Pastel watercolours and sequins

I interrupt my crafty stash shopping session to show you that I managed to slowly slowly tease my mojo into co-operating a little bit today. I have spent most of the morning trying to decide whether to spend my hard earned money on a few Paper Smooches dies (I fell in love with this ah-maaa-zing Criss Cross die as well as this and this flower die). In addition, I'm dreaming about the awesome Paint Strokes die, but can't seem to find it from any UK retailer. Could of course order it from the US, but would have to pay astronomical shipping and import tax on top, and although I got a small pay rise with my new job, it's not enough to support such folly. On the other hand, I really want the awesome new paper packs from Lawn Fawn, particularly the plaid one, I am utterly and totally in love. And I *have* to have the stitched frames, that's not negotiable. I'm also considering very seriously buying the set of Lawn Fawn inks as I love the bright colours. However, I have made a solemn promise not to start another set of inks, as I really don't need them. Although to be fair, do we ever really need any of the crafting stash we buy... I just really, really want them!

I also had the shock of my life when I browsed over to the Lawn Fawn blog to drool over their wonderful inspiration cards. when What do I see in the most recent Fawny Flickr Friday - Valentine's Day Edition other than my "It moose be love" card along with the most amazing cards from fellow crafters! I almost felt my heart stop. Such a proud crafting moment. 

Anyhow, on with the show. After a week away from the craft room I wanted to ease my mojo back into crafting mode. So I made a simple card inspired by the very simple and elegant sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well as the colour challenge over at Your Next Stamp. I simply die cut the sentiment using the Lawn Fawn Scripty congrats die and the banner above using a die from the Stitched Journaling Card die set from linen textured white cardstock. Then I used Tim Holtz distress inks in Worn Lipstick, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Pine Needles and Faded Jeans to create a watercolour background which I attached to my front panel, and attached everything to a card base made from linen textured white card. I embellished simply using a few matching sequins and that's it. I really like how the card turned out, I love the blended watercolours showing through the white card, it's a really nice effect. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes and Allsorts where the theme is Bring on the Bling (sequins count as bling, don't they??)

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 190 gms watercolour card
Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks in Worn Lipstick, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, Pine Needles and Faded Jeans
Dies: Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats, Stitched Rectangles and Stitched Journalling Card
Other: Sequins from my stash

Paint smooshing on vellum

My week of annual leave is sadly coming to an end and it's time to say goodbye to family and head back home. As sad as that is, there is a silver lining to every cloud, and for me it's of course getting back to my craft room! Oh and seeing the Culinary Consultant too. Ok, that might even be the biggest silver lining to be honest, but don't tell him as he would just go getting big ideas about himself. Men... can't live with them and all that schtuff. Anyhow, I have another card I made a while ago that I wanted to share with you before hopefully being able to create something new in the next day or two. 

I had a bit of a mad creative moment the other day, creating several cards in one go, you can see my other similarly themed card here. I got really inspired to do some Distress Paint smooshing and decided to try it on vellum. I loved the look, it looks like stained glass! The paint behaves very differently on the slippery vellum compared to watercolour paper. I die cut a panel from the vellum after it had dried and stamped the sentiment from STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2 and heat embossed in silver. I added two die cut snowflakes I found when rummaging through my stash (yay for using up yet another bit from the stash, every little bit counts!). Super quick and easy. If only I was as good at sending cards as I am at making them...

Also, don't forget that you have another 2 days to join the first ever STAMPlorations CAS challenge, where the optional colour twist is silver.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Craft for the Craic - January Blues
Fussy and Fancy - Monochromatic 
Craft Rocket Challenges - Clean and Simple
If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Inspiration Image (see below)
Stampavie and More - Winter
A Snowflakes Promise - Winter
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - Winter Wonderland

Card: 300 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, silver and white glitter card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China, Brushed Pewter, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Picket Fence
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Snowflakes
Other: Papermania Silver Tinsel embossing powder

A world full of colour

Sorry for the silent treatment, I'm a few thousand miles from my craft room at the moment. I did however want to share with you this fun card I made last week, I absolutely love rainbows, I always say rainbow is my favourite colour. And of course I love Tim's Crazy Birds, and I realised I haven't had a play with them for a while so it was past time for them to come out and play.

I made a big bunch of rainbow Distress Paint backgrounds ages and ages ago. Apart from this card, the rest of the backgrounds have been hanging out unloved in my UFO box, so I thought it's about time to do something about it. I picked one of them and die cut it using a stitched rectangle die. Then I stamped one of the Crazy Birds and some artsy paraphernalia, coloured with Copics and die cut using the matching dies. Last I added a sentiment from STAMPlorations and attached everything onto white card.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Make My Monday - Newest or most favourite stamp 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - T is for Technique (Distress paint background)

Card: 250 gsm white card, 300 gsm white linen textured card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy and Crazy Things (and matching dies), STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Paints
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles

My first and only valentine for this year

I'm not big on Valentine's day cards, and not planning to make many. In fact, I'm assuming this will be my only one for the year, for my dear Culinary Consultant. It might be a bit too girly coloured, but he likes warm colours so why not. I had fun playing with the watercolour background, and decided to colour the moose with watercolours as well. Sorry about the horrible photo, I am about to head out of the country for a week, and realised that I won't be able to take a photo of the card in daylight before I go away, so had no choice.  Anyhow, as I will be away, it will be a bit quiet on the blog for the next week, I have a post or two lined up but that will be it on the crafting front for a while. I hope to see you all in a bit though, don't forget about me and take care!!

I am linking up with the following challenges:
ColourQ - colour challenge (and yes, I only used the colours from the challenge, but when smooshing pink and yellow it will create some orange to... so technically I don't think I'm cheating although there is also some orange in the background)
Lawnscaping - Watercolour
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Create With Critters
Retro Sketches - sketch
Make My Monday - Stitching (real or faux)

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka and Let's Polka in the Dark

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle and Say Cheese dies

STAMPlorations CAS challenge - mid-month inspiration

And so we have sped over halfway through January already. Is it just me, or is 2016 going even faster than 2015? The exciting bit about mid-month is that it's time to reveal our mid-month inspiration for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge, which this month is Anything goes with an optional colour twist of Silver. I wrote at length about the challenge in my post from earlier this month. And by hopping over to STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog you will find more inspiration from the rest of the DT.

For my mid-month inspiration card I used a stamp set I fell in love with the first time I saw it, Lotus Love from Dee's Artsy Impressions at STAMPlorations. I started by die cutting a piece of cardstock with a stitched die, stamped the flower in Memento Tuxedo Black and masked it. Then I inked the background using Distress inks and foam applicators to get a ombre background. After removing the masks I coloured the flower with Copics. I left a clear space in the corner to stamp a sentiment from Fond Expressions 2, which I heat embossed in our theme colour, silver. Last, I added a few tiny rhinestones for a very simple embellishment.

Don't forget that you have until the end of the month to link up with us to show your CAS creations. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to take part, but if you have them we would love to see them. A randomly picked winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, and even better, if the winner is using STAMPlorations products, they will receive a $15 gift card.

I am linking up with the following challenges: 
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
Inky Chicks - Anything Goes 
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes
Sparkle N' Sprinkle - Use loose glitter, embossing powder or flocking (embossing powder in the sentiment)
One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes
Hiding In My Craft Room - Embossing

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Lotus Love and Fond Expressions 2
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire, Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Copics G02, G05, G07, V04, V07, V09
Other: Papermania Silver tinsel embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, adhesive gems from my stash

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Watercolour lotus

Yesterday I felt like having a good old play with my Distress Inks and some water, inspired by lots of things I saw on various card challenges over the weekend. So I armed myself with a brush, some water and a bunch of blue Tim Holtz distress inks. I started by a layer of smooshing, letting it dry, and then adding several layers of splattering and splashing. Yes, I know, that's a very detailed and easy to follow description of the creative process. I had a lot of fun, and I think the background turned out quite nice, even if I do say so myself.

I didn't want to detract from the background, so I just stamped the lotus blossom from the gorgeous Lotus Love stamp set from Dee's Artsy Impressions at STAMPlorations and heat embossed in white. I used my new thanks die from Lawn Fawn to create the sentiment. You can't really see it, but both I coloured both the lotus and the sentiment with my Wink of Stella pen, so in real life they have a gorgeous subtle shimmer to them. 

It's really hard to make the Wink of Stella show on photos...

I'm was inspired by, and linking up with, the following challenges:
Just Us Girls - colour inspiration (see below)
The Friday Mashup - Feeling Blue (see below)
The ABC Challenge - Z is for zero (no embellishments allowed)

Card: 190 gsm watercolour paper, 300 gsm textured white card, scrap of dark blue card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Lotus Love
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles and Scripty Thanks dies, Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Wink of Stella glitter pen

CBG stands for Clean But Grunge-y

This morning I woke up to a white world! We went out for dinner last night, and when we were driving back home to our remote little village in the middle of nowhere snowflakes started falling from the sky. This morning it felt like the whole world was clean and new. Well, as it's already 11 o'clock as I write this, most of that lovely white fluffy stuff has disappeared and it looks a bit grey and dreadful again, but it was nice while it lasted. As long as it's gone by tomorrow morning as I'm not looking forward to slipping and sliding in to work. Back home we had a proper winter, so the cars have separate winter and summer tires. Over here we only have snow one or two days a year so everyone just goes along with one set of tires and boy does it get slippy-slidey when there is snow.

Oh well, on to more crafty things. Things like the dreaded male birthday card. Your brain freezes and you feel like you will never overcome this impossible mountain. You start over and over again, never getting anywhere. And then from time to time, you realised you actually created one by accident, without even thinking about it! This time a card that was going to be something completely different happened to end up a male birthday card instead. Oh well, who am I to argue.

I started by inking through a STAMPlorations stencil I have never used before, despite having it for a while. I got out three shades of green Tim Holtz distress inks, Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron and Forest Moss for this. Then I used some stamps from STAMPlorations Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds and the same inks to create a bit of a grungy look around the area where I was planning to add the panel with my sentiment. I stamped the frame from STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and the sentiment from STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy in Versamark and heat embossed in silver onto black cardstock. I attached the front panel onto a mint green mat and then onto white card and that my friends in how you make a CBG (clean but grunge-y) male birthday card. Also, don't forget if you are a CAS (or CBG, hehe...) card crafter, STAMPlorations challenges you to join our first ever CAS card challenge, where the theme this month is anything goes, with an optional colour twist of silver.

I was inspired by, and linking up with, the following challenges:
ColourQ - colour inspiration
Time Out - Birthday with optional twist of sponging
Shopping Our Stash - Something New (never before used stencil)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil It
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Ombre
Fantasy Stampers - All About the Boy

Card: White 300 gsm textured card, Vanguard VA012, coloured 240gsm crafting card black
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Cracked Pistachio, Forest Moss and Twisted Citron
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture, Celebrate Artsy, Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds
Stencils: STAMPlorations Shutters Stencil
Other: Papermania Silver Embossing Powder

Happy 2nd birthday to Fusion challenge!

Just popping in very quickly to show todays' card without further chit-chat. It's all a bit manic right now with job, life and whatnot. Off to have dinner with the Culinary Consultant and a few of his friends. 

Fusion card challenge is celebrating it's 2nd birthday with an colourful flowery image which was the inspiration for today's card.  Happy Birthday Fusion! I wanted to join in the celebrations as I needed to make a birthday card for a friend as well so that all worked out perfectly. I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up with Four Crafty Chicks where the theme is Chevron, Craft Rocket Challenge where the theme is Happy Anything, Let's Colour Linky Party where the theme is anything coloured goes (optional twist pink), Crafting With Friends and PDE Linky Party where Anything Goes.

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight 
Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful and Positively Chevron, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight, Tim Holtz Distress markers Shabby Shutters, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Spun Sugar, Milled Lavender, Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stampin' Up Hello You die, yellow and pink adhesive gems from my stash

Quick CAS card in turquoise

I'm just popping in for a very quick post today. It's been all work, work, work this week (as usual) with no time to even look in the direction of my craft room. I made this card last weekend but haven't even had time to put together a post to show it to you yet. But I'm here now, and that's what counts, right!

I started by stamping the background using some stamps from STAMPlorations Mixed Media Elements in Distress Inks in various blues. Then I stamped the large Morning Glory stamp in Versamark and heat embossed it in silver. Last, I stamped a sentiment from Lotus Love in Peacock Feathers, die cut the panel using a stitched die and attached to turquoise card. Quick, clean, simple and easy with lots of fun stamping!

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Daring Cardmakers - inspiration image (inspired by the blue and teal colours against the white, and the silver and glitter)
CASology - Open (the way the large flower is open against the buds, as well as open white space)
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
House of Cards - Embossing
Sparkle N' Sprinkle - Use loose glitter, embossing powder or flocking

Card: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Morning Glory, Mixed Media Elements, Lotus Love
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, Papermania Silver embossing powder

The swallowtail is back

If you read my post yesterday you know I went through a bit of a creative dry spell which I resolved by making loads of Distress Paint backgrounds. This is the second card resulting from those panels I created. This card was inspired by the colours over at ColourQ and I love how the pink and blue blend to make the most gorgeous lilac colour. I didn't want to cover the beautiful background too much so I thought I would just stamp the gorgeous Swallowtail from Stampin' Up and heat emboss it in white. Then I die cut the Happy from the Stampin' Up Hello You die set in kraft card, and last I stamped and embossed the Birthday from a Lawn Fawn set. Very clean and simple and another card that looks and feels like me. It's been a while since I used my Stampin' Up stash, but it was a nice change!

To create the background I daubed Distress Paints onto my craft mat, sprayed with water and swooshed my watercolour paper in the paint. Well, when I say craft mat, I actually use a reusable Teflon cooking mat. It seems to do the job just fine. Also, the best way to clean off dried paint from the mat I use alcoholic hand cleaner which I keep in my craft room to clean off my acrylic blocks. It seems to work really well. Just thought I would share these tips if anyone finds them useful.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
ColourQ - colours (see below)
Fantasy Stampers - Happy Birthday
Happy Little Stampers - Smooshing
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers Challenge - Anything Goes
PDE Linky Party - Anything Goes
Winter Wonderland - Spring Is In the Air

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card, kraft card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China,Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar
Stamps: Stampin' Up Swallowtail, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, Stampin' Up Hello You dies, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing powder

Back in the game

Inspiration is a funny thing. I crafted most of yesterday as I really wanted to publish a blog post (I usually try to publish one on both Saturday and Sunday). Sadly, I ended up with have nothing to show as I kept creating things more and more hideous and at least four more or less finished cards all ended up in the bin. I usually find great inspiration in looking at challenges, but yesterday it just felt that the more I tried to get inspired, the more forced and unlike me the cards ended up looking. I was already mentally prepared to sell all my stash on eBay, just trying to decide whether it would be better to sell things separately or in big bundles. I had a really sucky day overall yesterday, I found myself crying in the kitchen when cooking, for no real reason apart from feeling very sorry for myself, feeling like I was failing at everything  (mostly this is a reflection of how much I hate my job right now). In addition the weather was grey and dreary, as if things weren't miserable enough otherwise.

This morning I decided to take a completely different approach to my crafting, and just did what I felt like doing most. I am going through a phase of creating backgrounds using Distress Paints, and yesterday I thought I should really be doing something else for a change. But today I decided if that's what my little crafters heart wants to do, then that's what I will do and not care about recently having mostly done cards only using this technique. And I had great fun getting all messy. So far, I have created not one but two cards that I am happy with. Also the sun is shining outside, so life seems a bit less dreary today (apart from the fact that I have to be back at work in 19 hours...).

Today's card is inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown as well as the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch. I created multiple panels of coloured watercolour card with Tim Holtz Distress Paints in Broken China and Spiced Marmalade, just blotting the colour onto my craft mat, spritzing with plenty of water and then smooshing the paper around, adding even more water to the card and tilting the paper to move the colours around. I then used Stampin' Up Four Feathers stamps and heat embossed in white, before using the matching dies to die cut both the stamped feathers, as well as some feathers without any stamping on them. I used the left over pieces of the cardstock to cut some star shaped confetti using a Lawn Fawn die. I adhered the feathers onto a piece of grey card I die cut with a stitched rectangle die and stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from STAMPlorations in white. It was fun, didn't take very long, and when looking at the finished card, I just couldn't understand why I was struggling so hard yesterday!

In addition to the above, I am linking up with the following challenges:
Happy Little Stampers - Smooshing
The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes (with Stamping)
Card and Scrap - Use stamps
Crafty Enjoyments - Clean and Simple
Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes

Card: Coloured 240 gsm crafting card grey, 300 gsm watercolour paper, 250 gsm white card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China, Spiced Marmalade
Stamps: STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2, Stampin' Up Four Feathers and matching dies
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Journalling card and Stitched Rectangles dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

First ever STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything goes with Silver

Finally it's here, the day I get to introduce you to the STAMPlorations CAS challenge. I have been waiting for this ever since I was told I had been chosen to be on the Design Team along with these four incredibly talented ladies. I'm so excited to get to showcase stamps and stencils from a company that I absolutely love, and had been buying stamps from way before I started my design team assignment. 

So let me tell you a little bit about the challenge. CAS stands for Clean and Simple. So basically lots of white space (which doesn't necessarily have to be white), usually one main image, none or very few layers and minimal embellishments. What is CAS and what isn't is very much in the eye of the beholder, but basically think less is more and you will get there! 

The STAMPlorations CAS challenge runs for a month at a time. A new challenge is revealed on the first Thursday of the month, running until the last day of the month. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to take part, but if you have them we would be absolutely thrilled to see them. The challenge is always Anything Goes, and there is an optional colour twist. This month our optional colour twist is Silver. You can link up to 3 cards per challenge. 

And then to the best part - the prizes. Every month, the design team will vote for our favourites, who will receive a badge to proudly display on their blog. Every month a randomly drawn winner will also receive a $10 gift voucher to the STAMPlorations shop, and even better, if the winner is using STAMPlorations products, they will receive a $15 gift card. So come play with us, it doesn't matter if you are an experienced CAS-er or new to it, we would love to see what you create. On the STAMPlorations blog you can find more inspiration from the rest of the DT. 

I created two cards to inspire you for our January challenge. As January is grey and dreary here in the Northern hemisphere, I wanted to use bright colours. I chose to use the gorgeous Celebrate Artsy stamp set and bright Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I love this stamp set as it's perfect to create those quick and easy but impressive looking cards in no-time, it's an absolute craft room staple and I use it lots and lots. For my first card I stamped the brush stroke stamp in five colours, misting with my spritzer a little bit to let the colours lightly blend. I then dried the watercolour panel and used an anti-static bag to prepare the panel for heat embossing, stamping the sentiment from Fond Expressions 2, a great set with many versatile sentiments that work for pretty much any occasion. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in silver powder. Last, I added just one adhesive gem and matted the card front onto black card to make the colours really pop.

For my second card, I decided to experiment a little, and spritzed the watercolour paper until it was wet before using the same stamp in the same colours as for my first card. This time the colours blended much more, creating a much more artsy feel. After the panel had dried, I stamped a sentiment in black, adding another stamp from the Celebrate Artsy in Versamark and heat embossed in silver to create the highlight under the sentiment. I finished off with three adhesive gems above the sentiment. 

Don't forget to come back and see our mid month inspiration in two week's time, with more inspiration, and most importantly don't forget to link up your wonderful creations over on the CAS challenge blog!

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Try Stampin' On Tuesday - sketch (see below) plus something sparkly
House of Cards - Embossing (sentiment is heat embossed)
The ABC challenge - Y is for Your Choice 
One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Card: 300 gsm watercolour paper, 240 gsm coloured craft card in black
Stamps: STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy and Fond Expressions 2
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn, Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Papermania Silver tinsel embossing powder, mini clear adhesive gems from my stash. 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Happy Birthday Bear

My dear Culinary Consultant is not the most romantic person in the world. He's not big on small talk, actually not big talk also. But he is the kindest guy and from time to time he does something so sweet that I start to think he might be a bit of a closet romantic. Like yesterday when I was fretting about going back to work in a mix of depression and anxiety. And then I finally admit defeat and realise the holiday is over, and head over to go to bed. And what do I find on the bed? A box of goodies from L'Occitane! Apparently it's a going back to work present. How perfect is that? Going back to work was horrible though but at least the first day is now done and dusted. Maybe tomorrow will be a bit easier?

Today's card is almost exclusively put together from things in my UFO box (you know, UnFinished Objects...). The background journalling card is from a session when I was getting messy with a rainbow of Distress Paints. This is one I created towards the end, when a lot of the colours had already run together and became a brownish mess, which I originally didn't like but now when I looked at it again, I liked the way the clear bright colours mix together with the browns. The bear was also in the UFO box, I just stamped, coloured and die cut some birthday paraphernalia for him. The sentiment was - can you guess? - also in the UFO box, it is die cut from some card I created at another time when playing with my Distress Paints. Even the strip of Let's Polka paper is a leftover scrap piece. If you are a hoarder of all crafty bits great and small you know how good a card like this feels!

I am linking up with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Party

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Journey - They Say It's Your Birthday

Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Make Your Own Background

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes With a Die(s)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - Use Patterned Paper

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animal and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Various Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats, Stitched Journalling Card

Frozen smoosh

Well, my mojo clearly has realised it's the last day of my lovely Christmas holiday, and I have managed to create not one, not two, not three but four cards today. It just seemed like the good old mojo was in hibernation and now it's back. How great that I'm now in super-creative mode when I have to go back to work tomorrow and won't have any time to craft until next weekend. 

Sometimes it's the smallest thing that kicks off the good old mojo. I was browsing around looking at challenges (isn't it a bit ironic that most challenges are on holiday over Christmas when most people are on holiday and would actually have time to craft. Of course, being on some DTs myself, I'm of course very thankful for the break, but as a participant, I want more challenges, not less, over the holidays!!). Today, it was the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge that kick started my mojo. The theme for this month is smooshing and I got super inspired and got out my Tim Holtz distress paints and smooshed a big pile of backgrounds, one of which ended up in today's card. The sentiment is from a set from STAMPlorations called Fond Expressions 2, and it's heat embossed in white. The snowflake embellishment is actually from my stash, I made it ages ago using Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes dies and some Ranger Ice Stickles in Coffee Ice. Always such a rewarding feeling when you manage to use up stuff from your stash, isn't it.


I am linking up with the following challenges which inspired this card;
Try Stampin' on Tuesday - sketch (see below)
Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge - smooching
Happy Little Stampers CASE the designer - I was inspired by the smooched watercolour background and the layout with the watercoloured panel surrounded by plenty of white space
Curtain Call - Frozen 
The Shabby Tea Room - Inspiration image (see below)
Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge - colours (see below)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft 160 gsm ivory card

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China, Brushed Pewter, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Picket Fence

Stamps: STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes, Stitched Rectangles

Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice, Adhesive gems from my stash

A thank you card in new year colours

It's the time of year when we have to learn to write a new number, and it never gets any easier. Probably because as soon as you get to grips with writing 2015, it's already 2016. And I'm thinking this year will be no exception. I wish you will have the best possible 2016. I think amongst all people manically wishing everyone a Happy New Year with lots of exciting and wonderful things, we should all keep in mind that there are many people out there not looking forward to the new year for various reasons. The end of last year threw a curve-ball which will mean a very challenging new year full of worries. If you are going through something similar, I wish you all the strength you need to deal with whatever the new year brings. 

The new year is also a time to write thank you notes for all those kind and wonderful people who gave you a nice present or threw a wonderful party. I've struggled with finding inspiration for crafting amongst my anxiety over having to go back to work in just a few days so all I could deal with was something super simple. I used a stamp from STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy and inked it up with Coastal Cabana and without re-inking, just stamped four times on watercolour paper and then misted lightly with water with blue Perfect Pearls. It doesn't really show up on the photo, but the background card has a very light sparkly shine to it. I know I could have achieved the same effect with watercolour, but some days you can't even deal with the effort of watercolouring (I mean, you will have to get a jar of water, wait for the colours to dry and clean the brushes, oh the fuss) so very thankful for these great stamps!). Then I cut a banner from Stampin' Up Gold Soiree Speciality DSP. I also stamped the Lawn Fawn Scripty Sentiments thank you on a scrap piece of black card in Versamark and heat embossed in gold, after which I cut the piece in the shape of a banner. Then I placed the banners approximately where I wanted then, and die cut everything using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. Last, I matted the card front onto gold mirri card and a white card base, and added a few gold sequins for some bling. 

I am linking up with the following challenges:
ColourQ - colours (see below)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Party (I hope this qualifies, as it's a thank you card for a great party, and also in very festive colours, well at least to me as soon as you include gold or silver, it's festive, right?)
Just Us Girls - Word week: Thank You

Card: 300 gsm white card, scrap of 250 gsm black card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, gold mirri card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy, Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings
Ink: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana, Tsukineko Versamark
Paper: Stampin' Up Gold Soiree
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies
Other: Perfect Pearls Blue from my stash, gold sequins from my stash