Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

Its 8.30pm Sunday night here in New Zealand and its FREEZING!! Well, the house is warm except for my little 'craft corner', so I'm about to hop into bed (where my electric blanket has been brewing for an hour.....) and catch up on some Netflix. It was -3 degree's this morning (Celsius) and a very white frost, so no one was in a hurry to get out of bed, thank goodness it was Sunday. And I think the same temperatures will be happening tonight!!

But before I go and get all snuggly, I wanted to share with you a sweet little one-layer card that I coloured the other night while tucked up in bed for the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes' ...:

These little kitty cats are so darn cute and I love all the tiny images that come with this Mama Elephant set 'The Cat's Meow'. 

As you can imagine this was super simple to put together. I started off by stamping the sentiments in the middle and then stamping the cats and their accessories all over the place. I then tucked myself up in bed with my pencils and coloured them all in. I even got a little creative and gave the kitties some white spots!! All I had to do then was to glue on some sequins from Neat and Tangled and I had another card for my birthday pile!!

I'm also going to link this to the Stamplorations Summer CAS Challenge, where the team there are on vacation till October but they are still wanting us to link our CAS designs!!

 
Right, my electric blanket beckons!! I hope you all have a fantastic week and that your mornings won't be as cold as mine!

Take care
Shona
 
 

 

Reminder: Time Out Challenge # 88

Hi there everyone, hope your having a fantastic week!! Its been very cold and wet here in New Zealand but the days are starting to get a little longer which must be a good sign. We have really big frosts but the days themselves have been so warm I've been in a t-shirt, so no wonder the weeds are going crazy and the flowers are coming out way too early!! 

Speaking of sunshine, I wanted to remind you about our current challenge at TIME OUT. We have this phrase to inspire you:


'If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely' 


Its by Roald Dahl and is such a true phrase!! You can be inspired by the whole sentence or maybe just one word....its totally up to you!

Having been working in the morning frost for the past few weeks I jumped on the word 'sunbeams' straight away and knew I wanted to capture the feeling of finally feeling it on your face:

This little girl totally reminds me of me, working outside in the rain and the cold, and how happy I feel when the sunshine arrives! Sunshine always makes you happy and I bet she is so glad to finally put her umbrella away!

I started off by cutting a panel of white CS slightly smaller than the card front. The stencil was placed over top and taped to the surface, and I used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed' to create the sunbeams. After I removed the stencil and without re-inking the blending foam, I ran it gently over the panel to create a soft glow between the rays. I then added lots of foam tape to the back of it and put it on the card front.

The little girl was stamped on some white CS, coloured with pencils and then fussy cut out. I put her on foam tape, as well as the sentiment. And of course I had to add some yellow and clear sequins to carry on the shine!

The little girl is from Studio Katia 'Hello Alice'. The sun-rays stencil is from MFT Stamps. The sentiment is from Waffle Flower 'Balloon Messages' and the sequins are from Neat and Tangled.

I'm going to link this to Virginia's Summer Blog Party. She has gone on vacation but is wanting us to link up to 3 cards that we've created over Summer. Its Winter here but I thought this card couldn't be more Summery, so would join in.

Will also link to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.

You have until Wednesday 2nd August to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And to get any extra inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our spectacular Guest Designer Toni have created for you. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniko Challenge # 42

Hi everybody!! Its been a bit quiet on the blog of late. The kids have gone back to school this week after two weeks of holidays and trying to make cards while spending lots of time with them doesn't quite work out. So now I can kick my lack of mojo to the curb and get back into it!!

I was dying to try out an idea I came up with during the holidays and see if it would work. Thankfully it did and I'm definitely going to do this again:
 

I've also decided it about time I ramped up my photos a little, so I've started photographing the cards laying down on pieces of patterned paper. Fingers crossed you think this looks better!!

So, with this card I started off by cutting a panel of watercolour CS and heat embossing the flower image with white powder. I didn't have any set pattern, just tried to stamp them close together.  Once the embossing was finished I  used my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Spun Sugar' to blend lightly over the whole panel. The panel was then adhered to the card front.

Now came the fun part. I don't have any finger daubers, so I squeezed together the mini-blending foam pads and added 'Mustard Seed' to the middle of each flower. I then added 'Spiced Marmalade' around the yellow, blending together slightly and then going back with the yellow again to make the blend smooth.

Next up it was 'Worn Lipstick' around the orange, blending them together slightly and lastly it was 'Picked Raspberry' around the outer edges. I just love how the flowers turned out, especially the the soft pink around them. 

For the sentiment I die-cut the 'friend' once from white CS and then twice from black CS, gluing them all together but having the black slightly moved down so it can be seen. This was glued straight to the card front. The rest of the sentiment was stamped in black on a strip of white CS and adhered as well, along with some pink, clear and yellow sequins.

The flower and sentiment stamps are from Studio Katia, the flower from 'Together We Bloom' and the sentiment from 'Your so Ranunculus'. The 'friend' die is from MFT Stamps and the sequins from Neat and Tangled.

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

And will also link to the Stamplorations CAS Challenge. They are on Summer Vacation until October but you can still add your CAS cards and they will randomly draw three winners each month!!

 

Its raining here today which means no gardening, however it means I now have time to catch up on some housework, baking and card making so I better get cracking. Always so much easier to do all these things when you have the house to yourself, it also means I can play my music loudly and sing along without anyone laughing!!

Take care
Shona
 
 

Friend Friday with CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and Chameleon Pens

Very exciting day today!! CAS-ual Fridays Stamps has teamed up with Chameleon to show how well their products go together!!

I'm over on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog today with my card using the amazing Chameleon Pens. Here is a Sneak Peek:

Pop over to the blog to see what myself, Kimberly and Lisa have created for you. There's also the chance to win some prizes, so you need to run over there straight away!!

Take care
Shona

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post - July

Hello there and welcome to my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Girl Friday' post for the month of July!!

When I was making this card it was a very dreary and cold Winters day here in New Zealand and I was so tired from working each day in the frost, pruning roses and preparing gardens for the cold. So, I really needed something to brighten my day and make me smile and what better way than a rainbow??

I don't usually photograph my cards laying down but with so little sunshine I just couldn't get a photo without lots of shadow. At least all those bright colours look good against the white top of my bedside table!!

I cut a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and heat embossed the branch from 'Casual Comfort' in white around the edge of the panel, creating a frame. I then grabbed 10 different Distress Ink colours and used a different one for each branch. Once they were all coloured I moved the colours into the middle of the panel, trying not to end up with a brown, muddy mess!!

I didn't want to cover up any of this colour, so die-cut the 'smile' from 'Smiling Fri-Dies' 3x from black CS, glued them all together and then to the panel. I also covered it in Glossy Accents for a bit more shine. To finish off I glued on a few co-ordinating sequins from Neat and Tangled for a bit more bling!! This totally brought a smile to my face and I hope yours too!

If your tempted to purchase any of the items I used today or any other products from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  don't forget to use my special code to save  yourself 15%. And there are also a load of Retiring stamp sets that are only $7.77 and you can save 15% on those as well!! So get to it and shop!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I've made you smile and that the smile continues for the rest of the day!!

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: The Flower Challenge - July

Hi there everybody! I'm so glad  its the weekend (as I'm sure you all are too), although its the school holidays here in New Zealand so the weekend isn't much different to the other days I suppose. The kids are certainly happy to be away from school and its nice not to have the rush in the mornings.

Our current July challenge is all about:

I decided for my card that it was about time I tried out a technique that I'm sure everyone else has done by now but I'm a bit slow on the up-take sometimes.....:

I have never used a die to emboss. That's right, I'm probably the only one you know who hasn't done this but now I've done it I've been converted....this is such a cool technique!!!

I cut a panel of watercolour CS and grabbed my soft embossing mat, only to find that I couldn't get my hands on the thinner embossing Cuttlebug plate. I searched high and low and its nowhere to be seen. So....kiwi ingenuity came into play and I raided my recycling bin for cardboard boxes. I cut cereal boxed into Cuttlebug plate sizes and layered them until I had a thick enough pile. I put the CS panel thru with the background die and voila...it worked!! I used watercolour CS because I was thinking of blending Distress Ink over it afterwards but its way too pretty to be doing that, so just adhered to my card front.

I carried on the 'Embossing' theme and heat embossed these floral images on some Strathmore Smooth Bristol CS by stamping with Versafine Ink first and immediately heat embossing with clear embossing powder. I then used my Altenew markers (when are they going to bring out some more colours????) to colour them in, love these peachy colours with the light blue. I fussy cut them all out and added to the card front, putting the middle flower on foam tape.

To finish off I stamped the sentiment on a strip of CS, put on foam tape and glued on some gold and orange/blue sequins for a bit more shine and colour.

The background die is from Neat and Tangled, along with the sequins and the sentiment from 'Kindness Matters'. The flowers are from Studio Katia 'Together we Bloom'.  

You have until Tuesday 25th July to link your projects to The Flower Challenge. 
The rest of the Design Team have prepared some embossed projects for you on the blog if you need any ideas. Looking forward to seeing your projects in their 'embossed glory' in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

 

Reminder: Time Out Challenge # 87

Hello there! Hope your well and having a brilliant week. Its been freezing here and everyone has been touched by the cold and flu bug but we are all on the mend. I wanted to remind you about our current TIME OUT challenge where we are asking you to CASE a card:

I'm very excited that we are CASEing my lovely bloggy friend Cornelia of Stempel Spass. She has the most amazing style and an incredible variety of stamps that totally make me jealous!! This is the card we are asking you to CASE, which basically means you are inspired to make your own version, easy as that!!

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers and they are giving a $15 voucher to the winner. Yippee!!

For my card I decided it was about time I made a few more Christmas cards. December is approaching quickly and I have no where near enough to send out, so this will add to my collection:

I wanted to copy the basic layout of Cornelia's card, so started off by stamping the cute Santa with his tree on white CS, colouring with pencils and fussy cutting out. Once I worked out where he would be on the card, I stamped the snowy hill outline with black ink and then blended Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' for the sky. 

The Santa was popped up on foam tape and I added white dots around him for snow with my white gel pen. To finish I stamped the sentiment in black and added some blue and clear sequins for a bit of sparkle. I hope Cornelia likes it!

The stamp images are all from Neat and Tangled 'Santa's Wonderland', as well as the sequins.

You have until Wednesday 19th July to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your wondering how to CASE, pop over to the blog to see how the rest of the Design Team have done just that. Look forward to seeing your versions in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

Little Tangles Challenge # 82

Hi there everybody!! Hope your all having a good week and for all my friends on the otherside of the world, I hope you had a wonderful Canada Day and 4th of July!! Its another month which means its time for a new challenge theme at Little Tangles:

That's right, this month we want you to do some 'Masking' on your project. You could do this with washi, masking paper or maybe some of those new masking fluids that are around. Its totally up to you. And remember to please use a Neat and Tangled product on your project too!

I'll be honest with you, I've never been too confident with 'Masking'. Half the time I smudge the images or don't stamp hard enough. Luckily I now have some masking paper from Inkadinkado which helped me a lot:

I thought with my lack of confidence it would be better to mask a smaller image. It became quite tricky with my placement as I had to make 4 masks but I managed not to ruin anything this time, so very happy indeed!!

I started off by stamping the envelope image from 'My Favourite Nut' randomly on a piece of white CS. I then made 4 masks using the Masking Paper and used them on the envelopes I wanted to stamp over. Once I was happy with my design I coloured in some of envelopes with two different shades of pink pencil, and also all the acorns. The panel was cut down to size and put on foam tape on the card front.

I stamped the squirrel image on some white CS and coloured him with different shades of brown pencil. After fussy cutting him out, I put him on foam tape too. The sentiment was stamped in black on a strip of white CS, put on foam tape and I glued on a few co-ordinating sequins for a bit of shine. 

All of the stamp images I used were from 'My Favourite Nut'  and the sequins are also from Neat and Tangled.

You have until Thursday 27th July to link your projects to the Little Tangles challenge and if you need any ideas with regards to 'Masking', pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have made for you. They are experts!! Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!

Take care
Shona
 

The Flower Challenge - July

Hi everyone and welcome to another month at The Flower Challenge!! I have to say that last months 'Anything Goes' challenge was incredible with the amount of entries (thank you all so much) and its getting harder and harder each month to choose our winner and top picks. You guys are rocking those floral products!!

I'm sure that this month will be popular too as this theme is one of my favourite techniques to use:

There are so many possibilities with heat embossing i.e. watercolouring, distress ink blending, pencil and Copic colouring to name a few. And the dry embossing folders are endless with their choices. So looking forward to seeing your ideas!!

For my card I decided to use a new stamp that I only just had on another card a few days ago but I find when I get an idea, I can't make anything else until I try it out:

The floral image is from Studio Katia 'Your so Ranunculus' and is the perfect size for a card front. I watercoloured it the other day so this time wanted to see how it would handle some ink blending.

I started off by heat embossing the image in white on a piece of water colour CS. Time for the Distress Inks but this is where I suddenly wished I had some finger daubers...I started off with 'Worn Lipstick' covering the whole flower image and used my mini-blending tool. I realised though that it was way to big (especially for the much smaller flower heads), so I removed the sponge and pinched it with my fingers and used it that way. Much better!! I added 'Picked Raspberry' to the middle of the flowers and then went back over with 'Worn Lipstick' to blend it together.

Once I had finished blending, I cut the panel down and then cut a panel of black CS ever so slightly larger and adhered them together. The panel was then popped up on foam tape. I decided to keep the sentiment black and heat embossed on a circle of vellum with black embossing powder. I used double-sided tape behind the works to adhere it. And to keep with the black detail theme I added some black pearls. I thought I had some Nuvo Drops in Black but couldn't find it, that would have been perfect too!

The sentiment is also from Studio Katia 'Mini Thank You'. The circle die is from Couture Creations and the black pearls from Papervine.

I'm going to link this to The Challenge # 88 where I've used the keywords 'Flowers' and 'Bright'.

Will also link to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.

You have until Tuesday 25th July to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and please pop over to the blog if your running out of ideas, the rest of the Design Team have some beautiful projects to show you. Can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

Winnie and Walter - June Color Challenge with Heather H.

Well, this hasn't happened for a while!! I've actually made a card that isn't for a Design Team! Haven't had the time much lately to join in with all the amazing challenges out there for a while, so this was a lovely treat. Unfortunately this card evolved from being home the last two days with Max (he has a bad chest cold), he's slowly on the mend and its meant I've caught up on housework, my own gardening and a card!!

I've been looking at this inspiration photo for the Winnie and Walter - June Color Combo Challenge with Heather H. for weeks, hoping I would have some time to give it a go. Today is that day and I'm so happy with the result:

I really wanted to have stripes on my card but I don't own any W&W stripey stamps however......I found this one from 'Scenery: Holiday Trimmings' that would give a similar look.

I cut a panel of watercolour CS and heat embossed the stamp using black embossing powder. My MISTI really helped with doing this. I set up the stamp where I knew it was straight and just moved my panel up one inch after each stamp with Versamark Ink. I then grabbed my Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Mermaid Lagoon', 'Mowed Lawn' and 'Mustard Seed' and blended across each stripe. I didn't want to blend the colours together too much as they would create new colours (like the orange between the pink/yellow) but did the best I could.

Once the ink was dry I die-cut it using the large die from W&W 'Essentials: Audrey's Cutaways'. I wanted to capture the grey brick wall in the back of the inspiration photo, so cut a piece of grey CS and adhered to my card front. The striped panel was put on foam tape over top. I die-cut the W&W 'Hello' die twice from white CS and glued together for a bit of strength and put on foam tape as well.

For the rest of the sentiment I die-cut the small tag (also from W&W 'Essentials: Audrey's Cutaways') twice from white CS, glued them together and stamped 'baby' from W&W 'The Big, the Bold and Happy'. This was put on foam tape. And instead of sequins I die-cut some hearts (also from Audrey's Cutaways) from black CS, glued them in place and added some Glossy Accents. 

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

Hopefully Max will have a good nights sleep and be feeling much better for school tomorrow. If not, you might get another card from me......

Take care
Shona
 

Honey I Shrunk the Kit - July 2017

Hi there everybody and welcome to the latest edition of 'Honey I Shrunk the Kit'!! I have to warn you that this is a rather long post, so grab a cup of coffee/tea and a few biscuits (chocolate I hope) and make yourself comfortable!!

Myself and four other friends take turns every two months to send out an envelope filled with crafty goodies and we post the cards created with it on our blogs to see what we all came up with. Its so much fun and rather amazing to see the difference between our cards even though we use the same kit!!

Hazel was our 'Kit Hostess' this month and this is the kit she put together for us called 'Going Up'. You know how much I love die-cuts so was falling over myself to use those and the stamp images are so darling. This is Hazel's list of kit contents:


STAMPS: Gerda Steiner Designs - You're Koalafied/ STAMPlorations - Noteworthy 2/ Bella Stamps - Tomorrow's Dream & A Beautiful Day/

DIES: MFT - Brushstroke Birthday Greeting/ Clearly Besotted - Let's Party Die Collection / Spellbinders - Day Dreams (sun and clouds) / Butterflies (not sure)

OTHER: Patterned paper: Stampin' Up! - Birthday Basics (retired) / Yellow twine (my stash)

For my first card I coloured in the large koala image with pencils and then fussy cut out. I also pencil coloured the smaller koala and stuck him in for a hug. I used the paper from the kit and die-cut it using a stitched oval die from Studio Katia. This was adhered to the card front, the koala's were put on foam tape over top and then the same done with the kit sentiments. I then added some green sequins, also from Studio Katia and gold from Neat and Tangled.

For my second card I had to do something with these balloon shapes. I used my new Distress Oxide ink to create a sky colour. I adhered the clouds to the card and put the sun in the corner after colouring with Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed'. The balloons were all coloured with Gansai Tambi 'Pearl Colours' and I wish you could see the shimmer of this paint, its divine!! I worked out where the balloons would sit and drew in some strings. The balloons were put on foam tape and a few Neat and Tangled sequins added for shine.

For card no. 3, I carried on with a similar look. I used the same Distress Oxide ink to colour the sky background, its so lovely to use and blends beautifully. I then coloured the butterflies using the same Gansai Tambi 'Pearl Colors' paint but this time mixing two colours together. I cut the sentiment out using another stitched-oval die from Studio Katia and glued on the card front. The butterflies were then popped up on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.

For my fourth card I decided to keep within the same idea of the previous two cards. I just have to say that I love this little girl so much and think I'm going to have to track down the stamp set somehow!! I blended the Distress Oxide ink again for the sky background. I coloured the clouds lightly with grey pencil and fussy cut out. These were adhered to the card front, along with the sentiment die-cut with the same Studio Katia stitched-oval die. 

I painted the balloon with the Gansai Tambi 'Pearl Colors' using 'Pearl Pink' and 'Pearl Scarlet Red' (which is such a pretty peachy colour). I coloured the girl with my pencils, using the same pink/peach colour scheme and fussy cut her out. I popped her up on foam tape and did the same with the balloon. And of course I had to add some peachy and pink sequins from Neat and Tangled.

I hope you've made it this far as I've saved my favourite for last!! For my fifth card I coloured the scene with my pencils and then used a stitched-rectangle die from Pretty Pink Posh, which fitted around it perfectly. It didn't look right against the white card front so I cut a rectangle of black CS slightly bigger and adhered the panel on top. This was glued on to the card front. The sentiment was cut out with a circle die from Couture Creations and popped on foam tape. 

I love this scene so much and the sentiment goes with it perfectly. Its so very sweet and I now have yet another stamp set I need to buy!!!

Whew, that was huge!! If your still awake well done. If not, have another couple of chocolate biscuits as there are more cards to be seen. You can now pop over to see what the other girls created with the same kit:
                                      

Hazel

Sarah G

Sarah P

Anita

Thank you so much Haze for creating the most amazing kit, and thank you for reading such a long post. I'm off to see what the rest of the 'Honey's' made!!

Take care

Shona

 

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour Challenge - July

Well, well, well......where did July come from so quickly?!!! We are suddenly half-way thru the year and I still feel like I haven't gotten over Christmas. Looks like I need to start making some more Christmas cards for this year very quickly!!!

With it being the 1st of the month it also means that its time for a new challenge theme at Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour Challenge.

As always we have our 'Anything Goes' theme but you also have the optional twist of using 'Blue' on your project. And with blue being my favourite colour, I'm very happy indeed!!

And of course you also have the chance to win a $20 voucher to spend in the Happy Little Stampers  store. How fabulous!!

For my card I knew I definitely wanted to use blue but I also wanted to use two new products as well:

I started off by cutting a panel of water colour CS and heat embossing in white my new Studio Katia 'Your So Ranunculus' stamp. I then used my new Gansai Tambi 'Pearl Colors' watercolour paint. I wish I could have captured the shimmer of this paint, its absolutely amazing!! Once the flowers were dry I die-cut the panel using a Winnie and Walter die from 'Essential: Audrey's Cutaways'.

Since the paint has a silvery shimmer to it, I added a panel of silver CS to the card front and adhered the flowers to it. The sentiment (from the same stamp set) was heat embossed in silver on a strip of watercolour CS and popped up on foam tape. And I added lots of clear sequins from Neat and Tangled to carry on the shine.

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

And will also link to The Challenge # 88 where I've used two keywords 'Flowers' and 'Watercolour'. 

You have the whole month of July to link your projects to the Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour Challenge and pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona