Stampin' Royalty Guest DT - Keep It Simple

I can't believe this is already my last post as a Guest Goddess over at Stampin' Royalty. I've had a great time creating with the talented ladies of the DT and feel sad it's already time to say goodbye. The good news is of course that I can pop by and play along whenever I want to, so it's not goodbye, it's just "See ya later"!

This week the challenge is to Keep It Simple. As I have finished my summer holidays, I'm already starting to look forward to Christmas as it will be the next time I will get a bit more time off work (yes, I am very dedicated and hard working...). And I thought it might be a good idea to use my old stash of Christmas crafting goodies to remind me that I don't really need to buy any new Christmas stamps this year, but should instead try to use the stash I have got (ok, fat chance I actually won't buy anything, but still...). 

I stamped the Seasonally Scattered "Merry" sentiment using Soft Sky, and then added some Marina Mist and Pacific Point using markers before stamping onto Whisper White card. I then heat embossed the Christmas sentiment from Endless wishes in silver. I also heat embossed silver snowflakes onto Marina Mist card for the back panel. I thought this was all that was needed for a quick and easy clean card. This would be a great design to mass produce as it's quite quick and easy to make, and it would be easy to make different colour variations of it. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Clean and Simple
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Christmas in July 
My Time to Craft - Christmas in July
Sweet Stampin' - No Designer Paper
Happy Little Stampers - CAS
Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Marina Mist
Stamps: Stampin' Up Seasonally Scattered, Endless Wishes
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Stampin' Write markers Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Silver embossing powder

Happy New Home

Today I happened upon a new challenge, which I liked the look of. It's called Cure for the Monday Blues (don't we all just need a little bit of that every now and then?). I was inspired by the colours in the rug of the inspiration photo. I really wanted a DSP with those colours but I didn't have any. So in the end I decided I will just make my own DSP by drawing lines freehand using markers. I like the look of the slightly wonky lines. I was also inspired by the feel of "home" of the inspiration picture, so that's why I decided to make a new home card. I used the lovely layout over at Sweet Sunday Challenge. I'm also linking up at Just us Girls where Anything Goes this week.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana and Blushing Bride

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After, Papermania Urban Stamps 12 Days of Christmas Word Banner

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Colouring: Stampin' Up markers Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Blushing Bride and Soft Sky

Other: Lawn Fawn dies Critters Ever After, Cole's Alphabet, Stitched Journaling Card

Nontraditional Christmas Colours

Yes, it's another Christmas card post. I was asked to make some Christmas cards with Finnish and Swedish sentiments, so who am I to argue. This card was inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch. For the first card I used the colour combo from CAS - Colours and Sketches. For the second card, I picked the colour combination myself. 

I really like the Clean and Simple look of these cards. Unfortunately the colours don't show in the photos quite as nicely as they do in real life, but you should be able to get an idea. 

I also stamped a few Christmas ornaments inside the card for a finishing touch.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Teal, silvery grey card from my stash

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Joy to the woods

Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey, Crumb Cakem Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky and Wisteria Wonder, Hobbycraft pigment ink silver

Other: Stampin Up Island Indigo ribbon, grey ribbon from my stash, Stampin' Up basic adhesive gems 

Petal Parade inspiration

I'm cutting it very close to the deadline of the two challenges I'm participating in today. But I couldn't miss this week's ColourQ challenge, the colour combo is spectacular. And when I saw the inspiration photo, I knew exactly which stamp set I wanted to use. This card takes me right back to the heart of making your own cards - stamping! I just love stamping away and this set is perfect for making your own stamped backgrounds. Who needs designer paper when you can make your own so easily, and having so much fun in the process! I also loved the sketch this week over at the Pink Elephant challenge, and thought it would be perfect for displaying my hand-stamped background (although this sketch would also be perfect to get rid of a few of those hoarded scraps of designer paper as well). I guess it doesn't get said enough, but I am so grateful to all the people working so hard to provide us crafters with inspiring challenges every week, and who go through all that effort to come and comment on each and every one of our creations, spreading joy and encouragement to blogs like mine which otherwise might go completely unnoticed in the great vast infinity that is the Interwebs.

I also stamped inside the card and on the envelope.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm smooth white card, Stampin' Up Soft Sky and Wisteria Wonder card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Stampin' Up Petal Parade and Yippee-Skippee

Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Sky and Wisteria Wonder

Other: Stampin' Up Scalloped Tag Topper punch, ribbon and twine from my stash

Butterfly thanks

My mojo has been AWOL lately. I spent several hours crafting on Monday, but only managed to fill my trash without creating anything worth keeping. Today I was lucky enough to leave work a bit earlier than usual after attending a course all day. After finally getting home (thank you to whoever it was who thought it's ok to do 50 mph on the A14 in rush hour in the right hand lane...) I snuggled on the sofa with a cup of tea and my collection of challenge blogs to try and revive my dead mojo. As usual that got the old creative neurons firing. I was super-inspired by the current Poppy challenge, I loved both the colour combo and the sketch. I also got a bit obsessed with the spots in the picture challenge from Stampin' Royalty and just had to add some to the card. I am also submitting the card to Addicted to Stamps which has the theme "Make your Mark" as I coloured the butterflies with markers.

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm Premium Vellum, Stampin' Up Basic Gray card, pink leftover cardstock from my stash
Stamps: Kanban Butterfly stamp, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Grey ink, Stampin' Up markers Blushing Bride and Soft Sky, Tim Holtz distress embossing ink
Paper: Stampin' Up Patterns Stack - Brights collection
Other: Ranger ultra fine clear embossing powder, Papermania Seafoam White embossing Powder, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage Lace die, Stampin' Up Jewels basic rhinestone