Twofer Card Challenge #14 – Balloons

Hello … bonjour!  We’ve rattled round so quickly into March … and today we have another Twofer challenge for you … this month we’re playing with …

… and here’s how my imagination floated off …

A happy hello card and a happy birthday card, both featuring a richly plump, round balloon image from Winnie & Walter … let’s take a closer look at each one …

I rock and roll stamped/masked the Winnie & Walter balloons and bows onto an A2 card panel, added the fun sentiment (from Essentials by Ellen) and drew in the drifting-in-the-breeze strings.  The balloons were layered with Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle and I added some colour and shimmer to the three o’s in the sentiment with a tiny dot from Simon Says Stamp.  The liquid sparkle took out some of the shaded dimensional effect of the rock and roll stamping … though it’s there if you look closely … and those balloons are deliciously shimmery!   The lovely (and uber talented) Therese at Lost In Paper made a set of splendid ‘over the top‘ designs recently where an element of each card stood out above it’s top fold … and it struck me that my balloon bouquet was made for such a technique (thanks for the inspiration, Therese!).  So … I trimmed out the finished balloon panel and adhered it to a base card cut especially to size … and the card still fits into a standard size envelope … perfect!

My twofer design is rather more unconventional …

… I turned my balloon image into pistacchio ice cream!  The sugar cone was created on an MFT Wonky Stitched panel (from my Lake House stash), using masking and a single line stamp from Winnie & Walter … and it was Copic coloured and shaded (thanks, Kara!).  After masking the top edge of the cone, I scooped the balloon into it and added some alcohol marker shading around the ice cream edges to give it a little dimension.  The image was overstamped with a sentiment from MFT … and real sprinkles (a freebie from our local supermarket in just the perfect colours!) finished it off … yum!  I sponged the edges of a base card to match the ice cream and popped the stitched panel up onto it on craft foam.

How about playing along with some of your own balloon images … we’d love to see your cards in our gallery!  You can find out everything you need to know in the rules and FAQs over at the Twofer blog.  There’s a whole heap of scrumptious inspiration to enjoy while you’re there too … from our talented Guest Designers, Julie from Handcrafted By Jules and Lucy from Little Scraps Of Lucy …….  and from our brilliant DT.  BTW, do go over for a visit with both Julie and Lucy … you won’t want to miss all the loveliness they have on offer!

My balloon bouquet is drifting off to …

CAS(E) This Sketch – See Below … turned upside down!

Day Of The Month Card Club – I Want You To Be Happy Day … a new, fresh and fun blog on the block from Cornelia, Gundi and Rosi … what a brilliant idea for a challenge!  Do check it out if you haven’t already!  As Winnie The Pooh said ‘ no-one can be uncheered with a balloon’!

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Special Day … any day with joy in it is special!

Papercraft Challenges – Clean And Simple

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Whatever The Weather … my balloons are floating off on a breeze!

Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes … to me, those soft colours and shimmer make this a feminine card … and it is a bouquet of balloons!

… and there’ll be a tasting of my ice cream at …

AAA Cards – One Plus Three (no optional friends twist) … one sentiment plus stamped scoop of ‘pistacchio ice cream’, Copic coloured cone, matted stitched panel.

Addicted to Stamps and More – Anything Goes

Day Of The Month Card Club – I Want You To Be Happy Day … ice cream and sprinkles … who wouldn’t be happy!

Winnie & Walter’s Leading Lady Challenge #4 – Altering Stamped Images With Masking

You may know we’ve had internet/phone issues for a while … heaps upon heaps of intermittent outages culminating in almost a week with no access at all … it’s been just a smidge wearing!   Orange (our service providers) lent us an Airbox on Thursday afternoon to get us online again till it’s all fixed … and I’ve been having fun and being inspired since, catching up with everyone.  So for now,  I’m around and about … if it goes quiet again, you’ll know there’s a technician up a telephone pole somewhere in rural France!  As ever, thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

            

                 

               

Twofer Card Challenge #7 – Beverage

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to our July Twofer Card Challenge … where our theme this month will have your taste buds tingling … it’s …

and here’s where my creativity took me …

My stamp in common here is a glass of wine from a set by Stampendous called Wine Buff (no longer available, I believe) … a conventional use on the first card … and something rather unconventional on the second.  Here’s a closer look at each.

For my anniversary card, the glasses and the sentiment (SSS) were heat embossed in liquid platinum onto the card base.  I coloured the images with alcohol markers, making the wine into ceIebratory pink champagne (fit for the occasion!), which was covered with shimmer and had a layer of glossy accents added over the top.  The bubbles are jewel drops.  To finish, I craft foam mounted a card panel over the image, that had been die cut with a peek a boo window (MFT).

My Twofer …

For my hello card, with a little careful masking and doodling, I turned the wine glasses into a couple of cute monsters.  They were coloured with alcohol markers, trimmed out, shimmered, covered with glossy accents … and have enamel accent eyes.  They were popped up on craft foam on a Mama Elephant heat embossed pathway … and as you can see, they were so pleased to see each other that shimmery, glossy accented hearts appeared between them.  It’s how they express themselves … after all they have no arms to hug with!  I adhered the monster panel to a card base that had been washi-ed round the edges.

Voilà … my two distinctly different designs … for two distinctly different occasions … using the same stamp!

How might you interpret ‘Beverage’?  We’d love to see you in our gallery with your two takes on it!  All the details you need are over at the Twofer blog … along with plenty of thirst quenching ideas from the DT to spark your imagination.  We’re delighted to have two Guest Designers with us this month … welcome to Bonnie from Stamping With Klass and Marianne from Marianne’s Cards ‘n Stuff.  Do go and have a visit with both Bonnie and Marianne … you’ll find so much glorious inspiration to get those creative juices flowing … and you can always leave them some love while you’re there!

My champagne is going to be bubbling over at …

CAS-ual Fridays – Heat Embossing

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Summer Fun … pink champagne at a summer picnic … yum!

… and my monsters are heading to …

CAS(E) This Sketch – Below … turned landscape and with a little stretch!

CAS-ual Fridays – Heat Embossing

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Summer Fun … the chance to spend time with friends!

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

        

         

A Flower Filled Vase … and a Birthday Package

Hello … bonjour!  I had some crafty time yesterday afternoon … and have a couple of cards to share as a result.  Can’t say the stamps I used to make them are NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff in Darnellese) … though they hadn’t been played with a great deal and were in need of some TLC, so p’raps they could be called BUGs … Barely Used Goodies!   Here’s the first …

A white panel, masked off along the side and lightly sponged/faded out with Distress Ink.  A vase mask acted a guide as to where to stamp (and secondary stamp) the floral arrangement, I die cut a new white vase and adhered it flat when the stamping was done, and then added the sentiment.  All the goodies are from MFT‘s Beautiful Blooms.  The panel was popped up on craft foam onto the card base and I added a scattering of Lucy’s Rainbow Jewels to finish off.

This is heading to (badges at the bottom) …

AAA Cards – Masking

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

MFT Color – Coral Crush, Spearmint, Green Eyed Monster, Blueberry (my closest colours)

MFT Wednesday Sketch – See Below

SSS Wednesday – Add a Sentiment

My second card is a very CAS twist on brown paper packages tied up with string (did that have you breaking into song?) …

Another white panel, this time stamped and clear heat embossed with Papertrey‘s No Strings Attached … and then run through my Cuttlebug with a polka dot embossing folder.  The tag was done separately.  I heat embossed the sentiment (also Papertrey) so the colour would resist the yellow, stamped the tag over it and trimmed it out, and thanks to the magic of MISTI, was able to add the right bit of the bow to the top.  The finished tag was adhered onto the polka dots, so it has a little dimension.

My gift is going to be opened over at (badges at the bottom) …

CAS(E) This Sketch – See below for Chrissie’s sketch … mine’s a minimalist interpretation!

Color Throwdown – Hot Pink, Lime Green, Yellow

Create Along With Us – Release Week Challenge … Inspired by Keeway’s cool, crisp, graphic inspiration using the new Hey Stacks stamps, on Day 5 of the August Release (it’s below).

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Wednesday – Add a Sentiment

That’s it from me for now … wishing you a wonderful week ahead!  I have a little (well more than a little really) catching up to do … so will see you over the next couple of days!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                

         

         

         

Save

Papertrey Make It Monday – 20 March, CAS(E) This Sketch #214, Addicted to Stamps & More #234, AAA Cards #86, SSS Monday – 20 March

Hello … bonjour!  It’s been a weekend of I’ve-not-played-there-for-a-while … yesterday was the Papertrey Blog Hop, today it’s Papertrey’s Make It Monday (among others).  Stephanie’s first MIM video showed a great technique for making window chipboard sentiments … don’t remember seeing that done before, so thought I’d give it a try …

I used the stamp set One Big Happy for all the flowers, leaves and supplementary sentiment … and the accompanying die, stacked up, for the window sentiment.  The images didn’t pop enough when stamped to make the white die cut stand out, so I added some highlights with coloured crayons and a white gel pen … and Wink of Stella’d the happy … much better!  This is what it looks like inside …

… plenty of space to write a message and finish off with ‘happy birthday’!  Thanks for a fun technique, Stephanie … and a great video!

I’m playing along with

Papertrey Make it Monday – Window Chipboard Sentiments

CAS(E) This Sketch – See Below … turned upside down (hope that’s ok, if not please delete!)

Addicted to Stamps & More – CAS

AAA Cards – Die Cuts

SSS Monday – Layer It Up … the stacked up happy

Hope you had chance to get crafty this weekend!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

                 

Save

Save

Happy Birthday, Bev! CAS(E) This Sketch #190, CAS-ual Fridays #156, Fusion – 8 September, Happy Little Stampers Dies – September, SSS Wednesday – 14 September

Hello … bonjour!  I’m celebrating today with one of the sweetest souls in blogland … I know you’ll know her from her delicious blog, Happy Dance … and if you don’t, you really need to!  Happy, happy, happiest birthday, Bev, ma chère amie … may your day be filled with joy, love and laughter … and may your year to come be blessed with the closeness of family, the warmth of friends, and the delights of new discoveries!  I made this for you, which might or might not have already arrived … if it’s not already with you, it’s pretty close …

A white card panel, stamped with the most delicious delicate leaf sprig from Concord & 9th‘s Wildflower set (NBUS!).  It was coloured with Distress Ink and Zigs and the panel was trimmed down so that a couple of the leaves just peek out over the top edge.  The sentiment (SSS) has the die cut word ombré sponged and stacked on craft foam, and the supplementary black strips white heat embossed and popped up on foam tape.  I sponged a slender black frame onto the card base, adhered the finished panel over it with craft foam, and added some clear sequins with enamel accent centres to finish off.

Bev’s card is heading to …

CAS(E) this Sketch – See Below … with a changed orientation!

CAS-ual Fridays – Dimension and Bling

Fusion – See Below … I used the inspiration picture colours of green, black and white

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS Wednesday – Clean and Simple

… the badges/links are all at the end of this post.

ETA … was going to link to the new Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge, but realised just in time that there’s a limit on the number of additional challenges … oops!

Before I go, there’s just one more thing to do.  As you may know, Bev throws the most amazing virtual birthday parties … but as it’s her special day, she won’t be doing that for herself.  So, here’s a little surprise get together for her … the table’s set … the champagne’s poured …

         

the food’s all ready … and of course, there’s a yummy birthday cake … help yourself!

          

I never thought last year’s gift could be topped, Bev … THE craft island … which for those of you who never saw it looks like this …

however, I did find something to complement it, just in case you feel like a change of crafting scenery!  Joyeux Anniversaire, sweet friend … enjoy every moment!

It’s lovely of all of you to be here for Bev‘s party … it makes the celebration so much fun … and you can always pop over to Happy Dance if you’d like to wish her a happy birthday in person … which I’m sure you would!

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

                   

        

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Happy Birthday, Darnell! Addicted to Stamps & More #200, CAS(E) this Sketch #179, Seize the Birthday – 30 June, SSS Wednesday – 29 June

Hello … bonjour … and Happy Birthday, Darnell!  We all know her (and if you don’t you really should!), we all love her … she’s a truly wonderful soul!  In blogland, she’s sweet, thoughtful, funny, delightful, generous, caring, clever, charming, creative … and if ever you have the good fortune to meet her, you’ll find she’s exactly the same in real life … only better because she’s there with you!  Oh, and she’s kind to furry animals too … especially hamsters!  Wishing you the Happiest Birthday, ma chère amie … may you be blessed with love, joy, fun and laughter today and always!  Your card is on it’s way … might even be with you by now … but just in case it hasn’t arrived yet, I thought you might like to see it on your big day …

The bright sunny ‘happy’ represents Darnell in her amazing Playhouse … she’s surrounded by all the lovely flora and foliage of her gorgeous garden … and if you look really closely, you might see Hammy peeking out from behind the lower cluster of flowers.  Or is he … ???  In homage to Darnell‘s campaign to reduce the size of Mount NBUS worldwide (Never Before Used Schtuff), I’ve been saving these Papertrey images until now … this is their first public inking (there’s been lots of private practice, but you really don’t want to see any of that).  I couldn’t capture the Wink of Stella that makes the sentiment and tiny blooms shimmer, but it’s there … as are the miniscule pearls!   If you haven’t already, do hop over to the Playhouse and leave the Birthday Girl some birthday love … and if you haven’t had the joy of meeting Darnell before, then delay no longer … go … your day and life will be better as a result!  Looks as though Hammy’s ready to party … very handsome … just get there before he starts on the cake … oops, too late …

         

As well as heading to the Playhouse, Darnell‘s card is also joining in at …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Happy Birthday … congratulations due here too, to Kylie and the DT … 4th anniversay and 200 challenges … here’s to many, many more!

CAS(E) this Sketch – See Below … orientation is changed, but the wreath-iness around the sentiment is there … hope that’s ok!

Seize the Birthday – No Toppings

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes

Life has been a smidge busy here so I’m still playing catch up …. and am getting there … if you haven’t seen me recently, you will over the weekend!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

         

Save

Save

The Challenge #66 – Featured Designer, CAS(E) this Sketch #165, TE Share Joy #28, Little Tangles #66, Seize The Birthday – 24 March

Hello … bonjour … hope you had a Blessed and Joyful Easter!  I’m here for the last time today as Featured Designer over at The Challenge … it’s been so much fun and an honour to have joined Lesley and the DT for the whole month … such amazing talent in this fabulous group of crafters … and such wonderful, inspirational challenge photo’s!   Thanks so much for having me, ladies, it’s been a delight!   We have a masculine theme this time round (the fabulous picture is below) … here’s my take on it …

My stash is nautically challenged … but I was so taken with the images and those delicious blue hues that I wanted to capture the overall sense of the ocean!  I used Papertrey‘s Ombre Builders to create the ombré waves across a white card panel, added a stacked SSS ‘smile’ die cut so it would bob about on them (as a life saver would!) and adhered a flag shaped secondary sentiment (also SSS) alongside.  The miniscule pops of red in the die cut and at the end of the flag mimic the edge of the wavy navy pillow in the photo!  I sponged the edges of a card base with Distress Ink and popped the panel up on craft foam over it … voilà!

There are so many different elements to this gorgeous inspiration photo … what takes your eye?  You can choose to focus on any or all of them … or just use it as a prompt to spark your creative imagination.  We’d love to see what you come up with … hope you’ll join us in the gallery!  All the details are over at The Challenge … along with plenty of wonderful ideas from the fabulous DT!

I’m playing along with …

CAS(E) this Sketch – see below … such a cool sketch!

TE Share Joy – Clean and Simple

Little Tangles – Ombré

Seize The Birthday – Water

After being up to my eyes in alligators for a while, I’ve at last begun to make my way around blogland … I’ve missed you all … and all the gorgeous cards you’ve been making!  What a wonderful voyage of discovery awaits … see you soon!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

          

         

The Challenge #65 – Featured Designer, A2Z Scrapbooking – March, Addicted to CAS #84, CAS(E) this Sketch #164, Uniko #30

Hello … bonjour!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend!  I’m so happy to be here for my third week as Featured Designer over at The Challenge.  This time, we have a gorgeous photo inspiration to get your creative juices going.  It’s a little further down … here’s where I went with it …

… and here’s the lovely inspiration …

My focus was on those vibrant colours in the stack of books and on those beautiful blooms.  I used Hero Arts‘ Spring Hello by Lia to stamp and white heat emboss the sentiment and the cascade of sweet flowers onto the top third of a card panel … and then had fun with Distress Inks.  Don’t you just love that moment when the embossed images start to pop as you sponge and blend over the DI?  I mixed up some Brilliance white pigment ink with a little water, did some gentle splattering with a refilled Wink of Stella brush and then added some Star Dust Stickles to the centres of the flowers.  The panel was trimmed down and popped up on the card base on craft foam.  Couldn’t capture the full impact of the shimmeriness in the photo … IRL it’s really pretty!

What catches your eye in this beautiful picture … the colours, those soft peonies, the touches of gold, the graphic shapes … or is there some other detail that that captures your imagination?  We’d love to see how you’re inspired … and have you join in with us!  All the details are over at The Challenge … along with loads of wonderful ideas from the amazing Design Team.  Do hope you’ll have chance to play along!

I’m linking up with …

A2Z Scrapbooking – Embossing … HA Spring Hello by Lia

Addicted to CAS – Delicate … that scripty sentiment font and sweet blooms!

CAS(E) this Sketch – See Below …  with the sketch inverted … too much of a stretch?

Uniko – Spring/Easter … I went with Spring

It was lovely to have chance to meander through blogland a little yesterday … there’s still so much inspiration I’ve not seen yet from last week … looking forward to seeing more … soon I hope!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                 

Muse #131, MFT Colour Challenge #28, CAS(E) This Sketch #139, SSS Wednesday 2/9

Hello!  Hope you’re having a fabulous weekend … especially those of you in the US where it’s a looooong one!  Popping in to share one of the cards I made today …

I white heat embossed a feather (from Waltzingmouse Stamps) three times onto a white card panel, added copious amounts of water to make a pool, dropped four different colours into it … and allowed them to wander and mingle (in a sociable kind of way!).  The SSS sentiment was heat embossed in silver on the card base, the feather panel was popped up on foam tape, and I added a scattering of sequins and gems.

These challenges inspired my card …

Muse – Our inspiration comes from my lovely friend Carol M (Just Me:C) … she’s super talented, sweet and so much fun … and has given us a fabulous feathery card to play with this week, it’s below.  I used Carol’s feathers-in-a-line theme … with rather a soft, delicate touch!

MFT Colour Challenge – Spearmint, Blu Raspberry, Tropical Teal, Wild Wisteria.  I’m MFT goodie limited (very limited … for now!), so used the nearest colours in my stash (HA Mint Julep, DI Tumbled Glass, DI Peacock Feathers, Memento Lulu Lavender) … hope that’s ok.

CAS(E) This Sketch – From Leigh Penner … another brilliant sketch for us to interpret.

SSS Wednesday – Make It Colourful … my colours are subtle … but there are four of them!

There are another couple of cards to come … one might arrive later, the other will definitely be tomorrow.  For now, I’m off for a gentle meander round blogland to see what everyone’s been up to!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

        

MFT Summer School #6, Muse #124, CAS(E) This Sketch #132, CAS-ual Fridays #141, SSS Monday 13/6 … and a Request!

Isn’t it fun when the challenge stars align?  That’s what happened today … I was inspired in so many places (and will explain later) … like to see?

I took a pierced rectangle from My Favorite Things (Lake House stash), stamped and heat embossed the daisies from Annabelle Stamps (sadly no longer operating), masked the image and used Distress Inks to sponge and blend the grass and sky.  Once the panel was dry, I coloured the daisies and leaves with Promarkers, added lots of Wink of Stella to the flower centres and topped it with a couple of coats of Glossy Accents.  The panel was used as a guide to position the Avery Elle sentiment, which was stamped and heat embossed onto the card base, and the panel was popped up on fun foam above it.

This is where my inspiration came from …

My Favorite Things Summer School Lesson 6 – Gallon (the blue sky), Quart (the green in the grass and leaves, Pint (the yellow daisy centres) … great teach-ins and tons of inspiration from MFT for this second session of Summer School … I’ve never consciously used G/Q/P, so the theory is new for me … maybe it’s because we use litres here (tee hee)!

Muse – Ardyth is our muse this week (an unexpected treat!) … her fun and whimsical card is below … my interpretation doesn’t take a lot of explaining, apart from saying that it has a little more white space, inspired by the sketch at …

CAS(E) This Sketch – N@Alie has given us a great sketch (below) … I used a little artistic license with the sentiment, but as some of the DT had too, I guessed that was ok!

CAS-ual Fridays – Embossing … there’s a new format for CF challenges … one theme, two styles … Clean and Simple or Utterly Adorable Layers (clever play on the name, huh?).  There are new DT members too (including my super talented friends Claire and Shona), so if you haven’t checked it out yet, you really don’t want to miss it!

SSS Monday – Anything Goes … don’t you just love the freedom of an Anything Goes challenge?

Finally tonight, a Request:  I have a recent follower, non blogger Kerstin from Sweden (Hi, Kerstin … delighted to have you along … you’re very welcome!) who has been on the hunt for the Stampendous Ranunculus Clear Stamp Set for ages, using all channels available, but without any luck.  Seems it may have been retired in favour of the wood block ranunculus bouquet, which is not what she’s after.  My set is fairly recent, so I’m not ready to part with it at the moment … but I’m appealing on behalf of Kerstin … is there anyone out there who has this set in their stash who would be willing to sell it?   If so, please contact Kerstin direct (kerstin at travelsite dot se … spam avoiding address … you know which bits to change!) … she’d be over the moon to hear from you!

Hope your weekend has been wonderful … thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂