Inkspirational #66

It is time for our 'Designer's Choice' challenge at Inkspirational and this week the very lovely and talented Carol has chosen the following for us:

Beverages/Drinks

And here is what I came up with:

My Mum needed an Anniversary card for a friend so this challenge came at the right time to create some sparkle! I have heat embossed my champagne glasses and added some very tiny gems for bubbles. Mounted this on glitter card and added some purple ribbon.

Our Guest Designer this week is Mary V and she has made a very inspiring CAS card for you today. Take a look here

So what are you inspired to create when you think of drinks??? Need some help? Our DT have really been very creative with Carol's challenge and check out our blog here for some really fabulous ideas.

Have fun x

Time Out #15

Happy Friday Eve and that must mean it is time for a new challenge at TIME OUT Challenges. It is out Theme challenge and we have this for you:

STAMPING with the optional twist of APPLES

Basically your project must include some kind of stamping even if it is just the sentiment...we want to see some ink!!

If you feel like twisting with us this week by using an apple/apples on your project you could be in for a chance of winning a prize from our fabulous sponsor Avocado Arts (chosen by random.org)

Our Guest Designer this week is the very talented and creative Loll. We are so excited that Loll is joining us this week. Her creativity is boundless and I urge you to visit her blog Stamping with Loll. I guarantee you will be inspired!

 I decided not to twist this week and here is my card:

I got the idea for this card when I saw the colour challenge at The Card Concept. I went for a CAS design (no surprise there!) and started off using lime green on my stamps and then mixed it up with some yellow and red in varying levels. I really like how it turned out and forgot how cool it is just to ink up a stamp in different colours and see where it takes you. 

The lay out for the card comes is from the sketch this week at CAS(E) this Sketch cutting down the layers to make a one layer card.

My stamps are all from Clearly Besotted Stamps (Autumn Flowers)

Our DT have all made some fabulous designs this week some have twisted and some have not. Take a look here.

Now it is your turn to take some TIME OUT and get inky!!

edited to add-I will also enter this into the 'Flutter' challenge at CASology-my leaves are fluttering down!

     

Again...at last!

Hello my friends,

For some time now I have been thinking about having a go at embossing an image and the colouring it. Thinking is as far as it has got until I saw the challenge this week at CASology. 2 ideas came to mind straight away and the first one was embossing this butterfly image from Uniko and then colouring. So at last I got down to giving this a go. I was going to use copics but opted for water colouring for a more free and easy look.

I embossed the image in vanilla powder then used a variety of water colours just letting the paints take me where ever they wanted-this is what I love about water colouring, you can just go with the flow! A few splashes to finish. I really enjoyed making this and went onto make another card using this technique.

I am hoping to get idea 2 done before the deadline!

Have a fun day x

Addicted to CAS #48

We have a new code word for you at Addicted to CAS:



The very talented Michelle is our hostess for this challenge and this is the word she has chosen. And here is my take:

I did struggle with this word and did hunt through all my stamps for a cuddly image and I really don't have any except the 'Sweet Baby' stamp set by Uniko Studios. As I needed to make a baby card for the lovely Beverley from Uniko Studios this turned out to be the perfect time to get all cuddly! Bev gave birth to twins just over a month ago now so 2 little teddy bears had to go on this card. Here I have channelled my inner Ardyth. I love her graphic designs and saw this card on Pinterest and it gave me the idea to use small images-thank you Ardyth!!

I am sorry that the photo is not so good but it went in the post straight after making it so I couldn't re-do.

This month our Guest Designer is Tenia, you can check out her card and the rest of the DT's here

The fabulous Scribbles Designs are sponsoring us for this challenge. Take a look at their store and do some retail!

My card today would also be good for our challenge 'Double the Joy' over at TIME OUT Challenges-all you have to do here is have 2 of something on your project and you could win a £20 gift voucher to spend at Uniko Studios

Now it is your time to get all cuddly!!

Sequin CAS for Bev!

Well we made it to Friday!

Ardyth and Darnell are holding a linky Birthday party for the lovely Bev. I am a little late to the party but I have a card today that I thought Bev would find fun! So Happy Belated Birthday Bev. Her blog Happy Dance is full of inspiration and lots of fun and if you don't know Bev I urge you to pop over and be inspired!

I have a 'cheats' version of a shaker card to share with you for Bev. I started out to make a shaker card but totally forgot that I needed acetate and came up with the idea of gluing the sequins down using glossy accents. It really does work. I have turned it upside down, have put it in an envelope and given it a good old shake and they all just stay there!!

I used Wink of Stella on the card behind the sequins but it didn't show up in the photo above so I have taken another one.I hope you can see the sparkle here!

I am entering this into the Autumn challenge at Clearly Besotted Stamps and I got the idea for this when I saw this card from DT member and the Queen of CAS Aimes! The die cut is 'Autumn Flowers' from Clearly Besotted Stamps

I had been thinking about this card for a few days as I wanted to enter the 'sequin celebration' challenge at CAS on Sunday with a shaker card but wanted to make it as CAS as I could. White sequins and white textured card helped me create this! I am going to use my 'cheats' shaker card again....I am thinking this would be good for a Xmas card and can see another entry to Festive Friday on the way....if time allows!

I hope you like my card and are enjoying your party!

Time Out Reminder

Happy Friday Eve

Today we are announcing our winners at Time Out Challenges. Pop on over and see if you are there!

I am also here with a card to remind you that you still have chance to join in our photo challenge.

First off my card:

And here this the photo that inspired this card:

I have gone with the natural colours, wood grain and the blocks of words. Rather than blocks of words I used the grunge floral strips from STAMPlorations that I was reminded about by my blogging friend Monika when I saw her card this week for the sketch challenge at STAMPlorations. I have used the sketch for my lay out, flipping it. For the die cut I used some corrugated card I have had for years. And obviously had to add some Wink of Stella to my grunge strips, well...just because I love it!

I hope you take some time out to join in our fun at TIME OUT Challenges. Plus don't forget we are still running our special 'Double the Joy' challenge for teamie Bev to celebrate the birth of her twins...prizes to be won!

Addicted to Stamps and More #113

It is our 'Holiday' challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. You can choose any holiday you want. I have gone for Christmas. I like to use non-traditional colours and this card if no exception!

This card was inspired the combo of 2 photo challenges. First off I adore the pink car colour in the photo at Fusion this week. I actually had it in mind to make a Christmas card with a cityscape and car all based around this pink colour card I have used in this card but then I saw the photo at Festive Friday this week. This photo took me in a different direction as I liked the use of the soft pink and white-this is where my white embossing and DSP came from. So the combo of photos really did take me in a completely different direction than I had intended but that is inspiration for you! (I still want to make the pink car Xmas card car!)

At Addicted to Stamps and More we are being sponsored by Eureka Stamps and our team have some fabulous Holiday cards for you here

Have fun!

       

Fusion inspired!

Hello to all,

I have another card for you today inspired by the photo this week at Fusion. That pink card really caught my eye this week and DT member Kimberley's card I just loved. I thought about this card for a few days and was going to go all black and pink with a cityscape and then out of the blue this idea came to me:

I decided to go glitter CAS with the main focus on a pink card and I love how it turned out.

Here is the fab photo from Fusion

Edited to Add-I had meant to add this to Festive Friday but appear to have forgotten-all the glitter, shimmer and touch of pink in the photo are echoed in my card!

   

I have another card for this challenge tomorrow...I love the photo!!

Have a good day x

TIME OUT's 'Double the Joy' Challenge!

Today at TIME OUT Challenges we have a very special extra challenge celebrating the birth of DT member Bev's twins, Josh and Ben.

We have kept this challenge a secret from Bev as we wanted to surprise her! So a very big Congrats Bev from all the DT at TIME OUT Challenges

We decided to hold a challenge for all of you in blog land that want to celebrate Bev's news.

We are calling our challenge:

Double The Joy

To enter the challenge you can make any kind of card you want as long as there is 2 of something on it, in celebration of the 2 little gorgeous boys in Bev's family!!

And we have prizes for you. We decided to surprise Bev with our prize also...a £20 gift voucher for her store-Uniko Studios. This prize will be chosen by random.org

Here is my card using Uniko Studio stamps and a CASE of one of Bev's card (the one on the back of the stamp set!)

This challenge will be open on our blog at TIME OUT Challenges until 29th September 5pm GMT. Our other challenges will run as normal!

Hope you find a little TIME OUT to celebrate with us!

At last!

This week my crafting mojo was taking a holiday. I have not made a card in over a week and have not really felt like it. However today, at last, I saw a few challenges that inspired me to sit down at my crafting desk and create. And I am pleased because the finished result I do really like.

First my card and then the inspiration behind it:

I was inspired by the fabulous photo at Festive Friday. The soft pinks and silver gave me the idea for the colours, silver embossing and the vellum. I used the sketch at Fusion. flipping it-I added the extra sheer ribbon but I when I had completed the card using the sketch, I felt my card needed something to ground my dove and sentiment and add more interest to the left hand side.

At Uniko Studios Bev and her DT are re-visiting the 'Peace on Earth' stamp set I have used here and this gave me plenty of ideas. 

I hope Mrs mojo is back to stay!

I will also link this up to Marina's Festive 48-week 35 Any Xmas card goes.

Enjoy your day xx

     

Inkspirational #65

This week at Inkspirational we have our word prompt challenge for you. Our word this week is 'Flight'

I knew I wanted to use my Hummingbird stamp from Uniko Studios for this challenge. I was going to just stamp it once but decided to have a go at making it look like it was 'in flight'. So I did some masking and came up with this:

I was pleased with how my masking went and I thought this sentiment was the perfect match.

Our Guest Designer this week is Cornelia, who is one of the most creative crafters I know. Please do check out her blog here.You will be inspired!

Yet again our wonderful DT at Inkspirational have created some fabulous cards to inspire you, check them out here and then get stamping my friends x

I will enter this into the challenge at CASology this week where the code word is Three.

TIME OUT Challenges #14

Its is Friday Eve again and that means I am here with our next challenge at TIME OUT Challenges. This is the first challenge that our new Design Team members are joining us. I am sure you will make them welcome, visit their blogs and show them some love! 

It is 'Home Sweet Home' week and we have this photo to inspire you:

There is so much here that you could use to create. The colours, the twine, the box, any of these words etc. I kept coming back to the photo and all I could think about was sentiments in blocks and this is what I came up with using Avery Elle Stamps

A one layer card with a little linen texture.

 I will enter this into the following challenges

AEIHeartU Challenge-CAS

CASology-three. When making the card I really wanted to just use one sentiment and one globe but the rule of 3 got me in the end!

NBUS #2-Darnell's challenge-never before used schtuff. I have used the globe many times but the sentiment I have never been able to stamp before but here I used memento luxe ink an it worked like a dream!

Our DT have all come up with some fabulous designs. You can check them out here.

Then take some TIME OUT of your busy life and do some crafting, have some fun and join in our challenge.

I can't wait to see how this photo inspired you!

        

Addicted to CAS #47

This week at Addicted to CAS our hostess is the very talented and very lovely Sylvia and she has chosen the following keyword:

So what does 'Oriental' inspire you to make? 

 I went with an oriental pattern. I was thinking of oriental carpets and decided to go with black and gold as this just seemed the perfect colours for an oriental feel:

This week we are sponsored by Stamp Art Designs-check out their cool store for some fab digis.

And we are very happy that for the month of September Tenia will be joining us as our Guest Designer. Check out her blog Jazzy Paper Designs for some really funky inspiration and then go and get all Oriental on us and create!

Exiting News!!

I am popping in quickly today to direct you over to TIME OUT Challenges as we have some exciting news for you!

We have 4 new DT members!!

Put on the kettle, kick back and take some TIME OUT to meet these fabulous crafters.

All you need to do is click here and you can say hi!

xx

Time Out Reminder

Happy Friday Eve and that means I am here to remind you that you still have time to play along at TIME OUT Challenges. Our challenge this week is to be inspired by Shakespeare's words from the play Twelfth Night:

'If music be the food of love play on'

Y

You can use any of these words or the whole phrase to inspire you. It is my 9th Wedding Anniversary next week so I went for 'love' and made my hubby this card...I am very happy to say he is a lover of CAS designs (lucky for me!)

A few different challenges came together in my little head to create this card. First off I loved the sketch at the forum Happy Little Stampers. Crafting buddy Kylie runs this forum. If you are not already a member I urge you to sign up as it is full of a great bunch of fellow crafters who are on hand to give advice, chat about crafty and non crafty things.

Second up I thought this week's challenge word at CASology was a very unique and wanted to challenge myself. I knew I wanted to use this Dove stamp form Uniko Studios for my TIME OUT reminder card I had the idea of hanging the hearts under the dove from its mouth....delivering love! Bev fellow teamie at TIME OUT and owner of Unilko had used the dove on one of her cards and added sparkle, it looked so cool I got out my wink of stella to do the same and loved how it looked.

Finally my colour scheme came from the challenge at CAS on Sunday-black/white and one other colour.

I found a couple of other challenges that my card is suitable for:

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge-Anything Goes-both sentiment stamps are paper smooches.
Eclectic Ellapu.-Pink Team-hearts

Now it is your turn to take TIME OUT and craft with us at TIME OUT Challenges. Some inside info for you.....we have an exciting announcement tomorrow so don't forget to visit us tomorrow or you can see the news here on my blog!!

edited to add-I just saw the reminder of the current challenge at Uniko Studios-special occassions-so I will add my card to this x

      

Addicted to Stamps and More #111

This week at Addicted to Stamps and More it is our Anything Goes Challenge but we have an optional twist of Get Well/Thinking of You. We are doing this as Marie one of our original DT members here and currently on the DT of Addicted to CAS is having a rough time and we wanted to cheer her up. So you can make any kind of card but we would love it if you made a card with our optional twist to put a smile on Marie's face.
So Marie, here is my card dedicated to you:

This card was made immediately after I saw the photo at Fusion this week combined with the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. They come out at about the same time and when I saw them I had a 'ping' moment and got stamping and water colouring. I was inspired by the brick wall and colours in the photo. This brick stamp has never been used before but it gave the perfect angle I wanted to fit in with the sketch. The hummingbird was water coloured (my new fine brush coming in very useful here!) and fussy cut out, popped up for dimension.This stamp is from Uniko Studios.

I hope you like your card Marie and I hope it cheered you up a bit-thinking of you hon x

AAA cards game this week is CAS and water colouring so I am entering this challenge. And the Mixed Media Card Challenge is looking for Autumn colour and as I have brown, yellow and red I am going to enter here too.

This week our sponsor is Stamp Art Designs and you have chance to win some digis from their fabulous store.

The DT have come up with some great cards to inspire you.

Hope you can join us x

             

Getting to Know Me Blog Hop

A few weeks ago I was 'tagged' by the lovely Sarah to take part in the 'Getting to Know Me' blog hop. I was very surprised and very honoured that such a fabulous crafter found my cards inspiring and tagged me! If you are not aware of Sarah's blog Funky Fossils Designs then please do go and and visit it.........you will be inspired!

First off I am going to share a card with you so if you don't have time (or don't want to) read the rest of the post at least you get to see one of my cards.

This card was inspired by the photo this week at Festive Friday-I went with all the green and sentiment in the middle, although my version is very CAS compared to the photo! I will also enter this into Marina's Christmas card challenge and the 'Early Xmas Makes' at Allsorts Challenge

Now lets move on to the questions and getting to know me better. I will try to keep it short so you stay with me!

1. What creative projects are you currently working on?

At the moment I seem to be spending a lot of my crafty time preparing my Design Team cards. I have a list of the cards I need to do and am slowly working through them. I am also starting to think about the challenges for next year at Time Out Challenges, the challenge I co-run with my friend Nonni, we like to be prepared! Aside from this I have discovered I really enjoy water colouring free hand but I am not good at drawing so when I have time I watch videos on how to do this. Then I have a go. My efforts are not so good but I do enjoy doing it....and that is what counts-right? 

2. What inspires your designs?

Inspiration is one of my favourite topics! It often amazes me how a card is influenced, often, by many things. I guess first off it would be challenges that inspire an idea but often it is more than one challenge. I might see a challenge and get a rough idea of what I want to do.I then may think on it for a few days (yes days!) and then suddenly I see another challenge and the idea is complete! Then I can get creating. I have a few favourite challenges (aside from the ones I am on the Design Teams for) that I like to play along with. But if I had to choose just one challenge that I actually wait for on a Thursday it is Fusion-I am a fan of photo challenges and this one, for some reason, never fails to inspire me! Check out my Wed DT project for Addicted to Stamps and More- I made this straight after seeing this week's Fusion photo and the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch (another fav of mine)

Inspiration also comes from other bloggers. I am a fan of pinterest and visit the boards of many of you out there to get inspired. Or I remember a card I may have seen on your blogs and go to your blog and hunt to I find it. And, lets face it, our little community is full of inspiration from each other-we often need little else!

3. What methods or process do you apply to each creative project and how long does each project take to complete?

Gosh...a process...who knows?? I usually get the idea in my head, get out the stamps and ink I think will work. I will place them on the card to see where I think they will look best, move them around a bit until I am happy and then off I go. I am the Queen of mistakes and smudges but I am also not a fan of re-starting a card. I use the 'cover up' method-an enamel dot or sequin placed strategically can do the job-and you all thought I just liked enamel dots!!

Projects can take me 5 mins to over an hour, it really does vary. The longest part of the process for me is thinking of the idea. I am often kept awake because I can't get an idea for a card out of my head!

4. If you had to describe your signature style what would it be?

Well that is easy-CAS. 

5. What 3 crafting products/tools could you not live without?

As Sarah said last week, if I have ink and stamps I am happy. My real love is just plain old stamping, no fancy techniques, just stamp and go. But apart from that it would have to be:

1. My Tonic Paper trimmer

2. My score board

3  Lined acrylic blocks

I think that is enough on me. Now it is time for me to tag 2 fellow crafters that inspire me and they will be doing their 'getting to know me' posts next Monday

First up is Nonni, who I am sure you all know is a very dear friend of mine but I have tagged her as she is the person who inspired me to put down the ink one day and have a go at colouring. She gave me detailed instructions of how to start (of which I still refer to) and guided me through the process. She is an expert at colouring and a true inspiration. I have also tagged her as I am amazed by her ability to create cards in all styles. She can do CAS cards to perfection and then move onto Vintage with no problem. Something I really wish I could. So check out her blog korttikarkuri and be inspired.

Second up is Kim who has the coolest name for her blog Art Keeps me Sane-how true is that! Kim really is so creative. I would say her style is CAS with a really creative edge I wish I had! I am often amazed by her creative take to challenges. If you check out her blog you will see she did a Fine Arts Degree and this sure shows in her work-check out her paintings here-truly inspiring especially for me as I begin my journey into water colouring free hand.

If you did manage to make it to the end congratulations! I know I said I would keep it short so sorry for that but I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a bit better and don't forget to pop over next Monday to get to know Nonni and Kim

And finally Festive Friday's photo that inspired my card today: