A Pretty Posy!

Hello … bonjour!  It’s been a while since I just played along with a few challenges … actually it’s been a looooong time, I checked … all the way back to August last year.  There’ve been DT cards here in the meantime and they’re always heaps of fun to do, but this evening, I just played … it was quite liberating!  Here’s the pretty posy I came up with, inspired by a few challenges …

This one layer card was stamped with some of my favourite Papertrey stylised blooms from a set called One Big Happy, which I think was a giveaway during a Stamp-a-faire a few years ago and is no longer available.  I paired it with a Papertrey favourite sentiment set, Birthday Cheer.  My colours of navy and yellow (with a neutral for the leaves) were inspired by the 8th birthday celebration at Less Is More … congratulations, ladies, here’s to many more successful years!  Everything was simply stamped (after masking where necessary) and I added white dots on the petals and black dots on the flower centres.  I thought of adding a sequin/gem/jewel drop or three but came to the conclusion that these lovely bold colours are enough to carry the design as it is.  Voilà!

Here’s where I’m playing along …

AAA Cards – One Layer … without the love option

Less Is More – Navy and Yellow … if the addition of a neutral isn’t ok, please feel free to delete

Papertrey – Laurie’s Fabulous Favourites … One Big Happy is mine this week.

Short and sweet tonight … thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

A New Challenge At Time Out – #106 – Home Sweet Home Inspiration

Hello … bonjour … it’s Time Out time!  We had a glorious gallery full of delicious cards to celebrate our 4th birthday this last fortnight, thank you!  This time round, we have a gorgeous, spring like Home Sweet Home photograph to inspire you to join us … it’s a little further down … here’s my take on it …

… and here’s the wonderful, fresh inspiration …

Isn’t it delicious!  As you can tell (I hope!) my focus was on the blooming broom branches and that lovely soft blue cake stand.  I stamped the three step daisies and sentiments (from Papertrey) onto a white card panel and die cut the image out of it.  Both pieces of the panel were adhered to my card front, with the stamped portion popped up on fun foam.  I finished off with some Stickles in the centre of the flowers.  Simply stamped … crisp and CAS!

What sparks your imagination in our Home Sweet Home photo … those spring time colours … the delicate blooms … that zesty fruit … the cool stripes … the ‘die cut’ vase … or something else?  Whichever way you’re inspired, we’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  Our winner, as chosen by the DT, will receive a $20 gc from our fabulous sponsor, Altenew, and will have the chance to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog … along with a heap of brilliant ideas from our fabulous DT and from our super talented Guest Designer and ex Teamie, Sarah from Funky Fossil Designs.  I’m sure you know Sarah already … though if you’ve not been over to see her recently, do go for a meander though all her amazing creativity and say hello … you’ll have a wonderful time!

I’m playing along at …

Papertrey Transformation Tuesday – Transformed Card Below … a silhouette from 2014!

SSS Monday – Inside The Box … my stamping is inside a popped up rectangular box

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes

SSS National Craft Month – Any Creative Project

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

Create Along With Us – July, Happy Little Stampers Dies – July, Seize The Birthday – 6 July, SSS Monday – 10 July

Hello … bonjour!  I’m here with a card made using a favourite technique … ink blending over a heat embossed background … and a favourite style … cool and graphic …

The quilted background is from WPlus9, stamped and heat embossed with white pearl EP, and blended over with Distress Inks in five colours.  I split it and mounted it flat onto my card base. The sentiment is from Papertrey, die cut from both blue craft foam and from card … and stacked, with the top layer heat embossed in white pearl to match the quilting.  The secondary sentiment (also Papertrey) was stamped onto a snippet and popped up on a little piece of blue craft foam.

 

I’m playing along at …

Create Along With Us – Release Week Challenge … I was inspired by two of Nichole’s cards made with the delicious new Cover Up Quatrefoil and Cover Up Diamonds stamps on Day 1 of the July Release Countdown …

          

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Distress … all those luscious inks

Haven’t had much free time to blog many cards recently … though will catch up over the coming weeks.  There are quite a few … and then there are some that will never appear as I had an oops and sent them off in the mail, not remembering that they hadn’t even been photographed … wonder where the brain was!  Hope you’ve had chance to get crafty this week!

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

          

         

Save

Save

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

Hello … bonjour!  It’s so long since I played along at a Papertrey Blog Hop that I don’t even recall when it was.  When I saw this month’s bold, vibrant inspiration, it just settled in my mind and wouldn’t go away … so I just had to make a little something …

and here’s the wonderful inspiration …

My card is one layer, stamped with floral/leaf images and a sentiment from Embellished Elegance, and inspired by the colours in the right hand picture.  It was fun playing with a colour palette that’s a bit outside my usual range … and as it was quick to make and all the ingredients were already out on my desk, I made a couple more in different colours …

         

These were stamped on white card panels … one was adhered flat to the base and the other was popped up on craft foam.  Spectrum Noir shimmer was added to the flowers on both, though as ever, it’s tricky to see!

I’m joining in at …

Papertrey March Blog Hop – Inspiration above

Addicted to Stamps & More – CAS

CAS-ual Fridays – No Dies Allowed

Hope your weekend has got off to a great start.  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

Papertrey Stamp-a-Faire 2015, SSS Wednesday 26/8, Seize The Birthday 27/8, Addicted to CAS #71, SSS Monday 31/8

Hello!  A quick post this morning before the doors close at Papertrey’s SAF … this is the last of my cards … it’s for the Threads Challenge … inspired by Laura’s loosey goosey thread nests!  Here’s my take …

I cut the Papertrey cover plate (Modern Cross Quilt) in watercolour paper, ombré washed it in Distress Inks, split it to draw the eye to sentiment (and to fit our standard 10 x 15 cm cards!) and adhered it flat to the card base.  The sentiment (from Reasons To Smile) was white heat embossed onto a black panel, I sandwiched the thread nest between it and the card base using foam tape, and finished with a scattering of bling.

I’m joining in at …

Papertrey SAF – Threads Challenge … use Laura’s loosey goosey thread nests

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes … my fifth and final entry

Seize The Birthday – No ‘Weather’ topping

Addicted to CAS – Blue

SSS Monday – Trio of Colours … mine are the watercolour Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire.

Finally, a picture of me (well, my pointing finger!) with my SAF cards, that I’m linking up for the Red Carpet Challenge …

It was such fun to spend even a little time being inspired by the team at Papertrey during SAF.  I made three cards … fewer than I’d hoped … but three more than last year … and I have ideas galore for more!  So I’m a happy little soul!  Hope you have reasons to be happy today!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

           

         

         

Papertrey Stamp-a-Faire 2015, Uniko #24, SSS Wednesday 26/8, SSS Monday 31/8

Hello!  Popping in with the second of my cards for Papertrey’s Stamp-a-Faire … this time for the  Patterns challenge … use one of the DT’s go to patterns to create a card.  It was tough to decide whose to use, they’re all so gorgeous … after a few false starts plays, I eventually settled on Heather’s fabulous layout …

All the elements except the DP are from Papertrey.  I stamped the blooms (Daydreamer) onto a white card panel, die cut the ‘hugs’, adhered it in place, and added the supplementary sentiment underneath.  Some DP from my stash (yay, I used DP!) was trimmed into slender slices … one attached to the back of the panel and the second attached direct to the card base … and I popped the panel up on fun foam onto the base.   No bling … seems to me those flowers need to be the stars of the show!

I’m playing along at …

Papertrey SAF – Patterns Challenge … use a DT go to pattern (see below)

Uniko – Summer … no twist again, summery flowers instead!

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes … my fourth entry

SSS Monday – Trio of Colours … mine are the stamped colours yellow, canteloupe and sprout

There’s one more SAF card to go … and that’s for the morning.  I’ve not done my usual meandering around blogland tonight … but my bed’s been calling me for a while and I can ignore it no longer … so I’ll be doing a lot of wandering to catch up tomorrow!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                                     

Papertrey Stamp-a-Faire 2015, SSS Wednesday 26/8, Simply Create Too #93, AAA Cards #47

Hello!  As mentioned earlier, I’m back with the first of my cards for Papertrey’s Stamp-a-Faire …. this one’s for the bridal challenge … we’ve to create a wedding card using nothing but white supplies.  Here’s what I came up with …

I embossed a panel of white card with stripes (Darice EF), trimmed it to size and adhered it to the card base.  The sentiment, from Papertrey‘s Doodlie Do, was silver embossed (my neutral colour) on a slender strip of card, which was fixed over the join.  I cut Papertrey‘s Circle Scribbles from vellum in three sizes.  The largest one was trimmed down a little and it, plus the smallest one, were covered in Versamark and brushed with white Perfect Pearls … the middle was left plain.  The scribbles were then used as a guide for stamping the leaves (also Doodlie Do), which were embossed in white pearl.  I adhered the scribble layers to the sentiment strip, allowing the edges to float free, and finished off with some pearls on the bloom and leaves.    How about a look at the layers …

Here’s where my card is heading …

Papertrey SAF – Bridal Challenge … all white wedding card

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes … my third entry

Simply Create Too – It’s a Special Occasion … a wedding … yep!

AAA Cards – Spectacular Embossing … of both the heat and dry variety!

There’s more SAF to come, but that’s it for now … I’ll be back tomorrow with another little something.  Hope your weekend’s been wonderful … and that you had some time to be creative.    Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

                   

Papertrey 8th Birthday Days 7-8, CAS-ual Fridays #136, Little Tangles #53, CAS(E) This Sketch #110

Back with my final two cards for Papertrey’s 8th Birthday … just squeezing in as the doors start to close!  Day 7‘s challenge is to use only metallics and neutrals …

Was a little mojo’d out by the time I got here (made this one last!) … so went back to find some inspiration in last year’s cards … and did a remake of this one, which in turn was a CASE of this one from Susan at Simplicity … I’d almost forgotten how much I love PTI‘s Dot Spot!   I stamped the largest and smallest dot circles in Versamark, and starting from the outer edge and working inwards I sprinkled gold, platinum and silver embossing powder over them, to create a kind of ombré metallic look.  Starting from the outside and working in meant I could tip the excess off without covering getting EP where I didn’t want it … ask me how I know!  The sentiment is made up of two PTI Global Greetings stamps (to get the same crisp font on both words), stamped in black Versafine and clear embossed.  Three gems finished it off.

In addition to PTI’s Day 7, this card is also heading to CAS(E) This Sketch … I landscaped it!

         

The last birthday challenge at PTI is for Day 8 and is to use blue ombré …

I used Distress Inks to create an ombré wash on watercolour card and once it was dry, die cut it and some white watercolour card with PTI‘s Modern Cross Quilt Cover Plate and adhered the crosses into their respective places on the card base (there’s an ombré positive piece left to use on another card).  A standard base here is 10.5 x 15 cm (4 1/8 x 5 7/8 inches), a little longer than the Cover Plate … so I had some space to play with.  Rather than cutting the extra off, I did a Maile and sliced the white positive piece in two, leaving a gap for the sentiment.  I stamped the ‘sending’, popped the white up on foam tape over the crosses, die cut, sponged and clear embossed the ‘hugs’ and adhered it into place over the gap.  Done!

As well as at PTI Day 8, I’m also playing along at …

CAS-ual Fridays – Must Love Watercolour

Little Tangles – Watercolour

                    

That’s my card making done for a while now (apart from my DT cards) … I’m looking forward to spending some time catching up with what everyone else has been doing … there’s a lot to be inspired by … I’ve seen my Feedly list!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

Papertrey 8th Birthday – Days 4 & 5, MFT Wednesday Sketch #215, CASology #133, Muse #104, SSS Work It Wednesday – January, Addicted To CAS #57

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends!  Got a couple more cards finished tonight for Papertrey’s 8th Birthday celebration (among others) … here’s the first, for Day 4, featuring a bouquet made with more than one stamp set …

I cut a circle in a white card panel using MFT‘s Circle Stax and used it to pencil a guide on the base card for my bouquet.  The blooms and leaves are from PTI‘s Daydreamer, Friendly Flowers and Filled With Joy … stamped and masked to create the posy.  I erased the pencil, added a strip of DP to the base and popped the circle panel up on foam tape to frame the flowers.  The sentiment’s from Clearly Besotted, heat embossed on vellum.  I trimmed and folded the vellum into a banner and just adhered it in place at each end, allowing the sentiment to float free across the circle.  The final touch was the addition of some tiny pearls to the flower centres.

As well as joining in at  Papertrey’s 8th Birthday Day 4 Challenge, I’m playing along at …

My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch (see below)

CASology – Love

SSS Work It Wednesday – New (first time Daydreamer has appeared here!)

ETA – At the suggestion of Barb (thanks, my friend!), I’m also linking up with Addicted to CAS – Mask (chosen by the lovely Harriet)

                   

         

Day 5’s Papertrey Challenge is to make a card using a stamp set that hasn’t seen ink …

Another white panel, this time stamped in neutral tones with my never-before-used-on-a-card set, PTI‘s Tiny Triangles, and a sentiment from Sketched Shapes (well used).  The base card was masked and sponged before the stamped panel was popped up on foam tape over it.   Voila, easy peasy … if you don’t count the time it took to line up all those triangles!

In addition to linking up at PTI Day 5, I’m also joining in at Muse … inspired by the colours and graphic shapes on Michele‘s wonderful card (below).

                   

I’ll be back tomorrow with my last couple of in-the-making cards … before the doors close for this year on Papertrey’s party … then I’m going to have fun catching up with what everyone’s been up to.  Hope you have had or are having a fabulous Saturday!  Thanks so much for coming by, your vists and comments are always a joy!   Anita 🙂