Twofer Card Challenge #37 – Leaves

Hello … bonjour! It’s the 10th of the month … welcome to our new Twofer challenge for April! In this part of the world, spring has sprung and green shoots are appearing all over the place … which means that inspiration is everywhere for our prompt this month … we’re inviting you to play with …

My common images here are Eucalyptus die cuts from Simply Graphic … how about a more detailed look at each card?

My design here features a background of leaves cut from various previously created inky backgrounds, made using borrowed Brusho’s and Lindy’s Magicals (so there’s a little sparkle), adhered flat to the card base. A popped up centre frame draws the eye to the equally popped up Altenew hello and the WPlus9 secondary embossed words.

My second card is decidedly CAS …

I die cut the eucalyptus leaves from a few different card stocks and tied them together with a little natural twine. The die cut border is from SSS and was stacked three times to give it dimension, before being adhered to the card base. I hung the leafy cluster on the border and finished with a simply stamped sentiment from Mama Elephant.

How would you like to join us with your two distinctly different takes on leaves … bet you have a few stamps, dies and/or stencils in your stash that are calling out to be played with … and we’d be delighted to see you (and your designs) in our gallery!  All the details about how to play along, including rules and FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … along with inspiration galore from the DT and from our fabulous Guest Designers, Alison from Cranberry and Eggplant and Natalie from natshobbycorner at Instagram … welcome ladies!  Do go over and have a visit with Alison and Natalie … you’re sure to be inspired … and you can always say hello while you’re there!

My fresh eucalyptus hello card is heading to …

Happy Little Stampers Die Cuts – Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes

Inkspirational – Grow … all those leaves growing over the background!

and my CAS eucalyptus cluster is joining in at …

Clean and Simple on Friday – Happy Mail

NBUS – Anything Goes (first outing for these eucalyptus dies)

Time Out – Photo Inspiration (see below) … those soft blues/greens and white fencing

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

Twofer Card Challenge #36 – Your Choice

Hello … bonjour … I’m delighted to see you! As it’s the tenth of the month, our fun new challenge has just started at Twofer … and it’s just a little different than usual. This time around, instead of giving you a prompt, we’re inviting you to choose one of your own …

I went with one of my favourite themes … ‘Blossoms’ …

… and created a bold, vibrant friendship card … and a soft, subtle hugs card, using Altenew’s Rosie Posy stamp as my common image. Here’s a closer look at each one.

The striped background is from Uniko … it was stamped over a circular mask to leave space for the central cluster of Rennie Mackintosh style blossoms. The blooms were watercoloured with Zigs and a waterbrush … and I added some detailing with a white gel pen. The Mama Elephant sentiment was stamped onto a die cut banner, which was popped up on foam dots under the focal image. Eyecatching in a CAS way!

In contrast, my second card has a dreamy, spring-like feel to it …

It’s still clean … it’s one layer … and unusually for me, it features a light grey card base. That lovely Rosie Posy blossom cluster was stamped and white heat embossed multiple times in a diagonal swoosh across the card. I sponged white pigment ink over the flowers (allowing it to go over the edges to create a halo effect) … and once it was dry, added a couple of different yellows in the centres. The sentiment was also white heat embossed … it’s from Papertrey. Soft Pantone colours anyone?

How about choosing your own prompt … to make two distinctly different designs … for two different occasions … using the same stamps, dies and/or stencils? We’d love to see you (and your cards) in our gallery!  All the details, rules and FAQs are over at the Twofer blog … together with heaps of delicious inspiration from the DT (who have each chosen a different prompt).  We’re delighted to have two fabulous Guest Designers joining us … Nancy from Scandinancy Creates … and Klara from My Favourite Day … welcome ladies!  If you haven’t met these talented artists yet, do go and enjoy a wander through their blogs … you’ll be so inspired!  Even if you are familiar with their work, why not pop along anyway … you can always say hello while you’re there!

My bold blossom is heading to …

Altenew – Emily’s Inspiration (see badge for those delicious colours below)

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Use Something Green (the leaves)

… and my soft spring swoosh is joining in at …

CAS on Sunday – Spring

Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act

NBUS – Anything Goes (first appearance of Rosie Posy here)

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

A New Challenge At Time Out – #117 – Inspired By Words

Hello … bonjour!  We’re starting a fresh new challenge at Time Out today … this fortnight we’re Inspired By Words … toes in the sand, wine in our hands, life is good today, let us be grateful for what makes us happy.  Here’s where my imagination took me …

Here I picked out the middle part of the phrase … life is good today … and made a fun, one layer CAS card with a Simon Says Stamp rising sun as the focal point.  It was set in a masked and sponged sun filled sky … and the Mama Elephant sentiment was stamped underneath.  I added some dimensional eyes with white and black Enamel Accents … and just had to layer on a little shimmer onto that cute face.  Here’s a closer look  (with apologies for the fuzzy focus!) …

Where will our words take your creative imagination?  You can use any or all of them to inspire your card … we’d love if it you joined us in the gallery.  We’re sponsored by Uniko (thanks, Bev!) … our overall winner (as voted for by the DT) will have their choice of any in stock stamp from the store … and will also be invited to design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at Time Out, along with a heaps of lovely inspiration from our fabulous DT.

I’m playing along at …

SSS Wednesday – Anything Goes

SSS Work It Wednesday – Celebrate A Favourite Stamping Technique … masking with stamping

Watercooler Wednesday – Anything Goes

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 New Challenge At Time Out – #113 – Inspired By Words

Hello … bonjour!  We’re starting a fresh new challenge at Time Out today … this fortnight we’re Inspired By Words … smile, it’s the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart … here’s where my imagination took me …Some Mama Elephant letters (from my unused items box, which is miniscule!), sponged with Distress Inks, stacked up and adhered to the card panel to form the ‘smile’ part of our quote.  The little balloon bearing chick is from Stampendous and was coloured with alcohol markers … and the supplementary sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.  I added Wink of Stella to the balloon and to the letters and coated them all with Glossy Accents.    Voilà … a cute CAS card that I hope will have you smiling!

Where will our words take your creative imagination?  You can use any or all of them to inspire your card … we’d love if it you joined us in the gallery.  We’re sponsored by Stencils by Funky Fossils Designs (thanks, Sarah … here on instagram!) … our overall winner (as voted for by the DT) will have their choice of three stencils from the store … and will also be invited to design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at Time Out, along with a heaps of lovely inspiration from our fabulous DT … as well as from our talented Guest Designer, Amanda from Diamond Lane Designs.   Do go and visit Amanda … you’ll have a lovely time wandering through all the yummy cards over there!

I’m playing along at …

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Animals

Just Us Girls – Anything Goes

Less is More – Bits Box Item

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

         

         

Guest Designing at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – November 2017 – Week 4

        

Hello … bonjour!  I’m delighted to be back today, for my fourth week Guest Designing with the talented Simon Says Stamp Wednesday team … thanks so much for your lovely comments on last week’s critter cards!            

Our new challenge this week is ‘Food and/or Drink‘ … and we’re showcasing products from Mama Elephant.  You don’t need to use Mama Elephant goodies to join in … but we’d love to see them if you have some!  As always, if you play along, you’re in with a chance of winning a $50 gift voucher to spend at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp store … imagine moving those goodies from wish list to basket!

After saying last week that I don’t make many cards with critters on them … here I am with another couple … it just so happens they come bearing gifts … of a sort!  Here’s the first, a fun little goat, his beard all brushed for the party, carrying the birthday cupcake …

An MFT wonky stitched panel, cut with Mama Elephant Inline Letters dies and stamped with the party goat from Simon’s Birthday Farm Animals.  He’s coloured with Promarkers, has Glossy Accent/Enamel Accent eyes and his cupcake has shimmery frosting, courtesy of Wink of Stella.  The base was ombré sponged with Evergreen Bough and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks and water sprinkled, before the panel was popped up on foam tape over it.

So, the food/drink was obvious on that one … are you wondering where it on this next one?

… keep reading if you haven’t guessed already!  Here’s a dotted die cut frame (Gina Marie Designs, thanks to sweet Michele), backed with black and adhered flat to the base, with a bunny from Mama Elephant’s Up and Away set (a Lake House goodie) sitting in the corner.  He was coloured with Promarkers and liberally covered with Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle … and is holding onto a die cut pastel rainbow smooshed Painted Hello from Simon Says Stamp, popped up on black craft foam.  I finished off with the stamped sentiment from Winnie & Walter (Sentimental:Endearments).

So what did you guess was the food/drink?  Surely not that cute little rabbit … or hare?  What about the sorbet colours in the sentiment?  Nope, neither of those … it’s that tiny stamped sentiment … after all, most of us have munched our way through a sweetie or two in our time!  You didn’t really think I’d be calling that sweet bunny food did you???

If you haven’t been there already, do pop over to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog to check out all the scrumptious food/drink cards from the Design Team … you’re sure to come away wanting to create!  I do hope you’ll have chance to join us this week.

Finally for today, to all of you gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wish you a blessed day, filled with love, gratitude, family and friends!  Thanks so much, as ever, for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!    Anita 🙂