Anyone for a Martini?

Christmas is done and now we move on to New Year! I hope you all had a fun time and got some time to relax and perhaps you sneaked in some crafting!

I made a very simple CAS New Year card yesterday. This card is for a guy so I have avoided any sparkle, something I found quite hard to do for a New Year Party card. I went with embossing the sentiment in black and adding some dimension by popping up my Martini glass top. I stayed with masculine colours and used my fav sketch at the moment from CAS(E) this Sketch.

I will also enter this into the following challenges:

CAS on Sunday-Happy New Year

Casology-Party

Less is More-week 15 embossing

CAS-ual Fridays-Happy New Year

Enjoy your Saturday x

Happy Christmas Hubby!

A very happy Sunday my crafting friends,

Today I am sharing the second Christmas card I have made for my Hubby. I have already given him one (yet to be posted) but he seemed to not like it quite as much as I hoped. He appeared to think it wasn't CAS enough-I have trained him well! So I decided to make him another very CAS card to give to him on Christmas day with his pressies.
This card was inspired by the super sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and the photo at Fusion. I loved all the white with the pops of red in this photo and that is was I used when making this. I entered this challenge before but went the other way around-mainly red with pops of white!

The lip stamp is from Fresh Squeezed Stamps, I fussy cut it and used glossy accents to add some shimmer. I am hoping that this will be CAS enough for Hubby!

I will also enter this into the following challenges:

Less is More-a previous challenge-week 9, a touch of red

Crazy for CAS-anything goes

Sweet Stamping Challenge-white and one other colour

Make My Monday-CAS Christmas card

      

Enjoy the rest of your day x

Inkspirational #46

Its the last Saturday before the big day and that means it is time for our last challenge of 2013 at Inkspirational. And to finish the year we are making it nice and easy by having an Anything Goes challenge. So if you need to get just a few more last minute cards, tags or pressies made, we want to see them, or if you want to put those Xmas stamps away and create something completely different, now is the time.
I decided to go with a love themed card and to forget the Xmas theme!

A very CAS card but I did manage to sneak in enamel dots, sequins and a sheer ribbon!
I am looking forward to seeing what you are going to make over the holiday season and really hope you get a little crafty time to play along with us.
Before you get those stamps out, please pop over to our blog here and see what our DT have created to inspire you.
And, here at Inkspirational we are not taking a Xmas break and will be back with our next challenge as normal in 2 weeks-see you then x

And back to the my norm!

After yesterdays embossing, distressing and bows, my CAS loving heart is back!

I saw a couple of challenges and a card design came to mind very quickly and the actual card was made even quicker! This card took me less than 6 mins to make and I love it. It makes my CAS loving heart sing!

I saw the sketch this week at CAS(E) this Sketch and loved it and I am sure I will be making a few more cards using this. Then I saw the combined 'New Year' celebrations challenges at CAS-ual Fridays and 10 minute Craft Dash and I knew these stamps from Stamplorations would work perfectly. So a very quick bit of stamping and some texture from my linen embossing plate and done! I just love it when a card comes together like this and especially when it works out how I wanted it to and I love it!

Happy stamping x

                      

And now for something completely different!

Happy Friday Eve,

Last night I decided I would give the emboss resist technique a go. I wanted to case this card that my very talented friend Nonni made a few weeks ago. I have used stamps from Stamplorations and Paper Smooches to come up with, a very unlike me, card! 

I couldn't get a good photo of the emboss resist effect as today the light was impossible but I wanted to share it with you! I used lavender distress ink once I had heat embossed and I even tied a bow.......goodness I was being a bit wild for me! The panel does look pretty IRL and the extra shine is quite special (shame it doesn't show up here!)

I got myself in a real mess making this-clear embossing powder all over me and the carpet and I even burnt a tiny section of carpet when I was heat embossing-good job Hubby is not too observant and doesn't read my blog!!

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks-distress

Tuesday Morning Sketches

That is me for today. Hope you are all having a fun time getting ready for next week!

xx

Addicted to Stamps and More #76

Time for our last challenge this year at Addicted to Stamps and More. And this week it is 'Anything Goes'.

Every year I make a calendar for my Mum and Dad and make a different topper for each month. Today I am sharing the topper for June. I wanted to share this one with you as a thank you to our fabulous team leader Kylie. She loves butterflies and when I was making this I kept thinking how much she would love this stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays.

I had a lot of fun stamping up this rainbow of butterflies and actually managed to use all the colours of the rainbow. I do love this topper and think it would also make a great card. 

This week our sponsor is Deedee's Digis. You could win 3 set of digis from their fabulous store.

Before you get inky, don't forget to check out the inspiration from our fabulous team here.

We will be back in January with a 'Make your Mark' challenge. If you are not already a follower now is the time to sign up so you don't miss any of the super challenges we have lined up for you in 2014!

I will also enter this into the 'Calendar' challenge at Crafting When We Can, the 'Christmas, not a card' challenge at Craft Your Passion

Happy Stamping x

I love London!

Hello my friends,

My card today is celebrating the city I love! Good old London Town!

I had one of those rare 'ping' moments when I saw Julie's card at CAS(E) this Sketch. I loved Julie's card and the idea for my card just popped into my head and off I went and created this:

I wish I had made a few more like this for my London Buddies. I had made one similar for my hubby (which I will post another day) but I think this is better-I think I like the layout and the little sentiment at the bottom seems to really suit this sketch.

I want to remind you of Nonni's Christmas challenges that are still going on. One is for stamping and one is for stash. This card could be used for both as the embossed hills of snow are scrap paper with a little bit of ink and glitter on the edge. Pop over to Nonni's blog and you will see the links on the right hand side of the page. You could win stamps sets from Stamplorations (my sentiment here is from a stamplorations set)

I am also going to enter this into the CAS Christmas challenge at Make My Monday

Have a fun day x

You give me Butterflies!

Hello my friends,

I hope you all had a fun weekend and are not too stressed with the Holiday preparations!
Yesterday I had a super lazy day watching T.V, reading the paper, spending way too long browsing Pinterest but I also got to make a sweet card-the idea was already in my head so it didn't take long to make. The hardest thing about creating this card was choosing the colours but Colour Throwdown came to the rescue with that.

I was unsure about this card at first then decided to add one rounded edge and that seemed to transform it-isn't it weird how one little adjustment can change the look of a card!

Hope you get some time to craft this week!

Happy Stamping x

Santa is Coming to Town!

Happy Friday to you all!

I made this card a few days ago for the challenges at Fusion and 52 Christmas Card throwdown and I am finally getting to post it! The photo at Fusion inspired me-red and white it had to be!

The sentiment is heat embossed.

I still have one Christmas card to make and I feel like I have been saying that for days, yet still it is not made!! Will today be the day! Luckily it is for my neighbour so does not need posting.

Have a fun day!

                   

Addicted To Stamps and More #75

Its time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week we have this gorgeous photo to inspire you:

This photo, to me, is full of warmth and a family Christmas. It inspired me to create this card:

The stamp is from Stamplorations and I have coloured it using my copics. I simply mounted it on some wood grain embossed cream card and added some red twine.

So what are you inspired to create? Take a peek here to see what our DT have made to inspire you. And this week we Sami Stamps are sponsoring us and our winner will receive a $12 gift voucher. Time to get inky!!

I am also going to enter this into the following challenges:
C...is for Challenge-traditional Xmas
CAS on Sunday-Christmas
Creative Corner-traditional Christmas

Lets Dance!

Happy Sunday my crafting chums,

I took a break from making Christmas cards yesterday and made this card using a silhouette stamp from Stamplorations and the sentiment is from PTI

The silhouette has been heat embossed and gives a lovely texture IRL. I have had this ribbon for ages and have only used it once but the colours matched so well with my card it seemed the perfect finishing touch. And I actually found enamel dots the same colour, so it all came together.

I do love black embossing on kraft!

I am going to enter this into the following challenges;

Stamplorations-stamps and silhouette

Allsorts-anything but Christmas

Casology-ribbons

In the Pink-embossing

Fan-Tastic Tuesday-CAS

Now I am off to decorate our Christmas tree. Have you done your Christmas decorating yet??

Addicted to CAS

Its time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS, our last this year! This week the super talented Karen is our hostess and she has chosen the following code word:

A perfect word for this time of year. 

And this is what I came up with using CAS-ual Friday Stamps:

It is hard to see in the photo but the card is linen embossed. I had a go at taking the photo outside and I am happier with the exposure but the texture seemed hard to capture.

Our team have made some really inspirational projects this week so please take a peek here. 

For this challenge we are being sponsored by Whimsy Stamps-5 digis to be won!

I will also enter this into the following challenges

52 Christmas Card Throwdown-Snowflakes

KIS-snow

Stampin' Royalty-snowflakes

Inky Impressions-snow

Mid Week Magnolias-snow

Happy Stamping and look out for our new challenges in January x

Addicted to Stamps and More #74

Its time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and this week we want to see Clean and Simple projects. I needed to make a Wedding card so decided to use this challenge as my inspiration. I have heat embossed my image to give texture.I used Stamplorations Stamps-a great new set perfect for Weddings.

Our DT have some great CAS projects for you-check them out here. This week we are sponsored by Digi Darla Designs and we have 5 images for our winner!

So what CAS project are you inspired to make??? Have a happy stamping time x

I will also enter this into the 'sparkle' challenge at Less is More

More Gifts

Today I am popping in to share a gift bag I made after I saw the challenge at Make it Monday-to decorate a Kraft bag. I had a little gift that needed to be posted to a dear friend and this challenge inspired me to have a go at making my own gift bag. I decorated my bag with a couple of PTI snowflake dies and a vintage brad. The design is very CAS, just how I like it, and perfect for sending in the mail. I added some silk ribbon to finish the bag and a plain sentiment that I thought matched the style of my bag. I hope my friend likes the packaging of her gift!

Before I go today I wanted to let you know about a fun event that my fellow teamie Christine on Addicted to CAS to running every day in December. It is an Advent Calendar event where each day she will post a crafting video with different techniques. I watched yesterday and learnt some valuable tips. Not only is Christine sharing her skills but also there are some great prizes up for grabs. So pop over to her blog here and join in the fun.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:
Make it Monday-decorate a gift bag
KIS-Snow
52 Christmas Card Throwdown-gifts of the season
Inky Impressions-gifts and presents 

More Shopping to be done!

24 sleeps until Christmas day! Time to hit the shops.

My card today was inspired by the 'shop' challenge at Casology. I had the idea for this card in my head but I really struggled actually turning that idea into a card. And although I am sharing this with you today, I am not really very happy with the end result. However I decided to blog it as it took me so long to make! It was one of those cards that you know what you want to do but everything you try doesn't work! I couldn't even get a straight photo!! It is a fun card though so here goes:

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

Inky Impressions-presents and gifts

Casology-shop

Enjoy the first day of December x

We 3 Kings!

Hello my crafting my friends,

Today I have a religious Christmas card today but I have used quite unconventional colours! I wanted to make a card using the 3 Kings stamp from Stamplorations and when I saw the colour combo this week at Colour Q, I decided these would make great colours for my King's robes. Using my copics I came up with this:

(click on the P to save to pinterest)

I am not the best at colouring but I do like having a go now and then and enjoyed blending my copics to create robes fit for my Kings.

I will enter this into the following challenges:
Colour Q-I used brown to colour their hair.
52 Christmas Card Throwdown-Christmas carol or Hymn
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/-Christmas song or carol
Word Art Wednesday-anything goes must be uplifting.
4 Crafty Chicks-Christmas
Aud Sentiments-any sentiment
Copic Marker Europe-anything Christmas (the first time I have been brave enough to enter this!)

     

Time to buy the Tree!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends-have a wonderful day.

I usually am quite organised and like to get my Xmas tree the first weekend in December. However, this year things have been on hold for a while, so we will be shopping for the tree a little later than normal. This didn't stop me making a card based on Xmas tree shopping and here it is:

We don't actually use our car to transport our tree. Hubby carries it from our local shop! This was a fun card to make using the city scape PTI stamps.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

CASology-shop
Festive Friday-trees
Craft A Scene-trees
So Artful Challenges-trees



Enjoy your day x

Addicted to Stamps and More #73

Its time for a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week we are 'Addicted to Holidays'. This can be any holiday, it doesn't have to be Christmas but I have gone with Christmas as I need to get creating all my holiday cards. 

I was inspired by this card I saw on Pinterest and loved the design and just changed the colours, used embossing card as my base and made it into a holiday card.

The layout is from the sketch this week at CAS(E) this Sketch-this time I flipped the sketch.

Our team have come up with a really good variety of cards based on the Holiday theme to inspire you. Please don't forget to take a peek here. And this week our winner will get 3 digi sets from DeeDee digis.

I can't wait to see where this theme takes you-have fun x

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

Make My Monday-contemporary Christmas

CAS(E) this Sketch

Pile it On Challenge-non traditional Xmas

My Shery Crafts-non traditional Xmas

Let it Snow

Happy Monday my friends,


Today I have a card for you that was inspired by a number of challenges. I had one of those light bulb moments when browsing challenges to get my mojo back in gear. I actually was inspired to make a couple of cards all based on challenges I came across. Today I will share one with you and the other one later in the week.

Here is my first card:

This card was inspired by the following challenges:

CAS(E) this Sketch-I based my layout on this week sketch-actually this is where the inspiration started!

Curtain Call-Casual Christmas-all my stamps are CAS-ual Friday Stamps

CAS on Sunday-Winter theme

Addicted to Stamps-embossing

Festive Friday -snowflakes in the design

CAS-ual Fridays-use 8-I used 8 snowflakes including the one in the sentiment.

        

Isn't it fab when it all comes together! x

Thanks!

Hello crafting buddies,

As many of you know I have been in hospital and am still recovering but I am pleased to say that I felt a bit better today and actually got to do some crafting. My mojo seems to be a little poorly too but is slowly returning-it had better hurry up as I have a lot of Christmas cards still to make!

Times have been tough recently but I have a lot of people to thank for helping me cope. My blogging friends, Nonni and Kylie who chatted with me on line at all hours of the day and night, my wonderful Husband who visited me every night after work and had his dinner sat at my bedside (the nurses kept telling me how lovely he was!), my cousin Lynn who was always on hand with sound advice and encouragement, and a big thank you to all of you in blog land who kept creating wonderful cards for me to view. And finally, a big thank you to my Parents who visited me, looked after me when I got home and comforted me when I called crying too many times!! And my card today is for them........a big thank you Mum and Dad x

I used my new PTI city scape stamps and dies to create this thank you card.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

Creative Moments-CAS and anything goes

Card Crafter's Circle-thankful

Hiding in My Craft Room-thanksgiving.

I am so pleased to be back with you and see you soon x

Addicted to Stamps and More #72

Its time for the 'Make your Mark' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This means you can use any kind of marker on your project-copics, promarkers, water colour paints or pencils etc........whatever marker you want to use.
As most of you know I find colouring a challenge but I also find it very relaxing. So I am beginning to look forward to this challenge. I learn something new every time this week comes around.

This week I used my copics and followed this tutorial by fellow DT member and dear friend Nonni. I followed this tutorial very closely but used a different trio of copics in pinkish colours. And, as this week we are being sponsored by Fresh Squeezed Stamps (you know how much I love their stamps!), I have used all FSS on my card. This is what I came up with:

(hover over the image and click on the pin)

I followed Nonni's tutorial to colour my umbrella and then masked it off to stamp the cloud and lightening. I kept the design very CAS as I wanted to show off my colouring (I hope I am not hearing any giggling!!).

This card was left for hubby recently when I went into hospital (this is a very pre-scheduled post-as I am hoping I have been in hospital for the 2 weeks and am safely back at home now!)

Our DT have made some wonderful projects using markers, so take a peek here then get those markers out and join in the fun. You could win a Fresh Squeezed Stamp of your choice!

Nonni's Xmas Card Challenge Reminder!

Hello crafting friends,

I am here to remind you that Nonni's Christmas card challeges are still running. There is one for cards where 'stamping' is the star of your card and one where we are asking you to use your stash.

My card today is an example of how to use your stash to make new cards. If you don't have many stamps, die cuts etc, you can hunt through cards that have been sent to you and re-arrange things. This is exactly what I have done for my card. Everything is from shop bought cards that I have been given in the past. I just got out the scissors and chopped things up, re-designed and came up with this:

The only new item is the sentiment that is from our sponsor for this challenge-Stamplorations. 

This challenge is open until Santa visits on Xmas Eve, so you have plenty of time to play along. And please visit Nonni's blog here to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you x

Addicted to Stamps and More #71

Its time for our 'Anything Goes' Challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week I decided to use my London Cityscape dies to make a picture. We have a wall at home that is full of black and white pictures and photos of all the places we have visited. My hubby loved this card I made for my cousin Lynn and at the time I thought I decided I would make him a picture like it for Xmas and here it is:

I tried so hard to get a good photo of this and failed! This was the best of the bunch but I hope you get the idea! The picture is now hidden away awaiting for Santa to pick it up!

Pop over to our blog here and see the fabulous projects our DT have come up with to inspire you to play along.

If you need any extra encouragement we are this week being sponsored by Sami Stamps who are offering a $12 Gift voucher to our winner-check out the store......amazing!!

Have fun x

Addicted to CAS #26

Today is a very special day for us all at Addicted to CAS because it is our 1st Anniversary! Our very supportive, talented and well, just lovely, Kylie started this blog one year ago and it has gone from strength to strength, thanks to Kylie's leadership, the wonderful DT and most importantly YOU! We are so blessed that each challenge you join us and thank you for your support.

To celebrate, our hostess, the super talented Marie, has chosen the code word 'Anniversary'......well it had to be didn't it!!

And this week our sponsors DeeDee's Digi are offering our winner 3 sets of digis plus there are more goodiesto be won-check out the main blog.

Here is my card for this challenge:

(hover over the image and click on the pin to save to pinterest)

I just love these enamel dots and after seeing Brian's card here I was inspired to give this a go but using different coloured enamel dots. I had to play around with colours and sizes and it was a bit fiddly but I do love the end result. 

Our DT have really pulled out the stops for our special challenge so please do pop over to our blog here and take a look. 

Now it is time for you to help us celebrate and get stamping my CAS friends x

Inkspirational #43

Happy Saturday crafting chums,

At Inkspirational this week we have a 'White on White' challenge. And we are very pleased that for this challenge we have the super talented Pia joining us as our Guest Designer. Pia has supported Inkspirational right from the start and entered nearly all our challenges and won quite a few! I really love her cards and am amazed at how she can adapt to so many different card making styles from vintage to CAS. I urge you to pop by her blog and prepare to be blown away! Pia will be with us for a few challenges then the top pick of this challenge will have the chance to be our Guest Designer for our Christmas challenge on the 21st December!

And here is my CAS white on white card for you:

(hover over the image and click on the pin to save to pinterest)

I think for White on White cards you need lots of texture and for my CAS style I thought a good way to do this would be to die cut some white felt I found in my stash. My much loved PTI linen impression plate seemed ideal to add a little more subtle texture. I had to play around with sentiments and finally opted for this one from Fresh Squeezed Stamps. 

We are still running our prize draw to win all these fabulous goodies-every time you enter you will be added to the draw!

Our DT have some great White on white projects to inspire you-take a look here.

Happy Stamping x

Addicted to Stamps and More #70

This week at Addicted to Stamps and More we have this gorgeous picture to inspire you

I loved the the colours in this and knew I wanted to use my Christmas stamps from CAS-ual Friday Stamps but decided to make a Birthday card, heat embossing one section with silver sparkle!

(hover over the image and click on the pin to save to pinterest)

This week Digi Darla Designs are sponsoring us and our winner will get 5 digis of their choice from their fab store.

So what inspires you in this photo?? Don't forget to visit our blog here to see the projects the DT have created this week.

Happy stamping x