Author: tinstar05

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.

Anyone who knows me or has been following my blog knows I like a bit of snark or pun on my cards and when I saw the current challenge over at The Paper Players I just knew I had to play along. Sandy has a theme challenge to create a Punny Valentine card.

When I started making my card, I also realised that it fit the challenge over at CASology which is all about hugs this week.

As you can see I went to one of my favourite sets by Katzelkraft Les Jungles and that flat elephant certainly looked like he could do with a big hug.

I stamped him and coloured him in with my water colours, then added him to a piece of white cardstock with a sentiment I created on my PC and some lightly stenciled hearts from SU in Pink Pirouette. I added a cute little paper bow ribbon for the finishing touch and mounted it onto a SU Pink Pirouette card base.

I think I might give this card to my daughter, Miss K, who is still struggling with the loss her bunny Rosie prior to Christmas.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Today is my last day of leave before returning to work tomorrow. I wanted to get some final crafting in before returning to reality! I’m expecting a very busy year at  work, I only had 2 weeks at my new job before we had the Christmas shutdown which was great as I got a chance to get to know people and then have the break I didn’t get between changing jobs but now the real work will start. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into my new role and the challenges it will bring.

So first card of the day fits the bill for 2 challenges :

• Just Us Girls #422 – WORD Week
• Less Is More Challenge #362 – Purples

I used a stamp set from Technique Junkies LLC called ‘Fluff your tutu’ which I coloured with my SU Blends in Wisteria Wonder. I water coloured her shoes in gold for that bit of pop and added some ribbon to emulate the fluffy tutu.

I love the sentiment on this stamp and think it should become my mantra for 2018!

Next up is a card that I think fits another 2 challenges:

• The Male Room Challenge #76 – New Beginnings
• The Ton – January – Cheers

I used The Ton set called ‘Fireworks’ which in my mind symbolises new beginnings and celebrates the start of a new year.

I created the background with my alcohol inks in sunset orange, cranberry and watermelon. Then stamped the firework in Versamarc and used SU gold embossing powder. Here’s a close up of the sparkle.

Next up another card fitting the bill over on 2 challenges:

• Seize the Birthday – Anything Goes
• Addicted to CAS Challenge #127 – Music

I’ve been having way to much fun with the Les Jungle set from Katzlekraft and how cheeky you can make them dependent on the sentiment you add. In this case I used a set from CAS-ual Fridays called ‘Love Notes” which might come in handy for a friend who has a birthday on Valentines Day and we always joke about how gets sung more than just happy birthday when cutting her cake!

Well that’s it for today – thanks for looking and have a great rest of your weekend.

The other day my daughter, Miss K and I went and got crafty with my friend Michelle of Seashell Creates who I meet over on Stamp Nation and we played around with a gorgeous stamp set from 49th & Market called ‘Gabi’s Haute Couture’ which has this beautiful ballerina image.

I heat embossed the image with black embossing powder and then coloured her with my watercolour inks. The sentiment is from an Altenew set called ‘Painted Flowers’ and some sequins for the finishing touch.

I think she fits the current challenge over on the Water Cooler Challenge blog.

My next card is a simple but yet an extremely sparkly one!

The stamps are from CAS-ual Fridays ‘Wait for it’ and ‘Calm & Gentle’. I performed a little bit of stamp surgery on the sentiment to get the word order that I wanted and I thought the stylised leaves from the Calm & Gentle set looked rather like stars in the sky.

I used two different embossing powders, one from Stampin Up – Iridescent Ice and the other Lindy’s Stamp Gang – Angle Wings Gold.

I thought it would make a great card for Miss K to encourage her as she’s about to enter her last year of primary school and it nicely fits the challenges over on CASology and CAS-ual Fridays.

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous day.

I started the New Year off feeling like I’d lost my mojo and when I sat down at my crafting table I sort of didn’t know what to do or where to start. It might have been that I’d had such a hectic festive season and was just tired and having had a few days off without crafting I felt blocked.

Then along came an email from Gerda Steiner with her next monthly challenge digital image and I was off!

I coloured this adorable panda with my Prisma pencils and used a sketch from Reverse Confetti  and inspiration card from Maria Willis over at TGIFC#140

I think this little guy is my favourite of Gerda Steiner’s images that I’ve coloured so far.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

So it’s Christmas Eve and I’ve done all my shopping, wrapped all my gifts and got the food for Christmas Day sorted. Time for some relaxation time for me.

Since I’ve made and sent all my Christmas cards, I’m making a few different cards to build up my stash again.

This first card is for the December Gerda Steiner challenge. I love her digital images and this sweet bunny is no exception.

I printed this little cutie on my PC and coloured her in with Stampin Up Blends. Fussy cut her out, popped her on some angled scrap of DSP and added a sentiment from a Stampin Up set called “Suite sayings”. Perfect to celebrate the arrival of a little girl.

The next card is for a male birthday. I never seem to have enough of these and always struggle with getting them manly enough. The current Water Cooler Challenge from Heidi has help inspired me and the sketch over on Less is More made it a slam dunk.

This card I used my alcohol inks to form the shape of the sketch. I used citrus and sailboat blue alcohol ink and the sentiment is from Altenew called “Label Love”.

My final card for today is also very masculine in colour and style and it will come in handy when I next need a thank-you card for a bloke. I used pebble, espresso and gold alcohol inks and the die cut sentiment is from MFT.

I’m entering this card over at CASology and Freshly Made Sketches.

Thanks for looking and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Now that I’ve started my new job, I needed to make some additional Christmas cards for my new work colleagues. I just wanted to say thanks for making me feel so welcome.

This first card I made 7 different colour variations as I have 7 colleagues!

The blue one I’m entering in the following 3 challenges:

• FUSION – Blue Gift
• Addicted to CAS Challenge #126 – Sparkle
• CAS Game #105 – Sparkle

The stamp set is by Altenew called ‘Sketched Evergreen and I used Catherine Pooler Designs and Stampin Up inks. I added the silver glimmer paper to give the cards that special bit of sparkle behind the partially cut out tree.

The next cards is using that cheeky gnome again with a little bit of Christmas carol song text.  Stamp sets from Kaiserkraft ‘fa la la’ and Apple Blossom ‘Christmas Gnomes’.

He fits the following 3 challenges:

• TGIFC138 It’s Time to be Inspired!
• The Male Room 75 – Christmas/Winter Wishes/December Celebrations
• Sisterhood of Crafters – All About Christmas

Next up is an all white card. I used a variety of circle punches and a miscellaneous snowflake die that I cut out of some white glimmer paper. The sentiment is from a CAS-ual Fridays stamp set called ‘Merry Kiss-mas’.

I’m entering this card into the following 2 challenges:

• CFC189 – Dreaming of a White Christmas
• Sketch Saturday 184 by Kel

Lastly this card I made for my hubby who has a December birthday and I wanted him to know how much I loved him and that he made my heart soar. I used a stamp set from PTI called ‘Flock Together’ which is stamped using an ink pad from Kaleidacolor ‘Desert Heat’ which I stamped on watercolour paper and then spritzed with some water to blur the image.

The sentiment fits the following 2 challenges:

• Less is More 359 – Birds/Feathers
• Water Cooler Challenge 149 – Marsha’s All About Occasions

Thanks for looking through this long long post and I hope you have a great day.

So today is the first day of my new job and I’m up way to early with anticipation. What’s a girl to do till she has to go to the train station? Create of course!

I seem to be enamored with these adorable gnomes from Apple Blossom and a simple striped background from Stampin Up using Brushstrokes was the perfect addition for balance. I used a new ink from Catherine Pooler Designs Spa ink collection called Eucalyptus for the background – love these new colours, slightly muted yet still gorgeous. I added a little bit of puff paint for the snow at my gnomes feet and I was done.

I used the current sketch over on TGIF Challenges #137 to inspire me. my design.

I managed to squeeze one more card in before heading out the door.

This one I used Stampin Up Coffee Cafe stamps and DSP and the sentiment is from another Stampin Up set called Jar of Cheer.The elements of this card were inspired by the current Tic Tac Toe challenge #027 where I chose the ribbon/patterned paper/coffee or tea line.

Thanks for looking and I’m now off to start my next career adventure.