Hi everybody!! Just popping in with a quick reminder about the current Uniko Studio Challenge which is underway at the moment. The theme is:
CHRISTMAS with optional twist of CAS (Clean and Simple)
I'm very honoured to have been invited as Guest Designer for this last challenge of the year. Bev knows I love nothing better than designing a 'clean and simple' card, so this is such a thrill for me!!
And I just have to say that the Gallery for the challenge so far is filled with so many amazing and inspiring card designs. You definitely need to have a look!!
For this card I had snowflakes on my mind, and for me nothing goes better with white snowflakes than blue:
I started by die cutting a circle of white CS with a die from Couture Creations. I stamped and heat embossed in white some snowflakes from Uniko Studio sets 'Big & Bold - Snow' and 'Background Builders: Vines Winter Additions'. I then very carefully used my mini blending tool and Distress Ink 'Peacock Feathers' to add some soft colour.
After die cutting a smaller circle from vellum, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from 'Big & Bold - Snow' in white and adhered it over the snowflakes with very tiny pieces of double-sided tape behind the letters. This way the tape doesn't (hopefully) show. A few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh gave it the sparkle it needed!
I have six challenges I would like to enter:
Addicted to CAS Challenge # 77
CAS on Sunday Challenge # 72 (Christmas)
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
Simply Create Too Challenge #99 (Snow/Use mostly white)
AAA Card Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
Fusion Card Challenge
You have until Friday 4th December to link your projects to the Uniko Studio challenge. The Design Team have some more inspirational projects on the blog for you too. I do hope you have the time to join in and thanks so much to Bev and the Team for making me feel so welcome!!!
Take care
Shona
Friday is here again! And there aren't many Friday's left before Christmas....where has this year gone! It does mean though that its time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink. We have the most gorgeous colour combo for you this week:
Lots of bright, Spring time colours to play around with. The Gallery is going to look beautiful this week!!
I was looking through my patterned papers for inspiration and came across the perfect piece. And I had some new shaker sequin combo's I hadn't used, so a shaker card was born:
I was a wee bit naughty and added some gold (don't tell anyone) but it went so perfectly with the sequins I couldn't resist!!
I started off by die-cutting the shaker frame twice from white CS. I glued them together with the piece of acetate between them, for extra strength. As some of the beads were quite thick, I added two rows of foam tape to the back of the frame. After cutting the patterned paper to fit, I poured the sequins on the back of the acetate and pressed the paper over top, sealing the shaker. I adhered a piece of gold patterned vellum to the card front and adhered the shaker over top. Pretty colours with an uplifting message....brilliant!
The frame die is from Pretty Pink Posh. The acetate is from Project Life-Becky Higgins. The shaker sequin mix is from Papervine. The patterned paper is from American Crafts 'Serendipity' and the gold vellum from My Minds Eye.
I have two challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
AAA Card Challenge # 53
You have until next Wednesday to link your projects to the Just Add Ink challenge. And the rest of the Design Team have some stunning cards on the blog to inspire you. I hope you have time to join us and I can't wait to see what you created this week!!
Take care
Shona
Only four more weeks till Christmas......eeeekk!! I am no where near prepared and certainly haven't made enough Christmas cards yet, so our new challenge theme this week at TIME OUT will certainly help me! We want you to be inspired by the words:
SNOWFLAKES ARE WINTER'S BUTTERFLIES
Its such a pretty way to look at them, and not that I've seen any snowflakes in real life but the one's I've seen in movies seem to sometimes have a mind of their own as they float down to earth. But you can also be inspired by any of these words or the sentence itself, its totally up to you!!
Our Guest Designer for this challenge is the always creative Ashwini from Experiments with Card Making Etc. I'm sure you will have seen her around blogland, her designs are incredible and she is often the winner of many challenges, so its lovely to have her with us!!
I had all sorts of ideas on how to use some snowflakes on my card but each one of them failed. So I got back to basics and created my design around one beautiful snowflake:
I die-cut the snowflake twice, glued them together and then glued it to a circle, also die-cut from white CS. I used a slightly larger circle die to cut from a piece of mint glitter CS and adhered it to the card front. The snowflake was then popped up on foam tape and the sentiment stamped in black. Simple and clean!
The glitter CS is from DCWV 'Glitzy Pastels'. The snowflake die is from CAS-ual Fridays, as well as the sentiment stamp from the set 'Must Love Snow'. The circle dies are from Couture Creations.
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
The Challenge # 52
AAA Cards Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
Simply Create Too Challenge # 99 (Snow/Use Mostly White)
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
You have two weeks to enter your projects to the TIME OUT Challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some beautiful cards on the blog to inspire you. I hope you have the time to join us and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!
Take care
Shona
Happy Wednesday everybody and welcome to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! For this weeks challenge our theme is:
MAKE YOUR MARK
This is always such a popular challenge and I love seeing all the different ways you colour your creations!
The sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations and they are offering a $10 gift voucher to the winner. So lucky!!
I was very lucky to recently win a stamp set and matching dies from My Favourite Things called 'Christmas Cuteness' and decided it was time to get them on a card:
I kept the background of this completely white, so my new images would shine. I used my pencils to colour in the Santa and Reindeer, trying to shade as much as I could. I also added lots of Wink of Stella to the top of Santa's hat and his moustache. I used the matching dies to cut them out and put on lots of foam tape. After stamping the sentiment in black, I added them to the card and also a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh for a bit of bling!! They are so cute!
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
AAA Card Challenge # 53 (Anything Goes)
The Challenge # 52
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Christmas)
Inkspirational Photo Challenge # 96
You have until next Wednesday to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps and More! challenge. The rest of the Design Team have some stunning projects to show you on the blog. I hope you get the chance to join in and I can't wait to see the Gallery, its going to look amazing!!!!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody! I'm so excited to be participating today in Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Myself, along with some of my Waffle Flower team mates, have created tags using Waffle Flower products.
To create my tag I started by die-cutting some red and white CS with the Flower Circles Die Set. I glued the petal rings together, slightly offset and then added a circle of white CS in the back to hold the two middle flower circles in place. I stamped 'Willy' from the Willy and Friends Stamp Set and also the hat, beard, candy cane and present from the Stocking Stamp Set on to some white CS.
After colouring them in and adding lots of Wink of Stella to the beard, I used the matching dies. I stamped the sentiment in black from the Stocking Stamp Set, glued the beard and hat on Willy and adhered everything to the tag front. A few clear sequins (from Pretty Pink Posh) and some red/white twine attached at the back from Papervine and the tag was finished!!
I hope you'll spend some time looking at the other Waffle Flower tags and all of the other tags that have been shown over the past few weeks on Tracey's blog.
Thank you so much for having me Tracey, you've organised another great year of inspiring tags, it must take so much work!!!!
Take care
Shona
I'm trying to increase the small stash of Xmas cards I have but the process is taking longer than I thought. Need to find a quick but cool design that I can make with a production line. But instead I keep coming up with fiddly, painstakingly long ideas. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.....
Over at the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge their theme is 'Christmas' and I've already entered a few times. However, when I get an idea in my head for a card, I can't make anything else until its been attempted, so here is another entry:
This is my second card using the Pretty Pink Posh 'Twine die' in a different way. I hope Paulina doesn't think I'm crazy!!!!
For some reason, when I tried the twine die out I immediately saw trees....(please don't tell me I'm the only one who see's this...) and thought they would make great Xmas trees. I cut some paint chips in three different green shades and cut them to a point at the halfway point of the die shape. Hope that makes sense....
I very gently blended some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to the card front to simulate the sky and used the Pretty Pink Posh 'Stitched Curved Die' on a piece of white CS. After I glued the tree's in place, I heat embossed the sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Happy Ornaments') in gold and put the panel on some foam tape. A few gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh gave it a touch more shine. I also added lots of Wink of Stella to the tree's but couldn't capture the twinkle with my camera!
I actually have one more idea of something to create with the 'twine die' but it will have to wait till I have more time later this week. I have lots of emails to check and comments to leave so better hop to it!!
Take care
Shona
They are having some big celebrations over at Addicted to CAS this week. Its their 3rd birthday.....Happy Birthday ladies!!!! Its always a fabulous challenge and I've always enjoyed their challenge themes. Here's to at least another 3 years!!
The code word for their latest challenge is 'Dimension'. Its something I don't really think too much of when I make my cards but I go thru an awful lot of foam tape, so it happens more than I thought....
I received a new die recently and had a crazy idea on how to use it straight away. Its one of those fiddly designs I keep coming up with but it was so worth it:
Told you it was fiddly!!! I was lucky enough to purchase the 'Twine and Bow' dies from Pretty Pink Posh and when they arrived I had two immediate ideas. This is one of them. I spent ages last night die-cutting one end of the twine die using different paint chip colours, to complete a rainbow. I added some glue tape to the middle of the card front and laid down all the 'twine triangles'. The middle (which you can't see) ended up looking like a funny rectangle.
To keep the thin end pieces down, I brushed Multi Medium Matte glue under them and held down for a few seconds. I used a circle die from Couture Creations with some white CS and heat embossed the sentiment (from Neat and Tangled 'Faceted') in gold. This was popped up on foam tape.
Its a crazy design I know and took quite a long time to put together but it makes me smile every time I look at it, so that must be a good thing, right?? And it feels so cool when you run your fingers around it, just incase you wondered about that!
One more card to post and then will catch up on some of my emails and comments. So excited that the school pool opens this week on Tuesday and the weather is supposed to be extremely hot. Not great for my gardening days but will finish gardening, grab the kids and jump in straight away to cool off. Can't wait!!
Take care
Shona
My Mojo and energy has been very much lacking of late, which has been so frustrating!! Every single facet of my life has been flat out and after I read with the kids at bedtime, I go straight to bed myself. I'm behind with EVERYTHING, so please forgive me if I haven't visited lately, everyone has been in my thoughts!!
Over the past few weeks I've been extremely lucky to have won a few stamp sets and been able to afford to buy some things for myself. So I've been surrounded my new goodies with no time to play. But........today I had the afternoon free, and while I caught up on American Horror Story episodes, I had a play date with my new stamps.
It was so much fun and I came up with a few ideas and even managed to finish this card. So thought I better post it straight away so you know I'm still making them:
These stamps are part of the new release from Neat and Tangled 'Merry Little Christmas'. I also included a few of the bigger parcels from Neat and Tangled 'Santa's Ride'. I won both of these stamp sets and managed to purchase another. It was such a dreary day today, I wanted to try and make something colourful and fun. So after stamping these all on white CS, I used my Ziggies to colour them in.
It then came to the part where I wish I could have purchased the matching dies because cutting out the Xmas tree was a little fiddly but 'fiddly' and I go back a long way, so just took my time. I went around the edges of all of these with a black marker and then arranged on the card front with some foam tape. The sentiment is from the 'Merry Little Christmas' set too, just love that font!
I'm linking this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Christmas'.
So, how did I feel after finishing this card??? So happy and can feel my Mojo slowly creeping back in. And thank goodness because I'm so far behind with my Xmas card making and need so many to send to all my amazing bloggie friends. Just need to find a little time each day to create. How hard could that be, right????
And thank you so much to Danielle at Neat and Tangled for her generosity. Crafters are the most amazing and generous people ever!!
Take care
Shona
I've so been looking forward to this day, as I had the most fabulous invitation from Bev to be the Guest Designer for this Uniko Challenge!!
I'm so honoured that she thought of me and of course said yes straight away. The theme for this challenge is:
CHRISTMAS with the optional twist of CAS (Clean and Simple)
Now you know I love making CAS designs, so was definitely going to make something with the optional twist:
Blue and white is one of my favourite colour combo's for Christmas cards, and now I have a few more ink pads to choose from, I could have a bit of variation with my images.
I was also dying to try out a stamping technique made famous by the forever fabulous May Park of 'Mayholic in Crafts'. She is the Queen of creating backgrounds etc with lots of small stamp images and have included a link here so you can see how she does it.
This actually started out as a one-layer card but I'm such a messy stamper I had marks all over the place, so had to cut it out. I started though by lightly drawing a triangle with pencil on the card front. I then randomly stamped the images from Uniko Studio 'Background Builders: Vines Winter Additions' in the different colours. Once I was happy with the placement, I cut the triangle out and mounted it on foam tape on another card base. I then stamped the sentiment from Uniko Studio 'Rustic Christmas' in Navy ink.
I absolutely love how this turned out and all the little images from this stamp set were perfect for the technique. Might have to make a few more of these in different colour combo's!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Christmas'.
You have until Friday 4th December to link your projects to the Uniko Challenge, so that gives you two weeks to make a lot more cards for your Christmas stash!! The Design Team have some amazing cards to inspire you on the blog if you need any help with ideas. Thanks again Bev for the invite and I can't wait to see the Gallery full of Christmas goodness!!!!
Take care
Shona
Another month has passed us by, which means its another month closer to Xmas (eeekkkk!) but it also means a new challenge at Waffle Flower Crafts.
Masking is our technique for the month, so I can imagine the Gallery will be filled with very clever card designs. We also have this sketch and colour combo to help you along:
I'll be honest, I don't have much experience with Masking but the more I do it, the more confident I feel about the technique. And the designs you can create are so incredible!! I decided this was another chance to add to my Xmas card stash, so I used the sketch to help me along:
I stamped the stocking outline on some masking paper and fussy cut. After stamping the first stocking at the top of the card, I used the mask over it to stamp the next one and then did the same again for the third one. I love removing the masking sticker, its almost like magic!!
I stamped the stripes and then die-cut the bows from red CS. I glued these to each stocking and covered them in Wink of Stella. Next I stamped the presents and candy cane on some white CS, used their matching dies and coloured with pencils. The sentiment was also stamped on white CS and fussy cut. I adhered the presents and cane to the card front and put the sentiment up on foam tape. A few Xmas coloured sequins finished it off!!
This card was made using Waffle Flower Crafts 'Stocking' stamp set and matching dies. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
The challenge ends on the 25th November so you have plenty of time to link your creations using your Waffle Flower Craft products. Hope to see you in the Gallery and can't wait to see what you create!!
Take care
Shona
Friday is finally here, bring on the weekend!! And lets bring on a new challenge at Just Add Ink.
We have this sketch for you this week. You can turn it around if you like and use different shapes etc. I can't wait to see what you come up with!!
For my card I decided it was time to break out my Zig Water Colour Markers and go to town:
I stamped the flower image on some water colour CS and coloured using my Zig Markers and a wet brush. Once it had dried I fussy cut it out. Next I cut a panel of white CS and a piece of patterned paper (love the gold dots!!). I adhered the dotty paper to the card front, then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold on the white panel. This was popped up on foam tape on the card front. I put the flower image on some foam tape too and added some sequins for a bit more bling!
The patterned paper is from Project Life - Becky Higgins 'Bold and Gold'. The flower image is from Paper Smooches 'Best Buds', as well as the sentiment 'Uplifters'. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
I'm going to link this to the Paper Smooches - November Challenge where their theme is:
You have until next Wednesday to link your project to the Just Add Ink challenge. Please pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody and welcome to a new challenge at TIME OUT. Our last challenge of Xmas cards was so amazing, the Gallery looks so beautiful! Thank you to everyone who entered, your making it harder and harder to choose our winners!!!
For this challenge we are asking you to CASE (copy and share everyone) this amazing card by Karen who's blog is Snippets.
I'm sure you will have seen Karen's cards around Blogland. She's an incredible card designer and her blog is filled with so much inspiration. Its wonderful to have a chance to be inspired by one of her cards!!
With CASEing Karen's card, its totally up to you how your inspired with your creation. You might go with the same colours, use stencils, use the design, the choices are endless.
We also have a Guest Designer for this challenge, Jen from I Create. She is an absolute whizz with sketches and colour combos, so I really encourage you to visit her blog!!!
I was inspired by the layout of Karen's card and decided to try out a new technique:
Last week I watched a video by Jennifer McGuire called 'Monochromatic Stamp Layering'. She showed how you could stamp on coloured card stock with a similar colour ink and then do stamp layering in white pigment ink. She also used a white gel pen to add more highlights.
I do have some layering stamp sets but I wanted to use this snowflake stamp. I stamped it using Hero Arts 'Tide Pool' on some Simon Says Stamp 'Audrey Blue' card stock. I then used a white gel pen to add highlights. I die-cut the sentiment from white card stock and glued over the snowflake and then adhered the panel to a card base. I really like how this turned out and will definitely do this again. Thank you Jennifer McGuire!!!
The snowflake stamp (from 'Lovely Snowflake' set) and sentiment die are from CAS-ual Fridays.
You have two weeks to enter your projects in the TIME OUT challenge. And please check out the blog for some amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team. Looking forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
Welcome to another Wednesday and a new challenge at Addicted to Stamps. We have the most fabulous photo to inspire you this week and it couldn't have come at a better time:
My Xmas card stash is still very small, so this is a great chance to add to it. And the photo is so beautiful, the Gallery will be full of Xmas cheer this week!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers and they are giving the winner of this challenge a $15 gift voucher. Their stamps are so gorgeous, its one amazing prize!!
From the photo I couldn't go past using red and white on my card. And luckily I had a new die-set a friend gave me to try out and one of them was perfect:
The dies sent to me are from Little B 'Holiday-Navidad-Noel'. I had no idea they made dies, had only come across their foil washi, so this was a fantastic surprise!!
One of the dies is a sprig, which I die-cut a few times from white CS. I arranged them in a wreath pattern on a panel of white CS and glued as I went. After stamping the sentiment (from CAS-ual Fridays 'Must Love Snowflakes') I adhered the panel to the card front. As I needed some red, I added some red bling to the wreath. My husband saw this card and told me how much he liked it. He doesn't usually say too much about my creations, so that made me extra happy!!
You have one week to link your projects to the Addicted to Stamps Challenge and the rest of the Design Team have created some beautiful cards for you on the blog, to get you in the mood!! I can't wait to view the Gallery and see what you've made!!
Take care
Shona
It's an exciting day for me today! Not only is my son Max turning 9yrs old but its also time for a new challenge at CAS-ual Fridays 'The Clean and Simple' Challenge.
Time to break out those metallic ink pads, embossing powders and papers and create a 'clean and simple' design. You don't have to use CAS-ual Fridays products but if you do have some, we would love to see them!!
When I think of 'metal', my mind goes straight to heat embossing and my favourite silver embossing powder. So I knew I needed to include that in my design but I also had some shiny metal stars that were screaming for a shaker card....:
I started off by cutting a panel of white CS slightly smaller than my card front and die-cutting the flower shape. I held this over the card front and marked where the opening would sit and then stamped and heat embossed the flower in silver. I also heat embossed the sentiment in silver on the panel. After gluing a piece of clear acetate to the back of the flower die, I put a few sequins in the middle of the flower, added lots of foam tape to the panel and placed it over top. Sealing in the shaker stars. I glued an extra one above the sentiment for some extra shine.
The flower die is from CAS-ual Fridays 'Loving Bloom' Fri-dies. The flower stamp and sentiment are also from CAS-ual Fridays 'Loving Thoughts' Stamp Set. The silver and gold stars are from Papervine.
I'm going to link this to the House of Cards November Challenge where their theme is:
The CAS-ual Fridays 'The Clean and Simple' Challenge finishes on Friday 27th November, so plenty of time to get creating and link your projects. The rest of the Design Team have some gorgeous cards on the blog to help inspire you. I hope you join us and I can't wait to see what you come up with!!
Take care
Shona
