Honey I Shrunk the Kit - February 2017

Hi everybody!! The months have flown by and its time again for another instalment of Honey I Shrunk the Kit!!

HISTK was an idea formed by our illustrious 'Queen Bee' Hazel who asked myself and Sarah G (back in 2015) if we would be interested in starting a little group where one of us would send the rest an envelope of die-cuts, stamped images, twine etc and we would then blog about what cards we created. Over this time our little group has grown to now include Sandie, Sarah P and Anita so it gives us all more ideas on what to make from one little package.

This time Sarah G was in charge of the 'kit contents' and boy did she go to town with goodies:

There are a range of images in the kit including Mama Elephant, Winnie & Walter, Paper Smooches and Neat and Tangled. The die cuts are from Simon Says Stamp, Avery Elle and Tonic. She couldn't remember where the doilies, patterned paper or chipboard type hearts are from unfortunately and she  stamped everything on Sheena's Stamping Card (from Crafters Companion) in Archival Black.

On opening the envelope it looked like an explosion of LOVE, so many gorgeous hearts, pinks, reds and images. I had so many ideas my head was overflowing but I managed to keep it to four different designs.

For this first card I cut a panel of white CS not quite as wide as my card front. I adhered a strip of red CS to the card front and popped the panel over top with some foam tape. The die-cuts from the kit were glued in place and I added lots of Wink of Stella to the hearts. Clean and simple.

For this one I coloured the bunny images with blue and pink pencils and fussy cut them out. I die-cut the pink CS from the kit with a large die from Studio Katia 'Stitched Creative Nested Squares' and adhered straight to the card front. The pink heart die-cut was put on foam tape with the sentiment (cut from the kit) fixed to the bottom of it. The bunnies were put on a double layer of foam tape (so they sat higher than the heart) and I glued on some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I really wanted to colour the faceted heart image from the kit, so used my Altenew Alcohol Markers and fussy cut it out. I used my own Neat and Tangled matching die, cut it from white CS and also cut out the sentiment from the kit. After cutting a panel of white CS smaller than the card front, I popped it up on foam tape. The heart die was glued to the panel with the coloured heart over top, and the sentiment put on foam tape. And of course I had to add some matching sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

And as always I've saved my favourite card for last!! The images from the kit were so pretty and my Altenew Alcohol Markers had just arrived, so I knew they would be fantastic to try them out on. The colour is fantastic and they blend so beautifully. I fussy cut these out as best I could and also the sentiment from the kit. I used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink  'Worn Lipstick' to create the background on the card front and popped these images on foam tape. I then glued on some matching sequins from Neat and Tangled.

I'm going to link this last card to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes.

And will also link to the Paper Smooches - February Challenge where their theme is 'Love'.

This was such an amazing kit and I really could have created at least another four cards but will save those for another day. What you and I need to do now is to visit the other 'honey's' to see what amazing things they did with this kit too:

Sandie 

Sarah P 

Hazel 

Sarah G 

Anita 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Its my turn to create the next kit, I'm so nervous to be following such an amazing envelope of crafty love!!!!

Take care

Shona

 

Reminder: Time Out Challenge # 77

Hi there everybody!! Hope your all having a fantastic day. Its been very exciting here as its my daughter Phoebes' 12th birthday and she has done very well in the 'presents department'!! Looking forward to dinner tonight, especially the chocolate birthday cake!!

I wanted to remind you all about our current challenge at TIME OUT!! We have this amazing photo to inspire you:

This is such a colourful and happy wall, I would love it in my house!! You can be inspired by the colours, the scene or maybe just one object....its totally up to you!!

We have a Sponsor for this challenge, Stamplorations, who are offering two prizes, one for a randomly picked winner and one for the winner voted by the DT. So you definitely need to join in to win!!

For my card I wanted to make something as colourful as this photo and try to capture some of its happiness:

I cut a panel of black CS the same size as my card front and adhered in place. This would create a frame around all the colourful images and make them pop!

On a panel of white CS, using Mama Elephant pigment inks, I double stamped each image (using my MISTI) to make sure I got good, bright coverage. I cut the panel down to size and popped on foam tape over the black. The sentiment was stamped in black on a banner, popped on foam tape and added to the card along with some co-ordinating sequins for a bit of sparkle!!




The stamp set is from Stamplorations 'Balloons and Banners'. The blue sequin is from Pretty Pink Posh and the rest from Neat and Tangled.

You have until Wednesday 1st March to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if you need any help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the DT and our fabulous Guest Designer Andrea from KandA Creative Moments have created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona




 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

Today my daughter Phoebe turns 12 years old!! I can't believe it, the time is going WAY too fast and she is turning into a young woman before my eyes. She is the same height as me and even wears bigger shoes, so she doesn't look 12yrs either!! She is such a lovely girl, very caring, so funny and has such a crazy sense of humour, just like me. She actually looks a lot like me which I don't know if its a good thing or not.... Its been a wonderful day for her and I hope she waits five years before she turns 13!!

And since its her birthday I can finally share with you the card I made especially for her:

Phoebe is absolutely obsessed with llamas and I was able to buy her some cards, a pen and pencil case with llamas on them, so she was very happy!!

I purchased the My Favourite Things 'Llama Love' stamp set with Phoebe in mind and just stamped images from the set all over the card front. I coloured them all different colours with my pencils, even adding patches to the middle one which is something I've never done before with an image. The sentiment was simply stamped on a strip of white CS and popped up on foam tape, with a few Neat and Tangled sequins added for shine. She absolutely loves it which makes me oh so happy!!

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.

And will also add to the CAS on Sunday Challenge # 102 where their theme is 'Critters'. I had a quick look at what the word 'critters' means as wasn't sure if llamas were included but it says it's a living animal, so that's perfect!!

Phoebe and I are off now to take Bella for a walk and then to buy some dinner. The birthday person always chooses the dinner so Phoebe has chosen kebabs. We always get a mixture of chicken and falafel, with hummus and tabbouleh. Yummo!! She has great taste in food!

Take care
Shona
 

 

 

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge # 230

It's 'Hump Day' for everyone on my side of the world, can't believe its the middle of the week already!! It also means that its time for a new challenge theme at Addicted to Stamps and More!!

Its time for our 'photo inspiration' challenge and this one is such a cutey. You could be inspired by the colour theme, the patterns, the type of room....its totally up to you!!

For some strange reason I suck at making baby cards. I love babies, could cuddle them all day but when it comes to creating a card for a new baby my mind just goes blank. So when I saw this photo I knew I could immediately create a blue/white card but then decided to push myself, just incase there are any babies on their way.....:

I found this cloud patterned paper (from Amy Tangerine 'Stitched') and thought it would work well as there are clouds in the photo. It wasn't until I was putting it together that I realised the green/blue colour wasn't very bright, so my design is a little muted. However, it would be perfect for someone who isn't into the 'blues for boys, pink for girls' rule.

I cut a piece of grey CS slightly smaller than the card front and adhered it in place. The frame was die-cut from white CS and foam tape added to the back of it. Once I worked out where the frame would sit, I cut the patterned paper and glued to the card and popped the frame over top. The bear was stamped on white CS, fussy cut and put on foam tape too. I wanted a simple sentiment, so stamped this one on a white CS banner and put foam tape behind it to hold it up. And of course I had to add some blue and clear sequins for a bit of bling!!

The frame die is from Paper Smooches. The bear image is from My Favourite Things 'Birthday Bears'. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti 'Fancy Word Co-ordinates' and the sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

You have until Wednesday 1st March to link your project to the Addicted to Stamps and More  challenge and if you need any help at all with ideas for this challenge, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona

I 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

Its 2pm Saturday afternoon and I've actually managed to put two cards together!! Normally the weekend days are flat out with taking kids here and there but Dave has gone for a walk with Bella, Phoebe is in her room with her BFF Ella and Max has gone to a friends house, so I grabbed this time to create!!

This weeks theme at the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is 'Fantastic Florals' and I think this will be my third entry!!

I recently purchased the new Altenew Alcohol Marker Set and have been trying them on on different floral images. I have fallen 'head over heels' in love with these markers. I need a lot more practice with them as I've never used alcohol markers before but can totally see why people are so addicted to Copics and the like!!  Now I just need Altenew to bring out more colours!!

One of the ideas I had involved the 'Persian Motifs' stamp set (also from Altenew) and I tried my hand at blending two colours on the flowers (and leaves) on each card. The card designs are the same but used different stamps on each one:

For this first card I stamped the colours on the edge of a panel of white CS and coloured using B201/B313 for the flowers and G702/G715 for the leaves. I adhered it to a card front and then cut a strip of white CS, stamped the sentiment in black and popped it up on foam tape. I carried the blue colour into the sequins.

For this card it was put together the same way, except I used R302/R304 for the flowers. And there is no way I can choose a favourite from these two cards but I must say I'm always partial to blue....

The sentiment stamps are from Altenew 'Celebrate' which is a tiny but oh so handy set that was sent to me by my wonderful friend Sarah G.  All of the sequins are from Neat and Tangled.

I really couldn't recommend these markers enough and the fact they match perfectly with their inks is such a cool idea. Hopefully they will bring out some more colours soon before I use these all up!!

I'm also going to link these to the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday - January Challenge where they ask you to 'Make something new from something new'. I've already linked another floral card with my markers as being something new, so this time the stamp set is my something new as I hadn't used them till now.

I'm off to do the groceries once Dave gets back and taking the girls with me. They both have boxes of chocolate bars to sell and raise money for their school, so they decided they would stand outside the supermarket and sell as many as they could while I shopped away. Unfortunately Blenheim is a small town and there are many kids with chocolates to sell, so fingers crossed they make a few dollars today!!

Take care
Shona

 

 

Calling All Sistah's - February Blog Hop

Hi there and welcome to the February Calling All Sistah's - February Blog Hop!!

 

This blog hop was organised to remind us all each month to do our self breast exams. Many of us forget about it, don't have the time or don't think its necessary. However, early detection can make a huge difference, so being able to give everyone a reminder each month to take a few minutes, could really change someone's life. I've included a link to a You Tube video here that shows how to do a self exam if you haven't done one before.

As this is a hop, you should have arrived here from Sandi's blog Life at the Beach - Slightly Off Center where I'm sure she dazzled you with her design. If you've lost your place on the hop, pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog for a full hop list!!  

Our theme for this month's hop is 'With Love from you Sistah' and luckily I had the design in mind straight away:

Firstly I stamped the Full on Floral stamp on to a piece of white CS. I cut it down so it was slightly smaller than my card front and die-cut the Ruffled Ribbon Fri-Die from the middle of it. I then used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Picked Raspberry' to colour the card front and put the floral panel over top with some foam tape.

For the sentiment I die-cut the Love Ya Fri-Die from a soft pink paint chip and also twice more from white CS. I glued them all together for a bit of height and then to the card front. And of course I had to add some of the Sistahood Sparkle - Limited Edition Sequins for some sparkle.

I have three challenges I would like to enter:

Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge  (use your favourite tool - mine is my We R Memory Keepers Cut n Score board.....its brilliant!!)

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Fantastic Florals)

Uniko Challenge # 39

If you would like to purchase any of the products I used today or any other CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  products, don't forget to use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15%!!!

 

Your next 'hop stop' is the fabulous Sue from Foley's Friend who will no doubt have something beautiful to show you. Please take some time today to do your breast exam and we will see you again next month!!

Take care
Shona

Just Add Ink Challenge # 347

Its finally the end of the week (well, on this side of the world...). Even though it was a short week for me (having Monday off so Phoebe could have her braces put on in Nelson), it still feels like I've worked the past four days!! At least the weather has been wonderful and we are hopefully getting some rain tomorrow....yippee!!

It also means that we have a new challenge theme for you at Just Add Ink and this time its a colour combo:

Now, I'll be completely honest with you, I was completely stumped when it came to putting these colours together!! I adore the mint colour but hardly ever use the other three colours on my cards ever. So after much thought I decided to bite the bullet and let those colours be the absolute stars of my card:

 Talk about a crazy design but I actually really like how it turned out, even if the strips did drive me a little crazy......

I grabbed paint chips close to each colour and cut random strips from them. The purple and green chips are longer and I was going to cut them to the same length but thought the differences would be rather interesting on the card. I put them all side-by-side on the table and then rubbed a piece of Glad 'Press n Seal' over the top to keep them all together.  If you haven't heard of this stuff its genius and sticks to nearly everything. So handy for die-cutting!!

I flipped the strips over and used strips of washi tape to hold them all together. I very carefully adhered the 'hello' die and put thru my Cuttlebug and was so pleased that it all stayed together! To make the 'hello' stand out, I cut a piece of black CS and glued it to the card front and popped the strips up over top with some foam tape. It looked a little bare, so I stamped the rest of the sentiment on a strip of white CS, glued it in place along with some purple and clear sequins. 

The 'hello' die is from My Favourite Things. The sentiment stamp is from Neat and Tangled 'Say Yes to Donuts' and so are the sequins.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge where their theme is 'Use your Favourite Tool'. This is my second entry using my all-time favourite tool - my Cuttlebug!!

You have until Wednesday 22nd February to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge and if you need any ideas on how to use these colours, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have made for you.  Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona

Reminder - The Flower Challenge #5

Hi everyone, I'm popping with a quick post today, reminding you about our current challenge at The Flower Challenge!!

Our theme this month is to 'CASE our Guest Designer' which happens to be the spectacular Therese of Lost in Paper. She is a card maker extraordinaire and can colour anything perfectly. Its a real honour to have her as a Guest Designer on our little challenge!!

For my card I was able to play with some new products that I had never tried before and I can say now I'm hooked:

I recently purchased the new alcohol markers released by Altenew. I've always wanted to try Copics but the price has always put me off. So when these became available to me in New Zealand at an amazing price (from Krafters Cart) I thought to myself that if I love Altenew's ink pads so much, their markers must be fantastic too!! They sure are!!!!

To create this card I started off cutting a panel of white CS slightly smaller than the card front, and then die-cutting a circle from it. After marking with a pencil where the circle would fit on the card front, I used a mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Worn Lipstick' to create a soft background. The panel was then popped up over it with foam tape.

I stamped the flower on some white CS and used the two light pink/peach colours to colour it in. Its certainly going to take a lot of practice working out how to blend etc so I know this flower isn't perfect but I love the colours together and the blending is incredible. I fussy cut the flower and put it on foam tape as well. 

The 'hugs' die-cut is from my friend Barb, who sent me whole lot of die-cut pieces. She is such a sweetheart!!!  I blended the same Distress Ink along the bottom of it and glued it to the card. Then all I had to do was stamp the rest of the sentiment in black and glue on some co-ordinating sequins.

The flower image is from Altenew 'Beautiful Day'. The circle die is from Couture Creations. The 'hugs' die-cut is from Papertrey Ink and the 'sending' stamp from Waffle Flower 'Balloon Messages'. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday Challenge - January where they want you to use 'Something New to make Something New'. I of course used my new Altenew Markers and really hope they release some more colours soon!!

Will also link to the Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge where they want you to use your favourite tool. I don't know what I would do without my Cuttlebug. I LOVE die-cutting and my Cuttlebug is used nearly every day, would hate to think of it breaking, would actually break my heart!!

And one last challenge, will link to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Fabulous Florals'.

 


You have until Saturday 25th February to link your projects to the The Flower Challenge and if you need any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
  

Reminder: Time Out Challenge # 76

Hi there everyone and welcome to my quick reminder about our current TIME OUT  challenge. We are wanting you to be inspired by the following words:


           'Friends are connected heart to heart, distance and time can't break them apart'


You can be inspired by the whole sentence or just one word, its all up to you!! And we are very excited to have CAS-ual Fridays Stamps as our Sponsor for this challenge. They will be giving the winner a $25 gift voucher to their store. And they have also just had a new release which is gorgeous, so this would be a fabulous voucher to win!!!!

For my card I wanted it to have a real emphasis on love, a great big heart and lots of white space:

 
To start off I stamped the hearts on white CS using Hero Arts Shadow Ink - Mid Tone in 'Bubblegum'. I used my MISTI which allowed me to stamp it twice to get the colour to be really vivid and I was able to stamp over top with Versamark Ink and heat emboss with clear powder. This made the hearts all shiny!! I was then able to use a mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Picked Raspberry' to colour over and around the heart. I used a round die from Couture Creations to cut it out.

I die-cut two arrows from white CS and stamped the sentiments in black. The heart circle was popped up on foam tape and the arrows were adhered in place with foam tape at the ends. I also added some sequins for a bit more shine.

The stamp images are all from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Cupids Arrow', as well as the matching die set 'Heartboard Fri-Dies'. The sequins are from a set prepared for CAS-ual Fridays Stamps by Pretty Pink Posh for their Calling All Sistah's Collection called 'Sistahood Sparkle'. 

I have three challenges I would like to enter:

AAA Card Challenge # 83 

Stamplorations - CAS Card Challenge - February 

Uniko Challenge # 39 

You have until Wednesday 15th February to link your cards to the TIME OUT challenge. And please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer Jane of Purplejet Loves Craft (who creates some amazing CAS designs) have created for your inspiration. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge # 228

My goodness these weeks are rolling around quickly!! Its already time for a new challenge theme at Addicted to Stamps and More!  The new theme is extremely handy for Valentines Day:

When I was thinking about a 'holiday' card I still immediately thought of 'Christmas' as it only seems like Christmas was a few weeks ago. And my memory still keeps reminding me how I didn't have enough cards this year. So I'm determined to make a few each month:

I started by stamping the tree and star on water colour CS with black Versafine Ink and immediately heat embossing with clear powder. I then used a green Zig Real Color Brush Marker to colour in the tree and some Gansai Tambi gold paint for the star. I fussy cut them out and put them to the side.

To create the night sky I used my mini-blending tool and Distress Inks 'Chipped Sapphire' and 'Salty Ocean'. I die-cut the frame from white CS and also the hill die. The hill was adhered straight to the card front and the frame popped up on foam tape. The tree was put on foam tape as well for some dimension (with the star on top) and I glued on some gold sequins to go with the gold heat-embossed sentiment. I then decided to cover the whole frame with glitter using my Spectrum Noir Shimmer pen.

The tree, star and sentiment stamps are from Studio Katia 'Origami Winter'. The frame die and sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh. Unfortunately I don't know who makes the stitched-hill die as it was purchased second-hand.

You have until Wednesday 15th February to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. And if your needing any help with ideas, please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Looking forward to seeing all your holiday cards in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday - February

Hi there everybody and welcome to my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Girl Friday' post for February. 

Love definitely seems to be in the air this month with Valentines Day being close by, so I thought I would bring a bit of 'love' to my card:

I couldn't help using one of my favourite stamps from last weeks release, the Full on Floral background stamp. I stamped it on some water colour CS and heat embossed it with white powder. I then used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Spun Sugar' to blend over top of it.

To create the windows, I die-cut the larger square from the Funky Square Fri-Dies and cut off the tag portion. I then used the same die on the floral panel. I put tiny pieces of foam tape on the back of the window edges and adhered over top of the flowers. These were then put on the card front.

I didn't want to cover up the flowers too much with a sentiment, so kept it super simple with a sentiment from the Love Notes stamp set on a strip of white CS. I added foam tape under it to hold it up and added some of the new Sistahood Sparkle 'Limited Edition' Sequins for a bit of sparkle.

 I have four challenges I would like to enter:

The Card Concept Challenge #66 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (The Colour of Love)

AAA Card Challenge # 83 

Uniko Challenge # 39 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and will see you next month on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog!!

Take care
Shona