Inkspirational Sketch Challenge

Mid week means its time for a new challenge at Inkspirational. This is month we are being sponsored by Inspired by Stamping who are offering a $20 gift card to our monthly winner. They have some great products so please do visit their store here to see what could be yours!

This week we have this great sketch for you:

Have a look at my card first and if you are thinking 'how did she get that from this sketch??', read on and you will see where the inspiration came from!

When I saw the sketch I thought I knew exactly where I was going but things did take a little turn! I started  by heat embossing a flower in vanilla to represent the semi circle. I then intended to add the sentiment across the front but decided a little more dimension was needed and so stamped and die cut two flowers raising them on foam pads. I liked how this looked and was going to leave it there but decided to heat emboss the sentiment and placed it in the corner as it felt like that was the flow of the card.

In the end, this is quite a loose interpretation of the sketch but really was inspired from the original.

I am always so intrigued where inspiration comes from and where it takes us!

I would love to know what this sketch inspires you to create and don't forget to pop over to our blog here and see the fab projects our DT have made this week.

Happy crafting x

Products used:

Stampin' Up 'seccret garden' stamps and dies

Papersmooches 'sentiment sampler'

wow embossing powder-vanilla

Inkspirational End of Week Encouragement.

Happy Saturday my friends,

Today I am here with my card to hopefully encourage you to enter our challenge this week at Inkspirational.
This week we are asking you to case this card by one of my favourite crafters Nancy,

I loved the angular look of this card with the pretty dress frame in the corner. Plus the strong maroon colour combined with the bright white card stock. I took these elements as my inspiration and came up with this:

All the stamps are from PTI and I have used the linen impression plate to add a bit of texture and soften the bold and angular feel to my card. I do love how this turned out and hope you do too! 

And this month we have the Inspired by Stamping are offering our monthly winner $20 gift card.

So what does Nancy's card inspire you to make?? Our DT have some fabulous projects so visit our blog here and see what they have come up with.

Happy crafting x

CAS-Colour and Sketches Challenge

Happy Friday Eve and time for our weekly challenge at CAS-Colour and Sketches. And this week we have this colour combo for you.

You can make cards using the closest you can to these colours.

Here is what I came up with:

I had trouble with these colours myself as I don't have any of these inks except the red. And being a lover of stamps rather than coloured and patterned card, I had to think for a while. I eventually got out some white core DCWV card I have had for ages and sat with the SU colour guide until I found a card that matched 'river rock'. I was so pleased when I found it! Then I went through the Mum's old button tin and found the perfect match for the suede colour. So I managed to get this combo and only used my red ink. Amazing what we can find in our stash!!

I had all these elements together then saw this card from Aimes and inspiration struck me-so thank you Aimes.

Our DT have some great cards using this combo so visit our blog here and take a look.

Happy stamping my friends.

MIA!!

Hello crafting chums,

I am off for a stay in hospital and am not sure when I will be back crafting. I am hoping I will be back getting inky around Easter.

I have a few scheduled DT posts coming out in the next 2 weeks but that is all I have planned. Unfortunately I am not allowed the access to the Internet in hospital so will not be able to comment on your cards.......I know they will all be gorgeous and what a jot it will be to come home to catch up!

Have fun stamping my friends and see you soon

Sandie xx

Muse Club

Yipee Friday is here!

I am popping in with my card for the Muse Club 8th challenge. So far I have managed to take part each week. I have really been enjoying this challenge as the idea is to inspire each other, visit and comment on other entries. I have had such fun visiting other blogs and have come across some great crafters that I probably would never have seen before this challenge came along.  Jackie created this challenge and if it is the first time you are visiting my blog this week you will notice I have a new look! Jackie designed my new blog header and template this week-she is offering a new graphic design service which  I can highly recommend-check out the details here.

And back to my card! This week we had a fab inspiration card from Therese Calvird. I loved the big purple flower as the focal point and the her use of the twine. And this is what I came up with, heat embossing vanilla on kraft, using a purple base, button and twine.  I decided to give heat embossing another go as I was blown away by Suzy's card here at Make My Monday.

Ruth, my blogging friend and fellow DT member at Inkspirational, always decorates the inside of her cards and envelopes and today as a nod to Ruth I have done the same.

 And the envelope

As I have had another go at heat embossing I am going to enter a second card into the 'heat embossing' challenge at Make My Monday
I am also entering the CAS challenge at 4 Crafty Chicks

And here is Therese's card

Enjoy your Friday x

CAS-Colour and Sketches

Its Friday Eve and that means its time for our next challenge at CAS-Colour and Sketches. This week we want to see what cards you are inspired to make using this sketch:

It now feels like spring may be around the corner as we have sunshine now, cold but sun! So I decided to celebrate this with some spring flowers.

I have really made a CAS version of this sketch and also flipped it. 

The top flower has been stamped and die cut and popped up on a foam pad for dimension.

Both flowers are from the Stampin' Up 'secret garden' set. I decided to colour both of the stamps using promarkers. 

I felt the background card needed some subtle stamping so used a PTI flower set, first stamping off the ink to give this faded, 'barely' there look. Some brown twine to finish my card off. I haven't added a sentiment as I felt the front didn't need it-an extra bonus as I am not sure who this going to be for yet!

Our DT have a great variety of cards for you, take a look here and then get out your crafting goodies and get stamping!

I will also enter this into the following challenges:
Crafty Sentiments-hello spring
Celebrate The Occasion-Spring is in the Air
Anything Goes Challenge blog-

Inkspirational and my new look!

Happy Wednesday my crafting chums,

When you have read all about our new challenge at Inkspirational keep on reading and you will see how I got my new look!!


Today at Inkspirational we have this gorgeous photo to inspire you:

I was inspired by the flowers and the colours in this photo. And that includes the colour of the bunny-instead of thinking Easter and bunnies, I thought, Kraft!!

I would love some help from you here please........the colour of this ink is 'elderberry' from memento and whatever colour card I stamp it on, it just looks black and not the purple on the front of the pad! Can anyone   advice me on a ink pad that the purple is like the purple of the flowers in this photo?

I love this sentiment from Verve. And the flower stamps are from Stampin' Up

Don't forget that if you play along all month with us you will have chance to win $20 gift card from a fab sponsors Inspired by Stamping

Now pop over to our blog here and get some more inspiration from our DT and then get creating. I am so looking forward to seeing what you make x

I am also going to enter this into the following challenges:
Artistic Impressions-flowers
Word Art Wednesday-anything goes with an uplifting sentiment.


Have you noticed my new look?? I really am a London girl now! This is all thanks to Jackie Rockwell who I am sure many of you know from her blogs CAS(E) the sketch and Muse Club. Well now she is offering a custom graphic design service for our blogs. When I read about her new service here I decided to contact her and find out more information. I told Jackie my vision for my blog header and she skillfully and extremely quickly translated this into the header you now see! I love it, she really captured the old style London feel I wanted with the font mixed with the contemporary skyline......makes me love London more! And naturally it had to be purple!! I can really recommend you take a look at Jackie's graphic design blog here, and why not get a new look.....no scalpels or injections needed and all at amazing prices!