unsupervised

 hello crafty stampers!

The lovely sisters at the sisterhood of snarky stampers have a new challenge this fortnight - #201 I is for Ink

I was wanting to do some stencilling and this challenge was right up my alley.

The seahorse from Darkroom Door Under the Sea was stamped 3 times using my Misti. 2 were in plain soft sea foam while the last seahorse has a multitude of distress oxide inks put on the stamp using a finger dauber, and stamped with each colour. Such a kaleidoscope of colour - like a naughty toddler getting into the inks! The seahorses were masked, then using Paper Rose Small Drops stencil, 2 blue distress oxides were blended over the panel. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz Small Talk sticker. The panel was added to the card base with foam tape.

I'm also entering this in the Just Us Girls Challenge #614 Trend Week

Thanks for stopping by!

kind of crazy

 hello snarky stampers!

A huge congrats to the sisters at the sisterhood of snarky stampers for their #200 challenge - what a milestone!

I couldn't resist getting in on the celebration, and so many snarky sayings to choose from... where to begin?

I began with an ink smooshed panel and a newly purchased die from Paper Smooches,  Kind Bear.  I die cut him from black, and from another ink smooshed card, and then die cut the flower from pink and from green for the stem and leaf. After piecing him altogether, I adhered it to the panel. The sentiment from Tim Holtz Big Talk was popped up on black card, edges inked, and adhered to the panel. The finishing touch was some inking around the edges and then dotted lines around the perimeter using a fine black marker. The panel was then adhered to a black card base.

I'll enter this in the NBUS blog also!

Thanks for stopping by!

warm wishes

 hello lovely stampers!

Hope you all had a lovely holiday season - it's been a relaxing time here which has been very enjoyable!

Today I have a card for the CAS colours and sketches challenge #450 milestone celebration challenge, congrats to the CC&S team!

I chose sketch challenge #428 from July 2021 and wanted to use a newly purchased stamp set from MFT.

I couldn't resist having the cool bear in the square shape - such a cute image, and the CAS design really puts him on centre stage!

I die cut the centre square using an Hero Arts Infinity Squares die from red card. Then I stamped the image from MFT Cool Day on white card and paper pieced his sweater, Santa hat, mug and hand from various coloured papers, and glued them in place. Then this image was die cut using the next smaller size square die and glued onto the red square. The sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped directly on the card panel and the squares popped up on foam tape above. The panel was lastly adhered to a red card base. 

Such a sunny day here made the shadow quite strong! Thanks for stopping by!

Edit: Thanks to the lovely team for awarding my card as a winner for this challenge!

joy

 hello again stampers!

This is my last week as Guest Designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge and I've had such fun! This week is photo inspiration week #612.

This photo reminded me of a country kitchen - all the shopping bags with Christmas goodies, I couldn't resist making a Christmas card. I was inspired by 3 things: the subway tiles across the centre of the pic (they are fab!), the leafy wreath on the bench, and the brown bags with Christmas goodies and a tiny pop of red.

Since I wanted to include a wreath but I have no wreath stamps, I chose to make a square card. That way, I can use the Misti and leaf stamps and just rotate the card 90o, stamping 4 times to create the circle. I began by stencilling the brick pattern using Darkroom Door Brick Wall stencil with distress oxide ink. Then I used Paper Rose Solid Flowers and Leaves stamps in my Misti to stamp the wreath. I also used a Darkroom Door Circle stencil to align where to stamp to get a circle shape. I used 2 different stamps from the set, to give a loose, leafy wreath. Some shiny red dots were also added. 

The sentiment was stamped using Altenew Warm Blessings in my Misti, with memento tuxedo black and also versamark, then it was heat embossed for a lovely shine. The sentiment was punched with a circle punch, and also punched from red card. These were slightly offset, then popped up with foam squares on the card panel. Lastly the card panel was adhered to a Kraft card base.

Come join in the fun with Just Us Girls, and stock up your christmas card stash! We're looking forward to seeing your designs! 

Thanks to Vicki and the lovely team at Just Us Girls Challenge for having me as their Guest Designer this month. I have really enjoyed all four challenges! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

thanks

 hello again crafters!

I'm into my third week as guest designer over at Just Us Girls Challenge, and am loving the experience! This week is #611 colour week and the colours chosen are aqua, brown and cream.

I wanted to do a CAS card and keep the imagery simple to highlight the colours.

I used a Paper Rose Leaves stencil to blend Vintage Photo distress oxide ink, then die cut it using a Paper Rose Stitched Rectangle die. The dragonfly from Darkroom Door Wildflowers Vol 1 is inked with Salvaged Patina and heat embossed in clear to give him texture and shine, then fussy cut and popped up on foam for dimension. 

Here's a closer shot of the shine on the dragonfly. 

The sentiment is die cut using Altenew Fancy Thanks die, 3 times and layered to make it stand out. Finally I added a few dew drops.

Come join in the fun at Just Us Girls challenge - we'd love to see your creations! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

postcard

 hello lovely stampers!

This fortnight the new challenge at AAAcards #203 is for a one inchie + optional twist of masculine.  

I am intrigued and a little bewildered by the inchie. What is the best way something so tiny can still deliver an interesting card? I decided a one inchie didn't need to be a one layer or a one colour, so that formed the basis for my idea. 

My plan was to pack in as much as possible in that one inch.  I do have a stamp set Darkroom Door Seaside Inchies and the lovely DT over at perfectlyCAS have as their theme this month, 'Tropical' so I decided to combine the challenges.

I chose the inchie stamp with surfboards so it also satisfied the optional twist of masculine.

I began by stamping the inchie on a white card scrap with an area blended with distress oxide ink for the sky. The stamp was masked and stamped separately for the sky edge and the sand background. Then I stamped the whole stamp onto various ink blended scraps, with various colours of distress oxide ink and black ink, then chose the best ones to fussy cut each of the surfboards. 

MANY variations later... 😅 I chose a combination I liked. The surfboards were glued in place onto the background stamp, then the inchie was cut out. I'm thinking it was like paper piecing, but with ink blended card instead of paper. The sentiment was stamped with memento tuxedo black onto ink blended scrap (the same sand colour) using Altenew Sentiment Strips, then cut, edges inked and popped up on foam tape. The edges of the inchie were also inked with black to make it stand out on the card, then also popped up with foam onto a white card base using the rule of thirds and placing the inchie at the top right intersection.

Phew* I think it looks like a teeny tiny postcard!

Thanks for stopping by!

most beautiful day

 hello crafty stampers!

It's that time again for another Just Us Girls challenge and I'm really enjoying being the guest designer for the month of November! This week we are making a mini slimline card - easy right?

Since we can put any design on the card, I decided to use one of my new butterfly dies, which is quite tall. This card size is ideal for a large image as it has lots of tall space. I thought it should be the hero of the design, so I kept the other colours muted.

I began by stencilling the leaves using Altenew Foliage stencil with distress oxide ink. I blended part of the design then moved the stencil down to blend another part, making the overall foliage taller. Then I stamped the pink flowers using Paper Rose Solid Flowers and Leaves with distress oxide ink. 

Some pink distress oxide inks were watercoloured onto a card panel, then the butterfly was die cut from it, making sure to keep all the little die cut pieces. I also die cut a butterfly from black card, popped out the die cut pieces and adhered it over the pink die cut. The butterfly was popped up on foam tape so it was hovering over the leaves. The sentiment from Altenew Beautiful Day was stamped on white card using memento tuxedo black then die cut using Paper Rose Stitched Rectangle die and adhered to the panel.

Come join in the fun with Just Us Girls challenge this week. We can't wait to see your mini slimline design!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

make fun

 hello there stampers!

I'm joining in the fun today over at the sisterhood of snarky stampers. This fortnight their challenge is #197 R is for Rude and Edna is showing her true colours!

So many choices for rude cards, I found it hard to choose! hahaha

I began by blending distress oxide ink using Paper Rose Striped stencil over the card front. Then stamped the Darkroom Door Flourish texture stamp in the same colour. The image is printed from the net and fussy cut, and the foliage was die cut using Altenew Leaf Mix die set from a coordinating card colour. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz Big Talk sticker, mounted on card, edges inked and popped up on foam tape. Nuances of Bette Davis!

Thanks for stopping by!

be merry

 hello stampers!

I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge for the month of November - and this week is word week with challenge #609 - Merry.

Like many of you, I am slowly building up my Christmas card stash so took the opportunity this week to make another Christmas card.

I began with some new designer paper I received with the loveliest colours - pretty and fresh with a modern Christmas feel. I was inspired by a sketch from Donna Lewis that I thought looked like a present with ribbon! The paper pieces were mounted on shaded spruce card and then adhered to a card base making sure the design was kept in the right order. 

I stamped the sentiment using Altenew Warm Blessings with my Misti using memento tuxedo black and also versamark, then heat embossed it. The sentiment was also mounted onto shaded spruce card and popped up on foam tape on the card panel. A few stars were fussy cut and also adhered with foam tape around the sentiment.

Come along and join the fun this week at Just Us Girls challenge - we'd love to see your 'merry' cards!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

look pretty

 hello lovely stampers!

The fab sisterhood of snarky stampers have a new challenge this fortnight: E is for Everything Pink and Edna is looking mighty fine!

Now I have never been a girly girl and pink is not my favourite colour but I can certainly see the allure when it is presented with different hues and shades, so that formed the basis for my card. That decided, tho, I could find in my stash no pink card whatsoever! 

I began by blending pink distress oxide inks all over a white card panel. A circle was punched from white card for the moon and adhered to the panel, then given a solid cover of wink of Stella (hard to see in the pic). The wildflowers and starbursts were stamped using Altenew Wildflower doodles with a combination of distress oxides and Altenew inks. A couple of clouds using My Favourite Things Rolling Clouds were stencilled in distress oxide ink. I die cut the fairy using Paper Rose Fairy Isabella die from pink metallic paper, mounted on card, and adhered in position. The sentiment was printed on pink paper, mounted on card, edges inked in pink and popped up on foam tape for dimension. The whole panel was adhered to a white card base that had the edges and perimeter inked in Altenew Pinkalicious.

Thanks for stopping by!

peekaboo

 hello there stampers!

I made a card today for the fantastic challenge at AAA cards. This challenge is one corner with optional twist "boo!". 

Ironically, we don't really celebrate halloween here so not so much call for a halloween card, but I also didn't read the blog so closely and didn't actually realise it was meant to be a halloween card! oops! But I did manage to incorporate the optional twist - with a twist of my own! Hope it brings a smile to the team anyway...

I began by blending distress oxide ink in the lower corner of the card panel. I die cut the basket using Paper Rose Cupcake die but used kraft card to make it look like a basket, making sure all the little die cut bits stayed in place. Some orange distress oxides were blended on a card scrap and the kitty was stamped over the top then fussy cut. The sentiment was printed, mounted on card and popped up on foam for some dimension.

I remember as a child we had a cat that loved sleeping in the basket of clean warm clothes waiting to be sorted. She would leave her ginger fur all over the towels! This image really brought back memories lol

Thanks for stopping by!

hugs

 hello crafty stampers!

Today I have a card I made for the fun challenge at Just Us Girls. It's colour week and this week's colours are:

Beautiful colours together, and so many ideas in my head. But I thought I'd use a new die I received last week with sweet butterflies.

I started by stamping the wildflowers using Darkroom Door Wildflowers Vol 1 stamp set, with Memento tuxedo black. The butterflies were die cut using Paper Rose Amaya Butterflies die and popped them up with foam so they hovered over the flowers. The dots were scraps from other die cuts (I throw out nothing! lol).  I die cut the sentiment using Paper Rose Hugs Fine Script die twice and glued them together for definition, then glued the sentiment to the card panel.

Thanks for stopping by!

sympathy

 hello stampers!

Today I made a card for the latest challenge at perfectlyCAS #20 Sympathy

I wanted to use one of the new die sets that I just received this week - one has different feather shapes and one has butterflies. I'm using a feather today and also putting this card on the NBUS blog - thanks Darnell!

I began by blending distress oxide inks with muted colours and then die cut a rectangle shape from the panel using Paper Rose Stitched Rectangles die set. I then die cut the feather using Paper Rose Feather Trio from white card. The rectangle and feather were glued to a white card base. The sentiment was stamped directly onto the card base using Altenew Sentiment Strips with distress oxide ink to match the blended colour. It was stamped 3 times using my Misti, then heat embossed with clear.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Edit: Big thanks for the recognition from the DT for choosing my card as the winner this month!

celebrate

 hello fellow stampers!

Today I have a card made for the 200th game over at AAA cards. Wow, that's quite an achievement - congrats to the AAA team for the awesome challenges! Keep up the great work!

Also entering the card with the lovely people at Less is More who have a colour challenge this fortnight: #453 Purple and Yellow

What's a celebration without balloons?

I started by separately blending wilted violet and scattered straw distress oxide inks, then cut out the circles for the balloons using a punch. I fussy cut 2 little tabs for the balloon tails and adhered black and white bakers twine to the back. The balloons were popped up on foam squares. The sentiment was stamped with memento tuxedo black and versamark using my Misti, then heat embossed with clear so it's nice and shiny, then was adhered to a black strip for an outline. This was popped up with foam squares also. The little white balloon 'shine' were cutouts from a diecut left in my scraps.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Edit: Thank you so much for awarding my card in the top 3 for this challenge!

drink on a weekday

 hello again crafty stampers!

It's time for the new challenge at the sisterhood of snarky stampers and Edna's theme this fortnight is: B is for Birthday

Edna certainly looks like she's having an f'ing great birthday, and of course why wouldn't she, accompanied by her cupcake-loving feline friend! lol

I based my card around the snarky sentiment.

I began with this amazing holographic paper - beautiful but so hard to photograph 😓 The martini glass was die cut using Paper Rose Martini Glass 3 times glued together with 1 black. The black glass was slightly offset to create a shadow look and make the glass stand up to the very busy background. The olive was also die cut 3 times for dimension. The sentiment from Tim Holtz Big Talk stickers was adhered to a black card and popped up on foam squares. 

I do love the background but it's oh so LOUD!😎

Thanks for stopping by!

*Edit: thanks to the lovely sisters for crowning my card Princess.  I am delighted! Might be martini time...

boo

 hello crafty stampers!

I did a card today using the word theme from the lovely people at Just Us Girls challenge #604: Halloween

Since I have very few halloween stamps (it's not really a big occasion here) I used one of my favourite pussycat dies and made him black. Voilà!

I started by blending the sky in distress oxides, using a circle mask to create the full moon. I die cut the pussycat using Paper Rose Walking Cat die and shaped the black ground from black card. The tree from Altenew Under the Cherry Blossom Tree was stamped in Memento Tuxedo black and the spiders from a very old 2nd hand stampin up set were stamped in the tree. The sentiment was made using Darkroom Door Alphabet Medley and stamped onto a strip of Pumpkin Pie card and adhered with foam squares for dimension.

I love the sky colours - so very spooky!

Thanks for stopping by!

thank you

 hello crafty stampers!

I have a card today I made for the Just Us Girls challenge #603 Photo week.

I haven't entered a challenge using a photo as inspiration but there's always a first time! Such a beautiful photo - how I wish I could grow armfuls of flowers like this! I found so much to draw inspiration from in the photo, I went round in circles and found myself with too much going on and too many ideas. Crazy! So I decided to go CAS - when in doubt, simplify!

I began (this version 😉) by making scratchy marks on kraft card with green, brown and white inks. The kraft was then cut into strips and randomly glued back together to get the 'shabby shutter' look. Then I watercoloured 2 pages - 1 in green and 1 in pink and purple using distress oxide inks. I used Altenew Beautiful Day and stamped the leaves and the flower images, then die cut them with the coordinating dies.  I trimmed the flower image to cut out the leaf parts. The images are glued and the top ones popped up on foam squares. The sentiment from Altenew Mini Daisy stamp was stamped directly on the card front.

Thanks for stopping by!

ugly

 hello crafty stampers!

Let me tell you about my cat. Sox is a magnificent Siberian, ginger and cream striped. He is a fierce hunter (in his mind), a loyal friend (when he wants to be), a lap warmer (whether you want him or not) and definitely the boss of the house. Love him dearly 😍 My husband says in my eyes he can do no wrong, which is pretty much right, even when he's scratching up the sofa or meowing at 4 in the morning.  What can I say?

Today I made a card with him in mind. The lovely sisters at the sisterhood of snarky stampers have a new challenge: SOSS #194 U is for Ugly. Wow, a glimpse into Edna's real life?

Now don't go making assumptions here, it's not my cat that's ugly. 😇

The background was stencilled using Altenew Foliage stencil with Altenew inks, slightly offset between inking. The edge was inked and there may have also been some random stamping of dots around the perimeter. The sentiment was printed from the internet, and inked around the edges also. Stamps are no name and to be honest, not that good, so I think I'll be sticking to proper stamp brands from now on.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

thoughts

 hello again stampers!

I'm on a roll and onto the second card challenge for today - the rain is not easing up, so I'm taking advantage of some free time!

I found an interesting challenge at As You See it yesterday where you had to complete a card in under 10 minutes AND make it funny! Oh okay...

I had an idea for a card, based on a sentiment I had picked out but I had no idea how long it would take, I mean, how long is a piece of string? so I planned it out, got out the inks and supplies, began the timer and started with the first step - ink blending... Well that probably was my undoing.  I stopped the clock after 11 minutes with blurry stamping and still having not done the sentiment.  Doh!

Okay let's rethink this... I simplified the ink blending, making it only 2 colours, carefully cleaned off the stamps and made sure I didn't overink, decided not to cut down the panel but just adhere it to the card base. 2nd try was a success!

The stamps are from Darkroom Door Under the Sea, and the sentiment is a Tim Holtz Big Talk sticker. I stopped the timer at 9:22:03 but the distress oxide ink was still wet. I guess that still counts?

Great challenge! I'll be joining in more in the future for sure.

Thanks for stopping by!