More Lilies for Easter

Finally we are coming to the end of my series of Easter cards using the Stampin' Up stamp set Remarkable You and watercolours. The two other cards I made are here and here. It's funny that I ended up making so many Easter cards as I usually don't send any at all. Oh well, I guess as carmakers we take any opportunity we get, right?

I started by stamping onto watercolour paper, then colouring with Tim Holtz distress markers and a watercolour brush, using light colours only wanting to enhance the image a little but not overwhelm the simple beauty of the strong lines of the flowers. I did make a bit of boo-boo with my colouring, but I'm just saying it makes the flowers unique and with a hand-made look. It was deliberate, I'm sure. I die cut the panel, and die cut the happy for the sentiment from a leftover scrap of card I coloured with Distress Paints for some other project which never got made. Last, I stamped the second part of the sentiment from a Lawn Fawn set and added a few adhesive gems for that final little extra touch.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Amusing Challenges - Easter
Glitter N' Sparkle - Anything Goes
Allsorts - Easter
Sweet Stampin' - Easter
Addicted to CAS - Delicate
Crafty Cardmakers - Easter

Card: 250 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, a scrap of watercolour card I coloured with Tim Holtz distress paints
Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Markers Fossilized Amber, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron and Weathered Wood
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You dies, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Hoppy Easter from the Crazy Birds

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I have had a very special guest stay with me. Said special guest, who happens to be my favourite sister (just to make clear, she is also my only sister, so I'm not playing any favourites here), invited me to go to dragged me kicking and screaming to the gym first thing Saturday morning. As I haven't been to the gym in the last month three months I'm not able to move a muscle at the moment. Just sitting down or standing up is agony. Is this what it feels like to get older? Just a simple gym class will render you immobile... Of course the solution would be to go back there regularly, but it just seems like so much work! And cuts off the crafty time, and we wouldn't want that now would we?

Anyhow, we did have some shared crafty time together which was great fun. I made a Easter card which was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I used birds instead of squares. I was also inspired by the colours over at ColourQ. I also think my little birds-disguised-as-bunnies go with the theme of "Laugh" over at CASology, the Spring/Easter theme over at Time Out (where this will be my second entry for the challenge) and the Hoppy Easter theme over at Creative Corner Challenges.

The cute card my Sis made for her friend.

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper
Stamps: Tim Holtz Bird Crazy&Crazy Things and matching dies, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Versamark Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Calypso Coral, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana and Summer Starfruit
Other: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka Mon Amie DSP

Happy Travels

A friend was recently able to travel to some of the places she had always wanted to visit, and I know she absolutely fell in love with Paris. So this card is inspired by her travels. I have to admit, I am more of an Italy fan, I pretty much love every place I have been to in Italy whereas I didn't fall in love with Paris at all. However, I'm completely devoid of any travel-lust right now, it might be because my life is just hectic enough as it is right now, so any spare time I have I rather just spend right where I currently am typing this - in my craft room. I have the world's most uncomfortable sofa  in my craft room, but it feels like heaven. To be perfectly honest, travelling always sends chills down my spine. I love seeing new places, don't get me wrong. It's just the whole getting to those places that stresses me out. First you have to get to the airport (usually at an ungodly hour), then stand in several queues, followed by endless waiting, before you get crammed into a tiny space in a flying tin can where you can hardly move an arm without hitting something, and then it's the whole faff of waiting for your luggage, hoping it has actually made it onto the right flight, not to mention making your way from the airport to where you need to go. Fills me with dread every time. Just give me teleporting, and I promise I will venture out to see the world!

In addition to being inspired by my friend's travels, today's card was also inspired by the black and white inspiration image over at Time Out, the colour challenge over at ColourQ and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up with Crafty Catz where the theme is CAS and Little Red Wagon where the theme is Pop of Colour (use black and white with one additional colour). 

Card: Black 300 gsm card, 300 gsm white watercolour card, scrap of Stampin' Up Real Red card

Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous I See Paris and Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Stampin' Up Hello You dies

Paint smooshing on vellum

My week of annual leave is sadly coming to an end and it's time to say goodbye to family and head back home. As sad as that is, there is a silver lining to every cloud, and for me it's of course getting back to my craft room! Oh and seeing the Culinary Consultant too. Ok, that might even be the biggest silver lining to be honest, but don't tell him as he would just go getting big ideas about himself. Men... can't live with them and all that schtuff. Anyhow, I have another card I made a while ago that I wanted to share with you before hopefully being able to create something new in the next day or two. 

I had a bit of a mad creative moment the other day, creating several cards in one go, you can see my other similarly themed card here. I got really inspired to do some Distress Paint smooshing and decided to try it on vellum. I loved the look, it looks like stained glass! The paint behaves very differently on the slippery vellum compared to watercolour paper. I die cut a panel from the vellum after it had dried and stamped the sentiment from STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2 and heat embossed in silver. I added two die cut snowflakes I found when rummaging through my stash (yay for using up yet another bit from the stash, every little bit counts!). Super quick and easy. If only I was as good at sending cards as I am at making them...

Also, don't forget that you have another 2 days to join the first ever STAMPlorations CAS challenge, where the optional colour twist is silver.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Craft for the Craic - January Blues
Fussy and Fancy - Monochromatic 
Craft Rocket Challenges - Clean and Simple
If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Inspiration Image (see below)
Stampavie and More - Winter
A Snowflakes Promise - Winter
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog - Winter Wonderland

Card: 300 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, silver and white glitter card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China, Brushed Pewter, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Picket Fence
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Snowflakes
Other: Papermania Silver Tinsel embossing powder

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

Happy Birthday Bear

My dear Culinary Consultant is not the most romantic person in the world. He's not big on small talk, actually not big talk also. But he is the kindest guy and from time to time he does something so sweet that I start to think he might be a bit of a closet romantic. Like yesterday when I was fretting about going back to work in a mix of depression and anxiety. And then I finally admit defeat and realise the holiday is over, and head over to go to bed. And what do I find on the bed? A box of goodies from L'Occitane! Apparently it's a going back to work present. How perfect is that? Going back to work was horrible though but at least the first day is now done and dusted. Maybe tomorrow will be a bit easier?

Today's card is almost exclusively put together from things in my UFO box (you know, UnFinished Objects...). The background journalling card is from a session when I was getting messy with a rainbow of Distress Paints. This is one I created towards the end, when a lot of the colours had already run together and became a brownish mess, which I originally didn't like but now when I looked at it again, I liked the way the clear bright colours mix together with the browns. The bear was also in the UFO box, I just stamped, coloured and die cut some birthday paraphernalia for him. The sentiment was - can you guess? - also in the UFO box, it is die cut from some card I created at another time when playing with my Distress Paints. Even the strip of Let's Polka paper is a leftover scrap piece. If you are a hoarder of all crafty bits great and small you know how good a card like this feels!

I am linking up with the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Party

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Journey - They Say It's Your Birthday

Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Make Your Own Background

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes With a Die(s)

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - Use Patterned Paper

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animal and matching dies

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Various Tim Holtz Distress Paints, Copics

Dies: Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats, Stitched Journalling Card

Frozen smoosh

Well, my mojo clearly has realised it's the last day of my lovely Christmas holiday, and I have managed to create not one, not two, not three but four cards today. It just seemed like the good old mojo was in hibernation and now it's back. How great that I'm now in super-creative mode when I have to go back to work tomorrow and won't have any time to craft until next weekend. 

Sometimes it's the smallest thing that kicks off the good old mojo. I was browsing around looking at challenges (isn't it a bit ironic that most challenges are on holiday over Christmas when most people are on holiday and would actually have time to craft. Of course, being on some DTs myself, I'm of course very thankful for the break, but as a participant, I want more challenges, not less, over the holidays!!). Today, it was the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge that kick started my mojo. The theme for this month is smooshing and I got super inspired and got out my Tim Holtz distress paints and smooshed a big pile of backgrounds, one of which ended up in today's card. The sentiment is from a set from STAMPlorations called Fond Expressions 2, and it's heat embossed in white. The snowflake embellishment is actually from my stash, I made it ages ago using Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes dies and some Ranger Ice Stickles in Coffee Ice. Always such a rewarding feeling when you manage to use up stuff from your stash, isn't it.


I am linking up with the following challenges which inspired this card;
Try Stampin' on Tuesday - sketch (see below)
Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge - smooching
Happy Little Stampers CASE the designer - I was inspired by the smooched watercolour background and the layout with the watercoloured panel surrounded by plenty of white space
Curtain Call - Frozen 
The Shabby Tea Room - Inspiration image (see below)
Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge - colours (see below)
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, Hobbycraft 160 gsm ivory card

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints Broken China, Brushed Pewter, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Picket Fence

Stamps: STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes, Stitched Rectangles

Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice, Adhesive gems from my stash

Hello balloons

Friiiiiday!!! Finally a bit of time in the craft room. And it was like getting back to the gym after a break... my crafting muscles had atrophied! It took a few tries to actually get a card together. This card was supposed to be something completely different and I needed a few tries before getting there. 

Anyhow, after a few misguided die-cuts and stampings, I got my act together with the help of inspiration from ColourQ and RetroSketches. I absolutely love the Tim Holtz balloon stamp. And I've wanted to do the sentiment with layers of stashed different coloured die cuts for ages. This sketch gave me a perfect chance to do that! I'm also linking up at Through the Craft Room Door and Craft Your Passion where Anything Goes.

Card: 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay and Wild Wasabi, kraft card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamp: Tim Holtz Remnants
Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Wild Wasabi
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles and Hello die, sequins from my stash

Masculine card in blue and turquoise

It's been a great few days. Yesterday we had a nice lunch with our team at work, and I was able to leave work early as planned to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. On my way home I popped by the post office to pick up a parcel from my Mum with yummy goodies from home along with some Moomin mugs and towels. And today I have been out taking pictures of  parrots and alligators in the beautiful sunshine. I also decided to start another blog for my photos! Stay tuned for a link tomorrow. But no more ramblings for today, I'll move on to the reason you are here.

Today's card is inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and the great colours over at ColourQ. I was also inspired by the "Masculine" theme over at Just Us Girls and the "Tag You're It" over at RetroRubber. I used two Tim Holtz stamp sets that I have owned for ages, but used very little. In fact, I've never used the stamp I used for the background before. Actually, I realised all the supplies I used for this card, apart from the white and black cardstock have been in my stash for ages. Last but not least I'm linking up at The Friday Mashup to celebrate the 200th challenge (Happy 200th challenge FMS!!). You can pick your favourite challenge/challenges and I have chosen to go with a mix of  #30 Recycled Materials (stamped on newspaper for the background) and #159 Use a stencil (Tim Holtz bubble stencil used for the background).

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card in black, 300 gsm white card, Ranger #8 size craft tag, newspaper

Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Remnants CMS130, The Journey
Ink: Stampin Up Distress ink Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress paints Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire
Other: Tim Holtz stencil Bubble Layering Stencil  

Crafts Galore Encore March Challenge

This year is racing along like crazy. I don't really know what I'm waiting for, maybe it's summer. But while we are racing towards summer, we will soon be there, and then it will be gone again. I don't understand how time can just speed up for every year that goes by. 

So today we have rolled over to March, and that means there is a new challenge over at Crafts Galore Encore. This time we have a very easy challenge for you: Anything Goes. That means we would love to see any any crafts you create. I can be papercrafts, but it can be anything else also! And you will have a chance to win a prize from our sponsor Di's Digis. If you need some inspiration to get going, have a look at the gorgeous projects the DT are displaying on the blog. There are cards, but this time there is plenty of other stuff as well. 

I chose to make a 3D object, which I usually don't get around to doing very often. It's very glamourously made out of TP rolls. I also ordered a pack of Tim Holtz paper especially for this project. I don't buy very much crafting paper, but this time I thought I would treat myself. And it's gorgeous. You really get what you pay for, it feels luxuriously heavy and the patterns are gorgeous. And I only used a few sheets for my desk organiser so there is plenty left over for cards or other crafting. And you can of course use any paper you have in your stash as well, I just wanted to get something with delicate colours and patterns and a vintage feel. I was inspired by this wonderful video by Einat Kessler and her gorgeous Steampunk desk organiser. 

To start, I covered the TP rolls with gesso to give an extra layer to make them more heavy and durable. Then I cut then down to size and used Mod Podge to attach the paper. When the Mod Podge dries it also becomes hard to make the rolls more stable. I only used Mod Podge to adhere the paper, not on the outside as I love the feel of the paper, I didn't want to destroy that, but if you want to make it more durable you can add a layer of Mod Podge on the paper as well and let dry.

I used Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the rolls. I painted the inside of the rolls with Antique Bronze Distress paint, and added a few layers of washi tape where the paper met the bronze paint to cover the seams. Then I custom made the box from cardstock as I couldn't find a box which was the right size to hold my rolls. I covered the cardstock box both inside and out with the paper. 

I glued the rolls onto the box, and attached some lace washi tape arund the edges of the box and one of the rolls. Last, I added some embellishments. I attached them with glue dots, so if at some point I get bored of my organiser, I can re-use the embellishments. You can go as crazy as you like, this is a great way to use up leftover random embellishments, but I didn't go too wild as I don't have that much embellishments as I don't use them on my cards and I don't do scrapbooking. I also covered my eraser with a scrap of leftover paper to match the organiser as a finishing touch. 

This was a really fun project to make, and perfect for my desk as I used to keep all my pens, scissors and other crafting stuff in a drawer and could never find what I needed. Now I have my most important stuff always out and within reach. Just make sure you reserve a few days time for making it as the various layers (gesso, Mod Podge etc.) take a while to dry, and you want to make sure it's completely dry before moving on to the next phase.

I would like to participate in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
My Sheri Crafts Challenge - Welcome Spring
Brown Sugar Crafts - Anything Goes
Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes
As You Like It - Your favourite anything but a card (favourite - it's something that's made out of TP rolls! How much better does it get :) Can you see I'm a bit proud of my TP rolls...)
Southern Girls Challenge - Get Your Girly On 
The Three Muses - Vintage 

Card: 300 gsm white card for the base, 6 TP rolls
Paper: Tim Holtz idea-ology Wallflower
Inks: Tim Holtz distress ink Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
Other: Gesso, Matte Mod Podge, Tim Holtz Idea-ology adornments nature, some random embellishments from my stash, lace washi tape form my stash

Newsprint balloon

I'm popping in for a very quick post this evening, as we have enjoyed our traditional Valentine's day Venison dinner with the Culinary Consultant today. We didn't get to enjoy our traditional dinner yesterday on V-day as we were off to a wedding. 

I loved this week's ColourQ challenge, and wanted to create a card for it. I was not only inspired by the colours but also by the balloon theme in the inspiration picture, so I chose to use my lovely Tim Holtz balloon stamp. I stamped onto real newspaper and paper pieced the balloon part of the image. I wanted to keep the card really minimal so the beautiful stamp would be the main focus, and I think it turned out quite nice, although I only had a short time to spend in the craft room today. I would also like to link up at Fashionable Stamping where the theme is Black and White with a hint of red, Open Minded Crafting Fun Challenges where the theme is Up In The Air, Sweet Stampin' where the theme is inspired by a song (Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me) and last but not least Lil Patch of Crafty Friends where Anything Goes. 

Card: Coloured 240 gsm kraft card black and ruby red, 300 gsm white card
Paper: newspaper
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Remnants CMS130
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Colouring: Copic R240
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You thinlits die

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

A little bit of shabby grunge

This card is so not my style at all. I'm very much a CAS type of cardmaker, at least most of the time. But when I saw the amazingly beautiful inspiration card by Julee Tillman over at Viva La Verve Sketch challenge I wanted to recreate something similar. It's nice to go outside your comfort zone from time to time and try different things. I used the colours for that challenge as well, although again they are far from my usual colour palette. Which is great as it allowed me to use up some cardstock that I haven't used before. 

I embossed the blue panel using a Tim Holtz embossing folder. I used a pair of scissors to distress the edges and some sandpaper to distress the Core'dinations cardstock which reveals a lighter shade when distressed. I inked the embossed and distressed panel with orange, yellow and brown ink. I die cut the stars and inked the edges with brown ink and distressed using scissors. I did the same for the sentiment banner and the background panel. The sentiment is from one of my most used sentiment sets, the Paper Smooches Sentiment sampler. I think this card would work well as a male birthday card.

Cardstock: Craft UK kraft card, Tim Holtz Core'dination card in Spiced Marmelade, Mustard Seed and Tumbled Glass

Ink: Tim Holtz distress ink Spiced Marmelade, Mustard Seed and Walnut Stain

Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler

Other: Xcut star dies, Tim Holtz embossing folder Retro Circles

Watercolour stencil poppy inspiration

As usual, the current Poppy sketch gave me a bit of a creative crisis. Every time I see the sketch and colour combo over on Poppy sketches, I know I want to participate, but the sketches are usually a bit more abstract than the average sketch challenge, so my creatively challenged brain is struggling. I usually need a week of thinking time before I know what I want to make, so luckily the challenge is a bi-weekly one giving my brain a chance to catch up. This time it took inspiration from two other challenges to complete this card, "Stencil" over at Addicted to CAS and "Use Watercolour" over at Simon Says Stamp wednesday challenge. 

I used a Tim Holtz stencil for the background, along with TIm Holtz Distress paints. However, I didn't use the stencil as you normally would by dabbing colour through it, but as a stamp. I really like the look this way. I spritzed the watercolour paper with water before "stamping" to get a watercolour effect. I then used the Tim Holtz stamp set Grunge Cirque which I coloured with markes and spritzed lightly with water before stamping. I used a marker to write the sentiments into the stamped image, I thought that was quite fun. 

Then I had to put the card away, as I got an overwhelming urge to start adding ribbons and rhinestones and pearls and distressing and whatnot. But I managed to walk away and keep it CAS. Shortest "products used" list ever, eh? As a consolation prize, I did some stamping for the inside of the card. 

Card: Daler & Rowney 300 gsm watercolour paper, coloured 240 gsm kraft card Purple grape, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Grunge Cirque, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler (for the inside)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress paints and markers in Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn and Seedless Preserves

Happy birthday and the Poppy challenge

I have been looking at the current Poppy Sketch for quite a while, and it's almost the end of the challenge by the time I got this card finished. It's an interesting colour combination, again one I wouldn't choose myself, but that's why I love colour challenges as they make me use colours I wouldn't normally use. I do love bright colours, so I had decided I certainly wanted to contribute a card to the challenge. But I just couldn't get my head around the sketch. I kept humming and hamming, looking at the DT inspiration and browsing through my stamp stash. It was only when I came across the Clear it Out challenge where the theme is Birthday and the stash item is Glossy Accents of glitter when it all came together. I'm also participating in over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is stamping or stencils.

I stamped the Tim Holtz Birthday BluePrint present onto the pink cardstock and then again on white cardstock where I coloured it, fussy cut it and adhered with dimensionals. Then I added a generous amount of Tim Holtz distress stickles to the bow. I die cut the letters for the sentiment and heat embossed with sparkling embossing powder that I have had for ages but not really used as I couldn't get it to stick properly. This time I used plenty of Versamark ink and had no problem with the glitter, and I heat embossed two layers of the sparkles. I finished off with a orange bow to match the present. 

Cardstock: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card in Raspberry Pink and Purple Grape, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, orange cardstock from my stash

Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Birthday Blueprint

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Colouring: Copics V04, V09, Stampin' Write Pumpkin Pie

Other: Tim Holtz alterations Inside Out Alphabet die, Tim Holtz distress stickles Spiced Marmelade, Papermania Holographic embossing powder, orange ribbon from my stash