A New Challenge At Time Out – #150 – We Challenge You To Be … Merry And Cheerful!

Hello … bonjour!  Our festive new challenge has just started at Time Out … and this fortnight We Challenge You To Be … Merry And Cheerful!  Here’s my CAS take on it …

This graphic, shimmery tree is courtesty of Uniko (Rustic Christmas).  I stamped it directly onto the card base, heat embossed it ombré style using three blue hued embossing powders, then added a layer of holographic EP for sparkle.  The frame was cut with a die from Simply Graphic, heat embossed in the same blues as the tree and adhered to the base.  I finished off with a star atop the tree and a simple sentiment, also from Uniko (Background Builders:  Christmas).  How about a glance at all that shimmer … 

        

How will you interpret ‘merry and bright’?  We’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  This time round, we’re sponsored by Uniko (thanks, Bev!) … our winner, as voted for by the DT, will receive an in stock stamp set of their choice … and will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  Details are over at Time Out … where you’ll find heaps of inspiring ideas from our fabulous DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Angie from Cimbacreativefun.  Why not pop over for a visit with Angie … you’ll find a wealth of wonderful inspiration … and you can always say hello while you’re there!

My shimmery, CAS Christmas tree is heading to …

Fusion – Christmas (below) … inspired by the trees (though I’d happily have that Citroen 2CV!)

Just Us Girls – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Let’s Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Traditional Christmas (Christmas trees are traditional!)

Uniko – Christmas … with the tree option

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

                 

        

A New Challenge At Time Out – #137 – Nature

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to a delicious new challenge at Time Out … this fortnight we have a theme for you to play with … Nature … with the option of making a one layer card.  Here’s where I went with it …

This card was inspired by a video I saw recently from the fabulous Carissa Wiley at Sprinkled With Glitter … she has a fun name for using outline images against coloured backgrounds … anti-colouring!  If you like the idea, do check out her post here … it’s soooo worth a visit.  Have  a meander too while you’re there … inspiration abounds!   There are a quite a few examples of this technique across blogland …  though it was Carissa’s colourful cards that really caught my attention.  By necessity, this isn’t one layer … though the stripes (Uniko – Wonky Stripes Stencil) are stencilled direct onto the card base.  I masked the edges of the card to retain a white border and used Distress Inks for the rainbow colours.  The daisy (Uniko – Pure Florals: Gerbera) was stamped onto matching card, I cut it and some craft foam with the matching die (Pure Florals: Gerbera), adhered the two together and mounted the finished, dimensional bloom over the bright stripes.  I added the Simon sentiment and finished with some sparkling sequins filled with shimmery Stickles.

        

How will you interpret our Nature theme … and will you use our optional one layer twist?  There are so many ways you can be inspired by the natural world … we’d love to see what you create in our gallery.  This time around, we’re sponsored by Uniko (thanks, Bev!) … Bev is offering an in stock stamp of choice to a randomly drawn player who uses the one layer twist.  As usual, our overall winner will be chosen by the DT … and will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  Details are over at the Time Out blog … along with loads of fabulous inspiration from our brilliant DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Lise from Lise Mariann.  Why not pop over for a visit with Lise … you’ll enjoy wandering through some wonderfully detailed, amazing scenes while you’re there!

My gerbera is going to be blooming over at …

AAA Cards – Birthday … many congratulations on five fabulous years … and thanks so for all                                           your hard work in bringing us so many fun and inspiring challenges!

Addicted to Stamps and More – Clean and Simple

Fusion – Inspiration Picture (Below) … the rainbow colours on those sweet birds!

Uniko – Anything Goes … no masculine option

Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes

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

      

                 

A Few Florals!

Hello … bonjour!  Hope you’re having a good summer or winter, depending where you are … and a happy weekend.  I have three cards to share today … and I’m delighted to be blogging them before the deadlines pass on challenges I’d like to link up with!  First into the spotlight,  a fresh card that turned out to be especially QACAS (quick and clean and simple in Darnellese) …

I won a GC from Altenew recently via Therese at Lost in Paper (thanks, Therese!) … and this one layer card was made with one of the sets I got with it.   I used the rock and roll technique to stamp the flower heads in two blues … it added a little dimension and some extra definition to the edges.  The flower centres were done in the darker of the two blues and I added the grey leaves … before finishing with the shiny heat embossed sentiment and a touch of stickles in the middle of each bloom. Forget me nots?  They look a bit like that to my eyes!

I’m playing along with (badges are at the bottom of the post) …

Altenew – Inspiration/Colours (below)

Inkspirational – An Under 10 Minute Card … it was close, 9’51 as I added the last Stickles!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

Next up, some rainbow-y goodness …

A watercoloured rainbow panel with a Poppy Stamps bloom die cut from it and inset into it, adhered flat to a white mat with a WPlus9 sentiment stamped along the bottom edge.  I scored lines onto the card base before mounting the finished panel onto it on craft foam and adding a couple of tiny black pearls to the flower centres.

I’m joining in at (badges are at the bottom of the post) …

AAA Cards – Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Poppy Stamps – Birthday Party

Seize The Birthday – Stripes … the scored ones

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

Finally, a bright, summery, colourful little number …

Another one layer card, this time stamp layered with the second set I got with my Altenew GC.  The sentiment is from Winnie and Walter and the supplementary greeting is from Simon Says Stamp.  I added some black gel pen dots to the flower centres and a fine black line along the crease edge to tie them in to the black greeting.

These florals are going to be blooming at (badges are at the bottom of the post) …

Fusion – Inspiration (below) … all those lovely colours at that summer picnic

Seize The Birthday – No Option … unless a line counts as a stripe!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

That’s it for me … I’ll be back on Thursday with a little something for the new challenge starting then at Time Out.  In the meantime, thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

 

                  

                   

                   

Twofer Card Challenge #2

Hello … bonjour!  It’s time to get excited all over again … our next Twofer Card Challenge starts right now!  Thanks to your ingenuity and creativity, our first gallery was chock full of fabulous cards showcasing two different designs … for two different occasions … using the same stamps and/or dies.  How about stretching those creative muscles again this month?  This time round, our word prompt is …       Here’s where I went with my Twofer …

The thing that these two CAS cards have in common is the Concord & 9th die cut heart … all the other elements are distinctly different.  Here’s a closer look at each one …

         

Here, I made the hearts into delicate flowers … using just the outline cuts turned upside down and adhered along the centre line to a kraft card base.  They’re folded up a little to add interest and dimension.  The stems are made from very slender strips of cardstock, attached flat to the base.  I white heat embossed a birthday sentiment from Winnie & Walter … and added a drift of enamel accent dots to mimic seed heads floating in a summer breeze.

My Twofer …

This time I used a series of whole hearts in my design.  They were cut from a piece of card that had been rainbow watercoloured with Distress Inks … and were adhered flat to a panel of black cardstock in a graphic pattern.  The Sending Hugs sentiment was made up of two dies from SSS and I added a Lucy’s Little Gem to each heart (to match the background colour).  The panel was trimmed down and popped up on craft foam onto a white card base … the white border ties the white sentiment into the design.

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

So … will you let your creative imagination run wild with ‘Hearts’?  We’d love to see your two distinctly different cards … for two distinctly different occasions … using the same stamps/dies … in our gallery!  All the information you need, including timescales, guidelines, rules and FAQs,  along with loads of fantastic inspiration from the wonderful DT … is over at the Twofer blog … it’s just a click away!  Hope you can join us!

My birthday card is celebrating at …

CAS on Friday – Use a Die

CAS-ual Fridays – Hearts, Hearts and More Hearts

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Seize The Birthday – No Candle Topping

Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes

… and my watercolour hearts are hugging at …

CAS Watercolour – Heart

Fusion – Stained Glass Hearts Inspiration (below)

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Optional Twist Hearts

SSS Monday – Love Is In The Air

SSS Wednesday – It Must Be Love

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

               

         

         

         

A Little Monochrome … And Some Watercolouring

Hello … bonjour!  Hope your weekend has been a great one … and that you’ve had chance to spend some of it creating.  I had a bit of time to play … and have four cards to share … first up, something rather crisp and clean …

A panel stamped with Papertrey‘s Doodlie-Do flowers and leaves and coloured with Promarkers … all in various grey tones.  The sentiment is also from Papertrey, the happy was embossed, the birthday was die cut twice and stacked.  I might add some bling or shine to the panel … it seems a little naked as is!

I’m playing along at (all the badges are at the bottom) …

Papertrey Make It Monday – Monochrome Colour Pop

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Happy Birthday … congratulations to the SSSM team on seven fabulous years!

The Flower Challenge – Focus on Background Stamping

Next, something with a little more colour …

This is a panel from my Lake House stash (thanks to Ardyth I think) … masked/stamped with the Mondo Peony from Essentials By Ellen.  I watercoloured it with my Zigs, stamped a sentiment from Avery Elle, did a little Black Soot DI splattering, scattered on some Lucy’s Little Jewels and adhered it flat to a card base.

This is heading to (all the badges are at the bottom) …

Essentials By Ellen Mix It Up Challenge – Avery Elle

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Bloom Optional Twist

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Happy Birthday

ETA:  Thanks to a prompt from my lovely friend Barb, I’m also linking the above card up at

Addicted to CAS – One Layer

Here’s something else flowery and watercolour-y …

Concord & 9th blooms, white heat embossed and watercoloured with Zigs, in soft summery shades, with a sentiment from Recollections (a gift from the lovely Barb when we met last year during her visit to France).

This is going over to (all the badges are at the bottom) …

Carte Maniak –  Embossage Blanc et Aquarelles/White Embossing with Watercolours

Fusion – Inspiration (below) … I used the soft colours of the markers

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Bloom Optional Twist

Where Creativity Meets C9 – Anything Goes (celebrating two awesome years of Concord & 9th)

Finally this evening, you’ve probably seen the Simply Graphic die delights that Maria has been showcasing … if not, go, right now … I’ll wait till you get back … they’re here, here and here.  Told ya … now, wasn’t that worth the detour?  So, I happened to mention in a comment that I share Maria’s love of this stylish company … and how the SG page in my wish book includes practically the whole line … and she promptly sent me a whole selection of delicious cuts.  Merci mille fois, encore, Maria!  This is the second card I’ve made with them (you’ll notice it has some similarities to one of those you’ve just seen over at Maria’s place) … not posted the first yet …

A panel of smooshed-with-Zigs watercolour paper, trimmed to size, acting as a bright backdrop for those swoonable SG abstract flowers.  The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter (I used a white gel pen for the ‘i’ as it fell perfectly over the stem) … and the frame is another of the goodies from my SG envelope (slightly reduced in size).

This little pretty is joining in the fun at (all the badges are at the bottom)  …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Clean & Simple

CAS on Friday – Birthday

Muse – Anita’s Inspiration … below, I reversed the bloom/background

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Happy Birthday

That’s it from me for the weekend … might be back in a couple of days … if not, I’ll see you on Thursday for a new and fun challenge at Time Out!  Anita 🙂

                   

                   

                   

            

NB:  Where Creativity Meets C9 … badge shows in draft, but no matter what I do, it doesn’t show up in the post!  If you can shed any light, I’d be grateful!  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

Time Out #42 Mid Challenge Reminder, Sparkle and Shine #16, Fusion 15/10, CAS-ual Fridays #144, Addicted to CAS# 74

Hello!  I’m popping by with a gentle reminder that there’s still plenty of time to play along with us at our latest Time Out challenge, where we’re inspired by a cool and fun ‘Home Sweet Home’ photo, just a little further down.   Here’s my take …

and here’s the cool, graphic and slightly spooky inspiration …

This time round, my focus was on the colour scheme, the shine on those stands and the graphic shapes.  I stamped and heat embossed the Papertrey sketched banner direct on the card base and gradient sponged Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink over it.  The little ‘hello’ is from SSS, stamped on a Papertrey scalloped circle, covered with Wink of Stella and coated with lashings of Glossy Accents … it’s mounted on a black, clear heat embossed circle from MFT.  I popped the little badge up on foam tape over the banner and added some gem embellished sequins as a finishing touch.

Where does your imagination take you when you look at this photo … colours, patterns, texture, shine … or anything else you see!  Where ever it goes, why not make a card and play along with us … we’d love to see you in the gallery!   There’s heaps of inspiration over at the Time Out blog, from our talented Guest Designer TaeEun (Rainbow In November) and from our wonderful DT.  Hope to see you there!

I’m joining in the fun at some other spooky and non spooky inspired challenges …

Sparkle and Shine – photo below (my first time!)

Fusion – photo below

CAS-ual Fridays – Tic Tac Toe (Distressing, Sparkling, Embossing)

Addicted to CAS – Sparkle

I’ll be back later with another Surprise Party Guest post for Seize the Birthday … hope you’ll come by for that!  In the meantime though, thanks so much for your visits and comments, they’re always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

         

Papertrey November Blog Hop Challenge, Less is More #199 (Jingle All The Way), Fusion 20/11 (Sparkly Christmas), Uniko Studio #16 (Christmas Anything Goes)

You may remember I made a whole four cards at the Lake House with the BABES … you’ve seen three … and I’ve been holding onto this last one, waiting for exactly the right moment.  That moment has arrived …

These Papertrey Circle Scribbles (cut with Kim‘s dies … thanks, my friend!) put me in mind of a kind of funky modern take on snowballs (or even snowflakes) … especially after they’d been embossed with Ranger Platinum EP to make them all dimensional.  Once I’d arranged them on the card front, they were adhered into place and the overhanging edges were trimmed off.  Then I deliberated (goodness, we deliberated!) about where to put the sentiment.  Some time later, I found this sweet little stamp in the collective stash (sorry, BABES, don’t know whose it was!) and it fitted perfectly into the middle of the medium sized snowball … job done … one snowy, shimmery, silvery, Christmas card!

I’m playing along with …

Papertrey’s November Blog Hop – Snow

Less Is More – Jingle All The Way (anything Christmassy)

Fusion – Sparkly Christmas (how gorgeous is that circle of sparkly silver jingle bells below)

Uniko Studio – Christmas Anything Goes

Off for a quick tour of the blogosphere before bed … thanks so much for coming by, as ever, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

         

CASology #107 (Stripe), Fusion #31/7 (The Beach House), Paper Smooches SPARKS #3/8 (Anything Goes), SSS Wednesday #6/8 (Make It Sparkle)

It’s been a bit quiet here on the old blog for a while … life’s been a bit over-full dealing with the after effects of a lightning strike on the house last Saturday.  Now, we have most services back … internet (obviously!), phone, power and hot water (blissful!) … and hope the rest (plus the replacement of our frazzled electrical goods) will be sorted quickly.  Keeping things in perspective, it is only ‘stuff’ … we’re blessed it wasn’t us that got frazzled!  Anyway, last night, after a few evenings of lovely visits round the blogosphere, I was (almost) not behind with visiting everyone, so I sat down in my craft corner, breathed a little, and made this …

I die cut the Paper Smooches ‘thanks’, topped it with Stickles and added a coat of Glossy Accents (very sparkly!).  The Avery Elle brush strokes were stamped onto a white panel and the flowers and leaves (also AE) were stamped onto separate card.  I trimmed out the flowers and leaves, adhered them to the white panel on different height foam dots, and added tiny pearls to the flower centres.  The posy took a bit of arranging … which was fine because by the time I’d at last decided on a final look, the glittery thanks was dry, so I added that over the brush strokes and popped the finished white panel onto a card base with foam tape.

I’m joining in with …

CASology – Stripe (the brush strokes and have a close look at those blooms!)

Fusion – Beach House (colours from the table in the gorgeous inspiration photo … flowers, cupcakes, melons … and the shimmer from the light you can just see hanging above it.)

Paper Smooches SPARKS – Anything Goes (die cut thanks)

SSS Wednesday – Make It Sparkle (I did, with Stickles!)

ETA:  Oops, Mr Linky’s door had already closed at PSS … there’s always next time!

Hope your week’s been calmer than ours … hoping for a more peaceful one ahead!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

         

Fusion #8 (Colourful Chevrons), Moxie Fab World (Hip On Handwriting), A Blog Named Hero #42 (Layer Cake), Keep It Simple #38 (Bright Spark), SSS Monday 21/4 (Big Stamp)

I’ve had a bit of a card making fest today, so I apologise in advance … there’ll be a few posts appearing this afternoon and evening.  I’ll keep it all as CAS as possible (!) … here’s the first …

I was inspired here by the photo at Fusion … coloured, chevron patterned paper straws (see below).  As I used a big Hero Arts stamp for the background, I’m also playing along with A Blog Named Hero’s Layer Cake (second time) and Simon Says Stamp Monday‘s Big Stamp week.  The shimmery die cut hello fits nicely into Moxie Fab World’s Hip on Handwriting challenge and lastly, I’m joining in with Keep It Simple‘s Bright Spark theme.

I stamped the HA background in Versamark on a white card panel and clear embossed it.   Actually, I stamped it twice because the first time I didn’t press down hard enough to transfer the ink … and when I did it a second time, the pattern wasn’t quite matched up (ever tried to do that with a big solid background stamp?  Yikes!).  When it was embossed, though, I quite liked the pattern, so I used it!  The rainbow of inks were sponged over the chevrons and the panel was trimmed to size.  I die cut the ‘hello’ four times in black, adhered them all together, clear embossed them and added a liberal coat of Wink of Stella.  I cut the same hello out of the card panel, adhered the panel to the card base and slotted the dimensional word into place.  Strips of black card top and bottom were the finishing touches … and I still have a multicoloured hello to use somewhere else!

I’m off to link up … and I’ll be back!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂