Just when we were enjoying the sunshine of Spring, the Winter rain has returned with a vengence and its been raining non-stop for past two days. There are huge puddles everywhere so at least the ducks will be happy. And it gives me a chance to catch up on housework and make the odd card here and there....
For our current TIME OUT challenge we have some words to inspire you. You could use one word, the whole phrase or something that reminds you of these words....basically whatever you like!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is the fabulous Winnie and Walter and they are giving a $25 voucher to the winner of this challenge. Talk about lucky!!!
When I saw the inspiration for this challenge I immediately latched on to the word 'rainbow' (how strange of me....) but also wanted to try and link in some rain somehow:
I have to laugh when I look at these balloons. When I was watercolouring them I was letting the colours flow from one balloon to the other and not worrying about the colours mixing (as if they had gotten wet from rain...) but my controlling habit took over and I tried to fix it all up. Now it just looks like I couldn't paint between the lines!!! LOL!
I really wanted to create some sort of raindrops, so I found these bubble images on the Winnie and Walter 'Framed with Evelin T. Designs' stamp set that I thought might work. I stamped them randomly over the card front using ink from Waffle Flower, Hero Arts and Catherine Pooler.
The balloon image (from W&W 'Happy Dance with Evelin T Designs') was stamped with Versafine Onyx ink on TAD watercolour CS and heat embossed with SSS Clear Embossing powder. I then used a rainbow of Kuretake Zig Real Color Brush Pens and a water brush to colour them in. Once the paint was dry I fussy cut them out.
I struggled with the sentiment, nothing seemed to work until I decided to stamp right on the card front. I stamped the 'hello' from W&W 'The Big, Bold and Happy' with Versafine Onyx ink a few times to get solid coverage and popped the balloons on foam tape. And of course to finish off I added some blue sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Stamp It'. This is my 2nd entry.
You have until Wednesday 11th September 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 fabulous Guest Designer Arlene of Sunday Stamper Papercrafts have created to inspire you. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Well, its a new month and the beginning of Spring for us here in New Zealand. Blossoms are popping up everywhere and my peonies are peeking out from under the ground. Its one of my favourite times of year, like everything is being born again!!
Speaking of starting anew, with it being a new month that means we have a new theme at The Flower Challenge.
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This month it's 'Anything Goes' which means you can make any project you like as long as flowers are the main part of the design. Having free reign is always my favourite type of challenge as it gives you a chance to try out new stamps/dies, new techniques.....basically anything you want!!
We are also very excited to have My Favourite Things as our Sponsor. They are giving two $25 vouchers to two winners this month, so we get to choose two entries. So two chances to win....yippee!!
My Favourite Things were also very generous with our Design Team and gave us vouchers to buy products for this challenge. Thank you so much MFT!!!!
We also have a rather fabulous Guest Designer this month, the always lovely Michele Ferguson of I Card Everyone. I'm in no doubt she will wow us all this month with her cards!
I was very lucky to purchase a few MFT stamp sets with my voucher and have used two of them on this card. With the theme being wide open, of course I had to pop in a rainbow somewhere:
I had a great time stamping all these flowers, set up in front of my computer screen and watching 'Patch Adams' which I've seen a million times and it still makes me laugh and cry.
I cut a panel of white CS and grabbed a mix of Waffle Flower and Hero Arts dye inks. I stamped each end of the panel separately and made sure the flowers didn't meet in the middle. The flowers are from MFT Stamps 'Flower Silhouettes' and I managed to use every single one. I also made sure the flowers overlapped side to side as I didn't want a huge amount of white between them. I did this all in my MISTI and copied the same flowers/colours on the other end.
Once I had finished I trimmed the panel slightly so it was smaller than my card front. I added a piece of black CS to the front of the card and popped the floral panel on a piece of black foam.
For the sentiment (from MFT Stamps 'Sassy Pants Best Friends') I white heat embossed it on a wide strip of black CS. This was put on foam tape and is the same width as the floral panel. To finish off I glued on some Neat and Tangled sequins.
Will link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Stamp It'.
You have until Wednesday 25th September to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and we will be back on the 15th with a few more ideas to share with you. Can't wait to see all the different entries in the Gallery this month!!
Take care
Shona
Its been one glorious weekend, with so much sunshine it feels like its almost Summer!! Its 1st Sept today which in New Zealand means its the first of Spring. This is one off my favourite times of year in the garden. Everything is starting to grow, the blossoms are coming out and it won't be long till Daylight Saving, so more time to spend in the garden. I'm sure we will still have some more cold days but at least the worst of Winter is over!
This is my 3rd entry for the current Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge and I'm always amazed by how many entries they get. It must be nearly a full time job doing all the commenting!!
I recently purchased some Studio Katia products, as I was extremely lucky to win two vouchers to their store. I can't believe they are now 3yrs old and still remember when their store opened and I purchased my first stamps. So glad to see them still going strong!!
For this card I combined some older colouring with a brand new stamp that is the perfect size for a card:
A LONG TIME AGO I stamped and coloured a panel for one of the 30 Day Colouring Challenges. The panel (plus one other) has been sitting waiting patiently to be made into a card and finally its dream came true!
The floral panel was stamped with images from Studio Katia 'Together We Bloom' using Gina K Amalgam black ink and coloured with Altenew Artist Markers. I die-cut the panel with a Studio Katia 'Stitched Creative Nesting Square' die. I cut a piece of green CS slightly smaller than the card front and adhered to the card. The floral panel was glued on top.
For the sentiment I die-cut a piece of plain vellum, using another size of the same die. I stamped the Studio Katia 'Its Your Birthday' sentiment with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Altenew 'Golden Peach' Embossing Powder. I was going to put it over the flowers but it didn't show very well. So I used a smaller size of the die set and cut a piece of light peach CS. I popped it up on a piece of white foam and then glued the vellum on top with Gina K Connect Glue, putting it behind the words.
I finished it off by gluing on some Studio Katia 'Clear Sparkling Crystals' and Studio Katia 'Seafoam Pearls'.
Its Father's Day today in New Zealand and we are off out to dinner shortly. Not sure where we are going yet but anywhere where I don't have to cook or do the dishes afterwards is fine by me!!
Take care
Shona
