Hi there!! Well, we have just finished our first week of nation-wide lockdown in New Zealand. We have just over 700 people with the virus and only one death, which is very sad. The country is now testing ANYBODY with virus symptoms no matter where they've been etc so will be interesting to see how many more we find.....I gotta say my days are still just as busy. I've got three people to pick up after all day long, all the cleaning needs to be done, baking done, laundry done etc so haven't found myself bored yet. I do miss popping into the supermarket though, especially for my favourite chocolate biscuits!!
I've been doing a lot of baking, made cheese scones, apple/cinnamon muffins and apple crumble yesterday. On the news it says that so many people are baking that we have a nation-wide shortage of flour!!
I wanted to pop in today to remind you all about our current theme at TIME OUT. It was recently Epilepsy Awareness Day and we wanted to honour that with a theme of 'Purple' as its the colour that represents the condition. Our incredible Challenge Leader Sandie has Epilepsy and hearing her dealing with seizures has certainly taught me a lot about something I only ever saw on movies. Its one of those 'silent' conditions that other people can't see and must be incredibly hard for people to deal with. We also put the 'optional twist' of friendship on this challenge as friends can help you get thru anything and with everything going on at present, sending a card to a friend would be such a wonderful thing to do!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and they are giving a $25 voucher to a random winner chosen from those that use the 'optional twist'.
For my card I wanted it to be pretty and have different tones of purple, while also letting them know I'm here for them:
Turns out I only have three purple shades in my cardstock stash, so will have to rectify that when I can finally go shopping again....And very handy that I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps DT so I can use all their products on this card too!
I started by using the 'Casual Trees Fri-Dies' with the three purple cardstocks, cutting three of each colour. I then cut a panel of white CS slightly smaller than the card front and glued the trees on with Gina K Connect Glue, trying to get them as close together as I could. Once I had finished I cut off any overhanging pieces and then popped up on a piece of white foam.
For the sentiments I die-cut the 'friend' from the 'Sweet Friend Fri-Dies' from the darkest purple and then twice more from black CS, glued them all together and then to the card front. I then white heat embossed the other sentiment (from 'Supercalifragilistic') on a strip of black CS and put on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins. I also added lashing of Wink of Stella to the word die.
You have until Wednesday 8th April to link your projects to the TIME OUT Challenge and if your needing any help with ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Kavya of Handmade by Kavya have created to inspire you.
Please stay safe and look forward to seeing your projects in the Gallery!!
Hugs
Shona
Hi everybody!! I really hope you've enjoyed the previews of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps New Release over the past few days. Nice to have something new to look at after a week or so of being stuck at home!!
Today we are showing off the last of the new stamp sets. Introducing 'Heart Ribbon':
I've recently found out one of my gardening clients has cancer. It was discovered after she fell, which meant it was discovered just in the nick of time. So this stamp set has even more meaning to me:
I think this ribbon with the hearts is such a wonderful design and I wanted it to be the star of this card!
I started by white heat embossing the ribbon on white CS. I then blended Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry', 'Worn Lipstick' and 'Spun Sugar' over the ribbon with an ombre effect. I fussy cut around it and added foam tape to the back.
I wanted something in the background but more for interest and texture more than colour. So I die-cut the 'Hearts A2 Panel Fri-Die' from white CS and glued directly to the card front. The ribbon was then popped up on top. I stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set) with Versafine Onyx ink on a strip of white CS, backed with black CS and then put on foam tape for even more dimension. And to finish off I glued on some Pretty Pink Posh sequins for a bit of shine.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my 4th entry.
Thanks so much for joining me over the past few days and hope your able to get your hands on a few of these new sets. Hopefully my special code has been of help to you, saving any money at the moment is definitely at the top of my list!!
There are more cards to look at over on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog and you have the chance of winning this set!! Look after yourself and enjoy the time with your family (even if they are driving you crazy......). I'll see you back here again soon with some more ideas.
Stay safe
Shona
Hello there, I'm so happy you stopped by. Hope everything is well with you and your coping with your self-isolation. Its been raining here the past few days which is fantastic, however it really does make you feel like a prisoner in your house and as I was really needing some sort of exercise I decided to take things into my own hands.
When Phoebe was a baby (she is now 15yrs old) I recorded episodes of Pilates TV (an Australian programme) and Dave put them on dvd for me. I used to use them a lot but not since developing Fibromyalgia 6yrs ago I was too scared of how painful it would be. Well, today I did 40 mins of pilates in the middle of my lounge room and even though it hurt like hell, it felt like heaven. Dave said he would do it with me tomorrow so watch this space.....
Today we are showing off the third stamp set from the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps March New Release. Introducing 'Happy Birthday':
This has the same fabulous font as the 'Hot Mama' set and the sentiments are hilarious. I don't have many birthday cards in my stash and wanted to make something flashy and sparkly:
I wish I could have captured the sparkle of the embossing powder and the glitter paste is a party in a jar!!
I started off by stamping the 'Happy Birthday' with Versamark ink on white CS and heat embossing with WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter, then fussy cutting out.
Since I wanted a 'party' on my card I just had to include rainbow colours. I knew I wanted to use some paste, so cut a separate panel of white CS to use. I taped the 'Bold Trellis' stencil over top and blended lines of Distress inks over top. I then spread over some Nuvo Glimmer Paste 'Moonstone' which is clear but with lots of sparkle so will become the colour underneath.
While the paste dried I decided that the fussy cut sentiment didn't stand out enough against the rainbow colours, so I adhered it to some black CS and fussy cut around that to leave a black frame. The panel was glued to the card front, then the sentiment was popped up on black foam, with some Studio Katia Pearls for a bit more shine.
All of the New Release sets are available for purchase now and if you use my special code you can save yourself 15%!!
Hope you like my 'birthday party on a card' and I'll see you back here tomorrow with a card using the final stamp set.
Stay home and stay safe
Shona
