Oh Frap!

I just had to have this CUTplorations die, it really appeals to my sense of humour, and it's arrived just in time for me to play along with the Fall Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop before it closes tomorrow.

I had this Gelli print in my stash with lovely autumnal colours, made with lace and bubblewrap.  I stamped the Coffee Cup Large image, then added some red and yellow pencil shading.  Added a sentiment using words from The Bee's Knees Pets, mounted it onto copper card, added the diecut sentiment and it's done.

I'm also adding this to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

and Simon Says Work It Wednesday - Red, Orange, Yellow and/or Brown.

Autumn Flower

I've been playing with Paper Artsy Infusions again, this time with this large flower stencil.  I was inspired by Inspired By All The Little Things.

In a recent tidy-up of my craft room, I rediscovered several sheets of foil, so I've been foiling everything in sight.  Just a touch of copper here and there.

I'm also playing along at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

STAMPlorations Inspiration #97

It's time for more inspiration over at STAMPlorations.  Today I've used the new Christmas set by Shery, Warm Hands Warm Hearts.

I've gone for muted vintage colours, which is a bit ironic given the sentiment, but I like it.  After sponging a bit of Tattered Rose and Antique Linen, I used the Dots All Over stencil to add a bit of interest, and sloshed a bit of Hickory Smoke to ground the sleigh.  The base card I can only describe as 'frosted'.  It's somewhere between pearlised and glittery.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift voucher.

Fancy A Cuppa?

I've been playing with my Paper Artsy Infusions powders again, this time in autumnal colours.  I started by stamping the Tea Cup Row, then masked it while I sprinkled some Infusions powders around and spritzed with water.  I removed the mask immediately (it was already disintegrating with being so wet), then added a hint of shading with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

I'm adding this to the Fall Coffee Makers' Blog Hop

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Powder Power

AAA Cards - Masking

CAS on Sunday - One Layer Card

Rudolph's In A Whiteout

As soon as I saw Cornelia's card for Muse Christmas Visions, I knew exactly what I wanted to make to play along.

It's easy to see where I got my inspiration from.  I thought about putting a tree where the penguin is, but a small tree wouldn't look nice.  But looking at mine now, I think a large tree would like very nice on the right. Hmm, maybe there's another version coming soon ;)

So.  I've used two of the dies from my Christmas Reindeer Dies set.  There is a matching stamp set, but I think the diecuts are quite cute on their own :)

Rudolph's got the obligatory red nose, and his mum's got an AB nose.  The snowline is Ice Stickles.

Seize The Birthday - Soft and Simple

We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and this time it's Soft and Simple.

The simple part about this card is that the image is just one stamp - or part of it.  In fact, the stamp is so large, one stamping will give you four card fronts (Carabelle Studio - Histoire de Temps).  Quick and easy!  I stamped in Versafine and white-embossed, then sloshed some Distress Inks one the image.  Finished it off with a Papertrey sentiment in black.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and join in with us.  If you don't want to go with the Soft and Simple theme, you can still enter with any birthday project.  Do take note of our revised guidelines - maximum 5 challenges including ours.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #96

Inspiration time at STAMPlorations.  A couple of weeks ago I did a Spotlight post here on the STAMPlorations blog featuring how I made a similar card to this, but didn't get to show it on my blog.  So today, you're seeing the sister card to my Spotlight project.

I've used Tweet Love Dies, Stitched Snow Hills Dies, leaf stamps from Trendy Leaves and the sentiment from The Bee's Knees Birds of Paradise.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

Oh, go on then - here's a sneak of the Spotlight card:

CUTplorations Christmas Release - Stitched Snow Hills, Words and Phrases

Oh, wow, have we got a treat for you on the STAMPlorations blog today - a plethora of cards ('What is a plethora?') using the new word and phrase CUTplorations die-cuts, along with Stitched Snow Hills.  There's an awful lot of card eye-candy for you today, so I'll get straight to it, starting with the Stitched Snow Hills.

There are three double-edge stitched dies in this set, giving you six options.  And stitched hills aren't just for Christmas - cut them out of green card for a summery look.  The sentiment is from Warm Hands, Warm Hearts.

I cobbled the sentiment together from various STAMPlorations sets - couldn't find a 'most' so I used Dymo tape.  Which was fine, because it also works as emphasis.

A few splatters (of course) for this ultra-CAS card.

I threaded some gold cord from the reindeer's neck and through the sleigh.

Splatter and slosh!  Happy me :)

I love the simplicity of this one!  I just used the unstamped die-cut shape and added a red gem.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog, and prepare to be dazzled by all the fabulous cards.  You'll also find all the details of how to win, and how to play along with the flash die-cut linky party.

Thanks so much for looking!  Hop along to comment and hopefully win a prize, and don't forget to play along in the linky party :)

CUTplorations Christmas Release - Warm Hands, Warm Hearts

Day two of our Christmas Release at STAMPlorations, and today we've got this gorgeous set from Shery, called Warm Hands, Warm Hearts.

I stamped and die-cut the single package and coloured it with Distress Markers.  For my background panel I smooshed the same colours on acetate and dipped the card in till I got the coverage I wanted.  I used the sentiment to ground the package.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and details of how you can win, and how to enter the flash die-cut linky party with any brand die-cut.

CUTplorations Christmas Release - Christmas Reindeer

Are you ready for Christmas?  At STAMPlorations we're raring to go!  We've got some gorgeous stamps and co-ordinating dies for you, along with some fabulous word and phrase dies.  Today the focus is on my new set, Christmas Reindeers.

We've got a grown-up reindeer, a not-so-grown-up reindeer, and two leaping reindeer, a couple of sentiments, some stars and snowflakes.  Here's what I made:

I've also used two dies which you'll be seeing on Friday.  The sky was a mixture of Distress Ink, water bleaching and white paint splattering.

I couldn't stop at just one card, could I?

This card also serves as a reminder for our CASEplorations challenge, where we are CASEing Ksenija's fabulous card.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for full details of the hop, what you can win, and some more fabulous inspiration.  Don't forget to leave me a comment here to increase your chances of winning ;)

There'll also be a flash die-cut linky party where you can link up with any brand die-cut.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #95

It's inspiration time at STAMPlorations, and today I'm using up scraps and snippets of Gelli printed card.

I stamped the teacup (from Always Teatime) onto my scrap of Gelli printed paper, then fussy cut it.  I stencilled some dots (Dots All Around) onto my card base, then stamped some images from Mixed Media Grunge to balance the composition of the card.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win.

Seeing as I've used lots of snippets, I'm entering my card into Pixie's Snippets Playground.

Seize The Birthday and Altenew Blog Hop

There's a blog hop going on at Altenew, and Seize The Birthday is playing along!

I've used a little set that came free with a magazine.  On my kraft card base I stamped one of the layers in Versamark, then on a mixed media card panel I stamped the three-part flowers and leaves in Distress Ink, then spritzed to let them bleed into the card.  I used Dymo tape to create the sentiment.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see more from the team, and for details of the Altenew hop.

Craft Stamper Reminder - Take A Stamp

Are you playing along with Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge?  This month it's Take A Stamp.

I've stamped one of the shoes from The Bee's Knees Groovy Platform Shoes set onto mixed media paper, watercoloured with Distress Inks, then added a sentiment by Visible Image, who are this month's sponsors.  One lucky random winner will get these three stamp sets:

The winner chosen by the Design Team will get their winning entry and profile published in the magazine, and a chance to guest design in a future challenge.

Pop on over to the blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the design team, and join in to win!

Seize The Birthday - Frames

Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and today our optional topping is Frames.

Rather than use a die cut frame, I drew a frame around my Brusho panel after I'd stamped the flower images.  The sentiment and die cut word are from STAMPlorations.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and join in.  If you don't want to include frames you can still play along, as long as it's a birthday project.

I'm adding my card to Simon Says Monday Challenge -  Stamp It.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #94

It's Inspiration Tuesday over at STAMPlorations, and today I've gone pre-historic with Becca's Dino Things set.

I had a session a while back stencilling clear paste through various stencils, and this one reminded me of the path up to Fred Flintstone's house, so it was ideal to use for Becca's Dino.  I sponged various Distress Inks over it, then stamped the sentiment.  I stamped the dinosaur onto green card and fussy cut it, adding highlights with gel pens.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate.

I'm adding this to Simon Says Work It Wednesday - Stamps.

CASEplorations with Ksenija Risova

We've got a new CASEplorations study for you this month from one of our own STAMPlorations teamies, the very talented Ksenija, aka Sweetkobylkin.

What inspiration will you find in that gorgeous card?  Kraft base, repeat-stamped panel, two-part sentiment, vibrant colours...  Vibrant colours - you just have to pop over to Ksenija's original post to look at that watercolouring close up - fabulous!

So - I kept with the kraft card base, the repeat stamping on the panel, the watercolouring, the two-part sentiment.  And here's what happened:

You've already met Birds of Paradise - cheeky little characters, aren't they?  I watercoloured them with Distress Inks (what else?) and added a new CUTplorations die cut (which you'll be seeing in a blog hop soon, although it's already available in the shop), and finished off the sentiment using Sentiment Builders: Happy in Brilliance Moonlight White.  It didn't stamp as well as I'd have liked, so I used a white gel pen to highlight the lettering.

There's some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the STAMPlorations design team - go take a look, and join in for your chance to win.

NBUS And A Song Or Two. Or Three.

Just popping in with a quick post so that I can join in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #7.  I got this gorgeous set from Uniko Studio in May, and there it was, still sitting unopened.  NBUS to the rescue!

I went with a graphic offset design, channelling my inner maria f with overlapping solid and outline images.

I'm also playing along at Uniko Studio's Challenge #35 - Inspired By A Song Title.  I've got three titles for you. You just want to tuck hibiscus flowers in your hair, so how about:

San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) - Scott Mckenzie.  Or
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) - Sandi Thom.
But these flowers are so summery it also put me in mind of In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry.  Which one will you be singing?