Monday Moments

Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current challenge at Time Out. Check out this busy busy inspirational photo and how some of the DT pared it down to CAS.

I was so inspired by their ability to do this that I knew I just had to give it a go. I really loved Sandie's idea that when a door opens you say hello and that's where I started.

I picked up on the colours and chevrons from the photo as well as the doorway and I loved the way the top half was white with all the patterns at the bottom.

I stamped my greeting in chocolate chip to add that little bit of brown from the photo. And I'm loving how this close up of my card gives a false impression of the middle rectangle being adhered on top rather than cut out - one of those trick your eyes things.

So do you think I've achieved that CAS look I was after while still remaining true to the photo? Hope so!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Background Builders Chevrons & All Occasion Sentiments #2
Inks: SU, strawberry slush, pink pirouette, calypso coral, chocolate chip

Thanks for your time today, I do appreciate your visit. And keep crafting!

Farewell & Good Luck Sandie Uniko Blog Hop

A bit of a sad post today as Uniko says goodbye to Sandie. I know everyone is sorry to see her stand down and particularly Bev as Sandie has been such a wonderful help to her in getting things organised behind the scenes.

So to mark our appreciation of her talent and hard work we've made cards to say farewell and good luck in whatever the future holds.

I chose my favourite flower - well they're all favourites really, but this one is just so gorgeously CAS - for my goodbye card. And I am sorry I won't get a chance to work alongside Sandie.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Flower Power #1 & #3
Inks: Memento, lilac posies, bamboo leaves, tuxedo black
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles
Embellishment: Doodlebug mini pearls, Spring asst.

The other DT cards can be found here.

Thanks for your time today. And keep crafting!

Uniko Challenge #22 Reminder

Hi all! I'm just popping in today with a new card to remind you all that there's still plenty of time to enter the Uniko Challenge - Anything Goes, with the optional twist of making it masculine.

My card is a bright, in your face, creation and you may just need your sunglasses!

So what do you think? Such an amazing Uniko stamp set to use for the guys in your life, although I think this one would make a great funky teenage girl card too.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Explosion
Inks: SU, tangelo twist, real red, daffodil delight, temting turquoise
Die: Spellbinders, classic square large

Over to you now. What will you create? Remember there's fabulous prizes on offer, check them out:

The design team will choose a winner who will get a £10.00 gift voucher.

The DT will choose a top 3 who will get 50 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

There will be a random draw for those who used a Uniko stamp and this winner will get 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

there will be a random draw for those who twist with us (masculine card) and they will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

Time to get busy then, you don't want to miss out and the only way to win is to enter! 

And just before I go a couple of photos to share. The first one is my entry for this week's word - TINY - at Our Beautiful World.

The story is:
I really lucked out with this shot! I spotted the bee gathering nectar through a fence panel and just as I clicked it flew away. Oh well I thought that's going to be a blur. So imagine my delight when I realised it actually was a far more interesting shot with the bee backing out against the blur of bright sunny colours. My phone camera is just awesome!

And now for my next collage of a photo a day throughout June.

The stories to remember:

• he has an afternoon nap at about 3.00 she said, looks like he has other ideas when granny's in charge
• two policemen on the beat walking through my village. What no car? Such a rare sight!
• trying to capture the rainbow as I walked back from Dad's

Thanks for your time today. I do appreciate your visit.

And keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #130

The last of the June challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches begins today and it's a sketch.

My lovely, generous Stampin Up lady, Zoe, had given me this gorgeous paper pad as a thank you bonus for an order - she's amazing like that! I've been stroking it and putting it back on my shelf far too much and it needed to be cut into. So I did and my card colours were chosen.

I think I pretty much stuck to the sketch exactly, just replacing the bow with one of my favourite Uniko flowers.

Oh and I stretched that Lil'inker stitched die to fit by careful placing before running through my cuttlebug a couple of times.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Flower Power #1 & #3
Inks: SU, real red, coastal cabanna, bermuda bay
Paper: SU, Fresh prints stack
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

Many thanks for visiting my blog today. Don't forget there's loads more DT inspiration over at CAS Colours & Sketches.

And keep crafting!

The Male Room #13

For the next fortnight The Male Room would like you to go up in the air!

Ok, so no birds. Then for me it has to be balloons and I chose some very non me type colours for a change. And I love the bright green against the black! And as the theme is up in the air I felt the card needed to be tall and thin to give the impression of height.

I started by die cutting a stitched rectangle and stamping some clouds, then die cut four balloons from patterned papers - again unusual for me I'm usually a three person. I used sewing thread for the strings and attached them with a bow to a black sprinkle dot.

The sentiment was computer generated and then die cut. I popped a strip of black dotted card between the two rectangles and highlighted the sentiment with two more sprinkle dots - satisfied my three obsession!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lawn Fawn, Hello Sunshine
Ink: SU, basic grey
Papers: Doodlebug, kraft in color & take note
Dies: Clearly Besotted, Make A Wiah; Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles
Sentiment: computer generated
Embellishments: Doodlebug Sprinkles, beetle black asst.; Sewing thread from my stash

Have you already looked at all the other DT creations over at The Male Room? Bet you were inspired! And our fabulous Guest Designer - Greta of GG Creations -  has made a wonderful vintage feel card, even more inspiration! So what are you waiting for? Get those ideas onto a card and enter the challenge!

Thanks for spending time looking at my blog today. And keep crafting!

Monday Moments

I just couldn't resist this fabulous sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch created by the talented Hannelie and as you know I love to work with pink (probably as much as purple!) and that's the theme this month at Kit and Clowder

        

Hannelie's card is just fantastic so it's with some trepidation that I reveal my take on her sketch.

I chose one of my very favourite Uniko flower stamps and coloured it with a hot pink promarker.

I was determined to make the flower the focal point and keep the rest of the card very simple, so I just ran the other two strips through an embossing folder and use hot pink card between.

A simple sentiment and a sparkly sprinkle and I was done.

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko, Flower Power #3

Ink: Memento, tuxedo black

Promarkers: hot pink, marsh green

Embossing: DoCrafts, quilting

Embellishments: Doodlebug sprinkles, love glitter asst.

Thanks for your visit today, I do appreciate you taking the time. And keep crafting!  

AAA Cards Game #42 Paste & Stencil

Oh such a new technique for me this fortnight at AAA Cards! But it's good to try new things, and everything needs at least one chance and I did surprise myself.

I started with my new experience - using embossing paste. Now I'm not a lover of heavy looking embellishment of any kind so I chose pastel colours to try to keep my card as light as possible. I mixed three colours into the paste before spreading through a stencil. And I only have the plastic type of stencils and I think metal ones are better for getting crisp outlines with paste.

Once the paste had dried I die cut a stitched circle from it and over stamped with some pale grey blooms and the first part of the sentiment.

The butterflies were stamped onto scraps of patterned paper and then die cut before being mounted onto pads in a triangle round the sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Everything Changes, Fresh Flowers
Inks: SU, smoky slate; Memento, tuxedo black, dandelion, rose bud, bahama blue
Dies: Clearly Besotted, Everything Changes; Lawn Fawn, large circle stackables
Paste: Dreamweaver
Stencil: Artsplorations, shutters


So what do you think of my first ever attempt at using paste? I have to say it was not as tricky as I feared. And will I use it again? Well I won't be rushing, but I'm glad I tried it and I'm not saying never.

I'm going to pop this card into the challenge at Less is More where they want to see a stencil being used on a card.

Time now for you to check out what the rest of the AAA Cards DT have been up to with paste and stencils - here - some more experienced users amongst us, so you're bound to be inspired. And we have a fab Guest Designer - Shona Chambers - joining us for this challenge, now there's a talented lady, go visit her blog!

Thanks for your time today. And keep crafting!

Uniko Challenge #22

A new Uniko Challenge starts today and the theme is Anything Goes with the optional twist of making it masculine. Right up my street then!

Out came those fabulous Uniko Balloon Bash stamps - have I told you recently that I love balloon cards? I combined this set with the Uniko Sweet Baby set and made a new baby card.

And as I wanted to make it masculine, even if it's for a very tiny guy, I went for the blue ombre ink pad.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Balloon Bash, Sweet Baby
Ink: Hero Arts Ombre, pool to navy; Memento, tuxedo black; SU, whisper white
Embellishments: Doodlebug sprinkles, Spring asst.

This month we have two fabulous talented ladies joining us for the challenge:

 Anita, mypapercraftworld and Melissa, honeybeelane. 

Be sure to visit their amazing blogs and leave some love.

Well that's my first challenge post as a DT member of Uniko all wrapped up, thanks so much for your visit. Hope you like what I created and that you'll hop on over to check out the rest of the DT creations - going to inspire you for sure!

As always Bev is offering fabulous prizes, but you've got to be in it to win it....

The Design Team will select a winner who receives a £10 gift voucher for Uniko.

The Top 3 will receive 50 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

The winner of a random draw for those who used a Uniko stamp 

will receive 150 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

The winner of a random draw for those who twist with us (masculine card) 

will receive 100 Loyalty Reward Points added to their customer account.

So keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #129

The second June colour challenge starts today at CAS Colours & Sketches.

A couple of new in-colours in the mix, but don't panic if they're not in your collection yet, just match as best as you can with what you have - that's what I've had to do!

I started by stamping a background of hardwood topped with falling stars and the sentiment. I die cut a stitched rectangle and then chopped it up into three parts taking care to slice between the letters of the sentiment.

I felt a little more was needed behind the three segments so I stamped three stripes in matching colours and then mounted the segments onto pads to add a little pop of dimension. Don't you just love that Uniko sentiment? Bit of a go to set for me.

Supplies:
Stamps:SU, Hardwood; SSS, Falling Stars; Uniko Studio, Background Builders Squared, All Occasion Sentiments #3
Inks: SU, basic grey; Memento, peanut brittle, cottage ivy
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles 

I'm entering this card into a couple of challenges.
Addicted to Stamps is celebrating its 3rd birthday and wants CAS.

And Die Cuttin' Divas want masculine.

 

 So what will you create with the colours from CAS Colours & Sketches? Looking forward to finding out!

Thanks for your visit today, hope you found something to get your creativity buzzing. And keep crafting!

Wednesday Words - Our Beautiful World

Time to share my photo for this week's word - BELL - at Our Beautiful World.

 

I immediately thought of church bells as the ringers in my village practise every Tuesdday evening, but of course that would need to be a sound recording. It was DT Ros's photo of the lily of the valley that sent me on a different interpretation and had me searching out flower bells. Here's what I discovered:

And this story is:
I'd walked past these, growing like weeds, for several days without bothering to stop and take a closer look. Amazing what you can see when you actually take time to look.

And this story is:
I've never actually planted any foxgloves in my garden, think they must be sown by birds, but they come up every year and every year I take photos impressed by their beauty all over again.

And my second installment of a photo every day in June, days 7-12.

There is a story to each of these photos which I'm planning to make into a digital album later this year. Of note is the new highchair - yep I did it again! The old one got packed away without the harness, probably too messy to keep, and things have moved on in five years and it was just easier and almost as cheap to buy new. And the knitted hoodie waiting for its buttons has been on the go since before Ed was born, which is so not like me, but it will be finished! And I adore that pink flower, pass it several times a day on my walks to Dad's, but have no idea what it's called.

Well hope you've enjoyed today's post. Please come back again tomorrow for a new CC&S Challenge and again on Friday for the new Uniko challenge. Have you checked out Uniko's updated website? FABULOUS!

Thanks for your visit. And keep crafting! And taking photos!

The Memory Nest - Make It Monday 42

Time for the second June sketch at The Memory Nest. This one I have rotated a quarter turn to the left as I thought it suited the photos I wanted to use better that way round.

I'm using the same paper collection from MME as I used for the first challenge this month - here - and some more photos taken on May Day bank holiday Monday. It was the first really sunny and warm day this year and the first airing for the garden umbrella.

My grandson has reached that stage when all he wants is to be up on his feet, but beginning to get too heavy for my arms to support him for long. I kept sitting him down and he kept pushing back up!

And he's also a real chatterbox and loves to show off all the sounds he's learnt and just knows we're all totally fascinated by him.

Supplies:
Papers, stickers, chipboard, journal card - all MME, Cut & Paste

This was such a super sketch to work with and my page came together really easily. I'm hoping you're going to find it just as inspiring and I'm looking forward to seeing how you interpret it. Don't forget to check out all the other DT pages over at The Memory Nest.

Thanks for your time today visiting my blog. And keep crafting!

Friday Photo Focus

Just popping in today to share my photo for Our Beautiful World where the cue word is LUNCH

And the story is:
                               I'm on a no sugar, low carb kick at the moment so I can share this photo and feel smug!

As this post is about photos here's a collage of my first six days of the challenge I set myself to take a photo every day in June.

See I've finally got my toes out and of course they're painted in pink! Bit like the flowers in my garden then. And just check out that Murray dog stretched out on his sofa - yes his sofa - in absolute bliss after having a belly rub.

That's all from me today. Hoped you enjoyed looking.

And keep crafting! Oh and take photos!