Friday 30 March 2018

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge - Entry #2

Just back from playing basketball with Max. He's so good but I keep trying and one day I'll be a good match for him one-on-one. I'm so hot and sweaty so thought I would sit down for a moment before tackling some gardening and share another Christmas card with you.





With the current Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge being 'Anything Goes', I thought I would share with you another Christmas card I created with 'nontraditional' Christmas colours:


Will have to earmark this card for my daughter Phoebe for Christmas as she is mad about Llama's!!

I started by stamping the llama and presents with black ink on white CS. I coloured them with pencils and fussy cut out.

Since the llama is coloured with pastel colours, I decided to try a pastel background but make it more graphic by using a solid triangle stamp and ink pads from Waffle Flower. I cut a panel of white CS and using my MISTI I eye balled stamping the triangles down the middle, stamping each colour twice for good coverage.

I cut the stamped panel to be a bit slimmer, added some strips of grey CS under each side and  then adhered to a card base. The presents were glued in place and the llama put on foam tape. I stamped the sentiment in grey ink of a strip of white CS, put it on foam tape and added some sequins for shine.

The llama is from Neat and Tangled 'Fa La Llama' and the presents from Mama Elephant 'A Beary Christmas'. The triangle stamp is from Neat and Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints Christmas' and the sentiment is also from Neat and Tangled 'Santa's ride. And of course the sequins are also from Neat and Tangled too!!

Another Christmas card for the very small stash I have so far this year. Must make sure I create some more each month so its not a big rush in October/November. I'm going to go outside now and tend to my own garden. There is so much to do now we've hit Autumn but you wouldn't know it with the hot weather lately!!

Take care
Shona
 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

Its Good Friday here in New Zealand and a gloriously hot and sunny day. I'm off to play basketball with Max at the school down the road shortly but thought I would show you all this crazy Christmas card I came up with!!





This week is the ever popular 'Anything Goes' theme at the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge  which I thought would be a brilliant place to enter this Christmas card:


Isn't this hippo the cutest??!! I love her pink swimsuit (which I could see the top of the bikini...) and her juicy watermelon matches her Santa hat!!  In New Zealand we have Christmas in the middle of Summer, so our holiday is all about swimming, eating Summer fruits and being outside. I thought this would be perfect to send to a friend in NZ or Australia!

To create the beach I used my mini-blending tool and Waffle Flower 'Coffee Loves Milk' dye ink and coloured the bottom of the card. I did the same for the water/sky using Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' and to add a bit more interest I flicked on some water and pressed with a tissue.

I stamped the hippo and sandcastle images (from Neat and Tangled 'Beach Day'), the present (from Mama Elephant 'A Beary Christmas') and the Santa hat (from Pretty Pink Posh 'Winter Friends') with black ink on some white CS. I coloured them with pencils, fussy cut out and adhered to the card front, putting the hippo on foam tape. The sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Scandinavian Prints Christmas') was stamped on a strip of white CS and popped on foam tape, along with some sequins also from Neat and Tangled.

Better go and limber up for basketball. I'm not the best at playing but I'm pretty good at shooting baskets. Max is trying to teach me to bounce the ball thru my legs but my big butt keeps getting in the way. Longer legs would be so good right now......

Take care
Shona
 

Monday 26 March 2018

MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge #377

After three days of constant rain the sun has finally returned and today was just glorious!! Well, it was glorious for me, not so much for my daughter Phoebe who I suddenly had to collect from school after being there for 1 hour as she had developed a migraine. I got her home and into her bedroom just in time for her to vomit all over her floor. The poor thing!! I got her into bed with a bowl while I worked on the carpet. She was sick quite a few times into the afternoon but now its 9.30pm she has finally stopped. She tried taking a new migraine tablet this morning as her vision started blurring before school but unfortunately it didn't work at all, so back to the drawing board.....



I spent this past weekend with my Mum and crafted up a storm while watching Scandal on dvd. I knew I wanted to make at least one card for the current MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge and wanted to try out a new background stamp I was dying to ink up:


I've wanted this MFT Stamps 'Marble' background stamp for so long and kept imagining it blended with pink, so I had to get this made so my brain could work on other ideas for this stamp!! Does anyone else have this happen?? Once my brain has decided on how to use a stamp/die etc I can't come up with any other designs until I've physically made it. Quite frustrating.......

I stamped the marble stamp with Versamark Ink and heat embossed in white on a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. Then using my mini-blending tool and Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Worn Lipstick' I created an ombre effect. Once I was happy I used a waffle-edged rectangle die from MFT Stamps 'Blueprints #27' die set and adhered to the card front. 

For some graphic embellishment I used the MFT Stamp 'Colour Drop' dies with some pink and peachy shades of paint chips. These were glued together in bunches and then to the card front. The sentiment (from MFT Stamps 'You Give me Butterflies') was heat embossed in white on a strip of black CS die-cut with a fishtail die also from the 'Blueprints #27' die set. I popped this on some foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

Its nearly 10pm and time for bed. I have a short week this week with Friday being a holiday (Good Friday) so have to squeeze in quite a few gardens before the long weekend. The good weather is supposed to last well into next week so will be wonderful for the weekend. Our daylight savings finishes on Saturday night so will have to make the most of our time outside after dinner this week. Lots of trampoline jumping and dog walking I think!!

Take care
Shona
 

Friday 23 March 2018

Altenew March Inspiration Challenge - Entry # 2

Its not very often I get the chance to make more than one entry for a challenge, so even though I was missing out on work yesterday, it gave me more time to relax and think of a few other ideas for my card! Usually I'm rushing to make it at the last minute, so its nice to create in a calm space....





I was still thinking about this colour combo for the Altenew March Inspiration challenge and couldn't get away from picturing flowers in these colours. So I created a card with lots of flowers, especially in my favourite colour:


I stamped the background for this card first, using my MISTI, Waffle Flower 'Daydreaming' ink and Altenew 'Adore You' stamp set. Using the Altenew 'Peony Dream 3D dies' I die-cut some paint chips in peachy and pink colours. They were glued together with a soft yellow paint chip used for the middle of the flower. This was popped on some foam tape on the card front, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled. The sentiment (from Altenew 'Frosted Garden') was heat embossed in white on a strip of black CS and put on foam tape too.

I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Floral Frenzy'.


I better start packing up my car to head over to my Mum's house. I take so much stuff with me, more than what I really need but I'm always worried I won't have a product to make a particular design. Sometimes if I get a design idea in my head, I can't make anything else until I've made that card, so wouldn't want to be stuck like that for a whole weekend!!!

Take care
Shona
 

Your Next Stamp Challenge # 85 - Entry #2

Yesterday while it was dark, gloomy and raining I kept thinking how only the day before it had been so hot and sunny. Mother Nature sure can be fickle but it got me inspired to try and capture some sunshine on a card!





When I was creating my first card entry for the current Your Next Stamp challenge, I coloured a few other images from the 'Insanely Happy' stamp set and I thought one in particular would be perfect for a sunny card:


When I was a little girl I had very golden, blonde hair and I spent hours skating up and down the street, and our driveway, in my metal 'extendable' skates. It was so much fun and even though I fell over ALOT, I still kept on going!! Wish I still had some skates now....

I grabbed the MFT Stamps 'Radiating Rays' stencil, along with some Distress Inks 'Worn Lipstick', 'Spiced Marmalade' and 'Mustard Seed'. I adhered the stencil over the card front and blended away till I was happy with the 'sunshine'. I popped the image (which had already been coloured with pencils and fussy cut) on some foam tape and stamped the sentiment and music notes, all from the same stamp set. And for a bit more shine I glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

Its still raining here today (Friday) and supposed to keep doing so till Sunday. Maybe I need to make a few more of these cards and put them around the house to bring the sunshine in!!

Take care
Shona
 

Altenew March Inspiration Challenge - Entry #1

Its rain, rain and more rain here at the moment!! I was hoping they were wrong with the weather report but it was spot on and rain arrived overnight to soak us Thursday morning. The unfortunate thing was I left my car out of the garage with the drivers window open and my seat and floor is absolutely soaked! I spent all day yesterday going into the garage every hour to work on it with my hair dryer, towels and paper towels. Its a bit better today but when I go out later I will have to sit on some plastic to save myself from having pants that look like I just had an accident!!

The good thing about the rain though is that I was home yesterday and able to create a few cards. I especially wanted to join the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge as the colours are so pretty!!





See what I mean?! How could I resist??!!! For some reason I immediately thought of a graphic pattern when I saw these colours and this is what I came up with:


I always find it amazing that I'm able to eyeball stamps in a pattern but can hardly see my tv on the other side of the room!! Really need to get my eyes tested but will probably only do that when it affects my stamping LOL!!

I don't have many Altenew ink pads unfortunately but I did have three that matched the challenge: Peach Perfect, Ocean Waves and Puffy Heart. I used the largest triangle stamp from Altenew 'Sohcahtoa' and my fabulous MISTI to stamp across the card front.

I finally decided it was time to use my new Altenew 'Peony Dream 3D Dies' along with some shades of blue paint chips, and glued together this flower, using a soft yellow paint chip for the middle. This was adhered to the card front, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled and the stamped sentiment from Altenew 'Floral Shadow'.

I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Floral Frenzy'.


I've got two more cards to share with you before I whizz off to my Mum's for the weekend. Will be so good to hang out with her, binge watch some dvd's and create to my hearts content. Bliss!!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday Post - March

Oooh its getting closer to the end of the week, thank goodness!! We've had the most beautiful weather this week but its supposed to be turning to rain...lots of rain...for the next few days. But that's okay for me as I'm going to stay with my Mum for the weekend and craft my heart out!!

For my 'Girl Friday' post today on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog, I wanted to try out a technique I don't do very often, and combine some older and brand new products:


This little birdie is from the latest release stamp set Little Birdies and the image is actually three birds standing on top of each other. So far I haven't used the image in its original form (I keep cutting the birds apart...) but I promise I will stamp them in a complete state soon!

I started by stamping the bird in black on white CS, colouring him in with my pencils and fussy cutting out. I really wanted to try out some dry embossing with dies, which is a technique I don't use enough of. I cut a panel of white CS and using my Cuttlebug and embossing mat, I embossed the circle/flower shaped die strip from the Funfetti Fri-dies  from the top, to the bottom of the panel, just eyeballing them as I went. I was going to leave it like that but ended up by die-cutting with one of the smaller Bubble Box Fri-dies.

To make the white dry embossing stick out more, I cut one of the bigger Bubble Box Fri-dies from black CS and adhered to the card front. The embossed shape was put on foam tape, as well as the bird. I heat embossed the sentiment from the Little Birdies stamp set in gold on black CS and put on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.



If your interested in purchasing any of the items I used today or any others from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps dont' forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!





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

Take care
Shona
 

 

Thursday 22 March 2018

Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge #105

I can't believe its our 4th birthday at TIME OUT!! I went back through my emails and found the original one Sandie sent to me asking if I would like to join the Design Team....its from July 2014!! This was the first DT I joined and never see myself leaving (Sandie will have to pull me out kicking and screaming....lol). They are such a wonderful team to work with and I'm very honoured to be part of this group. And to see how much the challenge has grown over the four years is incredible!!!





So for our challenge theme we have this quote to inspire you. You could make a birthday card, something with lots of sunshine or maybe a funny sentiment....its totally up to you!

And we are so excited to have Concord and 9th as the Sponsors of this challenge. They are giving the winner a $25 gift voucher to their store!! And they were incredibly generous to our Design Team, giving us products to use for this challenge. Thank you so much!!




For my card design I knew I wanted to have gold be a big feature, as it seems like a 'celebratory' colour. I did have the idea to do some watercolouring too but that idea went out the window when I saw how beautiful the image was after being heat embossed:


This is the most amazing stamp and die set (Wonderful Florals Bundle) and I can't believe its living at my house!!

I stamped the floral image on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS with Versamark Ink and heat embossed in gold. I used the matching die to cut it out and then the 'wonderful' word die'. I thought some dark pink would go well with the gold, so I die-cut the word from dark pink CS and inlaid into the image with washi tape to hold it in place behind. 

I stamped two of the singular flowers on the dark pink CS, heat embossed in gold and die-cut them out. These were popped on foam tape to add more dimension and colour. The sentiments were stamped in black on white CS strips and adhered in place. I didn't have a 'birthday' stamp from Concord and 9th so I used one from My Favourite Things 'Beary Birthday'.

The card front was just too plain in white, so I used a piece of gold-floral vellum from Rosies Studio, adhering with double-sided tape carefully with very thin strips. The image was put on top with foam tape and I glued on some gold sequins from Neat and Tangled.

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


You have until Wednesday 28th March to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if your lacking in the 'inspiration' department, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our talented Guest Design Claire of Life on the Scrap Heap have created just for you. 

Thank you everyone for your support of Time Out over the past four years and here's to many more challenges to come!!

Take care
Shona

Tuesday 20 March 2018

Your Next Stamp Challenge # 85

It has been the most beautiful and hot day today. Its 6.37pm and still very warm, you would never think it was Autumn!! Its supposed to start raining from tomorrow afternoon onwards and get cold but for now I'm still hanging on to Summer!





I received some Your Next Stamp stamp sets a while ago and have only used one of them. They have been sitting on my desk amongst other new sets and I thought it was about time I gave them the attention they deserve! I saw the current sketch for the Your Next Stamp Challenge # 85 and came up with a design straight away:
 


I've had five Distress Oxide Ink pads sitting in my drawer for months but never used them because I love using the original Distress Inks. Well, after creating this rainbow background I may never go back to the originals again..... Why did I wait so long???

I stamped the images from Your Next Stamp 'Insanely Happy' with black ink onto some white CS, coloured them with my pencils and fussy cut out. I also stamped the sentiment from the same set on a strip of white CS and put foam tape on the back.

Because the sentiment mentions 'happy place' I just had to use a rainbow of colour somewhere on my card, as a rainbow always makes me happy. I cut a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS the same size as my card front and used a stitched-waffle edge die from Pretty Pink Posh along the top. Then, using my mini-blending tool, I created the rainbow background with the Distress Oxide Inks. They certainly do blend beautifully but I will need more practice as I kept getting finger marks all over it.

The panel was put on foam tape over the card front. I added the sentiment and put the images on foam tape as well. And of course to finish off I added a 'rainbow' of sequins from Neat and Tangled.

Its dinnertime so better rustle up something for the savages (otherwise known as Phoebe and Max). Poor Max has been home sick again for the past two days. He picked up another virus after just starting to get over the first one but his cough has gotten worse. We are trying out some different inhalers to see if he can finally get a good nights sleep (me too....). He will be home again tomorrow, thank goodness for my Mum being available to look after him. I owe her millions of dollars in baby sitting fees!!

Take care
Shona
 

Saturday 17 March 2018

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March New Release Day 5

Well, what an amazing week its been! Its been so much fun sharing the New Release products from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps with you all. Today is our last day and we have two more products to share!

Introducing Little Birdies stamp set and Birdies Fri-dies: 



I love these little birdies so much and the sentiments go with them perfectly. For my card I was actually dying to cut them up but in a humane way of course:


Gotta love a card with rainbow colours, makes me smile every time!!

To start off I stamped and heat embossed the birdies in white on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. After carefully cutting them apart,  I watercoloured each bird with a pair of Distress Inks - 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Abandoned Coral', 'Mermaid Lagoon' and 'Twisted Citron', and 'Mustard Seed' and 'Spiced Marmalade'. I wanted the colours to blend in the middle and to make them as bright as possible, so I dried them with my heat gun and repeated the painting process a few times.

While they were drying I die-cut the smallest tag die from Tag Buddies Fri-dies from some black CS and also twice from white CS. I glued them all together in three lots and adhered them to the card front. Then each bird was popped up on foam tape. I then stamped the three sentiments with black ink and glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

That's it, that's all the products from the March New Release. I hope you love them as much as I do. They are all available in the shop now and if you use my Girl Friday code you can save yourself 15%!!





If you'd like to see more ways to use the New Release products, pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog to see what the other Girl Fridays have created.

Thanks so much for coming by this week, its been wonderful to see you all. And I'm sure I'll be back here again very soon with some more cards to share.

Take care
Shona
 

 

Friday 16 March 2018

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March New Release Day 4

Welcome back to the March New Release with CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!! We are up to Day 4 of the release with another stamp set and dies to share with you.

Introducing the Pretty Passover Stamp set and Star of David Fri-dies: 


 I think this stamp set is so beautiful, especially the font that's used. Makes me wish I had some Jewish friends in New Zealand to send some cards too. If you happen to be Jewish and would like to receive some cards from me to celebrate Passover and Hannukah, please let me know!!

Since Passover is a Spring celebration I wanted to make sure this card was pretty and colourful, just like all the Spring flowers:


 I started by cutting a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS the same size as my card front. In the middle I stamped and heat embossed the floral star in gold. Using Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Twisted Citron', 'Mustard Seed', 'Mermaid Lagoon', 'Spiced Marmalade' and 'Abandoned Coral' I watercoloured over each point of the star, blending the colours together to each side and the middle. I wanted it to be very bright so I dried it with my heat gun and reapplied the watercolour around 3x. Once it was dry I adhered it to the card front.

Next I cut a panel of white CS the same size as the card base. To help me work out where to die-cut so it would sit over the star, I put the die on top of the star, laid the panel on top and marked with pencil where I could see the star points underneath. I then die-cut the panel (using the larger star die), put lots of foam tape behind it and placed over the painted star. The sentiment was simply stamped with black ink on some white CS and popped on foam tape, along with sequins from Neat and Tangled.

If your itching to do some shopping for these new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products, they are all available right now. And if you use my special Girl Friday code you can save yourself some money!!





I hope you've enjoyed seeing all of these new products so far. If you pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog you can see more projects from the Girl Fridays and I'm sure they will inspire you to do some shopping!! We have one more day to go, see you back here tomorrow for Day 5!

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: The Flower Challenge #18

Hi there! Its nearly the end of the week, yippee! The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous for nearly seven days straight, so I've been flat out trying to catch up on everyone's gardening needs. As you can imagine I'm not the only one enjoying the good weather, so have the weeds!!

I'm just popping in to remind you about our current theme at The Flower Challenge. Its everyone's favourite 'Anything Goes' theme this month and the Gallery is packed with such a variety of floral gorgeousness!!




I recently received a new stamp set that I've been colouring like crazy! I've already created a card using these flowers but I couldn't resist using the rest with a different design:


I had the idea for this card while walking Bella along the riverbank. It won't be very good for sitting on a shelf somewhere but thought it was kind of cool! 

I started by stamping and heat embossing the flowers and leaves (from Avery Elle 'Floral Bouquet') in white on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then sat down and watched some more of Scandal Season 3 while I coloured away with my Altenew Alcohol Markers Set A. Once I was finished I cut them all out with the matching dies.

Using a curved-stitched die from Pretty Pink Posh, I cut a curve on the card front. I cut a piece of grey CS and to make sure I cut the same curve, I put it under the card front and made pencil marks where the die would sit. I was able to match it up and die-cut it perfectly. This was then adhered to the card front.


I played around with the flower arrangement for a while and took a photo of the end result. This made it easy for me to put back together with double-sided tape. The sentiment (from the same Avery Elle stamp set) was stamped in black and I glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

You have until Sunday 25th March to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your needing more inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what my talented team mates have created for you. You won't be disappointed! And remember there is a prize for the winner of this challenge, details are on the blog. See you in the Gallery!

Take care
Shona

Thursday 15 March 2018

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March New Release Day 3

Hello again everybody and welcome to Day 3 of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  March New Release!!

I've been looking forward to this day for all you tea drinkers out there. I know coffee is extremely popular but I have a husband who drinks copious cups of tea each day and I'm sure there are many of you like that, so these sets are for you!

Introducing the Serendipi-tea Stamp Set and Teapot Fri-dies:


Love this set so much, the heart details are the adorable and the sentiments couldn't be more perfect!! For my card design I was inspired by my husbands tea consumption and just had to use this sentiment:


This is the cutest little tea-cup and saucer and I couldn't stop at colouring just one!!

I started off by stamping the tea-cup 8x on some white CS, die-cut them with the matching die and coloured using my Faber Castell pencils.  For the background I wanted some detail but not in colour (so not to compete with the cups) so I stamped the Full on Floral background stamp in black ink and adhered the cups with double-sided tape.

I think this sentiment is so perfect for a crafting tea-drinker, so I stamped and heat embossed it in gold on white CS and popped on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.

All of the New Release items are available right now from the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Shop and if you use my special code you can save 15% on your purchase!!





I'm also going to link this to The Cat's Pyjama's Challenge #344 where their theme is 'Coffee/Tea'.


Thanks so much for coming by. Make sure you check out the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog to see what the other Girl Fridays have created with the new sets. They have some incredible projects to inspire you!! See you back here tomorrow for Day 4 of the Release!

Take care
Shona
 

Wednesday 14 March 2018

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March New Release - Day 2

Hi everyone and welcome to Day 2 of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  March Release!! Today we have a really fun stamp and die set for you!!

Introducing More Cowbell stamp set and Cowbell Fri-dies: 


Aren't they fantastic?!!!! They immediately reminded me of a old Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walkin and it was all about 'Needs more Cowbell!!'
Since that sketch was set in 1976, I decided to give my card a flowery 70's feel:


I die-cut the large cowbell fri-die from some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I stamped the Full on Floral stamp set over top with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I then set myself up with a dvd and some markers (including Altenew Alcohol Markers Set A) and coloured in the majority of the flowers. Once I had finished I popped it up on foam tape on the card front.

Using the 'more cowbell' fri-dies I die-cut them from a dark pink paint chip and also twice more from white CS. I glued them all together for a bit of dimension and then to the cowbell. I cut a strip of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and stamped the rest of the sentiment with black ink and put on foam tape, along with some co-ordinating sequins from Neat and Tangled. 

The good news is that all the New Release products are available in the shop right now, so if you decide to go shopping, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!





Don't forget to pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog to see what the rest of the Girl Fridays have created with these new products. And I'll see you back here tomorrow for Day 3!!

Take care
Shona
 



 

Tuesday 13 March 2018

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March Release - Day 1

Hello, hello everyone and welcome to Day 1 of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  March New Release!!! We have so many fabulous stamps and dies to share with you over the next five days, your going to love it!!

Let me introduce to you Somebunny and Bunny Fri-dies: 



Aren't they the cutest???!! These little bunnies are so sweet and can be used for so many different types of cards, especially with all the thoughtful sentiments. I really needed some birthday cards for my stash and couldn't wait to colour the bunny and balloon images:


I had so much fun making this card and even tried something different to create the sky background!!

I used the largest of the Bubble Box Fri-die on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. Using a large round brush and Distress Ink 'Mermaid Lagoon' I brushed the colour across the die-cut, leaving it to sit for a few seconds and then pressing a tissue on it to remove some of the colour. I dried it with my heat gun and repeated the process a few more times to get the effect I was after. Once I was finished and dried it, I added it to the card front with a piece of white foam behind it.

I stamped the bunny on some white CS and coloured with pencils. I wanted three balloons so stamped just the balloon twice more on white CS, coloured with my favourite pencils and then used the dies to cut them out. I glued the balloons together in a bunch and then adhered a piece of twine behind them and the bunnies hand. These were all put on foam tape.

The sentiment was simply stamped on white CS with black ink and put on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled. And for a bit more sparkle I used my Wink of Stella on the bunny's tummy and tail.

All of the new products are available from today and if you decide to do any shopping, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself 15% off your order!!





Pop over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog  to see what the rest of the amazing 'Girl Fridays' have created with these new products and you'll also have the chance to win something for yourself too!!

I'll see you back here tomorrow for Day 2 of the March New Release. Happy shopping!!!

Take care
Shona
 

Thursday 8 March 2018

Reminder: Time Out Challenge # 104

Hi there everyone, hope your fine and dandy!! I'm popping in with a quick reminder about our current challenge at TIME OUT!






That's right, we want you to create something 'Bold'! Maybe you could use a bold colour palette, a bold design or perhaps a bold sentiment. Its all totally up to you and I have to say we already have some incredible projects in the Gallery!!

We are excited to have Poppystamps as our Sponsor for this challenge and they are giving a $20 gift voucher to the winner.  They are also running a 'Clean and Simple' Challenge, so if you have any Poppystamps products and love to create CAS designs, that's definitely a challenge for you to join!




The TIME OUT Design Team were very lucky to receive some Poppystamps to use for this challenge. They have such a large collection of stamps and dies to choose from and I couldn't wait to use them:


I was able to get my hands on the 'Hampstead Bloom' die and 'Little Kindness' stamp set. I fell in love with the die straight away and wanted to use it as a 'bold focal point' on my card. This is another one of those 'fiddly' designs but I'm so very happy with the finished card!

I started off by die-cutting the flower from the card front, cutting each side and tried to line them up as I went. When I got to the bottom I had to make sure I held on to the little pieces of white CS so I could put them back in place. I cut a panel of white CS and covered it with double-sided tape to place behind the card front. This is where I ran into some trouble....

Because I had cut so much out of the panel, it was very flimsy and it was very easy for the CS to move, so that it could get stuck down in a different angle so that the flower couldn't be inlaid back in. So....I die-cut the flower from three shades of a purple-pink paint chips and put them in place in the die-cuts. I then put pieces of washi tape over the top of them to hold them there while I adhered the extra panel behind them. When I removed the washi the flowers were all inlaid perfectly and glued in place. I then just had to add the extra white pieces at the bottom.

Since the die-cut colours are so bold, I wanted to keep the sentiment simple. I cut a piece of vellum and heat embossed the sentiment 'Seriously, how are you so nice?' (my favourite from the stamp set) in white and adhered it to the card front with double-sided tape behind the words. I didn't want any sparkle with this card, so used some black half-circle pearls to embellish. 

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Girl Power'. I used pretty colours and this sentiment because I had a particular girl-friend in mind to send this too!!



I'll also link to the AAA Card Challenge #110 where their theme is:



And of course I'll join the girls at the Poppystamps Challenge #42 for the 'Clean and Simple' Challenge.


You have until Wednesday 14th March to link your projects to the TIME OUT  challenge. And if your struggling with an idea, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Marieke have created for you. Can't wait to see you in the Gallery!!

And thank you so much Poppystamps for the stamp set and die, they will be very much loved!!!

Take care
Shona