A New Challenge At Time Out – #116 – We Challenge You To Be … Bright!

Hello … bonjour!  Our wonderful new challenge starts this morning at Time Out … this fortnight … We Challenge You To Be … Bright!   Here’s where I went with the theme …My ‘Bright‘ is in the form of Concord & 9th‘s Dahlia Turnabout, lent to me by a non blogging (though Instagram-ing), UK based, card making friend, after we had a playdate during her holiday in France (thanks so much, Judith!).  The yellow/grey/kraft colour palette was taken from a previous Color Throwdown challenge which I didn’t get to play along with at the time.  It was, though, one I’d never have thought of and really liked, so I saved it for a future play … as in now!  There were just three colours in the palette, so I did two of the turns in yellow … then overstamped one of them with Versamark and heat embossed it in shimmery EP.  The ‘Happy’ is from Simon and the supplementary sentiment is from WPlus9.   The finished panel was popped up on craft foam onto the card base and I added a gem to the centre of the bloom.  How about a look at a little more of that bright sparkle …

Where will our challenge take your creative imagination … to bright shades, as mine did … to a bright image … to a glowing scene … or somewhere else?  Wherever it takes you, we’d love to see what you create!  This time round, we’re sponsored by Happy Little Stampers  (thanks, Kylie!) … our  winner, as voted for by the DT will receive a $20 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 … and from our talented Guest Designer,  Anila from Novel Ideas.  You’ll find heaps of delicious clean, crisp cards over at Anila’s blog … why not pop over … enjoy … and say hello while you’re there!

I’m playing along at …

Where Creativity Meets C9 – Anything Goes

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

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Twofer Card Challenge #8 – Geometric

Hello … bonjour!  Welcome to our latest Twofer Card Challenge!  This month, we have a cool, stylish and fun prompt … it’s …

Here’s where I went with it …

My common stamp here is the small triangle from Papertrey‘s Sketched Shapes … I love the interest that the scribbly pattern adds … and triangles are so versatile!  How about a closer look at each card?

         

Here I created a random pattern of overlapping triangles on my one layer card, using four different blue hues, pointing down and up towards the oversized Simon Says Stamp greeting, which was nestled into them.  The birthday sentiment and the random dots on the triangles (Simon Says Stamp Lots of Dots) were silver heat embossed … adds a bit of shine without being too much for a masculine card.

My Twofer …

Doesn’t that single triangle stamp make a cute cluster of Christmas trees?  The bottom layer on each tree is the same triangle as on my first card.  Thanks to a negative mask that I hand cut in the shape of the tree, I could stamp the layers (which diminish in size as the trees get taller) and the trunks … with the same triangle stamp.  I used the positive part of the mask to protect the two front trees while the background one was stamped through the mask.  The sentiment is from WPlus9, heat embossed in gold and the trees are dressed in gold foil stars and Santa red bling. There’s a smidge of shading under the trees, though it’s hard to see here.  The finished panel was adhered to a card base that had been trimmed top and bottom with gold washi tape.

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

How will your imagination use our ‘Geometric’ prompt this month?  Will you go conventional or unconventional … or both, as I did?  We’d love to see what you create in our gallery.   All the details you need to play along are over at the Twofer blog … along with plenty of delicious ideas from the DT to get those artistic juices flowing.   We’re delighted to have two Guest Designers with us this time round … welcome to Cheryl from Paper Panacea and Brenda from Inkspired to Stamp, who also have some wonderful inspiration for you.  Do pop over and see both Cheryl and Brenda … there’s so much to see and enjoy over on their blogs … and they’ll be delighted you called!

My graphic masculine card is heading to …

Addicted to CAS – Masculine

Addicted to Stamps & More – Clean And Simple

CAS-ual Fridays – Stamp A Pattern

Seize The Birthday – No Water Option

Watercoolor Wednesday – All About Occasions

… and my Christmas tree cluster is cavorting over with …

CAS Christmas – Tree

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – No Sequins Option

SSS Monday – Add Some Tape

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 🙂

 

                  

                   

                   

A Trio Of Cards!

Hello … bonjour!  Surprise … a non DT post … my first since January!  Each week I believe there’ll be a little spare time to just play with paper, ink and challenges … then it gets to Sunday night and there’s not.  Pretty much where we’ve all been at one time or another, I guess!  Today, though, at last, I have a trio of cards to share, inspired by a plenty of different challenges.  Here’s the first …

         

My primary inspiration here came from my lovely friend Chriss‘s card for Muse Christmas Visions, 100th challenge party (many congratulations, ladies!) …I picked up on the colours, the gold and the layout … and stamped my festive spray using images from Concord & 9th‘s Flourish.  This isn’t an outline stamp, so I did some of the layering in gold, to mimic Chriss’s embossing.  For the main flower, I also used a water brush to blend the gold and white to create cream … and added some white gel pen highlights to the berries.  The sentiment is from WPlus9 (inspired by SSS Monday).

I’m playing along at (badges at the bottom) …

Muse Christmas Visions – As above

Addicted to Stamps and More – Holiday

SSS Monday – Inspired by a Song … Joy To The World

SSS Wednesday – Use More Than One Stamp … Two sets, lots of stamps

Watercooler Wednesday – All About Christmas

The next card is a bright, sunny little number …

This lovely MFT sunflower was gifted to me by my sweet friend Bev (thanks, Bev!) … it puts me in mind of the  fields of them that will be in bloom around us by the summer.  I did some ink layering (with MISTI) to get the graduated colour on the petals and leaves, die cut everything and adhered the flower and leaves onto my linen card base.  The Papertrey sentiment (thanks, Judith!) was stacked three times and adhered over the sunflower … and I scattered some Lucy’s Little Gems around it.

This bright bloom is heading to (badges below)…

Just Us Girls – Inspiration Picture (below)

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS Monday – Inspired by a Song … Sunflower by Glen Campbell

SSS Work it Wednesday – Sunshine and Summer Time

The Cat’s Pajama’s – Die Cutting

This last card may just have a familiar feel about it …

Yep, the same main image as the first card … though doesn’t it look different here in these summery shades (or at least it does to my eyes!).   My colour palette came from a home decor piece I saw on Pinterest … I wanted something rather bold … and a bit different from my usual choices.  The Concord & 9th Flourish images are simply stamp layered direct onto the card base … and I added a sentiment from Beautiful Branches, also from Concord & 9th.  Voilà … it didn’t seem to need anything else!

I’m joining in with (badges below) …

Where Creativity Meets C9 – Floral

Less Is More – One Layer Card – Thinking of You

SSS Monday – Inspired by a Song … Wildflowers by Tom Petty

SSS Wednesday – Use More Than One Stamp … Two sets here

Hope your weekend has been a wonderful one … have a happy week!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita:)

         

                   

          

         

Guest Designing at Inkspirational!

Hello … bonjour!  I’m thrilled and honoured to be Guest Designing with the fabulous and talented DT at Inkspirational today … thank you, Marina and all the team for the invitation!  For the next fortnight, there’s a cool, stylish photo inspiration to get your creative juices going (it’s below) … here’s my take on it …

          

… and here’s the inspiration …

My eye was taken with the blue, grey, black colour palette, by the glow around that cascade of rain and by the tall/long images (man in black, what I took to be flag poles each side of him, and window apertures in the background building).  I cut an MFT peek a boo window out of a white card panel, adhered a slip of printed vellum (thanks, Darnell!) behind it and foam mounted the panel onto a grey card base.  The tall stylised leaves are from Simply Graphic (thanks, Maria!) … coloured with alcohol markers and sponged over with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, attached just where the stems meet the vellum.  I white heat embossed a WPlus9 sentiment onto a strip of black card stock and popped it up on foam tape across the stems and window … and finished off with a few enamel accent dots.  I was hoping that the light shining on the rain-like print on the vellum would mimic that glowing rain cascade … and it did, sort of … don’t you just love it when a design comes together!  Here’s a detail shot …

What voyage of discovery will your imagination take with this inspiration?  Wherever it takes you, we’d love to see what you create.  All the details are over at the Inkspirational blog, along with a whole heap of delicious ideas from the Design Team … hope to see you in the gallery!

I’m playing along at …

Addicted to Stamps & More – Anything Goes

Mod Squad – Simply Clean

AAA Cards – A Favourite Technique (Die Cutting)

A big thanks, once again, to Marina and the Inkspirational DT for their invitation and warm welcome … it’s been so much fun!  Thanks so much to you too for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

         

A Birthday Bouquet … and an Exciting Reminder!

Hello … bonjour!  Happy New Year … Bonne Année 2018!  In just a week’s time, a deliciously pristine, shiny new challenge starts … I’m pretty certain you’ll have heard about it as the first announcement was made before Christmas … it’s the lovely Darnell‘s Twofer Card Challenge!  That’s exciting enough, really … though for me it’s beyond that … I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be part of the Twofer Design Team.  Goodness … so thrilled!  Do check out the Twofer blog for all the details of this unique challenge … it’s going to be so much fun … and so inspiring … wait till you see all the talent on the DT (if you haven’t already) … and come back in a week to find out what all the excitement is about!  So, I do have a card to share today (which is why you’re here) … a fresh, pretty little number made with some NBUS … A bouquet of blooms from WPlus9, stamped and white heat embossed onto a panel of Canson Mixed Media cardstock.  I coloured it with Zigs and a water brush, stamped the sentiment (SSS), added a little sprinkle of Lucy’s gems and popped the panel up on craft foam onto a base of the same card (I like my panels to match!).

I’m playing along at …

CAS Watercolour – Birthday

Happy Little Stampers Watercolour – Anything Goes … no sequin option

SSS Monday – Something New … WPlus9 Botanical Bunch

SSS Work It Wednesday – New To You … WPlus9 Botanical Bunch

I’ll be back tomorrow with Time Out‘s first challenge of the year … and in a week for Twofer‘s debut … do hope you’ll have chance to join us for both!    Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂

       

         

Joyeux Noël!

Hello … bonjour!  I’m popping in this morning to wish you a Très Joyeux Noël … a Very Happy Christmas … may the miracle of Our Lord’s birth bring you great joy and every blessing on this truly special day … and always!  I haven’t had chance to post all of the Christmas cards I made this year, so am taking a moment to share a few of them here.  Most years, I make lots of one single design … this time, for a change, I made small batches of different designs.  The first of today’s quintet …

A simple, die cut 3D Christmas scene using the Concord & 9th Holy Night dies … against a blue foil background.  Isn’t that reflection amazing … and I didn’t even see it till after the picture was taken … a happy accident!  This was the only one like this … there were other cards made with glitter card and pearl card backgrounds, but there’s no mirror quality to them, so no reflection.  The Silent Night, Holy Night sentiment (from the same C9 bundle) is on the back.  I’m sending this card to …

CAS-ual Fridays – White Christmas

SSS – National Christmas Card Day

Where Creativity Meets C9 – Anything Goes

                   

Next, another mostly die cut Madonna and Child …

The die is from Tutti Designs … a gift from the lovely Michele (thank you so much, my friend!), cut from pearl card and adhered over a Distress Ink sponged background, spritzed with Shimmer Spray.  The sentiment is from Concord & 9th’s Holy Night.  I’m joining in at …

Clean & Simple on Friday – Christmas

SSS – National Christmas Card Day

Uniko – Christmas

                   

Third up, Bethlehem …

A Taylored Expressions border die (Lake House stash!) adhered over a Distress Ink sponged and splattered sky, with a white heat embossed sentiment from WPlus9.  The glow from the town silhouette is so much more glow-y IRL … couldn’t capture it on camera!  This one’s going to …

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes (No option)

Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes

SSS – National Christmas Card Day

                   

Next on stage … a snow covered village on Christmas Eve …

Don’t know where the village landscape die is from … it was from my Lake House stash.  It’s adhered over a Distress Ink sponged and shimmer sprayed background … and stamped with a Concord & 9th sentiment.  I’m playing along at …

Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes

SSS – National Christmas Card Day

Uniko – Christmas

                   

Finally for now, a simple, rustic creche …

Don’t use a lot of kraft at all … though I do love the look of white embossing on it.  This lovely image seemed a perfect way to combine the two … it’s part of a Hero Arts full nativity scene (Greatest Gift) that I very carefully trimmed out so that I could use just the creche.  The sentiment is from Concord & 9th.  I love the simplicity!  This is heading to …

A Blog Named Hero – Winter Holiday

Inkspirational – Gift … the Greatest One of all

SSS – National Christmas Card Day

                   

I’m planning on coming back over the next couple of days with a few more of this year’s Christmas card designs … hope to see you then!  Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy!  Anita 🙂