It is all about you!

Hello my friends,

I hope your week has started well. I am just popping in quickly to share a card that I made for CAS(E) this Sketch. I actually made it a few days ago but wasn't sure I really liked it. I had decided not to share it but then after looking at it again today I thought I would post it as we can't always love every card we make and someone out there might like it!

I am afraid the photo isn't so good with that nasty shadow but I have been spending all weekend getting used to a new laptop and photo editing software. This photo is a result of my learning process!

It was Heather's take on the sketch here that inspired me to play along. I masked off an area and did some distress ink sponging and then stamped these flowers and went for neon blue as I wanted a really bright contrast to the soft pinks and blue in the sponged area.

And remember.....some part of today has to be about you!

I will enter this into the following challenges:
Amuse Challenges -sponging
Dream Valley Challenges-Mothering Sunday

Addicted to CAS

The lovely Sylvia is our hostess this week for our challenge at Addicted to CAS and she has chosen the following code word:

We are sponsored this week by STAMPlorations and I love their stamps and wanted to use them in my card. I was discussing the code word in secret with my crafting friend Nonni and I loved her suggestion of a colour wheel. However I was stuck of how to use this but I had a 'ping' moment when looking at images of colour wheels. I decided to make a flower colour wheel using one single leaf from the Eclectic Florals set from STAMPlorations. This is what I came up with:

As I don't have all the inks needed for the colour wheel I mixed up inks to get the colours. The top flower I covered with glossy accents for some shine.I thought the sentiment fitted my card perfectly.

Our team have some great cards to inspire you, take a look here. This challenge the super talented  Karen has joined us and here card I am sure will inspire you!

I am going to enter this into the 'lucky' challenge at CASology as I am sending this to a very special someone that I feel lucky and blessed to have in my life.

I will also enter it into the 'ovals' challenge at CAS-ual Fridays as my leaf I used to make up the flower id oval shaped.

Have a happy, stamping weekend x

Inkspirational 53

This week at Inkspirational we are having our 'case' one of our Design Team. This week it is a little weird for me as it is my turn! On our main blog there are a few of my cards that have been chosen that you could case. You could use one of these cards to case or you could take a look at my pinterest account and flickr account and choose any other card (you can find these on the my right hand side bar).

This challenge actually came at the right time as I had sent my Aunt a card recently and she asked if I would make a set of notelets for her using the same design. I did this but decided to make each one slightly different.

This week are have a fabulous Guest Designer Sandie L, Check out her amazing blog here

Here is the original card which was inspired by a card that I saw by the super talented Aimes a while ago:

And here is one of the notelets I made my aunt. This one use the leaf has been die cut from some water coloured paper. I had been playing around with water colouring and this was left in my stash! The sentiment is from Uniko Studios

And here is a closer look at the water colour leaf-check out I was also playing with gold spritz! As I said last week... never throw away those discarded scraps!

And finally here is the full set of notelets

Our DT have all CASEd one of my cards and done an amazing job, I feel very honoured. Take a look here and why not have a play. I would be so chuffed if you had a play and will love coming to visit your blogs.

We are also having a DT call at Inkspirational, so why not pop over to out main site and check out the details.If you haven't been on a DT before we are keen for you to have a go!

Enjoy!

Time Out Challenge #2

It was great to see how many of you took TIME OUT to join in our first challenge. Thank you for supporting us! We are going to have a hard job choosing the winners! I am here with my card for our second challenge at TIME OUT. This challenge is our photo challenge. All our photo challenges are going to be focused on Interior Design. We decided to add this little twist as we love to look at beautiful home interiors and who hasn't wanted to sneak a look at how our neighbour's decorated their houses!

Here is our photo for this week:

Now what is going to inspire you...crisp white linen, butterflies, wood grain, that little clock or sail boat?? I went with wood grain and butterflies:

I die cut copper sheets for my butterflies. These copper sheets are just fabulous and I got them as a gift from my crafting buddy Loll. She has lots of advice on her blog of how to use these funky sheets. I just love them and still have a few more sheets to play with! Oh and I just realised that little strip of cork also came from Loll in the same package-thank you Loll for helping me put this card together!!

Our DT have come up with some really creative ways to interpret this photo so please check them out here to be inspired! The winner of this challenge will be offered a Guest Design position.

You have until Wed 9th April 5pm GMT to join in the fun.

I will also enter this into the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday-metal or faux metal

Eclectic Ellapu-the pink teams 'wings'

Opus Gluei-touch me, inspire me

Addicted to Stamps and More

It is time for our 'Holiday' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. You can choose any holiday you want or something related to holidays. I have gone with Christmas this time. And here is my card:

STAMPlorations are sponsoring us this week and I wanted to showcase one of their stamp sets called 'Holiday Artsy', actually it is my favourite STAMPlorations set! 

This card was actually inspired by 3 challenges. The silver jewel snowflake at Festive Friday caught my eye last week and I embossed one of my snowflakes to represent this. I loved the sketch this week at CAS(E) this sketch and used this as my lay out. And finally for over a week I have been wanting to enter the one layer challenge at CAS on Sunday and although I make OLC quite a lot, once I decided I wanted to enter this challenge my mind went blank until these other challenges gave me my idea!

I was happy with the result and the one little gem just seemed the perfect finishing touch.

This week we are very lucky that Anni is joining us as our Guest Designer and her card this week is full of holiday cheer! Check her card and all the inspiration from our DT here.

         

Then time to get into the Holiday spirit and join in the fun!

Happy Birthday Maria!

I am a little late to Maria's Surprise party but 'Happy Birthday' Maria for yesterday! If you haven't visited Maria's blog, take a look here and you will be inspired! Shirley has organised this party for Maria and you can join in the fun by making Maria a card and linking it up to Shirley's blog.

I had already decided I wanted to enter the 'Hello Spring' challenge at Uniko Studios. I have not used my Uniko stamp A Gift For You but thought it would be perfect for a Birthday card. I went with Uniko's colours and added lots of sparkle as if the sun was hitting my presents! This was my nod to spring! I will also enter this into the 'Happy Birthday' challenge at The Card Concept, in the clean and layering section.

My laptop has died and this photo was taken on my ipad and I haven't yet worked out how to edit the photos yet, so not a great photo but I hope Maria will still enjoy her sparkly card!!

Here is Uniko's Spring colours and inspiration.

Have a fun day and Maria Happy belated Birthday! x

Blushing all the world over!

Happy Saturday my crafting friends,

I have been thinking all week about a card for the 'blush' challenge at  CASology and eventually a few other challenges prompted me to make this:

Thos challenges were Less is More where there is a 'Three' challenge going on you need to include 3 of something on your card and also visit 3 of the entrants which I will do later today-a cool twist to this challenge! Also I sam the 'ombre' challenge at Avery Elle Challenge and as my world stamp and sentiment are from here gave this challenge a go for the first time!

Have a fun Sunday x

Have you taken TIME OUT to Dance in the Rain??

Happy Friday Eve,

Have you had chance to take TIME OUT to play in our 'Inspired by Words' challenge 'Dancing in the Rain' at Time Out Challenges.

My card today is inspired by these words and hopefully might give you an idea to play along.

This was going to be a really quick card but whilst I was making it I saw the colours at Colour Q and decided I would use these for my umbrella and then add some glossy accents to show that I had been out in the rain!! Therefore I had to wait for my umbrella to dry....not so quick in the end! The umbrella is fussy cut and popped up on a foam pad for dimension.

If you pop over to our blog here you will see our DT have a few more cards to inspire you. Then take some TIME OUT to play along. You have until Wed 27th March 5pm GMT to join in the fun.

Addicted to Stamps and More #87

Its 'Make your Mark' time at Addicted to Stamps and More. This challenge is to use some kind of marker on our project. 

This week we have Anni as our Guest Designer-please do welcome her and visit her blog here to be inspired! 

STAMPlorations are sponsoring us again this week and I have used the leaf stamp from the this stamp set. You could win the clear stamp set Its All About You.

Here is what I came up with using water colour paints:

I was inspired by Virginia's card on this post that I saw at Virginia's View Challenge this month. This leaf has been die cut from a piece of watercolour paper that I had experimented with a while ago and decided it was a disaster but had left it in my stash. Then I saw Virginia die cut a butterfly and had a 'ping' moment! I had previously heat embossed a wood grain stamp using clear embossing powder then painted over this with water colour paint. I wasn't happy with the result so discarded it! However when I die cut my leaf out of this I loved the effect of the wood grain. My die cut leaf is from Clearly Besotted Stamps

The sketch at Fusion inspired my lay out.

Now it is your turn to play along but first don't forget to visit our blog and see what the DT have come up with this week to inspire you!

I will enter this into Virginia's View Challenge and Fusion

        

Anita's Belated Surprise Birthday Party

Today we are holding a belated Birthday Surprise Party for the very talented Anita who was a little bit sneaky and let her Birthday pass us by with out a little wink! But we have our spies! Darnell and Bev or Mrs Bonds of blogland, sent a super secretive document to us and alerted us to the fact that Anita was in need of a celebration. So a few of us have got together to have a crafty blog hop in honour of the Anita.

I have for a long time followed Anita's blog because she is a super creative but also because her posts are always amusing and every time I read her post's I smile. This, I feel, is her gift to me. What better gift is there than the gift of happiness?

So today I have channeled my inner Anita and made a card that I hope makes her and you smile. I also think Anita is unique so this is for her:

I have used the sketch at Fusion plus the colours from the photo. 

The black glasses have been fussy cut and paper pieced with silver mirri card, popped up on foam pads to be unique!

All Anita's cards are being linked up on Darnell's blog. Check them out and a very Happy Belated Birthday Anita!

STAMPlorarions Bi Weekly Sketch #8

It is time for our sketch challenge at STAMPlorations. This week we have this sketch for you

I struggled with this sketch for a while until I received the new MOM Subway Art Builders stamp set from STAMPlorations. I haven't followed the sketch exactly but then, I am sure you know by now...I rarely do! I like to interpret it in my own way and will often flip it but always use the sketch as the basis for my layout.

I love the sentiments in this set and in neon purple, what is there not to love!

Our DT have some great takes on this sketch. Be inspired by them and take a look here. Also this week we are very pleased that Deepti is joining us as our Guest Designer. Deepti is so creative and if you don't follow her blog please do pop over to it here and sign up!

PRIZE

The sketch challenges are sponsored by our sister shop, All About Scrapping. The winner gets to pick 3 DIGITAL products from the shop — any combination of printable sheets, Photoshop templates, and digital paper packs. The winner will also be invited to be a Guest Designer in next month's sketch challenge.

A TWIST IN OUR CHALLENGES

Participate in all 3 challenges we host this month and you'll be in the running to win this prize  courtesy of our sister shop, All About Scrapping. Love washi tapes? We've got 6 rolls (10 meters per roll) of washi tape goodness this month. You know what to do! :o)

I am also going to enter this into the 'roots' challenge at CASology that STAMPlorations are sponsoring. I am entering this as when I saw this challenge I thought of the saying 'We are all rooted in Family' and well Mum is a very important part of our family...I think we can all agree on that!!

I will also enter the 'Mother's Day Challenge at Sweet Stamp'in Challenge

Addicted to CAS # 34

It is my turn to host the challenge at  Addicted to CAS and I have chosen the following code word:

With St Patrick's Day just around the corner I thought this might inspire you to create. You don't have to focus on St. Patrick's Day. You can interpret the word how you want as long as you let us into your secret! If you take a look at the cards our DT have made you will see a great variety of ways to interpret 'Luck'. Have a look here.

This is what I came up with:

Yes, I went the St. Patrick's route as my Mum wanted me to make a card for a very special Irish friend. I found this sentiment on the web and printed it out using 'rockwell' font. I stamped the leaves from the eclectic floral STAMPlorations set (who are our sponsors!!). I fussy cut this and added glossy accents and made it into my 4 leaf clover.

Karen is our Guest Designer for this challenge and we are very pleased she is joining us, her creativity continues to amaze me.

STAMPlorations are our sponsors this week. I am on the DT for STAMPlorations and urge you to go and check out the store, the stamps are fabulous.

I hope the next 2 weeks you have all the luck in the world and find some time to join in the fun with us at Addicted to CAS

I will enter this into:

(PIN)spirational-photo-see below

Inkspirational #52

At last we made it to the weekend and to kick start the day off we have a really fun and funky photo at Inkspirational to inspire you:

It was all these bright colours that inspired me to make this:

I have used the 'Explosion' set of stamps from Uniko Studios. 

This week Gerrina is our Guest Designer. I have admired her crafting for some time now. Take a look at her blog here.

Before you start to create please pop over to Inkspirational and see the fab projects our DT have created.

Have fun!

Time Out Challenge #1

I am very excited because today is our first challenge at Time Out Challenges. I have been planning this challenge with my very dear friend Nonni for quite a few months now. We have now established a fabulous Design Team and are ready with the first challenge in our rota which we call:

Inspired by Words

This is a bit like the code and cue word challenges but we use a bunch of words rather than just one. We will use proverbs, quotes and popular sayings to inspire you. We are starting off with a very popular saying for our first challenge and it is:

Dancing in the Rain

All you need to do is create a paper crafting project that is inspired by this saying. For example you could focus on any of these words on their own. Here are just a few ideas that come to me whilst writing this-raindrops, umbrellas, dance steps, water splashes and I could go on! Just let us know what it is that has inspired you.

Or you could do as I have....and use the whole saying to inspire you, just see where this saying takes your creativity!

All these stamps are from Inkylicious and I loved the sentiment. I stamped and fussy cut the purple umbrella and added glossy accents to it to represent the rain-quite hard to see this in the photo but IRL does look really glossy!

This week as it is our first challenge we have 2 sponsors. Make the Day Special , who are offering our winner a £10 gift voucher and Avocado Arts who are offering our winner one product from their fabulous store.

Time to see what a new DT have created to inspire you, check it out here.

Then take some TIME OUT and join in the fun.

I will enter this into the following challenges

 CAS-ual Fridays-shades of gray

Crazy 4 Challenges-be sentimental

The Sisterhood of Crafters-sentimental journey

Addicted to Stamps and More #86

Its time for our 'Anything Goes' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week Darnell is joining us again as our Guest Designer. She has created a fabulous project for you this week, take a look here and don't forget to leave her some love!

Our sponsor this week is STAMPlorations. I am lucky enough to be on the DT for STAMPlorations and here I have used one of my favourite sets Trendy Feathers.

I made this card for a friend who recently lost her Mother to cancer. I think this sentiment is just right for a sympathy card. I simply stamped the same feather in these subtle colours. It is hard to make cards for such sad reasons but I am hoping it was of some comfort.

Our DT, as always, have made some wonderful projects, so pop to our blog here to be inspired!

Texture and More Texture!

Today I am sharing a card that was inspired by Therese's card at the Muse Club Challenge. As soon as I saw the wood grain background and the combo of colours of the card I knew I wanted use my copper sheets. Last week I received a package from the lovely Loll that contained cork and copper sheets. I was so touched by this kind gesture and have had a lot of fun playing with this gift.

Here is what I came up with using this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch

I really have gone wood grain here but I love all the texture in this and even managed to get a bit of cork thrown in!

A big thank you to Loll and if you pop over to her blog and read this post she has lots of tips of how to use these copper sheets.

And here is Therese's card:                                 And the Sketch:

                                        

Have a fun day x

Watercolouring Take 2!

Yesterday I shared with you my first 'real' go at watercolouring inspired by Virginia's new challenge and Shery's video tutorial. As I was on a watercolour kick I decided to challenge myself just a bit more.....make it one layer so I could enter 'Just Add Water' the One Layer Simplicity Challenge. I followed the sketch at Crazy For CAS-this sketch did stump me a bit until I started the watercolouring and suddenly an idea of how to interpret it popped into my head.

I have coloured in the sentiment with watercolour pencils and added some gems and enamel dots..sorry I just can't resist doing this at the moment. I am sure I will soon kick this habit but for the moment at least I combined it with a something different for me...watercolouring (I think I must think I am an artist now, but can you just about make out they are roses??)

I will also enter this into the One Layer Challenge with Spring Flowers at Less is More

Have a fun day xx

My First Real Watercolouring!

At the beginning of this week I saw Virginia's View Challenge and it inspired me to have a go at watercolouring. I have tried this a bit in the past but had been meaning to try it out more but all that mess just plain put me off! However on the same day I saw Virginia's new challenge I saw Shery's video here teaching us how to watercolour your own roses. Yes, no stamps, you actually do some REAL painting!! I had a go and came up with this:

It is my first go and later in the week I have another one to share with you. It was fun feeling like a 'real' painter!

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

Virginia's View-watercolouring

CAS on Sunday-colour me bright

Lexi's creations-Mother's Day

Enjoy your day x

STAMPlorations March Challenge

First off I apologise for not visiting your blogs and commenting this week but I am poorly. However as soon as I am up and about again I will come and say hi. I have a number of scheduled posts over the next week so I will not disappear from blogland and I am sure it will only be a few more days before I am stalking you all again!!

Its time for our March challenge at STAMPlorations. As Spring is nearly here, this month we want to see Spring themed projects that use stamps.

My card today is a little different for me as I have used both ribbon and patterned paper!

I have used the Vignette-ecletic florals set just fussy cutting one flower and popping it up on foam pads to add some dimension. Our DT have all made gorgeous Spring projects for you to be inspired by, take a peek here.

This month the winner will receive 2 clear stamps sets of their choice from the Vignette, Subway Art or Patchwork frenzy sets-visit out shop here to see all these fabulous stamps. The winner will also be invited to be our Guest Designer for next month.

Plus if you enter all 3 of our challenges this month you will be in the run to win this prize from our sister shop All About Scrapping-6 rolls of 10m Washi tape.

Time to get Stamping Spring!!

My Very First Shaker Card!!

Happy Friday Eve,

Today we are introducing the last 4 Design Team members at Time Out Challenges so please do pop over to our blog and say hello. Next week our first challenge will go live....what will it be??? I would love to tell you but then you know what I would have to do to you!!

I have been so excited to share with you my very first shaker card. I have been wanting to try making one of these for a while and last week I saw this card by Betty at the Fusion Card Challenge and it inspired me to turn thoughts into action!! I used the sketch at Fusion to try this out. I used the colour scheme at Crazy For Challenges-radiant orchid.

I used glitter card stock to go with the sparkly theme. I have rounded a few edges just because I didn't like square look. I liked the effect this made however still wasn't happy with the totally square centre. Then I saw this feather stamp on my craft table that I had fussy cut out a while ago and thought it might cut off the squareness (is that a word?) and viola, it seemed to work.

The sentiment and feather stamps are from STAMPlorations.

I am so glad I tried this as I love how it turned out and it is sitting on my mantle piece and every time I pass it I have to give it a shake. I giggle and feel all proud I actually made it myself!! I know...how sad is that!!

Have a fun day and remember to visit Time Out to meet the rest of the team and then........take TIME OUT to craft!

       

Addicted to Stamps and More #85

Today at Addicted to Stamps and More we have a very special photo challenge celebrating International Women's Day on the 8th March. Here is the photo we have to inspire you:

 

Remember you can use anything from the photo that inspires you to create. It might be the colours, the silhouette, the date or something related to International Women's Day. I wanted to make a card that reflected how amazing and strong women are when they unite together and came up with this:

I had been playing around with ideas for sentiments to mix up to get the words I wanted. When I saw this card from Bev my ideas just came together and I knew I had to CASE Bev's card with my own twist!  I have used a mix of stamp sets to come up with this. I would like to point out that for this card I used faux sequins! How cool is that. These are from a the 'A Gift For You' set from Uniko Studios-these are I am sure will get a lot more use.

So Ladies....don't you agree, we are pretty amazing together!!

This week is also very special as we have Darnell as our Guest Designer. I am sure many of you know Darnell but if you don't please go and visit her blog here. I think she is a fabulous designer plus her posts are always such fun to read, you really shouldn't miss out on the fun!

We are very lucky to have StampArt Designs sponsoring us again this week. Yo could win 5 of their digis!!

And before I leave you to go and Stamp, I would like to direct you to our blog here so you can check out what the DT have made to inspire you.

Enjoy x

STAMPlorations Sketch #7

The day has come for me to officially announce that I have joined the super talented Design Team at STAMPlorations. Today is my first project for this team and the challenge is our bi weekly sketch.

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is Karen. Karen is a very talented and fun crafter. Take a look at her blog here and I am sure you will be inspired!!

And here is our fabulous sketch:

And here is my card using this sketch:

 

I flipped the sketch and used the digi paper from our sister shop All About Scrapping-Love and Lipstick Tricks. And the sentiment stamp is from the STAMPlorations set Patchwork Frenzy-graphic squares.

The sketch challenges are sponsored by our sister shop, All About Scrapping. The winner gets to pick 3 DIGITAL products from the shop-full details see main blog.The winner will also be invited to be a Guest Designer in next month's sketch challenge.

A TWIST IN OUR CHALLENGES

Participate in all 3 challenges we host this month and you'll be in the running to win this prize courtesy of, All About Scrapping

The DT have all made some inspiring projects so take a look here and then get stamping!!

Have fun x

Addicted to CAS #33

This week at Addicted to CAS the very talented Harriet is our host and she had chosen this cue word:

We are sponsored by Stamp Art Designs. The winner will receive 5 digis of their choice form this fabulous store.

And we are very happy to have Karen as our Guest Designer this week. Karen's cards are always amazing and we are so pleased she is so supportive of our challenge.

I don't have any baby images and was a little stuck but then saw the 'paint' challenge at CASology. I decided to use some stamps that remind me of the marks left behind from paint tins-pretty pink paint in this case. Mum and Dad must have just painted their new baby girl's bedroom!!

All the stamps are from Fresh Squeezed Stamps and I have just added my mix of enamel dots, sequins and gems...my new obsession!!

I will also enter this into the Baby Challenge at Fairy tale Challenge blog

Our DT have some adorable creations to inspire you so please do visit our blog here and then get stamping!

Inkspirational #51

Can you believe we are now in March?? And as it is Saturday that means it is time for another challenge at Inkspirational. This week we have this colour challenge for you:

You can use all of these colours or just 2 and any shade is acceptable. You care free to add black and realistic colours for skin, hair and fur.

For my card I cased this card by Shery. I loved her use of neon purple. I have made a more CAS version using masking and some scoring:

All stamps are from Stamplorations.

This week we are very happy to have Cathy joining us as our Guest Designer. Cathy is a very skilled crafter and I urge you to pop over to her blog here and take a look!

And don't forget to check out the fab creations the DT have made to inspire you this week at Inkspirational

I am entering this into the 'Floral' challenge at The Card Concept, my style being CAS