Month: January 2018

The other week I got a delivery in the mail from Altenew which contained two stamp sets that I can’t seem to get enough of – Halftone Circles and Halftone Stars.

The current challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch inspired me to get inky with these stamp sets using my Catherine Pooler Designs inks (I think I used every one of them in the range!). I did quite a bit of masking on these cards to keep them one layer and I’m really happy with how they look and my stash is now gradually growing.

Here are the five cards I made!

So, there you have it, thanks for looking and have a great day.

You ever had that moment when you realise you’ve forgotten a friend’s birthday? Yep, think this has happened to me more than once!

So this next card is going into my stash for when I forget again!

I used a rather contrite looking pig from a stamp set I received from a friend of mine in the mail the other day. It came without any brand details so sorry I can’t tell you who made it. I coloured him in with my Stampin Up Blends and added a sentiment I created on my computer.

I kept it simple following the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and used the key word from CASology of Late to inspire my design.

Thanks for looking and I hope you never forget a birthday but if you do, maybe I’ve inspired you!

In previous posts I mentioned that I’m taking a break from coffee. I’m trying to kick sugar and I worked out I was having 4 coffees a day with 2 sugars in each which meant 8 teaspoons of sugar a day – clearly not a good thing.

It’s been tough and to compound my pain all I seem to be doing is playing along with challenges that focus on coffee – sucker for punishment I say!

All items on my card are from Stampin Up – Coffee Cafe stamp set, Early Espresso ink, Petal Passion DSP, Linen thread and Whisper White cardstock.

Using the ink and the DSP I sponged an ombre effect for the background piece, stamped and die cut the coffee cup then added it to my base with some dimensionals and linen thread for the final touch.

I’m entering this card in the following 3 challenges:

• SUO Challenge 192: Fun With Just One Color!
• Addicted to CAS Challenge #128 – Ombre
• Coffee Loving Cardmakers – Cuppa Joe!

2 more detox weeks to go then I’m going to try some coffee without sugar  – wish me luck.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Hi there – it’s Australia Day here and we’ve expecting a hot one, so trying to keep my cool I decided to play with a couple of winter based challenges.

The challenges I’m playing along with are:

• Little Red Wagon Challenge #430 – Bundled Up!
• AAA Cards – CAS Game #107 – Chilled
• WWC154 – Judy’s “All About Christmas” Challenge

I kept it pretty simple and decided to create a ‘sweater’ for Santa! I used an embossing folder from Stampin Up to create the sweater using some Real Red card stock and then made the belt, buttons and buckle out of some scrap pieces in my stash. I added a little bit of Wink of Stella to the belt for additional sparkle and mounted it all on a white card base and I was done!

After making my card, all I could think about was how hot I’d be if I put it on today so my original thought of keeping myself cool failed!

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today my card is a technique card. The current challenge over at The Flower Challenge is all about spotlight stamping and I really love the effects you can get with this technique and surprisingly it’s easier that I first thought.

I stamped my main floral image on two pieces of card stock and then coloured just one of them in. When I was starting to construct my card, I realised that when I punched out the spotlight portion  I would have the makings for a second card, I like that my colouring wasn’t wasted!

Card 1: 

Card 2: I stamped the sentiment into the space created when I cut the spotlight piece out.

For both cards I used a gorgeous set from Concord & 9^th – Hello Lovely and the sentiments on Card #1 is from The Ton – Basic Labels. I used my Stampin Blends in Old Olive, Rich Razzelberry  and Calypso Coral to colour the flowers and added a bit of gold thread for the finishing touch.

Thanks for looking and I hope I’ve inspired you to try this technique.

Today’s card is brought to you via the Tic Tac Toe #031 Challenge.

For my card I chose the middle line of Red/Ribbon/Watercolour.

I stamped the Peony Garden background stamp from the Ton and heat embossed it with Stampin Up Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I then used some Brushos is brilliant red and leaf green to water-colour the main flower . The sentiment is from Altenew Label Love which I popped up on some dimensions and added a bow to the side for some balance.

I really like how this card turned out and it is super super sparkly in real life. Check out this close up.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today was Miss K’s bunny Bugsy’s 6th birthday and of course she had to throw him a birthday party with party bunny food, decorations and a card (made care of me)

I looked to the current Sisterhood of Crafters challenge for inspiration for my card for Bugsy. Their challenge is to make a card with a fame.

I’ve had these little critter from the Mama Elephant set “Up and Away” coloured for a while and even though they’re not bunnies I thought they’d be ok on my card. I created a panel that looked a bit like a cloud and punched out some circles to form frames for the critters and their balloons to poke through. I sponged the background piece with Distress Oxide Twisted Citron. The sentiment is from Altenew called “Label Love’ and some sequins for that final finish.

Here are some additional party pics.

Bugsy (the brown one) with Connie, their treats and my card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today I was going through my emails and came across a couple of challenges that were all about coffee and they made me want to have a large cup but since I’ve started this new health kick I’m off caffeine (shock horror) so the next best thing was to make a card with a cup and dream about how delicious it might taste!

I used a retired digital image from Stampin Up called “Perfect Blend – Coffee & Friends ” which I printed directly to scraps of DSP which I then fussy cut out and added to a background piece I made with some ink smooshing on watercolour paper to simulate spilt coffee.

I’m entering this card over at the following challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays CFC 191 More Coffee Please
• Watercooler Wednesday Challenge 153 – Gail’s Masculine Anything Goes
• Fusion – Coffee and a Book (I was inspired by the image)

Thanks for looking and think of me trying to stay strong and not giving in to the coffee urge!

Today I created another card with another new to me stamp set from the Stampin Up 2018 Occasions catty called – Bubble Over. I also bought the matching dies as I’m not very good at fussy cutting, don’t really have the patience. This is a great set for creating masculine cards, so I’m entering this card over at Little Red Wagon for their current challenge #428 Boy oh Boy!

I used all Stampin Up cardstock in Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, Calyso Coral and Vellum. I coloured the straws with my Smokey Slate Blend marker and added a little bit of Pool Party baker’s twine for the finishing touch.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

I received my Stampin Up 2018 Occasions catty order the other day and finally got a chance to play with one of the new sets called ‘Cake Soiree’.

It is a gorgeous versatile set – Weddings, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Valentines  – got them all covered with this set!

I thought I’d make a card for my 10th anniversary in March using my favourite colour of the moment – Berry Burst from Stampin Up and it pairs beautifully with the gold die cut cake stand on this card. I also got a little bit of ink smooshing in for the background – my favourite technique of the moment!

I’m entering this card over on the following three challenge blogs:

• SIP Challenge 132 – Cake Walk
• WWC152 – Kath’s All About Occasions Challenge
• ACASC124 – Love – Make a card for love/Valentine’s Day

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your weekend.