I'm back!!!!!!! Hi everybody, its so good to be back on my blog again, I've missed it so much!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families and loved ones. Has been fantastic seeing all the photos on Facebook and Instagram. The kids were very happy with all their goodies and I got enough M&M's to last me for six months!
Its was ridiculously crazy leading up to Christmas, even had to work on Christmas Eve day, so was very glad when the holidays began. Have been eating lots and swimming nearly every day with the kids, which has been bliss. Although I need to remember to apply more sunscreen as I'm very brown and sunburnt.... So good not having to race around each day and just relax with the family. Bliss!!
So today I sat down to work out my Design Team commitments for January and suddenly realised I had cards that were due right now....eeek! Luckily it wasn't warm enough for swimming and the kids were out with friends, so I managed to make four cards......and it was so much fun! I even have ideas for more cards, so hopefully its colder again tomorrow....
I saw this photo for the Runway Inspired Challenge today and knew immediately what I could create. I was gluing it together while the kids were asking repeatedly when dinner would be ready, so its amazing it got finished at all:
I loved the pattern on the outfit, almost looks like writing across the fabric and has that perfect black edging on the collar and cuffs etc. So.....I added a piece of black CS to my card front and cut a large rectangle of red CS. After die-cutting 'joy' and 'merry' (from WPlus9 'Hand Lettered Holiday') a few times from white CS, I glued them to the red panel in lines, like the fabric. The panel was popped up on foam tape and one green sequin was the dot on one 'j' to recognise the green in her hat. Clean, simple and modern, just like the ensemble!
I'm off to watch a movie in bed with the kids. This has become a habit each night since the beginning of the holidays, which is lovely as we sometimes all fall asleep in the same bed. Not so good for Dave though if we have taken over our bed...... Luckily I quite enjoy all the kids movies, watched Jurassic World last night, it was awesome!!
Will be back again soon with more cards, if I can keep the kids busy!!
Take care
Shona
Well, we sure are close to Christmas now, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!! I hope your all getting yourselves gradually ready for the holidays. I still have a lot to be done but I think its all part of the excitement of Christmas. I don't think I would feel the same if I had all my shopping done by November!!
To help with any more Christmas cards that might be needed, you should check out the current Waffle Flower Challenge - December. It has the cutest Christmas themed inspiration photo, with a sketch and technique to help you along:
For my card I wanted to create a stocking with pastel colours, just like the photo:
I started off by die-cutting the stocking and bow from coloured CS and the fluffy top of the stocking from white CS. After gluing them together I used my Wink of Stella to add some twinkle to the top of the stocking. For my 'Stamp Layering' I used a pine branch stamp and stamped it over top of itself to create the shape of a fireplace mantle decoration. By layering with the same green pigment ink, it caused the ink to be darker and lighter in places without having to use different shades of green.
I fussy cut around the pine branches, adhered the stocking to the card front and then put the 'mantle' piece up on foam tape. I wanted to give the illusion of a stocking hanging from the fireplace. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold and added gold and pink sequins for a bit of shine.
The stocking dies are from the Waffle Flower 'Stocking' Die set and the stamps from the Waffle Flower 'Stocking' Stamp set. The gold sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh and the pink from Neat and Tangled.
You have until the 25th of December to link your projects to the Waffle Flower - December Challenge. I do hope you get a chance to get your Waffle Flower sets out and join in. The rest of the Design Team have some gorgeous cards on the blog if you need any help with inspiration. Hope to see you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Happy National Cocoa Day everybody!!!! Who would have thought there was a day dedicated to the yumminess of a hot cup of cocoa and all its trimmings. Great excuse to have as many of them as you want today!!
Its also an extremely exciting day for me as Amy invited myself and Kelly Gettelfinger of Always Stampin' to be 'Cocoa Ambassadors' for National Cocoa Day. I'm afraid I'm one of those strange people who don't drink coffee or tea (or water for that matter), although I do love the smell of brewing coffee. I do love a very sweet, chocolately cup of cocoa though with lashings of whipped cream and marshmallows, so I'm very proud to represent all the cocoa drinkers out there.
And of course this day falls perfectly into the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!
When I knew I would need to design I card with 'cocoa' in mind, I was keeping my eye out for a stamp and die set that would work with this idea. Imagine my surprise when My Favourite Things came out with their 'Hugs in a Mug' stamp set and 'Hot Cocoa Cups' die set. I actually sat on their website waiting for the release and pounced on them with my credit card. Both sets are fantastic and this is what I came up with straight away:
I used the dies to cut the cups and marshmallows from white CS, the hearts from a red paint chip and the cocoa from a brown paint chip. I glued everything into place and added lots of Wink of Stella to the marshmallows. I popped both cups up on foam tape, stamped the sentiment in black and added some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. Crisp, white, modern and oh so yummy!!
Its such a busy time of year but I hope you do get a chance to take part in the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. You could link a card or even leave some comments for the cards you love. There are so many prizes from generous sponsors and the Gallery looks absolutely delicious. So please have a big cup of cocoa (or two) for me today and celebrate this wonderful occasion, with extra whipped cream of course!!
And yay Amy, you've rocked another incredible blog hop, I don't know how you do it all, your a machine with a huge heart!
Take care
Shona
Welcome everyone to a new challenge at TIME OUT. This is our last challenge for the year and I really hope you get a chance to play along with us!!! We have a very festive photo to inspire you:
HOME SWEET HOME
This is such a gorgeous wreath and I love all the different sized baubles and colours used, the Gallery for this challenge is going to be full of Christmas goodness!!
Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the amazing Sonja of The Art of Stamping. You will no doubt have seen her cards around blogland. Her designs are so beautiful, I'm such a huge fan! Its a real pleasure having her with us!
I was immediately drawn to the colours and baubles on this wreath and decided to create my own:
I found two little circle dies from Clearly Besotted 'Simply Quilled' die set and cut paint chips in green, red, light pink, teal and also some silver CS. I then assembled my wreath using double-sided tape and glue. I stamped the sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Merry Little Christmas') in red and glued on some co-ordinating sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
You have two weeks to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and the rest of the DT have some amazing cards on the blog to help with your inspiration. I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!!
Take care
Shona
Welcome everybody to a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! This is also our last challenge for 2015, so it gives you one more chance to create a few more cards for Christmas, birthdays or maybe a headstart on Valentines Day!! Our theme for this challenge is:
CAS (Clean and Simple)
This is my favourite type of card design and I love seeing what other people come up with in the Gallery for this theme.
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Stamps and they are giving 7 digis to the winner. Talk about generous!!
I was very lucky to get my hands on some new stamps recently and couldn't wait to try them out with a CAS design:
Isn't that hippo the cutest??!!! I used the 'Birthday Friends' stamp set from Happy Little Stampers to create this one-layer card. I was inspired again by the fabulous May Park who is the Queen of creating one-layer backgrounds using small images. She also quite often only colours in the odd image here and there and I think the effect is amazing, so had a go at this myself.
I just randomly stamped the hippo first and then filled in the gaps with the balloons and bubbles. I then used my pencils to add some colour and shading. I tried to put on some sequins but they didn't work at all. Really happy with how it turned out and was quite nice to create a card that wasn't related to Christmas!!
I'm going to link this to the Seize the Birthday Challenge where I won't be using any 'topping'.
Will also link to the Happy Little Stampers - December CAS Challenge where their theme is 'Favourite Technique'. I love creating a one-layer card by stamping my own background and using my pencils to add colour and shading is so much fun too!!
You have one week to enter your projects in the Addicted to Stamps and More! Challenge and if you need any help with inspiration and ideas, the rest of the Design Team have some incredible cards on the blog. I hope you get the time to join us and I can't wait to see the Gallery!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody and welcome to our fourth instalment of 'Honey I Shrunk the Kit'!!
My friends Sarah, Hazel and I take turns every two months to put together a little package of craft items that must fit in a normal sized envelope. When we receive them, we need to make some CAS cards using as many of the pieces as possible. It was all Hazel's idea and its so exciting seeing what will arrive to play with!!
This month it was Hazel's turn. She chose a 'Christmas' theme and sent us these goodies:
So many beautiful papers, embellishments and die cuts! I could have made a million cards but managed to keep it to four:
Card #1: For this card I used a tag die from Pretty Pink Posh with the vellum from the kit and a tag die from CAS-ual Fridays with the blue paper. I layered them with the kraft tag from the kit and tied them together with some silver twine and some double sided tape to the card front. I adhered the cardinal to the tag and cut out the sentiment and popped up on foam tape.
Card #2: I used the Flower Circle die from Waffle Flower with the blue paper and adhered it to the card front. I then stuck some washi tape to the back of the dove to keep all the die-cut pieces in place before popping it up on foam tape. I cut out the sentiment, popped it up on foam tape and added some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
Card #3: Amazing how far that piece of blue paper went...... I die-cut two snowflakes from it and also some white CS (dies from CAS-ual Fridays 'Flurry Fri-dies') and glued them to the card front. I then adhered the die-cut 'merry christmas' to the card and covered the words with lots and lots of Wink of Stella. I then added some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and aqua sequins from Avery Elle for some sparkle.
Card #4: I think this one is my favourite! Hazel included this stamped image on a piece of water colour paper. I gathered four Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon and water coloured them over the words. Once dry I used a frame die from Pretty Pink Posh and glued on the sparkly snowflake bling from the kit. I cut a piece of aqua CS and adhered it to the card front and popped the water colour panel up on foam tape.
Thank you so much Hazel for creating yet another amazing kit!! I hope you will visit her blog Hazels Paper Designs to see what she made with the kit contents. And also I can't wait to see what Sarah made on her blog Funky Fossil Designs. What wonderful friends they are!!!!!
Our Xmas tree fell over while I was writing this post, so I'm off to clean up the carnage which includes some of my favourite glass ornaments that didn't survive. Why do I keep buying cheap fake tree's with wonky legs!!! Luckily Phoebe gave it a soft landing so it could have been much worse......although she probably wouldn't agree with me....LOL....
Take care
Shona
Well, its three weeks till Xmas and I feel like I'm less prepared than I was last week....how did that happen??? Life goes on though so I'm sure it will all fall into place in the end.
This is the last challenge of 2015 for the CAS-ual Fridays 'The Clean and Simple' Challenge. Its also only running for two weeks and finishes on Friday 18th December, as we will all be rather flat out that week before Xmas Day.
Our theme this month is 'Snowflakes', which is something I would love for Xmas just once but it will be bbq's and swimming for us in New Zealand. Which does get rather tricky because if you eat too much for lunch, you feel like your going to sink when you go swimming. Thank goodness for water buoyancy!!
I couldn't stay away from my favourite Xmas card colours for this challenge and even made a different shaped card:
Okay, its not that much different in shape but its a bit taller and skinnier than usual (unlike myself.....), so I could fit in my design.
I started off by cutting the middle panel from white CS and die-cutting the three snowflakes. I worked out where the snowflakes would sit over the card front, making tiny pencil marks and added some washi tape down each side. Using my mini-blending tool and Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Salty Ocean I added the colour to the card front. I added lots of foam tape to the panel and popped it over the colour spots.
After die-cutting the 'Merry Christmas' from silver CS, I glued it to the panel and added a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for a bit more bling.
The snowflakes are from CAS-ual Fridays 'Flurry Fri-dies', as well as the sentiment die, which is part of the 'Noel Fri-dies'.
I have five challenges I would like to enter:
Color Me Challenge # 100
Sparkle and Shine Challenge # 19
Fusion Challenge
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Let it Snow)
AAA Card Challenge # 53
As I mentioned, you have until December 18th to link your projects to the CAS-ual Fridays 'The Clean and Simple' Challenge and if you need any help with inspiration, the rest of the Design Team have some beautiful cards on the blog. I really hope you get the time to join us and I can't wait to see all the gorgeous snowflakes in the Gallery!!!
Take care
Shona
Such an exciting day!!! Have been looking forward to this for weeks and now I can tell you that I'm the 'Cocoa Ambassador' and Guest Designer for December at Coffee Loving Cardmakers!! My fellow 'Ambassador' is the fabulous Kelly Jean Gettelfinger of Always Stampin. We are so happy to be representing the 'Cocoa' and 'Hot Chocolate' lovers for this month.
As some of you may know I don't drink coffee or tea (don't hate me!!!) but I love Hot Chocolate, especially with lots of marshmallows. Makes me feel a bit more like an adult too when I'm out with others and they are drinking their Lattes and Cappuccinos, as I would usually have a Coke. And in Winter there is nothing better than getting my cold hands around a big warm bowl of sweet chocolaty goodness!!
Its nearly time for the next blog hop:
Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!
Where: Coffee Lovers Card Makers Blog
When: December 11 – December 18
Time: 6:00 am pacific
THEME: winter/holiday
USE: coffee, tea &/or cocoa images
Its such good timing because it turns out that there are two special 'days' in December:
National Cocoa Day - December 13th
International Tea Day - December 15th
There will be special FLASH Prizes awarded on December 13th and
December 15th. The winners will be drawn from the pool of projects that
focus on Cocoa and Tea!
December 13th: Link up before 7 pm pacific
December 15th: Link up before 7 pm pacific
Winners will be posted on the blog Sunday, December 20th.
I really hope you all have the time to join in and its a chance to work on a few more Christmas cards for your stash (you can never have to many, right?!) And there have been so many 'cocoa' related new releases recently from different stamp companies, I can't wait to see them in the Gallery!!
Thanks so much for having me Amy, its a real honour and will see you all on December 11th for the start of the hop!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! Just popping in with a quick reminder about the current Uniko Studio Challenge which is underway at the moment. The theme is:
CHRISTMAS with optional twist of CAS (Clean and Simple)
I'm very honoured to have been invited as Guest Designer for this last challenge of the year. Bev knows I love nothing better than designing a 'clean and simple' card, so this is such a thrill for me!!
And I just have to say that the Gallery for the challenge so far is filled with so many amazing and inspiring card designs. You definitely need to have a look!!
For this card I had snowflakes on my mind, and for me nothing goes better with white snowflakes than blue:
I started by die cutting a circle of white CS with a die from Couture Creations. I stamped and heat embossed in white some snowflakes from Uniko Studio sets 'Big & Bold - Snow' and 'Background Builders: Vines Winter Additions'. I then very carefully used my mini blending tool and Distress Ink 'Peacock Feathers' to add some soft colour.
After die cutting a smaller circle from vellum, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from 'Big & Bold - Snow' in white and adhered it over the snowflakes with very tiny pieces of double-sided tape behind the letters. This way the tape doesn't (hopefully) show. A few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh gave it the sparkle it needed!
I have six challenges I would like to enter:
Addicted to CAS Challenge # 77
CAS on Sunday Challenge # 72 (Christmas)
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
Simply Create Too Challenge #99 (Snow/Use mostly white)
AAA Card Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
Fusion Card Challenge
You have until Friday 4th December to link your projects to the Uniko Studio challenge. The Design Team have some more inspirational projects on the blog for you too. I do hope you have the time to join in and thanks so much to Bev and the Team for making me feel so welcome!!!
Take care
Shona
Friday is here again! And there aren't many Friday's left before Christmas....where has this year gone! It does mean though that its time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink. We have the most gorgeous colour combo for you this week:
Lots of bright, Spring time colours to play around with. The Gallery is going to look beautiful this week!!
I was looking through my patterned papers for inspiration and came across the perfect piece. And I had some new shaker sequin combo's I hadn't used, so a shaker card was born:
I was a wee bit naughty and added some gold (don't tell anyone) but it went so perfectly with the sequins I couldn't resist!!
I started off by die-cutting the shaker frame twice from white CS. I glued them together with the piece of acetate between them, for extra strength. As some of the beads were quite thick, I added two rows of foam tape to the back of the frame. After cutting the patterned paper to fit, I poured the sequins on the back of the acetate and pressed the paper over top, sealing the shaker. I adhered a piece of gold patterned vellum to the card front and adhered the shaker over top. Pretty colours with an uplifting message....brilliant!
The frame die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The acetate is from Project Life-Becky Higgins. The shaker sequin mix is from Papervine. The patterned paper is from American Crafts 'Serendipity' and the gold vellum from My Minds Eye.
I have two challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
AAA Card Challenge # 53
You have until next Wednesday to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. And the rest of the Design Team have some stunning cards on the blog to inspire you. I hope you have time to join us and I can't wait to see what you created this week!!
Take care
Shona
Only four more weeks till Christmas......eeeekk!! I am no where near prepared and certainly haven't made enough Christmas cards yet, so our new challenge theme this week at TIME OUT will certainly help me! We want you to be inspired by the words:
SNOWFLAKES ARE WINTER'S BUTTERFLIES
Its such a pretty way to look at them, and not that I've seen any snowflakes in real life but the one's I've seen in movies seem to sometimes have a mind of their own as they float down to earth. But you can also be inspired by any of these words or the sentence itself, its totally up to you!!
Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the always creative Ashwini from Experiments with Card Making Etc. I'm sure you will have seen her around blogland, her designs are incredible and she is often the winner of many challenges, so its lovely to have her with us!!
I had all sorts of ideas on how to use some snowflakes on my card but each one of them failed. So I got back to basics and created my design around one beautiful snowflake:
I die-cut the snowflake twice, glued them together and then glued it to a circle, also die-cut from white CS. I used a slightly larger circle die to cut from a piece of mint glitter CS and adhered it to the card front. The snowflake was then popped up on foam tape and the sentiment stamped in black. Simple and clean!
The glitter CS is from DCWV 'Glitzy Pastels'. The snowflake die is from CAS-ual Fridays, as well as the sentiment stamp from the set 'Must Love Snow'. The circle dies are from Couture Creations.
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
The Challenge # 52
AAA Cards Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
Simply Create Too Challenge # 99 (Snow/Use Mostly White)
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
You have two weeks to enter your projects to the TIME OUT Challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some beautiful cards on the blog to inspire you. I hope you have the time to join us and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!
Take care
Shona
Happy Wednesday everybody and welcome to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! For this weeks challenge our theme is:
MAKE YOUR MARK
This is always such a popular challenge and I love seeing all the different ways you colour your creations!
The sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations and they are offering a $10 gift voucher to the winner. So lucky!!
I was very lucky to recently win a stamp set and matching dies from My Favourite Things called 'Christmas Cuteness' and decided it was time to get them on a card:
I kept the background of this completely white, so my new images would shine. I used my pencils to colour in the Santa and Reindeer, trying to shade as much as I could. I also added lots of Wink of Stella to the top of Santa's hat and his moustache. I used the matching dies to cut them out and put on lots of foam tape. After stamping the sentiment in black, I added them to the card and also a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for a bit of bling!! They are so cute!
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
AAA Card Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
The Challenge # 52
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Christmas)
Inkspirational Photo Challenge # 96
You have until next Wednesday to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More! challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some stunning projects to show you on the blog. I hope you get the chance to join in and I can't wait to see the Gallery, its going to look amazing!!!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody! I'm so excited to be participating today in Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Myself, along with some of my Waffle Flower team mates, have created tags using Waffle Flower products.
To create my tag I started by die-cutting some red and white CS with the Flower Circles Die Set. I glued the petal rings together, slightly offset and then added a circle of white CS in the back to hold the two middle flower circles in place. I stamped 'Willy' from the Willy and Friends Stamp Set and also the hat, beard, candy cane and present from the Stocking Stamp Set on to some white CS.
After colouring them in and adding lots of Wink of Stella to the beard, I used the matching dies. I stamped the sentiment in black from the Stocking Stamp Set, glued the beard and hat on Willy and adhered everything to the tag front. A few clear sequins (from Pretty Pink Posh) and some red/white twine attached at the back from Papervine and the tag was finished!!
I hope you'll spend some time looking at the other Waffle Flower tags and all of the other tags that have been shown over the past few weeks on Tracey's blog.
Thank you so much for having me Tracey, you've organised another great year of inspiring tags, it must take so much work!!!!
Take care
Shona
I'm trying to increase the small stash of Xmas cards I have but the process is taking longer than I thought. Need to find a quick but cool design that I can make with a production line. But instead I keep coming up with fiddly, painstakingly long ideas. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.....
Over at the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge their theme is 'Christmas' and I've already entered a few times. However, when I get an idea in my head for a card, I can't make anything else until its been attempted, so here is another entry:
This is my second card using the Pretty Pink Posh 'Twine die' in a different way. I hope Paulina doesn't think I'm crazy!!!!
For some reason, when I tried the twine die out I immediately saw trees....(please don't tell me I'm the only one who see's this...) and thought they would make great Xmas trees. I cut some paint chips in three different green shades and cut them to a point at the halfway point of the die shape. Hope that makes sense....
I very gently blended some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to the card front to simulate the sky and used the Pretty Pink Posh 'Stitched Curved Die' on a piece of white CS. After I glued the tree's in place, I heat embossed the sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Happy Ornaments') in gold and put the panel on some foam tape. A few gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh gave it a touch more shine. I also added lots of Wink of Stella to the tree's but couldn't capture the twinkle with my camera!
I actually have one more idea of something to create with the 'twine die' but it will have to wait till I have more time later this week. I have lots of emails to check and comments to leave so better hop to it!!
Take care
Shona
