Its finally the end of the week on my side of the world and boy am I looking forward to the weekend!!! Its supposed to rain all weekend (which I'm kind of hoping for to be honest......) so that means watching movies with the kids, painting toenails with Phoebe and hopefully some card making. My mojo seems to have left the building over the last few days, so I'm hoping it will make a return while being stuck inside!!
I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with this very colourful coffee-related card:
Rainbow colours seem to dominate my designs at the moment, which isn't a bad thing as they do make me rather happy but I need to get out of this habit...I think...???
I was looking at the Cup of Coffee stamp set and the oval stamp you use to stamp the coffee itself inside the mug, caught my eye. Its such a cool shape and I wondered if I could use it to create a background pattern. Turns out I could!!
To start off I cut a panel of white CS a bit smaller than my card front. I then grabbed my MISTI and Waffle Flower ink pads and went to town. I started off with the stamp half-way off the edge, with the end in the corner and just moved round slightly with each new colour. Was super simple to do and really effective! I popped the stamped panel on the card front with foam tape.
The mug was die-cut using the Coffee Cup Fri-dies on black CS. I then heat embossed the sentiments from the Coffee Talk stamp set in white. I like the 'hug' sentiment because rainbows make me feel the same way a hug does!! I popped the cup on some foam tape and glued on some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
And will also link to the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge where their mood board is amazing, and I'm sure they are sick to death of all my entries.....
If you like the look of any of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products I used today, you can use my special 'Girl Friday' code to save yourself 15%!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'm sure the weekend won't be far away for you all. Here's to warm weather for all of you waiting for Spring to finally arrive and here's to a wet, yucky weekend for me!!
Take care
Shona
It is an absolutely stunning day here today and its also a Public Holiday, so extra bonus!! Have just come back from walking into town and back with the kids. We grabbed some lunch and ate it at the park while being hassled by the seagulls. Now I've got a bit of time to do some of my own gardening before it gets too cold. But first....
For the Your Next Stamp Challenge you get the choice of a colour combo or sketch. I decided to try the sketch this time as I loved the graphic look of the circles. I sat in front of the fire last night cutting and colouring away, fabulous way to end the day:
It was so hard to photograph this card. The sun has been very bright all day and believe it or not, the mirror CS in the bottom corner is actually silver (not gold). Rather frustrating but I can't be mad at the sun for showing up today!!
I started off by cutting a panel of black CS and die-cutting the circles using
CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Ornament Tag Fri-dies'. I put it on the card front and drew a light pencil line around each circle. This way I would know where to put my colour. Using a mini-blending tool I added Distress Ink 'Mowed Lawn' to two of the circles and then 'Salty Ocean for the sky to all three areas. I flicked them all with water droplets and soaked up with tissue to create a snowy look. I then put the black panel on with lots of foam tape.
After stamping the images on white CS (from Your Next Stamp 'Ice Skating Phoebe'), I coloured them in with my pencils and fussy cut them out. I popped the trees on foam tape. So Phoebe had some 'ice' to skate on I cut out some silver mirror CS and adhered into place before popping her up on foam tape as well. I stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set) on a strip of white CS and put on foam tape along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Sparkle and Shine', just like my shiny ice skating rink!!
I'm off to tackle my weeds and spend a bit more time in the sun. If I'm lucky Phoebe will come out on the trampoline and talk to me while I'm doing it. Max has gotten sick AGAIN with yet another cold, so he is sniffing away inside. The long walk into town and back was enough for him today....
Take care
Shona
Hi there! We are hopping along today to celebrate the 50th birthday of a fabulous woman....Michele, the owner of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!!
You should have arrived here from the blog of the talented Michelle Wallace of Sea Shell Creates and I bet she had a gorgeous project to share with you!!
Having been a CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Girl Friday' for a few years now, I've gotten to know Michele. She is such a supportive and hilarious woman, with tonnes of crafting talent. And when I see photos of her I can't believe she's going to be 50!!
We have so many incredible designers on the hop today and Michele is giving away five $50 gift vouchers, so make sure you comment as you hop to give yourself more chances to win!!
For my card I wanted to use as many stamp sets as I could, and create something simple and stylish:
This took a long time to stamp, so thank goodness for my trusty MISTI!!!
I started off by gathering up all the CFS single flower stamps I could. I used flowers from:
Loving Thoughts
Peace Out
Pretty Posies
Flower Power
Sassy Smiles
Using only Versafine black ink, I stamped the flowers on the card front, just making up the order as I went along. I'm amazed I didn't get black ink all over the place, I'm so happy with how it turned out!
I heat embossed some of the larger flowers in white on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and blended over Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed. I then die-cut the CFS 'Smile' die (from the Smiling Fri-dies set) and also die-cut 3x more from black CS. These were all glued together and then to the card front. I then added lots of Glossy Accents overtop of it for dimension and shine.
The rest of the sentiment (from CFS Heartfelt Sayings) was heat embossed on black CS, fussy cut out and popped up on foam tape, along with some pink, yellow and clear sequins from Neat and Tangled. I hope she likes it!!!
Your next stop on the hop is the uber talented Laurie Willison of Soapbox Creations. I'm a huge fan of hers and can't believe I'm before her on the hop (having a fan-girl moment.....). I just know she's going to wow you with her spectacular creation!!
If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, pop back to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamp Blog for a complete hop list. And don't forget to comment!
Thank you so much for celebrating the birthday of this fabulous woman with us all. And sending you lots of birthday hugs and kisses Michele!!
Take care
Shona
Hello there, I'm popping in with a quick little reminder about our current challenge at TIME OUT.
Its all about Spring for this challenge and if your also feeling in the mood, a one-layer challenge as well. You could use Spring colours, spring stamps...basically whatever brings 'Spring' to mind for you, you can go with it!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Uniko and they are giving a free stamp set to the winner of this challenge!!
For my card I went super simple and one-layer. I had a new Uniko stamp set to use and really wanted that to be the star of the design:
When I think of Springtime, I think of all the new flowers that are starting to pop out and all their beautiful colours, after a grey Winter. Its my favourite time of the year. And usually the butterflies start flitting about too, which is wonderful to see.
I really wanted to do one-layer but with lots of colour, so I grabbed on to my Distress Oxide inks and blended away on the card front until I was happy with the colours. It took quite a while actually as I didn't want some of them to become all brown/grey looking (as some colours don't mix well) but so happy with the finished card.
To add a bit of interest I flicked the card with some water, waited a few seconds and then sponged up the liquid with a tissue. Its such a simple but effective technique!! All I had to do then was to stamp the butterfly and sentiment from Uniko 'English Country Garden - Butterflies' with black ink. I didn't even add any sequins as I think there's enough going on already.
I'm going to link this to the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge as my card fits the mood board perfectly.
Will also add to The Cats Pajama's April Challenge #345 where their theme is also 'Spring'.
You have until Wednesday 25th April to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if your looking for any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer Kimberly of Wienerhoneymooners has created for you. Can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
I tell you, sometimes I just get a challenge stuck in my head and all I can think about is making designs for it. Does anyone else have this problem??
This mood board for the Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge has got my brain all a flutter with ideas on how to use the two Ellen Hutson stamp sets I own in a different way. This time I made my MISTI work overtime and drove my husband crazy with its squeaky hinges:
I set myself up on the coffee table with all my Waffle Flower and a few Hero Arts ink pads, my MISTI and the Ellen Hutson 'Rustic Botanicals' stamp set. Dave and I started watching the new Netflix show 'Lost in Space' while I stamped each individual stamp twice (for good coverage) in a pattern I made up as I went along. Dave kept asking me if I was nearly finished as the squeaking is so loud but I don't even notice it (the joy of being slightly deaf......). I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I'm never disappointed with my Waffle Flower Inks!!
I always like the look of black with a rainbow colour scheme, so I die-cut the MFT Stamps 'Smile' die 3x from black CS, glued them all together and then to the card front. I then covered it with lots of Glossy Accents which I haven't done in a long time. I heat embossed the 'happy birthday' (from MFT Stamps 'Itty Bitty Bears') in white on a strip of black CS and glued it to the card as well. Coloured sequins didn't seem to work but I wanted a bit more shine, so I glued on some clear sequins from Neat and Tangled. Promise this will be my last entry for this challenge!!!!!
I'm also going to link this to the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge which has this equally gorgeous mood board, that once again has my brain in overdrive.....
I've finished gardening for the day and Max is at a friends house, so Phoebe and I are going to bike down to the local park. It was raining this morning (which wasn't nice to weed in.....mud everywhere.....) but now its boiling hot and very sunny. Best to make the most of it as the weather is so changeable at the moment....
Take care
Shona
Yep, I'm back again with another entry for the Ellen Hutson Pin Sights Challenge, how could I not when they have a mood board like this:
If you haven't guessed by now, I love creating cards with a rainbow colour scheme. I don't know what it is about all those colours together, they just make me so happy and I can't help but smile. Funny though how my favourite colour at the moment is grey but that's me, I'm a bit odd......
For this card I decided that my Ellen Hutson - Leading Ladies 'Plant Lady' needed to be included in a rainbow design as she always deserves to smile:
I don't get to use grey very often on my cards but I thought grey and black would be a great way to make the rainbow colours pop even more off the card as they didn't need to compete with any other colours.
I stamped the 'Plant Lady' and the flower from Ellen Hutson 'Rustic Botanicals' in black on some white CS. I coloured them with my pencils, giving her a grey jumpsuit and solid black boots, apron and hat (with a rainbow ribbon). I die-cut her with the matching die and fussy cut the flower, which was then adhered over her apron.
Using my MFT Stamps 'Radiating Rays' stencil and a mini-blending tool, I coloured the card front using Mama Elephant 'Smoke' pigment ink. The lovely lady was then popped up on foam tape.
I needed a small circle die for the sentiment but my circle set didn't go small enough. So I hunted thru my dies and found the right sized circle. It was left over from die-cutting some white CS with my Waffle Flower 'Doily Square Die'. I needed it to be black so I coloured it with a black marker from my Altenew Markers Set A. I heat embossed the sentiment (also from the 'Plant Lady' stamp set) in white and put it on foam tape, along with some clear sequins for a bit of shine.
I'm also going to link this to the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge which has the most amazing mood board too:
I'm off to get dinner ready. Its the start of the school holidays today for two weeks. Luckily it rained really hard overnight and this morning, so I didn't have to go to work. So have been hanging out with the kids, jumping on the trampoline, walking the dog, doing housework and finishing off this and another card. Back to work tomorrow......
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone, really hope your all having a fantastic weekend and if your on my side of the world, your all ready to head into Monday!! I just wanted to remind you about our current theme at The Flower Challenge this month.
We are looking for shaped floral cards this month and there are already some stunning projects in the Gallery!! I decided that since I didn't actually add a 'flower' to my last cards, I better do it this time around:
This is one of my favourite floral stamps and I realised I hadn't used it for a while, so decided to take it out for a spin!
I created a top-folding card base using Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. Using an stitched-oval die I put it over the card base with a little of it hanging over the folded edge so it didn't cut thru. This way the card will still open at the straight edge.
I stamped one flower on the card front and the other on another piece of the same CS. I was going to watercolour them but decided to use my pencils instead. I fussy cut the flower that was stamped separately and wondered what I could put behind the flowers. I decided to try something new and used a blue pencil to create the shadow around each flower, after gluing the separate one into place. I like the effect but need to practice getting it a bit softer and smoother.
On a piece of the same CS I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed in gold. I had a lot of trouble getting the powder to stay in place. This was my third attempt. I'm using a brand new Versamark pad but as soon as I put the heat gun on it, some of the powder would blow off every time. Rather frustrating as its such a beautiful font. If you know of anyway around this problem, I'd love to hear from you!! I fussy cut the sentiment, popped it on foam tape and glued on some sequins.
The oval die is from Studio Katia, as well as the floral images and sentiment from the 'Together We Bloom' stamp set. The sequins are from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Wednesday 25th April to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your looking for more ideas on how to make a shaped card, pop over to the blog to see the incredible projects from the rest of the Design Team. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
The sun has returned!! Its a glorious day here and I've just come inside after a couple of hours of trimming back trees. I'm pooped, hot and feel sick because I drank too much.....so a perfect time to sit down and show you all a card!
After seeing this Mood Board for the Ellen Hutson Pinsights Challenge I knew I had to create one or two entries. I can never resist a rainbow palette:
I don't own many Ellen Hutson stamp sets (only 3 in fact.....) so I have to get rather creative with them, especially as one of them is an older Christmas set. I used this radish image from the EH Leading Ladies - Plant Lady by Brandi Kincaid and stamped it 8x on some white CS. I then set myself up with my pencils and coloured away while watching some YouTube videos.
Once I had finished I used the matching die to cut them all out. I die-cut a small circle of black CS (using die from Couture Creations) and heat embossed this sentiment (also from the Plant Lady set) in white and popped up on foam tape, along with all the radish images. I tried to add some sequins but they just didn't work, so left it nice and clean!!
I'm also going to link this to the Scrapbook Boutique April Challenge where they have this fabulous mood board as well:
I'm going to have a quick game of basketball with Max, and then the kids and I are going to see Ready Player One at the movies. Seems a shame to sit inside on such a glorious day but its the start of the school holidays and I have to work every day, so good to be able to do something nice with them. That's if I don't break my arm or leg while playing basketball......wish me luck!
Take care
Shona
I know, I know.....I've already entered two cards in The Cat's Pajamas Challenge but you know what its like when you get new stamps and you can't stop using them!!
As soon as I saw this stamp set I just had to get it, its totally 100% me and how I feel right now:
Ah...that big round tummy....I can totally relate, especially after Easter!! That sentiment makes me smile everytime, I need it on a t-shirt!
I started off by stamping the bunny image (from The Cat's Pajamas 'In Shape') on some white CS and coloured with my pencils. I definitely wanted to have rounded edges in my design so used a Couture Creations circle die to cut out the image. To keep with the 'Spring' challenge theme, I added lots of tiny flowers (from MFT Stamps 'Hog Heaven') and coloured them with pencils too. I blended some Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' on the card front and put the image on lots of foam tape.
It didn't seem right to have the sentiment all straight edged, so I die-cut a stitched-oval die (from Studio Katia) from black CS and heat embossed the sentiment (from the 'In Shape' stamp set) in white and put on foam tape as well. And of course I had to glue on a few shiny sequins from Neat and Tangled!!
I can hear my oven timer beeping in the background so better go save the chicken! We will be eating dinner in front of the fire tonight, all snuggled up in our pajama's....what a way to end the day....
Take care
Shona
On Monday afternoon, while I was kneeling in the dirt, up to my chin in weeds, I suddenly had an idea for a card!! I couldn't stop thinking about it and after getting home and doing all my jobs and catching up with the kids, I jumped at it!!
These are the beautiful colours for this months Altenew Inspiration Challenge. It was a chance for me to use purple on a card again, as I don't use it nearly enough!!
The idea for my card was rather tricky. It seemed easier in my mind than when I tried to physically put it together but I'm pleased to say it worked and I look forward to hearing what you think:
Okay, can you see what I did?? Here's a closer look:
And no, this wasn't done with a stencil and embossing paste. Its die-cutting all the way baby! I wish I knew how to film videos as it would be so much easier to explain and show you but maybe one day...
I started off with a card base and a panel of white CS the same size. I put the card base in the MISTI and arranged the first layer of the Altenew Build-a-flower 'Anemone' stamp. I stamped it on the card front, took it out and replaced with the panel and stamped on that. I then did the same with the next two layers of the flower, as well as the black details. When finished I had a card base with a flower and a panel with a flower, both in exactly the same spot.
Next I grabbed my Altenew 'Layered Medallions Cover Die A' and die-cut the panel. I rubbed a piece of Glad 'Press n Seal' to the back of the die-cuts and removed it gently, keeping all the pieces together. I had imagined putting the whole die-cut over the card front and removing the bits I didn't need but it didn't work. So.....
Jigsaw puzzle time!! I carefully matched up the pieces with the stamped flower and glued them into place. It took a little while but wasn't too hard to work out. Once I had finished I decided to add some Wink of Stella to the die-cuts just to make them stand out a little more. To keep it simple I stamped the sentiment from Altenew 'Adore You' and glued on some Neat and Tangled sequins. I'm over the moon it worked and I'm going to try it out with my other background dies too!
I'm also going to link this to the AAA Card Challenge #112 where their theme is 'Favourite Technique'. Creating a CAS card with fiddly die-cuts has always been a favourite of mine!!
And I'm going to join the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Fun Inking Technique'. I'm not sure about the 'fun' part but it was incredibly satisfying when it was finished!!
My iPad and electric blanket are calling my name!! I just changed the sheets on the kids beds so they have cuddly Winter sheets. Minnie the kitten slept by my face all night last night it was so cold, so will be expecting a visit from her very soon......she's so cute but when she yawns the cat-food breath isn't the nicest......
Take care
Shona
After some very busy and absolutely freezing cold days I'm finally back with my 2nd entry for The Cat's Pajama's Challenge!! We've gone from double digit temperatures to singular in two days, its been a huge shock for everyone. We are all scrambling to sort out firewood, electric blankets, thermals and gloves when we thought we had another month to do so...Mother Nature just loves to keep us on our toes!!
Oh how I wish it was Spring here but at least I know that once we get thru Autumn and Winter, warmer weather will return!!
For my 2nd card I just had to squeeze in some flowers and colour another image of a cute bunny:
I don't use purple on my cards very often, I think I should, its such a pretty colour!!
To start with I stamped the bunny and flower images (from The Cat's Pajama's 'Family Forever' stamp set) on white CS and coloured with my pencils. I then used a oval stitched die from Studio Katia to cut it out. I found a gorgeous ombre patterned paper from Rosies Studio '#happy' and die-cut with the next largest oval die. This was adhered to the card front and the coloured oval was put on foam tape.
The sentiment is from Verve Stamps 'New Beginnings' and I stamped it on some white CS. I glued it to a piece of black CS and cut around it to leave a slight frame. This was put on foam tape, along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I better go and finish off dinner for all the hungry people in my house. Its amazing how much more hungry you get when the temperature goes down. I know its your body's way to stock up the fat reserves to deal with the cold but I have plenty already. Maybe if I sit outside in my underwear I can shiver off all the weight????......Although not so good for the neighbours.........
Take care
Shona
Well, freezing Autumn weather has officially arrived here in New Zealand!! Its gone from shorts and t-shirts at the weekend to thermals and jackets in the space of 24hrs.....and here I was thinking that Summer was going to last forever......
I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog today with a belated birthday card. Even though I usually post birthday cards with plenty of time spare to travel round the world, every now and then I'm a bit late and sometimes the postal service doesn't work in my favour either. So thought it would be a good idea to have some 'belated' cards on hand just in case:
I was in a watercolouring mood when I created this card and I was also inspired by the pattern of this tray I saw in a Hard to Find brochure recently:
I'm sorry the picture is a bit grainy, the photo was really tiny and I really wanted to show you the colour detail with the navy and purple highlights. I just thought this monochromatic look was so pretty, I would try to recreate it!
I cut a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and stamped flowers from the 'Pretty Posies' stamp set with Distress Ink 'Chipped Sapphire'. I then coloured the flowers with a waterbrush, bringing in the colour from the image outlines. I also added some Distress Ink 'Seedless Preserves' to some of the images. Once this was dry I adhered it to the card front.
I didn't want to cover up all my painting, so I used the larger circle die from 'Ornament Tag Fri-dies' with some clear vellum and heat embossed the sentiment from 'Bold Wishes' in white. This was glued to the card front by adding double-sided glue tape behind the embossed words.
The rest of the sentiment from 'WTF 2' was stamped with Hero Arts Navy mid-tone shadow ink on a strip of the same watercolour CS and adhered in place, along with some navy and purple iridescent sequins from Neat and Tangled.
If your interested in purchasing any of the items I used today or any others from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Happy Birthday'.
Will also add to the Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday Challenge where they are looking for 'Fun Inking Techniques'. Hope my stamping with Distress Ink and watercolouring from the images counts as one!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and will see you back here very soon!!
Take care
Shona
Well, it finally happened.....I got sick. After Max being sick for weeks (he's on Week 6 now) and getting a cold last week, both Phoebe and I succumbed to it on Friday. So its been a very long weekend, feeling very crappy, watching Netflix and reading heaps of magazines. I do feel better than I did on Friday, so will definitely be going off gardening tomorrow....
Today, as I was feeling not so ghastly, I decided it would be a good chance to get out some new stamp sets and colour away to my hearts content. I even managed to make two cards for this months The Cat's Pyjama's Challenge and it was so wonderful to use their stamps to create my entries:
Aren't these bunnies the cutest??!! They are so sweet and I loved colouring them in while I was watching a horror movie with Phoebe (sweet bunnies and horror movies seem a strange mix actually now I think about it......).
I started by grabbing my MFT stencil 'Radiating Rays', putting it in the corner of a white CS panel and blending with Distress Ink 'Mustard Seed'. When I removed the stencil I blended over top to create the sun itself and then softly over the rays to soften the hard lines. At the bottom of the panel I blended some Distress Ink 'Twisted Citron' to create a grassy area for my bunnies.
I stamped the bunnies (from The Cat's Pyjamas 'Family Forever' stamp set) with black ink and then coloured with my pencils. I stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in black, popped the panel up on foam tape and glued on some sparkly sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm also going to link this to the AAA Card Challenge # 112 where their theme is 'Use your Favourite Technique'. I love stamping and colouring with pencils!!
I have another card to share with you for the TCP challenge but will do that tomorrow. Starting to feel tired and need all my energy for a busy week. Max is back to school tomorrow too. He has had 3 weeks off in the past 5 weeks. He's still coughing his guts out every 5 minutes but feeling much better in himself. The funny thing is after this week its the school holidays and he will have two weeks off!!
Take care
Shona
Well hello there, hope your having a wonderful week and its not to stressful trying to fit five days worth of work into four!! I'm just popping in to remind you all about our current challenge at TIME OUT where we have this beautiful photo to inspire your creations:
There is so much that I love in this photo!! The yellow flowers, the hint of light blue and the pattern in the vase.....so many ideas to inspire your projects!
We also have Altenew as our Sponsor for this challenge and they are giving a $20 gift certificate to the winner. So very lucky!!
For my card I wanted to make sure it included yellow, light blue and green in the colours but also wanted to have a nod to the cool vase pattern:
I've used all Altenew products for this card and even though it was a bit fiddly, I'm so happy with how it turned out!
I started off by die-cutting the 'Layered Medallion Cover Plate A' from some light blue CS and adhering it to the white card front. I then die-cut again from some white CS and chose different shapes to colour with a yellow pen from my Tombow Dual Brush Pens set, and a green from Altenew Markers Set A. These were all glued into place. The sentiment (from 'Build a Flower Anemone') was stamped with black ink on white CS and popped on foam tape. And to finish off I glued on a few half-circle black pearls.
You have until Wednesday 11th April to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing help with inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer Sarah of Funky Fossil Designs have created for you. I can't wait to see your projects in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
