Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge #151

Hi there everyone! Its Boxing Day here in New Zealand and I'm feeling the effects of eating too much yesterday. We had a wonderful day, very quiet with enough food to feed a 1000 people (there is only 5 of us) and the kids didn't get up till 10am, which is the latest we've opened presents EVER. Everyone was very pleased with their goodies and now I can relax for two weeks.

I'm popping in quickly to remind you about our current TIME OUT challenge which has this phrase to inspire you. There are so many options with what you could create with these words in mind.

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner!!

For my card I wanted to capture the idea of changing and aiming for something else. And what could be better to show that than a butterfly:

This was really quick to put together and love that the butterfly is the star!

I started with a 4x4 inches white card base and cut a piece of grey CS 3.5x3.5 inches, which was popped up on white foam. I then heat embossed the butterfly from Stamplorations 'Trendy Butterflies 2' with Ranger 'Queens Gold' embossing powder. I used pastel colours from my Altenew Artist Markers and then fussy cut it out, putting on foam tape for dimension. All I had to do then was stamp the sentiment (from the same stamp set) on a strip of white CS, put it on foam tape as well and glue on some gold sequins from Neat and Tangled.

You have until Wednesday 1st January 2020 to link your projects to the TIME OUT  challenge and if your needing any ideas, pop over to our blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our amazing Guest Designer Helen of Moments in Crafting have created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!

Take care

Shona

 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post for December #2

Hi there everyone!! I can't believe its only a few more days till Christmas. I'm still not prepared but have a feeling I'm not the only one....I have one more very long day of work on Monday and then one day to do all my grocery shopping, wrap my presents and make a cheesecake etc. It will be fine, I hope......

I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today and I'm sharing a card for the first night of Hanukkah!! Its a Jewish custom also known as the 'Festival of Lights' which goes for eight days and nights. A candle on the Menorah is lit each night, there are special foods and games to be played like Driedel. We are very lucky at  CAS-ual Fridays Stamps to have quite a few Jewish-themed stamp and die sets and I've used them for today's card:

 I started off by stamping the sentiments and Dreidel images from 'Spin the Dreidel' on white CS using Gina K Amalgam black ink. I was then able to use my Altenew Artist Markers to colour them in and then fussy cut them out.

I thought a soft grey would make a good background for these colours, so I used the 2nd largest die from the 'Bubble Box Fri-Dies' with some grey CS and popped it up on white foam. I was then able to use foam tape to add dimension to the sentiments and glued the Dreidel's along the bottom, along with pearls from Studio Katia.

I hope you like how I used this stamp set and if you didn't realise we had stamps to celebrate Hanukkah (as well as other Jewish holidays), pop over to the CFS Store  to have a look. And if your doing some shopping you can use my special code to save yourself 15%. This particular stamp set is on SALE at the moment and you could use the code on top of that too!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here again very soon!!

Take care
Shona
  

Reminder: The Flower Challenge #39

Well, its only just over a week till Christmas and I've only just posted the last of my Christmas cards. Better late than never I suppose, maybe next year I'll just make New Years cards instead!!

I'm popping in today to remind you about our current theme at The Flower Challenge. Its all about 'using a die' which could be for the flowers themselves or maybe to cut the frame of a card base....its totally up to you!!

The Sponsor for this challenge is Crackerbox and Suzy Stamps and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner!!!!

 

I've always loved die-cutting so super excited about this challenge. For my card its pretty simple but took quite a long time to put together:

Who says you can't have pastel flowers on a Christmas card?? I made this card with a fellow gardener in mind, hope she loves it as much as I do!!

All of the products I used for this card are from The Stamp Market. I started off by grabbing some pastel coloured CS. Using my Cuttlebug and the 'Floral Cover Die' I die-cut it from each colour. This particular die is quite handy because it it not only cuts a large bunch of flowers joined together but it also cuts lots of individual and pairs of flowers. So I tucked the big flower pieces away for another day and gathered up all the little ones.

I actually made two cards at the same time for this as I realised I had quite a few flowers to use. I played around with where I wanted the flowers to go on the card front and then glued them all into place with Gina K Connect Glue.

For the sentiment I die-cut the word part of the 'Joy Die' from gold glitter CS and twice more from white CS. I then cut the shadow part of the die from white CS and glued them all together. This was then adhered to the card front. I then stamped the sentiment from the 'Holiday Greetings' stamp set with Versafine Onyx ink on a strip of white CS and popped on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled gold sequins.

You have until Wednesday 25th December to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your needing any help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what our amazing Guest Designer Nancy of Artful Notions and the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you. Can't wait to see all your die-cutting in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post #1 for December

Hello there, so glad you stopped by and appreciate you taking time out of your hectic Christmas preparations to visit. I'm ridiculously behind with EVERYTHING and still making Christmas cards but determined to get them posted.

I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with a simple but elegant Christmas card design:

I love using white-on-white for Christmas cards, reminds me of snow, although its actually Summertime in New Zealand. Would love to experience just one White Christmas!!

I started by die-cutting the large star from white CS and smaller star from blue glitter CS using the Stars Fri-Dies. I then die-cut the snowflake from Funky Flakes Fri-Dies twice from white CS.

Using Gina K Connect Glue I glued the blue star on to the white one and then the two snowflakes on top, making sure the snowflake 'arms' weren't overlapping. I then popped it up on the card front with foam tape. I did the same with the sentiment from Snowy Sayings which was silver heat embossed on a strip of white CS.

I loved this design so much I made another one with a different colour and sentiment:

 I hope you like this card design as much as I do and if you just have to get your hands on the products I used today, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself 15%!!

Thanks again for popping in and will see you back here again very soon!!

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge # 150

Hi there everyone. I can't believe its only two weeks till Christmas. I still have so much more to do. I haven't posted all my Christmas cards yet, haven't finished all my Christmas shopping either and there are so many gardens to get tidied up I don't know if I'm physically going to make it!! I absolutely love Christmas but not really getting a chance to enjoy this time of year as I normally would....

The theme for the current TIME OUT Challenge is 'Merry and Cheerful'. I'm so grateful that its a Christmas theme so I can make a few more cards. You don't necessarily need to make a Christmas card, as long as its connected to the theme some how then you can create whatever you like!!

The Sponsor for this challenge is Uniko and they are giving the winner an in-stock stamp set of their choice. They have an incredible array of Christmas themed stamps and dies, you should really check it out!!

For my card I definitely wanted to try out a brand new die I had received and also a new to me stencil:

I just love the blue/red/white colour combo for Christmas cards. I don't use red very often with my designs but it always seem festive for this time of year.

I started off by die-cutting The Stamp Market 'Merry Merry Merry' die from red CS as well as twice more from white CS. I glued them all together for dimension.

I cut a panel of white CS and adhered the Funky Fossil Design 'Retro Starburst' stencil over top. I then blended Distress Ink 'Peacock Feather's lightly over it to keep it soft. I cut the panel down so it was shorter and popped it on a piece of white foam on the card front.

All I had to do then was glue the die pieces to the card front with Gina K Amalgam ink and then add lashings of Glossy Accents. And to finish off I glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

You have until Wednesday 18th December 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 wonderful Guest Designer Angie of Cimbacreativefun have created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniquely Creative - Design Team Blog Tutorial - Warmest Holiday Greetings

Hi everyone. Its been another crazy week here with so much more to do. I have a list a mile long and gradually trying to work through it but as I cross each thing off, I seem to add five more.....gotta love this time of year!!

 I just wanted to let you know that I'm on the Uniquely Creative Blog  this week with a tutorial for this card:

This was created with the Uniquely Creative 'Aussie Christmas' Stamp and Colour Mini Kit released last month. Its such a cute set and will be giving all the cards I created to my Mum to use as she's originally from Australia and still '100% Aussie'!!!! 

My tutorial has lots of photos and details of all the products I used including the Altenew Artist Marker colours.  Hope you have a chance to check it out and so different to see no snow on a Christmas card!!

Take care
Shona
 

The Flower Challenge #39

Hi everyone and welcome to our last challenge for 2019 at The Flower Challenge!! I can't believe its December already and Christmas is in three weeks. I am so not ready and haven't posted any cards yet, so I'm WAY behind!!

Our theme for this last challenge is 'Use a Die' which is one of my most favourite things to do!! I've had my Cuttlebug for 7yrs now and I was just thinking the other day that it was making a funny noise, so maybe its time for a replacement.....

For this challenge you can create whatever type of project you like as long as it has flowers for the main part of the design and you use a die in some way. Apart from that you can go for gold!!

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Crackerbox and Suzy Stamps and they are giving the winner of this challenge a $25 gift voucher. What a fabulous prize!!!

I decided for my card that I would use ONLY dies for the design and see how that went:

I started off by die-cutting some wood veneer with an oval die from Studio Katia and also from some white foam. I adhered them together for some dimension and then to the front of the card.

The flower die is from Altenew 'Peony Dream 3D'. I followed along with the instructions that come with the die using different shades of pink and green CS. I glued them all together with Gina K Connect Glue and then to the oval. The Simon Says Stamp 'hello' die was die-cut 3x from black CS, glued together and then to the card. I then added some Glossy Accents to it (as well as the yellow part of the flower) and used some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Black to add some embellishments.

You have until Wednesday 25th December (how could you possibly forget that day???) to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your needing any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our incredible Guest Designer Nancy of Artful-Notions have created for you. We will also be back on the 15th with more designs. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge #149

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.

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

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!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday Post #2 for November

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.

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post #1 for November

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!!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniquely Creative - Jingle All the Way

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!!

Take care
Shona
 

The Flower Challenge #38

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!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - October Release - Day 6

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!

Speaking of big days, this is not only the last day of us sharing the New Release at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, but its also the start of the Fall/Winter Coffee Loving Blog Hop 2019!!

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps is one of the Sponsors of the blog hop and the last two stamp sets to share with you are Coffee related. Introducing 'Coffee Days' and 'Cup Refills': 

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!!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - October New Release - Day 5

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.

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

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!!

Take care
Shona