Friday Focus

Today's card goes right back to my beginnings and uses stamps from Lavinia.  This company really got me hooked on card making and although my style has evolved I still absolutely adore their stamps and style - even the way over the top nothing like CAS ones.

I used a couple of challenges to get me going - The Male Room's trees and leaves theme and the Card Concept's colour palette.

                   

I always find it difficult to define my style of card for the the Card Concept, but I think this week I'm going with classy and elegant because it's got elements of sparkle, regal, sweeping, dramatic, awe & impress.

 

I started by creating the moon and distant hills using a mask and my inkylicious dusters. Then I stamped all the main elements, using a second stamping to achieve the grey leaves. Finally I added the sparkle onto the leaves and castle windows using a Wink of Stella - sadly this never shows up in photographs.

This is exactly the sort of card my oldest son would love - he's into fantasy and dragons and magic - so I think I'll be popping it away until his birthday.

Supplies:

Stamps: Lavinia Stamps, castle 3, miniature dragon, Spring trees, willow leaves; Kaisercraft, Life sentiments

Inks: Versafine, onyx black;  SU, daffodil delight; distress ink, black soot; Versa Magic, cloud white

Embellishments: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Thanks for dropping by today. Look out for the next AAA Cards game on Sunday - a day earlier than usual, but our new release day.

Jane

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Thursday Thoughts

A card for the current challenge at Uniko Studio today.

I'm sure everyone is aware of my love for Uniko Studio stamps and right from when I first discovered them Beverley has left such kind comments and encouragement that it makes them a double pleasure to use.  Last month I was thrilled to make their top 3 honourable mentions which has left me all buoyed up and ready for their new challenge.

 

[Uniko Studio Challenge] No. 10 - Thinking of You 

Having experimented with a shaker card on Tuesday, I decided to give it another go.  This time I wanted it to be more of female card so I opted for the Uniko Studio flower die, in two sizes, to make my window.  

Once again I used funky foam and card with acetate sandwiched between them to make the raised aperture needed to hold the sequins. I then adhered some pretty paper slightly offset onto the top card layer.

Before adhering the window to my base card I masked off the centre portion using the discarded punched out centre of the flower and stamped a border with the oh so versatile Background Builders Vines stamp set.

I decided to stamp the sentiment on a strip of card to make it more prominent and finished off by popping a Wink of Stella sparkle to the middle of all the flowers.

So two shaker cards completed now - quite liking the effect and they are kind of fun!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Vines, All Occasion Sentiments #2 & #5, Flower Power #1 & #2
Inks: Memento, teal zeal, lulu lavender; SU, bermuda bay, pool party; Adirondack, watermelon; Kaleidacolor, berry blaze
Paper: NitWit, Bonnets & Bowties
Die: Uniko Studio, graphic flowers time
Embellishments: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear
Sequins & funky foam from my stash

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I do appreciate your time and interest.

Oh and don't forget that $20:00 prize over at AAA Cards this week!

Jane
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Wednesday Words

So now it's time to print the photos from the flying visit of my grandsons and get some scrapbook pages completed.  I found a couple of new to me challenge blogs and thought I'd give them a go.

The first one is 1-2-3 Get Scrappy where you have to choose three in a row from a grid of nine squares - a bit like tic-tac-toe.  So I went straight down the right hand side and used - rectangle shapes, gears or cogs & a blue background.

 

The second challenge is Once Upon A Sketch and this month the theme is 'anything goes'. There is also a journalling requirement for this challenge - never usually a problem for me as I love journalling - but for this layout Iwanted to just jot down the things he's into right now so I'm not sure if it will be considered enough.  But as I loved their sketch and the DT examples, I thought I'd give it a go any way.

  

So here's my page:

I started by using a cog mask that has been lurking in my stash for ever - so long I've lost the packaging and have no idea of the make. I picked up on the mustardy yellow and blue from his pyjamas for the inking.

Next I matted the photo on three sides and found some labels for my journalling. I added a bold title and finished the page off with three sets of three sprinkles to draw the eye in. 

Quite a CAS looking page, obviously my card making style is beginning to influence my scrapping too!

Supplies:

Paper: Bazill Basics cardstock

Ailphas: AC thickers, subway

Stamp: daisy bucket

Inks: Staz-On, jet black; SU, pacific point & daffodil delight

Labels: October Afternoon, sidewalks

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, bumblebee & day to day 

So glad you dropped by today, thank you! Don't forget to check out the current AAA Cards game - there's a $20:00 prize up for grabs and a free digi too.

Jane

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More Tuesday Talk

A quick extra post today as I need to get a card entered into The Male Room challenge - a moving part.

This one has had me thinking for some time, ideas rolling round my head and mostly being rejected. Then finally I had an idea that might actually work, sat down this morning and put a card together only to discover I'm almost too late.

So here's my entry - a sequin shaker card.  My first try at a shaker card!

So shining and bright I found it difficult to photograph! So here's another view:

 

I used funky foam, card and a circle of acetate to make the shaker window, then cut another star in paper and offset it before adhering. 

A close up of the shaker star:

 

Supplies:

Die: Xcut star

Paper: doodlebug, take note

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Superstar

Ink: Versa Magic, cloud white

Extras: sequins & craft foam from my stash 

Thanks for looking.

Jane
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Tuesday Talk

I found this amazing colour challenge last week - a sprinkle of imagination. The colours just sizzle off the page and remind me of ice poles in the freezer. Could eat them all!

So I combined them with the current Less is More challenge - to use a die cut and came up with this:

I die cut the rectangle first, then used another die to emboss the umbrella onto the rectangle.  Next I die cut the umbrella from three gorgeous in your face coloured doodlebug papers and chopped them into three.  I used one section from each paper to fill the embossed umbrella and coloured in the handle using a promarker pen.

Then I stamped the sentiment and as it mentions flowers I stamped a few random raining flowers around the umbrella. They all got the Wink of Stella sparkle.

Wish it really would rain flowers! We seem to have had more than our fair share of the wet stuff round here recently - and yes I know the garden loves it.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #4

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, rose bud

Paper: doodlebug, take note & kraft in color

Dies: Lil'inker stitched mats rectangles; Clearly Besotted, April Showers

Promarker, meadow green

Embellishments: Kuretake, wink of Stella clear

 Thanks for dropping by today. Your comments always give me a 'YAY!' 

Jane

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AAA Cards Game 4

Already we're on to game 4 at AAA Cards. And the first sponsor prize is up for grabs - $20:00 to spend at Blue Moon Scrapbooking! WOW! That's an amazing prize!

 

 So this week's challenge is titled 'Create' and features the chalkboard trend that is so popular at the moment.  Blue Moon Scrapbooking have loads of chalkboard papers, stickers, labels & tags - check here and here. Also loads of stamps check here and here.

So off I went to youtube to see how to achieve this look.  And then I had a little play and this is what I came up with - my first ever card using this technique.

First I die cut a rectangle of slightly ribbed black cardstock and punched the ripped out of a notebook top. I stamped using white ink and then added some freehand squiggles and dashes using a white watercolour pencil.

Finally I rubbed on some white ink to get that much used look of a chalkboard.  I tried using a sponge with ink, talcum powder and smudging the white watercolour pencil, but found the way that worked best for me was just to use my finger with ink. Love how it's picked up the ribbing on the black card.

So then I mounted the chalkboard onto pads and added a little detail underneath with a twine tied tag.

Go check out the cards from the rest of the DT- they're amazing! Hope you'll join in and play 'create', can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Supplies:
Stamps: My Mind's Eye, The Sweetest Thing; SU, Oh Hello; Clearly Besotted, Holiday Sentiments
Inks: Versa Magic, cloud white; white watercolour pencil
Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles
Punch: ek sucess, notebook border
Embellishments: twine from my stash

Thanks for your time today and I'm all ready and keen to reciprocrate by looking at your blogs.

Jane
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Sunday Slot

Just a quick post today to share a card I made for this week's challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.

 

 

Out came my favourite background vines stamps from Uniko Studio and some yummy colours from Stampin' Up.

After I die cut the tag I then stamped part of a flower to match the one it was going to cover - thought it looked happier that way!

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Flower Power #2, Background builders Vines

Inks: SU, melon mambo, rich razzleberry, daffodil delight; Memento, pear tart

Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

That's all from me today.  Hope you'll be joining us tomorrow at AAA Cards.

Jane

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Saturday At Unscripted Sketches

Well this is to be my last day as guest designer at Unscripted Sketches. It has been such fun working with their layouts and I'm so honoured that I was asked. So a little sad, but mostly very grateful and happy to have had this opportunity.

So it seemed only fitting that I included a scrapbook page as my last contribution. 

 This page just about made itself!  The photo was sent to me by email when they were on holiday recently and I just loved it. It's so rare to get a photo of the three of them all looking normal - boys do like to pull faces!

The paper I used for the background is one of those that you think you'll never use, but it seemed very apt for this sunny happy page.  I stamped a couple of sentiments from Ali Edwards and added a simple title - all so easy. And I love how this page turned out!

Supplies:
Papers: All from my stash, sorry no idea about the details
Alpha: ep, Summer Days
Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Beautiful & Bring On The Sun by Ali Edwards
Inks: Memento, tangelo, espresso truffle

Thanks for spending time at my blog today.  Hope you've been inspired and will join in with the challenge. Enjoy your weekend.

Jane
 ***

Friday Focus

When I saw the colours at ColourQ this week my heart did a little dance - just so pretty.  Knew I was going to enjoy creating with them!

Then I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and my brain went into overdrive - so many possiblities with this simple sketch.

  

And this is what I came up with:  

As you can see I indulged my passion for the vine background stamps from Uniko Studio and combined it with another favourite - a large sentiment.  I'm hoping there will be more of the sentiment sets in the future - just love text & font based cards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #2 & Background Builders Vines
Inks: SU daffodil delight, melon mambo, tempting turquoise; Memento, pear tart

Thanks for dropping by today, your time is appreciated.

Jane
 *** 

Thursday Thoughts

Today's it's a scrapbook page and a very simple one, but it certainly made me think lots of remembering sort of thoughts!

The layout is from The Memory Nest - my favourite place for scrapbooking challenges.  The colours are from their twist and the photo is from way back when - hence all the thinking!

 

I kept everything fairly minimal, even the journalling, wanting to make the photo and the year the first thing your eye would focus on.

I stamped the vertical blocks and then added sprinkles of the same colour by putting ink onto an acrylic block and using a water brush to flick the ink. 

Thanks for looking today.  Don't forget to pop over to AAA Cards, still time to enter the inspire challenge.

Jane

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Wednesday Words

This week at Less Is More the theme is flowers.  It's also the theme at CASology and One Layer Simplicity. Well that's a gift, three challenges and who doesn't have flower stamps in their stash? The difficult thing is to choose which one!

          

So I went with Clearly Besotted's Fresh Flowers. Next to decide the colours.

 Everywhere in my garden is beginning to bloom at the moment and I have a lupin that is hot pink and sunshiny yellow, so I took the colours from that.

I made the background by using the ink on block technique described here, but masked off a section of the card before applying the ink - I simply die cut a rectangle in the middle of a piece of paper and used the aperture.

 

Next I stamped the flower over the background stripes and coloured in the flower using a water brush and inks, using an acrylic block as a paint palette. 

 I finished off the card with a simple sentiment from the same stamp set and a little sparkle in the flower centres.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Fresh Flowers

Inks: Memento, rose bud, dandelion, tuxedo black; SU, old olive

Embellishment: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Thank you so much for dropping by today, it's so lovely to see how many visits I'm getting.

Jane

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Tuesday Talk

A couple of cards to share today, both using an almost identical layout but different colour schemes.

My first card is for CAS Colours & Sketches and is quite a bold colour combo. I started by stamping the left hand border with one of the new Clearly Besotted diagonal stamps. I then over stamped this with just three of the stems and flowers from Pretty Petals. And I remembered to use the little outline leaf stamp!

Next I die cut the tag and stamped the larger version of the same flower from Pretty Petals Plus and over stamped it with a sentiment. I used pads to lift the tag.

As I loved the simple look of this card I didn't add any embellishments apart from a lick of glitter to the flower centres.

 

 

A closer look at the tag.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals, Pretty Petals Plus, Diagonal Stripes

Inks: Memento, nautical blue, rhubarb stalk, London fog

Die: Lil'inker, Anytime tags 

Embellishments: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Scroll on down for my second card.

Tuesday Talk 2

I was quite smitten with this card so of course I had to make another!

This time I used the colours from Clearly Besotted's own challenge for May. A much more subtle and gentler combination which gave the same card a whole new twist.

I made the card exactly as the first, but instead of using a tag I cut out the flower head using the matching die and lifted it up using pads.

 

 

   
Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals, Pretty Petals Plus, Diagonal Stripes
Inks: Memento, London fog, pear tart, angel pink, espresso truffle
Die: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus
Embellishment: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Thank you for visiting my blog today, I do appreciate your time and encouraging comments.

Jane
 ***

AAA Cards Game 3

Last week's game inspired some truly amazing cards.  It was so exciting to see them all popping up and I loved visiting all the blogs - so much talent out there!

I'm sure this week's game is going to be just as awesome. Just wait till you clap your eyes on the stunning card, made by Linda Beeson, that we have to inspire you.

  

This was such a pleasure to use and in no time at all my card was made!  

I used washi tape on thin card to make the pennant picking up on the pinky red from Linda's card.  The spots were really helpful when cutting the tail.

I then used a mask to create the orange and yellow spotty background for my sentiment card. I picked out lots of favourite sentiments to stamp over the background, rounded the corners and mounted it onto pads and hey presto my card was done. So fun!

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style
Inks: Memento, lady bug, tangelo, dandelion, tuxedo black
Stncil: Stamposuarus
Punch: Xcut corner rounder
Washi tape from my stash

Of course one card is never enough, so off I set to interpret the 'inspire' in a different way.  

So this time I started out with a yellow card base - wow that's bright! I stamped three rows of tiny circles, picking up on the colours from Linda's background. I stamped a vertical row of outline circles in black and then matted the whole strip onto hot pink card.

Finally I die cut a rectangle and stamped my sentiment in the middle and matted it onto orange and used pads to add dimension.

 

A simple CAS card with loads of impact!

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders, Round In Circles; Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style

Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, rose bud, tangelo, dandelion

Die: Lil'inker, stictched mats rectangles

And as I'm a lover of three and have loads of boys in my family, I then went completely off  piste and made a blue version of my first card. 

Supplies:

As first card apart from inks: Memento, Summer sky, Bahama blue, Danube blue, Paris dusk

I hope you find the time to be inspired and maybe win the wonderful digi that's on offer this week.  Looking forward to seeing what you create.

Thanks for looking. Love reading your comments.

Jane

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Saturday At Unscripted Sketches

Can't believe this is already my third Saturday as guest designer at Unscripted Sketches.  This week's sketch is full of interesting angles and was so fun to use.

I went with a boy themed card and some bright eye popping colours.  I love washi tape and the two I used on this card are just awesome - hence the choice of sentiment! Inspired by the washi I inked two of the sentiments in double colours and sparkled up the star in the third.

Then I wondered how to represent the final strip and plumped for a button and twine combo with the ends glued in place to imitate the look of a strip.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #2

Inks: Memento, Danube blue; Kaleidacolor, Riviera

Embellishments: Washi, twine & button from my stash; Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear 

Thanks for dropping by my blog today.  Hope you have a great - maybe crafty - weekend.  Hope to see you all again on Monday for the next AAA Cards game.

Jane

 ***

Friday Focus

Two cards to share today, both using the colours from the current challenge at Colour Q and one the layout from Freshly Made Sketches.

 

Up first is my favourite of the two. I'm loving this new sketch and can see I will return to it many times. I started by stencilling the background square and then stamped diagonals for the two strips.  I stitched the square and the strips onto the base card

Then I really had fun.  I spread the ink directly from the pads onto my heat mat and mixed them a little in the middle with a water brush.  I coated the flower stamp with this mixed ink and stamped it onto card - several times! Just loved this look so much I couldn't stop. And each flower turned out slightly different, but still gorgeous.

I popped one of the flowers onto pads and then finished the card with a chocolate button tied with a gold thread bow.  The colours are so pretty together - so pleased to be pushed out of my comfort colours again!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Beautiful Blooms 1; Clearly Besotted, diagonal stripes
Inks: SU, pool party, tempting turquoise; Memento, rich cocoa
Stencil: Memory Box, mesh
Embellishments: button, gold thread from my stash

So that was my card made for the two challenges, but I still had loads of flowers left over - just had to make another card!

This one is a bit of a variation of my stamp across the middle and then add a large sentiment. And I do love it, just not as much as the first one.

 
Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Beautiful blooms 1, All Occasion Sentiments #1; Clearly Besotted, diagonal stripes
Inks: SU, pool party, tempting turquoise; Memento, rich cocoa
Embellishments: gold gems from my stash

Thank you for looking at my blog today.  Hope you'll come back tomorrow for my third Saturday as guest designer at Unscripted Sketches.

Jane
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