this weeks Muse challenge.
This colourful and perfectly stamped card by Marion was the inspiration for this weeks Muse Challenge. I wasn't quite sure how she did the layered die-cut and I also knew that I didn't have the right type of ink pads to get the same impression but I was itching to give it a go.
After going thru my stamp collection, I realised that I didn't have many solid stamps that were along the same line as the balloons. I also only have pigment ink pads, so knew it would be hard to see thru them, as they are so opaque. This still didn't stop me and I'm actually really happy with how it all turned out!! I stamped the snowflake stamp in red, light pink and grey randomly around the bottom right-hand corner of the card front. I then die-cut the 'joy' from the stamped area, along with 3 extra 'joy's' from white cardstock. I adhered a piece of white card stock to the inside of the card front, behind the word window.
After gluing all the 'joy' layers together, I glued it into the die-cut hole. To help it stand out I covered the 'joy' with Wink of Stella for some sparkle. I then stamped the rest of the sentiment in black. The snowflake stamp is from Simon Says Stamps 'Presents and Ornaments'. The 'joy' die-cut and sentiment stamp are from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holidays'. I will also link this to the Uniko Studio Challenge # 16 where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my second entry.
UPDATED: Losing my mind!! I typed in that I was also linking to the Less is More Challenge Week # 199 but I moved some paragraphs around and just realised that I must have deleted it! Their theme is 'Jingle all the Way' and they are looking for anything Christmasy. It has been a very warm, sunny day and still quite warm now at 10pm. Phoebe and I spent some time making cards this afternoon. She has really learn't a lot about the stamping and the creative process over the past few months. I'll take a photo of her card tomorrow to show you what she did.
She was frustrated because the layout wasn't balanced (like Mother, like daughter...) and got very creative when fixing a mistake. Might have to use her idea myself..... Take care Shona
I spent four hours gardening yesterday so very stiff and sore. Unfortunately I need to go back again now to do another four hours, so probably won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning. I do love getting my hands dirty and pulling weeds. Very cathartic I think!! And I have to be so careful and clean when making my cards, so nice to go crazy in the mud!
I had so many different ideas for this weeks challenge at Casology but unfortunately I just couldn't get them to work. So I decided that instead of stressing about it, I would stick with my favourite look of lots of white and a simple sentiment:
I wanted to do separate banners for each part of the sentiment but couldn't work out how to adhere them till I went rummaging thru the kitchen cupboard at 1am in the morning. And there was a package of wooden skewers...perfect!!
I cut strips of white card stock and stamped each sentiment in red. I gave them all a fishtail and then spent ages folding them around the skewer till all the stamps were in a vertical line. I glued the loop of card stock around the skewer and then used double-sided tape on the back of the flags. Luckily I have a kit of pliers that had one sharp enough to cut off the end of the skewer. Clean, crisp and flaggy!!
The stamps are from Neat and Tangled 'Everyday Labels' and the enamel dots from Papervine.
I will also link this to a new challenge (for me) at Uniko Studio Challenge # 16 where Bev has made some changes so that you can join in the fun even if you don't own any Uniko Stamps (which unfortunately I don't). The theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Right, back off to the garden. Its absolutely huge and the weeds will have started growing at one end by the time I finish at the other. But the good thing is there are heaps of plants I can "borrow" for my garden and no one will notice. I need to get paid some how for all my hard work...right??!
Here are a couple of photos of the roses in my garden at the moment. The smell around the house is heavenly:
Here we are again! Another two weeks has flown by and we are ready for another great challenge at TIME OUT. I was so excited when I saw the theme for this one as I do it all the time. The challenge theme is: Embossing with the optional twist of: Sparkle This means you can do any sort of embossing you like and if you feel the need, you can go to town with some sparkle! We also have another Guest Designer joining us for this challenge. Its the amazing Lesley Croghan from Always Playing with Paper. I've been a fan of her's for a while now. She's very well known in 'blogland' and her creations are spectacular. I can't wait to see what she has made to inspire us all for this challenge. Our sponsor for this week is Avocado Arts, so I can imagine there will be many of you wanting to try and win their gorgeous products!! My favourite type of embossing is 'heat embossing'. I've only been doing it for a few months now and still have a lot to learn about the technique. I just love the effect it gives, especially with gold and silver. And embossing in white looks so modern and glossy. So I decided to do this for my card:
I started out by die-cutting the circle in the front panel. I measured out a piece of vellum so it could be glued behind the window and also a piece of patterned paper. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark Ink on the vellum and heat embossed in white. It became a little warped in the corner where I was holding it with my fingers, so I must invest in some tweezers. I adhered the vellum behind the circle window and then the pattern paper behind that. A couple of sweet wooden hearts and some sequins (glued with Glossy Accents) and I was done. Soft, feminine goodness! The circle die is from Couture Creations. The pattern paper is from Dear Lizzy 'Polka Dot Party'. The sentiment stamps are from Winnie and Walter, the 'you' is from 'Big Bold You' and the 'hello' from 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy'. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled and wooden hearts from Freckled Fawn. You have two weeks to enter the TIME OUT Challenge, which gives you plenty of time to get the creative juices flowing. If you do need any help in the 'ideas' department, please head over to the blog to see what the other Design Team members have created for you, the cards are incredible!! Really hope to see you there and can't wait to see what you have made! Take care Shona
I know, fourth entry....its insane how many Xmas cards I've made of late, especially since I procrastinated over making ANY for so long. I need to make a whole lot of birthday or thank you cards to break the habit! But until then...
Over at Moxie Fab World they have a challenge called 'Tree-mendous Tree's'. They are wanting projects that contain a tree somewhere and as I've had Xmas tree's pouring out of my brain of late, I've got another entry to add.
I was also inspired by the card for the latest Muse Challenge # 93, which was made by the always incredible Therese Calvird:
I've already entered the Muse Challenge once but had this other card stuck in my mind that desperately wanted to be made.
When I was on Pinterest the other day, I noticed a lot of Xmas tree's that were made up of graduating strips of paper or die-cuts and I just loved them. I wanted to add a little sparkle to my tree, so my glitter paper pad came out to play! After die-cutting the tree, I cut thin strips of the pale green glitter paper and attached them to the back of the die cut. I also added a thicker strip of gold/yellow glitter paper behind the star. I cut out a piece of white card stock slightly smaller than the card front and adhered it over the the strips. A quick sentiment stamp in black ink and all done. Simple and clean...just the way I like it! The glitter paper is from DCWV. The Xmas Tree die is from Couture Creations and the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp 'Christmas 3x4'. Very dreary day today for the kids to be home (Teachers Only Day...lucky them!) so not sure what we will do. I'm going to take the kids, after lunch, to pick out their chocolate advent calendars (they are cardboard with a window for each day of December that contain a chocolate shape).
I've taken a photo of them with their calendars every year since they could hold on to them and it always amazes me how much they grow between photos. Even though they are getting bigger and older, I still tell them they will always be my babies! Take care Shona
Its Sunday night 10pm and I'm planning on going to bed early for a change, even though I need to work on some cards that are due. There is always tomorrow and will probably have changed my mind about the design by then anyway!!
Therese Calvird is sharing a card as inspiration at Muse this week. I absolutely love all of her card. And she is such a lovely person as she puts up with a lot of my questions about techniques etc. I think this is CAS perfection, so simple, lots of white and a simple sentiment.
I love triangles ALOTand
when I was thinking about a design I remembered a stencil I had (that I
hadn't tried before) and that maybe it would make a good tree. I think
it did!
I placed the stencil over the card front and masked off the rest of the card stock. Using a red dye ink and my mini blending tool, I coloured the stencil until I achieved a dark red. I removed the stencil and allowed it to dry. I then stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. I then went to work then on all those little triangles with my Wink of Stella pen. I know, its red and white again but I can't help myself!!!
The stencil is from Teresa Collins 'Basically Essential' and sentiment stamps from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holiday'.
The lovely ladies at CASology Challenge Week # 121 must be so sick of me with this challenge. I don't usually enter more than once but just can't stop making Christmas cards, especially one layer cards and this is the best challenge to enter them. Their theme this week is:
Of course I also have to link this to the Addicted to Stamps Challenge # 121 where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my zillionth entry.
Right, bed here I come!! I have about 5 months worth of magazines sitting beside my bed that I never get a chance to read, so will grab a few of those and flick thru before I can't fight my eyelids anymore. I do find though (especially with Home and Garden type mags) that I spend a lot of the time picking out patterns and colours that could work on a card. I'm becoming a bit 'card design' obsessed, don't you think???
This photo at Cure for the Monday Blues was too gorgeous to resist, its so colourful and playful. I just loved the colours and patterns, so the design came together very quickly (for once....).
The orange paper reminded me of the angles of the orange on the wall. And the
blue paper is very much like the mat on the floor. There is also a
little house in the bottom right of the photo which I definitely had to include.
I started out by die-cutting the houses and the curves on the pattern paper. I adhered the orange paper straight to the card front and I then positioned the houses and glued them into place. Double-sided tape was then used to put the blue paper on top. I stamped the sentiment, added a few enamel dots and my thank-you card was finished. The house die-cuts are from Simon Says Stamp 'Village'. The curved-stitched die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The orange paper is from Teresa Collins 'You are my Happy' and the blue paper is also Teresa Collins 'Memorabilia'. The sentiment is from Neat and Tangled 'Kindness Matters' and enamel dots from Papervine. I'm entering a new challenge (for me) today. Little Tangles
is part of the Neat and Tangled blog and now that I have Neat and
Tangled stamps (although they are not required) and the colour
combo matched my card perfectly, I decided to give it a go.
I'm also going to link this to the Simply Create Challenge #74 where their theme is 'Thanksgiving/Thank you'. This is my second entry and I've just realised that I used the same stamp for both cards! And last but certainly not least, I will join in with the Addicted to Stamps Challenge # 121 where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my billionth entry!! We watched a huge fireworks show last night with the kids. It was so loud and colourful, an awesome display! You know your a crafter when your looking at fireworks and you start noticing patterns and colour combo's that would look good on your cards. How bizarre is that! Take care Shona
Shaker cards, you really can't beat them. Everyone loves them and all those sequins etc zooming around just makes a card fun!
Day 2 of the Online Card Class was about interactive cards and this included shaker cards. The tutorial was around creating a scene with lots of critters, tree's etc, all coloured with copics and die-cut. The card was stunning. Unfortunately though I don't quite have the goods to re-create it. So...
I can't seem to stay away from red and white, can I?? It always seems so festive and looks so good with the silver stars. I used two different sized rectangle die's to cut the frame twice from white card stock. I also die-cut the patterned paper using the larger rectangle die. After gluing the two white frames together, I flipped them over and attached some clear acetate. Foam tape was then added following the window frame and making sure at the same time not to leave any gaps. I added small/medium red and silver stars onto the acetate, along with red metal hearts. The foam tape backing was removed and I stuck down the pattern paper. The shaker was complete! This was attached to the card front with double-sided tape. I stamped the sentiment onto the white banner and attached to the bottom of the shaker. Silver thread was wrapped around the bottom of the card and that was that. Starry, sparkly, shaky goodness! The rectangle dies are from Couture Creations. The pattern paper from Studio Calico 'Magical Collection'. The small silver stars are from Papervine, the rest of the sequins from The Warehouse. The sentiment stamp is from Simon Says Stamps 'Christmas 3x4'. Since I have so much silvery sparkle going on with this card, I'm going to link this to the Inkspirational Challenge # 69 where their theme is:
And once again, because of all that silver, I'm going to link this to the Virginia's View Challenge # 9. This is my millionth entry! Their theme is:
And lucky last (but not least), will link to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge, where their theme is 'Seeing Stars' and there are certainly a lot of them to see (and shake) with my card. Whew, what a mouthful that post was. I really wish my computer would go faster or that there was an easier way to link to all these fantastic challenges. Oh well, it keeps me out of mischief for a while anyway and makes me sit still which is a bonus. At least the kids know where to find me when I'm in 'blog post' mode! Take care Shona
You just know that a class devoting one day to One Layer Cards would be a favourite of mine. I can't seem to stop making them!!
A few days ago I posted this card that was inspired by Julie Ebersole's tutorial. Basically, I cut out a xmas tree (freehand), stuck it to the front of the card and stamped around it with white pigment ink and a circle stamp.
That night in bed I had an idea that maybe I could do this card again but use different coloured inks for the spots. Well.....
I used the same tree cut-out and stuck it to the card front with washi tape at the back. I then randomly stamped with light and dark pink pigment ink and a small circle stamp. I wanted to add some silver in as well, so stamped in a few places with some silver pigment ink. I removed the tree and was really happy with the result.
I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink and heat embossed in silver. I brushed the silver circles with Wink of Stella but they mustn't have dried properly (maybe it was all the layers of circles underneath...) and the brush just mushed the silver ink around. Oh dear.... So I decided to add silver sequins over top.
Have to laugh though because I've just realised that one of the sequins fell off just before I took the photo. Silly me!!!!!!!
The circle stamp is from Couture Creations and the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp 'Christmas 3x4'.
I'm going to link this to the challenge at Addicted to Stamps # 121 as my fourth entry (they will be getting sick of me!!). Their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I'm going to spend the weekend fiddling with my blog as just found out that I'm a 'no-reply blogger'. Sounds like a medical condition doesn't it?! I've found a few tutorials showing how to fix this but its all a bit scary. Must remember to back up my blog before I do all this, how horrible would it be to lose the lot??!!
I seem to be getting rather obsessed with red, white and kraft for my cards. Its funny because a year ago I wouldn't have used kraft at all, I didn't like it and didn't know what to do with it. My how things have changed!!
Last night I finally managed to make my final two cards for the Online Card Class. For one of them I kept in mind this challenge at The Card Concept because I really wanted to enter that again and this time in the 'Clean and Simple' category.
This card was inspired by the amazing Kristina Werner from Day 1. She used blue Distress Inks on her kraft card. She heat embossed one stamp in white and used embossing paste to create snow over the inks. And she of course added her sweet little white dash lines which she is very well known for!!
I didn't want to copy her's completely (and also don't have those colour Distress Inks) and this is what I came up with:
After masking off the area, I used my mini blending tool with red dye ink to build up a red stripe. I wasn't sure it was going to work but after alot of blending and drying, the red was fantastic. I stamped the sentiment and snowflake stamps with Versamark ink and then heat embossed in white. I tried adding sequins, enamel dots and rhinestones but nothing looked good, so just added the red/white twine along the fold.
It came out alot better than I thought it would, although I still need to work on my white heat embossing because its still a bit patchy.
The sentiment stamps are from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holiday'. The snowflake and ornament stamps are from Simon Says Stamp 'Presents and Ornaments' and the twine from Papervine.
Now I've got to choose whether to clean my bathroom or take the dogs for a walk in the sun......you know which one I'm going to choose and it doesn't involve scrubbing the bath!!!
Just a quick reminder about the current TIME OUT challenge. There is still one week before it closes, so plenty of time for you to link your cards. The entries so far are fantastic and once again its going to extremely hard to choose the winners.
Here is the inspiration photo for this challenge:
Everyone has certainly been inspired by all of the wood and natural elements in this photo. For my card this time, I wanted to bring more white back into my design.
I die-cut the stitched rectangle from kraft card stock and stamped the sentiment using white pigment ink. I added red rhinestones to the leaf elements on the stamp and also a few gold sequins for extra warmth. This panel was then popped up on some foam tape.
The rectangle-stitched die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn 'Peace Joy Love, the sequins from Neat and Tangled and rhinestones from Kaisercraft.
Since this is such a simple card, I'm also going to link this to the CASology Challenge # 121 where their theme is:
UPDATED: After I did this post I checked my emails and found the latest challenge from The Card Concept # 23 and thought my card would be perfect for their challenge as well, under 'Clean and Graphic'. Their theme is:
This TIME OUT challenge closes at 5pm Wednesday November 19th. I really hope we see your card in the Gallery or if you don't have a chance to enter, please pop over to see the brilliant entries and cards by the design team.
Tags seem to be all the rage at the moment with quite a few challenges just for tags and the odd blog hop here and there. I haven't made many before, so was so glad they covered this in the Online Card Class. Yana Smakula gave a wonderful tutorial on Window Tags, which is where you die-cut shapes into your tags to add interest. She used a gorgeous snowflake die to cut her tags. Unfortunately I don't have anything like that, so thank goodness for my new circle dies!!
One of the tags she made had a die-cut into the tag and then some patterned paper put behind with foam tape. I die-cut a tag with white card stock and also with the patterned paper. After stamping the sentiment and adding a few little stars, I sandwiched the two tags together with lots of foam tape. I wanted to make the circle look like an ornament, so I glued the silver twine just above the circle and covered it with some silver glitter washi tape.
For the next tag she showed us how to make a shaker tag. I die-cut the tag in white card stock twice and cut out some patterned paper for the shaker background. I stamped the sentiment on the front of the tag with silver ink and added a few rhinestones. I also glued the silver twine above the circle and covered with silver washi tape. I cut some clear acetate as the window and adhered behind the circle. I also glued the pattern paper to the back tag. Lots of foam tape was added to the back tag and sequins and stars poured in. The front tag was then placed over top. A fantastic shaker tag that you wouldn't want to throw away with the paper. You could even use it on the Christmas tree! The stitched-tag die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The circle die is from Couture Creations. The green paper from the top tag is from Lawn Fawn 'Peace Joy Love' and the blue paper from Chickaniddy Crafts 'Jolly Good'. The sentiment stamps are from Simon Says Stamp 'Christmas 3x4'. The silver stars and silver glitter washi are from Papervine. The turquoise sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh and the darker blue sequins from Avery Elle. I'm going to link the shaker tag to the Addicted to CAS Challenge # 51, this is my second entry. Their theme is:
And as I seem to have used lots of silver AGAIN, I will enter the Virginia's View Challenge # 9 where their theme is:
I have one more card to post and two more to make but my eyes are starting to close on their own. Maybe I haven't quite caught up on all my sleep yet.....Oh how I wish there was more time in the day to do all the things I would like. But then it wouldn't feel like a treat I suppose when I finally sit down and take time to create a card (and a mess!). Take care Shona
As you can see, Day 4 has been my favourite day from the Online Card Class. I do love CAS or One layer cards. They are so simple but they can sometimes take the longest to design!! Julie Ebersole showed us a card where she die-cut a deer with antlers in glitter paper. This was stuck straight to the card front. She then stamped a sentiment underneath it and added a very thin line of glitter paper along the bottom. I loved the look of this card but don't have any Christmas themed die-cuts that would work so:
I've been wanting to use this gorgeous colour of glitter paper for so long. And as I'm a great fan of non-traditional Xmas colours on cards, I thought this was the perfect time. Such a simple card to make. I die-cut the 'merry' with glitter paper and adhered straight to the card front. I also cut a thin strip of the same paper and glued towards the bottom of the card. I heat embossed the rest of the sentiment in silver and added a sparkly clear star to give it more bling. Clean, simple and so easy to re-create in different papers and colours. Thank you so much Julie for the inspiration!!! The sentiment die is from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holiday'. The sentiment stamp is from Simon Says Stamps 'Christmas 3x4'. The glitter paper is from DCWV and the star from Papervine. Will link this card to the challenge at CASology Week #121 where their theme is:
I'm also going to link this to the Addicted to Stamps Challenge # 121 where their theme is my favourite 'Anything Goes'. Can imagine this will be my first of many entries.... I have a few more cards I want to try for the Online Card Class and then must make some other types of cards. So funny how I put off making Xmas cards for so long and now that's all I seem to be making. Its rather addictive though, all the glitter and gold etc that goes with these types of cards has totally grabbed my attention!! Take care Shona
I squeezed in a little 'daytime' crafting this morning as I actually went to bed early last night. Too many nights of going to bed around 1-3am finally caught up with me, so I'm feeling much more alive today!
Over on the CAS - Colours and Sketches blog they have this colour challenge. I've been using a lot of red and gold lately with my cards but I've never used vanilla. It stumped me a little but I found a 6x6 xmas pad that was filled with red and vanilla colours, so it got my ideas flowing straight away.
I found this gorgeous vanilla coloured paper and adhered it to the card front, leaving a white border around the outside. After die-cutting the circle, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold. I then glued the die-cut 'joy' above it. Foam tape was used on the back of the circle. I added a gold sequin as the dot for the joy and a few more for good luck.
The CAS- Colours and Sketches team are also having a DT Call so I've decided to have a go and apply. This means I will also need to join each challenge this month as part of the application, so you'll be seeing a few more of these posts.
The patterned papers are from Studio Calico 'Magical Collection'. The 'joy' die and sentiment stamp are from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holiday'. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled.
As I've used gold on this card I'll link this to the Virginia's View Challenge # 9, this is my fourth entry. Their theme is:
I also have to mention someone rather wonderful. A few weeks ago I commented on a card that Amy (from Tsuruta Designs) made which was inspired by Candy Corn. I asked her what the Candy Corn was like, as we don't have it in New Zealand. Well, I got an email from her asking me for my address so she could send me some. I decided to do the same and boxed up a whole lot of candy and chocolate goodies that you can only get in NZ. Amy posted her's on Thursday last week and they arrived yesterday!!
She sent three beautiful gift bags filled with Candy Corn and one large bag of Starburst Candy Corn which is fruit flavoured. They are all so yummy and I never thought it would taste like fudge! Phoebe has taken some to school today to share with her best friend. I've hidden mine in my craft drawer so I can nibble while I create. Thank you so much Amy and here's to the 'International Sugar Exchange'!!!!!
On Day 3 of the OCC Holiday Card Workshop 2014 it was all about water-colouring. Kristina Werner made a card using the the emboss-resist technique. On water colour card-stock she heat embossed some images in white and then applied water colours over the top. The effect is quite stunning as all of the embossing resists the colour of the paint.
I don't actually own any water colour card-stock or any water colours so I decided to try something different...
The theme at Addicted to CAS is 'tag', so I thought I could try some water colouring on a tag shape. This was my result:
I die-cut the tag from normal white cardstock. I decided that instead of white embossing, I would try it with silver, so heat embossed my snowflakes in silver. I squashed my Picked Raspberry Distress Ink onto a tray and mixed in water with a brush. I then very lightly brushed the colour across the tag, using more colour at the bottom, to create an ombre look. While drying I put the tag under some heavy books to stop it from warping.
Once dry I used the hole punch and added some silver thread. I also cut a strip of vellum and glued it across the tag. Silver cardstock was used to die-cut the 'joy' and this was adhered to the vellum. I used some foam tape on the back of the tag and attached it to the card front. A few pretty sequins and my water colour experiment was finished.
Really happy with how it turned out. In fact, I like it so much I think I might try it again in a few different colours.
The tag stitched die is from Pretty Pink Posh and the 'joy' die from WPlus9 'Hand lettered holiday'. The snowflake stamp is from Simon Says Stamp 'Presents and Ornaments' and the sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
As I've used a lot of silver on this card, I'm going to link this to the Virginia's View Challenge # 9. This is my third entry and their theme is:
Very hot and windy here today. Off to my Mum's for dinner shortly which will be wonderful. She always makes the best roast chicken and so nice not to have to cook it all myself. Now I'm just wondering what she has made for dessert???
