I'm sneaking in with a few hours to spare to the Winnie and Walter Rerun Challenge as I finally had a chance today to create my card.
Please bare with me for this blog post. Max has been home sick with his usual Winter chesty cough for the past few days, and over the last 2 hrs I've developed a very sore throat and feeling awful as the night goes on. I just wanted to get this linked before I crawled off to bed, so there may be the odd mistake.....
Luckily I have my own set of Addie's Garden, so was able to create my own card design for this challenge. I always go straight to the flowers when I use this set, so wanted to do something different and concentrate on the leaves instead. Would love to know what you think:
I've never done so much masking and stamping in my life!! I marked with pencil on the card front where the die-cut negative would sit. I then stamped the pair of leaves twice on Inkadinkadoo Masking Paper and fussy cut them out. Then off I went stamping and masking, until I had covered the area needed.
I haven't used my pencils too much recently to colour, so I sat with Max on his bed this afternoon and coloured away while he played on his PS3. I had also stamped the flower on some white CS and coloured that as well with some pink pencils. After cutting a panel of white CS the same size as the card front, I die-cut the 'hi' from it and then popped it up with lots of foam tape. I fussy cut the flower and adhered to the card along with the sentiment (on foam tape) and some sequins.
I'm so very happy with how it turned out and can't believe the leaves look (to me) almost 3-dimensional, as if they are sticking out over top of each other!! But maybe that's my very sore, sick and tired eyes hallucinating....
Along with the 'Addie's Garden' stamp set, I used the sentiment from 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy' and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
I'm going to link this to Seize the Birthday Challenge where I've added the topping of 'Dimension'.
Will also link to the AAA Card Challenge # 65 where they are celebrating their 2nd birthday!! I've always enjoyed this challenge, so here's to many more birthdays to come!!
Right, I'm off to bed! Can't imagine Max will be going to school tomorrow anyway, so if I wake up feeling like death, it won't matter. Hopefully he will be feeling better and can look after me for a bit!! Wish me luck!
Take care
Shona
Another quick and CAS card that I came up with this afternoon for the latest CASology challenge.
Unfortunately Max has been home sick today, so it gave me a chance to catch up with a few things and work on some cards. And by the sound of him I don't think he will be going back to school for a few days yet. The joys of a croupy cough!!
For my second CASology entry, I came across a use of 'fast' that I use all the time and didn't even realise it:
Fast asleep!!!! Something I wish I could do more often (I'm a VERY light sleeper) and which my husband can fall into within seconds.
I stamped the cat in black and coloured with some grey and pink pencils. The stamp set comes with a row of 'z's' but I only wanted the one. So inked it up carefully on its own and stamped on the angle. The cloud was stamped twice in grey pigment ink and then I stamped the sentiment straight over top. And I added the pink sequin to pick up on the cats pink ears and nose, and the clear to add a bit of sparkle to the dream.
The stamp set is from Simon Says Stamp 'Pillow Talk' (also one of my most favourite Doris Day movies) and the sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
Will also link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Right, I'm off to bed to warm up my toes and lay awake waiting for Max to start coughing. The last time this happened I had to sit up with him, watching tv so he could sit up, until 6am. He finally nodded off and so did I but had to then get up and get Phoebe ready for school. Its times like this I wish I could split myself in two!! Fingers crossed he makes it thru the night!
Take care
Shona
I haven't been able to stop thinking about the CASology challenge since I saw the Cue Word last week and finally had a chance today to play!
Before I usually tackle a card for this challenge, I always Google the meaning of the word and nearly fell over when I looked up 'fast' today!! It can be used for so many different things. Fast women, stead fast, colour fast etc, etc. Its a really fantastic word for a card challenge as there are so many possibilities!! I ended up by making two cards and my first one is to do with the heart:
What could be faster than your heartbeat when you see the person you love!! Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom....... This is what I tried to capture in this card.
It was terribly simple to make (although I spent forever working out the placement on the heart-notes). I die-cut them from a red paint chip and adhered them in pairs to the card front, as if they were the 'boom-boom'. And then I simply stamped the sentiment in black. Both of these are from CAS-ual Fridays 'Love Notes'.
I'm going to also link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I'm going to blog my other CASology entry and then sneak into bed, and my electric blanket. I think its supposed to be -1 degrees (celcius) in the morning and my feet are already feeling very chilly. Might be time to start bringing my stamps etc over to the fireplace for some warmer crafting!!
Take care
Shona
Yes, my third entry with the same stamp set!! Have never done that before but it's such a wonderful set to use, I just couldn't help myself!!
Unfortunately I don't own many stamps or dies from Neat and Tangled (oh how I would love everything from the latest release..have you seen the donuts???) but that's why I enjoy the Little Tangles challenge. You don't have to use their products but I feel its nice to do so and gets my brain working on how to use what I have in a different way.... I still used the 'Scandinavian Prints' stamp set but felt a bit of fussy cutting was in order:
I stamped and layered the images using similar colours to my last two cards, and fussy cut them all out. I die-cut the faceted heart die twice from white CS and then from the most amazing new product. Its a wood veneer called BARC Wood by ARC Crafts. My friend Lowri gave me a piece to try out as she might be stocking it in her online craft store (Papervine). This one is called 'White Birch' and it was so easy to die-cut, and the feel and colouring is incredible. It will probably be turning up on a few more cards in the future....
I glued all the faceted heart layers together and then to the card front. I glued and layered all the flowers and leaves to the heart, added a few sequins and a sentiment from the same stamp set. The faceted heart die and sequins are also from Neat and Tangled, so its a 100% N&T card!!
I'm going to link this also to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I was hoping to make some cards again tonight but I can't keep my eyes open. I went to a 'quick' little gardening job today that turned into a 5 hour marathon job. And I need to go back for a few more hours to finish it off. It was a glorious day though and I love whipping a garden back into shape. Its just a shame it exhausts me so, especially when I then have to come home and do all my 'housewife' jobs too. Will jump in bed with my phone and catch up with what everyone is doing on Instagram instead!!
Take care
Shona
Happy Thursday everybody, only two more days till the weekend, your nearly there!!! Its my turn today as a Girl Friday to show off some of the fabulous CAS-ual Fridays products.
For my card today and I decided to ink up a stamp I haven't used before, and thought it was about time it got a bit of love:
I've become a little obsessed with my Rose Gold embossing powder after using it a few weeks ago. Now I just wish I had some sequins to go with it, so on my 'wish list' they go.....
I stamped the 'Curtis Background' stamp on a piece of water colour CS and heat embossed in rose gold. I then used my mini-blending tool and some 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Ink to create the ombre colouring. I found out a while ago that Distress Inks blend a lot better on water colour CS and its so true. I don't have access to good quality CS for my cards and when I blend on it, it becomes very patchy. The same doesn't seem to happen with the water colour CS, so if your having problems, definitely do the switch!!
I trimmed the panel down so it was more narrow than the card front and popped it up on foam tape. I die cut the 'Love Ya Fri-Die' three times from white CS. I then decided to blend the same Distress Ink on the word die-cuts so it would be a similar hue. The die-cuts were then all glued together and on to the card front. To add a bit more shimmer I covered the words with Wink of Stella and added a few sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
I hope this inspires you to get crafting today and if you need to buy any CAS-ual Fridays products, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!
Take care
Shona
As I mentioned in my previous post, 'Mr Mojo' decided to go on vacation a few weeks ago and has finally returned....well, not completely. Its like he's coming back one suitcase at a time but at least he's coming back!!
It was raining all day today so I decided that while I was catching up on a huge pile of tv programmes, I would get out some ink pads and my Neat and Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints' stamp set and just play. I ended up with two cards, this is my second:
I love how these images can be stamped individually or layered to create all sorts of different flowers. I love to use Navy or Black ink as the 'detail' ink against soft pastels, seems a more modern effect to me.
Its another one-layer card, where I started off by stamping the sentiment in black and then creating a frame with the floral images. Very happy with the end result!!
I'm going to link this to the Simply Create Too Challenge # 109 where their theme is 'Thank You'.
Hopefully I will be able to finish off my third card with this set tomorrow, after I've cleaned up from gardening. I can only take a good photo around 4pm each day, so works out well, if the sun is out that is!! Fingers crossed this is the beginning of the return of my mojo!!
Take care
Shona
For the past week or so my mojo decided to go on a holiday. It didn't inform me of its vacation plans, which left me a bit lost. Funny how you think its never going to return and then one day......
I was supposed to be gardening all day today but Mother Nature decided to continually rain and I was left inside all day instead. I thought this would be the perfect time to just play and see if I could get my imagination going. And finally some ideas started to happen....whew!!
I was very lucky to win the Little Tangles challenge back in February and chose the 'Scandinavian Prints' stamp set as my prize. It became a victim of my 'loss of mojo' and has been virtually untouched since it arrived. So it was the perfect stamp set to just play with and get things flowing again:
I'm sorry its not the brightest of photos, the sun must have been on holiday with my mojo!!!
As you can see, this is a one layer card using mint and navy as my colour palette. I love the stamp images so much, they are modern and retro at the same time and look so good stamped in dark colours. I just stamped away until I was happy with the final result!!
A few weeks ago I saw that the lovely and incredibly talented Anna of Scrapbook as a Lifestyle was running a challenge to make five cards from the same stamp set. My mojo ran off before I could join in but I thought it was such a fabulous idea. I ended up making a second card after this one and have another one to finish off. So will see if I can come up with two more over the next few weeks. I'm quite guilty of using a stamp set excitedly at the beginning and then moving on to another and hardly using it again. As I don't have the money to buy any stamps at present, I really should be using more of my stash. So thank you Anna for encouraging this idea!!
Right, I'm off to blog post my second card and then better run off to bed. Its nearly midnight and hopefully it will be dry enough for me to garden tomorrow. After hardly any rain for 18 mths I was getting used to it being dry all the time, not so much now.......muddy gardens here I come!!
Take care
Shona
Friday has arrived once again very quickly and so has a new challenge theme at Just Add Ink. This week we have a colour combo for you:
Light blue, turquoise and mint are some of my favourite colours, so was very happy to see this combo!!
On Tuesday, while Max was at Futsal (indoor soccer), Phoebe and I popped into a magazine shop I don't go too often. They have a lot of craft magazines but I tend not to look as I can't afford to buy them. Well, when I saw the Australian Simply Cards magazine I nearly fell over......it had Altenew stamps and dies as a free gift!!! I couldn't believe it and had to buy it straight away. When I put a photo of the mag on my Instagram account it was amazing how many people had been trying to find it but it was sold out around the world. It would seem that not many people know of Altenew in my little town, so there were quite a few copies!!
Of course I had to have a play around with them and wanted to use them with this colour combo:
It took a bit of practice to stamp the three layers in the right places but boy oh boy do these flowers come together perfectly!!
After stamping the flowers on some white CS, I used the dies that came with them. However, they left a big white area around the flower which I didn't like, so I fussy cut them all out up to the edge of the petals. I stamped one of the flowers on the card front, adhered one flower over top and the third one up on foam tape.
I stamped the leaves with mint and turquoise stamps. They have three layers to them as well, so for the third layer I stamped it twice to make the colour twice as dark. I fussy cut the leaves out and glued them underneath the flowers. The sentiment was stamped in black and I added sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I want to say a big thankyou to Altenew for providing this freebie, the stamps are gorgeous and I hope it helps more people discover their incredible products!!
I have two challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday (Florals)
Creative with Stamps Challenge # 2
You have until Wednesday May 25th to link your projects to the Just Add Ink
challenge. And of course the rest of the Design Team have some inspiration projects on the blog just for you, in case you need any ideas. I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!!
Take care
Shona
Another two weeks have whizzed on by which means is already time for a new TIME OUT challenge theme. This time our theme is:
INSPIRED BY WORDS
May all your weeds be wild flowers
You can be inspired by however you choose with these words. You might like the whole sentence or just one word, its totally up to you!!
We have a Sponsor for this challenge too, Clearly Besotted Stamps who are giving a gift voucher to the challenge winner. Lucky them!!!
Our Guest Designer for this challenge is Julia from Derkleineklecks blog. Julia does amazing things with pattern paper and her use of embellishments is incredible. Its wonderful to have her with us!!
As soon as I saw the words for this challenge I knew exactly what stamp set I would use:
How handy that I had the exact words in a stamp set!! I started off by stamping and heat embossing the flowers and leaves on water colour CS in a copper colour. I've never used this embossing powder colour before but keep coming across copper everywhere I look, so thought I would try it with some water colouring.
This is where it got REALLY exciting. A friend lent me a set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi Water colour paints to try out. Everyone seems to have these (except me) and I had heard so many good things about them. Turns out they are even better than I expected!! They really do paint like butter and the colours are so vivid and smooth. I painted my flowers and leaves with them, going back over to add more depth and shading where I could.
After stamping and heat embossing the sentiment in the same copper colour, I spent quite a long time fussy cutting the flowers and leaves. After working out their arrangement, I added a strip of copper metallic washi tape to the side of the card and then used glue tape and liquid glue to hold the flowers in place. I'm so happy with the copper colouring, I definitely have to use it again!!
The copper washi tape is from Papervine and the stamps from Stamplorations - Dee's Artsy Impressions 'Blooming Buds'.
I have five challenges I would like to enter:
Stamplorations - May CAS Challenge
Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday - April
Creative with Stamps Challenge # 2
Joy Clair May Challenge
The Challenge # 73
You have two weeks to enter your creations into the TIME OUT challenge and if your struggling for ideas and inspiration, the rest of the Design Team have some amazing projects on the blog just for you. Can't wait to see you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Have been trying to find time to enter this Inkspirational challenge since I saw the colour combo but as usual life kept getting in the way. However, yesterday I was supposed to be gardening all day and it rained, so I could finally tackle my idea.
I love the colour mint and its so popular at the moment with clothes and furnishings etc. And it works perfectly with navy, so I couldn't let this challenge pass me by!! I came up with this design the other day while walking the dogs. It seems to be one of my best places to get ideas, just wish I could sketch as I walk because by the time I'm back at the car, the idea has vanished:
This is another of my 'why do I come up with such fiddly idea's' moments. It looks great now its finished, but took ALOT of patience to see it thru to the end...
To start I die-cut the faceted background die from white CS. I then die-cut the star from a mint paint chip and then from the middle of the faceted die-cut. I didn't have any navy CS but had two navy paint chips that were as wide as the faceted die but only half as long, so I laid down two chips side by side and die-cut the faceted piece.
This was the fun part. I carefully remove the faceted die so all the pieces were still in the paint chips. After gluing the white faceted piece to the card front, I then randomly chose different navy shapes and inlaid them in the die-cut, gluing as I went. I then inlaid the mint star in place. The 'hello' die was die-cut 3x from white CS, glued together and then adhered over the star. And of course I had to add a few sequins for a bit of bling!!
The 'multi faceted' die is from Winnie and Walter, along with the 'hello' die and the 'solid star' die. The clear sequin is from Pretty Pink Posh and the navy from Avery Elle.
I have two other challenges I would like to enter:
AAA Card Challenge # 64
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - May
The fan belt in my car is finally being fixed today (no more loud squeaky car on rainy days, not that we have had many.....) so I can't go anywhere. Will do a little bit of house work and then hopefully make some cards. I have some new products to try out, so I hope I can share them with you soon!!
Take care
Shona
Its Wednesday again, where are these weeks going!! This year is flying by so fast and its time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!! For this challenge the theme is:
Clean and simple can mean different things to people. For me its about cutting back on the embellishments and layers and having a lot of clear card stock around your image. Can't wait to see what your ideas are!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers and they are giving a $15 gift voucher to the winner of this challenge!!
I got a little out of comfort zone for this one, as I wanted to try something else instead of white for my background. Not quite sure how I ended up with black but really happy with the end result:
My friend Lowri (who owns the online craft store Papervine) came to visit last week and she brought some goodies with her. She gave me a few dies to try, including this one from Poppy Stamps called 'Forest Village'. I fell in love with it and had to try it out straight away!!
I die-cut the image from some gold CS and also from the front of my card. I added a panel of black CS behind the hole to give the die-cut something to adhere too. After poking out all the millions of windows and tree pieces, I put some glue on the back and inlaid into place. I heat embossed the sentiment from my new Neat and Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints' stamp set in gold and popped up on foam tape. A few gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh finished it off nicely.
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
AAA Card Challenge # 64
Addicted to CAS Challenge # 88
Little Tangles Challenge # 68
Happy Little Stampers - May CAS Challenge
You have one week to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some gorgeous projects on the blog if you need any help with ideas and inspiration. Looking forward to seeing your projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
A very important and fun day today! Its time for the Calling All Sistah's! Blog Hop, which is a fantastic day to remind you all to check those breasts!
If your following the hop you should have arrived here from Susan White's blog. If you would like to start from the beginning or want to check out the blog hop list, pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog. There are 3 chances to win a $25 gift voucher to CAS-ual Fridays Stamps as 3 comments will be randomly chosen from all the comments left on the blog hop. So the more you comment, the more chances you have to win!!
I will be honest and say that I never used to do breast checks. I have rather large ones, so the thought of trying to poke and prod them seemed like too much hard work!
There isn't any breast cancer in my family but that doesn't mean that I couldn't be affected. Its just one of those things that I knew I should do but didn't think it was that important. Now, I do it at least once a month. I wasn't actually sure what to do, so I have this link that shows you the different steps. My kids are so important to me and the longer I can be with them the better, so if I can catch cancer early and it only takes a few minutes, I'll do it. I hope you do too!!
For my card I wanted to use the beautiful ribbon stamp that Michele designed. Its such a recognisable symbol and her introduction of all the tiny flowers and hearts is gorgeous:
This was a very simple card to create and didn't take long at all, just like a breast examination!!
I stamped and heat embossed the ribbon from the 'Hope Ribbon' stamp set in white. I then carefully used my mini-blending tool (a sponge dabber would have been great for this...) and some 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Ink to colour the ribbon. After cutting a strip of vellum, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from the 'Calling All Sistah's' stamp set in white. I added tiny strips of glue tape to the back of the sentiment (so you couldn't see it), pressed it on the card and attached on the inside. A few sequins (the clear from Pretty Pink Posh and the pink from Neat and Tangled) gave it a bit of shine.
The next person on the hop is the always fabulous Bonnie Sharp, who I'm sure will dazzle and inspire you with her creation. I really hope you enjoy the hop and really think about checking your breasts. It can make such a difference if you catch it early and we want you around for as long as possible!!
If you haven't seen these stamps before and want to purchase them from the CAS-ual Fridays store, please use my special code to save you some money. It might save you a few dollars to buy a coffee to drink while your making your way through the blog list. Or while you read about the steps of breast exams!!
Take care
Shona
Its a very big day for someone near and dear to us at the TIME OUT challenge. Today is Sandie's 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Sandie!!!!!! We decided to do a bit of sneaking behind her back and organised a special challenge in her honour!! The theme for this challenge is:
CAS with the optional twist of 'purple'
As we all know Sandie's card making style is definitely CAS and her favourite colour is purple, so it seemed like the perfect theme to honour her!!
You will have two weeks to join in and wish Sandie a happy birthday and you even have the chance to win a $25 voucher to Simon Says Stamp!!
For my card I definitely went with the twist option and kept it as clean and simple as possible:
I die-cut a circle from some scrap CS, put it in place and used my mini-blending tool with some 'Seedless Preserves' Distress Ink. On another piece of white CS I blended some more of the same ink and die-cut the butterfly from it. After stamping and heat embossing the butterfly in white on some vellum, I fussy cut it out and glued just the middle of the butterfly to the solid purple one. This was then popped up on foam tape in the middle of the circle and the sentiment stamped in black.
The circle die is from Couture Creations. The Butterfly stamp and matching die are from Hero Arts, as well as the sentiment.
I really hope you like this Sandie and that you have a wonderful day with your friends and family!!
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
A Blog Named Hero - May Challenge
Seize the Birthday Challenge
Stamplorations - May CAS Challenge
A2Z Scrapbooking - May Challenge (Clean and Simple)
As I mentioned you have two weeks to add your cards to the Sandies 50th Birthday Challenge. I can't to see all your projects in the Gallery, it's really going to make Sandie so happy!!
Take care
Shona
