Creative Blog Hop - Balloons for Baby

Hi there

Today I'm taking part in the Creative Blog Hop and have been nominated by the lovely and talented Lizy of Lizy's House of Cards.  Lizy's blog was one of the first I followed and I love her work so I'm honoured to be chosen to continue the hop (I took part in a similar hop last year but there's no harm in hopping again is there?!)

I've used a new stamp set on my card today and I'm delighted to say that it's from Mama Elephant!  I recently bought my first two ME sets and there are so many more on my wishlist but they sell out so quickly here in the UK.

Here's my card.  Apologies for the lighting, it was such a miserable day here yesterday I had to use my lamp which has made the colours appear paler than they are IRL...

I stamped the three animal balloons first and then stamped the strings which are actually from the Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings set, which are sentiments with these scrolly lines either side.  I used a fine black pen to draw the black lines where the strings would be tied.  I then cut these images out using a stitched rectangle die.  Next, on a scrap of white cardstock I used the same three pigment inks and blended these alongside each other, to mirror the colours of the three balloons before cutting out with the congrats die.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam and finally the word die was adhered with some Tombow glue.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Mama Elephant - Balloon Et Cetera; Lawn Fawn - Scripty Sayings
• Ink: Versa Color - Sky Gray, Sky Blue, Seafoam; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rounded Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Congrats Word Die

Challenge entries:

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #60 - Cute

DJ Kard Kreations - NBUS Challenge #4 (new Mama Elephant stamp set)

Less is More - Week 217 - Combine three previous challenges

(Week 206 - New Beginning / Week 170 - 3 Colours / Week 173 - Include a Die Cut)

Happy Little Stampers - March Sketch Challenge

ShowCASe your Style - Challenge #11 - Inspiration Photo

And now for the Blog Hop questions...

1. What are you working on now?

Other than my commitments on the DT at Addicted to Stamps and More I'm not working on anything specific right now.  I'm just trying to do a better job of actually planning in advance for cards I need to send the following month.  I also have far too much new and unused stash so I really want to start creating with these and not buy anything that I don't NEED...any crafter knows this is easier said than done! lol  Also, I've made a very slow start on creating an inventory of my stamps so I can look into a binder and see at a glance what I have and where it's stored.  My cupboard is very crowded and it's a real pain having to grab each box and flick through sets to look for one particular thing.  It's going to take a long time to get it done but it will be so worth it...perhaps a job to continue with over the Easter weekend :)

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

This is a tough one to answer.  I've certainly found my style now and it is most definitely CAS.  I admire so many designers who also create with a CAS style and yet their creations are so diverse.  The majority of my cards always seem to be subtle although it's not planned that way.  I love bright colours but this doesn't always come through on my designs.  Also, about 90% of the time I will use a white card base, I just love my white space to actually be white, although I do occasionally sneak in a pop of colour when I feel like having a change.

3. Why do you create what you do?

Plain and simple...I enjoy it.  I've always been creative, I chose creative subjects at school, i.e. art and textiles and when I was younger I was always making something, cross stitch, etc.  I used to dabble in cardmaking and had a small stash for a few years.  And then I discovered some cardmaking blogs in 2012 and I became more hooked than ever.  I currently sell a few cards to friends and family but I'm hoping to start selling them perhaps on Etsy or Folksy, I just need to get a wriggle on and get myself organised!

4. How does your creative process work?

I have no set process at all.  The majority of the time I use challenges to kick start my creative mojo.  Sometimes I choose a product that I want to use first and then build on that.  If I hit a wall and just can't get started I find that Pinterest is a great source of inspiration too.  Often a technique or layout idea will just randomly pop into my mind...I must remember to right those down in future!


So, to continue the hop I'm passing the baton to the lovely Carol, one of my teamies at ATSM who creates such beautiful, crisp and colourful cards.  She will be joining in on the hop on Monday 6 April so I'd love for you to pop over to her and show her some love.


If you've made it to the end of this post (sorry, it was quite a lengthy one today!) thanks as always for visiting.