A New Challenge At Time Out – #134 – We Challenge You To Be … Playful!

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to another fun, happy challenge at Time Out, where this fortnight … We Challenge You To Be … Playful!  Here’s my vibrant take on it …

… with a whole heap of playful, cavorting confetti to help celebrate a birthday!  I white heat embossed Mini Scenery: Spotty (Winnie & Walter) onto a panel of Bristol card stock, sponged Distress Ink over it in Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple (my take on a Kristina Werner Dox combo) and sprinkled on some water droplets to add more texture.  The panel was adhered to the card base and outlined in black fineliner pen.  The sentiment is also from Winnie & Walter … In A Word: Happy Coordinating Cutaways provided the white on black die cut and shadow … Wishing You With Evelyn T provided the supplementary strip, white heat embossed on black and popped up on foam tape.  I finished off with a scattering of sequins.

         

How will you interpret ‘playful’ … we’d love to see what you create in our gallery!  This time round, we’re sponsored by Winnie & Walter (thanks, Shay!) … our winner, as voted for by the DT, will receive a $25 GC … and will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at the Time Out blog … where you’ll also find loads of inspiring ideas from our brilliant DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Nancy from Nananas Cardmaking.  Why not pop over and check out Nancy’s blog … you’ll find so many fresh, fun and fabulous cards over there, just waiting to be explored and enjoyed!

I’m playing along at …

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Going Round in Circles … my spotty confetti!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

Watercooler Wednesday – All About Occasions

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

        

      

Twofer Card Challenge #15 – Zoo Animals

Hello … bonjour!  Our fun April challenge has just launched at Twofer … this month we’re inviting Zoo Animals to play with us …

… and I thought bears would be a good choice (nothing to do with what is … or isn’t … living in my stash!) …

A cosy warm birthday card … and a couple of chums saying hello … with that big waving bear from MFT as my common image (stamped and sent for me to play with a while ago by the lovely Cat … thanks my friend!).  Here’s a closer look at each one …

Here, I did a little doodling on Monsieur Bear and turned his scarf into a roll neck sweater … then coloured him with alcohol markers and trimmed him out, cutting off the scarf tails at the same time.  He chose the rainbow cuffs, collar and welt himself … without any cable knit, he felt the creamy Aran colour needed a little extra pizazz … very stylish!  I softly sponged the centre of an MFT wonky stitched panel (Lake House stash) with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink … cut a white embossed MFT sentiment (also from Cat) into a banner … and adhered the banner to the panel with foam tape.  Monsieur Bear was also popped up … his left arm has a double layer of tape under it to add some waving action dimension!  I attached the finished panel to a base card that had been sponged round the edges with Distress Ink.

My twofer is another conventional presentation …

Here, bear appears in his original polar, scarfed guise, accompanied by a little friend … both watercoloured with Zigs and trimmed out.  Their snowy background is a piece of patterned paper from my stash (yep, really, I used PP!), the stacked up die cut is from Winnie & Walter and the supplementary sentiments are from MFT (via Cat).  Little bear is popped up on some very slender foam dots while big bear is on chunkier ones to emphasise the sense of depth and distance between them.

How would you like to join us in the gallery at Twofer this month … we’d love to see which zoo animal(s) you choose as your common image.  You can find out everything you need to know in the rules and FAQs over at the Twofer blog.  It’s worth the trip … there are plenty of wonderfully inspiring ideas from our brilliant DT … and from our talented Guest Designer, Susan from Card Maker’s Garret.  Do go and have a visit with Susan … you’ll find so much deliciousness to enjoy!

My birthday bear is wandering over to …

Inkspirational – Pop It Up

MFT The Birthday Project – ROYBGIV

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Animal Antics

… and my polar bears are waving over at …

Inkspirational – Pop It Up

MFT Colour Challenge – Razzle Berry, Cotton Candy, Lemon Chiffon, Limelight (my closest)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Animal Antics

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

               

Twofer Card Challenge #14 – Balloons

Hello … bonjour!  We’ve rattled round so quickly into March … and today we have another Twofer challenge for you … this month we’re playing with …

… and here’s how my imagination floated off …

A happy hello card and a happy birthday card, both featuring a richly plump, round balloon image from Winnie & Walter … let’s take a closer look at each one …

I rock and roll stamped/masked the Winnie & Walter balloons and bows onto an A2 card panel, added the fun sentiment (from Essentials by Ellen) and drew in the drifting-in-the-breeze strings.  The balloons were layered with Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle and I added some colour and shimmer to the three o’s in the sentiment with a tiny dot from Simon Says Stamp.  The liquid sparkle took out some of the shaded dimensional effect of the rock and roll stamping … though it’s there if you look closely … and those balloons are deliciously shimmery!   The lovely (and uber talented) Therese at Lost In Paper made a set of splendid ‘over the top‘ designs recently where an element of each card stood out above it’s top fold … and it struck me that my balloon bouquet was made for such a technique (thanks for the inspiration, Therese!).  So … I trimmed out the finished balloon panel and adhered it to a base card cut especially to size … and the card still fits into a standard size envelope … perfect!

My twofer design is rather more unconventional …

… I turned my balloon image into pistacchio ice cream!  The sugar cone was created on an MFT Wonky Stitched panel (from my Lake House stash), using masking and a single line stamp from Winnie & Walter … and it was Copic coloured and shaded (thanks, Kara!).  After masking the top edge of the cone, I scooped the balloon into it and added some alcohol marker shading around the ice cream edges to give it a little dimension.  The image was overstamped with a sentiment from MFT … and real sprinkles (a freebie from our local supermarket in just the perfect colours!) finished it off … yum!  I sponged the edges of a base card to match the ice cream and popped the stitched panel up onto it on craft foam.

How about playing along with some of your own balloon images … we’d love to see your cards in our gallery!  You can find out everything you need to know in the rules and FAQs over at the Twofer blog.  There’s a whole heap of scrumptious inspiration to enjoy while you’re there too … from our talented Guest Designers, Julie from Handcrafted By Jules and Lucy from Little Scraps Of Lucy …….  and from our brilliant DT.  BTW, do go over for a visit with both Julie and Lucy … you won’t want to miss all the loveliness they have on offer!

My balloon bouquet is drifting off to …

CAS(E) This Sketch – See Below … turned upside down!

Day Of The Month Card Club – I Want You To Be Happy Day … a new, fresh and fun blog on the block from Cornelia, Gundi and Rosi … what a brilliant idea for a challenge!  Do check it out if you haven’t already!  As Winnie The Pooh said ‘ no-one can be uncheered with a balloon’!

Happy Little Stampers CAS – Special Day … any day with joy in it is special!

Papercraft Challenges – Clean And Simple

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Whatever The Weather … my balloons are floating off on a breeze!

Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes … to me, those soft colours and shimmer make this a feminine card … and it is a bouquet of balloons!

… and there’ll be a tasting of my ice cream at …

AAA Cards – One Plus Three (no optional friends twist) … one sentiment plus stamped scoop of ‘pistacchio ice cream’, Copic coloured cone, matted stitched panel.

Addicted to Stamps and More – Anything Goes

Day Of The Month Card Club – I Want You To Be Happy Day … ice cream and sprinkles … who wouldn’t be happy!

Winnie & Walter’s Leading Lady Challenge #4 – Altering Stamped Images With Masking

You may know we’ve had internet/phone issues for a while … heaps upon heaps of intermittent outages culminating in almost a week with no access at all … it’s been just a smidge wearing!   Orange (our service providers) lent us an Airbox on Thursday afternoon to get us online again till it’s all fixed … and I’ve been having fun and being inspired since, catching up with everyone.  So for now,  I’m around and about … if it goes quiet again, you’ll know there’s a technician up a telephone pole somewhere in rural France!  As ever, thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

            

                 

               

Twofer Card Challenge #13 – Stars

Hello … bonjour!  Our new challenge at Twofer has just started … this time around our theme is positively heavenly … it’s …

… here are my celestial designs …

One of the things I discovered when coming up with ideas for my cards was that there are very, very few starry stamps in my stash … what a serious omission!  What I was delighted to come across was a stencil from Winnie and Walter (my common image) … double delight actually … not only the stars … but a chance to play with stencilling too, something I’ve rarely done.  Here’s a closer look at my first design …

… a star covered birthday gift. Here I stencilled the stars in three Distress Ink colours onto a mixed media panel, moving the stencil’s orientation with each change of ink so that there was no overlapping.  The panel was trimmed to size, I sponged the edges to add definition, did some gentle silver splattering over it and silver heat embossed the Papertrey strings.  The WPlus9 tiny tag was die cut and sponged round the edges … and silver heat embossed with a smidge of the tied string (where it’s threaded through the hole) and with the Uniko birthday sentiment.  The miniscule stars around the sentiment are from Winnie and Walter.  The tag was popped up on foam tape on the package … and the package was popped up on the card base.

My twofer stars …

… a starry Christmas card.  Here, I used the stencil just the once, sponging over gold Delicata ink, stamped tiny silver dots (Winnie and Walter) between the stars and edged the panel with gold washi tape.   The sentiment is from Papertrey, stamped in gold and mounted over silver washi.  This isn’t how this design started out … it was originally one layer … the stars and dots weren’t coralled by the washi but were spilling out across the middle of the card in a playful, unstructured sort of a way.  However … when washi tape that was destined for the bottom edge of the card stuck where it shouldn’t have been and I pulled it off too quickly, my finished OLC was left with an ugly torn surface.  Oh dear (bet you can just hear me saying that!) … what to do … start from scratch or do a rescue job?  I rescued … by trimming out the unstructured spilling out stars and dots and edging them with the washi.  The first version was fun … this one is clean and crisp … and in the end I’d have been happy with either (which is p’raps as well really!).

What comes into your creative mind when you think of stars?  We’d love to see!  All the details about how to play along are over at the Twofer blog … together with with heaps of splendid starry inspiration from the DT.  We’re delighted to have two Guest Designers with us this month … Barb from Barb’s Studio Creations and Cat from Cat Luvs Paper … welcome ladies!  If you’re not familiar with Barb’s and Cat’s fabulous work, you’ll really want to go and have a visit with them both … there’s so much delicious inspiration to enjoy and absorb!  Even if you are familiar, pop along anyway … you can always say hello while you’re there!

My birthday gift is heading to …

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes … without the black and white topping

Uniko – 7th Birthday Party … many congratulations, Bev and all the team past and present!

Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes

… and my celestial sky is joining in at …

CAS Christmas – Peace

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – With Star Option

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

                   

                   

Twofer Card Challenge #12 – Birds

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to our first Twofer Card Challenge of 2019!  This month, we have a fabulous prompt that will have ideas popping all over your creative brain … it’s …

… it might even be happening already!  Here are my feathered friends …

My common image here is that happy little waving penguin, from Arctic Pals by Essentials By Ellen, used conventionally on both cards … isn’t he a cutie?  Actually, all the stamps I used are from the same set, designed by Julie Ebersole … I love it!  Here’s a closer look at the first …

Here, my penguin is saying a heap of hello’s to his pal just across the ice.  They were stamped onto a white card panel, coloured with alcohol markers and grounded with a touch of grey pencil. The eyes on both were altered using white and black gel pens so that they look as though they’re glancing at one another … and  I added Glossy Accents (carefully!) to the eyes and the beaks.  The cracked ice background (that’s how I see it!) is from Winnie and Walter (Multifaceted Cutaway) … cut from grey card and adhered flat to the base.  I doodled a dotted frame around the penguin panel … and popped the panel up on craft foam over the ice.

My twofer penguin …

         

… sending Happy Brrrthday wishes from behind his iceberg.  This little scene was built up on a white card panel using stamping and masking … I added a touch of colour to the penguin’s beak … and some shading and frosting to the icebergs (you can see the shimmer better in the first photo if you go in close).  The finished panel was adhered flat to a card base that had been sponged along the edges to match the icebergs.

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

How might you interpret ‘Birds’?  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 fine, feathery ideas from the the DT to spark your imagination.  We’re delighted to have two Guest Designers with us this month … a warm welcome to Izzy from Izzyscrap and Sonja from Old Punca.  Do go and have a visit with both Izzy and Sonja … not only will you find their brilliant Twofer cards, you’ll also enjoy a whole heap of wonderful inspiration to meander through … and you can always leave them some love while you’re there!

My happy pals are wandering off to …

Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes With Dies

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Use Something New … my penguins

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday – Try Something New … my penguins

… and my surprise birthday friend is celebrating at …

CASology – Frozen

Less Is More – Water … icebergs are frozen water!

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 #120 – We Challenge You To Be … Colourful!

Hello … bonjour!  Our fabulous new challenge starts this morning at Time Out … this fortnight … We Challenge You To Be … Colourful!   Here’s where I went with the theme …

My ‘Colourful‘ is those cutie patootie, sparkly edged little bobble hats that are keeping this festive row of sweet penguin-ettes warm!   The penguins are from Winnie & Walter … they’re stamped in black and clear heat embossed … and are set along a distress ink sponged ice flow, into which the Winnie & Walter sentiment was stamped/heat embossed.  The colouring was done with Zigs … and I added some frosty shimmer to the furry brim and pompoms with a touch of Stickles.  Want to see the glitteriness a little better …

          

Where will our challenge take your creative imagination … to colourful images, as mine did … to something bright, bold and graphic … or somewhere else?  Wherever it takes you, we’d love to see what you create!  This time round, we’re sponsored by Winnie & Walter  (thanks, Shay!) … our  winner, as voted for by the DT will receive a $25 GC from the store … and as usual, will be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  All the details are over at Time Out, along with plenty of fabulous inspiration from our wonderful DT … why not pop over and enjoy!

I’m playing along at …

Addicted To Stamps And More – Holiday

CAS Christmas – Birds

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes (No Optional Twist)

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes (No Optional Twist)

The Cats Pajamas – Holiday

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 🙂