Addicted to Stamps and More #56

Its Wednesday again and that means it is time for new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week it is our 'Anything Goes' week.  This is always a very popular challenge and I am excited to see what you will create this week.

I went to Pinterest for some inspiration and this card be Debby Hughes provided this for me and here is my case:

I love cream and kraft together and decided to keep it as CAS as possible by just embossing the kraft card and adding a simple sentiment. I found this adorable twine bag in my stash and loved how it looked on the kraft base. I just added a little paper flower and gem for some interest and a pop of colour. 

Our Top Addict this week will get to choose a bundle of goodies from our fabulous sponsor MelonHeadz Illustrations.

I am also going to enter this into the 'kraft and twine' challenge at CAS on Sunday and the 'kraft it' challenge at Allsorts

Now it is your turn to play along and for added inspiration, check out our blog here to see the wonderful projects are DT have made this week.

Most of all have fun x

Something different from me and one for Florence.

Hello my crafting friends,

Today I have a card to share with you that is something a little bit different than my normal 'CAS' style.

My blogging friend Florence is on the DT for Nicecrane Designs. I mentioned on one of her posts that I loved Nicecrane Design set Stunning Nature that I had but was stuck for ideas of how to use it. It scared my CAS brain and although I had printed it out I just kept admiring the beautiful image but not one card had been created! 

The next thing I knew was Florence has posted not one but 7 cards to give me ideas!! Now that is what I call an act of friendship plus all the inspiration needed to get my mind buzzing with ideas. Please check out her stunning collection of cards here

Today I have focused on one of her cards and drawn from her idea of slicing up the image (see her card at the bottom of my post). I stamped the leaf and bird images directly onto the 'stunning nature' scene before slicing it up. I then added a larger leaf stamp and some pink gems for colour onto the card stock. The sentiment I used as I thought it really was perfect for the peaceful image.

I was unsure about this card after I first made it but it has been on my mantelpiece for a day now and I love the relaxing feel it seems to give me.

I have printed off a few more of the images from this set and have some ideas for these, so watch this space! 

And a huge thank you to Florence for the time she spent to give me the inspiration!

Here is her card I cased:

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

Paper Playtime-use patterned paper

Tammy's Scrapin' Corner-use a digi

Eclectic Ellapu-anything goes

Inkspirational Challenge #30

Happy Saturday my friends and today I am here with my 'weekend warrior' post for this week's sketch challenge at Inkspirational.

Here is our sketch:

This week I have used a digital stamp from our fabulous sponsor  A Day for Daises. If you are our monthly winner you will receive a $12 gift voucher for their store.

Here is my card using their gorgeous umbrella image that I have coloured using SU markers and a gelly roll sparkle pen:

When I saw this digi and sketch I had this idea in mind and am quite pleased I could pull it off! I just added a few gems for interest and a PTI sentiment for represent the line on the sketch to divide the 2 sections.

I do like this sweet little card and am looking forward to seeing what you create using this fabulous CAS sketch.

You have until 6pm CMT to play along and don't forget to check out our blog here to see the amazing projects the rest of our DT posted earlier this week.

Happy Stamping!

Rocking Nectarine!

Hello my friends,

This week Jackie is continuing her '10 Pantone Fashion Colours for Spring 2013' challenge. This week the colour is nectarine. If you join in this challenge you could win a FREE custom blog header design from Jackie. If you don't want a new header but join in and win, you can pass this free design onto a friend! Details of this challenge can be found here.

Here is my card:

I wanted nectarine to be the dominant colour in my card. After hunting through my stash I came across this card stock and embossed it to give it a strong graphic texture. I just popped this up on some foam pads after stamping the sentiment over the circle background stamp. I did find this colour quite hard to work with but remembered I had been reading the other day some colour design tips. So with this in mind I went to the colour wheel and decided to go with a colour next and opposite the closest to nectarine on the wheel. Not sure if you should combine colours in this way but it did seem to look right to me! I have been reading up on some design tips over the last week and it is fascinating. I am hoping that you will soon see some of this knowledge being used in my crafting!!

I actually ended up making another nectarine card for one of my DT cards that I will post in the next few weeks and link up to Jackie's challenge. So although I found this colour hard to crack at first, I have ended up really quite liking it. So thank you Jackie for your  Pantone Spring Colour Challenge and I look forward to the next colour! 

I am also entering this into the 'dry embossing' challenge at Artistic Impressions

Have a good day and hope you get some crafty time x

Addicted to Stamps and More #55

Happy Wednesday my crafting chums,

It's time for our photo challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. And this week we have this scrumptious photo to inspire you;

Gosh there is so much here that you could use as inspiration. I am hoping that it is pretty obvious from my card that you can see that it is the whole photo that inspired me!

I was really in the mood for heat embossing when I made this card. And I took advantage of this feeling and heat embossed the sentiment and all the separate little candles. Added a few gems and dry embossed the background card stock. I do love pink and black together and when the pink is embossing powder it gives a really dramatic finish...well I think so!

So what does this photo inspire you to create?? Pop over to our blog here to see the fabulous projects that our DT have created this week. Then get inky and play along. 

Our top addict this week will get to choose a bundle of goodies from our sponsor MelonHeadz Illustrations.

Have fun, I am really looking forward to visiting your blogs to see how we have got you stamping this week x

S.W.A.L.K

Happy Monday to all,

I am popping in to share my card that was inspired by this week challenge at Runway Inspired.

Here is my card:

And here is the photo that inspired it:

I loved this 'CAS' dress and had to go to the website to get a closer look at the detail. Some of the lips and hearts are covered with beads and gems. This really got be thinking and I also loved Wida's DT card here-her beaded heart is just perfect!

I decided to go with the lips and stamped them in red and fussy cut them out. I then used liquid pearl to give them a shine-just like glossy lipstick. It is hard to see the gloss in the photo but IRL it really does look like lipstick. I just stamped the sentiments using Wida's card as inspiration for this and added a gem heart for the yellow you see in the photo and popped the lips up for dimension on a foam pad, after embossing the card with the linen embossing folder to add more texture. I tried out a number of different colour card bases and was amazed that I thought the bright yellow really worked!

That is me for today, have a good one, but before you pop off, here is Wida's card that helped inspire me:

Inkspirational Challenge #29

It's time for my 'weekend warrior' post for our case challenge at Inkspirational. This week we have this fabulous card by fellow DT member Ellen. I immediately loved the vintage look to Ellen's card and how she created her own background plus how the butterfly was defined by the black outline.
And here is my take:

I created my own background using a text embossing folder then spritzed this with bronze glimmer mist. I stamped the vintage typewriter in SU crumb cake ink, fussy cut it out then used a very thin black felt tip to outline it. The sentiment is a digi with a notebook stamp over it. The type writer in on foam pads with the notelet tucked underneath. This was a lot of fun to make and I was pleased with how it turned out.

Here is Ellen's card:

The DT at Inkspiratonal all created great projects using Ellen's card as inspiration. Pop over to our challenge blog here and take a look. Then get inky and be in for a chance to win $12 gift voucher from our sponsor A Day for Daises

Have fun x

Tender Shoots Cards Challenge

Hello my crafting friends,

Today my card is for the challenge that Jackie has started on her blog here. She has had the funky idea of changing the colour of her blog header using all the Spring Pantone 2013 colours by Autumn. Plus make cards to match these changes! With these changes she has challenged us to join in the fun and make a card using the colour scheme she posts every week or fortnight. And this is a very special challenge as if you link up your card to this post you could be in for a chance to win a new custom designed blog header designed by Jackie. Jackie is not only a fabulous card making blogger but also a super talented graphic designer who I called upon when I wanted my blog to reflect its name! I told Jackie my ideas and she came up with the header I have now. And I love it..........enter this challenge and you could have the same done for you, all for free!!

Here is my card using my favourite stamp set at the moment 'On Trend' by Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Firstly I used a grey card base. I stamped the photo frame in green then cut it out and masked it so I could stamp part of the cityscape inside the frame in grey. I then stamped the whole of the cityscape onto white card stock and embossed this with the linen impression plate from PTI. I popped up my cut out frame on foam pads making sure I lined up the buildings. Then used a gelly roll green sparkle pen to colour some windows to finish up. 

I am also going to enter this into the following challenges:

(PIN)spirational-I saw the challenge photo a few days ago and immediately thought grey building blocks and knew my cityscape would have to be stamped. Here is the photo

Inky Chicks-mask tow or more images.

And don't forget to pop over to Jackie's blog here to be in for a chance to win a new blog header-you have until September 22nd to play along with any of the colour challenges that Jackie posts.

Addicted To Stamps and More #54

Today at Addicted to Stamps and More we have my favourite challenge for you....Addicted to CAS! And here is my very first Baby card.

(slide and click over picture to pin to pinterest)

A very dear friend of mine called me up and asked if I would make her a Baby card for her new Grandson. She was so over the moon that I couldn't tell her that I really didn't have any stamps for Baby cards. So off I went to my to get inspired on Pinterest. I spent 2 days viewing cards and thinking of ideas. I saw quite a few cards with baby feet and loved them, so googled 'blue baby footprints' and finally was able to print these adorable tootsies! Now I was stuck for a sentiment but I had just received a new bundle of stamp sets from Fresh Squeezed Stamps and adapted two sentiments that I thought I could get away with! I had to use my PTI impression plate as my friend loves the card I make using this. I am happy to say she loved the card and I am hoping that the new Mummy and Daddy like it too.

Over at our blog here the DT have some fab CAS projects so pop over and get inspired then get inky my friends!

Don't forget that our winner this week gets to choose a bundle of goodies from our fabulous sponsor MelonHeadz Illustrations

Have fun x

Happy Mail

A few days ago I saw this card on Jackie Rockwell's blog and discovered the card chain that Wida started on her blog. It is a lot of fun. You just have to email Wida and ask if you can play along then case the last card in the chain. I was super happy when I saw that the card I was to case was by Tenia-see her card here and at the bottom of my post today. I loved the strong black image of the chair and the multi  coloured background. I used these 2 elements in my case. However I had been thinking about this card for a few days and in this time a number of other inspirations and challenges have prompted the final result. Before I go into this detail and so that if you don't want to read the evolution of this card-this interests me but not everyone-here is my card:

All stamps are by Fresh Squeezed Stamps.

My other influences were the colour scheme at ColourQ-I made a card using these colours earlier in the week and loved them.
The layout is based on the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch. And Jocelyn's card this week at Case Study influenced the use of the photo frame stamp, the smiley face and the sentiment at the bottom.
I had the idea of the photo frame, smiley face and aeroplane but didn't put it all together until I saw Virginia's card here-I loved how she masked her frame and was so pleased when I had a go at doing this and it worked with all these different colours!

So for one card all this inspiration was used in my scrambled mind to come up with this simple card, made nice and flat as you know it is likely to be crossing some oceans to say 'hello' to a blogging friend!

A drum roll please for my inspiration team!!

Tenia's card:                                    Jocelyn's card:                              



             

Virginia's card:                                               Jackie's card:



                                       

ColourQ combo                                  CAS(E) this Sketch


                      

Sunny London Days!

Oh boy, it is so hot here in London I couldn't sleep so I decided to get up and finish a card I started last night.

This card was inspired by the 'water' challenge at Addicted to CAS and the new challenge ran by my fellow DT members at Inkspirational, Ruth and Mynnette. This new challenge is called A House of Cards. Each week they challenge us to make a card using a different style but the same colour palette. This week it is the CAS week. I wanted to try out my new 'glossy accents' from SU-I have added these to the rain drops and the top of the umbrella to give the appearance of water. It as really hard to photograph this so that you could see this 'rain water' look so I have included 2 photos so you can hopefully get the idea.

I think you can see the rain look more in the second photo but I had to take this at an angle so it looks kinda wonky!

Time for a morning cuppa, Have a great sunny Sunday x


Here is the colour palette for HOC

Inkspirational #28

Hello my crafting friends,

Today is my 'weekend warrior' post for Inkspirational. This week it is the photo challenge. I love photo challenges and here is this week's photo:

And my card:

(slide and click to pin to pinterest)

I am hoping that you can see it was the Ladybird colours that inspired me! Actually this photo did more than inspire me! It helped to inspire me very quickly! My Dad sent me an email around 4pm one afternoon saying that he needed a card for the next day for my Mum's Birthday. Now, I like to spend time thinking about cards for my family and had a panic when he gave me such short notice! And especially as it was a card for my Mum from my Dad.......it had to be special right??? So I decided to look through some future challenges at Inkspirational. When I saw this photo I immediately thought of the kiss stamp and red embossing powder on black. I decided not to put 'Happy Birthday' on the card for a bit of a giggle because every year Dad gives Mum the same artificial Valentine's Rose.....he likes to re-cycle! So I told him that as the card had no specific sentiment then he could recycle for Xmas, Birthdays and Valentines!! He was very pleased with this idea! Good job my Mum knows him well and just laughs...........and actually she thought it was a good idea!! Still, for those of you that know my Mum and Dad, I am sure you will be smiling now and know that this really is the truth!

Now back to Inkspirarional, you have until Tuesday 6pm to play along. Pop over to our blog here and see all the fabulous projects from our design team. And this month A Day For Daises are our sponsors.

I am also entering this into the embossing challenge at Melonheadz Friends

Have a fun weekend x

Friends are Stars!

Happy Friday Eve my crafty, starry friends,

I had a request to make a card using my 'Friends are stars' sentiment from Fresh Squeezed Stamps. I have known all week I wanted to use the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch and Donna's DT card provided me with great inspiration. I have already made one card this week using this sketch but do love it and knew this sentiment would be perfect for this. I saw the great colour combo this week at ColourQ and this was all I needed to get stamping. 

And this is what I created:

(hover over image with mouse and click to pin to pinterest)

This card is a mix of stamps from Fresh Squeezed Stamps and PTI. I love black and orange together and think this watermark stamp in orange gives the whole card a dramatic feel. The sparkle on the stars is from a gelly roll sparkle pen-perfect for starry friends!
I am also going to enter this into the CAS challenge at Whimsical Designs

Enjoy your day x

                        

Addicted To Stamps and More #53

Wednesday is here with us again and that means a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week we have a this gorgeous colour combo for you:

I love brown and pink together and throw in a bit of green and I am a happy crafter!

I have gone for a slightly darker green for the card stock and the gems are a little lighter......so added together-wild wasabi?? You can do the same with the colours, just get as close as you can to our combo.

(slide mouse and click to pin to pinterest)

I started off by stamping the brown flower, then I masked this and stamped the pink flowers. Mounted this on the green card stock and used the same brown ink for the sentiment. To finish I have just rounded the edges.

Pop over to our blog here and you will see how DT have made some fabulous projects using these colours.

Now it is your turn and don't forget you have the chance to win a bundle of your choice from our sponsors MelonHeadz Illustrations

Have fun getting inky x

Home Sweet Home!

Happy Monday my friends,

I am home from my holiday now after having 2 weeks of a wonderful time with my husband and I have to say I do have quite a good tan!

It is great to have holidays but I do love our home and it is always nice to get back at 'home sweet home'.

My card today is for a friend you needs a little reminder of how strong and amazing she is and this week I love the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and used this for my layout.

(slide and click mouse over picture to pin to pinterest)

I really wanted this card to convey 'strength' and thought a long time about which stamps I thought expressed this. In the end I used some of new Fresh Squeezed Stamps sets for this card (expect to see these quite a lot as I love their stamps and now have 6 sets!!) plus the circle stamp is from PTI. To me I captured the feeling of strength and I hope you can see this too?

My colour choice and linen impression plate were used to give a little soft touch but still keeping the message of strength. Perhaps too much thinking went into this but I was happy with the result and really hope my friend likes it!

I am also going to enter it into the  CAS challenge at Little Red Wagon. As my card is based around the sentiment I am also entering it into the 'Lets get wordy' challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges

And here is the sketch:

And a picture of us on holiday:

Inkspirational Challenge #27

Happy Saturday to all,

It is the colour challenge this week at Inkspirational. I just loved this colour combo:

3 shades of purple for me to play with, what joy!!

And here is my card:

I have used 2 different patterned papers here in the lighter shades of purple......yep you heard right, I used patterned paper!! And two, wow, nearly a first for me!

The sentiment is from Fresh Squeezed Stamps, I just masked off half the sentiment and inked in the different colours. I have added some sparkle to the stars using gelly pens. I quite like this layout and think you could repeat this using a Xmas sentiment for a quick and easy Holiday card.

The rest of the Inkspirational DT posted their projects on Wednesday using these colours. Pop over to the blog here to see these fabulous creations and prepared to be inspired! You have until Tuesday 6pm CST to play along. Our monthly winner in July will get a $12 gift card or 3 digis from our super sponsor A Day for Daises.

Have fun getting inky!!

Addicted to Stamps and More #52

Hello my crafting friends,

It's time for our weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. And this week is the 'Make your Mark' challenge. This is where you must use some kind of marker on your project-promakers, stampin' write markers etc.
This is a super popular with you all, however I am still finding colouring a challenge!! Today I have really given it a go and used some new SU markers to make a fun Birthday card. I found this image already printed off in my stash. I know it was a freebie but can't remember where I got it from!

Naturally I had to go with purple for the dress and earring colours! I used a green gelly roll pen to give my cocktail a sparkle and heat embossed the sentiment in silver. For the skin colour I used 'blush blossom' stampin' write marker. This is the first time I have coloured skin on an image but I think it worked out not so bad!
Not my normal style but our 'make your mark' week is my monthly challenge and I hope you stick with me and see some improvement each month!

Don't forget to pop over to our blog here to see the fabulous creations from our talented DT.

This week you could win a prize from our fabulous sponsors MelonHeadz Illustrations. Go check out there store here and then get those markers out and start colouring!

Have fun my friends x