Author: tinstar05

We have a long weekend here in Australia to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday, not that her birthday is in June, but I won’t complain about having an extra day to relax and recharge my batteries plus get crafty!

My first card fits a quadrella of challenges:

• WWC173 – Tenia’s Feminine Anything Goes
• CAS Colours & Sketches #275
• Less is More #173 – Friendship
• CAS(e) this Sketch #275 – Retro

I love it when a variety of challenges come together as it really helps me design my card.

I had a background piece in my stash that I had stamped sometime back but not coloured up (sorry can’t remember the company). I smooshed  Stampin Up inks in Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Garden Green onto my crafty mat (one at a time so I didn’t create mud – I never would have thought to use these colours together). I then cut the piece in half and punched out a bit of a circle. added some gold cardstock to the side, twine and sequins for a bit of bling and stamped the sentiment from CAS-ual Fridays “Frankly’isms’ into the circle hole.

I know exactly which friend will be getting this card for her birthday!

Next up is a double bill of challenges:

• MUSE #269
• Just Us Girls #444 – alcohol inks

I was inspired by the blues in Anita’s card, so I created a base panel with alcohol inks in turquoise, sailboat blue and aquamarine on Yupo paper. I have seen some videos on using foil on an alcohol ink piece when it’s still tacky, so gave this a go and love, love, love how it turned out. I’ll be doing this a bit more often. I added a die cut sentiment in black and gold; mounted on black cardstock and then a white base.

Third card today is another double bill challenge card:

• Freshly Made Sketches #340
• CASology #303 – Farm

I have a stash of pre-coloured and fussy cut critters and was super happy that I had the perfect little guy that fit the bill for these challenges. The piggy and sentiment is from a set by Simon Says Stamp called ‘Birthday Farm Animals’ that I had watercoloured. I popped him up with dimensionals and put him on some white cardstock with a black and white border for contrast. Isn’t he cute?

Last but not least I was inspired by the colour and word theme of these 2 challenges:

• Color Throwdown #CTD496
• CAS-ual Fridays – CFC #201 Boys of Summer

Nothing says summer like black, white and blue and these are fabulous colours for a masculine card (which I struggle making). I used a sentiment stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays called ‘Shenanigans’ stamped in Stampin Up Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black. Popped that panel up on some Tempting Turquoise cardstock and some Catherine Pooler Designs black and white striped paper, added a bit of blue and white stripped twine and I was done!

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

I have recently sorted my stamp sets by theme rather than by manufacturer and in doing so I have come across some sets that I had forgotten I had bought and had never inked up.

Today’s card is using one such set from Art Impressions called ‘Cat stackers’ and was a perfect fit for the challenges over at the Paper Players and Sketch Saturday.

I don’t tend to make many masculine cards but I think this one with its image and colour scheme would suit a male birthday.

I coloured the cats in with my Stampin’ Up Blends, fussy cut them out and attached them to a variety of paper scraps I had in my drawer. I think the burlap looks like the cats have been scratching it up a bit.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

I love crafting when the house is quiet and everyone is still asleep. It’s so peaceful and conducive to creativity.

I was able to make quite a few cards, so this may be a longish post again……

My first card is for the Paper Craft Crew current challenge which is an inspirational photo challenge.

I used a stamp from the Tim Holtz set ‘ Cocktail Blueprints’ and water coloured it and added a couple of die cut leaves from the Stampin’ Up ‘Botanical Blooms’ set.  I’m feeling thirsty just looking at this card!

Next up is a card using the current Freshly Made Sketches sketch and theme from Addicted to CAS.  Now I know some of you may think my card isn’t very CAS, but I think it qualifies with enough ‘white’ space for your eye to rest, as it is cardstock that has been die cut, 1 stamp for a sentiment from Avery Elle ‘Knotty’ and some plaited twine for a knot. I thought the die cut from Stampin’ Up looked like waves in the ocean. I added a little Spectrum Noir sparkle to the edges of the waves to make them look like they have foam on the top.

Do you see the waves too?

Thirdly is a card that fits the sketch bill for CAS(E) this Sketch, TGIF colour challenge and Just Us Girls word challenge.

I loved the idea that the JUGS crew had that outside didn’t necessarily have to mean the outdoors but could also mean overlapping an edge, so I have taken that as my guide for this card. I flipped the sketch on its side and tried some no line water colouring of the Concord & 9th ‘Hello Lovely’ stamp with Calypso coral and Smokey slate for the flowers and Old olive for the leaves. I used a panel of Night of Navy to ground my floral image. I wasn’t really happy with how the centre of the main flower looked so tried to camouflage it with the sentiment.  I think I need to practise this technique some more but I’m pretty happy with my first attempt.

It seems today’s post has a lot of cards inspired by sketches, and this last card is no exception! I really liked the current sketch at My Favorite Things.

I loved the idea of the rectangles and how I might be able to use them as peek-a-boo style elements on my card. I though a vellum panel with rectangles cut from them to then highlight portions of the image below was the way to go.

I used 2 background stamps, 1 from Stampin’ Up ‘Watercolour Wash’ stamped using Kaleidacolor ‘Blue breeze’ ink pad and the other from MFT ‘Abstract background’ stamped in Momento black. The sentiment is from Altenew ‘Label love’ in Momento black.

A great card for a male don’t you think?

Well that’s it for today – thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today I have tried a new style of card that I have seen over on Splitcoast Stampers. It’s called an Impossible Card. It sounds more difficult to make than it actually was. It basically involves cutting and folding your card in a way that twists the centre panel and makes it stand up. Google it and have a go, it’s fun to do something a little bit different.

So, I’m going to enter my card into 4 challenges:

• Muse #268
• The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #172
• CAS-ual Fridays challenge #200
• Seize the Birthday – patterned paper

I loved the inspiration card at Muse from Sweety Gupta and used my stamp set from Altenew called ‘Magnolias for Her’ coloured with my Stampin’ Up Blends. The Sentiment is also from Altenew called ‘Birthday Greetings’. I used some scraps of Stampin’ Up DSP for my patterned paper edges of the card and a couple of sequins for that extra feminine touch.

Here’s a picture of the card from the side so you can see the structure. I added a couple of panels across the back and front to provide stability to the card and the front piece worked well to hold the sentiment.

This image shows the card flattened for mailing. You will need to use a larger envelope to send this card.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

I love getting inspiration to create Christmas cards, it help keeps the feeling going all year-long. Today I’m playing with the current challenge at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges who have an All About Christmas challenge.

Last time I was at my friend Michelle’s place, she had a new die that features a deer and tree. I cut myself a stash ready for putting together on some cards, but time got away from me until now and I finally have used them. I created an alcohol ink background to go behind the die cut and added a bit of silver thread for the finishing touch.

I think next time I might try some now traditional coloured backgrounds.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

This morning I have been sorting my stamp sets into themes as was finding it hard to choose stamps when I had them filled by manufacturer. In doing so I came across a stamp set by Stampin’ Up called “painted harvest’ that I had yet to get inky and what would you know but it was perfect for 4 challenges!

• Less is More #372 – OLC Thinking of You
• As you like it – Flora or Fauna
• The Male Room #86 – Gardening
• Just us Girls #442 – Photo week

I used masking to help with making this an OLC and stamped in Stampin’ Up inks in Lemon Lime Twist, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Crushed Curry.

I really like this stamp set as I love the variety of looks you can get depending on the colours you use and will be using it much more now that I’ve found it again.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

My day job has been getting busier and busier as some critical project deadlines approach so I really needed to get crafty this weekend to save my sanity and my friend Michelle was happy to help out and have me over. Be warned this is a long post as my crafty mojo was flowing today!

This first card I made to play along with the current Seize the Birthday and CAS-ual Friday challenges.

I loved this sketch and knew I had the perfect stamp set for it from Altenew “Halftone Stars” and the sentiment from Cas-ual Fridays “Shenanigans” that I inked up in Stampin’ Up Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade and Basic Black. The black and white twine and sequins were the finishing touch. Another birthday card added to my stash!

This next card was inspired by 3 challenges:

• Muse #266
• CAS Colors & Sketches #272
• SOS #354

I loved the little elephant on Tracey’s card and used an adorable stamp set by Penny Black for my main image. I think this little critter works for a kid card and it’s water coloured using the CAS Colors challenge colours.

Card #3 was based on the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches and then made it a masculine card to fit the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I struggle with masculine cards so having a sketch to work with helped focus my design. Not too cutsie I hope!

Next up a card for the current Fusion and Gerda Steiner Designs – Share your designs monthly challenges. I don’t have any harbour themed stamps so went with the sketch, which I flipped and relocated the sentiment.

I love this irreverent llama from Gerda Steiner and can see myself using him more.

Next up is a card for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge #289 which is a theme challenge.

I went with the Sprint theme for my card and played around with colouring the flowers in greens and orange and the black and white of the card base, sentiment and twine make the colours pop.

My final card is for the Calling all Sistahs challenge #13 which is an image, colour theme or both challenge.

I loved the blue tones and the geometric pattern of that stained glass ceiling. I used a stamp set from Ellen Hutson and Catherine Pooler Designs inks for the circles. The sentiment is from CAS-ual Fridays. Another great card for a male.

Well thanks for looking and have a great week.

Today I’m playing along with the current challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenge #47.

I recently saw an interactive card on YouTube that I wanted to try, so decided to play with the top row of spring/interactive/bright colours. I used a Stampin’ Up set called ‘watercolour wings’ which I stamped the butterflies in Catherine Pooler Designs inks in It’s a boy, Fiesta Blue , Something Borrowed and Black Jack. I splattered some gold ink and added some sequins to fill the gaps on the front panel.

When you open this card the centre butterfly twirls. This was my first go and I know I need more practice with the mechanism and think next time that I’ll do the interior decorating before I put the twine in as that was very difficult to get my fingers around.

If you’d like to try this card yourself, here’s the YouTube link.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today I have 2 cards for you that suit 3 challenges:

• The Card Concept #92 – Bold Bloom
• CAS Colors & Sketches #271 – Sketch
• The Flower Challenge #20 – Acetate/Vellum

This first card is for The Card Concept where I was inspired by the size of the flower and iI used a flower and leaves that I’ve had roughly water coloured in my stash for some time just waiting to be used. The stamp set was borrowed from a friend and I can’t remember which company it’s from but the sentiment is from a set by Altenew called ‘birthday greetings’. I love how the purple and green complement each other and I added a bit of gold thread for some balance at the top of the card.

This next card is for both the CAS colors sketch challenge and the Flower Challenge. I used an acetate from panel for my card and attached some stamped and die cut hibiscus flowers and leaves based on the sketch. The sentiment is the same as used on the first card.

You can see the acetate front panel better in this next photo.

I love how both these cards came out and I think I’ll use acetate for my front panels a bit more as it gives a great effect.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

When I’m lacking inspiration or feel my mojo’s taken a leave of absence, I look for a Tic Tac Toe challenge to get me started. For my card today, I used the Tic Tac Toe board from AAA Cards and chose the gold, one layer & masking diagonal option.

I used a stamp set from Altenew called ‘Stunning Cosmos’ which I inked up in a new colour from Stampin Up called Petal Pink (it’s quite a peachy pink colour) and highlighted with my Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink. I masked the central flower so that there’s an illusion of layered flowers. The sentiment I stamped using Catherine Pooler Design’s Black Jack ink.

Here’s a close up so you can see the gold ink on the petals.

This card will be going to my mother-in-law this Mother’s Day.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.