Starry starry wreath

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fun challenge at Tic Tac Toe :) LeAnne has come up with a wonderful board to inspire your creativity this week and there are lots of different options!

I've opted to make a festive card using the bottom row, Green/Holly/Star. I started by sponging green ink into the Holly Wreath stencil by Funky Fossil. There are holly berries on this stencil but I inked the whole thing in green and then went over the berries with gold stickles. I left this to dry overnight.

The card front was covered with one of the beautiful (retired) Plaid Tidings papers by Stampin' Up and I offset the panel, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle.

The wreath was decorated with stars punched from card stock I'd sponged orange ink over - a technique which makes them all different shades! I added a die cut bow from MFT's Birthday Cocktail die set and finished with a block sentiment from Uniko.

Now it's over to you! Which row or column will you choose? Or will you take one of the diagonals on the board? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site and enjoy the inspiration from the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up your own creation.  I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Chrizstmas Kickstart where the theme is Make One For A Loved One. I have deliberately used the 'Happy Christmas' sentiment  as opposed to 'Merry Christmas' as some members of my extended family associate 'Merry' with an ungodly drunkenness!! So this card is destined for one of them :) I'm also joining in with Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes. (I know, it's ironic isn't it!)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

All the cards I've been blogging recently were made and scheduled in advance as I am very busy with the dogs at the moment. I'm getting terrible crafting withdrawal symptoms! Does anyone know of a 'clinic' to treat people that are seriously craft-deprived? Help!!

On the other hand, how cute are these two?!

Sending hugs,

Passiflora on stripes

Hello, crafting friends!

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for another refreshing challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches! October is my hosting month which means I get to choose a colour palette today.

This is a favourite autumn colour scheme of mine although of course it can also be used for festive cards or any other kind of occasion! I used it to make a card to cheer up a friend who is going through a tough time.

I started by stamping the striped background from Uniko, using my stamping platform to get a good clear impression from the navy ink.

Next I stamped the floral elements and fussy cut them (madness I know - there are dies for saner crafters!) For extra detail, I pulled a little of the Razzleberry ink into the petals with a damp paintbrush. Then I set my botanicals aside while I dealt with the sentiment.

I used a pretty 'you are in my thoughts' from Mama Elephant, using my stamping platform again and two colours of ink. Finally, the flowers, leaves and bud were arranged over the stripes.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site to check out the beautiful inspiration from the design team. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. I'm looking forward to a gorgeous gallery this week!

PS If you love this challenge, you may be interested to know there's a Design Team Call going on! Check out the details on the site!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with The Flower Challenge where the theme is Use a Shape (my shape is the rectangular background made up of rectangular stripes.) This challenge is also celebrating its 5th birthday - so congratulations are in order *pop goes the champagne cork* I'm also joining in at Darnell's NBUS Challenge which is the place to share your Never Before Used Schtuff. The background and the flowers are new-to-me stamps from Uniko :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has a new pal staying over. He reminds me of a child at Playgroup who was unusually tall for his age; I remember his mum telling me in despair that everyone expected him to behave like an older child because of that. At only 8 months this pup is the same size as Eva and into everything! I have been firm but fair and he is learning the ropes very quickly, but I'm afraid I made a rookie error last night. I dropped a roast potato on the floor while serving dinner and although I retrieved it quickly, I foolishly put it at the back of the kitchen counter while I took dinner to the table. When I came back it had gone and he was looking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - although I suspect a roast potato just had!!

Sending hugs,

One layer leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Tuesday and welcome to another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. I'm hosting this month and have come up with a sketch which I really hope will get your mojo going:

There are plenty of options with this sketch. It's a great way to use up your scraps of designer paper; or you could use smaller stamps in the general shape; or you could use one of your background stamps at an angle. I chose to stamp a collage of leaves using my favourite autumn stamp set from Reverse Confetti.

This is a very simple idea but it does need a practyice on a piece of scrap paper before transferring the design to the card base! I thought it would make a good male card :)

I used two shades of orange and two shades of green to add a little depth to the stamping, but left the outlines uncoloured. The sentiment is from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, stamped in the darker green, snipped out and attached to the card front with dimensional pads.

So now it's your turn! Do hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site where the team has some fabulous inspiration for you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your creation with us. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Color Hues where the colour duo is Orange and Green; I'm also joining in at Cardz 4 Guyz where the theme is male autumn birthday; also We Love Chocolate Baroque where Anything Autumn is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The leaves are taking their time to change colour this year but here's a young lady showing off some absolutely stunning autumnal berries we saw bursting out of someone's garden:

I've realised that my photography skills are letting the side down here and you can barely see the berries in that dark background. But Eva tells me it's irrelevant anyway as she can't believe anyone would bother looking at berries when there's a floofy princess in the picture!!

Sending hugs,

Sweater weather

Hello, crafting friends!

After all that lovely autumn sunshine on holiday by the sea it feels chillier now I'm back, so while I was looking through my stencils I decided that a woolly looking one would be just the ticket for a note card!

After masking off the top of a lighter purple card base, I inked purple ink through Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil. This was topped with a fabulous die cut 'Hello', also from Funky Fossil, which I cut out of bright yellow card stock. 

The card was finished with three purple enamel dots and a sunny yellow panel inside to write a cheery message on :)

CHALLENGES

I was inspired to make this card when I saw the colour challenge at Less is More - not a colour combination I would normally use, but that's what challenges are for! I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes and Allsorts where Embellish It is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm finding it hard to settle back into routine after being on holiday. It's been so long since I last went away anywhere and it was a joy to have the company of my daughter, Nina, for a whole week and watch Eva frolic about on beaches!

On our first day, we picnicked in the dunes on a gorgeous sandy beach. We chose a spot with a dip in the sand like a nest which sheltered us from the wind and Eva curled up with us in there and was Angel Dog while we ate. She was permitted a piece of cheese for being such a good girl which she ate with the look of a starving orphan puppy.

Afterwards, Nina headed off towards the sea - but this Eva could not permit! Ever since a game of 'Egg', in which Nina horrified Eva by rolling slowly off a bed, Eva feels my daughter cannot be trusted to look after herself, so she set off in hot pursuit, barking madly...

... and escorted my daughter safely to the sea. My goodness those waves were a little scary at first though!!

Sending hugs,

The witching hour

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest challenge at Addicted to CAS! It's Barb's turn to select a code word to inspire you and I think you're going to have fun with this one:

I know lots of you enjoy halloween and go all out decorating and trick or treating. I don't do halloween but every year I make one or two cards for card challenges and have the best time doing so :) You don't need halloween-themed craft supplies, as I've proved with this card, so if you're not a halloween fan either, go on - have a bit of spooky fun!!

 

My card started off with the cat. I used Funky Fossil's Cat Silhouettes stencil to draw an outline with a fineliner, then coloured the cat with alcohol markers and fussy cut her. For the background, I masked off the bottom of a card base and blended some spooky coloured inks (purple, orange and lime) upwards and towards the centre. 

I stamped some books from Beautiful Books by Sugar Pea Designs, fussy cut them and gave one of them a 'spells' title using a fine-nibbed Posca Acrylic paint pen. The books were arranged in a pile and the cat perched on top. I enjoyed finding some mismatched embellishments in the background colours and finished with a halloween sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Simply Said. 

I hope I've inspired you to make something a bit spooky! There's loads more inspiration on the Addicted to CAS challenge site from all my teamies and you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep you card nice and clean and simple with plenty of clear space - and have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge, where Anything Goes; and Watercooler Wednesday where Helen is hosting the All About Occasions challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm just back from the North Norfolk coast where my daughter and Eva and I stayed in a charming traditional flint cottage and enjoyed walking for miles on the beautiful beaches there. It was a bit of a milestone because it was Eva's first time visiting a beach and she truly embraced it...

... as you can see from this photo - joy in canine form!

Sending hugs,

Warm autumn thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fabulous Thursday challenge at Tic Tac Toe, the challenge that inspires you eight different ways!!

I suddenly realised that if I carry on making Christmas cards, autumn will disappear and I won't have had any of the fun of those gorgeous warm colours of the season, so I chose the middle column: Foliage/Thanks/Sequins/or Gems.

I used a large background stamp from Uniko called Tropical Paradise and turned it into autumnal heaven instead! It was stamped directly onto a card base in brown ink and then I masked the edges and used sponge daubers to apply different colours roughly all over the image. I'm sure you can imagine that it looked like a mess at this stage!!

The idea though was to use coloured pencils over the top of the ink to add detail to the leaves and to create a warm background and I hope you'll agree that it worked quite well! To finish the card, I attached a stitched rectangle stamped with a bold 'thank' and a die cut 'you" embellished with coloured gems.

So now it's over to you! Which of the rows or columns will catch your eye this week? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to see the great inspiration from my teamies - you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post where you can share your own creation. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with the Uniko challenge where Anything Goes with an optional twist of Autumn Colours; and, for the second time with Color My Heart Color Dare 463 as I was blown away by the fabulous inspiration photo!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have scheduled this post because I will be winging my way back from a break on the North Norfolk coast - although hopefully not literally winging my way as I will be travelling by car!

Sending hugs,

May all your Christmasses be bright

Hello, crafting friends!

It's another Tuesday and another great challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. But today is a bit special for me because this is my first month hosting at this challenge! It means I've come up with all the colour palettes and sketches for October and I really hope you'll be inspired by them :) Today is colour week and I've deliberately chosen a bright palette that could work for any occasion:

I decided to use the colours to make a Christmas card - and, talk about Merry and Bright, you may want to pop on a pair of sunglasses now!!

This is a quick no-stamping card. I used a snippet of an old Stampin' Up paper to represent stylised snow, topped it with a die cut wreath from Stampin' Up, a die cut sentiment from Hobbycraft and some berries punched out of card stock and given 'shine' detail with a white Posca acrylic paint pen.

Right, now it's your turn! Do hop over to the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge site to see all the amazing cards my teamies have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation too. I'm so excited to see how you were inspired by my colour palette!

CHALLENGES

I’m linking this card up at The Snippets Playground where the challenge is to make cards using snippets and off cuts.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I’m not staying to chat today as I’m at the seaside with Eva and my daughter :) Photos coming soon...

Sending hugs,

Fastest card in the West

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches! It's the sketch's turn this week and this month's host Jenny has designed an interesting sketch with three elements:

I had been looking through my designer paper drawer this weekend and thought I'd harness the power of a bold pattern!

The paper I used on this card was a freebie in a Stampin' Up promotion earlier in the year and I love its bright flowers against the black background. I simply cut the elements to size and mounted them onto black card to blend in with the background of the paper.

I don't have a hello die with a 'shadow' piece so resorted to stamping one, from WPlus9's Hello and Thanks, and fussy cutting it with sharp paper snips, which gives the same effect. I added shine with Crystal Effects for a bit of extra detail. Just in case you fancy replicating this card, the black piece of backing card measures 3 3/4" (9.5cm) high x 3 1/4" (8.5cm) wide. The top piece of dsp is 1 7/8" ( 4.7cm) high x 3" (7.7cm). The two bottom pieces are 1 3/8" (3cm) square. You're welcome!

So now it's over to you! Hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site and enjoy all the gorgeous samples my team mates have created. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can share your own creation with us there. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Time Out Challenges where there's a lovely quote to inspire us. I thought the black-based floral paper could work for either joy or sadness and the hello sentiment is about connecting with friends.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The weather has turned now. It has become cooler with a brisk breeze, and the sunshine is broken up with showers. 

Eva loves this kind of weather!

Sending hugs,

Special snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

I made this card on the 25th of the month when my thoughts turned to other 25ths of the month! It seems impossible to imagine short, dark days and freezing temperatures while it's still warm and sunny outside but they're definitely coming! 

The background was made by masking off parts of a card base, to make an offset panel, and stencilling snowflakes into it with the Snow Flurryy stencil by Funky Fossil. I embellished the flakes with silver Liquid Pearls and left it to dry.

Meanwhile I die cut some snowflakes from dark green-blue card stock as well as a cheery red sentiment. These were arranged on the background and clear gems added to the centres of the snowflakes.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Jingle Belles where they theme is Snow; I'm also joining in at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where it's Anything Goes with optional Non-Traditional;  and I'm playing along with Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes; and Rudolph Day where we must share a Christmas card between 25th and the end of each month.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I enjoyed making a snowy scene but if I'm honest I would love to stave off the first frosts for a little while. The only ice I want to see at the moment is in a glass of G&T!!

Sending hugs