Happy Little Stampers June 2021 CAS Challenge

Hi there

The CAS Challenge for June is now live over at Happy Little Stampers and we have a fun theme for you this time...

For my Design Team card I chose a stamp I've had in my stash for a long time.  I've only used it once before, many years ago, so it was about time I inked it up again...

Pretty simple execution for this one.  The upper panel was die cut with a scalloped rectangle.  I then stamped the main image and coloured it with Copics.  I found a co-ordinating sentiment stamp from another set and stamped this in black, adhered the panel to the card base and then there was just one thing left to do....add sparkle to the shoes of course!

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stamping Bella - Uptown Girl Reilly Loves to Relax; Reverse Confetti - Clink
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen - Clear 

Thanks so much for taking a look.  The challenge link will remain open until the end of the month so there's plenty of time to join in.

Age Gets Better with Wine

Hi there

This is another card I made in December but didn't get around to sharing with you.  It was for a friend whose birthday was right after Christmas.  It's one of those you have to remember to post in good time and take into account the bank holidays!

Oh, and I've just noticed that this is in fact my 1000th post on my blog!  That's a lot of waffling! lol

I masked all four edges of the card base with tape and then blended the background in three shades of Distress Oxide ink.  I then die cut the wine glass and the 'cheers' once from silver glitter cardstock and again from fun foam.  I adhered these together to add dimension and adhered to the background.  To finish I stamped the sentiment on a flag sentiment strip.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Oxides - Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Reverse Confetti - Clink; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Sentiment Strips
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Laugh Out Loud Again
• Glitter cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #398 - Birthdays

Uniko - 9th Birthday Celebration Challenge

I'll be back on Saturday morning with an exciting post, please check back for more info :)

Less is More Challenge #419

Hi guys

Another fortnight has whizzed by so it's new challenge day at Less is More.  And this time we have a Colour challenge for you...

A bit of trial and error was required for this one and it took three attempts for me to make this card, but I got there in the end, I think!

The problem I had was achieving a cream hue for my focal image.  The first ink I tried was far too yellow and the second one I tried was too beige, so I had to try a few ink colours and embossing powder combos before I got this result.  I used hammered cardstock for the base and image panel although it's difficult to catch on camera.  I used a stitched rectangle die for my image panel and stamped and embossed the glasses and bubbles.  I then added some colour using ProMarkers.  This was then mounted onto a mat of cream linen cardstock and both were popped up onto the base using fun foam.  I finished with a sentiment stamped in black.

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Stamps: Avery Elle - Sip Sip Hooray; Reverse Confetti - Clink
• Ink: Versa Color - Vanilla; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - White Pearl
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #256 - Celebrations

Thanks so much for visiting.  And don't forget that we had new members joining the Design Team last time so there's lots of inspiration over at the main Less is More challenge blog, here.

Happy Little Stampers July 2019 CAS Challenge

Good evening, crafters

We're back with a new batch of challenges for July over at Happy Little Stampers and today it's all about the CAS challenge.  Here's what we want to see from you this month...

I've used just dies to create my DT card for you, and I've made a shaker card, a great way to fill a negative space..

I wanted to go super CAS for this one so to add a little 'something' I chose linen cardstock for my base and panel.  I cut the wine glass from the panel and adhered some acetate behind it.  I then went searching through my sprinkles and shaker fillings and found the perfect glass filler...bubbles!!!

As my panel is smaller than my base I wanted to be able to see where I was lining up the panel so instead of adding the sprinkles to the back of the acetate, before I started the shaker process I drew through the aperture with a pencil onto the base and then put the sprinkles on there before adhering the panel over the top, trapping the sprinkles inside.  To finish I die cut the 'cheers' once from white cardstock and a second time from white glitter cardstock and stacked them up before adhering to my card.

I love this card, I didn't even remember that I bought the bubbles and they were just perfect for this shaker, and lots of occasions I can use it for too.

Materials used:

• Dies: Reverse Confetti - Clink Confetti Cuts
• Little Things From Lucy's Cards - Sprinkles: Iridescent Bubbles
• White glitter cardstock and linen cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #237 - Dies or Punches

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #100 - CAS

Thanks so much for popping by and don't forget that this challenge, as with all the monthly HLS challenges, will remain open to link up until the end of the month.  Happy CAS crafting!

 

Wonderful Mum

Hi there

Today I'm sharing the card I recently made to send to my wonderful mum for her birthday.

After making this card recently, I still had the pot of texture paste on my desk so thought I'd make another using texture paste, ink and a stencil.

Here it is...

I placed the mandala stencil onto a white cardstock panel and then squished three shades of Distress Ink onto my blending matt and mixed each, one by one, with matte texture paste and spread it through the stencil.  I absolutely love how the white paste completely changes the colours of Distress Inks.  The pink in the centre is in fact Wilted Violet, the lavender shade is Blueprint Sketch and the minty green in Lucky Clover!

Once dry I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die.  I was worried the paste would flatten going through the Big Shot but the die must have taken the majority of the pressure so there is plenty of texture left on the surface.

I embossed the sentiment in white onto a vellum panel which I wrapped around the panel and secured on the reverse.  The 'wonderful' was die cut three times and stacked up, the top layer being white fine glitter cardstock.  I then finished by popping up the panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Studio Katia - Mandala
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Ink: Distress Ink - Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Lucky Clover; VersaMark
• Stamp: Papermania - Relations (serif)
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Dies: Reverse Confetti - You're So; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Vellum and cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Time Out - Challenge #120 - Colourful (pastels can still be colourful, right?)

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting, I may be back later today with another make.  And hopefully I'll be sharing more soon as I really need to get a wriggle on and make some Christmas cards!

Less is More Challenge #368

Hi there

And a very Happy Easter to you!

It's new challenge day over at Less is More and this time we're back with a Lucky Dip challenge.  And a great one it is too.  We've invited our fabulous January Winner, Aileen of Colour & Sparkle, to create a card for you to CASE.

And here is Aileen's gorgeous card...

Our sponsor for April is Happy Little Stampers and the fantastic Kylie is also joining us as a Guest Designer for this challenge so please do pop over to her blog and say hi.

I have two cards to share with you, both following the floral theme of Aileen's beautiful card.

Here's the first...

Magnolias are one of my absolute favourite blooms to see this time of year and they are just starting to bloom here in the UK.  A little artistic licence here with the colour, but wouldn't they look awesome in blue!  I simply stamped this multi-layered set onto a panel of white cardstock, die cut the word fabulous from some silver glitter cardstock and adhered this above the word friend stamped in black.  The panel was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Magnolia Moments, A Little Sentimental
• Ink: Memento - Bahama Blue, London Fog; Altenew - Ocean Waves, Mountain Mist; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Reverse Confetti - You're so
• Accents: Pink Frog Crafts - Non shed silver glitter card

Challenge entries:

Just Us Girls - Challenge #434 - CAS (Clean and Simple)
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #196 - Spring Fever

My second card follows a similar theme...

I stamped the linear image and sentiment in black and then added the coloured stamping using the watercolour style filler images from the same set.  The word beautiful was die cut from silver glitter card and the panel then adhered flat to a linen card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Concord & 9th - Hello Lovely; Clearly Besotted - A Little Sentimental
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Bahama Blue, London Fog; Altenew - Ocean Waves, Mountain Mist, Buttercream; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Reverse Confetti - You're So
• Accents: Pink Frog Crafts - Non shed silver glitter card

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #285 - Photo Inspiration
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes




Thanks so much for visiting today, and I hope you manage to play along with this challenge.  The DT cards alone look so pretty, I know the gallery is going to look fabulous for the next fortnight :)

Happy Little Stampers December 2017 CAS Challenge

Good evening

And welcome to our last batch of challenges for 2017 over at Happy Little Stampers.  The Watercolour challenge is already up and running, and the rest will kick off over the next few days.  But today it's the turn of the CAS Challenge, and here's our cue card for this month...

And don't forget, there's a $20 coupon for the HLS shop for one lucky winner!

I don't often make New Year cards but they are certainly handy to have in your stash.  I have a friend who is always away in December and at Christmas, and always goes before I'm organised enough to get my cards sent out, so this one will be winging it's way to her on her return.

Here's my card...

On a panel of white cardstock I blended an ombre background with Distress Inks.  It's actually a little darker than it appears in these photographs as I wanted to portray an evening sky.  I stamped the London skyline from HLS in black ink and then stamped the fireworks and heat embossed in different powders.  The panel was die cut with a stitched rectangle die, and some gold mirri card cut from the next size up die from the same set.  I simply adhered the two together, mounted on my card base and stamped the sentiment below.  The embossing can be seen more clearly in the photo below...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Wish You Were Here; Clearly Besotted - Dandelion Dreams; Reverse Confetti - Clink
• Ink: Distress Ink - Faded Jeans, Wilted Violet; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Glitter: Wow! - Metallic Gold Sparkle, Metallic Silver Sparkle; All Night Media - Crystal Sparkle
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Gold mirri card from stash

Thanks for stopping by.  Please do pop over to the main HLS blog where you'll find lots more inspiration from my fab teamies and don't forget to check back over the coming week to check out the rest of the challenges for December.  All of the challenges are open to link up until the end of the month.

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 :)

Less is More Week #311

Hi there

Well, as you're reading this I'll no doubt be nursing a hangover as it was my works Christmas Party last night!  Yes, we always have it in January which does feel a bit strange but it does make this month a little less dull so not a bad thing.  Hopefully, Blogger has done it's job and by now I should be tucking into a nice hotel brekkie of eggs and bacon to prepare me for travelling back down to Devon from Kent.

So, onto the reason for today's post, and that's the new challenge over at Less is More.  And this week it's our first One Layer challenge of 2017 (yikes!) and this time we want to see...

Favourite Drink

(alcoholic or otherwise)

I treated myself to some new stamp sets specifically for this challenge as I had very little to work with, and I think I'll get a lot of mileage out of these.

So for my first card I've chosen my favourite alcoholic drink, and that's wine, white or pink, sparkly or not, and usually in a pretty glass!

A fairly easy card to make.  The glasses and the black wording is basic stamping and the 'cheers' was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed in platinum as I thought this picked up the pink tone of the glasses.  I added a few score lines to opposite corners top and bottom and finished off with a few sparkly gems for the fizz.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Reverse Confetti - Clink
• Ink: Altenew - Blush; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Gems from stash

Challenge entries:

Dream Valley - Challenge #147 - Something New (new stamp set)
The Card Concept - Challenge #64 - Pretty Things (style - clean and simple)
My Time to Craft - Challenge #337 - Something New

And my favourite non-alcoholic drink is without doubt...coffee.  I treated myself to a Nespresso machine in the post-Christmas sale and I'm loving it!

I started by masking off all four edges of the card base with Post-it notes and then gently blended some Distress Ink to create the central panel.  I then blended more Distress Ink through a splatters stencil which looks like cup rings and finished off by stamping the sentiment and coffee beans.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Pinecone
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Splatters 
• Stamps: Sugar Pea Designs - Espresso Yourself

Challenge entries:

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #99 - Black and White with one colour of your choice

The Male Room - Challenge #51 - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - January Challenge - Coffee & Cream

Thanks so much for stopping by.  One layer cards can be very tricky so why not pop over to the main challenge blog and visit my teamies if you're after more inspiration, they've done an amazing job once again.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and I also hope my journey back home doesn't take too long today.  Luckily my boss is driving so I can have a little sleep!  haha  :)