Llama Tell You

Llama here to tell you that we are having the most hilariously fun new release over at the STAMPloraitons blog - Llama Tell You by the always funny Becca Cruger who I'm sure you know from her awesome blog Damsel of Distressed. This was an absolute have-to-have set for me as I'm the worlds biggest fan of llamas and alpacas. We live quite close to an alpaca farm, and every time we drive past I have to look out for the alpacas. What I didn't know that the owner of the farm is someone my Culinary Consultant has had some professional contact with, and a few years ago he actually arranged for us to have a visit on the farm. We got to see an alpaca baby which had been born the previous night, and we got to cuddle Humphrey the tame alpaca. I consider it to be the most romantic thing he has ever done for me, and it's one of my favourite days ever!

These were some of the alpacas we got to meet on our day out.

Anyhow, you can see why I couldn't resist Becca's awesome llama set. I had such a fun time making a Valentine's card and a Birthday card. You can find more inspiration from my fellow STAMPlorations DT members and the amazing Becca herself over at STAMPlorations along with a chance to win this fun stamp set!

I'm linking up my herd of llamas over at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where the theme is F is for Farm Life, I'm sure Edna would love to hang out with the herd!

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

February STAMPlorations Challenge - Paint It Red

 

You might have noticed that there are some temporary changes to the challenges over on the STAMPlorations blog while Shery is taking a Winter break to enjoy being a new Mummy to her second adorable daughter, aptly named Winter. 

But keep calm and keep crafting as there is still a challenge for you! The individual challenges (CAS, mixed media, CUTplorations and Theme&Sketch) have been combined into one big super-challenge and will run that way for February, March and April. 

This month our super theme is Paint It Red which runs until the end of the month. We would love to see any love themed or red (or both) projects in our gallery. Go wild and create anything your heart desires - cards, ATCs, mixed media... or anything else you can think of - in any style you prefer! I decided to stick to CAS as that's what I know and love. You can use any products you like, but if you have any STAMPlorations crafty stash, we would love to see you use it!

I decided to go for both red and love (it is February after all...). I used watercolour pencils in pink, red and grey through the Zen Hearts stencil and then used a fine watercolour brush on the coloured parts. Colouring through a stencil is so easy, even if you wouldn't be very good at colouring, you can't fail this way. Then I simply added the hilarious sentiment from Funny Kinda Love and added a few adhesive pearls from my stash. Quick, easy and perfect for V-day. 

While you are busy creating, don't forget to keep checking in over at STAMPlorations as there will be some awesome new products coming there soon. Llama tell you, you might want to check in on Wednesday. Llama so excited already! That's all Llama say for now...

I'm also linking up over at these super-inspiring challenges:

House Of Cards - pink colours and Valentine's theme

Just Add Ink - Just Add Romance

Just Us Girls - Love

Card: 250 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Funny Kinda Love

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils

Stencil: ARTplorations Zen Hearts

Other: Adhesive pearls from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Instead of Texting...

I've had a thoroughly unproductive Sunday. And not in that good "I'm just sitting here under my blanket with a good book and a hot cup of coffee" unproductive, but in the "feeling really horrible for no apparent reason" (suspecting oncoming cold...) unproductive. There are so many different bugs going around at the moment, I already had one earlier in the year. I've seen unusually many people as part of work lately, so probably got exposed to a fair bit of nasties. I'll just try to take it easy and I'm sure I'll feel better soon. Luckily I managed a card this morning before it all kicked off!

Today's card is inspired by two inspiration images - one over at Lawn Fawnatics and one over at Inspired by All The Little Things. From the first image, I was inspired by the reds and the pinks, the hearts and the red bokeh image, which I translated into sequins. From the second, I was inspired by the colour scheme of pink, green and white and the little birds. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Birds of a Feather.

Card: white shimmery card, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper, Neenah Solar white card, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark patterned paper
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Love Letters and matching dies
Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Markers Abandoned Coral, Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles Nesting Dies, red sequins from my stash

Love TAGplorations Day 7

Welcome to the final day of STAMPlorations Love TAGplorations. I hope you have enjoyed the amazing inspiration over the last week and also have had fun creating your own Love themed crafts. I have certainly enjoyed all the inspiration both from my fellow DT sisters and especially from you. It's amazing to see all the different creations - proof that there are no limits to the human imagination. Today's tag is dedicated to my dear Culinary Consultant. He is not a very romantic soul - I have learned not to expect anything. To be fair, he did create a custom Valentine's day card the first year we were dating. That's a few years ago now... But that's ok, he has other ways of showing me he cares. We are all different and being in a relationship is all about accepting our differences, isn't it. So if you aren't in a relationship this Valentine's day don't think things would necessary be any different even if you were. I'm saying go out and buy yourself some chocolates (or wine, or whatever your favourite treat is). I will visit the chocolate shop in the weekend to see if they are selling their leftover Valentine's treats for half price, usually they do! If you are looking for a good deal on crafty stash, don't forget you get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store if you use my discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. More info at the end of the post.

For my tag, which I die cut using the largest die from Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, I created a background using Distress ink and the Retro Circles stencil. Then I stamped the delicious looking sundae on white card coloured with Copics and fussy cut. After adhering it to my tag, I added some Crystal Effects to the glass bowl to make it look more glassy and although you cannot see it well in the picture, I added some embossing paste to make the whipped cream look more foamy. Then I stamped the letters onto white card, coloured them with Copics, fussy cut and adhered them to the tag, adding some Ice Stickles for extra bling. Last, I used words from various sentiments to make the second part of the sentiment, sponged some pink ink around the edges of the tag and added a cute little ribbon from my stash. 

Card: 250 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush, Sketchy Alphabet

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Copics

Dies: CUTplorations Luggage Tags Nesting Dies

Stencils: ARTplorations Retro Circles

Other: ribbon from my stash, Ranger Ice Stickles, Stampin' Up Crystal Effects, Wendy Vecchi Embossing paste

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Love TAGplorations Day 6

Welcome to day 6 of Love TAGplorations. I'm sure you know the drill by now and hopefully you are having as much fun as we are with all these gorgeous tags. For my day 6 tag I used another piece from my UFO box - a piece of blue and pink coloured card I had created with Distress Paints way back when. I decorated it with the gorgeous Trendy Feathers 2 stamps which I heat embossed in white onto another piece of leftover card I created with Distress Paints. I used gesso with the Some Birds stencil - I always feel like I'm doing proper mixed media when I dig out the tube of Gesso. I die cut the sentiment using the Hugs Word Die from the same piece of leftover card as the feathers and finished everything off with loads of Ice Stickles and a ribbon. 

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Ink and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black

Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2

Stencils: ARTplorations Some Birds
Dies: Luggage Tags Nesting Dies, Hugs Word Die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, gesso, ribbon from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

Love TAGplorations

I'm very excited to be part of STAMPlorations Love TAGplorations, seven days of Valentine tag making fun. We hope you will like the tags we have created with the DT to give to the important people in our lives and to showcase the gorgeous new Valentine's stamps, stencils and dies in the STAMPlorations shop. And as usual this wouldn't be half as much fun unless you could join us in the celebrations by commenting on the tags you see during the event and by linking up your own tags too which you can do between February 8th and 14th. And there are loads of prices:

• 3 randomly drawn winners from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blog will each receive a $10 gift certificate to the store
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of stamp set (Pocket Blooms, A Full Heart, or Two of Us)
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of any 2 of the new love-themed dies (Love, Always, XOXO, Forever, You & Me, Clustered Hearts)
• 1 randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of tag set: Luggage Tags or ATC/Tag Builder

Also don't forget that you can use the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA to get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store if you want to, see the end of this post for further details.

For today's tag, I used Faber Castell watercolour pencils to colour through the Zen Hearts stencil onto a kraft tag I cut using the larges of the Luggage Tags Nesting Dies. I then traced the outlines of the coloured pieces using a white gel pen. To match my white outlined stencilled heart I die cut the Clustered Hearts Die from white card and also from a scrap of pink card from my UFO box - I think I created this with Tim Holtz Distress Paints. I then sprayed the tag with gold perfect pearls to give it a very subtle gold sheen - unfortunately I didn't manage to capture that in the photo.

I used another scrap of watercoloured card I created with Distress paints, this time in pink and blue to die cut the "always" using Always Word Die. I adhered the die cut pieces to the tag and stamped the first part of the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black using a stamp from the Pocket Blooms stamp set. For a finishing touch I added some stickles to the die cut sentiment, a few adhesive rhinestones and a white ribbon from my stash.

Pocket Blooms

Zen Hearts

Card: kraft card, scrap of white 250 gsm card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms

Stencils: ARTplorations Zen Hearts

Dies: CUTplorations Always Word Die, Clustered Hearts Die, Luggage Tags Nesting Dies

Inks and colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Faber Castell watercolour pencils, White Gel Pen

Other: Adhesive gems and white ribbon from my stash, Ranger Coffee Ice Stickles

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

February STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes With Hot Pink

And so we have transitioned from January (was it Dry January? Sugar Free January? General trying to atone for your Holiday sins January?) to the month that will make all us crafters grab our pink paints, pens and watercolours. Bring out the heart stencils and the love sentiments because that's all you will see anywhere in blogland while we celebrate crafting for the most important people in our lives, whether it be our partners, family, friends or most beloved pets.

Anyhow, you have probably already guessed what the optional colour twist for this month's STAMPlorations CAS challenge is. But you don't have to use it if you don't want to. And you don't have to use STAMPlorations products either (although we always love to see you strut your STAMPloratons stuff if you do have it) - as long as you create something CAS you can link it up, and you can link up to 3 cards per challenge. The winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations store and the top picks will each receive a $5 gift card.

If you are inspired to get something for your stash you can always get 20% off your purchase in the STAMPlorations store by using the discount code STAMPGIRLKAROLA. For more information, see the end of this post.

My card today is another very easy way to create a card which looks very intricate. I used the gorgeous new Zen Hearts stencil and painted through it with Distress Inks and a watercolour brush. I used Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed. I love how you never quite know how it will turn out when you remove the stencil as some bits where you used more water will have run on the paper creating a really artsy effect. Then I simply die cut the sentiment using the Always Word Die and stamped the word love using a stamp from Pocket Blooms which is another new set. I added some Ice Stickles to the sentiment and added a few adhesive rhinestones for a finishing touch.

I'm linking up with the following challenges: 

Clean and Simple on Sunday - Hearts

Daring Cardmakers - I want more... simplicity

House of Cards - love theme and/or something pink

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - The colour of love

NBUS #10 - I haven't had a chance to play along with any of Darnell's recent NBUS challenges, I'm so sorry for that Darnell, I really wanted to play along but this stupid thing called work took up all my time!! Finally had the chance as every stamp, die and stencil in this card is NBUS. If you haven't checked out Darnell's blog you absolutely have to, it always brings a big smile to my face.

Card: 300 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Pocket Blooms

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed
Stencil: ARTplorations Zen Hearts
Die: CUTplorations Always Word Die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles, adhesive rhinestones from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. If you have any questions or problems, just let me know!

February STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Red

It's the first Thursday of the month, and you all know what that means, don't you? It means there is a new challenge over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. Thank you to everyone who played along with the first ever CAS challenge, there were so many amazingly gorgeous cards. 

Our CAS challenge is always Anything Goes, but every month there is an optional colour twist which this month is Red (perfect for all those Valentine's day cards, right?). You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to play along, but if you have them we would love to see them. And the best bit, every month a random winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, ($15 gift card if using STAMPlorations products).

For my February card, I wanted to create a Valentine's day card for a friend. I created a stunning background very easily by sponging Tim Holtz Distress Inks through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I used darker red in the middle of the roses, and lighter pinks around the edges. For the central vellum panel, I stamped the beautiful rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set and a sentiment from the Bloom Sketches stamp set in Versamark, and then heat embossed both in white powder. I coloured the rose on the reverse side of the vellum using bright red and green Copics giving it that stained glass look. Then I used special micro glue dots designed for adhering vellum to attach the smaller panel in an invisible way to the background.  

You can find more inspiration from the talented DT over on the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. And then it's over to you to show us what you have created, you have until the last day of the month to link up, and it's up to three entries per person.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a twist of valentine
Naughty or Nice Challenges - See red
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's day
Unicorn Challenge - Lots of Love 
Crafting By Design - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything goes with twist of romance/love

Card: White 250 gsm card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and Bloom Sketches
Stencils: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Versamark
Colouring: Copics R29, R89, YG13, YG17
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

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 Grunge-y Valentine's day to Grandma

I know I said earlier that my "It moose be love" card would be my only Valentine's day card. But then I realised I had forgotten that I also need one for my Grandma. In Finland Valentine's day is called Friend's day and doesn't quite have the uber-romantic connotations it has in the UK and I guess to some extent also in the US. I hope she likes it, it's a bit different from the cards I usually send her, a bit more grunge-y.

I was inspired by the colours over at The Card Concept as well as the rustic woodgrain and neutral inspiration image over at  Fusion Card Challenges. My style of card for The Card Concept is Clean But Grunge-y (yes, I made it up, but it says you can make up your own style. I have another CBG card here). I guess it's a mix between Clean and Simple and Shabby Chic maybe? In addition to the above, I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. 

I started by creating some paint smooshing on watercolour paper. I used Tim Holtz Distress paints in Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke, Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass on my craft mat, added some water droplets and smooshed my paper around. Then I dried the paper with my heat tool, and gave it a second round of lighter smooshing, picking up more colour. Then I stamped the feathers from Stampin' Up Four Feathers in Versamark and heat embossed with gold and silver powder. You can see from the image below how the feathers have both gold and silver embossing on them. Then I cut the feathers using matching dies.  For the background, I inked up the Hardwood stamp using Ground Espresso and lightly misted it with water before stamping onto linen textured card through a rectangular mask slightly smaller than the stitched die cut. The sentiment says Happy Valentine's day in Finnish. I die cut the "Happy" using Lawn Fawn Cole's ABC from leftover scraps of the card I used for the feathers and used the Stampin' Up Rotary Alphabet stamp for the second line of the sentiment which I then lined with stitching using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die.

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

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Ground Espresso

Stamps: Stampin' Up Hardwood, Four Feathers, Rotary Alphabet stamp

Dies: Stampin' Up Four Feathers matching dies, Lawn Fawn Cole's ABC and Stitched Rectangle dies
Other: Silver and gold embossing powder from my stash

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

One more Valentine's

As you read this, I'm surfing down the information highway at very high speed. Fasten your seatbelts! After a long wait, I no longer have to wait for a minute to upload a photo to the blog. We have left the dark ages! I'm so giddy about this, I want to do a happy dance. I must have scared the poor BT engineer with my high-pitched squeal of "Oh my gosh it's working!!!". You can say he had one happy customer.

Today's card is inspired by the wonderful card over at Time Out where the challenge is to CASE the card. It is also inspired by the colours over at ColourQ which I used to colour the flowers on the tag. I'm also linking up at Make My Monday where the theme is Hearts and Flowers (I don't know if it's cheating, but the small flowers look heart shaped to me), at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Bright and Beautiful, In(k)spire Me "Valentines", Kitty Bee Aloha Friday Challenge "Valentine's/Love", Polkadoodles Challenge "Flower Power" and Simply Create Too "Valentine".

I stamped the flowers onto the tag in Versamark and heat embossed in white. I used Stampin' Up inks and a watercolour brush to colour the flowers and a marker to draw the faux stitching. I embossed the background and printed the sentiment. I added some pink ribbon from my stash and matted the card onto pink card.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
Stamps: Stampin' Up So Very Grateful
Inks: Tsukineko Versamark, Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Blushing Bride marker
Other: Cuttlebug script embossing folder, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, pink ribbon from my stash, Scalloped Tag Topper punch

My Snarky Valentine

I'm enjoying a lazy day off. I had to stay at home, we are finally getting hooked up with high speed broadband. The engineer better get here today as agreed, I don't have the best track record with broadband service providers and they better not make me take another day off. I can't wait to have fast internet though, we have been getting by on 2 Mb and it means from time to time I have to even wait for webpages to load, not to mention streaming. But soon we can stream as much as we want!! We have been waiting for this for ages. I'm also notorious for leaving a gazillion web pages open at any one time, and sometimes everything just freezes because of the slow internet. I can't imagine what it will be like living with a civilised internet speed. The joys of living in the countryside, waiting for years and years for technology to catch up.

Onto today's card. It should be evident by now that I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's day. I guess I was alone for so long I developed quite a distaste for the whole thing. And we aren't very romantic in this house. But I do feel like a small acknowledgement of the V day is in order now that I seem to be in what can be called a stable relationship.

I think Gus got it right on the spot in this Bugaboo digi. I thought it would make a great Valentine's card for my Culinary Consultant. Neutral colours, snarky sentiment. The card was quick to put together, I just coloured Gus and the frame around him and stamped the Hardwood and Gorgeous Grunge stamps onto kraft card. That's it, all done. I added adhesive gems in the corners which I coloured with a brown Sharpie. I'm sure the Culinary Consultant will find this funny. And I'm giving him the best Valentine's day present - a DVD box of Game of Thrones season 4 which in fact I want myself. I know he likes it too, but more than that, I'm giving him something we can actually watch together without me being bored or falling asleep. How smart am I, lol!! No, seriously he does like it too. 

I already linked up with the current Snarky Sister's one year anniversary Snarker's choice challenge with my Stella tag. However there were so many great choices I thought I would link up Gus as well for the A is for Anti-Valentine challenge. I'm also linking up at 4 Crafty Chicks where the theme is "use a hand coloured image", Crafting for all seasons "have a heart" (here, the heart being in the sentiment, not a physical heart on the card), The Male Room "Valentine", Cuttin' And Stampin' "Masculine" and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "H is for..." (hardwood in this case). 

Card: kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamp: Bugaboo Gus - her nagging, Stampin' Up Hardwood, Gorgeous Grunge, Just Sayin', Good Greetings
Colouring: Copics YR00, R20, E34, E39, brown Sharpie
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede
Other: Stampin' Up adhesive gems

Valentine's sentiment

We are invited for a wedding on Valentine's Day. They are friends of the Culinary Consultant, and I don't really know them that well. But I thought I would make a card to celebrate the event. I didn't want to go overboard mushy with the card, as I'm sure a wedding on Valentine's day is all mushy and heart-filled and pink and red enough. So I turned to my trusty stamp friend. I absolutely love the Life's Messages sentiment stamp from Penny Black and I keep using it over and over, it's just so incredibly versatile. And I think it's great for a Valentine's card/wedding card as well. 

When I saw the colour combo over at ColourQ I immediately made a dash for my craft room. It's sooo fab, and I just had to use it for something immediately!! And I can honestly say this is the first time in the history of ever that I have used the word fab about a colour combo which contains orange. Orange, green and yellow are my least favourite colours, and I would never use them if it wasn't for colour challenges. But I thought Calypso Coral went so perfectly with this lovely combo. On a completely unrelated note, I can't figure out how the heels on the wool socks in the picture are made, they look very different to how I have learned to knit the heels. But no more on that subject. I was also completely inspired by this weeks sketch over at My Favourite Things, I think it's absolutely brilliant so I used it for my card. I was also inspired by the challenge over at Just Us Girls which is "Make your sentiment the focal point", and I think the lovely Penny Black sentiment is perfect for this challenge. I'm also entering the card in a few Valentine's themed challenges: Shopping Our Stash (theme Love Me Do), Stampin' Royalty (Valentine's), Time Out Challenges (Valentine's Day with the optional twist of Hearts) and The Card Concept (inspiration photo, I was inspired by the ombre colouring which I used in the background and also on the word Laugh).

I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and embossed using white powder. I then used sponges to ink Calypso Coral, Strawberry Slush and Aged Mahogany (I don't have Cherry Cobbler) in the background, and spritzed with water. I used a DSP from Venetian Romance for the background, and matted everything onto Strawberry Slush card. I coloured the word Laugh from the sentiment using Calypso Coral, Strawberry Slush and Aged Mahogany markers and stamped onto white cardstock for the banner. Last, I stamped the heart from Perfect Postage in Aged Mahogany. I absolutely love this sketch and colour combo, given that I don't really like Valentine's cards, I think this turned out rather good. I'm just so happy about all the great challenges out there and the amazing inspiration from the DTs who do a great job week after week. 

Card: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Smoky Slate

Stamps: Penny Black Life's Messages, Stampin' Up Perfect Postage

Inks and Markers: Stampin' Up Calypso Coral, Strawberry Slush, Tim Holtz distress ink Aged Mahogany, Tsukineko Versamark

Paper: Stampin' Up Venetian Romance

Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing Powder