Well, I received some new stamps this week and for once I used them straight away. They are just so darn cute!!
The set is from My Favourite Things 'Otterly Love You' and I certainly do!! I stamped them out that afternoon and spent time each evening colouring them with my pencils.
The theme at the CAS on Sunday challenge is 'Hearts' and I realised, after fussy cutting out all the otters, that two of them fit together to make the perfect heart shape. So here is my first Otter card:
I watched a video on Facebook this morning showing some Otters floating on their backs cuddling their babies, they really are the sweetest animals!!
I don't have any heart stencils, so I grabbed a piece of scrap CS and die-cut a heart shape using my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Heart Board Fri-Dies' and blended Distress Ink 'Picked Raspberry' thru it onto a white CS panel. I trimmed it to size and popped it up on foam tape over the card front.
The Otters were put on foam tape, along with the sentiment white heat embossed on black CS. I then adhered a few die-cut hearts from Paper Smooches and covered them with my Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen. I can see many more Otter cards in my future........
I have three other challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamps - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
Uniko Challenge # 39
NBUS Challenge # 9
I had the day off today, which mean't lots of hanging out with the kids, especially swimming this afternoon which was a lot of fun. Only two more days till the kids go back to school. I think we are all so ready for it but after nearly seven weeks of getting up much later than usual, its going to be so hard to pry my eyes open early Monday morning!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! Hope you've all had a fantastic week and if your on my side of the world, your all ready to send your children back to school next week!
I'm popping in with a quick reminder about our current TIME OUT challenge where the theme is:
CASE with your own twist
This challenge is all about 'CASEing' which basically means you are inspired by this card and create your own version. You might copy the colour scheme, the design or the stamps....its totally up to you!
And your probably wondering who created this beautiful card, its by the amazing Ksenija of Sweet Kobylkin. She makes the most incredible cards and has a real eye for colour and design. Its very exciting to CASE one of her creations!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers and they are giving the winner of this challenge a $15 voucher to their store!!
For my card I really loved the layout of Ksenija's card and the simpleness of her stamping:
I started by die-cutting the shaped panel from white CS and then stamping the floral images with grey ink. I coloured the flowers using pencils and added some white dots to some of them for a bit of interest. The panel was popped up on foam tape, as well as the sentiment which I had fussy cut. I then glued on a few pink sequins for a bit more shine.
The die is from Studio Katia 'Stitched Creative Nested Squares'. The flowers and sentiment stamps are from Altenew 'Beautiful Day' and the sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this card to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
You have until Wednesday 1st February to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. If your struggling with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Marjan have created to inspire you. Can't wait to see your creations in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone and welcome to a new challenge week at Addicted to Stamps and More!!. We have our very popular theme for you this week:
For my card this week I thought it was about time I did some stamping and was inspired by the always colourful Laura Bassen to create a rainbow effect. I also thought I had better use a stamp set that had been screaming at me to be inked since it arrived just before Christmas:
Oh how I love rainbow colours against white, really makes them jump off the card!!
I used a solid triangle stamp from Neat and Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints Christmas' and all of my Waffle Flower ink pads on a panel of white CS. I stamped the triangle twice with each colour (my MISTI was fantastic for this!!) so it was nice and bright. Each time I had the triangle overlapping the next one slightly and wasn't too worried about the circle being absolutely perfect. Once it was finished I trimmed the panel and popped it up on foam tape, with the panel being over to one corner.
The sentiment (from the same Neat and Tangled stamp set) was stamped in black on a strip of white CS and put on foam tape, along with some sequins (also from Neat and Tangled). Such a happy card!!
I'm going to link this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 9 as I finally used this stamp set for the first time.
And will also link to the Little Tangles Challenge # 76 where their theme is:
You have until next Wednesday 1st February to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. And if your needing any help in the 'inspiration' department, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Can't wait to see your creations in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! I'm popping in with a quick and naughty card for the current CASology challenge!
I haven't entered for a while and when I saw the Cue word I kept thinking of the same phrase over and over again. So after lots of searching thru my stamps, I managed to find the perfect image:
This is a 'hope you find this funny and it doesn't offend anyone' card!! Have you ever heard of the phrase 'who cut the cheese??' Well, this poor little bunny was caught in the act and looks incredibly embarrassed.
I stamped the bunny on some white CS, as well as the cheese wedge x3. A quick colour with my pencils and I fussy cut them out. The cloud and sentiment were stamped on the card front and I used a grey pencil to create a surface for the bunny to stand on. The bunny was put on foam tape and after 'cutting the cheese' images, I glued them in the cloud. I didn't have any tiny cloud images so just drew some with a fine black pen. How embarrassing!!
The bunny and cloud is from My Favourite Things 'Somebunny', the cheese wedge is from WPlus9 'Get Well Gang' and the sentiment from Create A Smile 'Bad Day'.
Now I just need to work out who to send this too......????
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone and welcome to the first Just Add Ink challenge of 2017!! And since its our first, we decided to do a blog hop to celebrate!
You should have arrived here from Jan's blog Jans Creative Corner where I'm sure she wowed you with her gorgeous project. If you've lost your place in the hop, pop over to the Just Add Ink blog to find the full blog hop list!!
As you can see our theme this week is 'Pop-Up and Interactive'. I've only made one once before for Halloween (where I had the head of a girl spinning like 'The Exorcist') but it wasn't hidden in the card itself. I really wanted to make a 'pop-up' card but it was a total disaster. So I watched a video by Jennifer McGuire here, so I have Jennifer to thank for the design:
You would never think there was a surprise hiding inside this card:
Here is a short video to show you how the 'spinning' in the middle of the card works:
This was pretty simple to put together (I haven't seen any of my JAI team mates cards, so I know mine is going to be boring in comparison) but it would be so much fun to make with kids!!
I started by popping a hole in the front and back panel of my card (I actually did this twice as I realised the first hole was too high.....), threaded my cotton thru it and adhered in place. I then die-cut the rectangle from water colour CS and white CS, adhering the white one to the back of the card to cover up the cotton.
I used a large round brush and my Gansai Tambi paints in different shades of blue, to create cold, winter-scene, and dried with my heat gun. I was then able to stamp and heat emboss the sentiment and footprints in white.
On a piece of white CS I stamped the tree's, coloured them with pencils and fussy cut them out. The tree's were then glued to the rectangle panel and then the panel to the front of the card (with a piece of fun foam underneath), along with some blue and clear sequins.
The yeti was a little harder to do. I had to mirror stamp him, which I've only done once before and this time didn't work so well. I stamped him on to a clear stamp block and then pressed the block on to some white CS but it didn't transfer well. Luckily I was able to draw over the faint lines with a black pen. Once they were both coloured in, I fussy cut them out, added double-sided tape to the back of one and pressed them back to back on either side of the cotton. I twisted him around, closed the card and opened again and he spun around like crazy....yipee, it worked!!
All of the stamp images are from My Favourite Things 'Beast Friends' and the rectangle-stitched die and sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
NBUS Challenge #8 (new stamp set and new spinner card technique)
Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge (Chill Out)
Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday - December 2016 (Something New)
Which is the MFT stamp set I haven't used before.
Curtain Call Challenge
Whew, sorry this is such a long post!! You have until next Wednesday 25th January to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. Your next stop on the hop is the amazing Kim, just press the 'Next ' button and it will take you straight to her stunning project!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone and welcome to my first CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Girl Friday' post for 2017!!
I'm still in 'Christmas card mode', especially since I ran out of Christmas cards last year. So I need to make more of them during the year and this is the perfect time to use my favourite snowflake dies:
I've been watching a lot of craft videos lately, especially ones by Kristina Werner. She is so good with her water colouring and I've picked up lots of tips with regards to blending and adding lots of colour. So thank you Kristina for inspiring this card design!!
I die-cut the larger tag from the Scallop Tag Fri-Dies from water colour cardstock and also from white card stock. Using a large round brush and my Gansai Tambi water colour paints, I created the blended colours. I then die-cut the Funky Flakes Fri-Dies from the label and also from some silver glitter paper, making sure to keep all the little pieces.
I glued the white label on to the back of the die-cut label, creating a place to inlay the glitter snowflakes, adding back all the little pieces. This was then popped up on a piece of white fun foam. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment (from Snowflake Splendor) in silver on a strip of vellum and added thin strips of double-sided tape behind the words to adhere it over the label.
For embellishment I realised I had lots of tiny glitter circles left over from one of the snowflake dies, so glued them on instead of sequins.
I have three challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge (Chill Out)
Curtain Call Challenge
CAS Watercolor Challenge
If your doing any shopping at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps please don't forget to use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15%!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and will see you again soon on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog!!
Take care
Shona
It's the 17th of the month of a brand new year!! Happy 2017 and welcome to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Calling All Sistah's Blog Hop for January!!
This blog hop was started to remind us all to do our self breast checks each month, as early detection of breast cancer can make such a difference!!
You should have arrived here from the blog of the always fabulous Susan of My Paper Dreamz who I'm sure wowed you with her gorgeous design! If not and you've lost your way on the hop, pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog which is the start of the hop and there is a list of all the hop participants. You will also find some details regarding a few prizes to be had too.....
I mention each month that I never used to check my breasts at all (and I'm 43yrs old) so I had to find some videos on You Tube to help me out and teach me what to do. I found this one here quite helpful but there are many more to choose from. As long as you can find one that makes you comfortable and your able to do each month, that's all that matters!!
For my card this month I really wanted the ribbon to stand out on my white card base, and what stands out more against white than black:
I stamped the ribbon image from the Hope Ribbon stamp set in black Versafine Ink on white card stock. I could then immediately cover it with clear embossing powder and heat set it to create a shiny black image. I grabbed some different pink pencil shades and coloured in random images on the ribbon. I was then able to fussy cut it out and pop up on foam tape over the card front.
I die-cut the Hope Fri-Die from a dark pink paint chip 3x and glued them all together, before adhering over the middle of the ribbon. I then stamped the rest of the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in black and added sequins from the brand new sequin mix created by Pretty Pink Posh for the Calling All Sistah's Collection. The mix is gorgeous and will be wonderful to use on these monthly cards!!
If your interested in any of the products I've used today please don't forget to use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15%. Those saved dollars will be perfect for buying the new sequins!!
Your next stop on the hop is Lori at Smiling While Stamping who I just know will have something stunning waiting for you!!
Enjoy the hop and make sure you take a few minutes today to check those breasts. It may change your life!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone!! I'm popping in to remind you about our current challenge running at The Flower Challenge!
We have a 'Blue and Yellow' theme for you this month and already have some stunning entries.
For my card I decided to do a spot of pencil colouring, as my pencils hadn't received any love for a while:
I ended up by doing LOTS of pencil colouring to create this floral frame, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!
I started off by die-cutting a circle from a yellow paint chip and popping this up on foam tape on the card front. The flower was stamped 6x on white CS and coloured using my faithful Faber Castell pencils. I then spent quite a while fussy cutting them all out and going around the edges with a black pen. The flowers were then adhered on top of the circle.
For the sentiment I die-cut the 'celebrate' once from gold CS and twice more from white CS, glued them all together for dimension and then to the card, along with some gold sequins for shine.
The 'celebrate' die is from Waffle Flower, along with the lotus flower from the 'Lotus' stamp set. I used a circle die from Couture Creations and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
You have until January 25th to link your project to The Flower Challenge and if your struggling with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Really look forward to seeing your creations in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone!! So sorry I've taken so long to let you know the winner of the $30 gift certificate from Winnie and Walter. Between working flat out in gardens every day this past week and causing my computer to get a virus, its been a crazy few days!!
The winner was randomly chosen by my daughter Phoebe. And the winner is:
Janis!!
Who wrote:
I am completly taken with your gorgeous metallic designs!!! So very
beautiful and elegant. LOVE this wreath card and also my fave from over
the W&W blog: the ornament card. Swoon....
Congratulations Janis, thank you for your comments. I will be emailing you shortly with the details. And thank you Winnie and Walter for providing the prize!!
And thank you to everyone who visited and commented on my blog posts. It was a very exciting month!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! Sorry its been so quiet on my blog this week. I was 'surfing the web' earlier in the week looking for an old movie I could watch online. Totally naughty and I certainly suffered the consequences because I didn't find the movie and ended up with a virus!! I couldn't email, download photos or anything. Thank goodness for a clever husband who has fixed it all for me and I am now back in 'blog business'!
A huge apology to my TIME OUT team-mates as I was supposed to have linked my photo and published a blog post on Thursday to remind you all about my current challenge. Better late than never I suppose..... The theme for our challenge is:
WINTER with optional twist of 'white on white'
You can use black/white and other neutral colours for the sentiment. With half of the world in the middle of Winter at the moment, I bet they will have lots of inspiration in their own backyard!!
We are very lucky to have Uniko as the Sponsor for this challenge and they are giving a prize to one randomly picked entrant. So jealous!!
For my card this week I was tempted to do an 'all white' design but couldn't get the idea of mixing a teal blue with it, so just went with the flow:
I was excited to use a new die (from Poppystamps 'Narrow Tree Triptych') that I had borrowed from my friend Lowri. She had purchased it to make Christmas cards herself and I thought that was a great idea!
I started off my die-cutting the squares from white CS and putting all the pieces to one side. I then grabbed another piece of white CS and used my mini-blending tool with Distress Inks 'Peacock Feathers' and 'Mermaid Lagoon', blending them together. I die-cut the squares from this and kept all the pieces in place.
On another piece of white CS I glued down the white squares and covered the tree parts with Wink of Stella. I then glued in all the blue pieces. I was then able to cut the squares out and pop them all up on foam tape on the card front. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment (from Uniko 'Rustic Christmas') in silver and added some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
This was a bit fiddly but loved how it turned out and was able to make another card with the colours the other way around from all the leftovers. Win win!!
I'm going to link this to The Heart Desires Challenge #8 as it fits in with their gorgeous theme board:
Will also link to the Muse: Christmas Visions Challenge #76 where the inspiration is this fabulous card by Kimberly Wiener, which inspired by card colours:
And I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday Challenge - December 2016 where they ask you to 'Make something new with something new'.
You have one more week to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if you need any help with inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer Claire have designed for you. Looking forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Hello there everybody and happy new year!!! I hope you all had a relaxing Christmas and have had a safe and happy start to 2017!! Its time for a new theme at The Flower Challenge and we've decided on a colour combo this month:
I love the colour blue on any card, so to mix it with yellow makes for such a happy design. I decided to create a blue flower that may not be seen in nature but really stands out against a yellow background:
I must have photographed this a million times! We've had some very dreary days of late (even though its the middle of Summer) and I desperately wanted to capture the shimmer on my flower. You can just see it if you squint your eyes really tightly....
I stamped this flower from Altenew 'Beautiful Day' on some white CS using Altenew inks 'Ocean Waves', 'Dusk' and 'Desert Night'. I then carefully fussy cut it out. I cut a panel of white CS the same size as my card front and die-cut the circle using Waffle Flower 'Flower Circles Inverted Dies'. Once I worked out where the circle would sit over the card front, I used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed' to create the background. To add a bit of interest I sprinkled it with water and used tissue to soak it up.
The panel was popped up on foam tape, as was the flower image. The sentiment (from the same Altenew stamp set) was stamped twice with Altenew 'Desert Night', fussy cut and put on foam tape as well. I then glued on some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for a bit of sparkle and added lots of Wink of Stella to the darkest parts of the flower petals.
The challenges closes on Wednesday 25th January, so that gives you plenty of time to enter once or twice. And if you need help getting those creative juices flowing, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. We will be back on the 15th January with a reminder and some more inspiration for you. Can't wait to see what you come up with!
Take care
Shona
There are only four hours left to link my project to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge 'Anything Goes' so thought I would add this card now before I fell asleep!!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent some time yesterday playing with a new stamp set from Altenew 'Geometric Flowers'. I wanted to create some rainbow coloured flowers in different ways. My last card was using Distress Ink, this time I mixed different ink pads together:
I hadn't used this 'ink pad mixing' technique for quite a while. I first saw Kristina Werner doing it on her blog probably a few years ago, tried it out, loved it and then forgot all about it. Time for a revival I say!
I used my MISTI so I could stamp more than once to blend the colours a bit more evenly. The solid stamp was stuck to the MISTI clear panel. I used Altenew mini cube inks and paired them together, adding colour to each half of the stamp and overlapping in the middle to blend. Each flower was stamped two or three times to get a blend I was happy with.
Once the inks had dried, I used my MISTI again to stamp the matching geometric pattern on top and heat emboss using Ranger 'Queens Gold'. They were then all fussy cut out.
To add some interest to my card front (but keep it white) I cut a panel of white CS the same size as my card but removed a strip from the middle the same size as the sentiment. This was stamped on the card front in black ink and the panels popped up on foam tape above and below. I then adhered the rainbow geometric flowers and some gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
I hadn't used the solid stamp that goes with the geometric stamp before (and they match perfectly by the way....) so will link to the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday Challenge - December 2016 where their theme is 'Use new products'.
My eyes are screaming to shut so off to bed I go. Although I just sneakily purchased an OK Australia magazine today, so might have to have a quick flick through that before I go to sleep. I love OK, WHO and NW magazines but can't afford to buy them all the time. The two weeks around Christmas and New Years are the only times I get them now (oh and for my birthday) so its a wonderful time to lay in bed, read a whole lot of gossip and eat Scorched Almonds. Bliss!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! I was so excited yesterday. It was very windy and cold day, and the kids were both busy with different projects, so I was able to create some cards 'just because'!!
I was lucky to get my hands on a few new stamp sets towards the end of last year but because I was so busy with work, I had no time or energy to try them out. One of them was from Altenew 'Geometric Flowers'. I was able to use one of the images to create some Christmas tree's but that was it. I knew there was much more fun to be had with this set!!
After playing around creating some different patterns (which I still have to colour), I grabbed my Distress Inks and thought I could create some pretty blended designs:
I cut four pieces of water colour CS and blended two Distress Ink colours together on each one. Once they were dry, I stamped and heat embossed the geometric image over top and heat embossed with Ranger 'Queens Gold'. The flowers were then fussy cut out and put on foam tape in the middle of the card front.
Unfortunately while stamping and heat embossing the 'hello' sentiment for the first time (from the same stamp set) I realised that the stamp has a cut through it which means it will never stamp perfectly. So disappointed but these things happen. Will contact the Altenew team and see if they are able to replace that single stamp for me, as making 'hello' cards are one of my favourites!!
The sentiment was fussy cut, put on foam tape over the flowers and some gold sequins added from Pretty Pink Posh for a bit more shine. Absolutely love how this turned out!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I have one more card to show you and then think I will go off to bed. Have been staying up quite late with the kids watching all sorts of movies. Its one of my favourite things to do in the holidays. I think the late nights have caught up with me though as its only 9.15pm and I can't keep my eyes open. Best get an early night as I have a gardening job tomorrow. Its only for two hours but its a very demanding garden so there will be lots to do!!
Take care
Shona
