So very grateful

I recently received a much awaited parcel with my latest Stampin' Up goodies. It's funny how some stamp sets you fall for immediately and others you don't feel anything for before you see that one perfect card and it just clicks. "So very grateful" was one of the latter, I didn't think I would get it until I started seeing beautiful cards with the stamps in white embossing on kraft card and coloured with watercolours or inks. They were simply stunning, and I had to get the stamp set. Although the idea is so simple, I think it's very 

I needed a thank you card and immediately went for the white embossing and kraft look. I coloured using an Aqua-Flo brush and Stampin Up' inks. I also stamped the smaller stamp inside the card and on the envelope. The colouring is easy with the heat embossed outlines preventing the colour to flow outside the lines, and the colours look soft and muted on the kraft card.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps - Make your mark (coloured using aqua brushes)
Addicted to CAS - Texture (heat embossing)
Just add ink - Just add watercolour 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything goes
The Pink Elephant - Anything goes

Cardstock: Eco ribbed 300 gsm rustic kraft card, white patterned card from my stash, Hobbycraft three shades of blue 160 gsm card
Stamps: Stampin' Up So very grateful
Inks: Tim Holtz distress embossing ink and Black Soot, Stampin' Up inks in Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, Pear Pizzazz, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose and Wild Wasabi
Other: Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, Ranger ultra fine clear embossing powder

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

Distressed cogs

I have no idea where the idea for this card came from. I was cleaning up my craft room and had the computer sitting next to me with the CAS(E) this Sketch page open. I wasn't going to do a card for this sketch challenge as the sketch didn't do anything for me at first. But all of a sudden I had this card. I'm not quite sure what happened in between, all I can recall is a lot of distressing, which is always fun.

I die cut the cogs and used the range of neutrals from Tim Holtz to distress them.  I then stamped using the same inks and the ever so versatile Gorgeous Grunge stamp set in the same colours across the cogs and some kraft card. The smallest cogs are stamped directly onto the cardstock using stamps from a Chronology stamp set as the smallest die cut cog was too big to fit everything onto a card. Last I distressed the panel for the sentiment and stamped a sentiment from the Paper smooches Sentiment Sampler onto the panel and attached everything onto the kraft card. I have to say this is definitely one of the rare cards that ended up looking better than the idea in my head, which is always a nice change.


Card: Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Ribbed 300 gsm Rustic Craft Card, Craft UK kraft card
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge, Chronology stamp set with gears and globe (I think this was free with a Docrafts magazine sometime last year, I got them on Ebay)
Inks: Tim Holtz distress ink in Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
Other: Tim Holtz Alterations Gadget Gears die

My CASest card so far

I had to do some emergency crafting this morning. I had planned to devote the whole bank holiday weekend to crafting as the weather forecast didn't look like it was going to be amenable for gardening. However, I was told a few days ago we are having guests stay over instead, so there goes my crafting time. The short while I spent in the craft room this morning may well be my only stab at crafting this weekend. 

I've had this idea of a rainbow coloured card for a while now, but it was only with the emergence of a number of floral/nature themed challenges this week that my mind kind of figured out what to do with the beginning of an idea. And as I knew I would soon have to get out of my crafting bubble to clean the house, a quick, clean and simple design would have to do for this morning. To be honest, although it looks quick and easy, it took quite a few trials and errors until I got the card looking the way I wanted to.

I coloured the stamp from Stampin' Up Reason to Smile set using Tim Holtz distress markers in the seasonal colours. I lightly spritzed with water mist before stamping onto white card. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the matching flower outline in Basic Gray. I used the Basic Gray marker and the Tim Holtz markers to colour the sentiment from See Ya Later. I finished off with adhesive gems from Papermania. This is the most CAS card I have ever made, and it's hard with all that white space left everywhere, but I'm getting used to it. I think it actually turned out quite good. And such a fitting sentiment for a day like this with nothing but grey skies.

I am entering this card into the following challenges and browsing the lovely cards from the DTs  really helped get my mojo going as usual.
Addicted to Stamps - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Botanical 
Make My Monday - Nature
CASology - Flower

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Inks: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Stampin Up' marker Basic Grey, Tim Holtz distress markers Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves and Squeezed Lemonade
Other: Papermania Adhesive gems

Fox and Friends in a box

My sister was studying for her med school finals this spring, and I'm so very proud of her, she has done an amazing job and passed with flying colours among the best of her year. I sent this little box card with Fox and his friends to cheer her on when she was studying for her last exams. This was quite a while in the making with all the different parts and lots of fussycutting. And so many ink pads as well! But I think it turned out to be a very cheery card.

These lovely cards-in-a-box have been popping up all over the blogosphere and pinterestosphere (yes, of course it is a real word, it's not like I would just have made it up). Using the measurements in the links, the card will fit into a 15.5x15.5 cm (6x6 in) envelope, so it can be mailed for the same postage as any other card. I don't know who originally came up with the idea, but I used this lovely box card with loads of animals from Mommy Stamper for inspiration. However, as the measurements in that blog post were in inches, and I feel more comfortable working in centimeters, I used this tutorial from Monica's passions. If you don't know how to make the card, instead of me explaining, just hop over to either of those blogs for a video tutorial. The centimeter card results in a bigger card as you use a sheet of A4 to start, whereas the card on Mommy Stamper starts with a 9x5 1/2 (22.8x14cm) in sheet of cardstock.

The process of creating the card involves some cutting and scoring. I don't have a scoreboard, I just bought some scoring tools (called Soft-Grip Embossing & Stylus set) online for a few quid and I use a ruler as a guide when scoring. Works like a charm, I really want to get a scoreboard at some point, but it hasn't made it anywhere close to the top of my wish list yet, so I am just sticking to this hack for now. Please refer to the videos on instructions for how to make the box, but once you know how to make it and just need a reminder of where to score, the scoring is at 7, 14, 21 and 28 cm and lengthwise at 7 cm and then cut at 15 cm. The size for the 4 papers at the top of the box are 6.5x6.5 cm and for the bottom you need three pieces measuring 6.5x7.5 cm. The longer piece at the back measures 6.5x14.5 cm.

For my card, I made the box from Stampin' Up Basic Gray cardstock and then it was just about stamping and fussycutting the cute little creatures and stamping the side panels with gorgeous grunge and adding the die cut letters.

Inks: Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Pistachio Pudding, So Saffron, Strawberry Slush, Tempting Turquoise and Wild Wasabi
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Basic Grey, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Strawberry Slush Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi and Hobbycraft white 160 gsm cardstock
Other: Tim Holtz Inside Out Alphabet die, Fiskars duck punch, Embossing tool from the Soft-Grip Embossing and Stylus set

M is for metallic

I had a browse through my stash the other day. All those extra bits and pieces you don't want to throw away just in case, but which you have no use for. I had so much more stuff stashed away than I could remember... So I decided to pick something from the stash and make a card or two. I picked two metallic panels I had made quite a while ago using an Inkadinkadoo stamp and heat embossing. I then browsed some of my favourite challenges to find some inspiration what to do with them. 

Stash part one - left over card parts waiting to be used

Stash part two - left over cardstock slivers sorted into whites, DSP and colour card

Stash part three - more or less finished card panels waiting for inspiration

By coincidence the theme of both the Shopping our Stash challenge and Addicted to Stamps challenge is Inspired by a song. For the golden panel, the obvious choice was We are Golden by Mika. A song about friendship. Inspired by the song, and this weeks Retro sketch the card came together. I am also entering the gold card into this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge "Die Crazy" as the circles and the letters are die cut, and as a bonus the flowers are cut using a punch.

The silver card was inspired by this week's Freshly Made sketch and the great colour combo in Color Throwdown. I am also entering it into Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is themed M, and in my card M is for metallic, Melon Mambo and Mixed Bunch (the name of the stamp set I used for the flower).

To create both metallic panels I stamped the Inkadinkadoo background stamp in Tim Holtz distress embossing ink and heat embossed using Papermania silver and gold embossing powders. For the gold card, I used a DSP from the Kaisercraft Christmas collection pad which came with issue 117 of Simply Cards&papercraft magazine. I die cut the circles from leftover bits of black and gold paper in my stash. The flowers are from Stampin' Up Petite Petals and heat embossed using gold embossing powder and punched using a matching punch. The letters for "Friend" are cut from the same scrap gold paper using Tim Holtz alterations inside out alphabet die. As final details I added some gold sequins from my stash I have never used before although having them for years and used a gold Sharpie to colour a few clear adhesive gems to add to the sequins and flowers. I matted the DSP onto leftover black cardstock and adhered everything onto a square kraft card.

For the silver card, I stamped one of the flowers from the Mixed bunch set in clear embossing ink and heat embossed using silver embossing powder, and punched with a matching punch. I cut a strip from Stampin' Up summer smooches DSP in lucky limeade and another from white cardstock. I used a sentiment from the Papermania Urban Stamps 12 days of Christmas Word banner stamp set and inked around the edges with a foam applicator. I attached everything onto Stampin' Up Melon Mambo DSP and matted onto black paper before attaching to a square white card. To finish, I added a pink adhesive gem to the flower.

It always feels extra good to create cards with leftover bits and pieces, and to see how something that originally wasn't going to amount to anything actually turn into a beautiful card. I'm extra pleased with the gold card as I'm really bad with using metallics and using gold is very difficult for me.

Card: Craft UK craft card, Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White Card, Stampin' Up cardstock in Melon Mambo, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, unidentified leftover black and gold card from my stash
DSP: Stampin' Up Patterns stack - Brights collection and Summer Smooches, Kaisercraft 6" Paper Pad Christmas Collections
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo background stamp, Stampin' Up Petite Petals and Mixed Bunch, Papermania Urban stamps 12 days of Christmas - Word Banner
Inks: Tim Holtz distress embossing ink, Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi
Other: Stampin' Up Petite Petals and Blossom punch, Papermania embossing powders Tinsel Silver and Enchanted Gold, Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Red Hot, Stampin' Up clear adhesive gems, Tim Holtz Alterations Inside Out Alphabet die, golden sequins from my stash, gold Sharpie

Poppy Challenge #4

Inspiration is funny sometimes. I really loved this week's Poppy sketch, and immediately got an idea what I wanted to make. But I couldn't make that work, and at the same time this idea came to me instead. I really like the Banner Blast stamp set and matching punch, but haven't used it very much (isn't that always the same story!). I didn't have the exact colours for the challenge, but I used the closest replacements from the Stampin' Up palette.

I guess it's quite obvious from the card how it was created. I stamped the banners and punched out, stamped the background using Gorgeous Grunge and the star from the Banner Blast set. Last, I stamped the sentiment and attached everything into place. 

Card: Leonardo Stationery 350 gsm Smooth White card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana card
Inks: Stampin' Up Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana and Pistachio Pudding
Stamps: Stampin' up Banner Blast, Gorgeous Grunge and Yippee-Skippee!
Other: Stampin' Up Banner punch