Twofer Card Challenge #33 – Stars

Hello … bonjour! We’ve just started our last challenge of the year at Twofer … and we have a fun twist that you can use, if you’d like to (see below). In addition, for this month only, in the spirit of joy and giving, our beloved leader, the lovely Darnell, is offering prizes! Check out the Twofer blog for more details. This time round, we inviting you to get twinkling with …

Now … what’s the twist?  Usually at Twofer, your two different designs need to be for two different occasions.  However, because so many of us are working hard to get our Christmas cards made, for this month only, you have the option of foregoing the two different occasions element of our challenge.  So, you may enter two Christmas cards, just as long as your two designs are distinctly different … or you can carry on as usual with two different occasions … it’s up to you!

I chose not to twist and used a Simon Says Stamp die as my common element … there are three sizes of stars that act as flower heads on the twiggy sprigs on my birthday card … and two of the same sizes that appear around the manger on my Christmas card. Here’s a closer look at each one …

I used a Simon border die (retired) across the bottom third of a card panel to ground the stamped twigs (from Concord & 9th). The stars were cut from pearlised card for a little subtle shine (it’s more noticeable on the first photo) … and were adhered flat over the sprigs. I attached the panel to the card base and added a white-embossed-on-black stamped sentiment, plus a die cut and stacked black-over-white word from Simon to finish. Clean and layered I think.

My next card is almost one layer, clean and simple …

On this centred design, the larger star shines it’s light onto the love-filled manger while the smaller ones adorn the garland under the sentiment. The stamped images are all from Taylored Expressions except for the wreath, which is from Newton’s Nook. I did a little pencil colouring on the wreath, added sparkle and shine to the heart and doodled the dots of light with a stylus and gold ink pad. There’s much more shimmer than there appears to be on this photo … look …

How would you like to join us with your two distinctly different takes on stars … we’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  All the details about how to play, including rules/FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … together with heaps of fantastic inspiration from the DT and from our fabulous Guest Designers, Pia from Pia’s Paper and Pearls and Liz from Crafty Sunflower … welcome ladies!  Do go over and have a visit with Pia and Liz … you’re sure to enjoy all the wonderful design inspiration on display at both their blogs … and you can always say hello while you’re there too!

My twiggy, starry flowered sprigs are heading to …

Day Of The Month Club – Use Your Head Day (making flowers from stars used my head!)

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes (no 1, 2, 3 option)

Time Out – Festivals (with the glimmer option)

… and my Christmas manger is joining in at …

Clean and Simple on Friday – Christmas

NBUS – Anything Goes (the TE images are new)

Retro Rubber – Anything Goes (the wreath is much older than a year)

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

Twofer Card Challenge #28 Reminder – Circles/Bubbles

Hello … bonjour!  I’m popping by with some more inspiration to tempt you to play along with us at Twofer this month … there’s a whole week left for you to join in with …       

Here, I made use of Papertrey‘s Dot Spot stamp set (one of my first card making acquisitions … and still a favourite) … and chose the largest circle as my common image.  On the hello card, it became a warm, golden sun, set into a central circle frame, with the sentiment flowing along the bottom edge.  On the happy birthday card, it was joined by the other circles in the set in a geometric pattern cascading from top left to bottom right, with the sentiment set into the delicious white space that was left.  Here’s a closer look at each one …   I used three CP inks to create the ombré sun on the base card … and added a little sparkle with a coordinating gem in the middle.  The frame was cut with Hero Arts Infinity Dies (rectangle and circle) … and the sentiment (PTI … a gift from the lovely Bev … thanks my friend!) was stamped across both the frame and the base card to emphasise the scripty flow of the font.  I popped the frame up on craft foam over the sunny stamping … et voilà … done!

There’s a slightly crisper, cooler feel to my second card …

… though the colour palette is still a soft, feminine one.  I tested the inks and the pattern out on typing paper before stamping directly onto this one layer card.  The top right space was the perfect spot for a high impact, large sentiment (Simon Says Stamp) … which was overlapped slightly onto the circle stamping.  I added shimmer to the centre of each circle … and topped it with Glossy Accents … to create a lovely subtle sparkle (that you can just about see if you enlarge the photo).

I wondered if this design could also be made rather masculine … so did a little experimenting and came up with this …

A couple of colour changes … and some metallic silver Nuvo Drops … looks more rugged to me … what d’you think?

So … have you played along with us at Twofer this month?  If you haven’t, why not give it a go … and if you have, do feel free to play again.  We’d love to see your two distinctly different takes on Circles/Bubbles.  All the details, rules and FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … along with inspiration galore, both from the wonderful DT and from our talented Guest Designers, Jenny from My Paper Epiphany and Linda from Lin’s Craft Corner.  Hope to see you in our gallery!

My sunshine-y hello is heading to …

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Inkspirational – Yellow Paint Photo (below)

Just Us Girls – Frame It

NBUS – Anything Goes … the hello sentiment is new to me

Uniko – Anything Goes … with the Bright and Happy option

… the birthday greetings are going to …

Day of the Month Card Club – Repeat Day

Papercraft Challenges – Geometric

… and the thinking of you card is joining in at …

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Something Metallic

My twofer is also playing with …

Vesela Hiška (Happy House) – Dvojni Izziv (A Double Challenge) … where the Design Team is running a Twofer style challenge this month … ‘two different designs, two different occasions, using the same stamp, die or stencil’.  Do feel free to link up your twofer there too!

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

          

          

         

Twofer Challenge #28 – Circles/Bubbles

Hello … bonjour!  It’s the 10th of the month … and that means it’s time for a brand new challenge at Twofer … this time around, we’re inviting you to play with …

My common images here are a couple of circle stamps from Simon Says Stamp‘s Lots of Dots set.  On my hello card, they were joined by a whole load of other sized circles from the same set … stamped randomly to create a lower third border that’s kind of bubbly.  The second card (heureux anniversaire … happy birthday in French) features the circles stamped in a geometric pattern on a central panel.  How about a closer look at each one …

I drew faint pencil lines to act as a general guide for my individually stamped overlapping line art circles … and erased them once the stamping was done.  The secondary sentiment (WPlus9) was white heat embossed onto a slender strip of black card that was adhered flat over the bubbly background.  I cut the hello (SSS) from a left over piece of watercolour paper that had been rainbow coloured for a different project, stacked it up on another four die cuts and adhered it over the black strip.  Crisp and CAS with a pop of colour!

My second card features just two of the circles …

… stamped one inside the other to create a cool pattern.  They were watercoloured with CP inks using a subtle, masculine colour palette.  I added a couple of twine tied Simply Graphic leafy sprigs (adhered just where they intersected to allow them to drift free), stamped the sentiment which translates as Happy Birthday (also Simply Graphic) and popped the panel up onto an Oyster Grey card base.

How about joining us with your two distinctly different takes on circles/bubbles … we’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  Details of how to play along, including rules and FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … along with plenty of delicious inspiration from the DT and from our fabulous Guest Designers, Jenny from My Paper Epiphany and Linda from Lin’s Craft Corner.  Do go and check out Jenny’s and Linda’s twofers … they’re brilliant!   You can enjoy a wander around their blogs while you’re there … and maybe say hello too … they’ll be delighted to hear from you!

My first card is saying hello at …

Day Of The Month Club – Repeat Day

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act

… the second is heading to …

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes (no Summer topping)

Simon Says Stamp Monday – It’s A Man Thing

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Masculine

… and my twofer is also joining in at …

Vesela Hiška (Happy House) – Dvojni Izziv (A Double Challenge) … a fun idea adopting the same principles as Twofer (two different designs, two different occasions, using the same stamp, die or stencil) … thank you ladies!

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

     

    

          

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 🙂