#95 Holiday Winner and Top 5

Josephine was our hostess for our holiday
challenge and she has chosen her Winner/Top 5 as follows:-

For the prize from Sir Stampalot of the stamps and matching embossing folder

 
 No. 16 Jennie M
 

and Josephine's  Top 5 are:-

 

 

No. 8 Shelly Schmidt

 

No. 23 Kazabing
 

No. 12 Pia
 

No. 22 Bridie Payne
 

No. 21 Ciska

Congratulations to you all, please feel free to display our Winner’s badge or Top 5 badge on your blogs. Would the two winners please contact me at the address in the sidebar stating the number of the challenge, the title of the challenge and which prize they have won in the subject line

The winners have until 28th July to claim their prize, after which time I am afraid the prize(s) will be forfeit. As we choose our winners, rather than having a random number thingy to pick them it's too difficult and time consuming to go back again and go through the entries to pick out new winners. Neither, sadly do we have time to chase the winners up.

Don’t forget to call back at 12 noon for our next challenge

Goodbye Google Reader………. hello bloglovin’

A few months ago, I read that Google Reader would be no more as of this year.  I have to admit I was irritated, after all, it wasn’t broke, so why dump it! Anyhow I had a read around and finally I have settled on

So if you have been using Google Reader to keep up with your favourite blogs, you may have received a notice a LONG time ago that it was going away. You probably thought, “Oh, I have plenty of time.” Or like a lot of folks, you may not even have noticed the intention to dump it.

From today 1st July, Google Reader is no more. If you’ve been using it to read our blog posts, start following us by email link over there >>> or Bloglovin’.

Bloglovin’ is a fun, new way to keep up with your favourite blogs. Here’s what you need to know about switching:

1. It’s easy. If I can do, you can too. The process to set up your account is quick and simple. Check out my detailed instructions below to guide you through the process step-by-step!

2. You can import your blogs from Google Reader with the click of a button.

Yup, no manual adding blogs for you! Bloglovin’ will take care of it for you, easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

3. Prefer to read blogs on your mobile device? No problem – Bloglovin’ has you covered! Download the free app for access to your favorite blogs when you’re on the go.

4. You can sort your blogs into different categories, which you can create yourself - Hey maybe Google did us a favour there then.

5. If you’re a blogger – claim your blog easily. You can claim your blog by adding in a verifying link to the top of a post. From there, customize your profile and more!

For setting up an account with Bloglovin’ (detailed, step-by-step, no fail instructions!) go to www.bloglovin.com.

If you have a few minutes today (or as soon as it’s convenient) make sure you make the switch to Bloglovin! 

And do it fast before you lose us and we cry!!  You don’t want to be responsible for a bunch of grown women sobbing all over their paper stacks! Wrinkled paper is no good to anyone.

The cherry on the cake…. no more having to use a blog reader from a company that wilfully avoids it’s tax duties, so yah booh sucks to you Google, shove your reader, we don’t need ya!

PS. If you are looking for our current challenge it’s here

and our latest winners are here

#95 Holiday

Welcome to our latest challenge, hosted by Josephine, who has chosen the theme 'Holiday' 

QUICK EDIT The 'holiday' that Josephine was thinking of when she set this challenge is what might be called in other Countries a vacation. In England, where we are based a holiday is the sort of thing where you take time off work and either stay home and relax or fly off to foreign climes, or the seaside in the next town along, and we did not mean Christmas. I am happy to accept those entries already created as of 3rd July as I did not make it clear, but the future ones should please NOT include Christmas. I am sorry I should have made this clear earlier but I forgot the difference in meaning in other countries. Just for clarification it also doesn't mean Easter, Diwali or any other event or celebration, but just a vacation.

If you want to depict a holiday that inlcudes snow, such as skiing, that is also fine, but something that is clearly a Christmas creation is not what we had in mind. 

Josephine would like to see projects that depict or are inspired by a holiday. Any holiday themed creation will qualify, but you might want to really inspire us, like a few of the team have below and create something to depict a holiday you would like to have, but have not gotten around to yet.

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED 

We are sponsored by 
SIR STAMPALOT

Sir Stampalot is a retail shop and online website that specialises in stamps, die cutting and paper-crafting goodies.  We try to offer exceptional delivery times on your orders as well as keeping our stock fresh, new and exciting!  Our dedicated team of card makers means we have a wonderful, inspirational online card gallery with many more cards still to upload!  Sir Stampalot ships internationally as well as domestic so why not check us out if you haven’t already – www.sirstampalot.co.uk.   Happy Crafting!

with this fabulous Hero Arts embossing folder and stamp set

Here is how the team interpreted the challenge:-
Josephine

For me, holidays mean somewhere on the coast. There doesn't have to be a sandy beach, but a view of water is a must. I've used a Michael Powell stamp from Papermania, and coloured with Promarkers. It kind of reminds me of views from the river close to where I spent my childhood and many holidays as an adult - in style if not in actual layout.

Viv

I chose Italy as my destination and altered a slide mailer. (Click on pics to enlarge!)

Betty Chan
 
I dream to travel around the World, so I made this circle card. ( This is a pop-up card, I made a video show how it move, please click to the link above to have a look, Thank you for watching)

Julie

My Project was inspired by the beautiful sunsets on my Honeymoon in Hawaii.

Yvonne

I chose a beach destination, somewhere hot ,where time is not important and the days pass by in peace and tranquility.

Elaine

Holidays to me mean sitting about at the beach and this decoupage is just how I would like to spend a holiday, relaxing in the sun.

Fiona

Most of my holidays involve going to a beach here in Ireland....so I usually end up freezing cold and wrapped in a towel like this little adorable Gruffy lol

Cindy

This is a scrapbook page I have had in mind for a little while now. It reminds me of a short break last year with my mum and sister. It has been designed with Craft Artist 2, a cracking little programme that I really don't play with enough and the elements have been printed out, fussy cut, inked and layered up to give a dimensional scrapbook page.

Marie

Holiday, well to me it's the beach, sand and bright colors. It's time to relax and read a lot of good crime stories. My card this time is made with an image from Bildmålarna and some designer papers from Echo Park called Paradise beach and what could be more suitable for a holiday card?

Sharon

I have made a scrapbook page to remember a very special weekend escape to St Ives, Cornwall, at the beginning of February. I have used a background paper from The Paper Shelter over which I typed the heading and journaling. I used a spellbinders filmstrip die to accent the photos.

Suze

The inspiration for my card came from a recent family holiday to Paris.  The Eiffel Tower stamp and matching die are Hero Arts. The other stamps and dies are Stampin Up.  I finished it off with an epoxy sticker and some gold ribbon. 

Tracey

I chose Paris as my holiday destination thus the Cricut cut Eiffel Tower as my image. I have also used CTMH cardstock and patterned paper, some lace, ribbon, bling and lots of flowers & leaves.

Lin

My ideal holiday would be relaxing by the sea. I love the sound the waves make when they crash against the shore, and the sound of the seagulls. It brings back memories of childhood. I would love to try surfing, so I created a card along those lines. Oh yes, and I would love to look like Gloria in the image too!!!!!

Kim 

I found this one quite hard for me as I don't really 'Do Holidays', unless it's my 'Crafty Holiday' staying at SirStampalot. So my card for this challenge evokes my memories of childhood holidays with my Daughter writing her holiday lists.

and finally our newest team member 
Vania

  For me Holidays mean rest somewhere near the water .'Holiday season' gives people a sense of happiness and goodwill toward others .I want to take this opportunity and to wish all of you a happy and safe holiday season


All links will be moderated, please be patient whilst I get the chance to check that your link meets the requirements before adding it to the blog. You will add your link as normal, it just won’t appear immediately. Sorry to have to do this to all our entrants who do take the time to read the rules/requirements before entering. If you are having issues with any other linking matter please mail me at the address in the side bar >>>>>>>>>> 

#94 Steampunk Winners and Top 5

Julie was our hostess for this challenge and she has chosen her Winners/Top 5 as follows:-

for the $10 Gift Voucher from
DI'S DIGISTAMPS

No. 12 Kate

and for the £10 prize from
THE STAMPMAN 

No. 20 Nikki P

 

and Julie's Top 5 are:-

No. 23 Nicola

No. 8 Agata
 

No. 18 Norma

No. 13 shelly

No. 21 Berit Synnove

Congratulations to you all, please feel free to display our Winner’s badge or Top 5 badge on your blogs. Would the two winners please contact me at the address in the sidebar stating the number of the challenge, the title of the challenge and which prize they have won in the subject line

The winners have until 14th July to claim their prize, after which time I am afraid the prize(s) will be forfeit. As we choose our winners, rather than having a random number thingy to pick them it's too difficult and time consuming to go back again and go through the entries to pick out new winners. Neither, sadly do we have time to chase the winners up.

Don’t forget to call back at 12 noon for our next challenge

#94 Steampunk

Welcome to our latest challenge, hosted by Julie who has chosen the theme 'Steampunk'

If you need an idea of what Steampunk is we have a definition here

PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE RULES BEFORE ADDING YOUR CREATION AND CHECK IT MEETS THE CRITERIA AS LAID OUT ABOVE - ANY ENTRY NOT COMPLYING WILL UNFORTUNATELY BE REMOVED 

We are sponsored by
DI'S DIGISTAMPS

with a

$10 GIFT VOUCHER

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art.
Long may it continue! 

and
 THE STAMPMAN

 We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are ofering the winner a £10 voucher which you can spend online, or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show!  They have a ton of items in stock, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud.

Here is how the team interpreted the challenge:-

Julie
  
I have seen many Steampunk cards around and it is something I have wanted try for a while, so for my 1st Steampunk card I chose an image by JadeDragoone on Diviant Art (open colouring book) and coloured with ProMarkers

  Viv

I altered the reverse side of a small canvas

 

Yvonne

The layers are Graphics 45 papers, the wooden additions are from Crafty-emblies and Wendy Vecci art parts

 

Fiona

This card is for my hubby as it will soon be our 10th Wedding Anniversary :) The main image is a stamp from Maya Road ( I have added the "I love you") all the little cogs are stamps that came free with a recent DoCrafts magazine. My papers are from the Papermania Chronology pack. The wooden cogs,scrabble letters and brads are from my stash.

 

Rebecca

I found it a bit tricky combining steampunk with my usual CAS style but I'm quite pleased how it turned out. I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder, a Papermania Stamp and some really old metal embellishments from Making Memories.

 

Josephine

Steampunk is something new to me, and my first reaction was to chicken out of this challenge! But I found this rather pretty 'metallic flowers' image from Make It Crafty, and coloured it with Sakura metallic gel pens and water, and I was off!

 

Carole

I chose to use a Kanban Steampunk image (Harrison) for my focal point. The background was stamped with Frayed Burlap DI on Kraft cardstock. And my melt pot came out to play,  to make the bottle cap embellishments. Oh - and there's a bit of shrink plastic too!

 

Suze

Well Steampunk is not my usual style either but I always find making a tag is a good way of trying out a new style - so that's what I did.  Backing paper is from The Graphics Fairy, steampunk flower stamps and sentiment are PaperArtsy, TH diecut clock embossed in silver and TH umbrella man stamped onto acetate which I fixed onto the tag with a couple of grommets.

 

Marie

Steampunk, not my normal style and I had decided to sit this challenge out but then I found this wonderful doggy from Kenny K. That made me at least try going for the steam punk style. I think I ended up somewhere in between. Oh well, at least it was fun trying it out. Lots of embossing here but since I don't have any brass coloured powders I had do go with gold. At least it's metal! LoL

 

Jackie

I am another who doesn't usually go for steampunk - so this is my version!  I used a cogs mask to make my backing paper out of plain white card, using espresso adirondack ink, and spritzing with some mica powder.  I overstamped using some indigoblu stamps and attached a small brass key on some bakers twine, and a brown ribbon "rosette".  There is only one layer to this card - almost direct to base!

 

Sharon

Another challenge for me as Steampunk is not my usual style either. So I decided to take one element of steampunk - the cog/gear - and give it a girlie pink twist! I masked the 2 lines on my card base and used a cog stamp with first, second and third generation stamping to give depth and make the cross background. I die cut a butterfly and ran it through a cog embossing folder and inked over it. A couple of cogs as embellishment kept this a CAS card...another unusual for me!

 

Feebsy

  I really like the look of Steampunk and decided to make a wall hanging for my nephew in this style. It involved paint, wire, distress inks and stamps, plus some found items.

 

Lin

I was lucky enough to win a voucher to Stitchy Bear and I chose this image, Steampunk Sally, as part of my prize. Full details on my blog, but I have also used products from our sponsors The Stampman supplied by another of our Sponsors Woodware Craft Collection, the Click Heels stamps which I have shrunk and some Frantage, also from The Stampman.

All links will be moderated, please be patient whilst I get the chance to check that your link meets the requirements before adding it to the blog. You will add your link as normal, it just won’t appear immediately. Sorry to have to do this to all our entrants who do take the time to read the rules/requirements before entering. If you are having issues with any other linking matter please mail me at the address in the side bar >>>>>>>>>>