Shabby Chic Paris

I wanted to finish the last STAMPlorations challenge for the month and realised it's now or never as the deadline is today. You can find the cards I've submitted to the two other October challgenges here and here. I can't believe it's November tomorrow. Where does the time go?

I used the STAMPlorations sketch as the starting point for the card. I used the second colour combo from the Colour Me...! Challenge (my card using the first colour combo is here). I was also inspired by the Make My Monday Challenge where the theme is Chabby Chic. 

I cut a oval mask, and used it to sponge Walnut Stain and Worn Lipstick Distress ink onto the card. I stamped the Eiffel Tower from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous I See Paris stamp set in Walnut Stain. I also stamped the Stampin' Up En Français stamp in Walnut Stain after first stamping off some of the colour through an oval mask. Last, I stamped the tickets from the Tim Holtz stamp set The Journey in Broken China and Worn Lipstick, and inked and distressed all edges. I added some lace as a finishing touch. As I didn't want to try and cram a sentiment on the card, I stamped it inside the card instead.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Tim Holtz Core'dinations Worn Lipstick, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous I See Paris CMS009 and The Journey, Stampin' Up En Française
Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks Broken China, Walnut Stain and Worn Lipstick 
Other: Lace and lace washi tape from my stash

You can't have too much moose

I loved the Retro Sketch this week so much that I made another card for it after the one I submitted yesterday. This is actually the first card I was making for the sketch but discarded it as failed. I initially tried to make a 6x6 in card, but it just didn't work. Unwilling to give up my cute moose I had so lovingly coloured with Copics, I decided to give it a second try a a 4x4 in card. So I resized the DSP panels a bit and rounded the edges. All of a sudden it looked much better. I also stamped the speech bubble onto the beige card, as I had first made it white and it just didn't work. 

Lesson of the day. If at first you don't succeed, just try, try, try again. I'm also entering this card at Clear it Out Challenge where the theme is Orange and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and The Pink Elephant Challenge where Anything Goes.

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card beige, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Creatures in the Arctic, Stampin' Up Just Sayin'
Ink: Tsukineko Memeneto Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango
Colouring: Copics E24, E34, E39
Paper: Stampin' Up Sweater Weather DSP
Other: Lawn Fawn Creatures in the Arctic dies

Another great Retro Skech and Colour Me

I wasn't going to post today, but I ended up doing a bit of crafting despite my Mojo being dead and gone once again.

Week after week I love the Retro Sketches. They never disappoint. This time I had too many ideas, and I started with one card, which didn't turn out as I wanted so I made this instead. Then I tweaked the first card and it turned out better than this one, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it. This card is also inspired by the new Colour Me...! challenge where there are two different colour combos to choose from.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz
Paper: Stampin' Up Sweet Sorbet
Stamps: Stampin' Up Chalk Talk, Petite Petals 
Ink: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Stampin' Up Chalk Talk Framelits, Petite Petals Punch, Papermania Rhinestones Capsule Verde and Capsule Heather

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Bingo

Welcome along for a new challenge over at the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge. For the next two weeks we are playing Bingo! You can choose any three items either in a horizontal or vertical row, or over the diagonals from the matrix below. As usual there is plenty of inspiration from the Holly Jolly DT.

Ribbon	Texture	Glitter
Rhinestones	2 designer papers	Twine
Die cuts	Punches	PEARLS

Dont' forget that you are playing for some fabulous prizes from our sponsons who this time are Fred She Said and Stamp and Create. If you are looking for some new digi stamps to play with, head over to have a look in their online shops. 

For my card I used a beautiful digi stamp set from Fred She Said called FSS-Poinsettia & Pine Boughs. If you are not into colouring, you can even buy them pre-coloured here. To complete my Bingo, I chose to go diagonally and use Glitter, 2 designer papers and Die Cuts.

I coloured the poinsettia using Copics and cut out several layers to form the flower and popped a rhinestone in the middle. I used a die to cut out the scalloped circle around the poinsettia and inked around the edges with gold ink. Unfortunately it doesn't show very well in the photo but it has a pretty, subtle glittery look. I finished the the card quite simply with some Mirri card, Christmas papers, some Happy Christmas stickers from the bottom of my stash which I'm happy to finally get to use and finally some yellow stickles for the little yellow dots around the holly wreath. Now it's your turn to create something lovely and don't forget to link up with us over at the Holly Jolly Christmas challenge. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland Challenge - Gold

Christmas Card Challenges - Anything goes 

Crimbo Crackers - Round

Card: Craft UK kraft card, mirri card (I ordered it off eBay and it didn't come with an indication of the make), Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamp: Digi Fred She Said FSS-Poinsettia & Pine Boughs

Ink: Hobbycraft Pigment ink gold

Colouring: Copics R24, R46, YG11, YG13, YG17, Y15

Paper: Kaisercraft 6" paper pad Christmas Collections

Other: Papermania adhesive gem Capsule Sunshine, Ranger Tim Holtz Distress stickles Mustard Seed, gold sentiment stickers from Hobbycraft

Fun sketch

This is just a super quick post to publish an extra card for today as I realised the challenge deadline is coming to a close in just a few hours. I made this card inspired by the My Favourite Things sketch challenge. You just have to hop over there to check in the designer card, it's one of the most gorgeous cards I have ever seen.

I thought the sketch was perfect for using up some of those paper scraps which I can't get rid of. I would have loved to have the MFT square grid die which would have made this card so much easier to make, but alas I had to fussy cut my little squares, and live with the fact that they are just a little bit crooked. I cut the squares from lots of leftover papers and adhered to black cardstock. I stamped the sentiment from Just Sayin' and heat embossed it using white powder onto black card. I then used my 80's Glam Sharpies to colour the white embossed sentiment. I love that technique, it's so much fun. I'm also entering the card in The Pink Elephant Challenge where Anything goes this week.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card black
Papers: Paper scraps from Stampin' Up DSPs
Stamps: Stampin' Up Just Sayin'
Ink: Versamark 
Other: 80's Glam Sharpies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

Block stamping technique

I'm glad there has been some challenges around lately encouraging you to try new techniques. It's easy to get stuck in the same old "stamp and colour" routine. Not saying there is anything wrong with it at all, but it's fun to try something different from time to time. Recently I tried the "galaxy technique" which you can see here. And today, inspired by the Just Add Ink challenge I have used the clear block stamping technique. It's pretty much what it says on the tin, you ink up your blocks and use them as stamps. 

For this card, I looked for inspiration from two images that both gave me a very similar feel. The colours for this card are inspired by the image from Just Us Girls - vibrant and warm yellows, oranges and reds. Warm colours are so not my thing, but this is all about challenging yourself (and using those ink pads and cardstock that you don't usually use!!). The roses and blacks were inspired by the image from the Fusion Challenge. The black, shiny glass on the table was my inspiration for the intense black sentiments and for the glitter added to the roses. I also used the sketch from the Fusion challenge for the layout of the card, luckily I had a stamp block which was just the right size.

I inked my clear block using Stampin' Up Summer Starfruit, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red. After inking it generously, I spritzed the block with Perfect Pearls water mist (just mix a bit of Perfect Pearls with water in a spritzing bottle). I stamped off some of the ink onto scrap paper and then stamped onto the card. The Perfect Pearls leave a subtle shine and stamping off some of the ink ensures that you don't just get a solidly coloured square, but a watercolour type effect. I think it's really cool, and it's great to see how it will turn out as the ink just spreads around as it wants. You also get different effects depending on what cardstock you use and how it absorbs the water and the ink, so it's fun to experiment. The background squares need to be completely dry before stamping on the sentiments and roses - a heat gun is an impatient girl's best friend. I used Memento black ink for the roses and sentiments. Lastly I added some stickles to the roses. Quick, clean, simple and very easy with a bit of an artsy feel to it.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie card
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Inspirations Flowers Clear Stamp set
Ink: Stampin' Up Summer Starfruit, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Tim Holtz Distress stickles Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice

Home Sweet Home

I was asked to make a "Happy New Home" card, and first I thought what on earth am I going to come up with as I didn't think I had any suitable stamps. However, the super versatile Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods came to the rescue once again. It's such a great set, so far I have used it for fall cards, Christmas cards, cute critter cards and now also for this new home card. The little bird's nests are absolutely adorable. 

For this card, I was inspired mainly by two challenges, the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and the colours at Color Throwdown. I'm also entering the card in this week's CASology where the theme is very appropriately "Home". I'm also submitting to Stampin' Royalty where Anything Goes.

I stamped the trees onto the backgorund cardstock and coloured the outlines using a Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Antique Linen. I stamped the adrable little bird's houses onto another piece of cardstock, coloured them with Stampin' Up Blendabilities in Old Olive and Daffodil Delight and Copic R24 - Prawn. I die cut them with the Joy to the Woods die set. I printed the sentiment and matted everything onto Stampin' Up Summer Starfruit cardstock. For some finishing bling I added a bit of Tim Holtz distress stikcles in Mustard seed to the hearts in the birdhouses and a rhinestone to the sentiment.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Stampin Up Summer Starfruit
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Tim Holtz Distress Markers Antique Linen, Stampin' Up Blendabilities Daffodil Delight and Old Olive, Copic R24 - Prawn
Other: Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Mustard Seed, Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Sunshine, Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods matchin die set

Christmas Birds

Just a quick post today, as I'm expecting dinner guests today and am going around like crazy cleaning the house and prepping dinner. But there's always time for a quick Christmas card, isn't there?

The colour inspiration for this card was the snowflake paper I used for the background. I coloured the Bugaboo Winter Bird Trio using Copics and matted onto blue cardstock. I made the snowflake embellishments by die cutting snowflakes from blue cardstock and then triple embossing them using clear and holographic embossing powder. I printed the sentiments and matted onto blue cardstock. 

I'm entering the card in the following challenges:
Sweet Stampin' Christmas - Snowflakes
Jingle Belles - Not a Creature was stirring (feature a Creature)
Completely Christmas - Anything goes with added twist: Add a sentiment

Card: Leonardo Cardstock 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft three shades of blue and white cardstock
Stamps: Bugaboo Winter Bird Trio
Colouring: Copics B00, B04, B06, C1, E34, E39,  R20, R34, R39, R43, R46, RV29, YG11, YG13, YG17
Paper: Dovecraft Merry Magic 8x8 designer paper pack
Other: All Occasions Snowflakes Dies, Ranger Fine Detail clear embossing powder, Papermania Holographic embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles Crystal Ice

Galaxy technique

I'm a bit early with tomorrow's blog post. So if you read this on Wednesday, close the browser and come back tomorrow as this is meant to be Thursday's post. Just kidding, just kidding, read on. The reason I have to publish this post a bit early is that I just received some paint, just a few hours before the end of a challenge deadline that I really wanted to create a card for. The story goes as follows.

When I saw the galaxy technique challenge on The Friday Mashup last Friday, I immediately watched the linked technique videos as I just loved the look of the DT inspiration cards. This is the great video I used to help me get to grips with the technique. And then I immediately headed up to my craft room to play with my Distress paints. Only to discover that I actually don't have black paint. Ever so often I do this, I see a product used so much in blogs and videos that somehow my brain has convinced me that I have that in my stash. Very disappointed, I had to wait for several long days until my paints finally arrived today, only a few hours before the challenge deadline. So off I went into the craft room like greased lightning, and after a bit of playing around with the paints I managed to put together this card. 

For the layout I was inspired by this week's Freshly Made Sketch, and for the colours I used the amazing palette over at Colour Me...! I'm also entering the card over at Simon Says Monday Challenge where Anything goes.

I created the galaxy according to the instructions in the video using the Distress paints. I stamped the stars in Versamark and heat embossed using white powder. I stamped the sentiment using Versamark and heat embossed using white powder. I then coloured the white embossed parts using a Copic marker to match the colours in the galaxy.

Card: Daler & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine watercolour paper, coloured 240 gsm kraft card in black and purple
Paints: Tim Holtz Distress Paints Black Soot, Dusty Concord, Picket Fence, Spiced Marmelade and Seedless Preserves
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever after, Stampin' Up Just Sayin'
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Copic YR04
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder 

Peacock inspiration

I haven't been crafting for a few days, and it was going to be a very quiet end of the week on the blog. However, yesterday when I was catching up on my crafting challenges I was reminded of this fabulous inspiration picture on Just Add Ink. I had the perfect paper in my stash for this card, which has been waiting for a challenge like this. 

For the layout I used the sketch over at The Challenge. For the smaller details on the card I was inspired by the current Addicted to CAS codeword which is Vellum and by CAS on Sunday where the theme is Emboss it. I used dry embossing for the blue panel in the background, and heat embossing for the sentiment on the vellum. Last but not least I'm linking up at Craft Hoarders Anonymous where the challenge is to use at least three layers. I seem to have quite a few more with the background, blue embossed panel, blue matting, peacock feather paper and finally the vellum. This was another card where I used only stash stuff, starting with the long unused paper, and old stamp set for the sentiment, and scraps of vellum and dark blue cardstock for the matting and embossed background. It feels so good to find some use for those leftover scrap pieces of cardstock, doesn't it!

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Coloured kraft 240 gsm card teal and navy, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Paper: Free papers with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine
Stamps: Stampin' Up Chalk Talk
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Embossing folder Sizzix swirls, Papermania embossing powder silver

White Christmas in kraft

The first thing I got from the Stampin' Up Holiday cattie this year was the White Christmas stamp set. It seemed to me like such a versatile set, you can do so much with it. I love the trees in the set, they are so graceful. I seem to be enamoured with tree stamps this season, with these beautiful stamps along with the Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods trees. I love stamping them, and I love the look of them. I have seen several cards with this set stamped in white ink on kraft. I was asked to make some Christmas cards with Finnish and Swedish greetings, so I made a few different wintery scenes with the stamp set. I matted the wintery scenes onto mirri card and stamped some matching envelopes. I'm participating in the ABC Christmas Challenge where this week U is for Uncoloured. I'm also entering at Crimbo Crackers and Christmas Stamping where Anything goes this week. I'm entering the top card with the snowman in the challenge over at Christmas Card Challenges where the inspiration pic is a snowman in a snowglobe, and I thought my snowman in the snow would go well with the theme. 

Card: Craft UK kraft card, mirri card (I bought it off eBay and it came without an indication of make)
Stamps: Stampin' Up White Christmas, Hobbycraft Typewriter Alphabet clear stamps
Ink: Stampin' Up Whisper White craft ink

Bloom with Hope in Real Red

Today's card is just a simple sweet little thing. I used a few flowers I coloured in my "remote office" that I had set up in our car when I joined the Culinary Consultant for a day out on Saturday for his wheelie course I got him for his birthday. It was quite a dramatic day as one of the participants ended up falling off his bike, dislocating his shoulder and breaking his humerus. Luckily it wasn't anything worse, as the fall looked quite bad and the bike ended up rolling over him. In the end he had to be taken away in an ambulance.

So back to today's card. I had prepared for a day in my makeshift car office by stamping lots of images, and I took my stash of Copics with me. So there I sat in the car, with the Great British Bakeoff Masterclass on the iPad, a cooler bag full of sandwiches, some yummy Finnish biscuits and a whole lot of images to colour and cut. Among those were these gorgeous flowers from the Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope hostess set. I used the lovely colours from this week's Color Throwdown. I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch for inspiration for the layout. 

In addition to the flowers I used a notecard from a Stampin' Up DSP called Fan Fair. The sentiment stamp is from a set called Vintage Verses and I also added a die cut border. I added the same flower and scalloped border inside the card. 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

DSP: Stampin' Up Fan Fair, Summer Smooches

Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope, Vintage Verses

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Real Red

Colouring: Copics R02, R24, R46, Y13, YR00 

Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Lace

Metallic Christmas ornaments

My post today is a bit late as I was away all day yesterday watching a bunch of men drive round and round and round on motorbikes (hence my remote crafting office set up in our car you might have seen a picture of if you follow me on Facebook) and didn't get around to schedule today's post. Apparently sitting in a car watching Great British Bakeoff Masterclass and colouring flowers is so exhausting that I managed to fall asleep on the sofa around 8 pm yesterday, and after dragging myself to bed slept all the way through to 8 am, a full 12 hours of sleep. Very uncharacteristic of me, but I guess my body needed it. But now I'm back to crafting, and for today's card I have used the amazingly beautiful inspiration picture over at Stampin' Royalty. I just love the colours in the picture. For the layout I used the sketch over a Viva La Verve, which I thought was absolutely fabulous as usual. 

I used Centura Pearl Bronze paper for the background and as it went through the BigShot for embossing it did get a slightly distressed look. I die cut the Christmas ornaments from gold paper from my stash, Centura Pearl Copper paper and orange card which I heat embossed with holographic embossing powder. Sadly I don't have any banner stamps, so I created the banner and sentiment using PowerPoint and printed onto the same Bronze cardstock that I used for the background. Finally I attached everything onto a cardbase made from the Copper card. Very quick and easy. 

Card: Centura Pearl Copper and Bronze, Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie, a leftover scrap of gold card from my stash
Other: Stampin' Up Holiday Ornaments framelits, Vinage Wallpaper embossing folder, Papermania Holographic embossing powder

I am the walrus

So there is a bit of a story to this card. It's an epic tale of coincidences and artistic inspiration, taking place in the exotic countryside of Cambridgeshire. And so it happened that the parcel from Stampin' Up arrived exactly on the same day as the new Poppy Sketch Challenge went live. And it had also happened that the DSP called Sweater Weather had been in the Stampin' Up Clearance Rack, so I had finally decided to get myself a pack (I only buy DSP on sale, as otherwise I think it's too valuable to actually use for crafting, and it just sits around in my stash). Further, coincidence on a galactic scale also would have it that one of the patterns in the DSP was Houndstooth, which is the Pop of Pattern for the current Poppy Sketch. This paper also happens to be the only crafting supply I have with Houndstooth, so no going back and forth between multiple choices. I did turn the sketch upside down though. Finally, a fun Finland fact of the day: the houndstooth pattern in Finnish is called kukonaskel which translates to "the rooster's step".

As the DSP was called Sweater Weather I immediately started thinking winter. Because that's when you wear sweaters (see what I did there, free association, very artistic indeed!). And thinking winter the first thing you think is obviously "Winter is coming", the Stark family motto (ignore that if you don't watch Game of Thrones). And what goes with winter better than the Lawn Fawn stamp set Critters in the Arctic? Nothing of course, so I inked up my stamps and coloured them with Copics. And when it's winter, you need a warm hat, one that matches the DSP, so I paper pieced the hat. I liked the hat so much I stamped and paper pieced it several times on the inside of the card. Sometimes finding inspiration is just that easy!

Card: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic and matching dies
Colouring: Copics B00, C1, C3, C5, E09, E34
Paper: Stampin' Up Sweater Weather

Hardwood Florals

I got a big bunch of Stampin' Up goodies the other day. I just love opening a new parcel of goodies. I must have been like a kid of Christmas, not knowing which new toy to play with first. I thought the I Like You stamp set would go really well with the current Fusion challenge so I inked it up. I'm also entering the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge where the theme this week is "Make Your Mark" as I coloured the flowers with markers, and the Crafty Creations Challenge where the theme is "Thinking of You".

I coloured the flowers with alcohol markers. The Hardwood stamp was a "must" based on the inspiration image. For a bit more stampin' and colourin' fun I stamped flowers inside the card as well.

Card: Stampin' Up Pacific Point and Old Olive card, kraft card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Stampin' Up I Like You, Hardwood Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Daffodil Delight and Old Olive, Copics B41, B45, B06
Other: Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Sunshine, Stampin' Up 1 in circle punch