I'm screaming in a last minute (what a surprise.....) to link a second entry to the Altenew Inspiration Challenge for May. I actually made this card a few days before we lost our internet and I suddenly remembered today that I hadn't linked it to the challenge yet...eeek!!
This is such a fabulous colour combo and wish I had time to create all the ideas I had in mind. I still have 1 day, 18 hrs before the challenge closes so you never know........ I really wanted to create a floral card with these colours but this geometric design wouldn't stop poking my brain:
My MISTI was so handy for this design, as I needed to stamp several times to get good coverage and I can never line up stamps properly. I stamped each of the solid images from Altenew 'Geometric Flowers' in the challenge colours on a piece of white CS. When dried I then stamped the geometric pattern on top with Versamark Ink and heat embossed in gold. Each image was then fussy cut and put aside.
To break up the card front, I cut a panel of white CS the same size as the card base and cut a strip from the middle of it. I then used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Peacock Feathers' to create some colour on the card front. The panel pieces were then put on foam tape so the colour could show through. Each flower could then be placed on foam tape as well. The sentiment (from Altenew 'Sohcahtoa') was stamped in black on a strip of white CS, put on foam tape and a few co-ordinating sequins added from Neat and Tangled.
Max had a friend stay over last night and I could still hear them talking at 2am this morning. I find I can't go to sleep until they do just incase the visitor suddenly wants to go back home. They unfortunately were then wide awake at 7am which is no where near enough sleep hours for me or them. So Max and I are pretty jaded and think we will jump in my bed together to watch YouTube. Best way to end a very busy day!!
With losing the internet a few weeks ago, I missed a few blog posts that were due and also had a card that was included in a challenge reminder but if anyone clicked on it, the link went nowhere. Very frustrating!! Even though the challenge has just closed, I thought I better get that fixed up!
This is the sketch we had to inspire you this month at The Flower Challenge. I knew it would be the perfect chance to use one of my new floral stamp sets:
I started off by using my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Picked Raspberry' and created a soft pink area on the card front. I cut a panel of white CS the same size as the card base and then cut a small strip from it, similar to the sketch. The two panels were popped up on foam tape over the card front, showing the pink background through the strip.
I stamped the flower from Studio Katia 'Thank You So Much' in black Versafine Ink on water colour CS and immediately heat embossed with clear powder. Using a water brush I painted the flower using my Gansai Tambi water colour palette. Once it was dry I fussy cut it out and put it on foam tape over the strip.
The sentiment (from Studio Katia 'Hello Alice') was stamped on a strip of white CS and put on foam tape, along with some pink and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled.
Hopefully it won't take me too much longer to get up to date. And we are certainly all enjoying being connected with the world again. The kids are back at school on Monday too, so hopefully I can find some more time then to make some cards, it feels like its been forever since I stamped something!!
I'm finally back!!! After having our internet suddenly disappear on Good Friday morning, we are finally connected again with the world!! Our whole family really struggled with no internet. It meant no blogging, no Instagram, no Netflix, no Playstation Network (for Max) and no asking Uncle Google countless questions I couldn't answer. We did reacquaint ourselves with boardgames and old dvd's but it wasn't quite the same.
So I'm back in the saddle and trying to catch up with everything I missed during this time, which includes the exciting news about the new Calling All Sistah's Blog!!
Instead of having a blog hop each month on the 17th, everyone now has the chance to link projects to the new blog challenge. Please pop over to the new blog HERE and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out each month. Its a fabulous idea and all starts on May 17/18!!
Unfortunately my poor card was on the very first blog post and my permalink took you nowhere, so now I finally have the internet I can write this post:
We had a theme this month of 'Flowers' so of course I grabbed my favourite Full On Floral background stamp. I heat embossed it in white on a piece of water colour CS. I then used five different shades of pink distress inks and my mini-blending tool to colour different spots, eventually blending them slightly into each other. I spent a bit of time then fussy cutting the stamped image out and popped it up on foam tape. For the sentiment I stamped the phrase from the BE stamp set in grey pigment ink (by Mama Elephant) on a piece of white CS die-cut with the small square die from Funky Square Tag Fri-Dies. So it wasn't so stark against the pink background, I used the mini-blending tool and added some pink to the edges. This was then put on foam tape, along with some sequins from the Sistahood Sparkle 'Limited Edition' sequin mix.
If your interested in any of the products I used today or any others from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, don't forget to use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15% on your shopping!!
I really hope you had a chance to do a self-breast check on the 17th and if not, why not take some time right now to do it. You won't regret it, especially if you find something not quite right. Early detection can make such a difference!
Happy Friday to you all on my side of the world and don't worry everyone else, your Friday is on its way!! Its Good Friday today in New Zealand which means a public holiday. Unfortunately the weather isn't supposed to be nice and nothing is open but it means we can hang out as a family which is always great.
And as its Friday it also means its time for a new challenge theme at Just Add Ink. This week we have a sketch to get your imaginations working:
You can turn this around or even upside down, as long as we can see the basic sketch in your design, you can do whatever type of project you like!!
I decided to combine this sketch with the colour combo from another challenge to create my card this week:
I started off by cutting a panel of light grey CS slightly slimmer than my card front and popping up on foam tape. On some white CS I masked off a strip with some washi tape and blended Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed'. After removing the washi, I then stamped the border stamp on top using a teal colour ink pad from Mama Elephant. I cut the strip out leaving white on each side and adhered to the grey panel.
The flower and leaves were stamped in Navy ink and fussy cut out. The flower was put on foam tape and the leaves glued underneath. The sentiment was also stamped in Navy ink, put on foam tape and added along with some navy, clear and teal sequins.
The flower, leaf and border stamps are from Altenew 'Hennah Elements' and the sentiment is also from Altenew 'Adore You'. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Wednesday 19th April to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. And if you need more ideas on how to use the sketch, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Looking forward to seeing your projects in the Gallery!!
Yes, I'm back for a second time again today...and once again it isn't a DT card!! I don't seem to have much time to enter challenges these days so I grab the chance whenever it arrives!!
The Hearts Desire Challenge this month is this gorgeous mood board and colour combo. You can only enter three times so this is my final entry but might just keep using these beautiful colours some more as the weeks go by.
The card I posted a few hours ago was using my new Neat and Tangled 'Hexstar Cover Plate'. When I finished the card I was left with a big die-cut with a couple of spots of distress ink colour in the middle. I couldn't let it go to waste, so this is what I came up with:
Now you can see why I couldn't throw the rest of the die-cut out!!
I used the same distress inks and blended the rest of the hexagon spots and glued it to a panel of black CS. Using the Neat and Tangled 'Celebrate' die, I die-cut it twice from black CS and once from silver glitter CS, gluing them all together and then to the card. The sentiment (from the Neat and Tangled 'Celebrate' stamp set) was heat embossed in white on a strip of black CS and adhered in place. And of course I had to lots of clear and coloured sequins for a bit more sparkle (also from N&T).
Since I'm using the same Spring pastel colours, I have two other challenges I would like to enter:
Phoebe and I have been playing Battleship and The Game of Life this afternoon to pass the time. Its so much fun and we always have a laugh. I've got one more blog post to write for tomorrow morning and then I'm off to play again. I'm so glad that in this day and age of computers, apps and phones, boardgames are still going strong!!
Hi everyone!! Well, Max and Phoebe are home sick today (Max's fever has finally gone down...) and its STILL raining, so no gardening for me either. So its been a very quiet day of board games and finishing off two cards I made last night. I finally had a chance to play with my new Neat and Tangled goodies and try out some new ideas!!
This month the Scrapbook Boutique Challenge has this gorgeous pastel mood board to inspire us all. I couldn't get the colours out of my mind, especially in a rainbow pattern so just had to make something using this combo.
One of the new Neat and Tangled products I was given was the 'Hexstar Cover Plate' which I have coveted ever since it was released. Since I had more time on my hands yesterday I was able to look it over and think of different ways to use it and this is what I came up with:
Its another one of my 'why do I come up with such fiddly designs?' cards. Was so worth it though!!
To start off I die-cut the 'Hexstar Cover Plate' from a piece of white CS. To keep the pieces in place I covered the back of it with Glad Press n Seal (which is a magic product). I then used my mini-blending tool and Distress Inks to gently colour the middle of each full hexagon shape. I gently pulled off the Press n Seal and pressed it on to the front of the hexagons. Some glue was applied to the back of each hexagon triangle and I pressed the whole thing down on the card front.
I now needed to remove the rest of the surrounding die pattern. I should have waited for the triangle glue to dry a bit more but I was worried that the outer die shapes may have gotten glued down as well. So I very gently peeled off the rest of the die. Of course a few of the triangles came off as well so I just put the die cut back on again, re-glued the triangles and then removed it again. Done!!
For the sentiment I die-cut the Neat and Tangled 'Awesome' three times from black CS and glued them all together. To add a bit of interest I used the outer 'Awesome' die on some vellum, glued the word to it and then to the card front. The rest of the sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Awesome' stamp set) was heat embossed in white and adhered to the card, along with some co-ordinating Neat and Tangled sequins.
I have four other challenges I would like to enter:
When I went to bed last night I had only stuck the triangles to the card base and thought I would finish off today (which I did). I decided to catch up on some You Tube videos on my phone and came across a new one by my favourite lady Laura Bassen where she makes a similar card with another cover plate and some water colouring. I totally felt her pain when getting everything to stick on and was so happy to have had an idea so similar to my card making idol. I went to sleep with a big smile on my face!!!
It is an absolutely dismal day here. Its been pouring with rain since around midnight (its now 4pm) and hasn't stopped once. Our lawns look like a lake and the river thru town is closed off because of major flooding. We've also been having a lot of earthquakes lately, we certainly don't need a big one right now...what a disaster that would be!! Max has been home sick and so has Phoebe, so at least I haven't had to go anywhere today. Its a perfect card making day, which is exactly what I've been doing!!
For the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday Challenge for March, their theme is Spring/Easter and I knew I would be making a few Easter cards here and there. Some of Phoebe's friends at school know I make cards (and even follow me on IG, what a cool Mum I am!!) and one of them asked me to make an Easter card to give to her little sister. I knew exactly what I wanted to do straight away, I hope she likes it:
This little chick image and sentiment are from Waffle Flower 'Welcome Spring' and is my go-to for all Easter/Spring cards. Since this card was for a little girl I thought she would appreciate a rainbow of pastel colours.
I started off by blending Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean over the top half of the card front to create a soft background. I cut a panel of white CS and used a Pretty Pink Posh 'Stitched Curved Die' across the top. This was popped up on foam tape on the card front, to give my chicks somewhere to sit. The chick images were stamped on white CS, coloured with pencils and fussy cut out. They were then put on foam tape, following the curve in the panel.
The sentiment was simply stamped in black ink, put on foam tape and I added lots of pastel and gold sequins from Neat and Tangled. Little girls LOVE sequins!!
I've got five other challenges I would like to enter:
I'm off to make a big bowl of ice cream for Max. He now has a really sore throat and was asking for some Panadol. He seems to have a bit of a temperature so I don't think I'll be going anywhere tomorrow. Although with all this rain I don't think I could garden anyway. Could be another card making day for me......(secretly whispering 'yay').
Hi there everybody and welcome to a new challenge month at Little Tangles! Thank you so much for all your amazing rainbow creations last month, it was so hard to choose our favourites!! This month we have a very trendy theme:
I can still remember when water colouring started becoming popular over a year ago, and its popularity is still going strong!! There are so many amazing paint and paper products available now. And someone is always coming up with a new water colouring technique. This is your chance to paint away to your hearts content and maybe try something new!
For my card I was dying to use a new Neat and Tangled stamp set and see if I could do some shading (which I always find difficult with paint...):
I've seen so many people using these cute little squirrels from Neat and Tangled 'My Favourite Nut' , I'm so happy to finally have them living at my house!
Firstly I cut a panel of water colour CS the same size as the card base. Using some green Gansai Tambi water colour paint, I brushed it on to a clear stamp block, added some water and smooshed away to create a background for the acorn. Once it was dry I adhered it to the card front.
I stamped the acorn image on to water colour CS with black Versafine Ink and then heat embossed with clear powder. Then off I went, painting away with my Zig Real Colour Brush Markers and Gansai Tambi paints, trying my best to create some shading. Once it was dry I used the 'My Favourite Nut Matching Die Set' and popped it up on foam tape. All I had to do then was stamp the sentiment (from the same stamp set) and glue on some green and gold sequins also from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this to the CAS on Sunday challenge where their theme is 'Leaves and/or trees'. Hopefully my acorn and its little leaf will be enough to be allowed...
You have until Thursday 27th April to link your projects to the Little Tangles challenge. And, if your struggling with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created just for you.
Can't wait to see your water colour creations in the Gallery!!
Happy Thursday everyone!! I'm just popping in with a quick reminder about our current TIME OUT challenge. We have some words to inspire you this time:
'When it rains look for rainbows, when its dark look for stars'
You can be inspired by one word, the meaning of a word or maybe the whole sentence...its totally up to you!!
We are very excited to have Uniko as the Sponsor of this challenge and they are giving a gift voucher to the winner. Lucky them!!
I LOVE creating rainbow cards so as soon as I saw the word 'rainbow in the sentence, I jumped on that idea straight away:
This little girl is such a cutie, I've been dying to colour her ever since she arrived a few weeks ago!!
I started off by stamping the little girl on some white CS, colouring her with pencils and then fussy cutting out. I wanted it to look like it was raining rainbow colours and the colours were running over the ground at her feet. I used a paintbrush stamp image and stamped each colour twice (with my MISTI to get a vibrant colour) across the card front. I then used the same ink pads to stamp the raindrops.
The little girl was popped up on foam tape, the sentiment stamped in black across the card and some co-ordinating sequins added for shine.
The little girl, raindrops and sentiment stamps are from Studio Katia 'Hello Alice'. The red ink is from Altenew 'Crimson' and the rest are from Waffle Flower. The paintbrush stamp is from Paper Smooches 'Positive Strokes' and sequins from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Wednesday 12th April to link your project to the TIME OUT challenge. And for lots of ideas and inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Marilyn have created for you. Can't wait to see all your projects in the Gallery!!
Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to the start of a new theme for the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. This time we have everyone's favourite:
We always get so many entries for this theme which is fantastic to see in the Gallery. And I love that some people enter more than once!!
For my card I was inspired by the always amazing Jennifer McGuire and tried one of her new techniques:
This was incredibly hard to photograph but I hope you will be able to see what I did!!
Jennifer recently did a video (link here), that she called Pearlized Stamp Layering. It involved using Perfect Pearls which I had purchased a while ago but hadn't had the nerve to try out yet. This was my chance!!
I used the Altenew 'Peony Bouquet' stamp set for this flower. I started off by stamping the solid flower layer with Versamark ink on some dark pink CS. I then brush the Perfect Pearls over it, and it sticks to the ink. Next I used Versamark ink again on the next flower layer, pressed it on top and voila, magic!! The ink on the stamp causes the Perfect Pearls to stick to it and your left with an amazing image.
For some final added detail I took the next flower layer stamp and used Hero Arts 'Bubblegum Shadow Ink and pressed it over top. This gives the flower even more detail and definition. It is the most spectacular technique and I really encourage you to watch the video and give it a go!!!
I wanted the flower to remain the star of the card, so I kept the sentiment very simple. I used a sentiment from Altenew 'Geometric Flowers' and heat embossed it in white on a strip of the same pink CS. This was popped up on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
You have until next Wednesday 12th April to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. And if you need any help with ideas or inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have made just for you. Can't wait to see all your entries in the Gallery!!
