Stampin' Royalty Guest DT - Photo inspiration

I can't believe this is already my third guest post for Stampin' Royalty. Time truly flies when you are having fun, doesn't it. This week we have a gorgeous inspiration photo for you. The colours could not have been more perfectly picked for me! Green and pink is one of my all time favourite colour combos. I absolutely loved making this card. Hop over to Stampin' Royalty to see how the amazingly talented DT have been inspired by the image. Then, please have a play around for yourself and join us as we love to see your gorgeous creations. 

For my card, I was inspired by the beautiful colour combo and the bright pink flowers. I was also inspired by the gold and silver bling in the beautiful jewellery. I started by stamping the large flower from Bloom With Hope in Staz-On onto watercolour paper. I coloured the flowers with pink markers and used a waterbrush to blend the colours. Then I fussy cut the flowers. For the background I stamped the Brushstrokes stamp in Pistachio Pudding. This is such a great stamp, and it certainly has not got all the use it deserves so far. I also die cut two feathers from gold foil. Then it was just a quick job to assemble it all onto a doily, add one of those gorgeous wood veneer sentiments, a bit of silver thread and a few rhinestones. Hey presto! 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
Fab n' Funky - Flower Delights
Natalie and Amy's Challenge - Summertime
Happy Little Stampers - Sketch

Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White Thick cardstock, Gold Foil
Stamps: Stampin' Up Brushstrokes, Bloom With Hope
Ink: Stampin' Up Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Markers Strawberry  Slush, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, Pink Pirouette, Memento Staz-On Jet Black
Other:  Stampin' Up Expressions Natural Elements, Silver Metallic Thread, Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Feathers die, Jewels Basic Rhinestones

Stampin' Royalty guest DT - Flowers

**Please note this is my second blog post for the day, if you are looking for the Crafts Galore Encore post, please scroll down or click here**

I have big news for you today. I'm so excited to join the Stampin' Royalty Design Team as a Guest Goddess for the next four weeks. I love the Stampin' Royalty challenges, the ladies always come up with such inspirational themes and gorgeous cards. I can't wait to show you what wonderful challenges there are to come over the next four weeks. So come and join us over at Stampin' Royalty and link up as we love seeing your beautiful creations.

The theme for this week is Flowers. What a perfect theme for a flower stamp hoarder like me. One of my favourite ever flower stamp sets is from Stampin' Up and it's called Bloom with Hope. I usually use the large flower stamp from this set, and the smaller ones don't always get used as much as they deserve. This time I decided to use the smaller stamps as the stars of the show. I stamped various flower stamps around the edges of the card in Crumb Cake onto watercolour paper to give them a softer outline than stamping in black. I then got out a big bunch of my Stampin' Up ink pads for watercolouring. If you press the top of the ink pad down you can rub a bit of ink onto the lid, and when you open the ink pad, there will be some ink stuck to the lid that is perfect to use for watercolouring. I chose shades of yellow, green, pink, purple and orange for my flowers. I also coloured two scraps of watercolour paper using bright colours, and die cut the Hello and You from the Hello You die set. I also die cut the words in back to give them a bit of definition. I matted the card onto black cardstock to really make those colours pop, and kept it all very clean and simple with just the addition of three tiny adhesive gems under the sentiment. 

I would like to link over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Summer, and Get Creative Challenges where the theme is Flowers. 


Card: Daler & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine Watercolour paper, 350 gsm black card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope
Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Pistachio Pudding, Regal Rose, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Summer Starfruit, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You die, Basic Rhinestones  

Mixed media coral

I have been making so many cards lately. I'm good at making them, but not very good at sending them. So now I'm stuck with a gigantic box full of cards. That also reminds me that I *really* need to send a few cards which are long overdue. Anyhow, after being inspired by Meihsia's amazing Art Journal Page over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, I thought I would dust off my long abandoned Art Journal and try making a mixed media page. The theme for the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is Don't abandon coral, and although I don't have the new Abandoned Coral distress ink (yet, but it's in the mail...) I thought I would use the Stampin' Up Calypso Coral instead. My art journal page is also inspired by the beautiful greens and bright flowers out there in the garden right now. I'm still not much of a mixed media artist, but I did love playing with the paints, watercolours and my Tim Holtz Spritzer tool. It is nice to mix it up from time to time. 

I used green, coral and pink inks to watercolour the background. I then added various stencils and stamps for the background, and inked the edges in Vintage Photo. I also got out my Tim Holtz spritzer tool and spritzed the page with green, coral, pink and brown markers. I stamped flowers from the Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope set, coloured them with markers and smudged the colour with a watercolour brush. For the tag, I inked it with coral, pink and vintage photo ink, and coloured some gesso with Peeled Paint distress ink and applied it thorough a hexagon stencil. Then I stamped the Stampin' Up En Francais script stamp on the tag in black archival ink. Last, I stamped a Tim Holtz floral stamp in Mowed Lawn and Picked Raspberry distress paint. Finally I attached the flowers, the tag onto the page, and sprayed everything with a water mist with . Last, I added some coloured lace and added some Gorgeous Grunge spots and blotches in white ink. 

In would also like to link up with the following challenges:
All Crafts Challenge - Anything but a card
Addicted to Stamps - Flowers 
Dragonfly Dreams - How does your garden grow
Stamping Sensations - Flower Power
The Artistic Stamper - Journaling your heART out
Our Creative Corner - April Showers Bring May Flowers

Spring flowers for Grandma

Another weekend almost gone. Does time just speed up indefinitely? I am watching a movie called Into The Wild, which is about a young man who leaves his life and moves out to the wild in Alaska to get away from all that is wrong with our society. And although I'm not dreaming of getting that far away from everything, I keep wondering whether life will ever slow down. Will there ever be time to do all I want to do instead of trying to balance the things I want to do with the things I have to do to be able to spend a small amount of time doing what I want to. That didn't make much sense, did it? I am a bit sleep deprived. So on to more sensible things, like today's card.

My card today is inspired by a bunch of challenges. I keep tabs open on my browser with challenges I am inspired by, so when I find a bit of time for crafting, I just flick through the open challenges and combine that with whatever I feel like doing at that moment. This time I was inspired by the colour challenge over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at Happy Little Stampers. For the theme of my card I was inspired by Inspiration Emporium and Fusion where the theme is spring flowers. For technique, I was inspired by the Watercolour challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. I'm also linking up with Fantasy Stampers Challenge where the theme is "Spring is in the Air". 

I die cut a rectangle from watercolour paper and stamped the flowers with the help of masks using Antique Linen distress ink. I coloured the image using a waterbrush and distress inks, and outline the flowers in grey for a bit of contrast. I printed the sentiment (which says Happy Mother's Day in Finnish) and die cut to match the main panel. To finish, I attached everything to a grey card base. I will send this card for my Gradma for Mother's day.

Card: Stampin' UP Smoky Slate, Daler&Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card lilac

Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress inks Antique linen, Mowed Lawn, Pumice Stone, Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Colourful flowers to chase away the January Blues

The sun is shining outside! It seems like it's been ages since I have seen the sun. Everything seems better when the sun is shining, right? I'm also enjoying a rare treat, I have the house all to myself tonight. Which means I will spend the whole evening in the craft room, woohoo! 

Today's card is created using Bloom With Hope, which is quickly becoming one of my favourite floral stamp sets. I have been planning a card like this for quite some time, and now I was inspired by several great challenges. I started by stamping the flowers onto scrap paper until I had a layout I liked. Then I started by stamping the big flower, and created a mask for it. I stamped the flowers around it, creating more masks to mask all the flowers as I went along. Quite a bit of fussy cutting, but I think the result was worth it. Then I coloured the flowers using Copics, which kept me entertained for quite a while. Last I added the ribbon and tag.

This card was inspired by the challenge picture over at The Card Concept. I was inspired by the colours, the flowers and the pink ribbon. I was also inspired by the floral theme over at The Friday Mashup and the theme "Spring Flowers" at Allsorts Challenge. I am also linking up with Daring Cardmakers where the theme is January Blues (The logic being I hope the flowers and bright colours will help the recipient shake their January blues). Last but not least I will also link up with Inspiration Emporium where the theme is Fresh Start, and the challenge is just to get going again and create anything. 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Baby Pink, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope, Chalk Talk

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Write Markers Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo

Colouring: Copics

Other: Stampin' Up Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, pink ribbon from my stash

Happy 90th Grandma!

This is a very special card, as it's for my Grandma's 90th birthday. It seems so incredible that someone has seen nine decades of life on this planet. And to think how different life was when she was born. She doesn't know what the Internet is, and it took a lot to get her to use a mobile phone. I wonder what things our grandchildren will use and take for granted that seem completely alien to us?

Today's card is inspired by the great NBUS challenge over at Darnell's blog. NBUS you ask? Never Before Used Schtuff of course! You know all that schtuff that you just had to have, but then never got around to using. This challenge is created for you to get these things out of your cupboards and into use. For this card, I used a NBUS DSP that I ordered a while ago. I also used my NBUS Gingham garden washi tape that I have had for ages. I have bought several rolls of washi tape, but hardly used any of it at all, I clearly am not a washi person. I don't quite know what to do with it. I am also linking up at CASology where the theme is NBUS as well. I was also inspired by this week's RetroSketch, as usual I love their amazing sketch. Last but not least I'm linking up over at Clear It Out where the theme this week is to use something pink from your stash. 

I stamped and washi taped inside the card as well.

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card baby pink, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white 
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Pistachio Pudding
Paper: Stampin' Up Venetian Romance DSP
Colouring: E34, E39, R20, R43, RV29, Y13, Y15, Y19, YG11, YG13
Other: Stampin' Up Gingham Garden washi tape, Tim Holtz Inside Out Alphabet die

Confessions of a paper hoarder

I have alluded to this before. But it's hard to talk about. I know many of you harbour similar tendencies, so maybe it's safe to say it out loud. After all, admitting a problem is the first step to healing. I am a paper hoarder. I love buying crafting papers and so very bad at using them. There, you have the ugly truth.

But today I tried to take a step in the right direction. Just use up a tiny little bit from the edge of a few papers. To encourage me on my road to recovery I used the current Freshly Made Sketch. Color Me...! are celebrating their one year anniversary, and you can pick any of the previous colour combos. I picked a yellow and turquoise one, and combined it with grey. I stamped the flower in Basic Grey and coloured with Blendabilites. I'm also entering the card over at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Thrice as Nice (use at least three patterned papers). 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Basic Grey, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white 
Paper: Stampin' Up Eastern Elegance
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope, Good Greetings
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities  Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Smoky Slate
Other: Stampin' Up Basic pearls

Bloom with Hope in watercolour

I am enjoying another evening of being home alone, and have been glued to my crafting desk for the whole evening. One of the results is this card, which was inspired by the Retro Sketch challenge, which is ending in just a few hours. I was also inspired by the wonderful colours over at ColourQ. For a while I have been planning to do a watercolour style flower card, and I thought this colour and sketch combo would be perfect for it. I'm also entering over at A Little Bit Crafty where the theme is Anything goes but not Christmas, and it's fun to take a bit of a break from all those Christmas cards.

I stamped the flowers from Bloom With Hope in Antique Linen onto watercolour paper and used an aquaflo brush to colour the flowers using Stampin' Up inks. I also painted a faint pink around the flowers and the edges of the watercolour paper, but unfortunately as the photo had to be taken in really abysmal lighting conditions it doesn't show. I coloured the sentiment using marker pens. I selected to use cardstock in Crisp Cantaloupe and selected a matching paper from the Sweet Sorbet DSP.

Card: Stampin' Up Crisp Cantaloupe, Daler&Rowney Aquafine Watercolour paper
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope, Yippee-Skippee
Ink: Tim Holtz Antique Linen, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding
Other: Stampin' Up Sweet Sorbet DSP, Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Baker's Twine 

Bloom with Purple

This week the colour combo over at Colour Me...! is so fantastic, I had to play with it almost immediately. The colour combo, along with the picture over at Stampin' Royalty were my inspiration for this card. It was fun to take a break from the Christmas crafting and create something completely different. I used the sketch over at My Favourite Things. Last but not least I'm entering over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything goes. 

I created the background panel by stamping the lovely large flower from Bloom With Hope in Versamark and heat embossing in clear powder. I then inked the card using distress inks, and spritzed some water to create that lovely splotchy look. I adhered two strips of lace, one which I had coloured with the same Blendabilities I used for the focal flower. To finish, I added some stickles to the flower. I also did some stamping and inking inside the card.

Card: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark and Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz disters inks in Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves and Victorian Velvet
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Rich Razzleberry
Other: lace from my stash, Ranger Tim Holtz distress stickes Dusty Concord

Bloom with Hope meets Tea for Two

Today's card is a quickie that I made using a pretty DSP and a flower from my "things I started but never finished" box. It's always nice to find a place for all that stuff you can't make yourself throw away, but don't have any real use for either. The inspiration for this card is the colour combo over at Color Throwdown and the sketch at Just Add Ink.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, coloured 240 gsm card dark blue, Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
DSP: Stampin' Up Tea For Two
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Old Olive and Melon Mambo
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Ranger Distress stickles Crushed Olive

Birthday flowers

Between working, sleeping, gym, food blog and card blog, I don't seem to be able to keep up all five. Work and sleep are the two I can't give up, the first one for purely financial reasons, and the second one to maintain my sanity. I haven't been to the gym in ages, so both my blogs were doing great. Now I'm trying to get back to the gym, and the card blog has been suffering. I'll try to keep balancing it all and today there was some time for a bit of crafting. Tomorrow it's back to the gym again. 

Today's card was inspired by this week's Freshly Made Sketch and Colour Throwdown. I'm also entering the card at Addicted to Stamps where Anything goes and Crafty Creations Challenge where the recipe of the week is at least 3 layers, 2 DSPs and one image. I used the Stampin' Up Bloom With Hope hostess set and coloured it with Copics. 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Island Indigo card

Stamp: Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Colouring: Copics E39, Y19, YR04

Paper: Stampin' Up Birds of a Feather, Sycamore Street

Other: Tim Holtz Idea-ology paper twine, Stampin' Up Sycamore Street designer buttons, Stampin' Up Basic pearls 

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