Muse Challenge #278 - Happy I Do Day

Good afternoon

It's a new week at Muse challenge and it's my turn to be your designer.

I recently purchased a new mini stamp set from Clearly Besotted's August Release called I Do Day and really wanted to ink it up, and as wedding season is in full swing I thought this theme would be ideal for this challenge.

Hopefully you can find some inspiration from this one such as the apricot colour, monochrome design, white embossing, florals, wedding, roses, etc.  This was quite a quick and easy one to make too.

Here it is...

I wanted a soft colour to go with this pretty roses stamp and found this unusual apricot colour in my stash.  It's not a colour I use often but I thought it would be lovely and soft for a wedding theme.  I stamped the roses four times, at different angles around the edge of the panel in VersaMark ink and then heat embossed in white.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment (also from this stamp set) also in white.  I popped the panel up on the card base using fun foam.  The sheen from the embossing can be seen better below...

To finish I adhered a scattering of co-ordinating sequins, from two different sets of shaker mixes.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics - Assorted pack
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - I Do Day
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Sequins: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Pearl Necklace and Peach Schnapps

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Cards in Envy - Somthing New (new stamp set)

I hope you can gain some inspiration from my card.  The challenge linky will be open for a week :)

Thanks so much for visiting.

Less is More Challenge #377

Good morning, crafters!

Where are these weeks going?  It only seems like five minutes ago I was writing my last Less is More challenge post!  So, as it's time again, our new challenge just starting over at Less is More is a Theme challenge and this time it's all about Pets.

Our fab new Sponsor for August is STAMPlorations so please do play along for a chance to be our August winner!

And our June winner is joining us as a Guest Designer for this challenge, that's the lovely Hannelie, Desert Diva.  I'm sure she needs no introduction so please do pop over to see her, say hi and take a look at her fab card.


Ok, onto my cards for this one.

You may think this first one is a bit of an odd choice but yes, I did in fact have a pet mouse when I was a child!  My brother used to keep reptiles and therefore, sadly, used to breed mice to feed to the snakes.  My pet mouse was a rescue pet, it was just too cute!

I bought this gorgeous little stamp a short while ago in a sale at Lili of the Valley and don't know why I didn't ink it up earlier!  It was simply stamped and watercoloured with my Zigs.  I stamped a simple sentiment and then mounted the panel on some dark brown textured cardstock.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Lili of the Valley - Lucky Mouse; Wild Rose Studio - Everyday Greetings
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Watercoloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics - Assorted pack

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge - Stamps and Anything Goes

I kept my second card super simple, I think this cute image didn't really need much more...

I began by embossing with a die directly onto the card front.  The cutest little bunny was then stamped within the square and the sentiment below.  I coloured him with my Polychromos pencils.  The embossed square can be seen more clearly in the next pic.

That was it, super simple and quick :)

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Under the Weather
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Inkspirational - Challenge #166 - Make a card in 10 mins or less (this took me 7 mins, 21 seconds!)

As always, my fellow teamies have created some lovely cards which you can see over on the main LIM blog here.  Please do follow their individual links for more info, and perhaps more cards too!

I hope you find time to play along with this one.

Muse Challenge #256 - Light Teal Anniversary

Hi guys

The designer rotation at Muse means it's back with me to provide the inspiration card for you this week. 

I use white so much but wanted to use a colour as the main focus this time.  Hopefully there are a few elements to inspire you to play along with this one.

I chose to use this lovely teal colour cardstock as a starting point.  I then stamped the leafy flourish in a co-ordinating ink and die cut it with a stitched heart (yes sorry, it's that heart again!).  Next, I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark onto a vellum strip and heat embossed it in silver.  I adhered the heart to the coloured cardstock and then wrapped the vellum around and secured on the reverse.  To finish, I added a few smooth silver gemstones to the stamped image.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics assortment
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Mr & Mrs; Crafter's Companion - Special Day (Together Forever)
• Ink: Altenew - Volcano Lake; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Vellum and gemstones from stash

Challenge entries:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #365 - Monochromatic

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you can join in this week :)

Less is More - Weeks #336 and #337

Good morning, crafters

As usual it's time for a new challenge over at Less is More, but we have something a little different for your this time.

As it's week two of the month we have our usual One Layer challenge (oh, please don't groan! lol) but this one will run for two weeks.  Here are the details...

We want to see you using any colour for your card base, except white.

And as well as this being a two week challenge, we're also linking up with AAA CAS Card Challenge.  So you can enter two challenges in one!

Please pop over to the main LIM challenge post, here, for the full details.  There will be one joint winner for this challenge and you must link up to both LIM and AAA to be in with a chance of winning.  The winner will also be invited to guest design for both challenges!

Happy Little Stampers are continuing as our Sponsor for the month of July, and we have the lovely Kylie joining us as a Guestie this week too, so please do pop over and show her some love.


Right, onto my cards, and I have two for you this week.  And both have just a single image and sentiment, and a similar layout too!

For my first I chose a pretty shade of lilac for my card base, in a textured cardstock...

I used pigment ink for this card as I especially needed the white to stand out.  I stamped the outline of the flower first in white, then used a lilac shade of ink to stamp the second layer.  As it was pigment I had the lilac ink sitting over the white which didn't look right so, once dry I went back over the original outline with more white pigment ink to define it.  Luckily I managed to line it back up ok! Next, using my MISTI I stamped the sentiment in the same lilac, then shifted my cardstock very slightly and re-stamped in white to create a shadow effect.  I finished by splattering some white and lilac watered down ink.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Premium Cardstock (assorted pack so shade not known)
• Stamps: Altenew - Golden Garden; Mama Elephant - Brushed Florals
• Ink: Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Heliotrope

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Stamping Sensations - July Challenge - Anything with Flowers
CAS on Friday - Challenge #111 - Flowers




For my second card I made a Christmas card (two weeks running!) using stamps by our sponsor, Happy Little Stampers...

I stamped the sentiment and the poinsettia in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with copper powder.  I then used a gold coloured pencil to add the shading to the petals and leaves.  Gold Stickles was added to the centre.  To add some interest I included some score lines along two edges to help ground the image.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock:  Bazzill Card Shoppe (assorted pack so shade not known)
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Copper
• Accents: Faber Castell Polychromos - Gold; score lines; Stickles - Gold

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #249 - CAS

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #10 - Embossing Heat/Dry

So what are you waiting for?  You have two weeks to enter with your clean and simple one layer creations...simple, right?!  I don't work with coloured card bases often so it will be great to pick up some inspiration from our entries this week.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Less is More Week #330

Hi guys

Another week has zoomed by so I'm back to announce the challenge just starting over at Less is More.  This week we have a Recipe challenge and this is what we would like to see on your CAS creations this week...

After having a missing mojo for the last week I finally managed to create a couple of cards for you.  Then came the next challenge, getting a decent photo of the shimmer!  My lamp made everything really bright so apologies, these pics aren't the best!


Here's my first...

This was quite an easy make.  I wanted to use a colour of cardstock I don't normally reach for so I chose this apricot/pale peach colour.  I used some anti-static powder before stamping the flowers in VersaMark and then heat embossed with some pearl powder to create a shimmer effect.  The sentiment was also stamped in VersaMark but heat embossed in white.  The cardstock was quite thin so had warped a little from the heat so I used some fun foam to mount it to the cardbase which straightened it out nicely.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Delicious Dahlia; Uniko - Originally Organic
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - White Pearl and Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Time Out - Challenge #84 - 'Flowers and friends make life a garden'

AAA Cards - Game #90 - Embossing

I used a Wink of Stella pen to create the shimmer on my second card...

I die cut the stitched aperture from the top panel and marked with pencil on the card base roughly where the window would be.  I stamped the butterflies in black onto the card base in the area which would show through the window.  I then coloured the butterflies with Derwent Inktense pencils and used a clear Wink of Stella pen to blend out the colour instead of water.  The sentiment was stamped onto the top panel before adhering over the card base with 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Butterfly from set free with a publication; Clearly Besotted - Sunshine and Smiles
• Ink: Archival - Jet Black
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Rectangle Peek-a-boo window
• Coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils
• Accents: Wink of Stella - clear

Challenge entries:

Dream Valley - Challenge #156 - Things with Wings

Stamping Sensations - May Challenge - Butterflies, Fairies and Fantasy

There are lots of shimmery products out there so hopefully you can play along this week and I'm sure the shimmering gallery will look stunning!

My new craft area is pretty much all set up now :)  I've had a really good sort out and organised my stash a little better.  Still not perfect but will be great for the time being.  My hall doesn't have great light in the evenings so hopefully this weekend I can get some decent daylight photos, although it's not very bright down here in Devon this morning.  Come on sunshine!  I'm really excited to be sharing it with you soon, it's been a long time coming!

Less is More Week #296

Hi there

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

I love that there's a special day dedicated to our great hobby and wonderful community.  I hope that you manage to find some time to get creative and no doubt there will be lots going on in blogland today to inspire you.

And as it's the first Saturday of the month, at Less is More we're back with our regular Colour challenge.  This week we'd like to see the following colour combo...

Turquoise and Lilac

I've got two cards to share with you this week.  For my first I decided to go with a subtle use of these colours and made a Christmas card...

On the top half of the card base I blended Distress Inks to create the winter sky.  I then die cut another panel of white cardstock with a tree landscape die.  I heat embossed the sentiment in silver before adhering the panel to my card base.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord; VersaMark
• Die: Craft Emotions - Landscape Pines
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Powder Power
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #445 - CAS

I decided to use some gorgeous turquoise glitter cardstock on my second card but it was almost impossible to convey in a photograph, it's so much brighter and more sparkly in real life...

I die cut the floral image from lilac cardstock and the 'you' from glitter cardstock.  A panel of white cardstock was stamped with the sentiment and adhered to a slightly larger black panel and adhered to the card base.  The die cuts were then adhered to the panel, some shimmer added to the petals with some Wink of Stella and a few glitter enamel dots were added to finish.

Materials used:

• Dies: Memory Box- Gorgeous Gardenia Outline; MFT Die-namics - Twice the Thanks
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Thank You
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (lilac); Papermania (black); Glitter cardstock from stash
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear; Happy Little Stampers - Enamel Glitter Dots in Blue

Please do pop over to the main challenge blog to see what my teamies have created this week, you won't be disappointed.  And I'm looking forward to seeing this lovely colour combo filling up the gallery :)

Less is More Week 282

Hi there

We have some wonderful news along with the new challenge at Less is More this week.  First the challenge details, and for our Recipe challenge and we would like you to...

Use a Stencil

Now for the news...

We have a fabulous new LIMette joining the Design Team.  And who better than Esther?!  Esther plays along every week and the support she gives to her fellow participants is amazing.  I think you'll agree that she will fit in just perfectly with our great little team. Welcome, Esther! x


Now onto my cards for this week...

I recently purchased a stencil featuring different sizes of stars so decided to do a little layered blending with Distress Inks to create this one layer card.  A bit of masking off areas of the stencil and shifting it around was all that was required before stamping the sentiment in black and adding some starry bling.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Efco - Stars
• Ink: Distress Ink - Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Twinkle Toes
• Accents: Papermania - Sparkling Stars Assorted Pastels

Just a little stencilling to accent the background on this one...

On some teal green cardstock I used an oval aperture cut from a scrap of cardstock as a mask and stencilled some translucent embossing paste through a striped stencil.  Next I stamped the flowers onto some clear vellum and heat embossed in white before adding some accents with a white pencil on the reverse.  The sentiment was also heat embossed in white and the flowers adhered over the oval detail before adhering the panel to the card base on 3D foam.  I'm a little disappointed that I've lost some of the pencil detail on the bloom, I couldn't find my thick vellum so this was very thin and the glue was much more visible.  Oh well, you get the idea!

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
• Stencil: MFT - Diagonal Stripes
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver - Translucent
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - To Have & To Hold, Pretty Petals
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Ovals; Clearly Besotted - To Have & To Hold
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Vellum from stash

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Penny Black and More - June Challenge - Flower Power

My teamies have worked wonders with their stencils this week, we have a really diverse selection so why not take a look, and on their personal blogs too.  We would love for you to join us this week.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Muse #165 - Fabulous Friend with Mica Powders

Hi there

There's a new challenge just starting over at Muse and this week it's my turn to be your designer.  I hope you can take inspiration from some elements of my card this week, e.g. coloured 'white' space, embossed images, layout, colours, shimmer, etc.

I've used the gorgeous floral image from one of the new sets from Clearly Besotted's May Release, it's a lovely image to colour/paint.

On the pink cardstock, after removing any static with my powder tool I stamped the flowers and the sentiment with VersaMark ink before heat embossing with white powder.  I then painted the flowers and leaves with a mixture of mica powder and water.  I was going to add some sequins but liked it how it was so just mounted the panel to the card base using 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - To You With Love and Say It In Style
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Mica Powder: Honey Doo Crafts - White Opal and Green Emerald

Challenge entries:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - May Flowers

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #62 - Flower Power

I've had a wonderful week off and for once got lots of luck with the sunny weather but it's back to work today.  I want to take this opportunity of thanking you all for your lovely birthday wishes over the weekend, I sure have been feeling the love! :)

Addicated to Stamps and More #192

Hi there

There's a new challenge just starting over at Addicted to Stamps and More and following our challenge sequence, this week we're back with our regular challenge...

Make Your Mark

Please include the use of markers, paints, chalks, watercolours, etc. on your creation

Our Sponsor this week is the fabulous Sami Stamps who are offering a prize of a $12 gift certificate.

I decided to have a go at no line colouring and chose to use a Zig pen and water.  For some silly reason I chose a really detailed stamp and every petal had to be coloured separately.  I think I overworked some areas but not too bad for a first attempt, I won't be giving up the day job any time soon though!

I stamped the Chrysanthemum in a pale Distress Ink onto some mixed media paper and set to work.  I added a tiny amount of ink from the pen to the base of each petal and then drew the ink out to the tips with a wet brush.  You really don't need to add much ink as these pens are very highly pigmented.  And this was all done with one pink pen! I'm a bit disappointed that the stamped lines can still be seen, I was hoping they would soften more with the water.  Perhaps I'll try a different type of paper next time.  I finished off by adding the sentiment in black and some scattered sequins, and then mounted flat onto a purple card base (which is showing up a lot bluer in my photo!)

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Pure Florals Chrysanthemum; Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings II
• Ink: Distress Ink - Antique Linen; Versafine - Onyx Black; Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen - Pink
• Cardstock: Daler Rowney - Mixed Media; Bazzill Basics - Purple
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Sparkling Rainbow Sequin Mix

Challenge entries:

The Crafter's Cafe - Challenge #148 - Feminine
613 Avenue Create - Challenge #174 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

My teamies have created some lovely cards this week which can be found over at the main challenge blog.  Lots of different mediums can be used for our Make your Mark challenge so we would love to see your creations in the gallery this week.

Bye for now.

Happy Little Stampers May 2016 CAS Challenge

Hi there

As we are now into the month of May the new challenges are starting over at Happy Little Stampers and today it's the turn of the CAS challenge.  This challenge is all about making clean and simple cards and each month we have a different technique for you.  This month it's...

If you are unfamiliar with this technique there are some video tutorials included over on the challenge blog.

Happy Little Stampers is the sponsor for this month and one lucky winner will receive a stamp set!

So, onto my card.  I wanted to use a leaf die that is new to my stash and decided to create a sympathy card in soft colours.

I started by die cutting the leaf from a panel of white cardstock.  I then stamped the sentiment in black.  Next I cut a panel of beige cardstock, slightly larger to create a border, and adhered the white cardstock to it ensuring that there was lots of adhesive behind the leaf aperture.  I then die cut the leaf again from the same beige cardstock and gently blended the edges with Distress Ink before adhering in the aperture.  The whole panel was then adhered to the cardbase using 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Die: Memory Box - Pointed Leaf
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Doodled Flowers
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Crushed Olive
• Coloured Cardstock: - Bazzill Basics

Challenge entries:

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #61 - Monochrome

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #174 - Anything Goes

My teamies have created some great cards to inspire you this month.  We would love to see you in the gallery this month so why not play along.

Muse #161 - Sending Hugs

Hi there

I'm proud to be your designer once again this week over at Muse where this week's challenge is just starting.

I hope you can gain some inspiration from my card this week and join in with the challenge.

I purchased a new flower die recently so wanted to put it to use on this card.  I love the inlaid die technique but this die was REALLY fiddly!  I persevered and got there in the end!

I started by using two shades of Brushos, sprinkled them onto some card and spritzed with water.  When dry I die cut a section using a pierced square die.  Next I die cut the flower branch once in deep red cardstock, and again through my die cut panel.  I covered a second die cut square in adhesive and began piecing the design back together, inlaying the red flowers through the square.  This was then adhered flat to my card base and the sentiment stamped below in black.

Materials used:

• Ink: Brushos - Orange, Brilliant Red; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Squares; Crafter's Companion (Signature Collection by Sara Davies) - Trailing Flowers
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Doodled Flowers
• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - Game #62 - Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers - Oriental Theme (this die cut has the appearance of Cherry Blossom)
Creative Card Crew - Challenge #110 - Die Cut
Addicted to CAS - Challenge #85 - Inlaid Dies
CAS on Sunday - Challenge #80 - Flowers

Thanks so much for popping by today, your visits are always so appreciated :)

Addicted to Stamps and More #180

Hi there

It's new challenge time over at Addicted to Stamps and More and we have a fab photo inspiration challenge for you.  And with Valentine's Day just around the corner we have this yummy photo to tempt you...

And this week we have two fantastic sponsors for you:

Stamplorations are offering a prize of a $10 gift certificate

and

All Dressed Up are offering a prize of 2 digital images

Here's my DT card, I think it's easy to see how I was inspired!

First up I took the doily as my inspiration and white heat embossed the doilies in white onto some rose pink cardstock which I adhered to the bottom edge of my card base. I then took a white panel, and die cut the bottom edge with a bracket edge die.  I then simply stamped the sentiment, the cupcake case, frosting and sprinkles before adhering the white panel flat overlapping the embossed lower panel.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Delicate Doilies; Clearly Besotted - Tasty Treats and With Sprinkles
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Orchid and Pinecone; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics - Pink
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Bracket Edges Die Collection

I'd like to link this card up at:

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #411 - In the Pink

There are some great elements in the photo and also more inspiration from my teamies' wonderful creations over at ATSM.  We'd love to see you in the gallery this week so please do enter if you can :)