Your not going to believe it but it rained last night!! After 70 odd days of no rain I thought the clouds had forgotten how to do it but around midnight it rained quite hard, not for long but it sounded like heaven.
This months Uniquely Creative - Stamp and Colour Kit 'Oriental' has been released and its so gorgeous. I love everything to do with the Orient so was very excited when I saw this kit. And the add-on stamp sets and dies are fantastic too!!
I unfortunately wasn't able to receive any of the dies that come with this release but still really enjoyed making all of my cards. I wanted to create a 'Japanese-type' scene so had to get creative with some black CS:
I was obsessed with Japan when I was around 10yrs old and decorated my room with real bamboo, lanterns and lots of pictures etc. I've always wanted to stay in a Japanese house with the sliding doors/walls that are made of dark wood and paper. That's the look I was going for with this card.
Firstly I stamped the images from the 'Lucky You' stamp set (which is included in the kit) with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS and coloured with Altenew Artist Markers. I then carefully fussy cut them out.
Using a piece of patterned paper from the kit I adhered it to the card front (also in the kit). I then used my Tim Holtz/Tonic small guillotine to cut strips of black CS, all around the same width. I then used Gina K Amalgam ink to glue them over the patterned paper. I popped the coloured images on some foam tape, along with the gold heat embossed sentiment (from the 'Best Wishes' stamp set). I glued some teeny tiny gold flat sequins to the middle of the flower and the cats necklace, and used a Kaisercraft Gold Gel Pen to colour the middles of the kimono flowers.
I accidentally received two samples of the kit stamp set 'Lucky You'. It doesn't have any packaging but its just the same. I'm giving it away on my Facebook
and Instagram if your feeling lucky. The giveaway closes at midnight Wednesday NZ time. Good luck!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there!! We are celebrating today on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog as they are the weekend sponsors on the Crafting of Hue Facebook Group!!
If you haven't heard of them I really encourage you to check them out. They are a group of crafters with all different skill levels, from people who have crafted for years to people who have just started. Its an incredibly welcoming group who offer support, encouragement and inspiration as you can share your projects on the page. In this day and age of 'social media bullying/trolling' its nice to have somewhere that's safe to discuss our hobby and not be trashed for doing something you love!!
So this weekend we are 'Celebrating' and have created cards with the same theme:
You know me, I love a good rainbow and how could I celebrate without one!!!
I started off by cutting a panel of blue glitter paper and adhering to the card front. I then cut a panel of white CS and used my favourite Waffle Flower inks to create the background using this stamp from the 'Bold Wishes' stamp set. I just eye-balled it so its not perfect but close enough for me. I glued some white foam to the back and put on the card front.
For the sentiment I usually use white or black CS but decided today to try something different and gold heat emboss on some grey CS instead. I used the 'celebrate' from the 'Celebrate' stamp set and the rest of the sentiment is from the 'Sassy Smiles' stamp set. I put these on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled gold sequins.
CAS-ual Fridays Stamps is also celebrating by offering 20% off this weekend by using the code: HUE20
Pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created and I definitely recommend checking out Crafting of Hue, you never know, it might be just what you've been looking for!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there, hope your having a wonderful day. It tried to rain here again this morning but was a dismal failure but at least the sun came out super hot from lunch time onwards to brighten the day!!
I wanted to remind you all about our current theme at TIME OUT:
We have this phrase to inspire you, which gives you lots of different opportunities for ideas. You could be inspired by one word, the whole phrase itself or maybe something it reminds you of....its totally up to you!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Uniko and they are giving the winner a clear stamp set of their choice....and boy do they have a lot of gorgeous stamps to choose from!!
For my card I'm needing to build up my birthday card stash for the year, so focused on the word 'birthday', as well as 'confetti' as who doesn't love throwing confetti around:
I haven't done any rainbow ink blending for quite a while, so it was really nice to sit and watch a movie while adding more and more colour to the panel.
I started by white heat embossing the 'confetti' which is a stamp from Uniko 'Background Blocks Scattered Polka Dots' on a panel of white CS. I then blended a rainbow of distress inks, trying to get them to be as vivid as possible. Once I had finished I slimmed the panel on the sides. I added a panel of black CS to the card front and popped the confetti piece on some white foam.
For the sentiment I die-cut the Paper Rose 'Happy Peek-a-boo' die from white CS. This die is actually for cutting the word 'happy' into CS and takes away the pieces around the letters, so the CS piece stays together. I decided to use it differently by trimming it top and bottom and cutting close to the ends of the 'h' and 'y'. I did this 3x, glued them all together and then put on some foam tape.
The rest of the sentiment (from Create A Smile 'Make a Wish') was white heat embossed on black CS and glued to the die-cut with foam along the bottom. I also glued on some gold sequins from Neat and Tangled and covered the die-cut in Wink of Stella to add to the 'party' atmosphere.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Add a Sentiment'.
You have until Wednesday 26th February to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if you need any help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer Sue of Sentimentally Sue have created to share with you. Look forward to seeing your entries in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! It tried to rain today, which is normally not a very exciting phenomenon but as it hasn't rained in over 60 days, the feeling of rain on my face was glorious!! When I say rain it was more like spots but it still felt and smelled amazing and makes me think the clouds haven't completely forgotten how to do it. Unfortunately it doesn't look like any rain is likely for at least another 10 days, so that will have to do!!
I wanted to let you know that I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with this little die-cut number:
I seem to have become rather addicted to using the 'Huggable Critters Set' as I've used it for my last three cards. Firstly I created a bear shaped card. Two weeks ago I made two coffee cup tags with a dog and cat face on them. This time I've used the dies again to create this card design. I love stretching out the use of my craft purchases, especially dies as they can be quite pricey, so I'm really happy to share this with you!!
Pop over to the CFS Blog to find out how I put this together and which dies I used. It might give you some ideas on how to use other die sets you've got tucked away somewhere....
Take care
Shona
Its Sunday morning here and I've just dropped Max off at his school. He's off to camp today with another class, since he was too sick to go on Thursday. Luckily he has a lot of his good friends going today so he's really happy and after being sick for nearly two weeks, he's looking forward to being outside.
Now I'm just waiting for Phoebe to tidy up her room so we can go thru what she's taking to camp tomorrow and will then go off to buy her a sleeping bag, raincoat etc. After not raining for nearly 60 days its been spitting today and rain is forecast for Monday night/Tuesday, so not the best timing but we sure need it!!
I've been watching a bit of Netflix lately (just finished Part 2 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and doing some colouring with my Funky Fossil Designs stamp sets. I created a card with what I coloured recently and thought I'd share it with you and let you know about a sale going on this weekend:
I've been trying to use other colours lately instead of just pastels and green is always so fresh with white, so really like this combo.
I started by stamping the butterfly from the 'Butterfly Wishes' stamp set on white CS using Gina K Amalgam Black ink. I coloured it with my Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cut out.
For the background I used the 'Butterfly Heart' stencil. I blended Distress Ink 'Cracked Pistachio' in the middle and Catherine Pooler 'Aquatini' around the outside. I've seen a lot of cards lately with black and other dark colour inks splattered over the backgrounds, so decided to give this a try with the 'Aquatini' ink and some water. Once it was dry the butterfly was put in the middle on some foam tape.
I stamped the sentiments from the same stamp set with Versafine Onyx ink on white CS, fussy cut out and put on foam tape, along with some green and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled. I also added some Wink of Stella to different parts of the butterfly for extra shine.
For Valentines Day Funky Fossil Designs is having a big Sale over the weekend with 15% off everything in store, just use the code HEART15 with your purchase. Sarah is now stocking WOW! Embossing Powders and all sorts of other goodies. There are also a lot of new stencils, so definitely worth checking out!! Sale ends Midnight Monday 17th February.
Right, Phoebe is all ready so we are off to do some camp shopping. Such an overcast but humid day. Is supposed to be 29 degrees celcius but will see how it goes....
Take care
Shona
Hello there!! Hope you've finally made it to the weekend and are relaxing, doing some crafting. Although your probably working thru a huge list of jobs you didn't get time to do during the week (like myself....).
I was just wanting to remind you about our current theme at The Flower Challenge. This month is all about adding leaves, which usually go hand-in-hand with floral images but I quite often just use the flowers themselves, so its good to add a bit of greenery.
For this card I got a bit creative with lots of die-cutting and alcohol inks:
The few times I've used alcohol inks I've always used them as backgrounds. I was playing with some the other day for another card and it suddenly dawned on me that I could use them like coloured cardstock. That is how this flower came to be and I couldn't be more happy with it!
I started off by die-cutting some dark and light green CS with the 'Botanical Beauty' die from The Stamp Market. I think the CS is by American Crafts (I purchase it in single pieces from Warehouse Stationary, one side is smooth, the other has a slight texture to it. I used the smooth side for the outside of the leaves and the textured for the inside and glued them to the card front.
On some Tim Holtz Yupo paper I added drops of Ranger Alcohol inks in 'Watermelon', 'Salmon' and 'Flamingo'. After adding drops of Blending Solution I blew it with a straw, adding more colour and solution as I went. I then left it to dry.
Using the Altenew 'Peony Dream 3D die', I die-cut the two solid pieces from the Yupo paper. I then die-cut a light pink for the edge, and a light peach and red for the centres. I glued these all together with Gina K Connect Glue, adding a black CS piece to the middle and popping up on foam tape. All I had to do then was stamp the sentiment (from The Stamp Market 'Just Wonderful') in Versafine Onyx ink on white CS, back it with black CS and put on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
You have until Tuesday 25th February to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your struggling with ideas on how to add leaves to your design, 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 creations in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Well its Friday here in NZ and its a welcome end to the week. Max has been off school all week with the flu and an ear infection. He's going on camp on Sunday morning with his school and should be okay to go (I hope!!). And its been gorgeous weather all week. My Mum told me this morning that its been 55 days since we've had rain, the longest for any place in the country, so no wonder everything is so dry!! Its supposed to rain on Monday so crossing all my fingers and toes....
I've got another card to share with you using the Uniquely Creative - Stamp and Colour Kit - Summer that had me using some of my Alcohol inks:
I've been a little intimidated by my Alcohol inks as I'm not entirely sure how to use them or get them to do what I want. But thinking about a swimming pool on a Summer's day seemed the perfect time to try them out!!
I started off by using the 'Flamazing' stamp set that comes in the kit, stamping the possum on white CS using Gina K Amalgam Black ink. I coloured him with my Altenew Artist Markers and then used the 'Flamazing Fussy Cutting Dies' to cut him out.
On some Tim Holtz Yupo paper I added some Ranger Alcohol ink in 'Aqua' and Alcohol Pearl 'Tranquil'. I dropped on some Alcohol Blending Solution and blew thru a straw to gently move the colours around. Once I was happy I left it to dry.
Using the Cross-stitch Circle Frames Dies I cut some of the pink CS that is in the kit and adhered to the card base (which is also in the kit). I then die-cut the Yupo paper with the smaller frame die, gluing the frame part to the pink CS and popping the middle up on some white foam. I put the possum on some foam tape and then white heat embossed the sentiment (from the 'Lazy Days' stamp set, which is an 'add-on' for the kit) on a strip of black CS and adhered with some foam tape under the end. And to finish off I glued on some 'Crystalline Sequins'.
I hope you end up relaxing this weekend like this possum. After getting Max off to camp on Sunday morning I then have to prepare Phoebe to go on camp on Monday but just for one night. It does mean though that Dave and I will have a night with no children, which has only happened one other time in nearly 15yrs. Good grief, will have to talk to him, might have to think up some talking points.....lol...
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone, its nearly dinnertime and I'm rather glad the day is nearly over. I had to miss gardening today as Max is sick with a cold and possibly now an ear infection. Taking him to the doctor tomorrow morning but he was supposed to go on a school camp with his class this Thursday and have had to change that to Sunday so he can go with another class.
I also had to drop Bella at the Vet to have her third procedure on her ear. Her haematoma has grown back and that's because she has a severe ear infection in her other ear, including a burst eardrum. Antibiotics won't help, so today its been cleared out (under Anaesthetic) and cultures taken to see what the bacteria is....so watch this space...
Also Phoebe came home to say she also has a school camp next Monday and you have to show her teacher you have everything on the gear list by this Wednesday. We don't camp and it took a lot to prepare Max for his trip. I now have to double up on a sleeping bag, sunblock etc, as well as a pack and they even have to bring a gas cooker, food, tent....basically EVERYTHING. I'm furious they have only given us a few days notice and I can't afford to buy all of the stuff needed. At least it was a lovely sunny day, so that's one bonus.....
Now I've had my rant, I can finally get to talking about a 'Summertime-themed' card that I created with the Uniquely Creative - December Stamp and Colour Kit which is all about Summer:
This is where I wish I was right now, with not a care in the world, a Strawberry Daiquiri in one hand and a good book in the other....
I started off by stamping the images from the 'Flamazing' stamp set that comes with the kit, as well as from the 'Lazy Days' stamp set which is an add-on, using Gina K Amalgam Black ink on white CS. I then coloured them with my Altenew Artist Markers and die-cut out with the matching dies.
To create the beach scene I die-cut one of the 'Ocean Waves' dies from a panel of white CS. I then blended Waffle Flower 'Coffee Loves Milk' along the bottom to be the sand, and then some Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' over the waves, leaving a slight unblended area between the two. I also blended some Distress Ink 'Mermaid Lagoon' lightly at the top of the card base for the sky. The panel was adhered to the card base with glue tape.
I die-cut the 'Nesting Sun Die' from white CS, blended with Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed' and glued to the corner of the card, cutting off overhanging pieces. The palm tree's were put on foam tape, along with the possum and his cocktail. The rest of the images were glued in place. I white heat embossed the sentiment (also from the 'Flamazing' stamp set from the kit) on black CS, fussy cut them out and put on foam tape, along with some 'Crystalline Sequins'. I also put some Glossy Accents on his glasses.
Better go and make dinner, the kids are fighting so maybe they are getting 'hangry'???? Will let you know how I get on with the camp palaver and Bella's ears. At least I can say my life is never boring!!
Take care
Shona
Well hello there and thanks for stopping by!! Its Friday here in New Zealand so one step closer to the weekend. I had to work last weekend so I'm glad I've got two days free to catch up on my own garden and spend time with the kids.
I also have 7 monarch caterpillars and one chrysalis in my laundry, and just found 5 more caterpillars outside so feel like I have a million children at the moment. Especially with our new kitten Remy who is proving very hard to house train. Her favourite place to wee is on my CRAFT DESK, which is ruining a huge amount of cardstock, finished cards etc. She cuddles with me a lot there so must make her feel safe......hmmmm....
I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with a few cute tag ideas. I thought it would be nice to have a change from card making and these would make great gift tags or maybe party invitations:
These were so fun to put together and there are so many other animals you could create with these dies. And there were no stamps involved either!!!
For the cat I die-cut the 'To Go Cup Fri-die' twice from black CS and glued them together. I did the same with the lid using white CS. To add some 'softness' I die-cut the cup label from some white felt and glued to the cup.
I then die-cut the face and tail pieces from black and white CS using the 'Huggable Critters' set. I die-cut the tail twice (for stability), glued them together and then to the back. I coloured the nose, mouth and inside of ears with Altenew Artist Markers and glued them all on the felt. I then used a hole-punch on the lid and added some pink ribbon.
For the dog I did the same for the tag using opposite black and white CS. And used grey CS for the label. I die-cut the tail, ears and face from black CS and glued into place. I used Gina K Connect Glue for both tags but found it soaked thru the dark felt (it was very cheap...). So to add some interest and cover up the glue, I got some leftovers from my hole-punches and glued them on. For this one I added some grey and white twine.
I love finding new ways to use my stamps and dies, so hope this has given you a few new ideas...... If your thinking you might like to buy the dies I used today, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself a few dollars!!
So happy to see you and I'll be back here again late this month with more project ideas from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! Its a public holiday for us in New Zealand today but unfortunately I had to work. I've spent months working on a huge garden for a wedding tomorrow (Friday) and been there every day this week doing last minute weeding and dead-heading of flowers. It looks amazing but kind of glad the pressure is now off.
I'm wanting to remind you today about our current theme for the TIME OUT challenge. Its all about being 'Affectionate' which means so many different things to people. It also means there are so many ways you can express it on your project, can't wait to see them all!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner. They are so generous!!
For my card I was actually inspired by a magazine I was reading at a doctors office this week. It showed all these gorgeous celebrities wearing dresses with a pink/red colour combo and I thought it looked amazing. So decided to try it out on my card with a touch of light blue:
Loving these colours together, will definitely be doing this combo again!!
I started off by white heat embossing the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Heart to Heart' stamp on watercolour CS. I then watercoloured the hearts using Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Candied Apple'. I also painted the circles with 'Tumbled Glass'. Once it had dried I fussy cut around the edges. I was going to put it on the card as one piece but realised I could create two smaller panels by cutting two rows from the middle, so did that instead.
I added a piece of grey CS to the card front and then popped the painted hearts on foam tape. For the sentiment I found some red CS similar to the red watercolour, so white heat embossed it (from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Pretty Posies') and put it on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'With Love'.
You have until Wednesday 12th February to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing some inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Mugdha of Craftomania has created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! Its been so hot here of late I've hardly been able to think, let alone make any cards. My craft area is in the hottest (and coldest) area of the house so sitting there just leaves you sweaty and exhausted. But the past few days have been the hottest so far this Summer, so no matter where I went with my MISTI and stamps, the urge to craft was way down on the list. Eating ice-cream and sitting in front of a fan was no. 1!!!
I can't believe its February already but that means it's also time for a new theme at The Flower Challenge!! This month its all about 'Adding Leaves'. I don't know about you but I get so giddy looking at floral images I do tend to forget about the leaves so its nice to give them some attention.
Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the incredible Galina Filippenko of Galachko. I've been a huge fan of her work for years so I very excited to have her cards on the blog this month.
I'm determined this year to not buy lots of new stamps and dies before I use the ones sitting on my desk untouched. I know I'm not the only one that does this and I'll probably break this rule very soon but I need to breathe life into the products that captured my heart enough for me to get out my wallet. So this card includes two new products:
After not making many cards for a while it was so much fun getting out my ink pads and stamping in front of the tv. And our new kitten 'Remy' was fascinated with what I was doing. Although, she loves sleeping on my desk and I found my first half-finished card today with a muddy paw in the middle of it......
Using my MISTI and Waffle Flower 'Chirp! Chirp!' green ink, I stamped the solid and outlines leaves from The Stamp Market 'Botannicals', putting the solid ones in the middle and filling the spaces out from there. I did this on a panel of white CS that I then put through my Cuttlebug with The Stamp Market 'Thank you' die, using the shadow die (it comes with the word die and shadow die). I then adhered the panel to the card front.
I found some green CS similar to the ink and die-cut the 'thank you' word dies from it 3x, glued them together and then glued in the 'shadow' die-cut holes. The flowers (from the same 'Botannicals' stamp set) were stamped with Waffle Flower inks 'You Said What?', 'New Fish in Pond' and 'Happy Go Lucky'. I stamped them all a few times each to get good coverage. I fussy cut them out and adhered in place, gluing a blue pearl and yellow pearl (from Studio Katia) in the middle. I then glued on some more to finish off.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Will also link to the Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge where their theme is 'Floral Frenzy'.
You have until Tuesday 25th February to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and I'll be back here on the 15th with another card covered in leaves to give you some more ideas. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there!! After getting heatstroke at the weekend I was extremely excited to have it try to rain today. It hasn't rained at all this year and the few raindrops that fell felt wonderful on my skin and brought the temperature down ALOT, so sleep tonight is going to be heavenly instead of sweaty.....
I've got a card to share with you today using one of the newly released stamp sets from Funky Fossil Designs. This was one of those situations where I have an idea for a card and I can't concentrate on any other designs until this one is created. Do you ever do that??? It will gnaw into my brain until I stamp it out, I even had dreams about it:
I'm so in love with the new 'Scandi Home A5 Clear Stamp set'. It has so many images and they all have a retro feel to them. When I saw the teapot and all the details it has with the little dots and flowers, I immediately imagined it in rainbow colours.
Using my MISTI and Waffle Flower inks I simply stamped the teapot across a panel of white CS, stamping each one a few times to get even coverage. I just used my eye to line up the images, its not perfect but I like it that way. I cut it slightly smaller than the card base and popped it up on a piece of white foam. I white heat embossed the sentiment (from Funky Fossil Design 'Pugs and Hugs') on a strip of black CS, put it on foam tape and glued 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'.
Time for bed! I've got another busy day tomorrow. I've been working on a garden for months, getting it ready for a wedding this coming Friday. Still a lot of trimming and dead heading of flowers to do to make it look perfect. And its only supposed to be around 18 degrees celcius tomorrow instead of the usual 32 so that will be so much better to work in.
Take care
Shona
