Challenging Colours!

The Simply Stampin' challenge this week is certainly what you would call a challenge - the DT want us to come up with something made with Regal Rose, Real Red, Island Indigo and Whisper White. At the end of the post they said that they hoped the colour challenge wouldn't have us 'running for the hills' - well the only reason I didn't is because the hills are too far away!!!!

Definitely not a colour combo I would choose but it gave me a chance to try something I've seen done many times before but never actually got round to doing. I practised with circles but you could use any shape you like for this technique and, having seen the finished effect, it's definitely something I'll be doing again (just maybe not these colours!) 

I started by punching different size circles from the coloured cardstock and then arranged them onto a piece of Whisper White card, when I was happy with how they looked I glued them using a wet glue to make sure they were properly stuck all over. I then simply ran the whole thing through the BigShot in the Square Lattice Embossing folder. This was then matted onto a piece of Island Indigo cardsock and then onto a card blank. The sentiment, from the Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes. was stamped in Island Indigo, cut into a banner and inked around the edges with a sponge dauber.

Here is a close up of the finished effect. This particular embossing folder gives a lovely texture to the cardstock and it actually looks like the colours are painted on rather than glued on pieces of card!                                   
*If you saw my previous post  you will know that a lady called Jo Street (her post is here) has made an appeal for donations of cards to sell, to raise money for the Candlelighters Appeal, at a Ladies Night on the 31st May. Sadly it is too late for 3 year old Florence for anything other than to receive the vital care & support from Candlelighters that she and her family need at this desperate time. As a Granny to four toddlers it breaks my heart to think what this family must be going through so I urge you, even if you only send one card, please get in touch with Jo. Her contact details are on her post that I've linked to above. PLEASE let's help Jo raise lots of money.
Whilst having a look at the Candlelighters website I came across this video which Scalby School Girls recorded last year in aid of the charity - take a look

Yellow Sketch

The first thing I do at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning is look at the challenge for the week over at Less is More and I have to say I didn't like what I saw this morning - a colour challenge using Yellow - because I'm not a great fan of this particular colour. So onto my next stop which  is always the Simply Stampin' challenge where I find a sketch for this week (top right).

So my very own challenge this week is to use yellow with the sketch :0)

I used So Saffron for my base card and used a piece of Whisper White as a mat. Before fixing this to the card blank I partially embossed two horizontal lines, using the Stripes Embossing folder, down the RH side of the card and then attached a knot of So Saffron Taffeta ribbon across the card. I then cut a piece of Whisper White using the smallest of the Framelits dies and a So Saffron frame using the smallest die and the next size up. An image from Bright Blossoms was coloured with  Daffodil Delight and Old Olive markers and stamped onto the white die cut (I have this set in clear mount so I didn't even need to use my stamp-a-ma-jig!) This was positioned onto the card before adding a tiny flower, punched with the Itty BittyShapes Punch , with a Basic Pearl in the centre and some more pearls underlining the sentiment. The bottom picture shows the inside of the card (which for some reason, despite taking 10 photos, I couldn't seem to get in focus!) and this is a diecut using the largest of the Framelits dies with the flower from Create a Cupcake stamped in one corner.

I hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend and now I must go and get ready for my grandchildren who are coming to visit this afternoon - although I think the housework would be best left until they are gone :0)

Perfect Pairs!

The challenge at Simply Stampin' this week is 'Perfect Pairs!' and this fitted in really well with a card I've been asked to make. For those of you who saw my attempt at a 'tacky' engagement card the other day well this is for the same recipient but from a different person. (the sister loved the card so asked me to make another one for her Mum to send!) I always find it difficult to make cards for the same person, as I'm constantly thinking about making something completely different, but to be asked to make two 'tacky' cards for the same person is a step too far :0) This card is a bit more bling-y than tacky I think but it fits the challenge perfectly. A pair of hearts, a pair of Modern Label punches and a pair of rhinestones.

I started by using a stamp from Confetti, inked with Versamark then sprinkled with Heat'n'Stick before adding Dazzling Diamonds - this made my border which was matted onto Basic Black cardstock and a knot of Whisper White Organza ribbon tied round before placing down the side of an A6 card blank. I inked the heart stamp (now retired) with Versamark and heat embossed one in black and added Heat'n'Stick and Dazzling Diamonds to the other and then punched with the Large Heart punch. The black one was stuck onto the border and the glittery one was positioned on top, raised with dimensionals. The 'congratulations' was again heat embossed in black and punched with the Modern Label punch and matted onto another label in Basic Black with a Basic Rhinestone placed at either end. The rest of the sentiment (a new one coming soon) was stamped in Basic Black.

Tuesday 1st May sees the launch of the first ever Summer Mini catalogue which has some exciting new products in it. To celebrate the launch a group of crafters from ILWS, myself included, have organised a Blog Hop to showcase some of the brand new products so why not drop by then and have a look at, what promises to be, some inspiring projects. I'm sure I'll be back before then but just wanted to give you advance warning :0)

Have a great weekend and try not to get too wet!!!!

Simply Stampin' meets the Friday Mashup

Two challenges in one today - Simply Stampin' which is a colour challenge using Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette and Marina Mist (more on this later!) and also the Friday Mashup which is a sketch mashed up with Versamark ghosting. Now I did try to do the ghosting technique with ghostly results (sorry ghastly!) so no mashup just the sketch. I thought I may as well use the colours in the SSC and that's where I got it wrong - it should have been Marina Mist but I had it in my head that it was Pacific Point so that's what I used. Never mind Friday Mashup I think I am suffering from Brain Mashup. Anyway onto the card - I started with a Soft Suede card blank matted with Very Vanilla which had been stamped with a flower from Growing Green. Tht tag is cut with the Two Tags die in Pacific Point and the overlay piece in Pink Pirouette with a piece of Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon tied around and a flower from the Boho Blossoms punch added on one side, the sentiment & spray is from Tiny Tags and punched with the Jewelry Tag punch. The flower at the top is made from 6 of the smallest petals on the Blossom Petals punch and 6 of the next size up, all in Pink Pirouette, with a circle in the centre. I saw the idea for this on Mary Fish's site, Stampin'Pretty, but my flower is very different from hers and much smaller. The petals were punched out and then I curled then round a scoring tool to shape them - I am pleased with how it turned out but it is very fiddly and time consuming so I don't think I'll be making many more :0) 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and come back tomorrow to see some really easy Disney treat bags.

Simply Stampin' Sketch - again

Whilst having a grand clear up in my craft room I came across the two pieces of DSP that I messed up when making my first card for the Simply Stampin' Sketch challenge this morning, so I decided I would have another go and use the reverse spotty side. I matted the panels onto Basic Gray cardstock and positioned them onto a white card blank. I cut two flowers from the Blossom Party die in Pink Pirouette and, after curling them slightly, layered one on top of the other and glued them onto the central panel. The other two flowers are punched with the Boho Blossoms punch - all the flowers have DSP centres cut with a circle punch and the leaves are punched from Old Olive with the Bird Builder punch. The banner is a strip of Whisper White and Old Olive cardstock, cut at the end, with the retired sentiment stamped in Old Olive and three Basic Pearls added.

Let's 'Celebrate' Challenges

My second post today!! I am entering this card for two challenges and first of all can I say that the St.Luke's Charity Card Challenge site certainly have something to celebrate. It has now been a year since Tara set up the challenge site to raise money for the hospice who helped her during a difficult time and to celebrate they are offering a bumper prize worth over £50. They are aiming to reach 100 entries for the challenge this month which is 'A bit of bling' so why not hop over and enter a card.

I have to admit that this card was actually made for the Simply Stampin' challenge who are asking for creations using Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White. This card has been in the making since yesterday morning, I kept having a go and then, after having coloured in the sentiment, couldn't decide what to do so it was put on one side. This morning I cut it out with the Top Note die and then it was tossed aside again while I made some other cards. Inspiration struck and I decided to use the Pennant Parade stamp set to make flags in the three different colours which were punched out with the Petite Pennants Builder punch and placed across the Top Note then the small star from the same set was inked and stamped off, using all three colours, and stamped randomly to fill in the gaps. This was then matted onto Wild Wasabi cardstock and layered onto a white card blank. The sentiment, also from Pennant Parade was punched out with the Modern Label punch and some Basic Rhinestones (a bit of bling!) were added to finish the card. Oh and by the way the 'Celebrate' was one of the recent SAB stamps but no longer available and the rest of the sentiment is a stamp from the Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes

It's challenge day again!

 

Well it's Saturday morning and it's challenge day again - don't the weeks just fly by? I have 2 cards to show you this morning, both of which fit the Less is More challenge - Take 3 Challenges, and the second which was made for the sketch challenge over at Simply Stampin'. I'll start with this one though because I know that Chrissie & Mandi won't be too happy with the lack of white space on the second card :0)

As I wanted to make a get well card I used the owl punch to make a nurse and decided to use the Bashful Blue striped DSP and Pacific Point cardstock for her dress and 'cape' as this is the colour I always think of when picturing nurses! The wings were actually punched from the 2-step Bird Punch and the red cross from one of the punches in the Itty Bitty Punch Shapes pack. Her hat, which doesn't show up too well in the picture is the same shape that was used for the dress but turned upside down. I cut 2 circles with the Circles Die to mount the owl on and embossed the white one with the Square Lattice Embsossing folder, glued this to the card blank and added a sentiment from Curvy Verses in Pacific Point.

The challenges I used were Wk 9 - A Touch of Red, Wk 12 - Off Centre, Wk 22 - Shades of Blue and Wk 29 - Things that Move.

Now onto my second card (made predominantly for the Simply Stampin' Sketch)

For this card I used a piece of Whisper White card on which I had used the Mother of  Pearl technique with Perfect Plum ink (left over from a card I made last week!) The bottom edge of the cardstock was punched with the Scallop Edge Border punch, matted onto a piece of Perfect Plum cardstock and a bow of Perfect Plum Taffeta ribbon tied around before layering onto a white card blank. The branch from Hopeful Thoughts was stamped in Elegant Eggplant and some flowers were punched from a scrap piece of the Mother of Pearl cardstock, with an Itty Bitty Shapes punch, and positioned onto the branch with one of the tiniest Basic Pearls for the centres. The stamp is also from Hopeful Thoughts but, as I didn't want all of the sentiment, I used a Perfect Plum marker to ink the bit I wanted, stamped onto Whisper White and then punched out with the Modern Label punch. The label was inked around the edges with a sponge dauber before positioning onto the card.
The challenges I used for this card were Wk 49 - Predominantly Purple, Wk 55 Punches or Diecuts and Wk 56 - Don't Scrap It (the Mother of Pearl cardstock!).
A rather long post today so I'll just say have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine x

Totally Tags

My card today is one I've made for the Simply Stampin' challenge which, this week, is Totally Tags. Usually when I see the challenges an idea springs to mind but for some reason that didn't happen this weekend. I struggled with an idea for both this and the LIM challenge yesterday but, not to be beaten, I was determined to come up with something this morning- and here it is!

I needed a sentiment that was long and thin and this one fitted the bill perfectly, it is an old retired SU stamp but I never get rid of sentiment stamps and will use them retired or not - sorry. I stamped this in Rich Razzleberry onto Whisper White cardstock and cut out, this determined the size for my other tag. For this I used the leafy branch stamp from Borderlines (be warned this set is only available in the Spring Mini until April 30th) and stamped in Certainly Celery and, after stamping once, I stamped again without re-inking. The tiny flower from Flight of the Butterfly was stamped over the leaves in Rich Razzleberry and I added a few to the sentiment panel as well. Both panels were matted onto Rich Razzleberry cardstock, a hole punched in the top and some Whsiper White grosgrain ribbon threaded through. I didn't want a bulky knot in the ribbon so I just folded the ribbon over and used a flower, punched with the Itty Bitty Shapes, to cover the hole and added a tiny Basic Pearl to the centre. I played around with some ideas but decided the tags looked best on just a piece of Rich Razzleberry DSP from the Rich Regals Paper Stack. I added three more punched flowers to the bottom corner just because it looked a bit bare!

Have a lovely Sunday and for those of you who are Mum's - Happy Mother's Day x

Simply Stampin' Sketch

There is a sketch for this week's challenge over at Simply Stampin' and this is my take on it. I have used a 15cm square Naturals Ivory card blank onto which I stamped the leafy branch from Borderlines (a three stamp set available in the Spring Mini) in Early Espresso. Part of the tree stamp from Forever Young was stamped onto Very Vanilla, which had already been cut using the Scallop Circle die and trimmed off down one edge, and the edge was inked with a sponge dauber. A narrow strip of Early Espresso DSP from the Neutrals Stack was placed down the side of the card with the Scallop Circle butted up against it. Part of a sentiment stamp from Hopeful Thoughts was inked with an early Espresso marker and stamped in the bottom corner.
When I was making this card I stamped the leafy branch onto my card blank and then realised I had stamped it too far down the page and the scallop circle practically covered it. This was tossed aside as a reject and I started again. However, come back tomorrow to see how my 'reject' turned out - the simplest card ever and, surprisingly, one which I really like!!!

Simply Stampin' again

When I saw the colour challenge on Simply Stampin' yesterday I didn't know whether I would be able to produce anything that I was remotely happy with and here I am, back again, with a card using the same colours! It all began when last night I decided to play with a new stamp from the Easter Blossoms set and the colours just seemed to lend themselves to the pretty blossom. I stamped the branch in Early Espresso and then stamped again without re-inking to give a paler branch at the back and coloured in the blossoms on the front branch with Melon Mambo and the rest with Pretty in Pink. I was amazed at how quickly I managed to colour all those blossoms just by using a blender pen and ink pressed onto the lid of the stamp pad - I thought it would take ages! I wanted the butterflies to be more delicate than cardstock so I inked a piece of Vellum cardstock with Pretty in Pink using a sponge dauber, cut out the butterflies with the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die, and then lightly inked around the edges with Melon Mambo and fixed them onto the branch with a tiny dot of wet glue. The sentiment from For my Family was stamped in Melon Mambo and, to finish the card, I added a tiny Basic Pearl to the centre of each butterfly and three slightly bigger ones under the sentiment. The panel was matted onto a piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock and positioned onto a white card blank. Maybe my Mother's Day card ready in advance!!

COLOUR COMBO to DIE for!

Back again with some cards I am entering for two challenges - Less is More which this week is Die Cuts or Punches, and Simply Stampin' which is a colour challenge using Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Wisteria Wonder and Whisper White. I don't feel like I'm cheating as I've made 4 cards in all (scroll down for the 4th one) so that's an average of 2 per challenge!

I needed to make some thank you cards so I'm killing 2 birds with one stone, so to speak, and here they are. Using the aforementioned colours but swapped around to make three different cards,along with the Blossom Party die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits die and the border stamp from the SAB set, Fresh Vintage, and various thank you sentiments. After having cut the butterflies I was left with some over so made another card to use them up which you can see below.

For this I used the large foliage stamp from Just Believe, inked with Wisteria Wonder and, as I only wanted a faint background, I stamped off before stamping onto the card. I added the butterflies which were supposed to be 'scattered' but, after I had glued them, it would appear they are rather more regimented than I intended! The sentiment was supposed to be stamped directly onto the card but I managed to also ink the edge of my stamp leaving a nasty line underneath so I hastily stamped again onto a piece of cardstock and punched out with the Modern Label Punch and managed to cover up my mistake (oh, if only everything were that easy!). The butterflies, as on the ones above, were adorned with the tiniest of Basic Pearls to finish them off.

Again can I take this opportunity to thank Chrissie & Mandi and all the DT at Simply Stampin' for their brilliant challenges they really do inspire me, as do all the other entries. Also many thanks to everyone who leaves such kind comments and not forgetting a big hello to my new blog followers - I hope you enjoy visiting.

Have a lovely weekend, it's cold and damp here at the moment but they say it's going to get milder again next week - roll on spring! x

Simply Stampin' Sketch

The Simply Stampin' challenge this week is a Sketch (top right) and here is my interpretation of it. I started by stamping the border, in Early Espresso, with my adapted In Stitches wheel (see yesterday's post for more details about this) and then placed a strip of Crumb Cake DSP above it but slightly overlapping. Part of the swirl stamp from Everything Eleanor was coloured with a Crumb Cake marker and stamped above the DSP. I then took the stamp from the same set which looks a bit like a plaque, stamped onto Whisper White in Crumb Cake, added a few flowers in Crumb Cake, and then cut out leaving a white border around the edge and positioned this onto the card. The flowers, from Everything Eleanor, were stamped in Melon Mambo and the stamens highlighted using an Early Espresso marker, then cut out and glued in place (I used a dimensional for the flower at the bottom to give a bit of depth). A few Crumb Cake leaves punched with the 2-Step Bird punch were added along with a sentiment from Style Beautiful and challenge over!

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge

Over at Simply Stampin' this week there is a colour challenge using Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso, River Rock & Very Vanilla and this is my card. As the colours were suitable for a male card I decided to use the challenge to make a birthday card for my Dad who, as you can see, will be 90!
I don't know if there is a proper name for this style of card but if there is I don't know it so, in a nutshell, it is a piece of A4 (portrait) cut at approx 15cm then turned landscape and scored at 10.5cm to form the flap. The small scene was made by using a clear block, inked with N.Q.Navy, then stamped onto Whisper White, then repeating this with River Rock and stamping underneath the first block. I then stamped the trees from Lovely as a Tree in Early Espresso and cut down to size. This was matted and layered onto River Rock, N.Q.Navy and Very Vanilla and positioned on the flap of the N.Q.Navy card base. The piece of Very Vanilla for the rest of the card was stamped, again with the trees in Early Espresso and glued in place. The banner is River Rock stamped with 'dad' from the For My Family set, attached with a Metallic Brad, and the sentiment is one of the stamps in Happiest Birthday Wishes coloured with a marker so I could split the sentiment up and place the 90, cut with the Timeless Type Alphabet Dies, in between the words.

In my quest to make the tree scene I ended up with a few rejects but decided this one wasn't too bad to use for another card. Still using all the same colours but this one was far less time consuming - in fact it was thrown together in just a few minutes - which you can probably tell!!!  :0)
Just before I go I would like to thank the design team over at Simply Stampin' for putting me in the Top 3 again this week - thank you ladies for that and for all the lovely comments, I really appreciate it. x

Two Challenges in One!

I'm rolling two challenges into one today as my internet connection is SO rubbish at the moment I thought I would very likely have problems posting!

The LIM challenge this week is 'Cut it Out' where the requirement is some kind of aperture and the Simply Stampin' challenge is a sketch using six squares and a sentiment.

I started by making a 'widow frame' in a piece of Chocolate Chip using my large square punch and then cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock the same size. I stamped the flower spray from Hopeful Thoughts in Old Olive and then added Wisteria Wonder flowers punched with one of the Itty Bitty Punch Shapes set. I added some tiny Basic Pearls to the centres and then stamped the sentiment from Petite Pairs in Old Olive. The Whisper White panel was then glued to a plain white card blank and the window frame positioned on top using dimensionals.
I will apologise now for the probable lack of commenting this week but I have lost the connection no less than 6 times while attempting to do this post - SO FRUSTRATING!!

Challenging Colour Combo!

You may have noticed that I regularly enter a couple of challenges and this week at Simply Stampin’ was certainly a challenge for me! It is a colour challenge using Pink Pirouette, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade and Whisper White and my initial thoughts were that I wouldn’t bother. My next thought was that the reason I enter these challenges is to make me think AND to sometimes take me out of my comfort zone so backing out because I didn’t like the colour combo defeated the object. So this is my card.

I started by stamping the flowers from Greenhouse Garden in Pink Pirouette and, because this is a two-step stamp set, I was able to stamp the centres in Pool Party. I then added the leaf from Happiness Shared, in Lucky Limeade and drew in the stems with a blender pen. I wanted to add a vase but thought a solid colour vase would be OTT so I punched a large oval in Whisper White, ran it through the Stripes Embossing folder and sponged ink over the top before cutting off the top and bottom curves. This was then layered onto a piece of Lucky Limeade cardstock with some Whisper White Organza ribbon tied round and knotted. I chose the sentiment from Just Believe because, let’s face it, whoever saw flowers in those colours! This was punched out with the Curly Label punch and mounted onto a Pink Pirouette Decorative Label. Challenge over and, although maybe not a colour combination I would use, I was reasonably happy with the end result.

Card for a Golfer?

I needed to make a card for a friend who, sadly, has been taken into hospital. I seemed to have a distinct lack of inspiration so was very thankful to the design team over at Simply Stampin! who, this week, have set a Sketch (above) as the challenge and helped me come up with this card.

I started by sponging a piece of Whisper White, using a post-it as a mask, with Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery and then over-stamped with trees from 'Lovely as a Tree' coloured with Early Espresso and Old Olive markers and then matted this onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock. The other panel is a rectangle of Chocolate Chip DSP from the Neutrals stack matted onto Chocolate Chip cardstock. These were positioned onto a 5" x7" card blank and the embossed circles added on top. My friend is a very keen golfer so I am hoping the circles somewhat resemble golf balls! The sentiment, from Sincere Salutations, was stamped onto Whisper White, cut out and the corners rounded before adding a piece of Linen Thread and fixing in place.

I hope you all had a good New Years Eve and are ready to start a brand new year. I'm sorry to say that the festivities are over in my house for another year as, this morning, I have been busy taking down the few decorations which adorned my humble abode. Yes I know you are supposed to leave them up until twelth night (whenever that might be!) but I am back to work on Tuesday and really need to get sorted and cleaned up before then - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!

And another set!!

Ooooh two posts in one day and here is my entry for this week’s challenge at Simply Stampin' which is a ‘Sketch’ (see right). But before I tell you about the card I would like to say a huge thank you to the Simply Stampin’ Design Team for giving me a Top 3 spot last week for my Christmas Pillow Boxes, I will display the banner on my sidebar with pride!

Now onto the card – or should I say yet another gift set - using the very luxurious Brushed Gold cardstock, Mocha Morning Speciality DSP and Pines & Poinsettias stamp set.

First I stamped and gold embossed one of the stamps and the sentiment on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock which was then matted onto Basic Black cardstock. Two strips of Mocha Morning DSP and a strip of Basic Black, punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, were positioned onto a Brushed Gold card blank and the card topper placed on top. The ‘merry’ is from Pennant Parade and cut with the Jewelry Tag punch and some tiny Basic Pearls were added to the centres of the flowers. Of course I couldn’t just leave it there and had to make a gift box to match. This was made with the same products but using the sentiment from Just Believe and some Very Vanilla Satin ribbon to tie the top of the box.