Time Out 3 Year Celebration

I'm super excited to be part of this special post to celebrate the Time Out Challenge 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday Time Out, here's to many more! I love playing along with Time Out and would like to thank the amazing DT for their amazing inspiration and fun challenges. As Shery of STAMPlorations fame is on the Time Out DT, STAMPlorations is one of the sponsors of this special Time Out Challenge and therefore we are also celebrating over at the STAMPlorations blog. 

The theme for the new challenge over at Time Out is Love/Friendship with the optional twist of spotlight stamping. This means that you choose to only colour in a specific part of your stamped image. I went a slightly different direction but still with the same theme and stamped a lot of the yummy donuts from my favourite ever STAMPlorations stamp set called Sugar Rush, and then only coloured in one of pair of donuts to highlight them. I then added some Wink of Stella glitter to the donut glaze, it doesn't show very well in the main image but I tried to show the subtle shimmer in the spotlight image below. As a finishing touch I added a rain of pink sequins to the top of the card. 

Don't forget to hop over to Time Out to take part in this birthday challenge with lots of prizes, and to also visit STAMPlorations as there will be extra prizes to be won there. Now if you excuse me, I might just have to nip off to the shops to get me a donut as I suddenly had a craving for them... If you got a craving for STAMPlorations products, don't forget you will get 20% off if you use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout (more info at the end of the post). 

Card: 200 gsm white card, scrap of pink card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Other: Wink Of Stella glitter pen, small sequins 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!

Double stamping CAS card

Hiya peeps, have you been enjoying the weekend? The summer seems to have returned at least for the time being so that's great. I've spent the weekend helping my sister move - she has way too much stuff, let me tell you! So unfortunately I haven't had any time to spend in the craft room this weekend. This combined with the fact that I've had a total crazy week at work means that I can't even remember when I last would have created anything. Therefore I'm sharing a card I made a while ago, but I really like it so I thought it deserves a post.

For this card, I started by stamping the gorgeous STAMPlorations French Marigold Large in black Memento ink. Then I created a reverse mask by stamping the flower onto a piece of trash paper and cut out the flower to create a mask. I then used the mask to stamp various stamps from Mixed Media Elements to "colour" the flower. To create the sentiment, I stamped various parts of sentiments from Bloom Sketches and Sugar Rush in a slightly unusual layout for added interest. Last, I splattered some ink and added three tiny rhinestones for that final touch.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Monochrome
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Mask It
Addicted to Stamps - Flower

Card: 300 gsm hammered card
Stamps: STAMPlorations French Marigold Large, Mixed Media Elements, Bloom Sketches, Sugar Rush
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Victorian Velvet, Spun Sugar, Abandoned Coral, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Adhesive gems from my stash

Fun with stencils

Just a quick post before the Culinary Consultant drags me off to the movies. I have been totally and utterly consumed by my job for the last... well... three months or so. Basically ever since I changed jobs. Anyhow, that has meant that the poor Culinary Consultant has been the sole cook, house-keeper and general life manager in the Invisible Pink House for quite a while. So when he wanted to see a movie I had no interest in, I was inclined to decline, but then I realised I really need to be a good girlfriend and actually do something he wants to do for a change, he is more than deserving. Not once has he complained about my newfound work-o-holicism. So off to the movies we go, but before that a quick card.

Today's card is inspired by the sketch over at The Challenge as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the image over at Daring Cardmakers, more specifically about the deep pink/purplish flowers and the gold tray, and the watercolour splatters on my card were inspired by that fantastically awesome spotted chair. I didn't have very much time in the craft room, so today's card really is a super-simple one. I started by die cutting using a stitched rectangle die. I then inked using foam pads through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I made a mask for the rose, and then moved the stencil to make the roses look like they were overlapping to match the sketch. I started by inking a bit in the middle in Seedless Preserves, then working around that in Picked Raspberry and last doing the outer petals in Spun Sugar. I splattered some ink in the same colours on the other half of the card and die cut the sentiment from gold mirri card. Cards cannot get any simpler than this, I tell you! Too bad it will still be several weeks, if not months before it's light enough for me to manage a photo of my after-work crafting in daylight, so a horribly bad flash photo will have to do, sadly. I love the colours on the card, and they are much prettier in real life, I promise you.

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, gold mirri card

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Spun Sugar

Stencil: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil 

Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hello and Stitched Rectangle dies

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

Pink Christmas

Do you know that feeling when you just finished chopping chillies, washed your hands and then administered eye drops to yourself, naively thinking washing those hands has removed all of that fiery burning stuff? If you don't, consider yourself lucky! It did take my mind off the itching in my eyes, that's fore sure. 

After recovering from my brush with chilli-induced blindness, I wanted to play along with the current ColourQ challenge, having planned to do so all week, but just not quite getting around to do it. I decided to CASE my earlier small and cute Christmas cards to make a larger version. I really love how the card turned out! So quick and easy, and one layer is the cheapest option for posting as well. I'm also linking up over at Crimbo Crackers where the theme is Pink and ABC Christmas Challenge where the theme is U for Unusual Christmas Colours. I'm also linking up with The Unicorn Challenge where the theme is Think Pink. Last but not least I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Throwback, you can pick any of their previous challenges. I picked "In the clouds" from January 2015, as I love the snow clouds and those small, unique snowflakes just drifting down, like the clouds breaking up into minuscule pieces. 

I started by creating a mask by die cutting a Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle die, and used the mask to ink using distress inks. Then I used a watercolour brush to flick some water drops onto the inked background to create the splashes. I used a silver Sharpie to draw the border. The next step is really crucial, I used my embossing buddy liberally to make sure the embossing powder would only stick to the ink. I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark and embossed in silver powder. Last, I stamped the sentiment in black and added a few adhesive gems of that final touch. 

Card: 300 gsm white card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Other: Silver Sharpie, Papermania Silver embossing powder, adhesive gems from my stash

Sweet treat

I usually start my Saturdays with a crafting session, but today I thought I will just quickly clean my craft room before making more of a mess. Ok, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't push the stuff on my crafting desk any further towards the edges of the desk to make even the tiniest little space, so it wasn't so much of a choice as a requirement. However, it turned out I also sorted through that huge pile of papers that contain all those "I will deal with these any day now" things, found a document I had been looking for for ages, and even kept on cleaning and went through a few of my clothes cupboards. Yes, plural... I managed to gather two large bags of clothes I am taking to a charity shop. I keep dreaming of that simple, 48-piece capsule wardrobe, but when you are a person who has been anything between a size 10 and a size 20 in the last 5 years, it's not so easy, I will tell you. I have formal and less formal dresses in various sizes, and I refuse to get rid of them as I never know what size I will be when I next need one...

I did finally make it to the actual fun part. I was inspired by the Tempting Treats challenge over at Daring Cardmakers, inspired by making cards with sweet things on them after my donut card rocked the Friday mashup. So I turned again to my trusty Sugar Rush stamp set from STAMPlorations. I know I said it before, and I will say it again, but I just love love love love love this set!!! It always makes my mouth water when I take it out for a play. I was also inspired by a card by Maria F. over in the STAMPlorations CASE playground. The funny thing is, I had also decided to play along with the colour challenge over at The Card Concept, which is partly why I was drawn to Maria's gorgeous card. Funnily enough, she also played along with the challenge over at The Card Concept, so I'm not sure if this counts as cheating... In my defence, all I can say is that it wasn't intentional, and at least I'm giving credit where credit is due. I'm also linking up with the STAMPlorations Anything Goes challenge. For the layout, I was also inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, and last but not least I'm playing along over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie where the inspiration pic was pink and red cookies.

I started by die cutting a piece of watercolour card using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and stamped the sundae in Staz-on Jet Black ink. I also stamped the image onto a piece of scrap paper and cut it out to use as a mask. I have been trying to find low tack masking paper, I have seen it used in crafty videos but can't find any. Can anyone help me? In the meantime, I use teeny tiny dabs of Tombow glue, if you let it dry it becomes non-permanent, so it works well for masking.  Just make sure you use absolutely tiny little drops, I like to make them a bit less sticky with my finger before adhering to the card, just to make sure it won't stick too tightly. After masking off the image, I used a watercolour brush to wet the paper, and then created the ombre background using Tim Holtz distress inks in Aged Mahogany, Barn Door, Worn Lipstick and Spun Sugar. I then dried the background using a heat gun, and painted the sundae using the same inks, adding some Ground Espresso for the chocolate sauce. Then I stamped sentiments from the stamp set around the edges, inspired by the layout Maria used for her card. I added a few adhesive rhinestones and sequins, and added Glossy Accents to the glass to make it look a bit more... well, glassy and glossy. I die cut a piece of vellum using a larger stitched rectangle die and adhered it onto the white card base, it doesn't show very well in the image, but it gives a nice finish to the white card. The sun was already setting when I finished the card, so the images are unfortunately a bit on the dark side.

Card: white 300 gsm card, 300 gsm watercolour card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress inks Aged Mahogany, Barn Door, Ground Espresso, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Stampin' Up Glossy Accents, adhesive gems and sequins from my stash

Sweet friend

Wow, it's been one of those weeks. There are no words to describe how happy I am to wake up to a peaceful Saturday morning. I've had car trouble, way too much work and just generally one of those weeks where nothing goes right. I'm hoping the car should be sorted out in the next hour and a half or so, but then I will have to dedicate the rest of the weekend to cleaning. I don't know who makes such a mess in this house, but it looks horrible! At least I have a chocolate making course to look forward to tomorrow, can't wait for that.

In my anticipated sugar high tomorrow, I was thrilled to see that the theme for The Friday Mashup was to feature Donuts or other baked goods. What a perfect excuse to ink up my Sugar Rush stamps from STAMPlorations. I love this set, and it was one of the first ones that made me interested in STAMPlorations back when. I was also inspired by the sketch over at STAMPlorations October challenge and the colours over at Color Throwdown. I'm also linking up over at the STAMPlorations Anything Goes challenge and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Wonderful Watercolour.

I die cut watercolour paper using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and stamped the doughnuts in Staz-on ink. I coloured them with Distress inks and a watercolour brush. I then stamped the sentiment in Memento black. To deal with all that white space, I flicked some watercolour spots off my brush for a grunge-y look and finished with a few adhesive gems. I created the background by inking up the card in Tim Holtz inks and flicking some water onto it to create that lovely waterdrop effect.

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper

Ink: Staz-on Jet Black, Memento Tuexedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron and Spun Sugar, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo

Stamps: STAMPlorations Sugar Rush

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles dies, adhesive gems from my stash

Sympathy at sunset

I have absolutely no idea what is going on with me lately. I am usually up no later than seven in the morning, often I even wake up at six and can't go back to sleep. This weekend I slept to 8:30 yesterday and nine today! It's really weird, I feel like I have slept away half the day. But I guess my body needs it for some reason or other, I'm suspecting I'm fighting off a bug or something as my colleagues have all had a nasty autumn cold, so I'm thinking I will take it as easy as my body wants and hopefully stay healthy. On another revelation, I think I have worked out the comings and goings of Mr Mojo. Last week I didn't go to the gym at all (I know, bad bad me) and I've had a very creative Saturday. The week before, I went to the gym, and was hardly able to create at all. I see a pattern forming here. Clearly the gym is detrimental to my crafting Mojo!

On to more interesting things, like today's card. When I saw this week's colours over at Color Throwdown, I just knew I had to play along. I also liked the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch, and I thought it would be a great idea to combine them into one. I was also inspired by the beautiful multi-colour sponging in the inspiration card from Time Out Challenges. I'm also linking up over at House of Cards where the theme is Stitch It Up, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Die Crazy, The Artistic Stamper where the theme is Things With Wings and Craft and Smash where the theme is clouds.

I started creating the sunset image, and although I wasn't planning specifically to make a sympathy card, that's what it turned out to be. I don't have a very good selection of sympathy sentiments, but luckily I had just received an order from STAMPlorations containing the Lotus Love set which had a sentiment that fit the card perfectly. I created the sky using masks I die cut using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Borders and Tim Holtz distress inks. For the grass, I used the Lawn Fawn Grassy border die. The flowers are stencilled in black distress ink through the STAMPlorations Some Birds stencils. I die cut the panel using Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle dies and heat embossed the sentiment in white. Last, I added a few sequins inspired by the sketch. The panel is adhered using foam tape onto hammered white cardstock.

Card: Hammered white 300 gsm card, white 250 gsm card, black paper
Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot
Stamps: STAMPlorations Dee's Artsy Impressions Lotus Love
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Puffy Cloud border dies, Grassy Border die, STAMPlorations Some Birds stencil, Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, sequins from my stash

Pink and Purple with some lace

I didn't get far from the colours of my previous post. This card was just a little doodle I did while watching the new series on Channel 4 called Indian Summers. I wasn't convinced by the first episode, but will give it another chance. The image for this card is actually from my stash of unused coloured images, and I feel very good that I finally managed to use it. I can even remember the specific time when I coloured it. Last September the Culinary Consultant finally used a gift card I had given him for a day of learning to wheelie at a motorcycle driving school. So while he drove a bike around and around in circles for a whole day, I was camped out in the car with stamped images, Blendabilities, cookies, coffee, sweeties and the Bakeoff masterclass on the iPad. It was actually quite a fun day, and I think it's good to take your crafting out of the craft room from time to time. If nothing else, it makes you appreciate your craft room even more, and particularly appreciate having a desk to craft on. After the Culinary Consultant was finished with his wheelie-ing, we headed off to Ikea and ate meat balls. And bought a pack of bag sealing clips for £0.90. A day well spent I say!

Anyhow, back to the card at hand. I used distress inks and a stencil to create the background, fussy cut my pre-coloured image and stamped and inked the banner for the sentiment. I added some lace washi tape I have had for a while, and added a few adhesive gems for a finishing touch. Quick, easy and summery bright. 

This card was inspired by the sketch over at STAMPloratons. I'm also linking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and The Pink Elephant where Anything Goes this week.

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Raspberry, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Good Greetings, I Like You
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry
Colouring: Stampin' Up Blendabilities Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive
Other: Simon Says Stamp stencil, Papermania adhesive gems, lace adhesive tape

Valentine's Flowers

It seems like I haven't been crafting in ages. I made the cards I posted this week last weekend, so I really haven't crafted much at all this week. I think I'm suffering from a bit of the winter blues, I just don't have the energy for anything right now. I just want to bury myself under the duvet with a ton of chocolate and not surface until April.

But admittedly I'm not having as hard a time as my poor Grandma. She turned 90 years last week! But she had to move out of the flat she has lived in for probably the last 50 years or so, and into a small rental studio while there is some major work being done in her own place. She is so unhappy about it, so I thought I would make her a bright and colourful Valentine's day card to cheer her up.

This card is inspired by my latest new toy, the Tim Holtz Distress Marker Spritzer. It's really fun to play with and creates cool air brushed effects. I used it on the Stampin' Up Irresistibly Yours DSP to create the cool background. I stamped the flowers from I Like You and coloured with Blendabilities and cut out using dies. I printed the sentiment (that says Happy Valentine's day in Finnish, although the literal translation is "Happy Friends Day" as Valentine's is called Friend's Day back home, which I like much more) and used the spritzer tool a bit over the sentiment banner. 

The layout for the card was inspired by My Favourite Things sketch challenge and the colours are from this week's Color Throwdown. I'm also linking up at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is "Not your normal paper" (I used the cool paper from Stampin' Up which comes with resist patterns and you can colour it yourself to match your project), at A Creative Need where the theme is "Something New" (my "new" is of course my new Spritzer tool and getting to use it on this card) and at STAMPlorations where the January challenge is stamps and inks.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card teal and baby pink, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Stamps: Stampin' Up I Love You

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress markers Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, Stampin' Up Blendabilities Old Olive, Melon Mambo and Coastal Cabana

Paper: Stampin' Up Irresistibly Yours

Other: Tim Holtz Distress Marker Spritz tool, heart border punch, Stampin' Up Labels Collection Framelits

Glittery snowflakes

This is an easy and quick Christmas card for those last minute cards you need to make in a hurry. I love the Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflake dies, they are so pretty. I'm a bit fussy when it comes to snowflakes, I only like them a certain way and these certainly are the way I like! 

I die cut the snowflakes, inked them with Versamark and heat embossed with glitter embossing powder. For the background, I stamped the small snowflakes from Critters in the Arctic in Versamark and heat embossed using clear powder. I inked the background with Distress inks. After attaching the the snowflakes I stamped the sentiment and finished by adding some stickles to the snowflakes.

The card was inspired by the STAMPlorations sketch challenge. I'm also entering the card in the STAMPlorations December challenge, which involves picking any previous challenge. I picked the August challenge which is Stamps & Die cuts. I'm also entering the card over at Die Cuttin' Divas - Inspired by a Christmas Carol (Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflake die, song "Winter Wonderland" Sleigh bells ring are you listening, in the lane, SNOW is glistening and so on and so forth), at Incy Wincy Designs where the theme is Christmas Anything Goes, at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where Anything Goes and at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the the theme is Winter Inspiration with a lovely inspiration board.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Inspiration Board.

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

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Arctic

Ink: Tsukineko VersaMark, Stampin' Up Basic Grey, Tim Holtz Broken China, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick

Other: Papermania holographic embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles Glitter Glue, Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes dies