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 :)

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.

Less is More Challenge #385

Good morning, folks

It's time for another new challenge over at Less is More.


Before I share the challenge details I just want to take a moment to say farewell to our fabulous teamie and leader, my lovely friend, Sarah who has decided to step down from the team.  Sarah, you've been amazing since taking over the running of the challenge, working so hard behind the scenes, and I, as well as the rest of the DT are going to miss you enormously.  I know you'll stay in touch and may also join us from time to time at Less is More, but if you don't, just remember, I know where you live!!! :)  Missing you already, buddy xx


The challenge starting today will also be the last one of 2018 (booo!) but on a cheery note, along with this challenge we are also holding a Design Team call (yay!).  You can find full details over on the main challenge blog, here.


Ok, on to the challenge details and, yes, it's the 'Marmite' challenge, you either love or hate it.  It's One Layer time but to take the pain away we've made the theme really easy for you...

Continuing as our November sponsor is Happy Little Stampers, so please do play along to be in with a chance of winning the monthly prize

We have a Guest Designer joining us for this challenge too, Katrina Bufton, who was our Lucky Dip winner back in September.  If you have time, please do stop by her blog to say hi and take a look at her fabulous holiday card.


I have two cards for you this time, here's the first...

I began by debossing the card base using a bauble die, then die cut a post-it note with the same die to create a mask before colour blending with Distress Inks.  Once dry I stamped the snowflake onto the bauble with VersaMark ink and heat embossed in white.  I then stamped the sentiment above it in black ink and hand drew the string and bow with a silver pen.  The debossed detail can be seen more clearly in the photo below...

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Signature Christmas Die Collection
• Ink: Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Let It Snow and Merry Kissmas
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Accents: Signo Uniball pen - Silver

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #319 - Clean and Simple

Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #417 - Christmas

Stamping Sensations - November Challenge - Get Ready for Christmas

Happy Little Stampers - November Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (CAS)

I wasn't going to share this card as I wasn't happy with the ink blending, I think an odd piece of rogue cardstock found it's way into my stash and the blend was really grainy!  But I do like the card overall so here it is...

I masked around the edges of the card base with post-it notes, leaving a rectangle in the centre.  I then used a landscape die to die cut a mask from some spare cardstock and then blended the sky with Distress Inks.  I removed the landscape mask so I could add some blue to the snow at the base to highlight the rectangle.  I stamped the sentiment before placing the mask back in position. To finish I spread some embossing paste through a splatter stencil to create the snow.

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Tree Landscape Die
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Speckles
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver

Challenge entries:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #435 - Photo Inspiration

I do hope you'll play along in our last challenge of the year, and it's a great reason to get some more Christmas/Holiday cards done, if like me you're way behind with them!  And I hope some of you will also apply to be on the DT, our participants are so talented.

Bye for now.

For Remembrance Day

Good morning

Just a simple and appropriate card for today...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Pure Poppies, Brushed Greetings II
• Ink: Memento - Cottage Ivy; Altenew - Crimson, Velvet; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entry:

Allsorts - Challenge #493 - Poppies/Colour Red

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely Sunday x

Less is More Challenge #384

Good morning

Starting over at Less is More today we have a Colour challenge for you.  I'll get straight to it and show you the cue card...

As always, please ensure your entries are clean and simple.

Our generous Sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so please do play along in our November challenges to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

Joining us as a Guest Designer this week we have the wonderful Angie of Cimba Creative Fun.  She was our September winner and is a regular participant at Less is More.  Please do pop over and take a look at her gorgeous card for our colour challenge theme.

Right, onto my cards, and I have two for you this time.  Here's the first, using copper, gold and silver and stamps by our fabulous sponsor...

For this card I chose a teal coloured base and used that for my stamped panel too.  I used metallics for the rest of the design.  I began by first stamping the holly and heat embossing with copper embossing powder, then stamped the berries, added the embossing powder and brushed away any parts of the image which crossed over onto the holly before also heat embossing in copper.  I then painted the images using a mix of mica powder and water in silver and gold.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in silver before die cutting with a pierced square die.  Something else was needed so I die cut the same square from some gold cardstock and offset the panels before popping up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Merry Kissmas
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Copper, Metallic Silver
• Mica Powder: Honey Doo Crafts - Silver Sparkle; Ranger Perfect Pearls - Heirloom Gold
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Squares Stax
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #317 - Make Your Mark (painted with mica powders)

Stamping Sensations - November Challenge - Get Ready for Christmas

Happy Little Stampers - November Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (CAS)

My second card is one I recently made for my boyfriend's parents who were celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary...

For the main panel I ran this through my Big Shot using a great little embossing folder.  It creates a horizontal banner towards the top and an embossed heart and a border along the bottom.  I heat embossed the sentiment in gold and attached the panel to a slightly larger piece of textured gold cardstock flat on the card base.  I mixed some transparent texture paste with gold glitter and spread this through a heart stencil and left it to dry before die cutting with a stitched heart.  I cut the same heart from the same gold cardstock I adhered to the base.  All that was left to do was adhere the hearts, one popped up on 3D foam, and a little bow made from gold organza ribbon.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder:  Xcut - Banner
• Stamps: Uniko - Flower Power #7
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Texture Paste: Ranger - Translucent Matte
• Accents: Nuvo Glitter - Light Gold
• Ribbon and cardstock from stash 

Thanks so much for visiting today.  My teamies have some great examples which you can find over on the main Less is More challenge page, here.  So, unless you're super organised (unlike me!) why not use this challenge to add some Christmas cards to your stash using metallics?  I really must get a wriggle on with mine, time seems to be passing so fast, Santa will be on his sleigh before I know it!

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Bonus Card!

Hi guys

I have one more card to share which I made at the same time as my Guest Designer cards for Honey Doo Crafts, and using one of the stamps from the Brush Strokes set.

My inspiration for this card came from a beautiful photograph that my brother took last month, of the Hunters Moon rising over Torbay, taken from our home town of Torquay in South Devon.  I've included his photograph below my card photos.

I decided to use one of the brush stroke images to mimic the coast, but had to flip the photograph left to right because of the orientation of the stamp. 

Here's my card...

I began by die cutting a small circle from a post-it note and used the negative mask to blend the moon first with Distress Inks.  I then used the circle die cut mask to cover the moon and blended the background, then added another post-it horizontally to blend the line of the horizon with a darker shade.  I then used black ink to stamp the brush stroke 'coastline'. 

All that was left to do was die cut the inked panel and mat it popped up on another die cut frame and adhere to the card base.  I decided to leave this one sentiment free.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Honey Doo - Brush Strokes
• Dies: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies; Spellbinders - Classic Rectangles

And here is my inspiration, my brother's beautiful capture of the Hunters Moon...

If you are interested in photography you can find his Facebook page, here.

Thanks for your visit, I'll be back tomorrow morning with details of the next Less is More challenge.  Bye for now :) x

Guest Designer for Honey Doo Crafts - Selection Three

Hello again

I was going to leave this post until a little later in the day but decided to just hit Publish right away, why not eh?!

I had great fun creating with the wonderful Honey Doo Crafts stamps for my Guest Designer spot.  They will be featuring these stamp sets on the craft channel, Hochanda, tomorrow 10 November 2018.

Here are more of my makes to whet your appetite.

First up, I've used the absolutely gorgeous set called Flower Arrangement.  It's a large stamp set and the detail on these florals is stunning.  I've kept this first card super simple, and it's my favourite from all of my Guest Designer makes...

I wanted to create a vintage feel for this card so chose a cream card base and panel.  The image I've created is actually made up of three of the smaller stamps from this set, the flower, leaves and berry sprig.  A little masking was required for this.  I simply stamped with Distress Ink and then used a small amount of water and a paint brush to draw the colour in from the edges.  I love this technique with Distress Inks, it's so easy.  I used a pierced square die to cut out my image and used a slightly larger die from the same set to emboss my card base then popped the image up on 3D foam.  I then simply stamped the sentiment below in a co-ordinating ink.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo - Flower Arrangement, Birthday Sentiments
• Ink: Distress Ink - Pumice Stone; Versafine - Smokey Gray
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax

Next up, I've used the Flower Arrangement set together with another of the large sets called Paint Splodges...

This is one of my favourite layouts for CAS cards.  I started by masking a horizontal panel and then stamped above and below it, first with various paint splodges in bright colours, and then with the floral images just in black.  I just love the detail of these flowers and leaves.  I removed the masks and then stamped the sentiment in between.  I felt something was missing so I added some embossed silver lines.  I did this by adding masks, leaving just a thin line visible, then pushing through the gap with VersaMark ink.  The masks were then removed and the embossing powder added and heated.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo - Flower Arrangement, Paint Splodges, Birthday Sentiments
• Ink: Altenew - Tide Blue, Coral Berry, Deep Iris; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

For this next make I used the beautiful Spring Flowers set along with the co-ordinating dies...

These images were just shouting to be inked in pastels, they're so pretty.  So I took some white cardstock, stamped and heat embossed the flowers in white and then coloured them by blending with Distress Inks before die cutting them out.  Using a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base, I stamped the sentiment off to the left, positioned the flowers where I wanted them and stamped the leaves in a pale green/grey ink.  The panel was then popped up on fun foam and the flowers permanently adhered in place, the top one on glue dots.  I love these flowers, aren't they pretty...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo - Spring Flowers, Birthday Sentiments
• Dies: Honey Doo - Spring Flowers
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Laurel Leaf; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Last up, I've used Spring Flowers again and Paint Splodges, although very difficult to see the effect on camera...

I die cut a white panel with a stitched rectangle and stamped the flower with two shades of Distress Ink by dabbing one in the centre, and one around the petals.  I used the same technique as with the first card, using a small amount of water to draw the colour in from the edges.  I then stamped the sentiment with an ombre effect using two shades of pigment ink, and my MISTI to enable multiple stamping.  Although I love CAS it did look a little plain so I stamped one of the large paint splodges and embossed with a clear embossing powder which has an iridescent sparkle.  The gloss of the EP is picked up in the photo below, but not the sparkle unfortunately...

The panel was then adhered to the card base using a piece of fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo - Spring Flowers, Birthday Sentiments, Paint Splodges
• Ink: Distress Ink - Carved Pumpkin, Candied Apple; Versa Color - Marigold, Camelia; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: All Night Media - Crystal Sparkle

Don't forget, Honey Doo Crafts have two upcoming shows on the craft shopping channel, Hochanda (Freeview 85 / Sky 673) tomorrow, 10 November 2018, a 10am and 2pm GMT.  And I hope you will be able to tune in tomorrow to see these fabulous products in their full glory, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks once again for visiting, I really appreciate each and every one of you that stops by :)