Its finally Friday night and normally I would be sitting down with my feet up watching Netflix but I'm trying to catch up on Christmas cards (still...) and I haven't organised the kids Advent Calenders for tomorrow, so have to do that as well. And the weekend is jammed packed with tennis, shopping, cleaning, gardening and more jobs than I can poke a stick at. I can't wait for my Christmas holiday!!!!!
The current Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge is all about 'Christmas/Holiday Creations'. I have so many cards that I've created and most of them have been made with the one stamp set, so I have MANY cards to link to this challenge!!
This set of cards show off the stamp image that immediately caught my eye when I saw this stamp set and I could instantly imagine it on my cards:
These cards are all made with the SSS and Gina K 'Stamptember' stamp set 'Joy of the Season' and I absolutely love it!!! As soon as I saw this tree stamp when they released the set I knew I had to get my hands on it and I'm so thankful for my wonderful friend Coni sending it to me!
My cards of late have been simple(ish), quick to make and easy to make more than one. I started off with these by stamping the trees using inks from Waffle Flower and Hero Arts and using the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.
To create the background I used Distress inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Chipped Sapphire', 'Cracked Pistachio' and 'Salty Ocean' with water and a paint brush to flick all over the card fronts. I also flicked over some gold paint from Gansai Tambi which looks much better in real life.
Once the paint had dried I adhered the trees on top. I heat embossed the sentiment with Wow! 'Metallic Gold Sparkle' Embossing Glitter, fussy cut them out and popped them on foam tape, along with some gold sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
And will also link to The Cats Pajama's Tuesday Challenge #352 where their theme is 'Winter Holiday'.
I have 50 more cards to fill out for charity and better put the advent calendars together before I hit the sack......although the way I'm feeling I might pass out before they are finished. At least the kids are old enough to know how busy I am and that I will get them done before the end of day tomorrow. Why do I make things so hard and put so much pressure on myself??????? And did I mention I still have to put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house???? Help me........
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! I'm popping in with a very quick post today to remind you all about our current challenge theme at TIME OUT!
Our theme is 'Black and White plus one colour - Optional Twist: One Layer'. This is one of my favourite challenges as black and white really makes that colour pop!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers who are giving a $20 gift voucher to the random winner chosen from those who 'twist'!!
For my cards, as I'm totally immersed in Christmas card making, I decided to use one of my favourite Christmas stamp sets that my friend Coni sent to me. I've used it on so many cards it a wonder the stamps still work:
Lately when I make a card I've been trying to make more than one at a time, especially for Christmas cards. I'm so far behind with having enough and getting them out on time its driving me nuts!!
I started off by stamping the snowflakes from the Simon Says Stamp - Stamptember collab with Gina K Designs 'Joy of the Season' with Versafine black ink all over the card bases. I chose to use yellow and red for the 'one colour' as they stand out so much against a b/w background. I die-cut a circle of red and yellow CS with a Couture Creation circle die and popped it up on a piece of foam.
For the sentiment I used a smaller circle die (from the same die set) on some plain vellum and heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in white. I added little dots of Gina K Connect Glue behind the words and pressed on to the coloured circles. To finish off I added sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link these to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
And will also link to The Cats Pajamas Tuesday Challenge #352 where their theme is 'Winter Holiday'.
You have until Wednesday December 5th to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Joanna of Jo-Jo's Spot have created to inspire you. Look forward to seeing you all in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Do you go thru stages with your card making of mainly stamping or die-cutting or using stencils?? I love die-cutting and creating fiddly cards but of late I've been gathering up my favourite ink pads and stamping till there's no tomorrow. Love my MISTI, its the best tool ever (apart from my Cuttlebug) and I don't know what I'd do if either of them broke!!
The colours for this months Altenew Inspiration Challenge are definitely traditional Christmas colours but not ones I use very often. I also don't have any Christmas stamps or dies from Altenew but as I'm in Christmas card mode I decided that if I use this colour combo, I could use any floral stamps for Christmas:
Luckily I had the exact colours of the challenge in my Altenew ink pad stash, so I grabbed 'Crimson', 'Velvet', 'Evergreen' and 'Forest Glades' and my MISTI to stamp out this design.
Using Altenew 'Vintage Flowers' I stamped across the card, turning it around and stamping the exact same way from the other direction. Made it alot quicker and easier to create the design.
Once I was happy with it I used my Altenew 'Caps Bold Alphabet Dies' to die-cut 'Xmas' from the card front and also twice more from black CS. I glued the black ones together and into the die-cut areas and then glued the top layer slightly up and over to show the black. To finish off I added sentiments from Altenew 'Frosted Garden' and some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
Really happy with how this turned out, wish I had made some more at the same time!!
I'll be back tonight with some more Christmas cards to share with you. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get them all out in time for them to reach all my International friends but will be good to know they are on the way.
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! Its so nice to be back on my blog. Things have been very busy around here (and there is still so much to do between now and Christmas). I've been making Christmas cards like crazy for family, friends and for charity but haven't had time to share them with you all, so thought about time I did!!
The theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is 'Baby its cold outside'. Our weather drastically changed two weeks ago. We went from 26 degree celcius days (just delicious!!) to 11 degrees with rain for nearly two weeks. I managed to fit in a few days gardening last week between showers but today (Wednesday) is my third day at home. It's meant I've been able to get lots of cards made but I'm so behind with work, and with only a few weeks till Christmas I'm starting to freak out a little.......So at the moment it really is cold outside (and wet) so these cards are perfect:
The sun is so hard to catch at the moment and when I finally did, I just couldn't stop my silver sentiment from being too bright, so I'm sorry you can't read it!!
It says 'All I Want for Christmas is you'. I love this Mama Elephant 'O Kitty Tree' image so much and happy to find another way to use it!
I started off by stamping the image on white CS and just coloured a few things with Altenew Artist Markers. I then fussy cut it out and added foam tape to the back. I blended Distress Oxide ink 'Tumbled Glass' on the card front and flicked it with water, dabbing some of the spots with a tissue. And for the first time ever I flicked some Gansai Tambi white paint with a small brush to give more of an effect of snow. Love it!!
I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment (also from Mama Elephant 'Puffy Holiday Greetings') with Ranger silver embossing powder, fussy cut it out and put on foam tape along with the kitties. And finished off with some clear and blue sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I loved how this card turned out so much I decided to make another one:
This time I used 'Mermaid Lagoon' Distress Oxide ink for the background without flicking with white paint. And the sentiment was stamped with Mama Elephant 'Apple' pigment ink and immediately heat embossed with clear powder.
I'm also going to link these to The Cats Pajamas Challenge #352 where their theme is 'Winter Holiday'.
Time to hang the washing in the garage AGAIN and hope that the rain stops later on so I can put it outside. We even had the fire going on Monday night because it was so cold and to help dry the washing too, its like we've gone back in time to Winter. Maybe we will get a white Christmas after all!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! Its a very exciting day today and I have ALOT to share with you in my blog post!
First of all CAS-ual Fridays Stamps is part of the 8th Annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags which is organised by the incredible Tracey McNeely. We are Day 20. There are lots of sponsors and prizes, and of course so much inspiration for Christmas with loads of designers, so if you haven't seen the first 19 days I really recommend you have a look!!
I love pastel colours at Christmas time, so definitely wanted to include that on my tag, along with some bling of course:
You really can't beat Distress Oxide inks for soft yet vibrant colour and I can never have enough silver glitter paper in my stash!
I started off by die-cutting the large tag from 'Tag Buddies' twice from white CS. Using one of the tags and some washi tape, I blended Distress Oxide Inks 'Tumbled Glass', 'Picked Raspberry', 'Cracked Pistachio', 'Shaded Violet', 'Spun Sugar' and 'Worn Lipstick' in stripes.
Using a snowflake die from 'Flurry Fri-dies' I die-cut the middle of the striped tag, added Gina K Connect Glue to the other tag and glued them together. While the glue was still wet I die-cut the same snowflake from silver glitter paper and inlaid into the tag.
Leaving plenty of room to write a 'To and From' message, I stamped a sentiment from 'Sleighride' on the back using the same 'Picked Raspberry' Distress Oxide Ink and tied on a blue ribbon. So happy with my tag, now I just need to make some more!!
Hopefully this gives you some ideas for your own gift tags and to see even more from the other 'Girl Fridays', pop over to the CFS Blog!!
For some other exciting news Black Friday is coming up and CAS-ual Fridays Stamps has an incredible sale starting today!
AND on top of that all the Retiring sets are 40% off AND all Christmas/Hanukkah are 15% off from November 20-26. No coded needed with these either. How cool is that?!!!!!
And if that wasn't enough, you can get a further 15% on top of these savings if you used my special code!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by, have fun shopping and I'll see you back here with more Christmas inspiration soon!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! I've been in Christmas card making overdrive of late, not only making cards to send myself to family and friends but also creating cards to send to rest home residents across New Zealand. I needed a card design that I could create easily but still looked like I had put in some effort. I came up with these cards:
I used all stamp images from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and I'm up on their Blog today showing how these cards came together!! All I can say is thank goodness for my MISTI!!!!!
Take care
Shona
November is running away from me as usual, feel as if I just did the blog post for The Flower Challenge this month and all of a sudden I'm doing the reminder!! The kids only have about 4 weeks of school left which means there is only about 6 weeks till Christmas which is frightening but its also exciting because I love Christmas and can't wait to put up my decorations!!
Our theme this month is 'A Special Occasion' so as long as you have a floral design, you can choose whatever special occasion you like!!
I made a Christmas card for my first card, so decided to create a birthday card this time, because what could be more special than celebrating another year of life:
I've been having trouble lately with taking my card photos and have been resorting to taking them outside (which makes them TOO bright) but today I found a new spot, so my photos will start looking much better!!
I started off by grabbing my MISTI, Versafine black ink and flowers from The Stamp Market 'Feeling Floral' and stamping them randomly on the card front. I only stamped them once each so they are a soft black.
I took the large flower image from that stamp set and stamped it a few times with the same Versafine black ink on Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and heat embossed with clear powder. I then coloured it with Altenew Artist Markers. After fussy cutting out I popped it on the card front with foam tape.
I die-cut the 'LOVE' die (also from The Stamp Market) 3x from black CS, glued them all together and then to the card front. I then covered them with lots of Glossy Accents. Unfortunately I don't have a 'birthday' from The Stamp Market so used this one from MFT Stamps 'Birthday Bears', heat embossed it in white on black CS and put it on foam tape, along with sequins from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Sunday 25th November to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your needing any inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! Its been the hottest day yet this Spring, along with lots of very warm wind, so I was glad to finish gardening today and get inside!! I'm definitely a 'Summer Girl' though and think I'm very lucky to be outside (especially in the shade) when its hot instead of inside stuck behind a desk. Although some days that air-conditioning would be rather nice, especially for Bella who I can hear panting behind me.....
I wanted to remind you all about our current challenge at TIME OUT where we have this fantastic photo with a 'Christmas' theme, so its perfect for you to get cracking on your cards!!
Our Sponsor this month is Altenew who is giving the winner of this challenge a $20 gift card to their store. I'm so jealous!!!
For my card I was going for a simple 'Christmas' look until I discovered there was a cat on the bed, so I just had to use this image:
I absolutely love this stamp image from Mama Elephant 'Oh Kitty Tree' and have been playing around with it a lot, trying to see how I can use it without having to colour it so much each time.
I started off by stamping the image on Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS using Gina K Amalgam ink. I then coloured it in with my Altenew Artist Markers, making up different cat colours and patterns as I went along. I then fussy cut it out and added lots of foam tape behind it.
For the background I cut a piece of light grey CS and stamped it randomly with paw prints from the same stamp set. I adhered this to the card front and then put the kitties on top. I cut a strip of red CS and heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in white and put it on foam tape along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this to The Cat's Pajamas Challenge #352 where their theme is 'Winter Holidays'.
You have until Wednesday 21st November to link your project to the TIME OUT challenge and if your looking for any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Mugdha of Craftomania have created for you. Can't wait to see what inspires you from this photo!!
Take care
Shona
It has been so windy and hot today, which makes anything you do outside so much harder. I've got half a hedge down my bra as the wind blew the cuttings straight on me, I must have looked hilarious standing in a paddock trying to get leaves out from under my boobs!! It was supposed to rain all day tomorrow but its now saying maybe after lunch....kind of disappointed, really wanted a 'rainy day of card making' at home.
I've already entered the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge a few times this week but after fixing up this card I decided to enter it as well as the theme is 'Anything Goes'
One part of this card really frustrated me. I put it together and had it sitting on my desk and every time I looked at it I couldn't stand the way the colouring had gone with the bear. So I coloured it again.....and again....I'm still not happy but its much better than before.
I started by stamping the images from Winnie and Walter 'Sweet Holiday with Evelin T Designs' on Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS with Gina K Amalgam ink. I then used my Altenew Artist Markers to colour them in and fussy cut out.
I used my mini-blending tool with Distress Oxide ink 'Tumbled Glass' to create the background on the card front and stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set) with the Gina K Amalgam ink. I then popped the images up on foam tape, glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled and used my white gel pen to add some falling snow.
I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge where their theme is 'Make your own Background'.
I better go and sort out dinner before the kids start eating their own arms!! Keep your fingers crossed for me that they got the weather report wrong and it pours with rain for the next 24 hrs....that would be awesome!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone, hope your week is going well so far. I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with yet another card for my Christmas stash!!
After celebrating the new CFS Holiday Release last week, I'm still in the Christmas spirit. I came across this colour combo on the Simon Says Stamp Blog with Shari Carroll:
I couldn't get the navy/pink combo out of my mind (along with silver and white) and couldn't wait to try it with some snowflake dies:
I absolutely love navy but I never think to use it on my cards enough. Its a nice change from black and goes with so many other colours.
I started off by die-cutting the largest circle from the 'Ornament Tag Fri-dies' from some navy paint chips. I also die-cut the same circle from white foam and glued to the back.
For the snowflake decorations I die-cut one from the 'Flurry Fri-dies' from white CS. I then used one from the 'Funky Flakes Fri-dies' on a dark pink paint chip. I then die-cut the smallest die (from the same 'Funky Flakes' set) from silver-glitter CS. I glued them all together and then to the front of the ornament. I also die-cut the hanging piece (also from the 'Ornament Tag' set) from silver-glitter CS, glued it to the ornament and tied a bow with silver twine. The ornament was then glued to the front of the card.
The sentiment (from 'Sleighride') was heat embossed in silver on a piece of white CS, adhered to the same navy paint chip, trimmed to make a frame and then popped up on foam tape. I also added some navy, pink and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I so hope I've given you a few ideas for your own cards and maybe a new colour combo to try!! If your thinking of doing any shopping at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps
don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some dollars!!
I'm so glad you popped in and I'll see you back here very soon with some more card designs!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! Its Monday morning here in New Zealand, another weekend has zoomed by, as well as another month....how is it November already??? I do love Christmas though, so I'm kind of excited to put up my decorations etc so looking forward to 1st December!!
Our theme this month at The Flower Challenge is 'A Special Occasion'. This can be anything you like i.e. a birthday, a marriage, an anniversary or maybe a holiday like Christmas, Halloween or Easter. Its totally up to you!!
As I mentioned I absolutely love Christmas and as I'm very worried about not having enough Christmas cards to send out towards the end of this month, I decided my 'special occasion' is Christmas:
I turned 45yrs old in August and I STILL can't sleep on Christmas Eve. It really is the most magical time of the year and I look forward to our Christmas morning and lunch at my Mum's where she cooks for about 40 people (even though there is only five of us!!). Its amazing!!
I'm so excited to be using new stamps for this card from The Stamp Market. I've been admiring their stamps and dies for so long but could never quite stretch the budget. Well I decided that since they had a special for WCMD and had some of my favourites on sale, I would throw caution to the wind and make a purchase.....and I'm so happy I did!!
This set is called 'Bloom with Hope'. I cut a panel of white CS and stamped the flower and leaves using Waffle Flower inks 'My Pleasure' and 'Chirp Chirp', using my MISTI to stamp several times for good coverage. I thought that even though this isn't a Christmas set, using these colours would create a 'festive' feel'. I'm so in love with it!
I cut the panel down so it was smaller than the card front and popped up on a piece of white foam. I stamped the 'Christmas' (from Simon Says Stamp 'Christmas') in the same coral ink on a strip of white CS and put on foam tape. I then die-cut the Winnie and Walter 'Wishes' die from a green paint chip (similar to the green ink) and 2x more from white CS, glued them all together and then put on tiny pieces of foam tape. I finished off by adding coral and green sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
You have until Sunday 25th November to link your floral projects to The Flower Challenge and pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for their 'special occasion' projects. Can't wait to see your designs in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Well, its the last day of showing off the new stamps and dies from the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps New Release. Its been so much fun sharing all my projects with you and I'm very happy to have more Christmas cards for my stash!!
Today we have one more die to share with you that matches up with another Christmas stamp set that came out last year. Introducing the 'Pear Tree Fri-dies':
This fits with the stamped image so beautifully and cuts out a lot of the gaps around the branches which I love. Here's what I created with it:
I started off by stamping the tree image from the 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' stamp set in Versafine black ink and immediately heat embossing with clear powder. I did this on a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS so I could water colour the image using my Zig Real Color Brush Pens and a water brush. Once this was dry I die-cut it with the matching die and adhered to the front of a white card base with Gina K Connect Glue.
I cut a panel of light grey CS the same size as the card base and die-cut the tree from the middle of it. I popped this up over the image with lots of foam tape. The sentiment (from the same stamp set) was heat embossed in gold on a strip of white CS and put on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I really hope you've enjoyed seeing all the projects this week from myself and the other Girl Fridays on the CFS Blog. And if you leave a comment there telling them your favourite stamp set from the release, you have a chance to win a $25 gift voucher!!
If you still haven't done any shopping for the new products and are about to have a spending spree, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself 15%. You might have saved enough to buy something extra, which is always a good thing!!
Thanks so much for stopping by this week and I'm sure I'll be back with more cards very soon!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone, always so nice to see you and hope your week is going swimmingly!! We are up to Day 5 of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps New Release and we still have so much to share with you!
Today we have a stamp and die set to show you. Introducing the 'Naughty'isms' stamp set and 'Naughty Fri-dies':
I absolutely love the sentiments, so cheeky and the fri-dies match the present and stocking images perfectly. Here's how I put them both together:
And for once I actually stamped a sentiment on the inside of the card:
I think I'll be using this sentiment ALOT, its hilarious!!
I started by die-cutting the 'Naughty or Nice' from a red paint chip and twice more from white CS. I glued them all together for dimension and popped to the side.
I then spent quite a bit of time stamping the present image on white CS with Versamark ink and then heat embossing with WOW! Pastel Glacier Mint embossing powder. Once I had finished I die-cut them all with the matching die.
I used some Gina K Connect Glue to glue them in rows on the card front, and then glued the sentiment on top, along with some aqua and red sequins from Neat and Tangled. The rest of the sentiment was stamped inside the card with black ink and I added lots of Wink of Stella to the die-cut sentiment.
I really hope you like this card and it gives you a few ideas for your own Christmas creations. If your about to shop for any of the new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products, don't forget to use my Special Code to save yourself some money!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you've had some time to visit the CFS Blog to see the gorgeous projects by the other Girl Fridays, using these new products. And I'll see you back here tomorrow for one last day of New Release inspiration!!
Take care
Shona
