Hi there everybody!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday with your family and friends. Ours was extremely quiet, involved lots of food and not so much swimming as the weather has been very cloudy but had fun nonetheless!!
I'm popping in with a quick reminder about our current TIME OUT challenge where we want you to be inspired by this phrase:
With each sunrise we are given a chance for a new beginning'
You can create a design inspired by the whole sentence or maybe just pick one word....its totally up to you!
We are lucky to have a Sponsor for this challenge Stamplorations. They are giving the winner of this challenge a $20 gift voucher and also $10 gift vouchers to the two honourable mentions. Talk about generous!!!
We also have a fabulous Guest Designer for this challenge Marina of My Perfect Life, who's cards are always a joy and is such a whizz with her CAS designs!!
As soon as I saw this phrase I was drawn to the 'sun' part of it and wishing we had more of it at the moment. And it was really nice to make a non-christmas card for a change:
I love this background stamp so much and have hardly used it, so the thought of yellow and flowers came to mind immediately for this challenge!!
This was so simple to create. I cut a piece of white CS the same size as the card front and stamped the background stamp in black ink. I then die-cut the 'hello' and also die-cut the 'sunshine' from a yellow paint chip. Once I worked out where the 'hello' would sit on the card, I adhered the rest of the yellow paint chip to the card front and popped the panel up on foam tape. The 'sunshine' was glued using my Quickie Glue Pen, as well as some yellow and clear sequins. Hello sunshine!!
The background stamp is from My Favourite Things 'Bundles of Blossoms' as well as the 'hello' word die. The 'sunshine' word die is from Simon Says Stamp and the 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 one more week to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing any help with inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer Marina have created for you. Look forward to seeing your 'sunshiny' projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Merry Christmas everybody!!! For us here in New Zealand its 5pm Christmas Day so I will undoubtedly be tired, still cleaning up and about 20 pounds heavier but will have had the most wonderful day with my family. Wherever you are in the world, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas Day filled with lots of laughter, food and happy children!!
I'm very excited to have my Girl Friday post for CAS-ual Fridays Stamps fall on Christmas Day, it gave me a chance to create another Christmas card as I totally ran out this year. I think I will definitely need to make more during next year so it doesn't happen again!!
I combined two loves for my card today. I love non-traditional colours for Christmas cards and one day I would love to have a white Christmas. Its Summertime here in New Zealand, so Christmas Day is all about bbq's, salads and swimming!!
This snowflake image is one of my favourites from the Bring on the Snowflakes stamp set, so I wanted to use it all over my card. I cut a panel of white CS slightly smaller than my card front and heat embossed the snowflake using clear embossing powder. I then grabbed my mini-blending tool and Distress Ink 'Picked Raspberry' to colour the panel.
Once the ink was dry, I used the large circle die from the Ornament Tag Fri-Dies to cut the shaker window. I worked out where the window would sit over the card front and stamped the sentiment from Mistletoe and Holly, heat embossing it in silver. A piece of clear acetate was adhered behind the shaker window and lots of foam tape placed on the panel. I arranged a small pile of sequins (from Neat and Tangled) on top of the sentiment and pushed the panel down overtop to seal the shaker. All I had to do then was glue on a few extra sequins and shake away to my hearts content!!
If any of these products catch your eye for next years Christmas cards or your planning on buying any CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products, don't forget to use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15%!!
I really hope you have the most amazing day today with your family and friends. And wish you all a happy, healthy and crafty 2017!!
Take care
Shona
Merry Christmas everyone!!!! I'm back with my fourth Winnie and Walter December 'Leading Lady' post, which for me gets published at 2am December 25th!!
I'm very lucky living in New Zealand as we are the very first country to see each new day, so I get to open my presents before most of you I'm afraid! So, Merry Christmas to everyone in my time-zone and to those elsewhere, I hope your all prepared for a fabulous day tomorrow!!
The theme for my fourth post is still Christmas and this time I'm looking at 'Heat Embossing'. I'm still amazed at the magic of my heat gun against the embossing powder and hardly any cards pass through my hands without getting the heat embossing treatment. Its so much fun!!
This pear image stamped and heat embossed so beautifully for a solid stamp and I love the blue with silver. Pop over to the Winnie and Walter blog to find out how I put this together and see my other two cards.
Don't forget to leave a comment on this blog post and my three other Leading Lady posts here, here and here to have a chance to win a $30 from Winnie and Walter. Wouldn't that be a wonderful way to start 2017!!!!
Enjoy your Christmas, eat lots, laugh lots and see you here for my final Leading Lady post next weekend!!
Mwah!
Shona
Hi there everyone!! I know your probably up to your elbows in Christmas cake and wrapping paper but we have one more challenge to inspire you this year at Just Add Ink. The challenge theme for this week is:
JUST ADD 'N'
You can create whatever theme or design you like on your project, just as long as you can show you've used something starting with 'N'. For example is could be a colour, a name, a word etc. Its totally up to you!
Because I'm totally in 'Christmas' mode, the first thing that came to mind for me was 'Noel' and then the colour 'Navy', what could be better for a Christmas card:
It was so wonderful to finally make a card. I've been so busy for the the past few weeks with work, I hadn't made any. It also gave me the chance to use a brand new stamp set that hadn't seen any ink as of yet!
This was pretty simple to make and you could create the same card many times, just with a different background ink. I stamped the 'noel' and snowflake images randomly over the card front using Hero Arts Shadow Ink in 'Navy'. The tree image and sentiment were stamped and heat embossed using Ranger Embossing Powder 'Silver' and fussy cut out. Both were popped up on foam tape and I added some dark blue sequins from Avery Elle and clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
All of the the stamps are from Studio Katia 'Origami Winter' which is a company (in Canada) I discovered a few months ago. They have the most amazing stamps and the dies are in such modern shapes. They also have a HUGE range of sequins. I really suggest you pop over and take a look!!
You have until Wednesday December 28th to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. And if you can't think of anything that starts with 'N', pop over to the blog to see what the rest of Design Team have created for you. Looking forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! I'm back on the Winnie and Walter blog again with my 3rd post as their December Leading Lady.
I'm still running with a Christmas card theme but this time I wanted to concentrate on 'Metallic' designs!
This is one of my favourite cards from the post and involves heat embossing, die-cutting and distress ink blending. Pop over to the Winnie and Walter blog to find out how I put it together and see my other metallic designs.
Please don't forget to leave a comment on this blog post and my other two Leading Lady blog posts to have a chance to win yourself a $30 gift card from Winnie and Walter. Wouldn't that be a great way to start the new year!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I know how busy it is at this time of year, so I really appreciate it. I will be back with my 4th post next Saturday, hope you have some time to take a look!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone and welcome to our last challenge of the year at Addicted to Stamps and More!!!
As you can see, our challenge theme this week is 'Clean and Simple', which is my absolute favourite card to make, so I'm a very happy card maker indeed!! 'Clean and Simple' means to create a project that doesn't have piles of layers, has a simple design, not many embellishments etc. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Our Sponsor this week is Happy Little Stampers and they are giving a $15 gift certificate to the winner....yippee!!
For my card I just had to create a Christmas card (I still don't have enough!!) and use a 'coffee theme' for a particular reason:
My friend Amy has excelled herself again and created the 2016 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop so I just had to create a card to take part!
I started off by stamping my image in black ink and then stamping again with Versamark Ink so I could heat emboss in clear. This was done on water colour CS so I could then get out my Ziggies and paint away an evening. Once this had dried I fussy cut it out. At the same time I also stamped a santa hat and coloured/fussy cut it out as well. This was then glued to the little boys head.
Using plain white CS, I die-cut the stitched rectangle and heat embossed the sentiment in gold. This was popped up on foam tape along with some gold sequins. And the little boy was put on foam tape as well. Simple and Christmassy!!
The sequins and stitched rectangle die are from Pretty Pink Posh. The sentiment is from My Favourite Things 'Hug in a Mug' and so is the santa hat from 'Beast Friends'. The boy image is from Neat and Tangled 'Big Bold Brew'.
You have until Wednesday 21st December to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge and if you need any help with ideas or inspiration, please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of my amazing team mates have created for you. Can't wait to see all the CAS goodness in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! I'm very excited to be back again with another post on the Winnie and Walter blog as their Leading Lady for December!
The theme for this post is about backgrounds and how to create them yourself using die-cuts and stamping.
This is one of the cards you will see using a repeated stamping technique and my MISTI. I'd love to know what you think about this card and the others that I've shared.
Don't forget to leave me a comment on this blog post and my other Leading Lady blog posts for chance to win a $30 Winnie and Walter gift card.
Thanks so much and see you all again next weekend with my 3rd Leading Lady post!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! Its my turn this month for my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps
'Girl Friday' blog post.
I'm in total 'Christmas Card Panic' mode, as once again I've realised that I don't have enough cards to send out. So any chance I have to make one more, I totally jump at. So Christmas is my theme, as well as coming up with a design that looks great but could also be quickly and in large quantities:
I always think pastel coloured Christmas cards look so pretty, so my colour scheme was born!!
Using my MISTI and the smaller Christmas tree stamp from the 'Snowflake Splendor' stamp set, I stamped the tree's twice in their four different colours. Each tree was then fussy cut, given a good coating of Wink of Stella and popped up on foam tape. To keep it simple I heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in silver. Clean, modern and pretty!
This would be a fantastic card to make in bulk and you could make the colours whatever you like. I've already made a few more!!
I have three challenges I would like to link this too:
Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge (O'Christmas Tree)
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
Uniko Studio Challenge # 38
Don't forget that if you are wanting to purchase the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps stamp set I used today or any other of their products, you can use my special 'Girl Friday Code' to save yourself 15%. And at this time of year every dollar counts!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and will see you again soon on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog.
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone and welcome to our third monthly challenge at The Flower Challenge!!
This month's theme is to 'Use and old stamp/die/stencil'. It could be a stamp that you haven't used for ages or maybe a die you've had for a long time and never actually used. It will give you a chance to give some love to a long forgotten floral product.
I thought this would the perfect time to use a stamp that I've had for AGES but never used at all. I absolutely love the image and thought I could try to turn it into a christmas poinsettia:
I stamped and heat embossed the image on a piece of water colour CS in gold. I then used my Gansai Tambi water colour paints in red to colour the flowers and a little green to colour the leaves. I decided not to put any colour on the branches at all. The panel was cut to size and then popped up on foam tape. I wanted a very simple sentiment, so stamped and heat embossed it in white on black CS and put in on foam tape as well. Absolutely love how it turned out!!
The floral stamp is from Hero Arts 'Large Blossom' and the sentiment from Neat and Tangled 'Santa's Ride'.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
As its December the challenge will finish on December 20th. For any inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. I can't wait to see what you come up with in the Gallery!!!!
Take care
Shona
Well, I've been dying for this day to come around (and been a bit nervous I admit). Its been so hard not to share with you all that I'm the Winnie and Walter Leading Lady for December!!!!
I still can't believe it and keep pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming or not. And what a way to end the year, especially amongst all the drama of our recent earthquakes. Thank you so much Shay for taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity!!
Here is one of the cards I have in my post on the Winnie and Walter blog. To find out how I put it together and see my other three cards, pop over to the blog for the details.
I'm also very excited that I get to giveaway a $30 Winnie and Walter Gift Voucher. Please leave a comment on this blog post and the four other Leading Lady posts on my blog, each Saturday this month. I will randomly pick someone from all of the comments and contact them so they can go shopping. Good Luck!!
I really hope you enjoy all the cards I've created and there are five Saturdays in December so you will be sick of me by the end of the month!! I hope you will follow along with my W&W adventure and see you next Saturday with more Winnie and Walter goodness!
Take care
Shona
I know the title of this post doesn't give much away (its not supposed too....) but I wanted to let you know that there is something rather fabulous happening over at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog and I suggest you go and have a look!!!
Its all very hush-hush and I'm not allowed to even give you a hint. I can though give you a sneaky peek of my card, which you'll see on the blog:
So what are you waiting for???? Rush over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog to see whats going on!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone! I can't believe its the first of December already, I'm so not prepared for Christmas, feels like I just got over last Christmas!! And I still haven't made enough Christmas cards, so the current Time Out Challenge is oh so handy to build up my stash!! The theme for this challenge is:
CHRISTMAS with optional twist of shimmer/glitter
I think Christmas cards and glitter go together like coffee and cake, so I was more than happy to create for this one. And I can see that many of you have felt the same way as the Gallery is packed with glittery goodness!!
We are very lucky to have Uniko as the Sponsor of this challenge and they will give a gift voucher to a randomly picked 'twister'. Lucky them!!
I couldn't wait to get out my glitter paper for this one and felt that some die-cutting was in order:
I realised that I had a whole lot of small pieces of glitter paper, so decided to cut them into strips and adhere them to a scrap piece of white CS. This way I could die-cut the tree design without the strips coming apart. I used a wavy-stitched die to cut a panel of white CS and stamped the sentiment in grey. A piece of silver glitter paper was adhered to the card front, with the white panel glued over-top. All I had to do then was pop the tree's up on foam tape and add some sequins.
I really liked the design and decided to make some pink tree's as well. I'm trying to take a leaf out of Jennifer McGuire's book and make at least two cards when coming up with one design. It's not as hard as what I thought as you already have everything out you need, so will see how long I can keep it up!!
The pink, blue and green glitter paper is from DCWV 'Glitzy Pastels Stack'. The silver glitter paper is from American Crafts. The tree die is from Memory Box 'Pine Trio' and unfortunately I don't know where the stitched hill die is from. The sentiment is from Ellen Hutson 'Mistletoe and Holly' and the sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this card to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where their theme is 'O Christmas Tree'.
Will also link to the Uniko Studio November Challenge where their theme is:
You have one more week to link your projects to the TIME OUT Challenge and for any help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Valentyna have created for you. Can't wait to see you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! Its the last day of November (eeek, haven't even started my Xmas shopping yet....) and also time for a new challenge theme at Addicted to Stamps and More! This weeks theme used to be one of my least favourites but with a lot more practice, I now really look forward to it:
For this challenge we are looking for designs where you have done some colouring yourself. You could use pencils, water colours, Copics, pastels etc....whatever is your favourite to colour with!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is the fabulous Paper Smooches and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner. How cool is that!!!!!
I've been playing around with some stamp images lately to see if I can give them a 'Xmas twist'. This is one of my favourites (and not only because it has a donut on it...but it does look delicious):
I love all that colour against the white background, really makes my little donut girl jump right off the page!! This card would be a perfect one for me to receive, I would love to get a donut for Xmas big enough to put my head thru, preferably from Dunkin Donuts....I would be in heaven........
This was super simple to put together. I stamped the donut girl image and the hat in black on some white CS, coloured with some pencils and then fussy cut. The hat was glued in place and then she was popped up on foam tape on the card front. I also added some Nuvo Drops in 'White' to her hat to give it more dimension (a bit hard to see in the photo).
To make more of a focal point, I die-cut the frame twice from white CS, glued together and then adhered to the card. And then I simply stamped the sentiment in black. Clean and simple to a 'T'!!
The donut-girl image is from Neat and Tangled 'Say Yes to Donuts', as well as the sentiment from 'Merry Little Christmas'. The frame die is from Pretty Pink Posh, as well as the hat image from 'Winter Friends'.
I'm going to link this to the CAS on Sunday Challenge # 97 where their theme is 'Christmas'.
You have until Wednesday 7th December to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge. And if your struggling for 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 you in the Gallery!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody and welcome to another Friday and new challenge at Just Add Ink!! We have a very cool inspiration photo for you this week:
You could take inspiration from the colours, the brushes or go water colour crazy.....its totally up to you!!
These are colours I would never think to put together and I loved the idea of brushstrokes on my card, so this is what I came up with:
I've always love making Christmas cards in 'non-traditional' colours and I desperately need some more to send out, so thought this could make a pretty background.
I also finally tried out some new water colour paper from Rosies Studio. It comes in a big 12/12 pad with gold and clear embossed patterns already on it. Stars and Christmas always seem to go together so I simply brushed colours from my Gansai Tambi water colour set across the paper until I was happy with the blending.
After drying with my heat gun I cut it to size and adhered to my card front. To carry on the 'gold' theme I die-cut the 'holidays' (from Studio Calico) from gold CS and glued it in place. For the 'happy' I stamped and heat embossed a stamp from Simon Says Stamp 'Christmas' in gold, cut into shape and adhered to the card. And of course I had to add a few more gold sequins (from Pretty Pink Posh) as you can never have too much bling!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Christmas to Die for'.
You have until next Wednesday 30th November to add your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. And if your stuck for ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you, you won't be disappointed!! Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
