To an Awesome Girl.....

Well its Saturday lunchtime and I have a billion things to do this afternoon but thought I would stop for five minutes and share a card with you. Why are the weekends just as busy as during the week these days?? Renovating certainly doesn't help and I just can't stay inside when the weather is so gorgeous. I just need more days in my week!

Rosies Studio is a craft brand I've used often over the years. I'm not sure if they are a New Zealand or Australian company but they produce lots of craft products that are very well priced and available in a few stores in New Zealand and Australia. Lately their Collections have been incredible and was able to pick up some dies and the stamp set locally. This was so much fun to make and you know me, rainbow colours make me happy:

Think I need a better lightbox. Because I have to lay the slimline cards down flat, the light is so bright and I don't seem to be able to fix it on Photoshop, so might have to do some new lightbox investigating.....

I started by stamping the scooting girl from the 'Lil Rosie A' stamp set with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS and colouring with my Faber Castell pencils (coloured this before I got my new Polychromos....). I fussy cut her out as best I could and put to the side.

I gathered some CS in rainbow colours and die-cut the Rosies Studio 'House' die from each of them. To add a bit of interest I interchanged the door frames and hearts and glued them on to white CS. Once they had dried I fussy cut any overhanging CS. I worked out how they would sit with each other and then glued them overlapping in a row.

Using a die from Mama Elephant 'Slim Window Dressing' with some white CS, I added a strip of grey CS for the road and blended some Distress Ink 'Tumbled Glass' for the sky. The houses were then adhered into place. I used the larger die from the Mama Elephant Slimline set with some light blue CS and glued to the card front. The smaller 'house' panel was popped up on white foam.

I white heat embossed the sentiments (from the same stamp set) on strips of black CS and put them on foam tape, along with the girl. I finished with Studio Katia pearls and Wink of Stella on the hearts. I just love this sentiment!!

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my second entry.

I'm off outside to trim my lawn edges in the sun now. Phoebe has gone off to a friends place for the night, Max is about to go play basketball with friends and Dave is working this afternoon at the showhome, so I have the house to myself. Its means I can play whatever music I like and not have anyone telling me I'm lame or screwing up their face. I'm so cool, they just don't realise it yet!!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post for August #2

Hi everybody!! What a week its been, so busy with gardening and painting prep, as well as all the usual cleaning etc. I'm rather glad its finally the weekend although I have lots of painting to do, so fingers crossed I have enough energy to make a card or two....

I have my second card for CAS-ual Fridays Stamps for August to share with you all today. I decided to go with a blue/turquoise colour combo, as I find those colours are quite calming and relaxing. Need to learn to relax more myself, not one of my best skills....:

I love these colours together and so glad I finally have a good collection of CS colours to choose from.

I started by stamping the flower from the 'Mon Ami' set on white CS using Gina K Amalgam Black ink, colouring with Altenew Artist Markers and die-cutting with the 'Mon Ami Fleur Fri-Dies'.

After sifting through my CS and selecting soft blue/turquoise colours, I die-cut from each colour using one of the 'Casual Tree's Fri-Dies' so I had 8 pieces. I also die-cut some white CS using one of the 'Bubble-Box Fri-Dies' and putting it on a piece of white foam on the card front. I arranged the tree's with four on each side, holding them in place in the middle with some washi tape and using Gina K Connect Glue to hold the branches against the card. 

I put the flower on top with some foam tape, as well as the white heat embossed sentiment (from the 'Terrific Flowers' set). And to finish off I added some Studio Katia pearls, and some clear jewels to the top of the flower.

This was a great way to use up some scrap CS, so I hope this gives you some ideas on using yours. If your wanting to get your hands on the products I used today, you can use my special code to save yourself 15% on your purchase!

I'm also going to link this card to the current Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have some great plans for the weekend when it finally arrives and fingers crossed your weather is kind to you too. I'll see you back here next month with some more card ideas for CAS-ual Fridays Stamps! 

Take care
Shona

Rainbow time!!

Hi everyone! My walls are covered in many, many patches of grey paint in the attempt to find new colours for every room. After the house was raised and the piles replaced ages ago, every room was affected with cracked walls. It took nearly a year to get all the cracks plastered and we had to wait even longer to wait for the house to settle. So now I can finally get the painting done but trying to pin down the exact colour is so hard!

So even though grey is one of my favourite hue's at the moment, I felt like I needed something to brighten up my life, and what could be better than a rainbow:

This die is yet another one that sits in a special box on my desk of new goodies, waiting to be used. I can't believe its taken me so long to take it for a spin and I even broke out some glitter paper for its inaugural run.

I started off by die-cutting the Avery Elle 'Rainbow Die' from white CS. It comes with a cloud die that sits underneath so I used that as well. I thought it was fantastic and proceeded to die-cut the rainbow part from different coloured CS to inlay in it.

Well, I soon realised that the rainbow strips were great but what about the rainbow outer shapes left over in each colour?? I decided I couldn't put them to waste and carefully layered them so each colour would just show through. It didn't work perfectly as some of the smaller areas you could only see a few colours but the longer strips showed them all off. As there was a slight gap showing through, I cut a piece of light blue glitter paper and put behind them all for a glittery sky. I also inlaid some silver glitter paper for the cloud.

 
Luckily the layer of cardstock wasn't too bulky and was the same thickness as my white foam, so I added that behind the cloud and adhered to the front of the solid die-cut card base.  I used a piece of the same yellow CS and stamped the sentiment (from the matching stamp set) with Versafine Onyx ink and clear heat embossed. This was put on foam tape, along with a rainbow of Studio Katia pearls.

Sometimes I wish I could use dies the way they were intended, it would certainly be simpler but where's the fun in that??!! I'm off to bed shortly with a rainbow of house dies to cut out. Will show you them on a card very soon....

Take care
Shona
 

 

Concord and 9th - Rainbow Card Trio

Me again!! With all the rain last week I spent a lot of time cleaning and trying to find new paint colours for our house interior walls (who knew there were so many greys.....) but I also played with my new cardstock from Concord and 9th.

I die-cut a whole lot of different colours with the same die and then spent a lot of time in front of the tv watching old movies, while putting these together:

I think I purchased this die second-hand last year but forgot about it. It couldn't be more perfect for all these gorgeous colours!

 
 These were super easy to put together, just a bit time consuming. I gathered all the colours of cardstock and die-cut the Concord and 9th 'Layers of Love' die from each of them. I then put all the strips into a bowl.

I die-cut three circles of white CS using a circle die from Couture Creations, and die-cut the same die from the middle of each. I then glued them to scrap pieces of white CS and began the slow process of gluing the strips into the spaces.

I created three 4x4 inch white card bases and adhered light grey CS to each one. I carefully cut off any of the white CS showing from underneath and then put the circles on white foam. To finish off I white heat embossed sentiments from the Concord and 9th 'Hey Bestie' stamp set, put them on foam tape and I was done!

I was going to trim some hedges with my spare time this afternoon but have decided to make some cards instead. I always feel extremely guilty making cards during the day but have got to get over that as I'm too tired at night to make anything decent. So card making here I come!!!!

Take care
Shona
 

Funky Fossil Designs - Starfish Wishes

Hello there!! Was just about to take Max to buy a new bike helmet (he's growing out of EVERYTHING!!!) and just realised they closed at the time we were leaving....silly me for not checking...so I'm back in front of my computer to share another card with you.

We had the most beautiful Winter's day yesterday. It was over 20 degrees (celcius) and August is supposed to be the coldest month of the year. People were flocking to beaches all over the country and I took Bella for a beautiful long walk along the riverbank. We only have one beach for swimming where I live but it takes driving over a very steep, narrow road to get there. It got me thinking about Summer at the beach though and this card was perfect for that:

The beach I mentioned (called Whites Bay) has a lot of rocky pool areas. Phoebe, Max and I always love looking for crabs in them, along with starfish, snails and baby fish. Such good memories of doing this over the years, especially when they were little.

I stamped the images from 'Starfish Wishes' on white CS using Gina K Amalgam Black ink and colouring with Altenew Artist Markers. I fussy cut them all out and popped to the side.

Using a circle die from Couture Creations, I die-cut some white CS and blended over Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean'. I wanted to create some 'splashes' so stamped images from the 'Distressed Elements' stamp set using different shades of blue inks. The circle was put on some white foam on the card front. I created a bunch of star fish and shells in the corner, using Gina K Connect Glue and foam tape for dimension. I then added the white heat embossed sentiment and some pearls from Studio Katia.

I've got Jury Duty tomorrow so can't schedule any gardening for the week because I won't know whats happening. I'm looking forward to it but a bit worried about sitting for hours on end, as I tend to start nodding off because of my medications. Can't keep myself awake playing Candy Crush either, so will have to keep pinching my arms and legs. Wish me luck!!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniquely Creative - Wildflower About You

Hello there!! Its already Sunday afternoon here, the weekends go so fast and there are always lots of jobs to do. The weather yesterday was so hot and beautiful, like Summertime. Today not so much but have some cards to make, so all good.

We have a new Stamp and Colour Mini Kit for you at Uniquely Creative called 'Floral Bunch'.  You know how much I love flowers, so was super excited about this one. This is one of the first cards I made:

It has so many different flowers and they are the perfect size for colouring and adding shading etc. I have a tutorial on how I made this card on the Uniquely Creative Blog HERE. It gives a step by step look at how I put this together and what products I used.

I'm off outside now to trim some hedges. Normally I don't have to do this until October but with all the good weather, things are growing at an alarming rate. Even my fruit trees are about to blossom which is really early. Maybe its Global Warming or the panic in the air as our poor New Zealand country is being crushed by a second wave of COVID-19 according to Mr Trump.  He just loves to bring everyone else down to divert from his own failures.....

Take care
Shona
 

Concord and 9th - Slimline 'hi'

Hi there!! After all the rain yesterday and overnight the sun was beaming today. I was hoping it would dry out a lot of the ground so I could garden tomorrow but it wasn't meant and it rained from 2pm to 5pm. Will have to see what the ground looks like in the morning but its not looking good.....

The one good thing about this week though is that I've had ample time to play around with some new goodies I got a few weeks ago. The coloured cardstock I use is cheap and not very sturdy but it does the job. I get my white cardstock from the same place. I can't afford to purchase any really good card, especially with postage but I recently had the chance to buy some at what I thought was a great price!!

Concord and 9th recently brought out some inks and co-ordinating cardstock. I do the majority of my craft shopping through Krafters Cart in Auckland and she had a bundle for $42 which had 2 A4 pieces of each colour. I decided to grab some and see what its like and I'm so glad I did. The colours are gorgeous and its lovely and thick. I also grabbed a new stamp set with matching dies and this is the first thing I made:

I'm gradually getting better with my slim card photography, seems to be better to do it during the day so maybe I need to get a better light box....

Using some Pinkfresh Studio Stitched Slim Line Dies, I die-cut some white CS with the largest one and then some black CS with a slightly smaller die. I also die-cut some hexagons from white CS with a die from the C9 'Hexagon Label' dies. I then gathered a piece of each colour of CS (I missed out navy, grey, black and brown) and die-cut the 'hi' from the same die set out of each one. I used Gina K Connect glue to adhere each one to the middle of a hexagon.

To add some interest I glued some of the hexagons straight to the black panel and the others on foam tape. I then adhered it to the larger white panel. I white heat embossed a sentiment from C9 'Everyday Bouquet Turnabout Set' and put it on two layers of foam tape. I finished off by adding some Studio Katia pearls and covering each 'hi' with Wink of Stella, and then gluing it to a white card base.

I've got a few more cards to share with you, with more ideas to come. I love stamping but I've always had an extra love for die-cutting. Its a bit more forgiving and you can use the dies in so many different ways. Hope my old Cuttlebug doesn't give up the ghost any time soon......

Take care
Shona

Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge #168

Hi everybody!! Hope you've had a fantastic week and your weather has been not as wet as mine. We haven't actually had rain for weeks, so yesterday it poured down all day and into the night, which means its also too wet to garden today, so that's two days in a row at home. I did a lot of card making yesterday but today has been about doing chores and about to get my hallway ready for painting. Fun!!

We have a photo to inspire you for the current TIME OUT challenge and it screams Summer at the beach, which is a far cry from Winter in New Zealand which is what I'm experiencing at the moment..... There are so many elements in this photo to inspire you, can't wait to see what you come up with!

The Sponsor for this challenge is Uniko and they are giving a prize of an in-stock stamp set of your choice for the winner. Lucky!!

When I saw this photo I knew straight away that I had a surfboard stamp somewhere and definitely wanted to capture some of that beachy feeling...:

I had so much fun putting this together and wishing this was the view outside my window instead of muddy grass.....

I started by die-cutting the Studio Katia 'European Window' die 3x from white CS. My window was a nod to the see-thru terrarium. I glued some acetate behind the top window and then the two other windows underneath. I used a pencil on a piece of white CS to mark out the window size for the scene. I blended Waffle Flower 'Coffee Loves Milk' ink for the beach, Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' for the water and Distress Ink 'Squeezed Lemonade' for the sun, using scrap bits of paper to mask off each area. 

To get more movement to the ocean I used a Funky Fossil Design stencil 'Scenic Borders' with Distress Ink 'Mermaid Lagoon'. I also scribbled my white gel pen on top of the waves and the beach to add foam to the water.  I also used a brown Copic Multiliner to add some interest to the beach. The final touch was the surfboard (Studio Katia 'Jawsome') which has a bite out of it, so I masked that part and drew in a whole board. I coloured with Altenew Artist Markers and glued in place, with the window glued on top.

For a bit more interest in the background I stamped the wreath from Studio Katia 'Floral Wreath' in Waffle Flower 'Safe Choice' ink and glued the window on top. The white heat embossed sentiment (also from the 'Jawsome' set) was popped on foam tape, along with some Studio Katia pearls.

You have until Wednesday 26th August to link your project to the TIME OUT challenge and you can find lots of ideas on the blog from the rest of the Design Team and our amazing Guest Designer Enna who has an Instagram Account @ritzyhag I really recommend you check out her spectacular designs!!

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: The Flower Challenge #47

Hello there! We are already half-way thru August which is just crazy. Its been a weird week here in NZ too as good old COVID turned up in Auckland. A family of four. The father was sick first and none of them have had any contact with anyone in isolation etc. They think he got it from boxes of frozen food (he works in a coolstore) that came from the US, as they found it on them. This is so frightening to think that we don't only have to worry about getting it from people but also from stuff!!

The theme for this month at The Flower Challenge is 'Add Sparkle' and the Gallery is already full of gorgeous sparkly creations. For some reason the thought of 'adding sparkle' really stunted my ability to think of designs. This happens every now and then, I get so focused on the theme I can't think of anything else. 

Well, while watching YouTube I came across a video by Kirsty Partridge Art where she Draws on Black Paper for the first time with white pencils. I thought it looked so good I wanted to try that myself with some colouring:

Unfortunately it didn't work out as well as I had hoped as my pencil just wasn't bright enough but in the video I watched she suggested another type, so going to order one of those and try again. The same with my white gel pen!! But I didn't want this to go to waste, so created these two cards instead.

I started by white heat embossing the MFT Stamps 'Loosely Lined Flowers Background' stamp on black CS. I then added shading with my Faber Castell Polychromo white pencil. Not only was it not bright enough but I realised half-way thru that I was doing it the wrong way around. I should have been adding white to the highlighted areas, not the dark areas so will try that next time. So much practice to be had......

Once I finished with my pencil I used my Wink of Stella 'Clear' around all the flowers. I let it dry then added a second layer, the sparkle is incredible!! I decided that it would look better to use smaller portions of the coloured image so I cut the background in half. I die-cut a Uniquely Creative 'Frame Die' six times, gluing two lots of three together. This was then glued over the floral panel.

To add a bit of colour to the card front I cut two panels of light blue CS and glued to each card. The floral panels were then popped up on black foam.

I wanted a 'kindness' theme for both cards, so stamped sentiments from MFT Stamps 'Kindness' on pink and yellow CS strips using Versafine Onyx ink and then clear heat embossing with SSS Clear Embossing Powder. I glued each strip to the frame and some pearls from Studio Katia.

You have until Tuesday 25th August to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our gorgeous Guest Designer Darnell of djkardkreations have created for you. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Take care
Shona
 

Funky Fossil Designs - Be Unique

Me again!! Twice in one evening, rather unheard of lately. My card production has certainly slowed down over the last 12 months. Not because I don't want to make them, its the fact that my work has become busier and leaves me physically exhausted (which I do enjoy). I'm also very busy around the house with my own garden and looking after everything, so I don't get the chance to craft until late at night and by then I'm falling asleep on my feet. Something needs to change but I'm not sure what I can do at this point.....certainly want to make more cards!!

I found a couple of cards the other day that I hadn't shared with you using products from the June release at Funky Fossil Designs. This one was the first slim-line card I had made and really enjoyed all the geometric colouring:

Bugs are okay, some more beautiful than others and even if I don't like them I can't bring myself to kill them in the garden or anytime. A few days ago I met with Phoebe at school to talk to her teacher. I had to come straight from work, had been kneeling in dirt for 5 hrs, and as I stood by Phoebe she looked up and screamed because I had a HUGE spider climbing by my neck. It was a very quiet classroom with other students and a teacher in there. I had to try and control myself while I ran outside and starting pulling off my sweatshirt. I didn't find it and we couldn't find it in the classroom either. I think its waiting for me somewhere.........

I started off by stamping the cicada from the 'Geo Bugs' stamp set 3x on white CS and colouring with Altenew Artist Markers. Because I wanted this card to be about 'uniqueness' I coloured two of them grey and the other a gorgeous turquoise. I fussy cut them out and popped to the side.

I cut a panel of white CS smaller than the card base and stamped the hexagons (from the same set) with SSS 'Fog' ink at each end and Catherine Pooler 'Aquatini' in the middle. I glued the grey cicadas over the grey hexagons and put the coloured one on foam tape in the middle. I also added lots of Wink of Stella to him. I also popped up the white heat embossed sentiment. I glued this to a slightly bigger piece of turquoise CS and then put on a piece of white foam on the card front. And to finish off I added some Pretty Pink Posh jewels.

All my chores are done now so I can set myself up in the lounge with the fire roaring and do some colouring. I've got a few horror movies to watch too, so it might be a late night but who cares, its Sunday tomorrow.....yippee!!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniquely Creative - Birthday Hugs

Hi everyone! Its Saturday evening and so darn cold, I can hardly feel my fingers in my cold little crafting corner. After dinner I'll drag some of my crafting stuff over in front of the fire to do some creating while watching tv in my pjs. Bliss!

I wanted to share with you one final card using the Uniquely Creative - My Platypus Mini Kit:

This is my favourite image from the stamp set and the good thing is you could make them whatever gender you wanted!!

I started off by stamping the image from the 'My Platypus' set (which comes in the kit) with Gina K Amalgam Black ink on watercolour CS. I used the grey marker from the Uniqolour Markers to watercolour the image, using another small brush and water to create some shading. Once it was dry I die-cut it out using the matching die (which is available as an add-on). I did the same with the hearts, using another marker to watercolour and die-cut out.

Using the rectangular stitched die from the 'Round Branch Window Dies' set, I die-cut some of the kit paper and adhered to the card front. On a piece of white CS I blended some Distress Inks 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Spun Sugar' to create an ombre effect and flicked over some water (which I dabbed with a tissue) to add some interest. Using some wood veneer CS I die-cut a frame from the new 'Frame Dies' set and also twice more from white CS. These were glued together and then over the pink background. It was then popped up on white foam.

All I had to do then was put the image on some foam tape and die-cut the sentiment which had been gold heat embossed on white CS. This was put on foam tape as well and I added some 'Gold Pearls' and used the 'Clear Sparkle Brush' on the hearts.

There is a new mini kit coming out shortly which I know your going to love. Will see you back here soon with my first card using the new goodies!!

Take care
Shona
 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Girl Friday post #1 for August

 Hello there!! Hope you had a fabulous weekend. My weekends have become as busy as my weeks which is a bit disappointing. The days of looking forward to the weekend to relax seems to have gone by the wayside..... At least the weather has been really good though and no frosts in the morning make it way easier to get out of bed!

I'm on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog with this little cutie:

 

This was put together with the Huggable Critters Die Set  and if you pop over to the CFS Blog it will give you a run down on what pieces I used to put this together.

I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge  where their theme is 'Use your favourite tool'. I think this is my fourth entry and it uses my two favourite tools - Cuttlebug and MISTI. I wouldn't be able to make cards without them.

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a fabulous week and I'll see you back here with another card very soon.

Take care

Shona

Funky Fossil Designs - Let it Snow

I'm back for the third time today!! I was going back over my old blog posts and I certainly don't post as much as I used too which is sad but I'm glad I can still keep posting and I love visiting your blogs too!!

I wanted to share with you another card using one of the New Release stamps that came out a week ago from Funky Fossil Designs. 

This card uses the new 'Filigree Flakes' set (above). The snowflakes are beautiful on their own, wanted to see how they would go being overlapped slightly:

You all know I love blue and white for my Christmas cards, so this card brings me lots of Christmas joy!!

I started off by adhering a panel of navy CS to the 5inch square card base. I then cut a slightly smaller square from white CS and using my MISTI stamped the snowflakes using inks from Hero Arts and Waffle Flower. I didn't rule lines or anything like that, I simply turned the square around each time I stamped and it worked really well. Once I had finished stamping I glued it to the card front.

For the sentiment I die-cut some navy CS using a circle die from Couture Creations, white heat embossed and put it on foam tape. To finish off I added clear jewels from Studio Katia to the middle of all the navy snowflakes and the large blue snowflakes. You could re-create this with a group of any colours and do a mass stamping for Christmas.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where they are asking you to 'Use your favourite tool'. This is my 3rd entry, my previous two I mentioned my beloved Cuttlebug. For this one I'm sharing my love for my MISTI. It really did change my life with regards to stamping and I would never be without it!!

Its dinnertime here so better get a wriggle on before the kids get hangry!! I'm not gardening tomorrow either but will be spending a lot of time at the hairdresser. Unfortunately its not me getting my hair done (as usual...) but Phoebe who needs to get her roots rebleached and hair stripped so she can have it split dyed - half dark pink, the other half yellow. It will look fantastic but will take around 5 hrs and I'll be living on bread and water till Christmas.......the things we do for our children......

Take care
Shona
 

Reminder: TIME OUT Challenge #167

Hi everyone!! The weather this week has been just like Springtime, which does make it a month early but I'll take it!! Wandering around in a t-shirt, even in the evening is totally out of character for the coldest month of the year. No wonder plants are flowering that normally don't for a month or two, I'll have a tan before Summer at this rate!!

We have a phrase to inspire you for the current TIME OUT challenge. You could use one word, the whole sentence or maybe just a mood the phrase makes  you feel.....its totally up to you!!

Our Sponsor for this challenge is Topflight Stamps and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner. So lucky!!

For my card I was grabbed by the word 'Dance' and found a stamp set in my stash that I've hardly used and can't understand why as its so cute:

I tried something new with my photo today. Saw this raffia placemat at The Warehouse the other day, and also these little pieces of wood. Thought I could lay my cards down for a change and see how it goes....

I started by stamping the images from Your Next Stamp 'Unicorns Rock' on white CS with Gina K Amalgam Black ink. I coloured them with my Altenew Artist Markers and cut out with the matching dies. I didn't want too much colour on the card front so the pastel colours on the images would stand out. So I die-cut a circle of white CS with a die from Couture Creations and gently blended Distress Ink 'Mermaid Lagoon' over 3/4's of it. I flicked over some water and dabbed with a tissue to add some interest.

I put the circle on some white foam on the card front, glued the rainbow in place and then put the other images on foam tape, along with the heat embossed sentiment. And to finish off I added my favourite pearls from Studio Katia and some Wink of Stella to the rainbow, radio speakers and unicorn horn.

I'm going to link this to the Your Next Stamp Challenge #144 where their theme is 'Summer Days'. In Summer the kids and I always have music blasting outside while we dance and play around on the trampoline. 

Will also join the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Use your favourite tool'. I got my Cuttlebug 7yrs ago and have loved it so much I can't believe it still works. Best tool ever!!

You have until Wednesday August 12th to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And if your needing some ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our uber talented Guest Designer Ashwini of Experiments with card making etc have created for you. Can't wait to see your designs in the Gallery!

Take care
Shona
 

Uniquely Creative - You are my Platypus.....

Hello there!! I've had a great day catching up on all sorts of jobs in town, as well as cleaning jobs at home. I even managed a trip to Kmart and got hold of some furniture I've been wanting for ages but it was always sold out. Now I just have to put it together......

I wanted to share with you another card I made with the July Mini Stamp and Colour Kit - My Platypus:

These little platypus pals are so adorable and I so wish I could cuddle one in real life!!

I started off by stamping the Platypus, rocks and leaves from the stamp set that comes with the kit. I used Gina K Amalgam Black ink on watercolour CS and used the matching Fussy Cutting Die which is available to purchase as an add-on. Everything was coloured using the Uniqolour Markers.

To create the scene I used the Billabong Die (which is also available as an add-on) cutting the white CS out 3x. I glued them all together and then using some Altenew Artist Markers I messily coloured in the bottom part of the billabong to show grass, leaves and reeds. I then glued it to the card front. Using one of the billabong die-cut left-over pieces I blended Distress Inks 'Mermaid Lagoon' and 'Peacock Feathers' to create a sky. I also flicked some water over it and dabbed it away with a tissue. I then stamped on the bug, coloured with a yellow marker, and added some Glossy Accents.

The blended piece was inset above the billabong die-cut on the card. I white heat embossed the sentiment on some black CS, popped it up on foam tape and added a few Succulents Enamel Dots.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Use your favourite tool' and of course mine is my Cuttlebug!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I really hope you and your family are well and that COVID isn't running rampant where you are in the world. I'll be back with another card using this kit very soon.

Take care
Shona
 

The Flower Challenge #47

Hi everybody!! Another month has whizzed on by, can't believe its August already. Global Warming is definitely on form at the moment. August is the coldest month for us usually in New Zealand but it was so hot yesterday and last night, I didn't even light the fire! So bizarre but really lovely being outside.

Time to grab out your bling as this months theme at The Flower Challenge is all about 'Sparkle'. You can use glitter, glitter pens, embellishments.....its totally up to you as long as you have a floral theme to your project.

I don't use sparkle too much on my cards. I love using my Wink of Stella but that's pretty subtle and I'm addicted to Studio Katia Pearls which have a lovely shine but I don't use glitter very much. Decided to have a go with some glitter embossing powder and see what happens:

I got this floral stamp just last week and couldn't wait to use it. Although I saw on IG that Kathy Racoosin coloured this image and of course it looks spectacular, so I'm a bit scared to share mine....

Using a piece of Strathmore Watercolour CS I heat embossed the MFT Stamps 'Loosely Lined Flowers Background' stamp with WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Glitter. Its really sparkly but hard to see, here's a closer look:

I then spent some time watercolouring around the flowers with my Zig Real Color Brush Pens, using 'Light Blue' and then 'Colbalt Blue' focusing the most colour against the edges of the flowers. There wasn't enough depth so I grabbed my Faber Castell pencils and used a dark blue and black to go right up hard against the flowers. Black makes such a difference!! I then used an Altenew Watercolour Brush Marker 'Desert Night' to add detail to the flower stamens and middle of the flowers.

I wasn't satisfied with how it looked but didn't want to colour the flowers themselves so I had an idea to splatter with black paint. This is something I NEVER do so was very scared I would ruin it. I mixed up some black Gansai Tambi paint and flicked away a few times. I loved how it looked!! Once the panel was dry I trimmed it down to 5x5 inches and adhered to a square card base.

The MFT Stamps 'Hugs' die was die-cut 3x from black CS, glued together and then to the card front. I also white heat embossed the sentiment from MFT Stamps 'Sassy Pants Best Friends' on black, added two more strips of black CS behind it and glued to the card. To finish off I decided to add a few Nuvo Crystal Drops in 'Ebony' BUT its been so long since I used it, the liquid was mega thick and wouldn't smooth out. So I stuck a toothpick in it and scooped some of it off and added to other spots on the card. And I added more 'Sparkle' but putting lots of Wink of Stella on the 'HUGS' die-cuts.

I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamps - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.

You have until Tuesday 25th August to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and we will be back on the 15th with a few more ideas for you. If your needing more inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Can't wait to see your sparkling projects in the Gallery!!

Take care
Shona