Hi everyone!! We have a Public Holiday today in New Zealand, which is strange in the middle of the week but its a chance to catch up on some gardening and housework jobs which is good. And its about 15 degrees cooler today than it has been the past few days, so nice to not be sweating every time I move!!
The current theme for the Simon Says Stamp - Flickr Challenge is 'Anything Goes' which is always everyone's favourite. Over the past weekend I stayed with my Mum and made a mountain of cards using a lot of my new SSS products from Christmas. I've been using the SSS 'Outline Floral Frame Die' for a lot of my cards lately and I wanted to see what else I could come up with. Dies like this (and background dies) are really expensive for me, so I like to see if I can find lots of ways to use it and get my monies worth:
I love the floral details of this die so much, especially in white against a coloured background so you can see all the little flowers etc. These were simple to put together and love the effect.
For this first card I using a mini-blending tool and Distress Oxide inks 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Spun Sugar' to create an ombre look on the card front. I die-cut the die from white CS and then chose where to cut the frame die so it reached across the top and bottom of the card. I used Gina K 'Connect Glue' to adhere these in each corner.
For the sentiment I white heat embossed the 'Love' from SSS 'Stained Glass Love' on a strip of vellum, folded it around the card front and adhered at the back with double-sided tape. I then stamped the smaller sentiment (from the same SSS set) with Versafine black ink and glued in place, along with some clear jewels from Studio Katia.
For this card I created an ombre background with Distress Oxide inks 'Mermaid Lagoon', 'Broken China' and 'Tumbled Glass'. I then worked out where to cut the die so they would meet in the middle and the outer corners. I glued them with Gina K 'Connect Glue' and cut off any overhang. I then white heat embossed another sentiment from SSS 'Stained Glass Love' on a strip of vellum, along with the smaller sentiment on white CS and glued on more clear jewels from Studio Katia.
I'm also going to link these to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is also 'Anything Goes'.
Better go hang out the washing and attack some of the hedges outside. The kids are just chilling out watching Netflix so I'm sure we will be jumping on the trampoline later. They only went back to school last week, so they really don't need a holiday already but they are milking it of course..... Love how they have no guilt at all about sitting round all day watching Netflix etc but if I have a day off I'm running around trying to fit in as many jobs as possible.....I need to have a 'Teenage Day off' without the guilt!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! The month of January has whooshed on by which means another month and another challenge theme at The Flower Challenge!!
I've been looking forward to this months theme as like many of you, I buy more than I use (especially lately....). So a challenge that's all about using your latest stamp and die purchases couldn't be more timely.....and I bet I'm not the only one with new products on their desk that haven't been touched yet...... You can use whatever theme you like on your project, you just need to have flowers as your main 'star' of the design.
I was very lucky to get a belated Christmas present from my family a few weeks ago from Simon Says Stamp. I don't purchase from them very often as the exchange rate makes the postage so expensive. Wish I lived closer to America!! They had a sale at the end of the year on dies for 'Die-cember' so I chose quite a few and I knew this one would be perfect for any of these challenges:
Light blue and white (especially Tiffany Blue) has always been a favourite colour combo of mine and when I purchased this floral die, I knew immediately that I wanted to create a background with it. Love it when your inspired that quickly!!
I started by using my mini-blending tool and Distress Oxide Ink 'Tumbled Glass' and colouring the card front. I then die-cut the Simon Says Stamp 'Flower Cluster' die around 8x from white CS. Using lots of little dots of Gina K 'Connect Glue' I worked out where to place all the dies so they were close together and filling in any gaps around the edge with the overhanging pieces. Took me a while to glue them all down but really happy with the 'lacy' look.
I wanted the sentiment to be big and simple, so I die-cut the SSS 'Your the Best' die from white CS. I also blended the same 'Tumbled Glass' Distress Oxide ink over some white CS and die-cut it again to get some blue letters. I glued on a scrap piece of CS behind it and inlaid the blue letters. This was popped up on a piece of white foam. For a bit of shine I added Glossy Accents to the letters and some clear and blue 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 Monday 25th February to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and for lots of ideas and inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Can't wait to see what you come up with (and what you've been buying......) in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there and welcome to my first blog post for February!! I can't believe we are already into our second month, I have a feeling that this year will fly by even faster than the last. Although this past week has been pretty long as we've had a heatwave. Its been extremely hard to work each day, the temperatures have been crazy to the point I jumped into someone's pool the other day when I finished their garden, with my clothes on.....it was heavenly!!
I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with a fiddly and different card for you. I haven't seen a card made like this before but I'm sure someone will have already come up with it somewhere in blogland. I thought about it in the shower the other night (I have some of my best ideas there.....) and have another idea to try out too. Let me know what you think:
Yes, lots and lots of die-cutting and this photo doesn't quite show how one-layer the card is (apart from the sentiment strip). Here's another photo:
Please excuse my dirty fingers and nails, the joys of being a gardener!! Now to show you how the card opens:
Tricked you!! And this is what it looks like when its completely open:
Here's how I put it together! I started off with a simple top-folding card base. I worked out that I could die-cut and fit 4x 'Lovely Links Fri-dies' across the front of the card base and it would leave room in between to cut the smaller card front. I used my paper trimmer to cut the front of the card and used double-sided tape to hold down the two side strips. I die-cut the link dies from white CS and glued them to the card. I then die-cut them a few times more from two types of pink and blue paint chips to get all the different heart and circle colours. These were all glued into place.
I wanted a simple sentiment that would stretch across the opening panel to help you open it. So I stamped a sentiment from 'Heartfelt Sayings' with Hero Arts 'Bubblegum' die ink and then clear heat embossed over it twice to add some shine. I popped it up across the panel with foam tape and then realised I had added too much over each side, so quickly cut some small pieces of white CS to put behind so it wouldn't stick shut.
To finish off I glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled and also stamped the sentiment on the inside (also from 'Heartfelt Sayings') with Versafine black ink.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
I really hope this card has given you some new design ideas to try out and if your itching to get your hands on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products I used today, use my special code to save yourself 15%.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here next week with some more card designs.
Take care
Shona
