Twofer Card Challenge #22 – Holiday Foliage – With A Twist

Hello … bonjour!  Our last challenge of the year has just launched at Twofer … and we’re inviting you to a rather festive celebration this month … and there’s a fun twist that you can use too, if you’d like to (see below).

Holiday means any holiday … and the greenery can be any foliage, plants and vegetation.  The greenery doesn’t have to be green … it can be any colour as long as you use the same stamp, die and/or stencil for your two different designs.

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 or other holiday occasion 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!

My twofer features greenery that isn’t green at all … and I chose not to use the twist …

My common elements here are three die cut mistletoe and pine sprigs (from Simply Graphic).  They make up a lush foliage display on my thinking of you card … and a hanging mistletoe bundle on my Christmas design.  Here’s a closer look at each one.

The pink, grey and gold foliage was layered and adhered to a pierced white panel (Winnie & Walter) in the centre third of the card, offset to the right.  The sentiment (Clearly Besotted) was heat embossed onto mid grey card, I trimmed it into a banner and added a gold trim along the lower edge.  The banner was popped up on craft foam under the foliage and acts to ground it.  I used Nuvo Drops and Enamel Accents to add gold and white berries to the mistletoe sprigs … and scattered a few gold sequins to finish off.  The whole panel was adhered flat to an oyster grey card base.

My second design has a more simple look to it …

Here, I went with a central cluster of foliage hanging off a frame (Simply Graphic), to mimic the bundles of mistletoe hung over doorways at Christmas.  The kraft and white colour palette, with the tiny pops of red in the heart, berries and sentiment (Papertrey) has a clean, rustic feel … it puts me in mind of a cabin in snow covered woods.  Yep, I know mistletoe is green with white berries … but we’re card makers … and that means we can use artistic licence if we wish!

How would you like to join us with your two distinctly different takes on Holiday Greenery?  We would love to see what you create in our gallery, whether you use our Christmas time twist or not!  Details of how to play along, including rules and FAQs are at the Twofer blog … together with heaps of wonderful ideas from the DT to inspire you.  We’re delighted to have the lovely Nancy from Scrapper At Heart as our talented Guest Designer this month … welcome Nancy!  I’m sure you’ll have met Nancy already … but do go and enjoy her fabulous Twofer cards … and take the opportunity to have a meander round all the deliciousness on her blog while you’re there.  You can always say hello too!

My foliage display is heading to …

Addicted To Stamps And More – Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Thinking of You

Watercooler Wednesday – Tristan’s Feminine Anything Goes

… and my mistletoe bundle in joining in at …

Addicted To Stamps And More – Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Tis The Season

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes (No Bah Humbug Option)

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

The Cat’s Pajama’s – Holiday

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

        

                

        

A New Challenge At Time Out – #148 – Home Sweet Home

Hello … bonjour … and thanks so much for all your lovely comments during my absence from blogland!  I should be back with you on a more regular basis from this coming weekend … and am so looking forward to seeing what you’ve got going on 🙂  In the meantime, welcome to our new challenge at Time Out … this fortnight, we have a Christmas Home Sweet Home image to inspire you (a little further down), that’s warm, cosy and wonderfully festive.  Here’s my first take on it (there’s another a little later) …

… and here’s that inviting inspiration picture …

For this first card, my attention was drawn to the wreath on the wall … and that fabulous scripty sentiment pillow.  I made my wreath using die cuts from Winnie & Walter‘s In Bloom: Paulina’s Greenery, layered and inter-twined to make it dimensional … and attached it to the base card.  The main sentiment is from Simon, layered on craft foam, covered in shimmer spray and Glossy Accents … and strung across the wreath.  The tiny stamped ‘happy’ is from Winnie & Walter.  I finished the card with berry red gems in different sizes.  Want a closer look at all the sparkle and shine?  Here’s that second card I mentioned earlier, inspired again by the scripty pillow … and by all the white space and texture (the latter will be visible shortly) …

The shimmery die cut sentiment is from MFT, adhered flat to the base card … and that snuggled up little penguin and the stars are from Winnie & Walter.  The penguin is coloured with Zigs, has his Santa hat and scarf all shimmered up … and has a shiny beak and eyes.  He was originally hatless but was a smidge chilly, so with a little masking, I gave him that Santa hat … you can make out the furry trim and bobble a little better below … they’re embossed with Hero Arts White Puff EP to mimic the texture of those white cushions in the inspiration picture.

What draws your eye in our Home Sweet Home photo … those yummy colours, the plaid, the texture, that bold sign … or something else?  Wherever your creative imagination takes you, we’d love to see your card in our gallery!  You could be our next winner and be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with plenty of ideas from the DT to inspire you.  We’re also delighted to welcome our talented Guest Designer, Angie from Cimbacreativefun … you’ll know her super art work already, I’m sure … though do go over and say hello … you’ll find so much to see and enjoy while you’re there!

My wreath is joining in at …

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Tis The Season

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes (No Bah Humbug Option)

The Cat’s Pajama’s – Holiday

and that cosy penguin is playing over at …

AAA Cards – Maxi White Space (No Geometric Twist)

CAS Christmas – Warm And Cosy

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes (No Bah Humbug Option)

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes (With Animal Option)

The Cat’s Pajama’s – Holiday

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

                 

                 

A New Challenge At Time Out – #147 – Inspired By Words

Hello … bonjour … long time no see!  This year has been a busy one outside of blogland and as a result I’ve not been here a great deal, though I have (mostly) stayed in touch with what you’ve all been creating while I haven’t been!  This last couple of weeks, however, have been especially full … and that’s meant there’s been almost no opportunity to visit everyone, outside of my DT commitments.  So, to those of you who haven’t seen or heard from me recently … thank you for your patience and understanding … normal service will be resumed shortly!

I’m here today because our new challenge at Time Out has just started … and this fortnight, we’re Inspired By Words … Dream Big, Be Grateful, Give Love, Laugh Lots.   Here’s where I went with those words …

On a white pierced, scalloped card panel cut with a Winnie & Walter die, I stamped these lovely words and delicate single floral stem from Uniko’s You Are, Yes You stamp set.  The stem was curved to create the sense of a smile … and the flower head balances the offset ‘loved’ in the sentiment.  I coloured the bloom with Zigs, covered it with lots of shimmer and added some sparkling gems to finish off.  The scalloped panel was added to a matching mat and then popped up onto the card base on craft foam.  You can see more of the shimmer here (even though it’s a little out of focus!) …

        

Where will our words take your creativity?  You can use any or all of them to inspire your card … we’d love it if you played along with us.  We’re sponsored this time around by Uniko (thanks, Bev!) who are offering our winner, as voted for by the DT, an in-stock stamp set of their choice.  As usual, our winner will also be invited to be our Guest Designer for a future challenge.  The details are over at Time Out, along with heaps of lovely inspiration from our fabulous DT, which I know you won’t want to miss!

My card will be going into the gallery at …

CAS on Friday – Big Sentiment or Word

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes Optional Botanical

The Flower Challenge – Clean and Simple

The Paper Players – Clean and Simple – Say It Loud

Thanks so much for coming by (especially when I haven’t been doing), your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

       

       

Twofer Card Challenge #21 – Sweets

Hello … bonjour!  It’s the 10th of the month … and that means we have a delicious new challenge for you at Twofer!  This month we’re inviting you to enjoy …

… I chose a pie from Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer in business) as my common sweets image.  On my CAS one layer autumn greetings card, it’s a pumpkin pie, set on a gingham table cloth, all ready to slice and share.  For my birthday card, I went unconventional this time around … and turned the pie into autumn blooming flowers.  Here’s a closer look at each card …  Here, my simple design puts the pumpkin pie centre stage.  Although it’s one single stamp, I used three different ink colours for it (bit tricky!) … one for the base, another for the crust and the third for the creamy filling (which was covered in Wink of Stella to mimic powdered sugar!).  The pie was masked, I stamped the table cloth (from Clearly Besotted) over it … and added the Pretty Pink Posh sentiment to finish it off.

My unconventional card was a little more involved …

… with the image taking up the lower left corner of my design.  The blooms are made up of Papertrey stems, with the pie flower heads ombré stamped in four colours.  I added the happy birthday sentiment (also Papertrey) and cut the panel with a Winnie & Walter scalloped, pierced die.  The base card was blended around the edges with Distress Ink and the panel was adhered over the top.  I added gems to the flower centres and finished off with a scattering of shimmery sequins topped with bronze Nuvo drops.

How would you like to join us with your two distinctly different takes on sweets … we’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  All the details about how to play along, including rules and FAQs are at the Twofer blog … together with heaps of brilliant ideas from the DT to inspire you.  We have two Guest Designers this month, both talented winners of our August challenge …. a warm welcome to Lisa from My Paper Tales and Marianne from Marianne’s Card ‘n Stuff.  If you haven’t met Lisa and Marianne yet, do go over and enjoy a wander through their blogs … you’ll have a splendid time!  Even if you are familiar with their work, why not pop along anyway … you can always say hello while you’re there!

My pie is going to be shared at …

AAA Cards – One Layer Card (Optional Autumn Twist)

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Fall/Autumn

Uniko – Anything Goes (Optional Autumn Twist)

… and my flowers will be blooming with …

AAA Birthday – Colour Palette

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything goes

Watercooler Wednesday – All About Occasions

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

                   

        

A New Challenge At Time Out #143 – Inspired By Words

Hello … bonjour!  Our new challenge at Time Out has just started … and we have an ‘Inspired By Words’ theme for you to join in with for the next two weeks .. it takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.  Here’s where I went with it …

        

As you can see, my focus was on the ‘rainbow‘ element of our words.  I took a white card panel and sponged it in a bevy of scrumptious rainbow colours, making sure to keep any muddy-able colours away from one another.  The panel was cut with Cover Model: Multifaceted Cutaway (from Winnie & Walter) … and I adhered a frame around it, that had been cut with two Hero Arts Infinity Dies.  The little ‘happy’ sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp) was stamped onto the frame, then I adhered the panel onto the card base using tiny slivers of foam tape.  The main sentiment is from Winnie & Walter, cut out of black cardstock, embossed in clear, dotted with silver pen (to mimic either rivets or jewels, depending on the recipient) and adhered/popped up over the rainbow.

        

Where will our words take your creativity?  You can use any or all of them to inspire your card … we’d love it if you played along with us.  We’re sponsored this time around by Winnie & Walter (thanks, Shay!) … our winner, as voted for by the DT, will receive a $25 GC … and as usual, will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  The details are over at Time Out, along with heaps of lovely inspiration from our fabulous DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Arlene from Sunday Stamper Papercrafts.   Do go and enjoy a visit with Arlene … there are so many inspiring designs to enjoy … and you can always say hello while you’re there!

I’m playing along at …

Addicted To Stamps And More – Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – S Is For … Sponging (and Simon for that tiny sentiment!)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday – Celebrate

Watercooler Wednesday – All About Occasions

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

               

              

A New Challenge At Time Out – #140 – Home Sweet Home Inspiration

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to our new challenge at Time Out … this fortnight, we have a delicious, beach house style image to inspire you (a little further down).  Here’s my take on it …

… and here’s the cool inspiration picture …

My focus was on the neutral colours, the framed photograph and flowers on the console table and the wavy edge along the bottom edge of the table.  The intricate rose image is from Craft Emotions via Topflight Stamps (Botanical Rose Garden 1 – retired I think), and was stamped onto a Winnie & Walter scalloped, pierced, die cut panel in CP Twilight ink.  I added the sentiment (from Simply Graphic – it translates as Happy Birthday) in the same ink and scored a double frame round the stamping to mimic the photo frame.  The finished panel was popped up on craft foam onto an oyster grey card base.

          

What draws your eye in our Home Sweet Home photo … the colours, shapes, beach house feel … or something else?  Wherever your creative imagination takes you, we’d love to see your card in our gallery!  This fortnight, we’re sponsored by Topflight Stamps … our winner, as chosen by the Design Team, will receive a $25 GC to the store, as well as being invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog, along with plenty of ideas from the DT to inspire you … it’s so worth a visit!

I’m playing along at …

AAA Cards – Maxi White Space … No Optional Twist of Christmas In July

AAA Birthday – For The Girls

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Less is More – Celebrations

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

        

         

Twofer Card Challenge #18 – Garden

Hello … bonjour!   We’ve just planted our new challenge over at Twofer this morning … this month we’re inviting you to join us in the …

… here’s what grew in mine …

… a sweep of garden flowers to celebrate a birthday … and a bed full of blooms to say hello, both featuring a large image from Pinkfresh Studio’s Fleur 1 (now retired, though a similar style set is here).  Here’s a closer look at each one …

… first, a one layer card with the large image stamped slightly off the card in the bottom left corner.  I added some additional individual flowers and leaves (also Pinkfresh Studio) … and some doodling … to fill in gaps and create the sweep of garden plants down the folded edge and across the bottom of the card.  It was all loosely watercoloured with Zigs and a water brush.  The sentiment, from Winnie & Walter and Clearly Besotted, runs along the imaginary line at the top one third of the card and was stamped in Delicata Silver (to match the garden stamping).

My twofer is another conventional use of the image …

… this time stamped in Versafine black into the middle of a die cut, scalloped, pierced panel (from Winnie & Walter) … and grounded in the earth along the bottom on a simple, scripty sentiment from Technique Tuesday.  I coloured the image with Catherine Pooler and Distress Inks, added some little black gems to the larger flower centres and popped the panel up on craft foam onto the card base.

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

How might you interpret our ‘Garden’ prompt?  We’d love to see you in our gallery with your two distinctly different takes on it!  All the details you need, including rules and FAQs, are over at the Twofer blog … along with heaps of gorgeous ideas from the DT to help spark your imagination.  This month, we also have bitter-sweet news of some changes in the Team … as we bid a fond farewell to the inspirational Loll, who is stepping down as a Designer (though, we’re pleased to say, is staying on as Administrator) … and a happy hello and warm welcome to the very talented Cat from Cat Luvs Paper, who has joined us.  Our Guest Designers are our winners from May’s challenge … Kathy from My Asperations and Robyn from Waterlily Cards by Robyn … welcome ladies!  Do go and enjoy a visit with Kathy and Robyn … you’ll find lots of loveliness to explore … and you can always say hello while you’re there!

My sweep of garden flowers is heading to …

AAA Birthday – For The Girls

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes, No Wings Option

Less Is More – Celebrations

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes, No Sunshine Topping

The Flower Challenge – Pretty Pastels

… and my blooming flower bed is joining in at …

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes, No Wings Option

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

The Flower Challenge – Pretty Pastels

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