Friday Focus

A very quick CAS card to share today and it's one layer so nice and flat to post. I'm entering it into the challenge at Cards in Envy, who always want flat cards that fit into envelopes easily.

Here's my card:

It looks like I just stamped the image onto a die cut - which I did, but I also added copious amounts of sparkle with a gelly roll pen which is not showing at all in the photo. It catches the light and glistens a treat in real life.

Think I may have captured the glisten in this pic!

Supplies:
Stamps: STAMPlorations, Believe in the Magic
Ink: Versafine Clair, nocturne
Die: Lawn Fawn, large stitched square stackables
Pen: Sakura gelly roll, clear star

Thanks for your time today, I'm so pleased you decided to use some of it visiting my blog.

And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

I think I may have mentioned at some point that my Christmas colours for 2018 are going to be black, white and red, so the Time Out challenge fits really neatly for me.  Love their new look blog and badge - might have something to do with the purple!

Here's my card:

I started by die cutting the merry and used it to place the sentiment and image.  Once these were stamped I added my touches of red using Copic pens.

I decided to make a stack of the die cut words to give it more prominence and stamped the Christmas onto a scrap piece of card and hand cut it before sticking it under the Merry.

Supplies:
Stamps: Winnie & Walter, Seasons Tweetings; Uniko, Simply Said Blocks Christmas
Ink: Versafine Ckair, nocturne
Die: Winnie & Walter, In A Word: Merry Cutaway
Pens: copic, R29, R39, C1, C3, C7, W0, W3

Huge thanks for dropping by today, I always love to have your company.

And keep crafting!

Wednesday Words

It's been ages since I've shared a scrapbook page and the photos are beginning to pile up so I thought I'd better get scrapping before December knocks at the door and it's time for my non-daily album.  I used the sketch from the  Let's Get Sketchy challenge.

Here's my page:

My daughter in law sent me these pics of my youngest grandson when he first started crawling, pushing backwards being easier than pulling forwards. They just crack me up! Apparently she was having a very busy time rescuing him from underneath the furniture when he got trapped - a bit of a new slant on a playpen then!

I used papers mainly from Cocoa Vanilla but also a couple of scraps from Bella Blvd too.  And I had so much fun choosing the word stickers to match what he might have been thinking.

Supplies:
Papers: Coca Vanilla, Boys Rule; Bella Blvd, Secrets of the Sea
Embellishments: stickers and flair pin from Cocoa Vanilla & enamel dots from Altenew

Did this page make you smile? Sure hope so. Thanks for your time looking at my blog today, I really appreciate it.

And keep crafting!

Tuesday Talk

If you read my blog regularly you'll remember I mentioned my love affair with Lavinia stamps and my recent rather large haul of them from the NEC Show. So when I spotted the word prompt at Inkspirational there was no stopping me!

Here's my inky glittery card:

And I even sparkled up the background for my photo!  I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed creating this card and I love it! You may think it's a bit of a departure for me the CAS loving one, but this style goes right back to my roots and where I started this crazy card making journey.

And a final attempt at capturing the sparkle!

Supplies:
Stamps: Lavinia Stamps, Grace large, Moon Pods, Fairy Dust, Stars 1
Inks: Versafine Clair, nocturne; Ranger distress, wilted violet, cracked pistachio, mermaid lagoon, dusty concord
Embellishments: Liquid pearls, white opal; Lavinia glitter

Thank you Inkspirational for this fabulous challenge that's allowed me some completely indulgent crafty time. I also hold you responsible for the new order that just got sent off to Lavinia - LOL!

So pleased to have had your company today, thanks so much for dropping by. 

And keep crafting!

Monday Moment

It's been a while since i played at CAS Colours & Sketches, but when I saw the seasonal colours they have in their current challenge I couldn't resist and made some time to create a card.

Here's my card:

I started by masking off a triangle and then used a combination of the older and newly released Uniko Background Builders Christmas stamps to create my tree. Loving these colours together!

The tree trunk is from Uniko Christmas Pop and the sentiment from Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas. This was so easy to create and I'm thinking this card would look great either using the same colours in a different order or other trios of Christmas colours.

Supplies:
Stamps: uniko, Background Builders Christmsa, Background Buldrs Christmas 2018, Christmas Pop, Simply Said Blocks Christmas
Inks: SU, mint macaron, cherry cobbler, tranquil tide

Thanks so much for dropping by today, I love having your company for a while.

And keep crafting!

AAA Challenge #129 - Mostly White

Well how are your Christmas preparations going? Everywhere I look there is a sea of red, green and gold and lots of other colours too. So the new AAA Cards Challenge is a welcome rest for the eyes as we're wanting mostly white.

STAMPlorations are sponsoring this challenge and I always try to include something from our sponsor on my cards. I used a the magical word die as I think snowflakes are very magical.

My only non-white elements are the silver sparkly strip and the gems. Something so calming and quintessentially CAS about a predominantly white card don't you think?

Supplies:
Dies: CUTplorations, Magical; Crafters Companion, Snowflakes
Embellishments: gems & silver sparkle card from my stash

Be sure to pop over to AAA Cards and check out all the rest of the stunningly beautiful white cards from the rest of the DT, Shery from STAMPlorations and our fabulous Guest Designer Sandie from London Days.

Huge thanks for looking today, I really appreciate you taking the time.

And keep crafting!

Saturday Slot

Today I'm sharing a tag I made for the TAGplorations November Challenge.

I was inspired by the challenge graphic for my tag, but decided against the optional twist of polka dots.

I decided to make the most of the beautiful autumnal colours that are still around when I look outside and chose a Kaleidacolor ink pad which features these oranges and reds.I stamped the typografia quote and then added some seasonal thanksgiving images underneath.

I matted the tag onto matching card stock and then added a couple of ribbons in similar colours.

Supplies:
Stamps: STAMPlorations, Typografia Thankful, Wonderful Time
Inks: Kaleidacolor, desert heat; SU, baked brown sugar
Die: MFT Die-namics, stitched traditional tags
Pens: Copic, W0, W1, W3, E33, E35, E37, Y18, YR15, YR16

Thanks so much for looking today, I'm so grateful you found time to drop by.

And keep crafting!

MKC Digitals - Black Friday Freebie

YAY! It's Black Friday and MKC Digitals has a massive 60% off all its stamps. But that's not all, with any qualifying order of $5 there's a freebie bonus brand new stamp. And it's so cute you'll want to have it in your stash!

Well I couldn't wait to get creative with this stamp and a Christmas shaker card was made:

I reduced the size of the digi for my first card as I wanted it to fit behind a die cut window. One of the benefits of digi stamps is that you can print them any size you want them to be!

Supplies:
Stamps: MKC Digitals, Foxy's Christmas Trees; sentiment from Uniko, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black
Pens: Copic, C3, G24, G28, R29, B00, B000, E00, E33, E35, E59; Sakura gelly roll, white
Sequins from my stash


My next card uses the image printed at its original size and I coloured and hand cut it. Seems the circular window of my first card inspired the this card too!

I coloured the die cut circle and added a sentiment banner before popping the fox and trees up onto foam pads placed over them.

Supplies:
Stamps: MKC Digitals, Foxy's Christmas Trees; sentiment from Uniko, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black; Ranger distress, mermaid lagoon, blueprint sketch
Dies: MFT Dienamics, stitched circles, stitched fishtail flag
Pens: Copic, E21, E35, E37, E51, E57, E59, R37, R39, B01, YR16, G94, G99; Sakura gelly roll, clear star
Embellishments: Doodlebug, star jewels

The rest of the MKC Digitals DT have also been busy creating with this freebie image - do go check them all out HERE or HERE

Thanks so much for looking today, it's been great to have your company.

And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

Today I've a CAS Christmas card to share with you and I'm entering it at the CAS Christmas November Challenge.

Here's my card:

I started by stamping the Santa sleigh image and then added some grounding lines using a dry baby wipe. the moon was created using a circular mask and I also added some sparkle with a gelly roll pen.

The main image is a Lavinia stamp, bought from my excursion to the NEC Show - I talked about this HERE. The simple greeting is from Uniko and I chose it exactly for that reason - it's simplicity.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lavinia, Christmas Night; Uniko, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Memento, dandelion, grape jelly; Versamark Clair, nocturne
Pen: Sakura gelly roll, clear star

It's been so good to have your company today, thanks so much for visiting my blog.

And keep crafting!

MKC Digitals - Dig Stamp Week

This week at MKC Digitals the DT are sharing ways to use digi stamps in case you are new to them. So far Gail has shown how to paper piece digitally, Tania has shown how to do no line colouring and Charlotte has inspired us by mirroring with digis.

Today it's my turn and I'm highlighting one of the best things, in my opinion, about digi stamps - apart from being able to use them immediately after purchase of course - the ability to resize them.

I'm using Flower 1 and for my first card I wanted to make a cluster of flowers along a horizontal strip. So I printed Flower 1 once in its original size and then two more times with the size reduced.  I used Photoshop Elements for this and just clicked in the corner of the image box, made sure the constrain proportions was ticked and dragged it up slightly. I believe this is a pretty standard way to reduce or increase the size of an image in many other software packages.

I created a horizontal strip on my card using distress ink and also coloured the flowers the same way before handcutting them and clustering them together.

Supplies:
Stamps: MKC Digitals, Flower 1; sentiment from HLS Butterfly Birthday
Paper: Hobbycraft, watercolours pad
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black; Ranger distress, picked raspberry, mustard seed

On my second card I used the Flower 1 digi repeatedly. In Photoshop I simply copied and placed the image a couple of times in its original size, then reduced it in size and copied it and placed it a few times, then reduced it even more and copied and placed it a few more times. You may notice that some of the flower images are rotated and this is done by simply clicking on the rotate symbol - a sort of line with a circle on the end.

I then printed the whole thing and added colour by sponging through circle templates. I die cut this panel and matted it onto purple card stock. I finished off by adding an additional hand cut flower coloured in an amalgamation of all the ink colours.

Supplies:
Stamps: MKC Digitals, Flower 1; sentiment from HLS Doodled Flower
Inks: Mememnto, tuxedo black; Ranger distress, picked raspberry, wilted violet, mermaid lagoon, spiced marmalade, mustard seed
Dies: MFT, stitched basic edges

There's still a few more days of the MKC Digitals Digi Stamp Week left and we're finishing in style on Black Friday with a special stamp release and a great offer on all the digi stamps currently in store. Be sure to go check it all out on Friday and perhaps come back to my blog too where I'll be sharing a couple of cards using the special release - it's a very cute and seasonal one!

Thanks for your time today, I really appreciate you visiting my blog.

And keep crafting!

Tuesday Talk

I have a really sweet little card to share today and I'm entering it into the CAS Mix Up November Challenge.

Here's my card:

I went to the NEC Show in Birmingham earlier this month and as usual got completely entranced by watching Tracey demo her gorgeous Lavinia stamps. I bought quite a few, then went back and bought some more and also invested in a gelly plate. That's how I applied the background colours on top of the embossed grasses.

I masked a circle for the moon and used a dry baby wipe to add some ink shading. I also glistened up the moon, pixie, stars and grasses with a sparkly gelly roll pen.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lavinia, pixie, stars & sentiment
Inks: Colorbox, green apple; SU, pool party
Embossing folder: magazine freebie
Pen: Sakura gelly roll, clear star

Thanks so much for visiting today, it's always fun to have your company.

And keep crafting!