Hello there!! Its been an incredibly warm and busy week, and I'm sitting here very angry with myself for not being more slap-happy with my sunblock!! The back of my neck and arms are so hot and sore, I'm sure I'll be glowing in the dark in bed tonight!!
For the current TIME OUT challenge we are wanting you to create projects for 'Celebrations', with the Optional Twist of 'One-Layer'. Your project could be for celebrating in general or you could choose a particular occasion, its totally up to you!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Altenew and they are giving a $20 gift voucher to a random entry doing the 'Optional Twist'!
For my card I decided to go with the Optional Twist and create a one-layer design with lots of bright colour:
That bright pink is reminding me so much of my sunburn right now.......
This was so much fun to make as I have made hardly any cards since coming back from holiday and it was nice just to mess around.
I started by stamping the leaf images from Altenew 'Wallpaper Art' and sentiments from Altenew 'Celebrate' on a panel of watercolour CS using Versafine Onyx ink, stamping them a few times each and immediately heat embossing with SSS Clear embossing powder.
Now for the fun part!! Using a big round brush I spread water over the whole panel, making it really wet. I then touched areas of the panel with different coloured Distress Inks, adding more water to spread the colours. I added them wherever I wanted, drying with my heat gun and then adding more until I was happy with the colour.
Once it was dry all I had to do then was adhere it to the card front and glue on some pearls from Studio Katia.
You have until Wednesday 4th December to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your looking for some ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Christine of Experiments in Craft have created for you. Look forward to seeing your projects in the Gallery!
Hi everybody, just popping in quickly today to let you know I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog with a card idea for creating a stash for Christmas:
I need to make a huge pile of cards to give to local rest home residents and needed something that looked good and I could make a lot of them at once. So alcohol inks and background dies to the rescue. All the details on how I put this together is one the blog.
Hi everyone, so glad you could stop by!! Its been a whirlwind of a week since coming back from holiday. Have finally gotten thru the 1500 emails in my Inbox, everything is completely unpacked and accounted for and I'm having to turn people down with their weedy gardens. The good weather is in full swing and with only a five weeks till Christmas, there is a lot to do!!
After not making a single card for the past three weeks I was actually a little hesitant about creating this card for the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog but once I got going, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!!
Since my mojo was a little lacking, I decided the best place to start was with my favourite colour combo, light blue and white, and see where that took me.
I started by die-cutting the Trellis Cover Die from some blue CS. I decided that instead of taking out all the 'in-between' pieces I would leave some in, creating a little frame. I used glue tape behind the frame and Gina K Connect Glue around the rest of the die-cut and pressed on to the card front.
Next I used WOW 'Pastel Glacier Mint' Embossing Powder with the image from 'Angel Hugs' on white CS and fussy cut it out. This was popped up on foam tape. I then stamped the sentiment (from the same set) with Versafine Onyx ink and immediately heat embossed with SSS Clear Embossing Powder to make it shiny. The strip was also put on foam tape, along with some Studio Katia 'Prismatic Sky' pearls.
Hopefully this has given you a few ideas for all those background dies in your stash and if you have your heart set on buying the one I used, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here soon with loads of Christmas cards, which I desperately need!!
Hi everybody!! I can't believe I haven't blogged since November 5th....longest break I've ever had from crafting since I started. I'm a bit worried I won't be able to create anymore but I'm sure it will all come back to me once I start stamping......
While I was away I had one of my blog tutorials posted on the Uniquely Creative Blog using the 'Reindeer Pals' Stamp and Colour Kit. I hadn't made a shaker card for so long and couldn't resist it with a snow globe die set:
I had forgotten how much fun it is to play with shaker cards and even though it took me a while to put all the elements together, it was definitely worth it!!
Pop over to the UE Blog for the tutorial which covers what products I used and has photos to show how it all goes together.
I'll be back here soon with my first post-holiday card, wish me luck!!
Hi there everyone!! When this post goes live (3am Tuesday 5th Nov) I will half-an hour away from jumping out of bed and getting everyone ready to go to Australia!! Our flight leaves at 6am so a very early start and to be honest I probably won't have slept but will be wonderful to finally have a family holiday!!
This month at The Flower Challenge our theme is 'Spots or Stripes'. These make a wonderful background or maybe you can incorporate them into the flower themselves. So many possibilities!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Topflight Stamps and they are giving the winner a $25 voucher to their store!!
For my card I wanted to use a new die and decided to do some heat embossing for my 'dotty' background:
I'm having terrible problems with the piece of wood I bought to take photos. Its split and one half has raised up and warped. So I'm having to stick bits of paper etc under it so my cards sit correctly. Its such a pain, will have to get another one!!
I didn't want to heat emboss straight on the card front (because of the warping) so I cut a panel of white CS and gold heat embossed the dots from The Stamp Market 'Painted Dot' background stamp, put it under something heavy for a while and then adhered to the card front.
The flowers (from The Stamp Market 'Floral Cover Die') was die-cut twice from two papers (also from The Stamp Market 'Color Crush Solids). I glued them together not matching so the darker colour is showing thru underneath. I popped this up with foam tape, along with some single flowers that the die creates. The sentiment (from The Stamp Market 'Scripty Sentiments') was simply stamped with Versafine Onyx ink on white CS, fussy cut out and put on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
You have until Monday 25th November to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if you need help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. We will also be back with more cards on the 15th just in case!! Look forward to seeing your creations in the Gallery!
Hi everyone and welcome to the first day of November!! Only just over 7 weeks till Christmas, what a frightening thought (and exciting at the same time). I love Christmas but boy oh boy is there a lot to get thru before the big day!
These sentiments are brilliant and there is one for every occasion, whether a coffee lover or not!! I created a card using each set, one completely different from the other.
For this card I adhered a panel of black CS to the card front and used one of the 'Bubble Box Fri-dies' with some white CS. I stamped the 'Coffee Day's' sentiment with Versafine Onyx ink in the middle and then used my Waffle Flower inks in pastel colours to stamp a frame of coffee cups. All I had to do then was pop the stamped panel on some black foam and glue on some Neat and Tangled sequins.
For my second card I die-cut the 'Hearts A2 Panel Fri-die' from white CS and then from red CS, keeping aside the larger red hearts. I glued the die on the card front and inlaid the red hearts. I white heat embossed the sentiment from 'Cup Refills' on black CS and put it on foam tape. I then die-cut the little cup from 'Coffee Cup Fri-dies' from white CS and used a marker to colour the inner piece brown. This was glued on to the edge of the sentiment, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
Thanks so much for joining us over the last six days and hope you love all the new stamp sets as much as we do. If you haven't shopped yet, please use my special code to save yourself 15%, even on the sale items!!
Don't forget to check out the CFS Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created with these new sets and you also have the chance to win a voucher for yourself!!
Hi there everyone! This week has disappeared so quickly. I have so much to do before we go on a family holiday to Australia next Tuesday, I'm running myself ragged. However, once we are on that plane I will finally be able to relax and forget about all the things I didn't get done and enjoy myself!!
Its also been a fantastic week sharing all the New Release products with you all from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. We are up to Day 5 and today we are sharing a stamp set that's perfect for someone who's have a @!%$& time - 'This Sucks':
This is one fantastic stamps set. I'll admit, I do love to swear, sometimes its the only thing that helps, like a good stress release. So seeing the sentiments on this set made me very happy indeed and that was the idea for this card:
A 'rainbow' of swear words.....rainbow colours can make anything look good!!
For this card I started off by stamping the two sentiments on white CS with Versafine Onyx ink and immediately heat embossing with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing powder. I stamped them both around 4x to make sure there was good coverage and enough ink to pick up the powder. I fussy cut them out and added foam tape to the back of each.
I really wanted to use the 'expletives' stamp, so grabbed my Waffle Flower inks and stamped it on white CS 8x. Using an oval die from the 'Huggable Critters' set, I die-cut each colour out. I also cut the same number of 'ovals' from a panel of black CS. I adhered it to the card front and then inlaid each coloured word.
All I had to do then was glue on the sentiments and some pearls from Studio Katia.
If your dying to get your hands on this stamp set or any of the other New Release sets, they are available right now. And if you use my special code you can save yourself 15%.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll be back here tomorrow to share the last stamp sets from the release. Don't forget to pop over to the CFS Blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created with this set and you have the chance to win one of seven $15 vouchers too!!
