Twofer Card Challenge #34 – Flowers

Hello … bonjour … and Happy New Year … Bonne Année! May this year be blessed with good health, joy, hope and creativity for us all.  Welcome back, too, after my six week blogland break … it’s great to be here again! Over at Twofer ,we’re leaping into our fourth year of challenges … with plenty of delicious prompts to inspire you … and some changes to the Design Team. We’re saying a very fond farewell to the lovely and super talented Kara and Cat … and saying a warm and happy hello to our new team members, Sonja and Bonnie … welcome, ladies! If you’ve played along at Twofer before, you’ll know how much fun it is to create two distinctly different designs for two different occasions using the same stamps, dies or stencils … and if you haven’t yet joined us … why not give it a go? This month we have one of my favourite card making themes to tempt you … and I’m pretty sure you’ll be itching to dig out your supplies when you see the prompt. It’s …

I created a bold, dramatic ‘just because’ card … and a bright, spring-like ‘beautiful day’ card … using this gorgeous Summer Sketches bloom from The Greetery. Here’s a closer look at each one …

This is one of my go-to clean and simple designs … the image is centred on the card and the sentiment (from Catherine Pooler) is stamped just below it. I added subtle detail by embossing a frame with a die from Spellbinders and doing a little splattering. There’s also a touch of shimmer and shine on the flowers and stamens, which you can see better here …

I stayed with the conventional use of the flower for my second card …

This is another CAS design … albeit a little fuller than the first. Here, the outline flowers were gold embossed in diagonally opposite corners of the card to form a frame around the WPlus9 sentiment (also gold embossed), before being over stamped with the solid images. I added some Nuvo drops to match and added interest by double scoring the two empty corners.

How about joining us with some flowers of your own … we’d love to see you (and them) in our gallery!  All the details about how to play along, including rules and FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … together with heaps of splendid inspiration from the DT.  We’re delighted to have two fabulous Guest Designers joining us this month … Viv from Viv’s Visuals … and Brenda from Inkspired To Stamp … welcome ladies!  If you haven’t met these talented artists yet, do go and enjoy a wander through their blogs … you’ll find inspiration galore!  Even if you are familiar with their work, why not pop along anyway … you can always say hello while you’re there!

My single floral sprig is heading to …

CAS Mix Up – Splatters (plus dry embossing and stamping)

Color Hues – Red and Grey (happy to be playing along at last!)

Watercooler Wednesday – Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist

… and my spring florals are joining in at …

Addicted to CAS – Emboss

Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act

The Flower Challenge – Heat/Dry Embossing

Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

A New Challenge at Time Out – #99 New Beginnings

Hello … bonjour!  Hope your Christmas preparations are coming along nicely.  Before all the joyful excitement begins, we have a fabulous new challenge starting today at Time Out … this fortnight we have a theme for you … New Beginnings … with the optional twist of using your Christmas goodies for this non Christmas theme.  I chose to twist this time around (with the joyeux part of my sentiment) … and made this pretty little number …

  The wonky stitched panel is from MFT (Lake House stash) … it’s heat embossed in silver with a floral spray from Reverse Confetti … and is coloured with Zigs and a water brush.  The first part of the sentiment is from a Christmas SSS die (it also has Noël), cut from silver card … and the stamped element is from Papertrey and is heat embossed in silver.  I scattered a few sequins (filled with Stickles) and mounted the panel on craft foam on the card base.  There’s a party surprise on the inside … it’s my version of Ellen Hutson’s Confetti Flinger!  I loved the idea after seeing the amazing Jennifer McGuire showcase it not long ago, so made my own.  It was so much fun on Tuesday evening, watching the surprise on the recipient’s face when all the starry confetti came flying out!   I’m really sorry there’s no photo … try as I might, capturing that flying confetti was beyond the camera’s capacity … and my skills!  Do check out Jennifer’s video, though, it’ll give you the idea … the impact is fantastic!

Where will our theme take you … and will you go with our distressing twist?  Whichever way you choose, we’d love to see what you create in our gallery.  We’re sponsored this fortnight by Happy Little Stampers (thanks, Kylie), who are offering a $15 GC to a random twister.  As usual, our overall winner, as voted for by the DT, will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog … along with heaps of inspiration from our brilliant DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Patty from PJ’s Projects. Why not pop over and have a visit with Patty … you’ll find heaps of fabulous, fun, bright, happy cards to enjoy … and you can leave her some love while you’re there!

I’m playing along at …

CAS Mix Up – Stamping plus two … die cutting, heat embossing, watercolouring

CAS Watercolour – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Party … a birthday’s a good enough reason … the added confetti is celebratory!

SSS Wednesday – Party … as above

Are you almost ready?  I’m getting there and should have a little time to just breathe before The Big Day … hope that’s the case for you too!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

     

         

Time Out #88 – Inspired By Words – And Some Sunflowers

Hello … bonjour!  We have a fun and delightful new challenge starting at Time Out today.  This fortnight, we’re Inspired By Words … these from Roald Dahl … ‘If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.’  I have two takes on it … here’s the first …

We’re surrounded by sunflowers as well as vines at the moment … the blooms always seem to shine like sunbeams … and they do look so lovely.  Our Inspired By Words quote put me in mind of them.  The sunshine-y flower head is made up of one stem and four flower cuts of a Ragged Daisy die from Poppy Stamps (thanks to my lovely friend, Judith, who brought it along for a play date!), adhered on foam tape to a piece of textured vellum and surrounded by a popped up frame.  The sentiment is from SSS, stacked on craft foam and adhered to the vellum.  I finished with a coat of Spectrum Noir shimmer on the leaves and flower.

I subsequently saw Loll’s video on watercolouring tissue paper (here … if you haven’t seen it, you really, really should … thanks Loll!), and was inspired to make a second sunflower card …

This time, I used artistic licence as the sunflower is white and it’s the background that’s full of glimmery sunbeams!  Do check out the video for details of how to create this amazing tissue paper effect … I just followed Loll’s clear guidance, trimmed the finished panel, attached the die cut bloom and added a few coats of Wink of Stella to the petals.  The WPlus9 sentiment was embossed onto a strip of white card, which was adhered to the panel.   A close up shows the texture and glimmer much better …

What will our wonderful quote inspire you to create?  You can use all or any of the words to get your imagination going … we’d love to see what you come up with!  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with heaps of ideas from our fabulous DT and from our talented Guest Designer, Toni from Frankie Helps Craft (who you don’t want to miss visiting … so much yumminess to see!).  Hope to see you in our gallery!

My first card is heading to …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS Work It Wednesday – Add Some Sparkle

Virginia’s Summer Blog Party – Summer Creations

The second one is joining in at …

Addicted to CAS – Summer

CAS Mix-Up – Stamping, Tissue Paper, Plus One (mine are die cutting and embossing)

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Birthday

Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media – Texture

The Flower Challenge – Embossing Heat/Dry

Hope you’ve been having a splendid week!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

Card 1 …

      

       

Card 2 …

                

       

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Time Out DT #83, Addicted to Stamps & More #241, CAS Mix-Up – May, Happy Little Stampers Dies – May, SSS Wednesday – 10 May, SSS Work It Wednesday – April

Hello … bonjour!   We have a delicious new challenge for you at Time Out this fortnight … our theme is CASE the Designer … and the designer we’re CASE-ing is one of the sweetest and uber talented people in blogland, my lovely friend Hannelie, from Desert Diva!  Hannelie’s gorgeous card is a little further down … here’s where I went with it …

and here’s Hannelie’s gorgeous confection …

You can see where my focus was … the warm colours, sponged background, splatters and those wonderful outline blooms.  The lower part of my base card was sponged with Distress Inks, and I faded them out slightly where my flowers were going to be placed.  A white panel (die cut with a curve) was splattered with the same three colours of Distress Ink I used on the base, and was popped up on craft foam over the sponging.  WPlus9’s Doodle Buds were stamped, die cut, spritzed with Shimmer Spray and arranged in a posy on the curve, with some of them popped up and others adhered flat.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle and I finished off with a touch of glitter in the flower centres and on the stamens.

Where will Hannelie’s card take your creative imagination … there are so many places to draw inspiration from … the flowers, colours, lattice detailing, sentiment … or do you see something else?  Why not let your mind wander and see what happens … we’d love it if you played along!  This time round, we’re sponsored by Happy Little Stampers who will be offering a $15 GC to our winner (as voted for by the DT) … and as usual, our winner will be invited to design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at Time Out, along with lots of fabulous ideas from our brilliant DT … and from our super talented Guest Designer, my sweet friend Susanne from Keep In Touch.  If you haven’t ‘discovered’ Hannelie or Susanne (where have you been!) … or even if you have, do go visit and explore, say hello while you’re there … and have a wonderful time!

I’m joining in at …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Anything Goes

CAS Mix Up – Stamping, Splatter plus Choice (die cutting, sponging, spritzing)

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS Wednesday – Going Dotty

SSS Work It Wednesday – April Showers Bring May Flowers

I’m not around on my blog very much at the moment … the restoration is taking up my creative time and energy, so there’s not a lot spare for card making.  I have, though, been enjoying all your inspiration and am looking forward to the moment when it can all be put to good use in my craft corner!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

                  

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Time Out DT #73, CAS Mix Up – December, CAS-ual Fridays #163, Happy Little Stampers – December, SSS Wednesday – 21 December, SSS Work It Wednesday – November

Hello … bonjour!  Today we start the last challenge of the year at Time Out … this fortnight, we’re Inspired By Words … ‘With each sunrise we are given a chance for a new beginning’.  To me, this is a perfect phrase for Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of the Infant Jesus,  the Son of God, who came to the world to give us all a new beginning in Him … here’s my card …           

My Christmas Day sunrise is made up of a blend of five sponged Distress Inks, sprayed and splattered with Shimmer Spritz.  The die cuts are from Concord & 9th‘s Holy Night Bundle … they were adhered flat to the inked card base and the star was covered with a generous coat of Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen.  I finished off with the sentiment, also from the same bundle, stamped in Delicata Gold ink, to match all the other sparkle.

Where will these lovely words take you this fortnight?  You can use any or all of them to inspire a card … we’d love to see your take in the gallery!  We’re sponsored by STAMPlorations this fortnight … our winner will win a £20 GC and our two HMs will each receive a $10 GC.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with heaps of creative ideas from our fabulous DT and our talented Guest Designer,  Marina from My Perfect Life.  Do go and have a wander around Marina’s fun and creative blog … there’s lots of loveliness to enjoy!

I’m playing along with …

CAS Mix Up – Stamping + Sponging + Choice (Die Cutting)

CAS-ual Fridays – Christmas or Hanukkah

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS Wednesday – Make It Sparkle

SSS Work It Wednesday – Die Cuts

It’s been pretty quiet here on the old blog recently (other things have been pressing!) … and I’ve not been in blogland very much either … looking forward to catching up with everyone very soon!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                  

        

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Time Out DT #61 … Times Two!

Hello … bonjour … hope you’ve had a fabulous week so far!  Our wonderful new challenge starts today over at Time Out and this fortnight, we’re Inspired By Words … ‘Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine’.   Isn’t that a delicious quote … we probably all know someone (or lots of someones) who do just that … especially in our corner of blogland … and they’re a joy to be around!  Here’s where I went with it …

I die cut a MFT circle into a white card panel and embossed the two sides with a stitched border from Lawn Fawn.  The Avery Elle sunburst was stamped in yellow into the negative space, I added the Papertrey sentiment, and topped that with a double stamped SSS yellow heart in the centre.  The panel was mounted on fun foam onto the base and I adhered some tiny die cut hearts (Winnie & Walter), coloured with Promarkers.  The heart in the sunburst and the tiny ones were covered with lots of Wink of Stella and a layer of Glossy Accents.  Here’s a closer look at the shimmer and shine …

I was struck by another idea with this fabulous sentiment, so went ahead and tried it out … like to see the result?

A hand drawn Zig marker striped background in grey, the Papertrey sentiment stamped onto a MFT pierced rectangle (masked so I could make the ‘shine’ yellow), a yellow Papertrey sun burst top and bottom and a SSS heart stamped in canteloup over the word heart.  The ‘shine’ word, sunbursts and heart were Wink of Stella’d, the word was clear embossed (yay for MISTI) and I popped the panel up on craft foam over the stripes.  You can see the detail a little better here …

How will our ‘Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine’ phrase inspire you?  You can use any or all of the words to get your creative imagination going … and then just play along!  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with creative cards galore from our fabulous DT and our super talented Guest Designer, Sue from Foleys Friend … hope to see you in the gallery!

The first card is heading to …

Addicted to Stamps and More – Anything Goes

CAS Mix Up – Stamping & Markers … plus die cutting, dry embossing, Glossy Accents

CAS on Sunday – Black, White & One Colour … I chose yellow

SSS Wednesday – Mood Board (below) … top right ‘sunshine through the clouds’ picture

SSS Work It Wednesday – Dies or Stencils … negative circle and heart dies

… and the second is off to …

Addicted to Stamps and More – Anything Goes

CAS Mix Up – Stamping & Markers … plus die cutting and heat embossing

Seven Hills Crafts – Colour Palette (below) … I chose the three middle colours … my item from the store was the MFT Pierced Rectangle Stax.

SSS Wednesday – Mood Board (below) … top right ‘sunshine through the clouds’ picture

Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

          

                  

         

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MFT Summer Camp … and Other Fun!

Hello … bonjour … hope your weekend was a fabulous one!  I had some playtime, got creative and made a few cards … two to share here and two for later (maybe tomorrow, depending on the Time Eating Monster) … I’ll keep it short and sweet!  Here’s the first … a sweet little pretty …

Randomly stamped leaves and blooms (MFT), with the flower heads coated with sugary clear glitter (seen better zoomed in!), a little fine black pen doodling, a die cut hello (SSS) stacked on fun foam, and a stamped supplementary sentiment (WPlus9).   I was inspired by this card from Mayuri … it’s bolder, more dramatic and she used a different technique, but you can see how it prompted me.

Here’s the second … a rather dapper chap …

A lightly sponged card panel mounted over black, a bird of paradise (MFT) coloured with Promarkers and perched atop a Winnie & Walter die cut (both on foam), and some tiny supplementary sentiments (SSS) nestled into the word.

My floral number is heading to …

MFT Summer Camp – Glitzy Glitter … Day 1 of 5 … first badge!

MFT Color Challenge – In The Buff, Coral Crush, Gumdrop Green, Blueberry … my closest

CAS Mix Up – June – Stamping, Die Cuts + Choice …. mine’s the texture-y glitter and doodling

TE Share Joy #40 – Keep It Clean and Simple

         

         

The dashing dude is flying off to …

MFT Summer Camp – Delightful Die Cutting … Day 4 of 5 … second badge!

Happy Little Stampers Dies – June – Anything Goes

The Paper Players #300 – A CAS Celebration … congratulations on an amazing 300 challenges!

SSS Wednesday – 15 June – Animal Magic

         

                   

See you soon!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

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Muse #169, CAS Mix Up – June, CASology #201, Happy Little Stampers Dies – June, SSS Work It Wednesday – May

Hello … bonjour … hope your weekend has been wonderful!  I’m popping in with a card inspired by a few challenges … notably Muse, where my lovely friend, Michele has posted her last card as a DT member (the delicious one at the bottom).  How could I not take this final opportunity to be inspired and play cards along with her there?  This one’s for you, Michele … thanks so much for all the fun, energy and enthusiasm you’ve put into Muse … I’ll miss you there … but know you’ll still be keeping us inspired at your blog and wherever you may travel across blogland!

         

I kept to a similar layout as Michele, using a little glassine envelope instead of a vellum pocket … and creating a tiny shaker … with various shades of golden hued sequins to support the trimmed out sun peeking out of the top.  The ‘sunshine’ was die cut, sponged with a little Distress Ink to give it some umph, and attached flat to the card/envelope.  I stamped the supplementary sentiments in grey and added lots of Wink of Stella to the sun.  Stamps and die are all from SSS.  How about a detail shot of the shimmer …

I mentioned that a number of other challenges also inspired my card … here’s the full house …

Muse – Michele … one final, fabulous time!

CAS Mix Up – Stamping, Die Cuts plus Choice … mine’s the glassine shaker envelope (it’s not listed as an option, Loll and Bonnie, but I hope it’ll count for adding dimension!)

CASology – Sunshine … really wanted to play last week for the 200th anniversary, it just wasn’t possible, so I’m making up for it with number 201!

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes … only started last month and did you see the gallery … this month’s is equally amazing already!

SSS Work it Wednesday – Sunshine … my first entry

You may have noticed there’s been a bit of a gap in my visits around blogland … technical hitches that have now (hopefully!) been resolved, including having to confirm I’m not a robot more times than I care to count!  I’m almost back on track … then normal service (hahaha … I should probably say usual!) will be resumed!  Have a splendid week … thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                  

                

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Time Out DT #58, Addicted to Stamps & More #196, CAS Mix Up – June

Hello … bonjour!  Hope your week is going along splendidly!  I’m here with a squeaky clean new fabulous challenge from Time Out, where we have a Home Sweet Home photo to inspire you (below) … here’s my take on it …

         

Yep, particularly CAS .. with tiny touches of colour picked up from the stained glass door.  I cut the SSS grid border die (now discontinued) into a white card panel and captured all the little squares on removable tape to make it easy to use them later.  The cut panel was adhered flat to the base card, I stamped the SSS big ‘happy’, white embossed the ‘birthday’ (also SSS) onto black card and coloured in a heap of the squares with Promarkers, using the stained glass as a guide for my colours.  The squares were slotted into random spaces in the grid and covered with Glossy Accents … and the tiny sentiment was trimmed to size and fixed in place.

This card was made for my lovely friend Susanne at Keep in Touch Cards … it was her birthday yesterday … and I think it might even have been there in time for the celebrations (as some of you know, that’s not my forté … I’m working on it!).  Happy, Happy Birthday, Susanne … hope you had an amazing day … wishing you a fantastic, joyful and laughter filled year to come!  Why not pop over and see the wonderful inspiration on offer over at Keep in Touch … you’ll have a fabulous time … and you can leave the birthday girl some love while you’re there!

What does your creative eye see in our picture … bricks, door, ironwork, steps, graphic shapes or something else?  Whatever it is, why not let your fingers get to work and play along with us … we’d love to see you in the gallery!  All the details are over at the Time Out blog … along with a ton of inspiration from our awesome DT and from our fabulous and talented Guest Designer, Karren J at Stamping Stuff (go for a visit … you know you want to!)

I’m playing along with …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Anything Goes

CAS Mix Up – Stamping and Die Cuts …plus heat embossing, alcohol markers, Glossy Accents

Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

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Time Out DT #57, CAS Mix Up – May, HLS Mixed Media – May, SSS Work It Wednesday – April

Hello … bonjour!  How’s your week going … wonderfully, I hope!  There’s a new challenge at Time Out starting today … it’s running alongside the special birthday challenge for Sandie that started on Monday (CAS with the option of purple … are you joining us?).  This fortnight we’re Inspired By Words … ‘may all your weeds be wildflowers’ … isn’t that just lovely?  Here’s where I went with it …

This is a QACAS card (Quick And Clean And Simple in Darnell-ese) … the background is a gorgeous texture-y piece of DP that was in my stash (you know that will have been there a loooooooong time considering how little DP I use!) … I adhered it flat to the card base, added a sparkly SSS die cut and white heat embossed the secondary sentiment from Avery Elle.  Voilà … may all your weeds be wildflowers, my friends!   Here’s a close up view …

How will this lovely phrase inspire you?  You can use any or all of the words to get your creative imagination going … and then play along!  There’s a prize this time round as we’re sponsored by Clearly Besotted Stamps … the overall winner, as voted for by the DT will win a £15 gift card!  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with creative cards galore from our fabulous DT and our super talented Guest Designer, Julia from der kleine klecks … hope to see you in the gallery!

I’m playing along at …

CAS Mix Up – Heat Embossing … plus die cutting and textured paper

HLS Mixed Media – Shine … plus die cutting and textured paper

SSS Work It Wednesday – Flowers … final entry

Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂