Happy Little Stampers December 2018 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

We've hurtled around to the beginning of another month so it's new challenge time over at Happy Little Stampers.

Right now is the start of the CAS challenge, so here is the cue card for you...

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 two types of embossing...

I started with a panel of white cardstock, a fair bit smaller than the card base and embossed it using a snowfall embossing folder.  I then cut a strip of vellum and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in silver.  This was then wrapped around the panel and secured on the reverse.  I then stamped and heat embossed  the holly in silver, fussy cut it out and adhered it over the vellum strip using glue dots.  I adhered the panel to the card base using fun foam and to finish added some red Nuvo drops as the berries.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Hobbycraft - Holly Jolly Christmas Snowfall
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Nuvo Crystal Drops - Red Berry

Challenge entries:

AAA Challenge - CAS Game #129 - Mostly White
CAS on Friday - Challenge #147 - Christmas Card
Inkspirational - Challenge #175 - Anything Christmas Goes
The Paper Players - Challenge #421 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas





The challenge, as well as all the other Happy Little Stampers challenges will run until the end of the month.  And if you weren't already aware, the Happy Little Stampers store is closing down.  Lots of reductions...

 

So if you want to grab some bargains head over to the store, here.

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.

Less is More Challenge #375

Hi guys

The last two weeks have absolutely flown by and we are back with another new challenge for you over at Less is More.  And following the usual challenge sequence means it's time for a Colour challenge this time, here are the details...

And as we are into a brand new month we have a new sponsor, it's the fabulous craft store, Seven Hills Crafts back with us for July.  So don't forget to play along in our challenges this month for a chance to win the monthly prize.

We also have a super talented Guest Designer joining us for this colour challenge, Lynne who was our monthly winner for May!  Please do pop over to her blog to say hi and see her wonderful creative work.


OK, I was a bit on the fence with this colour combo at first and wasn't really 'feeling it' but as it happens, I have four sample cards to share with you!  It obviously kick started my creative mojo after all!

Here's the first.  This is my favourite of the four and I was going to share this one over on the main LIM post but Izzy beat me to it with a very similar stencilled project, so I'll share it here as my first one...

A pretty simple make.  I inked through a stencil with two colours of Distress Ink, blending where they met.  I then die cut the 'hugs' from some black fine glitter cardstock and twice from orange cardstock and stacked them up.  You can just about make out the orange cardstock in the pic below, as well as the glitter card...

 

I finished by adding some black Nuvo drops scattered around the sentiment.  Before I added these I felt that something was missing but I think I preferred it without.  Oh well!

Materials used:

• Stencil: Altenew - Leaf Burst
• Ink: Distress Ink - Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade
• Die: Lawn Fawn - Scripty Hugs
• Accents: Nuvo - Crystal Drops Ebony Black

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #299 - CAS
Just Us Girls - Challenge #448 - Citrus

Next up is the card I shared over on the main LIM post...

This is just simply stamped and a few accents added.  The stems and flower heads were stamped in Altenew inks and the sentiment in black.  I then added a couple of score lines for some interest to this one layer card.  And to finish I added some white dot details with a white pigment pen.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Pretty Petals
• Ink: Altenew - Olive, Orange Cream; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Signo Uniball pen - white pigment; Score lines

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes (no Topping option for this one)
STAMPlorations - Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge - Stamps and Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - July Challenge - In My Garden
Alphabet Challenge - H for Happy Birthday




This one follows on from the last LIM challenge as I found this orange floral panel in my 'bits box'...

The main flower was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder, then masked before stamping the remaining flowers and leaves and then heat embossing those also.  I added a little depth of colour to the centres with a FlexMarker.  This was then trimmed and mounted onto a green card base.  I die cut the sentiment strip from the same green cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in white.  A few green glitter enamel dots were added to complete the card.

Materials used:

• Coloured cardstock from stash
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Flowers for Design; MFT - Adorable Elephants (sentiment)
• Ink: Versamark
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Stripped
• Accents: FlexMarker; Enamel Dots from stash 

And I went super simple for my final card.  Although I love simple I don't love this card but thought I'd share it with you anyway...

I stamped the glass, olive and sentiment in black ink then coloured with Flexmarkers.  I made some horizonal score lines and popped the panel up on fun foam on the card base.  To finish I added a little Wink of Stella shimmer to the drink and covered with Glossy Accents.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Raise a Glass II
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Coloured with FlexMarkers
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear; Glossy Accents; Score lines

That's all from me, please do pop over to the main Less is More blog, here, to follow the links to view my fellow teamies' makes.  Lots of different projects to inspire you for this colour combo.  I hope to see you in our gallery.  Happy Saturday, folks! :)

Muse Challenge #273 - Just Because

Hi guys

It's the first Monday of the month which means the designer spot over at Muse for this week is back with me :)

I've created a one layer card to hopefully inspire you this week, using a new to me stamp set from Uniko.  I only recently bought some Distress Oxide inks so getting to grips with those too, trying to find the best cardstock for blending.

Hopefully the soft colours, layout, silhouette, one layer, theme, etc. will give you an inspiration springboard to play along this week.

I started by masking the horizontal strip with post-it notes and then blended three colours of Distress Oxide ink.  I added some water splatters and blotted with a paper towel.  I then removed the masks and stamped the foliage silhouette and sentiment in black.  I'm still learning with Distress Oxides and didn't realise they weren't so good for overstamping so the black ink is a little paler within the blended strip but I quite like it for this design.  To finish I added some tiny trios of Nuvo drops in black.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Oxide - Shaded Lilac, Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Uniko - Just Because
• Accents: Nuvo - Crystal Drops - Ebony Black

Challenge entries:

Just Us Girls - Challenge #447 - Anything Goes
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #74 - June Blooms
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes




Thanks so much for visiting today, I'll be back this evening with information about the new CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers!

Less is More Challenge #373

Hi there

It's new challenge day over at Less is More and we're back with a Theme challenge for you for the fortnight ahead.  I'll get straight to the cue word...

Our sponsor for the month of June is Uniko, and one lucky winner will receive an in stock stamp set of their choice, so be sure to play along this month to be in with a chance!  And Uniko's lovely lady, Bev, is joining us as a Guest Designer this week so please do pop over and say hi.

I've got two sample cards for you using the Friendship theme, here's the first using a sentiment from Uniko...

I recently bought a few Distress Oxide ink pads (yes, very late to the Oxides party!) so wanted to give them a go with the ghosting technique.  On a panel of white cardstock I blended three colours together from the bottom corner, fading them out.  I then laid a floral stencil over the panel, spritzed with water, removed the stencil and blotted with a paper towel to remove some of the colour.  I love the subtle effects you get with this technique and it works great with Oxides as well as regular Distress Inks.  Once dry I prepped the panel with anti-static powder before stamping the sentiment and heat embossing in white.  The panel was then adhered to the base on 3D foam before adding some little trios of Nuvo drops. 

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Oxide - Shaded Lilac, Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio; VersaMark
• Stencil: Dutch Doobadoo - Flower Swirl
• Stamp: Uniko - Originally Organic Additions
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Accents: Nuvo Jewel Drops - Key Lime; Nuvo Crystal Drops - Caribbean Ocean, Crushed Grape, Morning Dew

Challenge entries:

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #21 - Use a Previous Challenge (I chose Challenge #14 - CAS) 

CAS on Friday - Challenge #134 - Embossing

For my second card I chose a cute image from Clearly Besotted:

On a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock I stamped the image and then watercoloured with my Zig markers.  The image was then masked to blend the grass and sky with Distress Inks, and I used a stencil to create some subtle clouds.  I stamped the sentiment, trimmed the panel down and adhered it to a green card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Best Friends
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass
• Stencil: MFT - Cloud
• Water coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
• Green cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Stamping Sensations - June Challenge - Anything Goes

Creative with Stamps - Challenge #27 - Cute Animals

My teamies are sharing some lovely makes over on the main challenge blog if you need some more inspiration.

I hope you can play along over the next two weeks, it's always lovely to have cards for friends in your collection...just because :)

Cheery Robins

Hi there

Another Christmas card for you!  This one was made for a friend to give to my brother and sister-in-law.  They love nature, particularly birds, so I chose to create these cute little robins, together with winter hats!

I started by stamping the hats and then masked them to stamp the birds which are from a builder stamp set.  I coloured the hats with ProMarkers.  The birds were then fussy cut.  On a panel of pale blue cardstock I stamped the branch and the sentiment, and then masked these before spreading some Nuvo glimmer paste through a snowflake stencil.  The robins were then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wplus9 - All Year Cheer; Clearly Besotted - Arctic Animals (hats)
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black; Altenew - Rocky Shore, Mocha, Espresso, Coral Berry, Rouge
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Blue cardstock from stash
• Stencil: Memory Box - Tiny Snowflakes
• Accents: Nuvo Glimmer Paste - Moonstone

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #284 - Winter/Christmas

Happy Little Stampers - December Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

I'm nearly done, just a couple more to share very soon :)

Honey, I Shrunk the Kit - November 2017

Good morning

It's time for another get together with the Honeys, and we've all been creating with another great kit of crafty bits and bobs.  Grab a coffee if you like, there's lots of pics below!

For those of you that don't know what this is all about, one of the gang put together a surprise kit which then gets posted to the rest of us.  We then get creative with the same goodies and share our makes here on our blogs.

The latest fab kit was compiled by the lovely Sarah P of Sazzle Dazzle Crafts and mailed out to the rest of the Honeys...

Hazel Hodgkins - Hazel's Paper Designs

Sarah Gray - Funky Fossil Designs

Shona Chambers - Twine Around

Anita Bowden - Neet & Crafty (that's me!)

Here's what was included in Sarah's 'Sugar Fix' kit...

Stamps:
Reverse Confetti: Donut You Know (plus donut die)
Neat & Tangled: Say Yes to Donuts

Avery Elle: Pick N Mix (plus dies)

Mama Elephant: Carnival Cupcakes (plus dies)

Other Dies:

L’il Inker: Smile

Mama Elephant: Columbus Circle

Neat & Tangled: Hooray word dies

Other Items:

Hobbycraft Basics: patterned paper

Action Wobbler

Doodlebug: bakers twine

Anita’s: half cut pearls

So, here goes with my makes this time..


Card 1:

I used the Mama Elephant Columbus Circle panel backed with some of the polka dot paper and adhered these flat to my card base.  I then used the Mama Elephant die cut cupcake and teddy bear, coloured with ProMarkers and some clear Wink of Stella and popped the teddy bear up on the action wobbler.  I then die cut the Reverse Confetti sentiment using an MFT stitched rectangle and coloured with the same pink ProMarkers and adhered to the base on 3D foam.

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #269 - Clean and Simple
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Food and/or Drink (Mama Elephant)
Happy Little Stampers - November Anything Goes with Dies





Card 2:

I used the Reverse Confetti die cuts and sentiment for this one.  I coloured the doughnut and icing with ProMarkers and adhered these together.  Then, using Glossy Accents I adhered lots of the half cut pearls to the icing die cut and then smothered over the top with more Glossy Accents and left overnight to dry.  On a panel of white cardstock I stamped the sprinkles from my own Clearly Besotted 'With Sprinkles' stamp set in grey ink.  The sentiment was die cut with an MFT pierced square die, adhered to the stamped panel and I then suspended the doughnut from the top of the panel using some twine from the kit.  Here's a close up of the gloss and 'sprinkles' on the doughnut.

Card 3:

This was the simplest of all to make.  I adhered some of chevron patterned paper to the card base, leaving a slim border.  I then used a pink ProMarker, close to the colour of the paper, and coloured over the Neat & Tangled Hooray die cut, which was then adhered over the co-ordinating shadow die cut.  I then used a sentiment from my own Altenew 'Celebrate' stamp set which I heat embossed in white on a strip of black cardstock.  The hooray and sentiment were both popped up on 3D foam.

Challenge entry:

Seize the Birthday - Monochromatic




Card 4:

Using an MFT pierced square die I cut the boy image and some of the polka dot paper and layered these up on a card base.  The image was once again coloured with ProMarkers and topped with some clear Wink of Stella.  I then took my Clearly Besotted 'With Sprinkles' set and stamped the sentiment at the base and within the speech bubble, using a die from Clearly Besotted 'You Said It' die set.


Card 5:

On a panel of white cardstock I used some Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone and spread this through a Hero Arts 'Sprinkles' stencil.  I then coloured the Avery Elle sweet images from the kit and fussy cut these out before adhering around a sentiment from the kit which I die cut with a die from MFT Stitched Sentiment Strips.  The panel was adhered to the base on fun foam and the sweets and sentiment with glue dots.

Challenge entry:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #283 - Sparkle



I hope you like what I did with the kit, and I'm now ready to go and visit my fellow Honeys to see what they created with the same goodies.

Thanks so much for visiting today, I'll be back shortly with details of the new challenge at Less is More :)