Muse Challenge #293 - Fabulous!

Hi there

It's new challenge time over at Muse.

This month we are doing things differently.  As we appreciate everyone is busy in the run up to Christmas, we are holding an Anything Goes challenge leading up to Christmas, so anything can be added to the linky for this one :)

For my inspiration card I'm sharing one that I made for a lovely friend of mine last month...

This was a quick and easy make.  All the stamps I used here were from a set which was free with a magazine earlier in the year.  On a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base I blended two opposite corners with Distress Ink, fading it out.  I then stamped the lady in black ink and cut a mask to enable me to stamp the dressing table and mirror in grey ink.  The sentiment was also stamped in black.  The panel was adhered flat to the base.  To finish I coloured her lipstick with a co-ordinating Zig marker and added some shimmer to the mirror and her belt with a shimmer pen.  You can just about make out the shimmer to her belt in the pic below...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Hello Gorgeous - free with Creative Stamping Magazine
• Ink: Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Sky Gray
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen - Clear

Thanks so much for visiting today and I'm looking forward to seeing all your makes in the gallery :)

Muse Challenge #290 - Teal with Texture

Hi there

There's a new challenge just starting over at Muse and it's my turn to be your designer.

A super clean and simple design for you this time, with a little added texture...

I stamped the heart, sentiment, balloon string and balloon on a panel of white cardstock, double stamping the balloon with a darker shade to add some depth.  I like how the balloon string followed on perfectly from the end of the sentiment.  I then used an embossing folder to create the subtle wave texture.  It was then simply popped up on 3D foam and some silver enamel dots were added to finish.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Hello Gorgeous set (free with Creative Stamping magazine), Clearly Besotted - Let's Party
• Ink: Altenew - Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Emerald; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Folder: We R Memory Keepers - Next Level Wave
• Enamel dots from stash

Thanks so much for popping by, and I hope you can find some crafty time to join in with the challenge this week.

Muse Challenge #285 - Forest Foliage Thanks

Good afternoon, crafters

It's the first Monday of the month and therefore it's my turn to be your designer over at Muse. 

It's certainly very autumnal here in the UK, it's chilly in the mornings and evenings now and the leaves are starting to turn so I chose an autumn theme for my inspiration card for this week's challenge.

I'm really loving stencils right now, and it's been a while since I've used texture paste on a card so I paired that with a gorgeous new to me stencil and came up with this design...

I temporarily adhered the stencil to a panel of white cardstock by using masking tape on the reverse, so as not to cover up any areas of the card.  I then squished three shades of Distress Ink onto a blending mat and mixed these, one at a time, with some embossing paste using a palette knife and then spread it randomly over the stencil until all of the cardstock was covered.  I then cleaned off my stencil and left the panel to dry.

I just love how much more muted these shades are when blended with white paste, completely different to their usual shades.  The following photo shows the embossing paste much more clearly...

Once dry I cut the panel down and adhered it to the card base popped up on fun foam.  I then die cut the 'thanks' four times, three times from white cardstock and once from green, stacked these up and adhered to the panel.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil Designs - Forest Foliage
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Ink: Distress Ink - Forest Moss, Brushed Corduroy, Spiced Marmalade
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Twice the Thanks

Challenge entries:

Uniko - Challenge #49 - Wonderful World with optional twist Thanks (the natural colours of autumn)

Allsorts - Challenge #487 - Autumn Glory

Alphabet Challenge - N for Nature

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

I hope my card will inspire you to play along this week, I'd love to see where it will take you creatively.  

Muse Challenge #281 - Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

Hi guys

The designer rota is back with me for this week's Muse challenge. 

For this card I've used a gorgeous stencil by Sarah Gray of Funky Fossil Designs, you can find her fabulous collection of stencils over at her Folksy Shop, here.  I've loved this one for ages so had a little shop the other day, and so glad I did. 

This design is also quite different to most things I have in my stash and I really enjoyed creating something different.

Here it is...

On a panel of white cardstock I began by blending through the stencil with purple, blue and black Distress Inks.  I then made a big faux pas! I wanted to add some sparkle so spritzed some Cosmic Shimmer Mist before removing the stencil.  I completely forgot that Distress Inks would react with this, hence some bleeding of the ink in her hair.  I don't think it looks too bad so decided to go with it anyway :)

You can see the shimmer much better in the photo below...

All that was left was to create the sentiment, half of which I heat embossed in silver, then popped the panel up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil Designs - Elegant Lady
• Ink: Distress Ink - Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Uniko - All Occasions Sentiments #6
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting today, and I hope you'll find some inspiration from my card and play along at Muse this week :)

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.

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!

Muse Challenge #269 - Hello Friend

Hi there

The designers' baton is back with me which means it's my turn to create a card for you for this week's Muse challenge.

I've been itching to use a couple of dies I bought last month at the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show so I've used them together on this card.  Hopefully there are some elements here you can take as inspiration to play along.  You can choose any element(s) as a starting point, e.g. colours, layout, technique, etc.

Here's my card...

I cut a piece of patterned paper with an ombre sky effect to a size just smaller than the card base.  I then die cut the floral border and adhered this to the paper along the bottom edge, trimming to the same size.  Next I die cut the words from some white glitter cardstock to add a little bling.  I decided to single out a couple of the teeny flowers along the base and coloured these yellow, and die cut another to use as the dot on the 'i' of friend.  You can see the glittery cardstock a little better in the next photo.

All that was then left to do was adhere the panel to the card base, which I did with fun foam.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Docrafts Papermania - Capsule Elements Pigment
• Dies: Memory Box - Broadsworth Floral Border; Pretty Pink Posh - Hello Friend Script
• Coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker
• White glitter cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #294 - Clean and Simple

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you can find some time to play along with us at Muse this week.

Muse Challenge #265 - Party Time!

Hi there

It's Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK and also my birthday today so right now I'm on my way to a local hotel to enjoy a 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea'!! Can't wait...a little naughtiness is allowed on one's birthday, right?!

Now the real reason for this post, it's my turn to be your designer over at Muse.  So, what better time to break open my new Altenew set, Party Time!  Hopefully there are a few elements here to inspire you to play along this week: the colours, layout, striped paper, shadow stamped images.

Here it is...

I started with a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than my card base and stamped the steamers in three different layered colours, and then the shadow sentiment which is so easy to line up.  This was then simply popped up on 3D foam onto the card base which I'd covered with striped paper.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Altenew - Party Time!
• Ink: Altenew - Volcano Lake, Lagoon, Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue, Lavender Fields, Deep Iris, Silver Stone; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Patterned Paper: Avery Elle - The Sorbet Collection

Challenge entries:

Penny Black and More - May Challenge - Anything Goes

Just Us Girls - Challenge #439 - Shadow

Creative Inspirations - May Challenge - Clean & Simple or Fussy & Fancy (CAS option)

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes
Cards in Envy - One Layer Card Challenge

Thanks so much for popping by today.  I hope you'll find time to join in and link up in the gallery.

Muse Challenge #260 - Layered Dahlia

Good afternoon, folks

I hope you've all had a wonderful Easter weekend :)

Today, it's back with me to be your designer over at Muse.  I realised there was a card (actually two cards) I made last month that I hadn't yet shared on my blog so I thought this would be ideal for my next Muse inspiration project.

There were very few products used on this one layer card but I love how pretty it is and it's the first time I used these layering stencils.  This was the card I made for my Mum for Mother's Day.

This was so simple to create.  I masked off the edges of the card as I wanted a white border.  Then I fixed the first of the stencils down and blended the lightest colour, then blended the darker shade through the second stencil to create the layer details.  A simple sentiment stamped in black finished the card.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Altenew - Layered Dahlia
• Ink: Altenew - Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Altenew - Extra Special

Challenge entry:

Altenew - April 2018 Inspiration Challenge

And above, I mentioned two cards.  I made this one for my boyfriend's mum...exactly the same but using a different colour palette...

Materials used:

As above but inks were Altenew - Sunkissed and Orange Cream.



Thanks for visiting today, I hope you are able to play along this week.

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 :)

Muse Challenge #252 - Butterfly Meadow Shaker

Hi there

I'm your designer for this week's challenge over at Muse and I've gone for a pastel Spring card, and one I made for my best friend.

The idea at Muse is to use the designer's card as inspiration for your own creation.  It could be the theme, colours, layout, technique, etc.  Just see where it takes you, and I hope you can get some inspiration from mine this week.

Here it is...

I started with a panel of white cardstock and stamped the grasses in pastel greens and pinky nudes.  I then stamped the sentiment over these in black.  I die cut the butterfly and made a shaker window with acetate surrounded by 3D foam and filled with sparklies from two different shaker sets.  I trapped the sparklies inside and adhered the foam backed panel to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Simple Silhouettes, Make a Wish
• Ink: Versa Color - Sage, Cinnamon, Seashell, Laurel Leaf; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Marianne Creatables - Tiny's Butterflies 2
• Accents: Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Phosphorescence, Itty Bitty Stars Clear Iridescent

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you find time to play along this week, and don't forget to visit your fellow participants along the way, and vote for your favourites at the end of the challenge.

Muse Challenge #248 - Sunny Florals on Teal

Hi there

I'm here to kick off the first challenge of 2018 over at Muse and I'm delighted that it's my turn to be your designer.

The idea of the Muse challenge is to use the designer's creation as inspiration for your own project.  You can use any element(s) to inspire you, e.g. colours, theme, technique, layout, etc.

In recent months I've been inspired by many cards that Yana Smakula has created using coloured pencils on dark cardstock, so wanted to have a go at this myself using my Polychromos, and I'm really pleased with the result.

I chose teal cardstock as my base and stamped the sentiment and florals in VersaMark before heat embossing in gold.  I then coloured the flowers and leaves with my coloured pencils before trimming slightly and adhering the panel to my card base.

Here's a closer view...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Sincerest Thanks, To You With Love
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos
• Coloured Cardstock: From an assortment by Stampin' Up

Challenge entries:

Simpy Create Too - Challenge #134 - Embossing
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #62 - Flowers
Just Us Girls - Challenge #422 - Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes





Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope my card will inspire you to play along at Muse this week.

Muse Challenge #245 - Partial Die Cut Rose

Hi there

I'm thrilled to be your designer over at Muse again for this week's new challenge.

I made this card whilst at the Happy Little Stampers craft retreat last month when one of the techniques we were having fun with was partial die-cutting.

I hope there are a few different elements to inspire you this week.  I've included partial die-cutting, heat embossing, watercolouring and contrasting cardstock.  Or perhaps the floral theme, colours or layout will be your inspiration.

I started by stamping the rose in VersaMark ink onto some watercolour card and heat embossed in white.  I then watercoloured using my Derwent Inktense pencils.  I then partially die cut the rose with it's co-ordinating die and then made a vertical cut between the image with my trimmer.

I adhered some black cardstock to the card base and stamped the sentiment on the rose panel before adhering it popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Merci Beaucoup (and co-ordinating die)
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Watercoloured with Derwent Inktense pencils
• Cardstock: Daler Rowney - Aquafine, black from stash

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Penny Black and More - December Challenge - CAS

Thanks so much for visiting today, and I hope I've inspired you to play along at Muse this week.

Muse Challenge #241 - Leafy Thank You

Good afternoon

It's the first Monday of the month and therefore, once again it's my turn to be your designer over at Muse.

The idea at Muse is to take inspiration from any element(s) of the designer's card, i.e. colours, layout, theme, technique, etc.  And what makes Muse pretty unique is that the winners each week are voted for by your fellow participants, and as part of the rules we ask that you visit at least three other entrants to show some support.

For my design this week I've chosen to make another card appropriate for the season, certainly here in the UK the trees are become bare and the ground is covered with colourful leaves.  And hopefully the different elements will inspire you to play along...

I used an embossing folder to emboss the leaf pattern on a panel of white cardstock and adhered this to a green card base.  I then die cut a stitched sentiment strip from the same green cardstock and embossed the sentiment in white which I adhered to the centre.  Using my MISTI, I then inked up the leaves, overstamping multiple times to achieve the blend of autumnal colours.  This was then die cut with the co-ordinating die and popped up on 3D foam squares.

Materials used:

• Embossing folder: Darice  - Leaves Assorted Pattern
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Sentiment Strips, Clearly Besotted - Little Things
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments, Little Things
• Ink: VersaMark; Altenew - Mocha, Moss, Autumn Blaze, Grapevine
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Just Us Girls - Word Week #418 - Thankful

Altenew - November Inspiration Challenge 2017

Fusion Challenge - Autumn Leaves (I used the photo/not the sketch)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving

Thanks so much for popping by today, and I hope I've provided some inspiration for you to pay along this week

.