Addicted to CAS #46

I am very excited to be the host for our new challenge at Addicted to CAS. I have chosen the following code word:

So what does 'luxury' say to you....relaxing on the beach, a huge cupcake, a glass of wine, time with friends or family, a walk in the park??? Luxury means different things to us all. You can choose what you see as luxury. I had a think about this and came up with what I thought you all might be relate to in some way! I opted for the luxury of time to create and luckily this stamp includes 2 of the ways I like to create...stamping and painting!

For this challenge we are being sponsored wonderful crafting company by Inspired by Stamping

And we are again very pleased that the very talented Lyndal is joining us as our Guest Designer. You can see what she has created here along with the rest of the DT.

I am so looking forward to seeing what you create for us and am going to enjoy choosing my favs!

Inkspirational #64

Happy Saturday,

It is time for our photo challenge at Inkspirational and this week we have this stunning photo for you:

This photo is just full of inspiration. At first I wanted to go with the design on the blue dress but everything I tried didn't seem to work. I eventually went with feathers and came up with this:

I stamped the pink feather first adding some sparkle, although hard to see in the photo. Then heat embossed the second onto vellum and fussy cut it out. The green feather was stamped, sparkle added with a green gelly roll pen, fussy cut and then adhered using foam dots for dimension. I decided to ground the feathers using scraps of card I used whilst making the base of this card.

This week our Guest Designer is the very talented Pauline, check out her blog Crafting with Cotnob-you will find plenty to inspire you!

And don't forget to take a look here to see what our DT made to encourage you  to play along.

Enjoy!

Just for You

I am popping in with a card that was inspired by the photo this week at The Card Concept. I have used the CAS design for my card. I love the clean look of this photo and have been wanting to play along with it since I first saw the photo. I used the sketch at Less is More-flipping it-so pleased they had the little ribbon edge as I re-discovered the cute little ribbon I have used.

I was going to place the black base around the card that I have stamped my tree on but decided I liked the clean look of keeping it all white. I just added a few dots using my copics to match the ribbon stitching. I kept looking at the sentiment and it didn't look right on its own I knew it needed something extra and the dots did it for me! My linen impression plate on all the card added some texture.

I will also enter it into the anything goes challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Have a fun day x

      

TIME OUT Challenges #13

Its Friday Eve and that means we are ready for a new challenge at TIME OUT Challenges.

We have our 'Inspired by Words' challenge for you this week. And we have gone all thespian on you this week and have a well  known phrase from Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'

'If music be the food of love, play on'

What a wonderful quote and we thought this had plenty for you to be inspired by...remember you can choose the whole phrase or just one single word. I don't think I need to tell you what phrase I went with! I used the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch just making my central panel more on the slim side!

These are all stamps from the 'Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments' from STAMPlorations. I stamped the 'Love' sentiment in grey and then again in red and fussy cut out each letter. I adhered these flat but the 'you' I fussy cut out and popped it up for dimension. All the red letters have a added sparkle from my new wink of stella pen.

Our Guest Designing this week is the very talented Rosemary. Her blog Hey There....rosigrl is full of so many creative projects (and Rosemary...such a cool blog name!)

Our Design Team have all been inspired by this Shakespeare quote in their own and very creative ways. Check out what they have made here, then you know what to do....

Take some TIME OUT and play on!

I will also enter this into the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Happy Birthday Nonni....Time to Party!

A very Happy Birthday Nonni!

It is time for us all to celebrate our friend Nonni. Yes, Nonni we thought you deserved a crafting party for your special day. A few of us have got together and are having a linky party for you.

Those of you who are reading this and do not know of Nonni's blog Korttikarkuri, I urge you to jump right over there and be inspired. Those of you who are here to link up your card....go right ahead and link up below!

Nonni is one of the best crafters I know. She is superb at colouring. I call her the colouring Princess! But lately she has shown she can turn her hand to all styles. She now makes outstanding CAS cards which I swoon at. Aside from her crafting genius she is a wonderful member of our crafting world, working on a number of DTs and always at hand to help and encourage others.

I am lucky enough to have met Nonni IRL when she came to stay with me in May this year. We have become very close friends and she is the most loyal and loving friend anyone could ask for. 

Nonni I am so pleased you are part of my life and we are here to celebrate you!

Here is my card for you:

I had to go with flowers as Nonni loves flower stamps. This is from the new release at Uniko Studios-I love this set, so easy to stamp and perfect for my CAS style. I chose this sentiment especially for Nonni as it is from a set of stamps that I saw Nonni use and I contacted her for the first time and from here we started to chat....and the rest is history!!

I will enter this card into the 'Special Occasions' challenge at Uniko Studio

This linky will be open until 12th September, so please join in the fun and say a very Happy Birthday to Nonni!

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Happy Friday Eve to all.

Over at TIME OUT Challenges we are announcing the winners of our last challenge so don't forget to go and check it out. And today I have a card that will hopefully inspire you to join in our current CASE challenge. We are CASEing the fabulous crafter Anita. My card today was inspired by her layout but also was heavily influenced by a few other challenges in blogland. 

First off my card:

I really wanted to play along at Festive Friday this week because as soon as I saw the photo I thought of kraft and white. I was going to use embossed snowflakes until I saw that at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown the challenge is 'Mistletoe and Wine'. The idea for this card immediately came into my head...I do love it when that happens!

I stamped the mistletoe and then decided to go over the stamping with a glitter pen to add some Xmas sparkle. And to take the white theme further I used a white pen to add some berries. 

I will also add this to Marina's Christmas card gallery.

Here is Anita's card:

And the photo from Festive Friday:

Addicted to Stamp and More #109

It is our CAS challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. That means we want to see Clean and Simple projects this week. I used the sketch at CAS(E)this Sketch to create this card:

I love using non traditional colours for Christmas card and this combo is my favourite. All these stamps are from Uniko Studios.

This week we are sponsored by Eureka Stamps. Check out their store it is full of goodies and if you play along with us you could soon own 3 of their digis!

As always are DT have made some outstanding CAS projects for you. Take a look here to be inspired and then get stamping!!

I've been painting again!

Yesterday I was in the mood for doing some more water colouring. I recently decided to invest in some paint brushes as so far I have been doing all my painting with just one tiny brush. I am enjoying drawing and water colouring without stamps so decided to make this investment.

I really like the photo this week at Fusion and wanted to paint my own flowers in a jar. I found a tutorial by the The Frugal Crafter on utube and gave it a go with my own twist! No stamps used here, all done free hand and I really enjoy it! I wanted to enter the water colouring challenge at Crazy for CAS so once I had finished the painting I made it into a CAS card:

Again the light here in London is not good. One minute we have rain then the sun is out for a few mins and then more rain. This is the best photo I could get after trying all day and remember what I said on Friday...enough is enough!!

I will also enter this into Seize the Birthday Challenge-anything Goes

Addicted to CAS #45

Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS. Our host this week is the very creative and talented Harriet and she has chosen the following code word for us

I was a bit thrown by this at first but Kylie provided a google search of images, which you will find on our main blog here. After looking through these images I realised I could use my Uniko Studios spiky snowflakes stamps and came up with this:

I do love how this turned out and in the end this word did challenge me but inspired me to use the snowflake stamps in this set that had been not inked up yet.

Our sponsors this week are Scribbles Design and you could win 3 of their fabulous images.

For the month of August we have Lyndal joining us as our Guest Designer.Her blog Ideas and Paper is full of inspiration. I would take a visit there and I am sure you will be inspired.

Finally, our team have come up with such creative CAS takes on this code word, take a look here.

I am really looking forward to what you create for us, have fun x

Inkspirational #63

Its time for a new challenge at Inkspirational. We had a record number of entries in our last challenge and had a lot of fun visiting all your blogs. This week it is our colour challenge and these are the colours we have for you:

You can use any 2 of these colours or all 3. Any shades of these colours are allowed plus black, white and cream. You may also use realistic colours for skin, fur and hair but no other colours.

Here is my card using all 3 colours:

I got out my water colour pencils again and had a go at freehand drawing a butterfly and then using the watercolour pencils in our colours to create this card. I added a few white sequins as I felt it needed a bit more interest. I loved painting this and just went with the flow not really knowing how it would turn out!

Our DT have made a super collection of inspiring cards using these colours, check them out here and then get crafty!

I will enter this into:

The Mixed Media Card Challenge-summer

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Summer

Enough is Enough!

A very happy Friday to you all,

Today I had an idea that was inspired by the colours in the Fusion photo this week and the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. I also wanted to enter the 'Shades of Summer' challenge at One Layer Simplicity Challenge using shades of summer #5 (see below).

This was meant to be a quick stamp and go card but I kept smudging ink, not stamping properly, just about all the inking mistakes that could happen did! This is about my 5th attempt and still I am not that happy with the stamping however no smudges on this one and in the end I decided...enough was enough!

By the time I had finished making this the light was beginning to fade but I was taking the photo and posting this today! 

So here we are:

I decided to use the orange and yellow of the Fusion flowers plus the green from the leaves-my green has some sparkle! These gorgeous butterfly stamps are from Uniko Studio.

I realise looking at this now if I had followed the exact position of the circles in the sketch it would have worked better, I think? But, guess what....enough is enough!!

I will be back tomorrow with my DT cards for Inkspirational and Addicted to CAS. I hope to see you then!

          

TIME OUT Challenges #12

Friday Eve has finally come around again and that means it is time for a new challenge at TIME OUT Challenges.

I am very excited about this challenge as we are getting the chance to CASE one of my all time favourite crafters Anita. I found Anita's blog pretty soon after I started blogging and immediately fell in love with her CAS creations. She continues to inspire me and is one of the kindness most encouraging crafters in our community, always visiting blogs and leaving comments to enthuse us to create more. Check out her blog My Papercraft World and be inspired!

Here is my take on Ainta's card:

I was inspired by the colours, layout and die cut sentiment in Anita's card here:

This is the first time I have used a stencil! It took me ages to position and layer up the die cut sentiments but I got there in the end. Thanks Anita for the inspiration!

Our Guest Designer this week is Shona. I have recently discovered Shona's blog Twine Around and I can tell you her creativity is amazing. I urge you to go and sign up to her blog so you don't miss out!

Before you kick back and take TIME OUT to create with us, take a look here at the wonderful cards our team have created for you

I will enter this into the August challenge at STAMPlorations-stamping and die cuts and  SS work it Wednesday-blue and finally the Mixed Media Card Challenge-Summer

Addicted to Stamps and More #108

Its time for our 'Holiday' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. You can create a project using any Holiday you want. I have opted for Christmas and did use a few other challenges to help inspire me to create this card:

This week at Addicted to Stamps and More we are being sponsored by Rick St.Dennis and we are lucky enough to have one of their DT joining us today-welcome Karen. There are some fab images in their store so please do visit them and take a look. As always our DT have come up with some wonderful projects to inspire you-take a look here.

Now for my inspiration-the picture at Festive Friday gave me the idea for the snowy wreath. I went with a one layer card so I could enter the 'Foliage OLC' challenge at Less is More and finally I was unsure about using a black sentiment but saw the 'Tic Tac Toe' challenge at CAS-ual Fridays and one of the lines is 'Black, White and Sequins'. This gave me the idea of tying in the black sentiment with one single black sequin-this seemed to balance it to my eye plus the sentiment is from CAS-ual Fridays so an added benefit!

This card came together really quickly thanks to all these pieces of inspiration fitting nicely together in my little brain! Isn't it great when this happens?

I hope you join us at Addicted to Stamps and More x

      

Uniko Studio Release Day!

Today is a very happy Monday as it is the Release Day at Uniko Studio. You have had all the sneak peeks and intro days and today you have chance to see more examples of how to use the sets, a blog hop with chance to win the whole release sets. Plus you can actually go right over to the store here and start purchasing these amazing stamps. And, TODAY ONLY, if you spend over £25 or more you will get free world wide shipping!

The details of the blog hop you can find on the main Uniko Studio Blog. But basically you need to leave a comment on my blog, all the blogs of the Design Team and the Uniko Blog. Do this and you could win the entire release....that is four sets of the most stunning stamps!!

Here is the order of the blog hop:

Amber
Erika
Gillian
N@Ali
Nicki
Taheerah
Sarah-all Guest Designing for this month-congrats Sarah x
Sandie-you are here!

It is my last day as the Guest Designer for Uniko Studio and I have a couple more cards to share with you using the release stamps.

First up is I am showcasing 'Flower Power #6' with a sentiment from an older set 'Flower Power #1'

I was inspired to make this when I saw the picture at Fusion this week. I loved all the pale colours with the pops of blue and green, plus I did loosely use the sketch this week-quite unusual for me but it was my starting point when creating the design. The picture at The Runway Inspired challenge this week also helped me develop my idea of the vellum-it looks like the model's top-see photo below

This time I stamped the base of the flower in the pops of colours from the Fusion photo directly onto the card base. I then used the second part of the flower stamp embossing it on vellum with white embossing powder. I tried to curl the edges of the vellum so you would see more of these Summer colours. I popped these up on foam pads to give dimension. I looked at the card for a bit but decided something was missing and three little black gems sorted this for me. The linen impression plate gave the card more texture.

This Flower Power set is full of possibilities and well worth popping into your shopping basket!

I will enter this into Fusion-see photo and sketch below and the Mixed Media Card Challenge with a Summer these-mine being flowers and colours.

Now my second card for you today using the new 'Sweet Baby' stamp set:

I have again used white embossing but this time on this cute little baby suit. I think this is the first time I have embossed on to patterned paper but I thought it would give the soft look I wanted for a baby card. I used vellum again but this time stamped the sentiment directly onto the vellum. As I had no more of this patterned paper I decided to add my own outline of white dots onto the blue card using a white pen. I got the layout for this card from this week's sketch at STAMPlorations-see below.

I have had such a fun week being GDT for Uniko Studio and thank Bev for giving this honour. I hope I have inspired you along the way and have got you to do some shopping!!

Now it is time for you to go staright over to the main Uniko Studio Blog and start hopping!

         

Uniko Studios Introducing 'Sweet Baby'

I am here today to introduce to you the new Uniko Studio's stamp set 'Sweet Baby'

Here is a reminder of the sneak peek of this set:

And here is the card I have made using this set:

I mixed up a few of the sentiments and then coloured and fussy cut this adorable teddy bear to create this card. And yes, my friends, that is some patterned paper you see! Check out the yellow ABC stamp I used on the left hand border...how cute it that.

Now, don't forget you still have chance to win a random prize for commenting on my blog, the DT blogs,the main Uniko Studio Blog, liking Uniko on facebook or following Uniko on twitter or Pinterest.

And tomorrow is the Release Day and we are having a Blog Hop and if you join in the fun you will have chance to win the entire set!!

I will enter this into the following challenges:

Squigglefly-baby card

CASology-stripe-sentiment and abc stripe, well actually quite a few stripes here but the sentiment was my initial idea!

See you tomorrow x

Uniko Studio-Introducing 'Strike a Pose!'

Today I am here introducing the new 'Strike A Pose!' stamp set from Uniko Studio. If you haven't visited me this week I am very lucky to be Guest Designing for this new release.

Here is a reminder of the sneak peek of this set:

As soon as I saw this set I knew I wanted to make a shaker card but it took me a while to actually get my ideas together and figure out a design. Here is what I came up with:

I stamped the photo frame then cut out the centre with a craft knife. I added some acetate to make my shaker. I stamped and fussy cut out the film roll and added it to the edge.I like it here but it also helps to cover up a little slip I had with my craft knife...a little secret!! This is a really fun set and I really have no idea why I went with a shaker card but it was fun to make and I thought showed a different way to use the set than might come to mind immediately!

Pop over to the main Uniko Studio Blog and see lots of other ways to use this set. Comment along the way and you could be in for a chance of a prize.

Tomorrow is our last intro day and then it is the big release day on the 11th. We have a blog hop for you. Take part in the hop and you could win the entire release.

I will enter this into the following challenges:

Paper Minutes-polaroid or frame

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge-make it sparkle

I guess I will see you tomorrow!

Uniko Studios Flower Power #6

Today at Uniko Studio we are introducing Flower Power #6.

Here is a reminder of the sneak peek of this set:

As soon as I saw this set I just loved it. There are so many ways to create some wonderful projects using this set and this is an example of what I have made:

I went for a one layer card using of different shades of purple and pink. A little bit of masking and double step stamping, rounding one edge and ended up adding texture with my linen impression plate.

Visit the main Uniko Studio Blog and all the blogs of the Design team to see some fabulous examples of how to use this set.

And don't forget to comment along the way and like us in facebook, follow us on twitter and pinterest and you could win a prize!!

3 days to our release day when if you play along with our blog hop you could win the whole release! 

See you tomorrow x

I went for a one layer card. I love the font on this sentiment, it just seems so to match the sentiments so perfectly. I have done quite a bit of masking to create this card but it was worth it. I used the linen embossing plate to give it the some texture. The rounded edge seem to fit in with the flow of the card.I know all you flower stamp lovers will want this on your wish list. Plus I bet some of you (like me) who don't usually go for flowers will be tempted! You should pop over to the Uniko Studio Blog and then visit all t
he DT's blog to see what a variety of designs they have created to inspire you.

Uniko Studio-Introducing Big and Bold

Today I am here as the Guest Designer for the new release at Uniko Studio. I am very excited to have been asked and have been crafting away for a few weeks now with the new stamps. Today we are introducing the new set called 'Big and Bold-wish'

First a reminder of the sneak peek of this set:

This set is full of possibilities. I decided to showcase one of the fab sentiments and add some sparkle by embossing in gold and adding one stripe of gold glitter card:

The little stars are actually from another set that we will be showing you later in the week but this 'Big and Bold' sentiment is from this set. You can see other ways of using this set by visiting the main Uniko Studio Blog and the blogs of the Design Teams.

Don't forget to comment along the way to be in for a chance to win a prize.

The rest of the week we will be introducing the other sets and then on the 11th it is the Release Day and we have blog hop organised for you. Take part in our hop and you could win the whole release!!

I am going to enter this into the following challenge:

A Gem of a Challenge-embossing.

Simon Says Stamping Wednesday Challenge-make it sparkle

CASology-stripe.

And also use it as a reminder card for the following challenges that I am on the DT:

Time Out Challenge-celebration with a butterfly twist

Addicted to CAS-GOLD

Water Colour Blooms

I am popping in with a quick post of a card I made yesterday for the AAA Card Challenge to use water colour techniques. I felt like doing some water colouring and decided to use the boxed bloom stamp by STAMPlorations. And here is my very CAS card:

I simply water coloured the image and cut it out mounting it on yellow card. I then popped it up on some foam fads for dimension. I love the texture of this linen card stock and for once I seemed to have captured this texture in my photo.

I will enter this into the following challenges:

AAA cards -water colour

Crafty Boots -flowers

Deep Ocean Challenges-Summer colours

Craft Room Challenges-A Summer Garden

Enjoy the rest of your day x

Uniko Studio Sneak Peek 2

Today I have the second sneak peek of the new release stamps at Uniko Studio. These 2 stamp sets are just so awesome! You just get a little teaser today and then tomorrow we start introducing each set with lots of inspiration from the Uniko Studio design team and myself.

So here is your peek.....

And here is how the rest of our new release will go:

7th August-10th August-each day we will introduce one of these sets to you and there will be inspiration projects from Bev on the main Uniko Studio Blog, all her DT's blog and myself. If you comment along the way and follow us on twitter, pinterest and like us on facebook, you will be in for a chance to win a prize.

11th August-is the big Release Day-where we will all again have inspirations for you plus a blog hop. If you play along with the blog hop you get chance to win all these stamps!!

Cone back tomorrow for my first card as the Guest Designer for Uniko Studio

Addicted to Stamps and More #107

Its Wednesday and that means it is time for our new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. This week we have the Make your Mark challenge, meaning that you need to use some kind of marker to make your project. You can opt for pencils, markers, crayons, paints, whatever you feel like creating with this week. I opted to use my water colour pencils and decided I would have a go at painting a scene. Now this is my first attempt at doing anything like this, so it is not that good but I enjoyed doing it and hoped it would show you that we can all try something different now and then and we don't have to be an expert to enjoy it!

 I had a hunt on Utube for videos that might help me create a scene and found one on the Frugal Crafter. I like her videos as they are fun and she gives you lots of pointers. I didn't copy her scene as I actually didn't like all parts of it. I just took the bits I did and added my own twist to the painting. I decided to make it into a card and thought a black base was just the right look.

Our sponsors this week are Stamp Art Designs, check out their fab store here-some of these digis could be yours!

Now check out what our super DT have created to inspire you this week by popping over to our main blog at Addicted to Stamps and More

Uniko Studios Sneak Peek 1

I am so very honoured to be the  Guest Designing for this month's new release at Uniko Studio.

It was a complete shock when Bev-owner and designer of Uniko Studio-emailed me and asked me. I was obviously very excited and surprised but oh so very honoured. I was also very nervous however how could I say no...so here I am to give you a sneak peek of the first 2 sets we are introducing.

How fab do these look and this is just a little teaser for you!

Tomorrow I will be back with a sneak peek of 2 more sets then this is how the rest of the week will run:

7th August-10th August-each day we will introduce one of these sets to you and there will be inspiration projects from Bev on the main Uniko Studio Blog, all her DT's blog, Sarah of Sazzle Dazzle Crafts (also Guest Designing) and myself. If you comment along the way and follow us on twitter, pinterest and like us on facebook, you will be in for a chance to win a prize.

11th August-is the big Release Day-where we will all again have inspirations for you plus a blog hop. If you play along with the blog hop you get chance to win all these stamps!!

So who is with us all week...I know you want to play...how can you resist???