NBUS??? Just incase your wondering what that means, it stands for 'Never Been Used Schtuff' which was a phrase coined by the delightful Darnell of djkardkreations!! I'm sure you will have come across Darnell somewhere in the card making community, she is loved by many and leaves the sweetest comments. A while ago she decided to create a challenge to make us all use those products we just had to have but have never used. I'm sure we all have these hiding somewhere.....
I received the most perfect stamp/die set for my birthday from my lovely friend Coni. Its the Ellen Hutson 'Plant Lady' set and it is me in stamp form!!! During this months Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge I was able to stamp out the images and colour away at the skatepark while Max rode his scooter or in bed watching Veep. I have a lot of images to make into cards, this is my first one:
Isn't she the cutest?!! I never look this clean for long so need to work out how to make her look like she's splattered with dirt and mud for the next card...
To start off I used my My Favourite Things 'Cloud Stencil' and Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' to blend some soft clouds on the card front. I also blended 'Mowed Lawn' along the bottom to represent some grass.
The pots and plants are actually separate images that I stamped together and fussy cut out. The tomato was adhered to the card front and the other pot put on foam tape, along with the card lady. I also added in a pair of secateurs and the sentiment in black ink. Its so easy to do when everything is already coloured and die-cut!!
I have two other challenges I would like to enter:
The rain has finally stopped and I've been able to work in some gardens the last two days. Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day of the school term and then the kids will be on holiday for two weeks. Unfortunately I'm so behind after all the rain with my gardening work that I'll probably have to work each day but it will only be a few hours and I will make sure we have a chance to spend a day in Nelson at the Indoor Trampoline place at some stage. Thank goodness for my Mum being able to take care of the kids. I owe her a lot!!!!
Hello there and welcome to my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Girl Friday' post for the month of September!!
For my card this month I was still on a 'Chibitronics' high after our collaboration blog hop this month, and was dying to try out another card. This time I challenged myself to using three coloured lights and I'm so happy with how it turned out:
It was so much easier to make this card, as I had learned by my mistakes with the first one. I also made sure the design had a bigger area to use so I wasn't trying to squash it all behind something small.
To start off I stamped and heat embossed the image from Floating on a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then watercoloured it using my Zig Real Color Brush Pens, keeping the colours as pale and pastel as I could. Once I had finished and dried the panel, I die cut it using one of the Bubble Box Fri-Dies. Now for the fun part.....
I poked holes thru the three larges flowers on the image and then marked out where they sat on the card front. That way I was able to arrange my circuit so the colours showed thru each hole. I used the same idea for a 'push button' on the battery so the lights didn't stay on all the time. I got this idea from THIS Jennifer McGuire video.
This shows how the 'push button' works and the colour of the lights. Once I was happy with the circuit I was able to put ALOT of foam tape on the back of my painted panel and press it down over the lights. Voila!!
Sorry this photo is so grainy, I shut all my curtains so you could see how much the lights shine in the dark. They are pretty bright and I love the glow behind the flower shapes.
To finish this card off I stamped a sentiment, also from the Floating stamp se,t on a strip of white CS and put it on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled. If you've been putting off trying the Chibitronics products because you don't think you'd be able to work it out, you needn't worry. The instruction book is so helpful and once you've mastered it, you'll feel like Thomas Edison!!
If your interested in buying any of the products I used today or any others from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, make sure you use my special code to save yourself 15% and it even works if the items are already on special too!!
Whew, that was a long post but I wanted to include all the photos of the circuits so you could see the 'guts' of the operation!! Actually when you think about it, its actually like playing the 'Operation' game except I've lit up something prettier than a big, red nose and there is no loud noise!!
Talk about crazy Spring weather!! After 7 days of rain last week, we had the most gorgeous and boiling hot weekend. It was glorious!! Yesterday it kept threatening rain but managed to hold off all day, which meant I was able to do some work. Well, today...its rained nearly all day and when it stops it comes out with boiling hot sun. Talk about frustrating!! Cross all your fingers and toes for me for the rest of the week, its not looking good but I have so many gardens to get too!!
One of the good things though about being at home (apart from doing the housework....) is being able to make a few challenge cards. I love the colours for this months Altenew challenge and even grabbed the chance to use one of my brand new stamp sets:
I received this Altenew floral stamp set 'Blooming Bouquet' from my gorgeous friend Coni for my birthday. I love how huge the image is and thought it would be great for this challenge!!
I started off by stamping and heat embossing the image in white on a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then watercoloured the flowers using Distress Inks 'Spun Sugar', 'Picked Raspberry', 'Mermaid Lagoon' and 'Twisted Citron', using lots of water to keep the colours soft and pale. Once I was happy with the colours I dried it with my heat tool and fussy cut it out.
In the inspiration photo the flowers are sitting in a pale blue jug. I wanted to try and emulate this by using a piece of light blue CS and die-cutting a curve from the top of it using a Pretty Pink Posh stitched-curved die. The blue CS was popped up on foam tape. I added foam tape behind the top half of the flowers and double-sided tape to the part sitting over the blue CS.
To finish off I stamped the sentiment from Altenew 'Adore You' stamp set on a strip of white CS, put it on foam tape and glued on some pastel and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I've got three other challenges I would like to enter:
Oh how I'm loving daylight savings!! Everything just seems nicer (even if it is raining...) when the sun stays around for longer. We can start taking the dog for a walk after dinner or go to the skatepark. Both Max and Phoebe are playing tennis this year so it will give us time to go and practice each night. If only it would stop raining.....
I don't usually make many cards with an 'Autumn' theme but have loved getting all the fall colours together with my inks and pencils. Maybe now I have a few more colours to choose from it makes it more enjoyable!!
For this final entry I really wanted to create a one-layer design and knew which stamp sets would be perfect:
This was so much fun to make and love all these warm colours together. And the details in those leaf stamps are fantastic!!
Firstly I stamped the cup and saucer image with black ink and then the sentiment above it. That way I was able to stamp all the leaves around them. I used my MISTI to stamp all the leaves 2 or 3 times each, which took a bit of time but I wanted to make sure I got really good coverage with the ink colours. I used Altenew 'Dark Chocolate' for the brown leaves and all the brown leaf vein details. The other leaves were all stamped in Hero Arts 'Soft Cantaloupe' and 'Soft Vanilla', and Altenew 'Peach Perfect'.
Once I was happy with the leaves I coloured the cup and saucer with my Faber Castell pencils. Normally I would add some sequins but I felt there was already so much going on with this card, it didn't need anything else.
The leaves are all from Hero Arts 'Let Love Grow' and the cup/saucer and sentiment are from Waffle Flower 'Warm Wishes'.
I've got three other challenges I would like to enter:
Dave has just left to pick up our pizza so I better get a move on. Even though I haven't been gardening this week I've still been so busy catching up on housework and other jobs. Has been rather nice though being home on my own but I'm rather desperate to get my hands covered in dirt again!!
Its still raining.....We are now on to Day 7 of rain which has turned the lawn and gardens into muddy mush. Although the lawns are all super long and I can see the weeds sprouting before my eyes the little devils!! So all this extra time on my hands has resulted in another entry for the 2017 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!
For this card I wanted to use some different stamps but turn them into an 'Autumn' theme using fall colours:
This stamp set is so cute and I wasn't sure if it would look right with the leaves and flowers being coloured this way but I'm so in love with how it turned out!!
I started off by stamping the two floral patterns on the card front and colouring them using my Faber Castell pencils. I then stamped the bear image and the cup on some white CS, coloured with my pencils and fussy cut out. The cup was put on foam tape over his hands and he was then popped up on some foam tape as well. The sentiment was simply stamped on the card front with black ink and I added some co-ordinating sequins.
The floral, bear and cup images are from Waffle Flower 'Bear and Bird'. The sentiment stamp is from Altenew 'Coffee Love' and the sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I have four other challenges I would like to enter:
I've got one more coffee card to enter (so excited that I managed to make 3 this time!!) but need to work out whats happening for dinner first. Although quite often Friday night turns into Pizza Hut night which I don't mind at all. In fact don't you think Pizza would be lovely on a cold, rainy evening...??? I'm sold!
Hello there from a very wet Blenheim, New Zealand!! We had one day of reprieve yesterday from four days of constant rain and now its back for the next few days. Talk about Spring madness!!
I'm popping in with a reminder about our current TIME OUT challenge where we have these words to inspire you:
Paint The Flying Spirit Of The Birds Rather than its Feathers
A rather fabulous phrase don't you think!! You can use anything from this phrase to inspire you i.e. a single word, the meaning of a word or how your inspired by what the phrase means etc.
We are also very excited to have Happy Little Stampers as the Sponsor of this challenge and the winner will get a $15 gift voucher!!
For my card the words 'Birds' and 'Feathers' really caught my eye so I really wanted to have them feature in my design:
I've had this stamp set from Rosies Studio for years and I think this is the first time I've used it. And it couldn't be more perfect!!
I started off by stamping the single feather image randomly on the card front using grey ink to create a background. Because the phrase talked about not painting a birds feathers I wanted them to be grey and uncoloured.
The bird image was stamped on white CS and coloured with my Faber Castell pencils. For some reason I just wanted to use blue and teal on the bird and just made up the pattern as I went along. Kind of reminds me of a Hummingbird or Kingfisher. I fussy cut it out and added foam tape to its back.
For the sentiment I found some light grey CS and die-cut using a a die from MFT Stamps 'Blueprint 27' to give it a fishtail look on one end. This was adhered to the card front and the bird over top on its foam tape. And I found some pink, teal and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled to finish it off!!
You have until Wednesay 27th September to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your struggling for ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our gorgeously fabulous Guest Designer Carol have created just for you. Look forward to seeing your designs in the Gallery!!
I can still remember sitting in bed last year at night, colouring a million wooden fence images for one of my entries. I had cramp in my hand but it was so worth it, I love that card!!
As you can imagine I'm going in for the 'Clean and Simple' category. I was going to create an entry for the 'Colouring' category but after seeing the projects linked already, I decided to give it a miss. There are some incredible colourists out there in the crafting world and I can't wait to see who they choose as the winners!!
For my design I wanted to keep it colourful, simple but with lots of dimension. I even managed to make it without smudging Distress Ink on the card front, so I'm very pleased with the finished product:
I created a similar card to this a few months ago when I received these 'Color Drops' dies using five large petals. Ever since then I've had a multi-petaled image in my mind, so I'm so glad its out of my head and on to a card front!!
I spent a bit of time die-cutting the four different drop shapes (6 of each) from Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then used my mini-blending tool and Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Worn Lipstick', 'Spiced Marmalade' and 'Mustard Seed' on each drop piece. So the 'flower' would fit, I created a card base that was slightly wider than normal.
Firstly I adhered the pink petals to the card front. I then added the 'Worn Lipstick' ones, placing then over the spots where the larger petals meet. I did the same with the orange petals and then the yellow.
I wanted the sentiment to be just as graphic and simple, so I die-cut the 'hugs' twice from white CS and glued them together. I then glued each letter to a strip of black CS and trimmed around the word. This was then put on some foam tape. For a bit of sparkle I added lots of Wink of Stella to the letters and glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled. And for a bit of dimension I bent all the petals upward, except for the pink ones. I hope they like this as much as I do!!
I have two other challenges I would like to enter:
Time to go get my jammies on, grab my pencils and colour in some new stamp images that arrived today. It didn't rain today (first time in four days....) but couldn't garden for anyone as the ground is like mud. Now its supposed to start raining tonight for another two days. Seems like I will be having a week off which is kind of nice but means I'm a week behind and those weeds wait for no one.......eeek!! Take care Shona
Yippee!! Thanks to four days of constant rain (which means no gardening) I finally had a chance to create an entry for the 2017 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!!
I don't actually own too many 'coffee' related stamp sets and dies (really must remedy that) but its quite fun trying to find a different way to use what I have. For this card I used a product I haven't touched in months:
Yep, that's right...patterned paper!!!! Its something I love to buy but hardly ever use, hence I've used a rather old Lawn Fawn paper pad. But I love it and I'm so glad I kept hold of it!!
I started off by die-cutting the two mugs using My Favourite Things 'Hugs in a Mug' dies with the Lawn Fawn 'Into the Woods' paper. I wanted a soft 'pumpkin orange' colour behind the mugs so blended Distress Ink 'Spiced Marmalade' on the card front. I was then able to pop the mugs on foam tape, stamp the sentiment also from My Favourite Things 'Hugs in a Mug' stamp set and glue on some Neat and Tangled sequins. Almost makes me wish it was Autumn here again....almost......
I have three other challenges I would like to enter:
That's it for me, I'm off to bed. Love listening to the rain on the roof at night and bedtime is when I get to catch up with what everyone has been putting on Instagram/Facebook etc. Have been loving all the coffee themed cards and projects, so many clever crafters out there in the world. Fingers crossed its still raining tomorrow so I can make some more.......
What a cold, yucky day it is today!! Last week it was so warm and 'Spring-like', I even wore my shorts for the first time since Summer (was so wonderful for me but probably not so good for the people seeing me lol!) but now.....the fire is going and I'm wearing a thermal. Yuck!!
For a bit of brightness on a dull day I was playing around with my Distress Inks and came up with a card just right for the current Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Clean and Simple':
I started off by cutting a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then randomly blended 'Picked Raspberry', 'Worn Lipstick' and 'Mustard Seed' till I was happy with the colours. For a bit of shimmer and interest I sprayed it with Imagine Crafts 'Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz', doing it close to the panel so that droplets would drop on it that I could then press with tissues.
Once it had dried I used a stitched waffle-edged die to cut it out and then the 'hugs' die in the middle of it. I added lots of foam tape to the back and pressed it on to the card front. I wanted to keep the rest of the sentiment simple, so die-cut a strip, stamped on the sentiment with black ink and put on foam tape, along with some pink, yellow and clear sequins. I so wish you could see all the sparkle!!
The sequins are from Neat and Tangled. Everything else is from My Favourite Things. The sentiment and stitched waffle-edged dies are from 'Blueprints 27'. The sentiment stamp is from 'Beary Special Birthday'. I'm also going to link this to the Stamplorations Summer CAS Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Better go stoke up the fire and work out what to make next. I'm really disappointed that I've not been able to colour every day with The Daily Marker 30 Day challenge but have coloured some things over the last two days and can't wait to turn them into cards!!
Hi everybody!! I'm so very glad its the weekend. Its been an extremely busy week with gardening, Spring is causing everything to grow at double-time!! I love this time of year though and I'm anxiously waiting to see if I get more than one peony flower from my garden this year!!
We are half-way through our challenge at The Flower Challenge and already the Gallery is full with some spectacular projects.
For my 'reminder' card I decided to try a different line across the tic-tac-toe. This time I tried 'Embossing, Watercolour and Blue', although I got a bit 'off topic' with my blue colouring....:
I really wanted to use this large floral image from Studio Katia 'You're So Ranunculus' but in a different way. So....I started off by cutting a panel of watercolour CS and stamping/heat embossing each corner of the image with white powder. I watercoloured the images using my Gansai Tambi 'Pearl Colors' with the Pink Pearl and Pearl May Green. I so wish you could see the shimmer of this paint in real life, its just gorgeous!!
Once the paint was dry I fussy cut out each corner. To incorporate the 'blue' part of my combo, I cut a panel of blue CS and adhered it to the card front. I then added lots of foam tape to the back of the corners and put them in place. I didn't want to cover up the flowers with a big sentiment, so I heat embossed the sentiment in silver (from the same Studio Katia set) on a strip of white CS and put it on foam tape, along with some pink, green and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Monday 25th September to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and for lots of inspiration and ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you.
