Waltzingmouse Fanatics is GO!

So it's our inaugural challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics today http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ and we have a lovely sketch to kick it all off with.
 
I decided to make a couple of projects - one masculine and one feminine.  For my first project there was only one way to go - Way Out West with a focal element is from Sheriff and all done in kraft to keep it masculine.

I cut a piece of kraft card with a curved line following the sketch and then stuck it to my stamp mat and stamped two of the backgrounds from Way Out West across it - the words in crumb cake (SU ink) and the stars in black.  I adhered that to a kraft base card and kept the top part plain except for a silver stitch line.  I used another piece of kraft card to stamp the sheriff's badge and embossed with pewter ink.  Once cool I added a swipe of picket fence distress ink and buffed it off with a damp paper towel.  I'm quite pleased with this one.


For my second card I went more feminine and used the new Funky Flowers set as my focal element and a couple of sentiments from Say It Loud to create my background panels.
 

I'm not as happy with this one - I was trying to be clever with my background stamping and this version is my third (and best) attempt.  I cut a panel as before but this time in white and stamped the word "birthday" from Say it Loud across it in black ink.  I stamped "happy" from the same set in grey ink on my white base card but despite my best effort they didn't line up quite as I wanted (and yet I drew pencil lines and no I can't do maths!)  So I added a nice thick black line with a copic marker to cover up the mistakes and make a more defined dividing line.

For the focal element this time I stamped the largest flower from funky flowers in tangelo ink and then stamped the smaller one in pool and layered them up.  To form the flower centre I stamped the medium flower in tangelo again on shrink plastic to add a little dimension and interest.  I finished with a couple of leaves in pear tart which is my favourite green ink ever.

So now it's over to you - visit the challenge blog and play along for your chance to win a £20 voucher for Waltzingmouse stamps - you have almost 2 weeks to play so plenty of time to get your mojo rocking http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

spots, stripes and scallops!

For my card today I've made something combining a couple of challenges - this weeks CASual Friday which is scallops and MAWTT which is spots and stripes.  As Annabelle Stamps is sponsoring CASual Friday I an also entering this into their anything goes challenge for this week.

I started with a square kraft base and cut a scallop from a sheet of scrap card using a spellbinders edgeability and used it to create a mask.  I used mahogany and walnut stain DI to create the first two rows of scallops and then cut a final row of scallops form striped paper and finished it with a red spotted ribbon.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse and stamped with chocolate pearl.  The final element is a chipboard flower, covered with chocolate glitter with a red button centre.

http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/2012/01/cfc35.html

http://annabellestamps.blogspot.com/2012/01/say-it-withanything-goes.html 

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-130-spots-and-stripes.html 

I'll be back later with this weeks' LIM entry - been busy today helping a friend prep her wedding invites - I've stamped 100 this morning!

Craftilicious x

Christmas leaves

Here is the entry for March's Waltzingmouse Christmas card challenge which was to make a minimum of 3 identical cards using kraft, red and white or cream as your colours.

I made 3, but my husband really likes them so thinks they should be "our" Christmas card for this year so I may make more.  I started with a square kraft base card and stamped 3 outline holly leaves from Waltzingmouse Festive Foliage and embossed it with white detail powder and embossed the berries over the top in red.  I continued this red and white theme into the sentiment which is from Say It Loud Winter Holiday, embossing the small "bring on the" in white and the larger "Merry" in red.  I think it's one of the most balance CAS cards I've ever made and really love it.

As it is a one-layer CAS card featuring leaves, I am also going to make it my second entry into this weeks Less is More challenge.

Thanks for visiting.

Leafy thanks

As its the second Saturday of the month, it's one layer week at Less is More and this month's one layer challenge is "leaves".

I started with a linnen base card in antique white.  I used a couple of leaves from the Big Bloom Chrysanthemum set from Waltzingmouse and inked them with scattered straw DI.  I used the kiss technique to stamp some thankful words from Say it Loud, also from Waltzingmouse in spiced marmalade DI to give the leaves some texture.  I stamped "thanks" from the same Say it Loud set in marmalade again and added a couple of tiny golden gems to the start and end of the word.  I used one of the phrases I'd used in the kiss technique to add to the sentiment and am therefore entering into this weeks aud sentiments challenge also which is thanksgiving or thankful cards.


http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/11/week-41-one-layer-leaves.html

http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-41-and-winner-of-40.html

Off to look after my OH who has been ill since my birthday earlier this week - I think he's suffering a Samson like loss of strength after his haircut last week!

Craftilicious x

Thankful Waltz....

It's waltz day over at Waltzingmouse Stamps, and this month's theme is "Gratitude/Thanksgiving".  I decided to go with the just the one word "thanks" from one of my favourite sets - I love the big flourishy sentiments from Say it Loud, they stand alone and make fantastic cards.

I started with a kraft card base, made some paper ribbons and curled them slightly at the bottom using some DP from K&Co and embossed a strip of brown paper with dots.  I stamped the thanks onto some pearlised card which had been cut with a nestie with black ink and finished with some funky red pompom ribbon.

Enjoy the waltz - can't wait until my stamps from the new release arrive and I can play with those too ;-)

St Lukes Pick Four Challenge

Our challenge this month over at St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge is a card buffet - we have a choice of 10 embelishments and you have to use exactly 4 of them, no more and no less.  I opted for pearls, ribbon, punches and embossing (my sentiment is heat embossed) - if you want to know what else you could choose then you'll have to check out the challenge site where you will also find the rest of the Design teams inspiring projects.

I used a couple of Waltzingmouse stamps for my project, as they are our gracious sponsor this month, and as a WM fan I own quite a few stamps it seemed appropriate to play with them.  I stamped the large flower in two shades of versamagic chalk ink mixed directly onto the stamp, and did the same with the matching leaves - both are from the  Big Blooms set.  I layered the three sized flowers once cut out with foam pads and added a pearl in the center.  I used a MS punch on some plain brown kraft paper and added a sentiment from the say it loud set which I just adore as the different sized text makes it so versatile.  I embossed this with a pearly powder to match the pearls in both the flower centre and on the ribbon.

If you've not come across our challenge before, then its a little different, we ask you to play along, upload your card, then if you can spare it, and the cost of a stamp, you post it St Luke's Hospice and then I sell them at local craft fairs and all the proceeds go to the hospice - so far we've done 2 fairs and raised £335!  So you get to play, help and charity and can even win a prize :-)  If you join in the challenge this month, which runs until noon on 30th September, you could win a fabulous complete set of Waltzingmouse stamps which will be with the winner in time to create some great Halloween projects as the set we have this month is Wanda's Pantry:

I am also entering this into the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday's  - Shabby Chic
Make it Mondays link party- anything goes there every week
Scrapbook Sisters - anything goes
Totally Gorguss - as you like it


Thanks for visiting ;-)
Craftilicious x