Springtime balloons

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I have new babies in my head at the moment and a combination of that and some of my favourite challenges produced this card:

 

It's not a new idea - I know The Greetery has a stamp set featuring flower-filled balloons and SU once had one filled with stars; but it was fun to come up with my own version using the Balloon Bash stencil from Uniko and some flowers and leaves from Stampin' Up and Waffle Flower that were out on my table. I started by stenciling the taller balloon in yellow ink and masking off the outer section with a sticky note mask. I was then able to stamp the flowers and leaves. Next came the pink balloon which I positioned over the yellow one. I sponged the ink very faintly where they overlapped so it would look as if the pink balloon was behind the yellow one. Again, I masked off the outer section and stamped flowers and leaves inside the balloon, using second and third generation stamping for a more faded look. 

 

The balloons were cut out using my sharp paper snips and I tied little cotton bows to the bottom of each. To assemble the card I die cut a white panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and attachde it to a card front. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in grey ink and popped the balloons up with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in at Allsorts where Mervi's optional theme this week is Balloons, Cupcake Inspirations where the beautiful inspiration photo set me going and Day of the Month Card Club where they want to see us use Two of Something; my colour palette came from Color Dare #597 and since Color Hues have also got a Pink and Yellow theme this fortnight, I'm linking up there again.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm posting this photo especially for my pal Gundi at Papierelle. She is on the design team of Day of the Month Card Club challenge so she will hopefully be amused at seeing double!

 

My little twins - but which one is which?! Lulu is getting so fluffy these days that I sometimes get them mixed up!

 

Gundi has a pair of gorgeous dogs herself and if you like hearing about Eva and Lulu, you're sure to enjoy the antics that Kaito and Kamo get up to! Gundi is also a wonderfully creative crafter who makes cards and other fabulous projects so do go and check out her blog HERE - you'll be glad you did!

Sending hugs,

Snippety collage

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I was amazed to read that Miss Di has been running The Snippets Playground for no less than ELEVEN YEARS! Wow! I was around in Blogland when she took over but surely it was yesterday...?! I am enjoying a little free time at the moment so I immediately tipped out my Snippets Box and prepared to join in with the celebrations! 

 

We have been asked to include a photo of the snippets we used for this challenge and here are mine above. I made a collage style 'welcome home' card with them:

 

I started with the background snippet. This was an offcut from a piece that had been stamped with Stampin' Up's Hardwood background stamp. I taped pieces of coordinating washi tape on one side of it for a bit of extra interest. The leaves were a practice run of a Greetery die I bought last year and then *hangs head* have never used since. I tore the leaves into sections and glued them to the background. 

Next I die cut the little house from the tiny white snippet using an X Cut die. I taped some yyellow washi tape over the middle of the tiny wood effect strip of DSP then glued the house over it so the washi 'illuminated' the windows. I added the gem-embellished heart (found at the bottom of the Snippets Box) and popped the whole thing up on the background using dimensional pads. Finally, the sentiments were added.

Apologies for the appalling photos - light levels are very low :/

CHALLENGES

I'm heading over to The Snippets Playground with this card and a large cake piped with 'congratulations on eleven snippety years' in pink icing! I'm also nipping over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as the Side of Greens die can now officially be removed from the Never Before Used Schtuff box!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Yes, January is dull and dreary, but if you're a dog...

 

 

... there's still plenty of squirrel hunting fun to be had!

Although I have a feeling the squirrels were all blowing raspberries and cat-calling the 'hunters'!!

Sending hugs,

Grid Neighbours

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Another Saturday has rolled around and we have a fun new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Raga is in charge for the next fortnight and she has chosen a great code word:

 

That sent me rummaging through my stamp collection and it amazed me how many stamps I have that have grid patterns on them! I eventually opted for a very old Stampin' Up set featuring some sweet grid-patterned trees.

I made a sponged background on a thick card base using a torn sticky note and some purple and green inks. On a scrap of white card stock, I stamped one of the houses from the stamp set and a couple of the trees. These were fussy cut with sharp paper snips and glued to the background.

I have a new-to-me stamp set from Sugar Pea called Warm Welcome which I thought would work perfectly  with my scene. I stamped the large Welcome, making sure it overlapped the images, and used a fineliner pen to touch up any areas where the ink didn't take. The 'home' was stamped in yellow onto a scrap of card and snipped out and tucked into the space under the 'o' and the 'm' of Welcome.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and admire the fabulous samples the design team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation. Have fun - and don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with lots of lovely clear space!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Perfectly CAS where this time the challenge is to use only a quarter of the card base!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Let's go and catch up with some water babies shall we!

 

This is Eva with her chum Koda who has shorter legs than Eva and prefers to stay in the shallow end. Eva goes and has a good wallow first and then comes out to play :)

Sending hugs,