WPlus9 Throwback Thursday #10, Colour Q #323, AAA Cards #55, SSS Monday – 4 January, SSS Wednesday – 6 January

Hello … bonjour!  I’m popping in this evening with a snippets-of-time-over-the-last-few-days card and squeezing past one of Mr Linky’s closing doors at the same time …

Snippet 1 … a watercolour card panel was stamped repeatedly with a border from WPlus9‘s Quilt Prints and white heat embossed.  Snippet 2 … the inside of each diamond was randomly coloured with Ziggies (Laura B parlance!) and a water brush.  Snippet 3 … the you was die cut from glitter paper and black craft foam, the secondary sentiment was white heat embossed on a slice of black card, and they were stacked and/or adhered to the card front (they’re both from WPlus9).  Snippet 4 … the diamonds were Wink of Stella’d, a trio of sequins and seed beads were scattered around the sentiment, and the finished panel was fixed flat to the card base.  Aren’t snippets handy little things?

I’m playing along at …

WPlus9 Throwback Thursday – Inspired by Maureen’s Quilt Cuts … in stamp form!

Colour Q – Kraft, Pool Party, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, White … my closest colours.

AAA Cards – Glitter … the WoS on the diamonds and the die cut you.

SSS Monday – Something New … the die cut

SSS Wednesday – Something New … toujours the die cut!

There’s plenty of inspiration waiting for me in Feedly … I’m looking forward to a gentle meander through all that loveliness … see you soon!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                   

         

Happy Birthday, Bev! NBUS #5, WPlus9 Get Sketchy #3, Seize The Birthday 10/9, SSS Wednesday 9/9, SSS Monday 14/9

Hello!  I’m sure you already know Bev (one of my fellow BABES) … she’s generous, sweet, caring, fun, enthusiastic and uber talented … and she lives at Happy Dance.  Yep, that Bev … she has a birthday today, and the card I’m sharing here is to celebrate her special day!  Wishing you the happiest, happiest birthday, ma chère amie … may you be blessed with a wonderful, happy dancing day full of love and laughter … and a year to come filled with joy!  Your card has caught it’s flight and may even be on your side of the pond already (but probably not in your mail box yet!) … oh, and there’s a party … keep reading …

I stamped the happy banner from WPlus9 (Happy Mail) repeatedly across a white card panel and heat embossed it.  Blue and yellow are colours that Bev loves, so the individual flags were watercoloured with Distress Inks in Salty Ocean and Mustard Seed … I wanted the transition between them to be ombré-ish, so where the colours mingled there are various shades of yellow/green and blue/green.  I masked the panel along the bottom and used the same two Distress Inks to sponge more ombré colour to mimic the banners.  The rest of the sentiment (also Wplus9) was white heat embossed onto a strip of black card, which was cut into a banner and popped up on the panel with foam tape.  I mounted the panel onto the card base using fun foam, scattered some clear gems across the sponged colour and heavily Wink of Stella’d the flags.  You might just be able to make out the shimmer if you look carefully above … or it might be easier to see it here …

Inspiration for Bev‘s card came from …

Darnell’s NBUS #5 – Anything Goes … my NBUS is the WPlus9 Happy Mail set

WPlus9 Get Sketchy #3 – See below for Joni’s fabulous sketch

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes

SSS Wednesday – Use a Stamp

SSS Monday – Love This Technique … heat embossing … it never loses it’s magic!

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

If you’ve met Bev already, you’ll know that she throws the most amazing virtual parties … but she couldn’t do her own now could she?  So rather in the role of apprentice party thrower, I thought it might be fun to return the compliment.  Bev … this is for you, my friend … just follow the driveway …

… come right in, there”s room for everyone …

… and plenty of champagne …

… a selection of aperos …

                   

                                    

                

… a little something sweet …

            

… maybe a little ice cream-y …

… ok, p’raps a lot ice cream-y …

               

… and of course some birthday cake …

… which should give you a hint about your birthday gift …

… yep, it’s THE island … complete with circular craft room at the top there … thought it’d do rather nicely … now, when to go ….!!  Blessings always, Bev … blogland is a better place because you’re in it!

It’s lovely of each of you to come along and celebrate with Bev … and make her party such fun … now, why not pop over and see her at Happy Dance … and wish her a happy day too!

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

                   

         

Time Out DT #39, WPlus9 Pure Color #3, SSS Wednesday 2/9, Happy Little Stampers CAS – September

We have a wonderful theme for you in our new challenge at Time Out this fortnight … it’s ‘Time To Make Your Mark’ … use any kind of marker on your card (copics, chalk, water colours, pencils etc) … with the optional twist of using a monochrome colour palette.  Here’s where my creative mind went …

I masked off the top of the card and randomly stamped WPlus9‘s Doodle Buds over the lower two thirds.  The blooms and leaves were coloured with Marvy watercolour pens, that were scribbled onto an acrylic block … I picked up the colour with a refilled Wink of Stella pen … so there’s some subtle sparkle there (that you can’t see)!  Some Glossy Accents add shine to the flower centres (that you can just see in places)!  The supplementary sentiment (masked off as it’s part of a larger one) was stamped onto a slender strip of grey card, which was attached over the edge of the stamping.  I die cut the ‘blessed’ (also WPlus9) in black and grey card, stacked the two together slightly offset, and adhered them above the strip.

Feel like giving your creative colouring muscles a work out?  We’d love to have you join us!  This fortnight, we’re sponsored by Uniko … our overall winner (as chosen by the DT) will win a £15 evoucher … that’s in addition to being invited to be a Guest Designer for a future challenge!  All the details are over on the Time Out blog, along with heaps of inspiration from our talented Guest Designer, Marika from Me and Minime Crafting, from some of the Design Team at Uniko, and from our own amazing DT (including new members Joyce and Jill!).  Look forward to seeing you in the gallery!

I’m playing along with …

WPlus9 Pure Color – Colour combo below

SSS Wednesday – Make it Colourful

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Colouring (if this isn’t CAS enough, please feel free to delete!)

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

         

         

Time Out DT #29 Mid Challenge Reminder, WPlus9 Throwback Thursday #3, SSS Monday 20/4, SSS Wednesday 22/4

Our bright and colourful challenge at Time Out is still only half way through … there’s still almost a week to play along with our Inspired By Words theme … ‘You Can’t Make A Rainbow Without a Little Rain’.  You’ll be so surprised (not!) to find that my card this week is again a rainbow one …

I made this card at the same time as last week’s rainbow one … recognise those little diamonds inside the quilted stitched circles?  Yep, same ones … with a bit of a different look!  Here, I stamped the stitched border pattern three times down a white card panel, added the diamonds in rainbow colours and then trimmed the panel to size.  The sentiment was stamped onto a slender slice of white card, which was adhered flat to the quilted panel, and the panel was popped up on the base card.  All those yummy stamps are from WPlus9.

Have you played along with us yet?  How about letting your mind go to work on our phrase and see what creative path it takes?  You can focus on any single word or on part or all of the phrase, so there’s lots of scope!  If you need a little more inspiration, head over to Time Out … all the details are there along with plenty to enjoy from our amazing DT and our talented Guest Designer, Michele H from Crimson Owl Creations!   Look forward to seeing you in the gallery!

My card’s heading to …

WPlus9 Throwback Thursday – inspired by the range of colours on all Maureen’s fabulous cards!

SSS Monday – Due Date … DT cards always have a due date!!

SSS Wednesday – Clean and Simple … there’s lots of white space around all that colour!

I’ve not been around much over the last few weeks, so am in the throes of catching up with all the inspiration in my Feedly list, as well as with everyone who has arrived in my email inbox … I’m getting there … thanks for your patience as I do!   Thanks too, for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

                   

Time Out DT #28, CASology #140, Less Is More #217, Virginia’s View #14, WPlus9 Throwback Thursday #2

We have a wonderful theme for you this fortnight at Time Out … it’s our ‘Designer to CASE’ challenge … and we have a card from the fabulously talented Kim from Art Keeps Me Sane to inspire you … it’s a dramatic, bold, floral beauty (see below) … here’s my take …

and here’s Kim‘s striking inspiration …

The design elements I picked out were the floral arrangement (using WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals) and the white embossed sentiment (SU … courtesy of the lovely Ardyth … thanks, my friend!) against a black panel (MFT Pierced Rectangles … cut at the Lake House … I think from sweet Bev‘s stash … thanks, mon amie!).  I added some little hearts (Papertrey and some white gel pen doodling) and popped the whole thing up onto a white card base.

What’s going through your creative mind when you see Kim‘s card … flowers, softly shaded colours, bold black, embossing … wherever it settles, I hope you’ll find time to play along with us!  We’re sponsored this fortnight by Clearly Besotted Stamps and our overall winner (as voted by the DT) will receive a £20 gift voucher, as well as the chance to be a Guest Designer for a future challenge … what’s not to love?  There’s inspiration galore over at the Time Out blog … from our fabulous DT and from our delightful and talented Guest Designer, Claire from Life On The Scrapheap (go check out her blog and drink in all the deliciousness you find there!).  Look forward to seeing you in the gallery!

I’m playing along with four challenges …

CASology – Spring

Less is More – Combine Any Three Previous LIM Challenges … mine are #55 (Punches or Die Cuts), #154 (Hearts) and #172 (Flowers)

Virginia’s View – Layers and Dimension

WPlus9 – Oldies But Goodies

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

         

         

WPlus9 Birthday Week 4 (Stretch It)

Third (yikes!) and final post for tonight … this time with a QACAS card (Darnell-ese for Quick and Clean and Simple) …

This is my final entry at WPlus9‘s birthday party … I’m stretching myself using washi tape for the first time … courtesy of my sweet friend Joyce, who sent me a whole load after I mentioned it was something I’d never used.  This is just some of it … thanks so much again, Joyce!

Given that I’m so late to the washi party, it’s probable that most of the world has already made a similar banner before, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.  I wrapped strips of washi tape around a pre-measured piece of twine, trimmed them into triangles and attached the banner to the panel with brads.  The sentiment’s made from three WPlus9 stamps, curved on my block to match the banner.  I popped the panel up on foam dots on the card base and I was done!

If you’re still here after all three posts … thank you … what staying power!  I really appreciate your visits and comments … they’re always a joy!  Anita 🙂

WPlus9 Birthday Week 4 (Stretch It), SSS Monday 24/2 (Paste)

Second post of the day … here’s another ‘renovation stuff’ card …

This is another entry at the fourth week of WPlus9‘s birthday celebrations.  I’m meeting the Stretch It theme (try a new style or technique or use supplies in a creative way) by doing some stencilling … never done that before.  At Simon Says Stamp Monday, we’re challenged to use paste … mmm … there’s a match!

I don’t have any stencils … or  embossing paste … so I used my trusty plasterboard mesh tape and mixed up a little jointing medium (I got the idea for the latter from Shirley who used polyfilla in the same way not long ago) .  The tape was temporarily adhered to a white card panel and each side was masked.  I made three piles of ‘paste’, squished them into distress inks on a non-stick sheet and then spread away, merging the three colours as I went.  While it was drying, I trimmed a vellum banner, and stamped and silver embossed the WPlus9 sentiment.  Once the panel was dry, the banner was adhered at one end to the back and at the other with a wee glue dot.  A scattering of silvered sequins finished it off … one covers the glue dot.  I inked up the edges of a card base and adhered the panel flat to it.

One more to go tonight … back soon!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a delight!  Anita 🙂

           

CASology #84 (Paint), WPlus9 Birthday Week 4 (Stretch It)

Still haven’t found that pause button, which I could have done with once I realised how near to closing time it was at a few challenges.  So, I won’t hang around … there are another couple of cards to come … this one is the most pressing …

I’m playing at CASology, where the Cue Card is Paint … and at WPlus9′s last week of birthday celebrations, where there’s a Stretch It theme … do something that stretches your creativity or takes you outside your comfort zone.  Never used paint chips before so I think that counts!

The paint chips are from our local hardware/DIY store … part of the collection of stuff we have for a bit further along in the renovation.  I sliced and trimmed them to size, and adhered them, one flat and the other two on different sized foam dots.  The WPlus9 sentiment (also sliced … made up of two different ones) was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, the top corner of the card was rounded and I added a scattering of sequins, tucking a couple in to the paint chip layers.  The bottom sequin came like that … handy huh?

I’ll be back in a short while with more!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

WPlus9 Birthday Week 3 (Trend Watch), PTI Make It Monday #152 (Layering Dye & Pigment Inks), Little Tangles #31 (Monochromatic), One Layer Simplicity #2 (Can You Repeat That?)

A quick post before the renovating week takes off …

WPlus9 are having a month long celebration for their birthday … this is the third week and we have a trend watch (see board below) … I’m playing with stripes.  Papertrey’s Make It Monday‘s technique video is by Heather and covers layering different inks.  At Little Tangles, there’s a monochromatic challenge and as this is a one layer card, I’m joining in at One Layer Simplicity … where we’re using a repeat image.

I stamped the WPlus9 sentiment and masked it off.  The Papertrey horizontal stripes were stamped in white Brilliance ink and once they were dry, I stamped some Neat & Tangled stripes vertically using Memento inks, glittering over the final one.  As Darnell would say … QACAS!

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

         

         

Less is More 3rd Birthday (Rainbow), WPlus9 Birthday Celebration #1 (Comfort Zone), One Layer Simplicity #2 (Can You Repeat That?), SSS Work It Wednesday #1 (Something New)

There are some big birthday and anniversary celebrations going on in blogland at the moment … and I’m sharing in the festivities for a couple of them with this card …

A very Happy 3rd Birthday to the ladies at Less is More … we’re celebrating with rainbows!  LIM was the first regular challenge I played along with … it was, and remains, an encouraging, creative and inspiring place to visit … thanks to Chrissie, Mandi (at the time) and now Jen, who work tirelessly to bring us great themes, fabulous cards, encouraging comments and a wonderful LIMette community.  Thanks so much ladies … I really appreciate all your hard work!

This week, there are also 4th birthday celebrations going on at WPlus9, where Dawn’s planned a whole month of fun … this week we’re staying in our ‘Comfort Zone’ … mine’s Clean and Simple.  As this is a one layer card, I’m also joining in with One Layer Simplicity, where Heather is our host this month and our theme is Can You Repeat That?  The sequins are a new acquisition (from Neat & Tangled), so I also get to link up with the new monthly challenge at Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday.

Over the last few months, I’ve seen some brilliant striped cards out in the blogosphere … from the amazing Laura Bassen, Cristina Kowalczyk and Dawn Woleslagle, among others … so I guess this is a CASE of many different cards, all rolled into one.  I measured and pencil-marked my card base, stamped the Papertrey Ink stripe in mainly Memento inks, added the WPlus9 sentiment and scattered some matching N&T sequins over it.  The sequins started off in a line down the left side of each stripe … being a neat freak, I liked it … but it wasn’t quite celebratory enough, so I threw caution and the sequins to the wind and scattered them.  There still kind of neat and tidy enough to keep me happy!

I may be back with another card later … using up what was rescue-able from the stamping disasters fun I had with this one!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a delight!  Anita 🙂

ETA:  Mr Linky closed the door early at WPlus9, so I’ll play along there next time!