12 Days of Christmas with Kylie and Friends

Hi there

I'm super thrilled today to be joining my gorgeous friend, Kylie for Day 3 of her 12 Days of Christmas, so if like me you're way behind with your Christmas cards (again!!) this will be a great place to find lots of inspiration from lots of different cardmakers.

Each day until 12 November, Kylie along with a crafty friend will be sharing their Christmas makes, and by joining in and linking up you'll be in with a chance of winning a randomly chosen prize.  If you missed Days One and Two you can find them over at Kylie's blog, here.

So, onto my card.  I recently made a tag, here, using vellum with white and silver embossing, along with aqua cardstock.  I loved the result so much that I decided to use the same colour palette and theme for today's card, using different stamps.  Here it is...

I began by adhering a panel of aqua cardstock flat to my card base.  I then took a panel of vellum and die cut the bottom edge with a bracket edge die.  Next I stamped the floral spray and the mistletoe in VersaMark and heat embossed in white.  I then stamped the sentiment and heat embossed in silver.  The vellum panel was then scored about a centimetre from the top edge and folded over and secured on the reverse.  To finish I added a little sparkle with a shimmer pen, which can be seen more clearly in the photo below...

Materials used:

• Cardstock and vellum from stash
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Bracket Edges Die Collection
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Merry Kissmas
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White and Metallic Silver

A big thank you to Kylie for inviting me to be part of this great little series once again, and don't forget to check out her card too, along with the rest of the great Christmas makes coming up every day until 12 November!

Thanks so much for visiting.

Happy Little Stampers November 2018 CAS Challenge

Good evening, guys

Honestly, where are these months going?  Can you believe it's time for more new challenges over at Happy Little Stampers?! 

The Watercolour challenge is already up and running, today is the turn of the CAS challenge, and the rest of the regular challenges will follow over the next few days. 

So, for this month's CAS challenge, here's the cue card...

The winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE THE RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

I will admit, I did struggle with a limited stash for this 'fantasy' theme, but I got there in the end and combined some bits in my stash with a sentiment from Happy Little Stampers...

This fairy stamp is from a set that's been in my stash for many years.  I wanted the silhouette to be the main focus so only added a small amount of colour.  I did this by masking off the bottom and right edges of my card front and gently faded out the blend of two Distress Inks.  I removed the masks and stamped the fairy and sentiment, using my MISTI to ensure great coverage.  To create the stars I masked off a section at the top of the card using post-it notes which had been cut with curves, then repeatedly stamped a small star cluster stamp using VersaMark to fill the space and heat embossed in silver.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Lindsay Mason - Magic Happens; Happy Little Stampers - Thinking of You; Stars from free 'Away in a Manger' set free with Creative Stamping magazine
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

There is more inspiration for this challenge from my fabulous teamies over at the main challenge blog, here.  And plenty of time to link up with this challenge and the rest of the HLS November challenges, as the linkies will be open until the end of the month.

Happy Little Stampers October 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi there

As we're at the beginning of another month (!!!) it's new challenge time over at Happy Little Stampers, and the CAS challenge has just launched.  I'll get straight to the details...

The winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE THE RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

There are lots of different ways to use vellum and I chose to use it for a shaker card instead of using acetate, you get a lovely muted effect through the shaker window...

I started with a die cut panel and then die cut a circle aperture for my shaker window.  Before creating the shaker I stamped the sentiment on the panel in gold pigment ink.  On a piece of vellum I stamped the snowflake in VersaMark ink before heat embossing in silver.  I then adhered the vellum behind the aperture.  I attached foam tape all over the reverse of the panel, sprinkled a sequin mix onto the card base where the aperture would sit, and then adhered the panel, trapping the sequins inside.

I only realised when writing this post that the layout of this card is exactly the same as my HLS card last month, I clearly love this layout! 

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Circle Infinity dies
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Let It Snow
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Gold
• Vellum from stash
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Eternity Ring shaker selection

Challenge entries

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #405 - Anything Goes (something beginning with 'S')

Please do check out my teamies' creations over at the main HLS challenge post, here, for some great inspiration of different ways vellum can be used.

The links for all the HLS monthly challenges are open until the end of the month so plenty of time for you to play along :)

Happy Little Stampers September 2018 CAS Challenge

Good evening

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend.

Can you believe it's the beginning of yet another month so that means it's time for the new challenges over at Happy Little Stampers!  I'm here to announce the new CAS challenge so I'll get straight to it.

Here's this month's cue word...

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

Ok, onto my Design Team card, and I've chosen the Dandelion Wishes stamp set to use here, dandelions are certainly wild in my garden!

I started with a die cut rectangle for my top panel and also die cut a circle aperture.  I laid this onto my card base and marked in pencil where the aperture would be so I knew where to ink blend.  Before starting the blending I cut a small circle to use as a mask.  I then blended a night sky using Distress Inks and inked up the 'ground' by using a post-it note and swiping downwards using a black ink pad.  I remove the circle mask and then stamped the single dandelion stem.  To finish, I stamped the sentiment onto the top panel and popped it up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies
• Ink: Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Dandelion Wishes

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #307 - Make your Mark (ink sponging)

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
AAA Cards - CAS Game #123 - Sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

There are lots of ways to use this cue word, and don't forget, the challenge will run for the whole month so there's plenty of time to play along and link up.

Happy Little Stampers August 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

It's time for a batch of new monthly challenges over at Happy Little Stampers and today it's the new CAS Challenge for August.  I'll get straight to it, we want to see...

The winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE THE RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

For my DT card this time I didn't have a clue where I was going with it, I just wanted to use some new dies from my stash.  It just evolved as I went along.  I used the Happy Little Stampers Wish You Were Here stamp set on this one...

I started by masking off a border around the edge of my card base and then spread some Nuvo Glimmer paste through a stencil to add some subtle interest to my background and left it to dry.  I recently treated myself to the fab Tag Along die collection from Clearly Besotted so I wanted to play along with that set here.  I cut the hearts die, also new to my stash, from black glitter cardstock and again from some card I'd blended with Distress Inks.  So I then adhered the black outline part of the hearts die to the tag and inlaid the coloured inner heart pieces.  I stamped the sentiment in black below this and then finished off by die cutting the bow from the same black glitter cardstock and the circle surround from the same piece of card I had ink blended.  The tag was then popped up on 3D foam.  I think the 'wish you were here' sentiment fits perfectly with a hearts theme.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Memory Box - Scraped Paint
• Embossing Paste: Nuvo Glimmer Paste - Moonstone
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Tag Along Die Collection; STAMPlorations - Clustered Hearts Die
• Ink: Distress Ink - Candied Apple, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Wish You Were Here
• Glitter cardstock from stash

Challenge entries

CAS on Friday - Challenge #138 - Tag It

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Allsorts - Week 278/9 - Tags

Don't forget, the challenge linky is open until the end of the month, and do keep an eye out for the remainder of the August HLS challenges, all due to start shortly.

Happy Little Stampers July 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

It's new challenge time over at Happy Little Stampers and today is the turn of the July CAS challenge.  I'll get straight to it, here's what we want to see on your creations this month...

The winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE THE RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

For my DT card I've used a stamp set which is new to my stash together with sentiment stamps from the HLS Perfectly Succulent stamp set...

I actually made a one layer when I didn't have to! lol  I stamped the cute little ellie and coloured him with Polychromos coloured pencils.  I then stamped and cut out a mask before inking through the background stencil.  I simply finished by stamping the sentiments.

Materials used:

• Stamps: MFT - Adorable Elephants; Happy Little Stampers - Perfectly Succulent
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick
• Stencil: Bought from Stamposaurus but has no name
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

Challenge entries:

Allsorts - Challenge #474 - Baby Animals

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

All the HLS challenges run until the end of the month, so plenty of time to link up.  And don't forget to keep a look out for the other challenges starting over the course of the next few days :)

Happy Little Stampers June 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

Can you believe we're at the start of yet another month, this year is just flying by!

So, Happy Little Stampers are launching their June challenges this week and today is the turn of the next CAS challenge.  Here is your cue card...

The winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE THE RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

Here's a little inspiration for you in the form of my DT card, using the HLS Smile! stamp set...

I had the idea to create a smile shaped shaker so I used a curved die here and die cut it twice, one above the other, and then used a craft knife to join the two cuts.  Before creating the shaker part I stamped the 'Smile' using two shades of pigment ink, blended in the centre and stamped using my MISTI, then stamped the remainder of the sentiment below the opening.  

To finish the shaker I added seed beads and backed the shaker window with some silver cardstock.  The top panel was then adhered to the base on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Smile!
• Ink: Versa Color - Orange and Magenta; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Decorative Edges Shallow Die Collection
• Shaker filling: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Seed Beads 'Fairground'
• Silver cardstock and acetate from stash

You have the whole of June to play along and link up, and please do pop over to the main challenge blog for more inspiration from my HLS teamies, they have some great projects for you this month.

That's all for the moment, thanks so much for visiting :) x

Happy Little Stampers May 2018 CAS Challenge

Good evening!

I can't believe we're into May already, and the start of a new month means lots of new challenges starting over at Happy Little Stampers.  Right now the CAS Challenge is just beginning so here is this month's challenge cue card...

One layer cards don't have to be challenging so please do give this a go even if OLCs fill you with dread!  

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

I decided to get ahead and create a Christmas card!  I know I'll still be rushing to finish them all once we get to December but every little helps!  Here it is...

I started by die cutting a circle from a scrap of cardstock which I then used to mask a negative circle on my card base.  I firstly blended with two shades of Distress Ink and created more shading around the edges.  I then used two different snowflake stamps to create the pattern on my bauble using dark blue pigment ink.  After removing the mask I hand drew the string and bow using a silver pen and then stamped the sentiment which was heat embossed in silver.  To finish I added some tiny silver gemstones to the snowflakes.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Let It Snow
• Die: Hero Arts - Infinity Circle Dies (used to create mask)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean; Versa Color - Neptune; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Uniball Signo pen - Silver; Gemstones from stash

Challenge entries:

Christmas Crafts All Year Round - May Challenge - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations - May Challenge - Clean & Simple or Fussy & Fancy (I obviously went for CAS!)
Sweet Stampin' - Circles


This challenge, as with all the HLS challenges (some which will start in the next few days) will run until the end of the month, so plenty of time to play along and link up.

Happy Little Stampers April 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi there

We're at the start of another new month which means it's new challenge time over at Happy Little Stampers and today marks the start of the next CAS challenge. 

I'll get straight to it with the cue card...

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

My DT card uses three different HLS stamp sets...

I trimmed a piece of grey cardstock to slightly smaller than the card base.  Then, using my MISTI to line them up, I stamped the chevrons in VersaMark ink and heat embossed in white.  The sentiment was stamped in black and the panel adhered flat to the card base.  I stamped and heat embossed the butterfly in white then blended with three shades of Distress Ink before die cutting with its co-ordinating die and popping up on 3D foam pads.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Mix Mash, Wish You Were Here, Butterfly Birthday (and co-ordinating die)
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Coloured cardstock from stash

Thanks so much for popping by.  My teamies over at the HLS challenge have lots more chevron inspiration for you so please do stop by and take a look.  This CAS challenge, along with the rest of the HLS challenges (some starting over the next few days) will run until the end of the month so there's plenty of time to play along and link up.

Happy Little Stampers - New Release Blog Hop!

Hi there

It's Blog Hop time over at Happy Little Stampers to celebrate the arrival of six new stamp sets.

You have the chance to win amazing prizes just by hopping along with us.  My fellow Designers and I have prepared a feast of inspiration with the new sets and we can't wait to show you what we have come up with.

This post has lots of info and photos so why not grab a brew and get comfy!

I've been playing with three of the new sets and here are my sample cards.

My Challenge entries are at the end of the post so as not to interfere with the blog hop details :)

First up is the gorgeous new Dandelion Wishes set...

Card 1

I masked the base and left side of the card and then blended with Distress Ink, fading it out.  I then stamped and heat embossed some of the dandelions in white and also stamped a few more in grey and the same lavender shade.  I finished by stamping the sentiment in black and adding a few score lines to the border.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Milled Lavender; Altenew - Silver Stone; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Dandelion Wishes
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White

Also using the Dandelion Wishes set...

Card 2

I embossed my card base using a stitched oval die and then made a mask from some scrap cardstock and used the negative space to just reveal the centre oval.  I blended the background with two shades of Distress Ink and then stamped the dandelions using first and second generation stamping.  I splattered with some water and lifted the droplets away with a paper towel.  I stamped the sentiment using two similar shades of pigment ink to continue the ombre theme.

Materials used:

• Die: Lil Inkers - Stitched Ovals
• Ink: Distress Ink - Iced Spruce, Faded Jeans; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Celadon, Smoke Blue
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Dandelion Wishes

Next up is the super pretty Let It Snow stamp set.  You can never have too many snowflake stamps in my opinion!

Card 3

I embossed the card base using a pierced square die and cut a second square using the next size down from the same set.  I stamped the snowflake and heat embossed using a pearl embossing powder.  I then blended three shades of Distress Ink.  The inked square was popped up on 3D foam and the sentiment was simply stamped below in black.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Squares Stax
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Let It Snow
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - White Pearl

Next up I made a shaker using the Let It Snow set...

Card 4

I started with a white panel slightly smaller than the card base and die cut three circles, leaving room for the sentiment which was stamped in black.  I positioned over the card base and marked through with a pencil where the circles would be.  Next I stamped the snowflakes and heat embossed in metallic shades.  I then put together my shaker in the usual way with acetate and foam tape on the reverse, and added some sparkly crystals to each window.

Materials used:

• Die: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Let It Snow
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich, Metallic Silver, Metallic Copper
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - Iced Crystals

And the last set I've been creating with is a super fun sentiment set called Smile...

Card 5

I wanted to include a smiley shape on my card so I masked a panel to expose a curved strip.  I then blended a rainbow of ink.  I manipulated the sentiment stamp to follow the curve before stamping in black, along with the big Smile sentiment below. 

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Lucky Clover, Mustard Seed; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Smile

And finally, another using the Smile set...

Card 6

This took a while to create but with the help of the MISTI I managed to line up the smiles ok.  Before stamping the background I inked around the edges with some blue ink, fading it out towards the centre.  I stamped a further 'Smiles' in black ink on a vellum strip and heat embossed in clear, and embossed a further strip in white on black to complete the sentiment.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbed Glass; Versa Color - Amethyst, Royal Blue, Lavender; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Smile
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss, Opaque Bright White
• Vellum from stash

Here are the sets I used, together with the remaining three sets in the new release.  I think this is a great selection, they're all so different :)

You should have reached me from the link in Kylie's post but if not, you can start the Hop from the beginning following the links below.

Happy Little Stampers

Kylie

Anita - that's me!

Heidi

Jane

Michelle

Linda

Stephanie
Helen Liu

Don't forget to comment along the way for a chance to win the prizes detailed above.  The Blog Hop will for one week, ending on 19th March @ 6am AEST.

Happy Hopping! :)

Challenge entries:

Card 1:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #110 - Ombre

Card 2:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Card 3:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #282 - Make Your Mark (Ink sponging/blending)

Card 5:

Time Out - Challenge #104 - Bold

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #66 - Rainbows

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #194 - Beautiful Rainbows

Card 6:

Sweet Stampin' - Inspired by a Song (Smile by Nat King Cole)