Monday Moment

Today I'm sharing a card I created for the March STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch Challenge.

   

Here's my card:

As it was a coffee themed card I decided to stick with some shades of brown and make a monochrome card. I started by stamping the coffee container and greeting and then looked to see how I could incorporate the butterflies from the sketch. One was stamped straight onto the coffee label and the other was fussy cut and added onto a sweep of florals.

Although the left hand strip from the sketch is something I usually love to add to my cards I decided to miss it out on this particular card - just seemed too much this time.

Supplies:
Stamps: STAMPlorations, Brave One; Uniko, I Love Coffee
Inks: SU, baked brwon suagar & chocolate chip
Pens: Copic, E00, E33, E35, E37, E43

Huge thanks for visiting my blog today, I really apprciate you taking the time.

And keep crafting!

AAA Cards #136 - One Image + Spring

I'm here today to tell you all about the new challenge that's started over at AAA Cards.  It is a CAS card challenge and the theme of One Image should help with this.

The wind may be blowing a gale here in the UK, but everywhere you look there are signs of Spring, and that's the optional twist for this new challenge.

And I couldn't resist giving that gorgeous Visible Image flower a stamping.

Plenty of empty 'white' space is always a CAS requirement, but it doesn't have to be the colour white. So today I decided to use a lemony lime piece of card to stamp the image on. And because it's a coloured card base I used my Prismacolor pencils to add colour to the bloom.

Supplies; 
Stamps: Visible image, Creative Chaos, Happy Birthday
Inks: Veramark clear + Ranger superfine black embossing powder
Colours: Prismacolor pencils

We have a brand new sponsor for this challenge - Craftyscrappers. They're based in India and are offering our winner a $20 gift certificate to be spent on stamps from their store. And they have some amazing stamps!

Pop on over to the AAA Cards blog - HERE - to check out the DT inspiration cards and our Guest Designer Aleksa's beautiful card too.

Thanks for your time today, I'm delighted that you spent some of it here with me.

And keep crafting!

Saturday Slot

I found a new scrapbook challenge - Saturday Cartoon Sketch Challenge at Scrap Our Stash - and used their sketch for today's share.

Here's my page with the sketch rotated once to the left:

I've had these photos printed for a while now, so when I saw Snoopy on the challenge graphics they seemed an obvious choice. And of course as they are out in the garden the link with green was good.

I chose my papers and got them added to the background first inking round the edges to unify them. I then moved on to the embellishments. I die cut a few arrows in green and a created a little circular stack. The flower is a MDF shape that I coloured green.  I drew around a tin and bowl for the circles and circled the date on the little tab at the bottom.

The title is a mix of green and brown and I added stamped words randomly across the page. The trios of enamel dots are also a mix of green and brown. The long bookmark like embellishment behind the title is a trimmed down piece that I created years ago with stitching and washi. I still have the same washi, lasts for ever,  so I added a strip to the left hand love card.

Supplies:

Papers: Pink Fresh Studio, a case of the blahs; scraps from my stash

Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Good Times

Inks: Ranger distress, brushed corduroy

Dies: Xcut Mini Arrows & Spiro circles; Technique Tuesday, That Arrow Card; Spellbinders, standard circles small

Alphas: AC tickers, patchwork; Bella Blvd, estate sale; Simple Stories, Summer vibes

Embellishments: Funky Fossil, flower from Spring Wreath; washi and enamel dots from my stash

Thanks so much for looking today, it's been fabulous to have you visit my blog.

And keep crafting!

Uniko Challenge #52 Spring optional twist Easter

The new challenge at Uniko begins today and I hope you'll join in and play along.  it's a super easy theme - Spring with an optional twist of Easter.

Here's my DT card:

I decided not to twist but went with the idea of all the Spring flowers that are popping up everywhere at the moment. I created a stencil background using the Uniko Chrysanthemum and blue ink - thought it would look like the sky in my shaker window. I then added some green grasses at the bottom using Natures Treasures I.

I then stamped and coloured the flower from Yes You and coloured it in purples to make it look a bit like a crocus. this was hand cut and then placed overlapping the shaker window. I finished off with a sentiment from Birthday Wishes.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Yes You, Birthday Wishes, Nature's Treasures I
Inks: Ranger distress, mermaid lagoon, lucky clover; SU wild wasabi
Stencil: uniko, Pure Florals Chrysanthemum
Die: MFT Peek-a-boo Window
Sequins: Pretty Pink Posh, wisteria blossoms mix
Pens: Copic, V12, V15, V17

As always there are ways to win Uniko goodies if you play along - check them all out on the Uniko blog - HERE.

And while you're there be sure to stop and admire the amazingly beautiful card created by our Guest Designer Monika and the inspiration from the Uniko DT too.

Thanks for looking today, it's been so much fun having your company for a while.

And keep crafting!

Thursday Thoughts

Another Christmas card to share today, but this time for the CAS Christmas Challenge.

Here's my card:

I was going to say this is one of the quickest cards I've ever made, but then I remembered how long it took me to pick out all the little bits from the die cut! That's the one problem with intricate dies, don't you find?

The patterned paper is an off cut from a Stampin' Up paper that's been lurking in my stash for years and I used a matching ink pad to stamp the greeting.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Simply Said Blocks Christmas
Ink: SU, baked brown sugar
Die: Xcut, woodland stag

So pleased you found my blog today, thanks so much for looking.

And keep crafting!

Wednesday Words

Don't you just love it when you discover a new place to play? Well today's card was created for a new to me challenge - Merry Little Christmas.

The theme for March is Anything Christmas Goes and here's what I came up with:

I started by chopping my card into two pieces using a stitched die. I then stamped the pin stripes on the bottom part. I stamped the sentiment strip and used another stitched die to tie it in with the main part of the card.

The cute little elf was stamped, coloured and hand cut before being popped up onto foam pads and placed so that the stocking is just resting on the sentiment strip.

Supplies:
Stamps: MFT, Santa's Elves, sentiment from Secret Santa; Uniko, Background Blocks Pinstripe
Inks: SU, cherry cobbler; Memento, tuxedo black
Pens: Copic, C1, C3, G28, G94, G99, E47, E51, E70, R21,  R29, R37, R39
Dies: MFT Die-namics, stitched basic edges; Lil'inker, stitched mats long & skinny rectangles

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

And keep crafting!

Tuesday Talk

I think I mentioned the other day - HERE - that I'm completely besotted by creating and swapping atc cards at the moment. Well today I thought I'd share some of my February atcs I've made and sent off across the world.

These two use the most incredibly gorgeous girl from Bugaboo digi stamps and some of my favourite purples. The hearts were coated with glossy accents to give dimension and i added tiny gems to the hair strands.

Then my new Visible Image goodies arrived and I was in inky heaven! And look I even broke out from usual colour choices!

These three used up a piece of background card I'd made ages ago using a brayer, a gelly plate and ColorBox ink pads with a liberal sprinkling of watered brusho crystals on top. The images were stamped and heat embossed and a Tim Holtz idea-ology Small Talk sticker added.

The images on the next two were stamped on top of a script stamped piec of card then heat embossed and hand cut. The background was a left over water coloured brusho mix with some distress oxide stencilling on top. The words were stamped and heat embossed.

My final trio of atcs using the fabulous images from Visible Image are a real mix of supplies. the butterflies were stamped, heat embossed and handcut and popped up on foam pads. The background started with a piece of designer paper that I pounced Versamark ink on very gently and heat embossed with black powder.

Then I repeated this pouncing but used Ranger sticky embossing powder and added gold deco foil. This was the beginning of my journey and love of this sticky embossing powder and I can't stop using it now!

And to finish up this February share two more CAS looking cards.

The first card was made for the February Monthly ATC Swap in the fb group Happy ATC. The theme was Spring and I always think Spring has begun when the sun shines and the frogs arrive in my garden pond. The image is from the now closed down Digi Stamp Boutique, but I still love their digis and will continue to use them.

And this card was made for the Happy ATC fb group's February lottery. The theme was LOVE and I used Uniko goodies.

 I hugely grateful if you've read down this far on my post. Thanks so much for your visit.

And keep crafting!