Clearly Besotted January Release - Baby Shower & Je T'aime (Guest Designer!)

Hi guys

Anyone that regularly follows my blog will know that I'm a MASSIVE fan of Clearly Besotted Stamps so when I was approached AGAIN by the wonderful Stephanie at Clearly Besotted inviting me to Guest Design for this release I was absolutely over the moon to say the least!

This month's release includes eight fabulous new stamp sets, and six co-ordinating die collections.  Stephanie shared some sneaky peeks on her blog here yesterday to give you a little tease of what will be available, and the super-talented Design Team (and lil' ole me!) will be sharing samples with you from today until 5 January, the products then being available to purchase from the store from 10pm GMT on 5 January 2015.

Today I am sharing cards I've made using two of the new stamp sets.

The first set is called Baby Shower.  This is a mini set and includes a cute little elephant image with different designs to use for its ear and sentiments for baby shower or new baby occasions.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Baby Shower
• Ink: Versa Color - Celadon, Hyacinth; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Baby Shower; Lil' Inkers - Stitched Ovals; MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flag Stax
• Patterned Paper: Docrafts Papermania - Spots and Stripes Pastels
• Accents: Docrafts Papermania - Glazed Gems (Iridescent)

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything (Docrafts)

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #104 - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #354 Anything Goes

The Crafter's Cafe - Challenge #97 - New (new products/new baby)

I used the Baby Shower set again for the next card in a different way.  I think the elephant ears resemble petals so I used them here to create a flower.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Baby Shower and Happy Birthday
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Baby Shower
• Ink: Versa Color - Ash Rose; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Vellum: Anita's - pastels
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles (Silver)

Challenge entries:
Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - January Sketch Challenge

The second set I'm sampling today is called Je T'aime.  This is another mini set featuring a French love theme.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Je T'aime
• Die: Clearly Besotted - You Said It
• Ink: Versa Color - Green Tea, Rose Red, Silver, Narcissus; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: All Night Media - Crystal Sparkle; Rubber Stampede - Clear; Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entry:

DJ Kard Kreations - NBUS Challenge #3 - can't get much newer than stamps not yet released! :)

And finally, my fourth sample today combines these two sets.  This time I've used one of the elephant's ears from Baby Shower and used it as a vase! 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Baby Shower, Je T'aime and Many Mini Messages
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versa Color - Rose Red, Evergreen and Gold
• Dies: Lil' Inkers - Stitched Ovals

I'm sure you'll agree these stamps are just fabulous, I'm so lucky to be able to create with them before their launch!

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope you'll visit again over the next few days when I'll be sharing more from the Clearly Besotted January Release as will Stephanie and the wonderful Design Team.

I hope to see you again soon :)

Colour Me...! is One!

Hi guys

I was lucky enough to be a Guest Designer over at Colour Me...! last month and today I'm joining in with their celebrations as they have just reached their First Anniversary!

They are celebrating with a new challenge and the challenge they have set today is to use any of the colour combos from the previous 51 challenges.  So there's certainly a colour combo for everyone.  The previous challenge colours can be found here.

I chose the colour combo from Challenge #12 and created this card...

I cut an angled piece of white cardstock and stamped the images in the three closest colours I had to the colour palette.  I framed this with some co-ordinating cardstock and adhered to the card base.  I finished by stamping the sentiment and adding a few pale blue gemstones.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Eastern Delights
• Ink: Versa Color - Bamboo, Celadon and Baby Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Cardstock: Coloured - Papermania; white from stash
• Gemstones: Papermania

I am going to link this card up at the following challenge blogs:

Crazy for CAS - Challenge #60 - Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #104 - Anything Goes

Why not drop by at Colour Me...! here.  Current and previous Design Team members, together with some past Guest Designers have created projects for the challenge so there is tonnes of inspiration there for you, just in case your craft mojo is still in holiday mode! 

It would be great to see you there.

Bye for now

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards of 2014

Back again!

I've just been having a look around blogland and thought I would join in with Debby over at A Scrapjourney by choosing my five fave Christmas cards from this year.

So, here goes...

Starry, Starry Night

Kylie's Christmas Card Challenge

Black and Gold Christmas

Winter Glow

Let It Snow

So there you have it.  Apart from one I've got a bit of a snowy theme going on here!  

Bye for now x

Hugs & Kisses at Christmas

Hi there

Here is the last of my Christmas cards to share for this year, this is the card I made for Matt.

I bought this stamp about a week before Christmas from Hobbycraft for £1!

I stamped the image and coloured it in with ProMarkers.  It's not a Christmas stamp but I gave the birds red breasts to make them look like Robins.  I used a heart die to cut out the image and used the same die to cut a piece of snowflake patterned paper.  I offset these and adhered them to a white linen card base, the white heart being popped up for dimension.  I stamped the sentiment, which was made up from two different stamp sets, in the bottom corner and then added some clear Wink of Stella to the birds and the heart, and then covered the heart with Glossy Accents.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Hobbycraft - Love Birds; Clearly Besotted - Holiday Sentiments and Many Messages
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Die: Xcut - Nested Hearts
• Patterned Paper: Doodlebug - Santa Express
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Accented with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents

I would like to link this card up at the following challenges:

Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #170 - Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #134 - Anything Christmas

Without Words - December Challenge - Christmas (Modern Look)

Dream Valley - Challenge #97 - Christmas

I Love ProMarkers - Challenge #250 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #294 - Christmas/New Year

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #77 - Anything Goes

Crazy for CAS - Challenge #60 - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #209 - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #353 - Anything Goes
Passion for ProMarkers - Challenge #277 - Bingo (I used 'die-cut/free/glitter')
CAS on Sunday - Challenge #49 - Christmas


Thanks as always for popping by.  I may have more to share later, I'll see how the day goes.  I am working on a few projects at the moment but I'm unable to share those just yet, the wait won't be long ;)

The Cutest Little Reindeer

Hi there

I'm back with another of my Christmas cards.

When I got this set from My Favorite Things I couldn't resist inking up this little deer, he's just adorable!

I cut a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a large circle.  I then adhered some holly patterned paper to the card base in the area that would fall behind the aperture.  I used the circle that remained from the aperture to cut a smaller circle and stamped the deer image.  This was then coloured in with ProMarkers.  Next I stamped the sentiment before popping up the panel and the circle on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Doodlebug - Santa Express
• Dies: Xcut - Nested Circles
• Stamps: My Favorite Things - Christmas Cuteness; Clearly Besotted - Christmas Sparkle
• Coloured with ProMarkers

I would like to link this card up at the following challenges:

Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #170 - Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #134 - Anything Christmas

Without Words - December Challenge - Christmas (Modern Look)

Dream Valley - Challenge #97 - Christmas

I Love ProMarkers - Challenge #250 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #294 - Christmas/New Year

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #77 - Anything Goes

Crazy for CAS - Challenge #60 - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #209 - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #353 - Anything Goes

Be back soon!

Get Your Santa On!

Hi guys

I'm finally back!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends and are looking forward to seeing in the New Year later today (or not too much later for some of you that may be reading this!)

With all the Christmas madness and having to work either side of the break I haven't managed to post any projects so I'm back this morning with a few posts to share the last of the Christmas cards I made this year.

Here is the first...

This was super easy to make.  I had the snowy background paper already printed for use on a previous card so I adhered this to the top half of the card base.  Next I took a white cardstock panel and used a snow drift die to create the curve and then adhered this to the bottom half.  I stamped Santa onto some white card and coloured him in with ProMarkers.  I then fussy cut him out and went around the edge with a black pen to make the edges crisper.  I popped him up on 3D foam and added some clear Wink of Stella to his beard and hat.  The card was finished by adding the sentiment,

Materials used:

• Digi Paper: Pink Petticoat - Falling Snow
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Snow Drifts
• Stamps: MFT - Christmas Cuteness
• Coloured with ProMarkers and Wink of Stella

I would like to link this card up at the following challenges - finding these took almost as long as making the card! :)

Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #170 - Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #134 - Anything Christmas

Without Words - December Challenge - Christmas (Modern Look)

Dream Valley - Challenge #97 - Christmas

I Love ProMarkers - Challenge #250 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #294 - Christmas/New Year

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #77 - Anything Goes

Crazy for CAS - Challenge #60 - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #209 - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #353 - Anything Goes
Passion for ProMarkers - Challenge #277 - Bingo (I used 'die-cut/free/glitter')

Thanks for looking, I'll be back shortly with my next card.

Let it Snow

Hi guys

Well, now that I've finally managed to complete the bulk of my Christmas cards it was really nice to sit down this evening and make a card specifically for a few challenges.

I decided to go for a very simple card.  In real life the colours are slightly more purple but as usual with my camera, the colours appear more blue.  No matter what lighting I try I always seem to have this problem.  Anyway, here it is...

I started by masking off the central panel with post-its before blending three different pigment inks of the same tone.  With the masks still in place I overlaid a snowflake stencil and spread over the design with embossing paste.  After removing the stencil I stamped the sentiment, and it was a stroke of luck that the sentiment nestled quite happily between the snowflakes at the bottom :)

Materials used:

• Ink: Versa Color - Lavender, Imperial Blue, Neptune
• Stencil: Memory Box - Winter Tiny Snowflakes
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Stamp: Uniko Studio - Stunning Snowflakes

Challenge entries:

Less is More - Week202 - One Layer 'Snow'

CASology - Week 126 - Snow

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Winter Inspiration

Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #170 - Christmas

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #134 - Anything Christmas

Just a quick post for me tonight.  I'm now off to bed to try to finally get rid of this horrible bug that's been with me for the last week.

Hopefully I'll be around a little more now that the manic Christmas card production line is over!  Thanks for popping by.