WCMD at Waltzingmosue Fanatics

We're making it super easy to play at Waltzingmouse Stamps this week - our challenge is anything goes in celebration of World Card Making Day.

I got my new goodies from Claire  this week so had to use them to play!  I went with the new Robin and pieced him using wood veneers and scraps of paper (his red heart is a gift tag which is super shiny!) and a little copic colouring.

I used the AMAZING new snowflake die to emboss a background to stand him on as I wanted something  on the card but for him to be the focus.  I am really pleased with how it came out.

Do pop over to the challenge and join in with us - anything Waltzingmouse goes this week! http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/challenge-28-anything-goes-some-news.html

Mostly Words

That's the challenge at Less is More this week - to have the sentiment be the star instead of the support act and I thought it would be great to use it for a Christmas card as I really should have made more by now!

I used the gorgeous new Season's Greetings die from Avery Elle, die cut three times and stacked on top of itself for dimension.  I chose to just frame it using a sheet of peel and stick wood veneer to add to the rustic feel of the font.  I just die cut a frame using two of the small stitched rectangle dies from Lawn Fawn - which means I have a bonus inner frame to play with later ;-)  The holly is cut from the same die and just mounted with pinflair gel to get shape and dimension with glossy accents on the berries.

Just need to knock up another 50 or so and I'll be set for December ;-)

Waltzingmouse PJ Party

I do love a PJ party and it seems so long since the last one that I knew I had to make time to play.  Not sure if I'll get time to do all the challenge, but I did done one card this weekend.  If you're a fan like me - here's where you play along today  http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/welcome-to-september-pajama-party.html

Challenge One - Doodling

I must admit I shamelessly copied Claire's doodling as I couldn't fit much other than dots into the thin lines on this font, but I do like the interesting shading it gives.  I added a couple of doodled mini sprigs of holly to match the stamped one as my point of difference!

I love, Love, LOVE this new sentiment set - it will be featuring heavily on my Christmas cards this year....   It's called Tis the Season.

I loved it so much, that although I should have gone to bed as I have a big day at work tomorrow, I went ahead and made a card for the Bedtime Story Sketch too....

Challenge 4:

A simply stamped sentiment - that's what I love about them - they need so little else to make a card - cut with the Type It Die from Mama Elephant, mounted on a red panel with some textured ribbon on a kraft base.  Finished with a matching bow using Lil' Inker Designs Bow Die Mini.

I'll see if I get chance to play along in any of the other challenges before the day is out.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Very quick post for me today as I found 10 minutes to play with the current Less is more challenge - 
One Layer Beverages

I used the new Adult Beverages stamps from SSS - I know as a stamp shop owner I should use my own stuff, but I'm a crafter first and business woman second!  Also, this set just works for soooo many of my friends, it had to be done!

The card was simply done with masking and the drinks were coloured with polychromos pencils and blending solution.

Cheers!

Simple Sketch

The LIM ladies have a really simple sketch for us to play with this week so I used it to make a card for my dog mad friend's birthday coming up this weekend.

I took a very simple approach - stamped the image (Stampin Up Hostess Set) and then watercoloured it with distress markers and a thin paintbrush.   I love this method of colouring at the moment - just scribble on an acrylic block, spritz and paint.  I added a thin green line to frame it before mounting it on a kraft base card.  The sentiment is stamped on a die cut (sorry no idea of the brand) but it has curly ends and was too long so I cropped it to fit the Wplus9 sentiment.

Sketchy Christmas

Wow these weeks are whizzing by aren't they - can hardly believe its time for another challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics but we have a really cute sketch this fortnight so hope you'll join us if you have their products to play with.

I decided to take the sketch down the Christmas route and play with my yummy new papers and washi tape from My Minds Eye so picked a stamp to match the reindeer theme that runs through them.

I used two stamp sets - 2011 Holiday Ornaments (and the co-ordinating spellbinders die) and Say It Loud Winter Holiday.   I stamped the reindeer and dotted pattern onto the die cut kraft bauble in red and topped with the little topper stamp in black.  The paper I've used is double-sided so this card is made from one sheet and I stamped the sentiment directly onto the red striped one and added a little washi tape underneath to match the sketch before mounting the ornaments.

Christmas Cat

The LIM theme was great for me this week, as I'd already got a card I finished last week but haven't had time to blog yet that fits the theme of animals perfectly!

I just watercoloured Newton lightly with distress pens and added some glossy accents and glitter to make the lights glimmer.  A little gold card and candy striped paper makes a quick and simple card that can be replicated with all the images in the Holiday Mischief set.

Autumn Leaves

The challenge at Less is More this week is a one-layer card with foliage http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/one-layer-time-again.html

I went for Leafy Greens but chose to just use the large maple leaf and went autumnal with  pumpkin pie and raspberry jam inks from Hero Arts.   I just stamped each leaf on top of each other in the brown shade and then over-stamped with the red trying to get the ink to be a bit blotchy so the leaves look like they do in autumn when they fall off the trees.  I added a big bold sentiment from Mama Elephant's Splendid set once dry and dotted around some glitter and pearl dots to finish.


 

Pink Poinsettias

It's challenge day at Waltzingmouse Fanatics and this fortnight we'd like you to get your markers out and colour an image on your project http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/challenge-24-make-your-mark.html

I decided to make a start on Christmas as I've been wanting to replicate the pink poinsettias I found in a garden centre last year and fell in love with but which lasted about 3 days as they always do in my house!

I stamped the poinsettia from Big Bloom Poinsettia in charcoal grey (Hero Arts) and then coloured it in with distress markers using a little water to blend.

The sentiment is from Say It Loud Winter Holiday and I finished with a bright pink mat  and a little shimmer on the green centre to make it all pop.

We do hope you'll join us this challenge.

Mojito Roses

I managed to join in this week's Less is More challenge which is based on this lovely shot of a mojito in a trendy jar  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/week-183-colour-challenge.html

I used the gorgeous Painted Flowers from Altenew using 3 colours, yellow, green and grey.  Stamped the sentiment from Winnie & Walter also in Hero Arts Charcoal Grey and then picked out the bright blue with some dash lines and dots of stickles.   As the birthday word in the set is smaller, I decided to add focus to it with a yellow "shadow" highlight.

Summer Relaxation

I've made a card today that is very much suited to the spell of hot weather we're having....

This is based on the colours from our new challenge today at Waltzingmouse Fanatics and the image and the weather just lead me to this card and I wish I was on a beach right now rather than in my hot back bedroom!   http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/challenge-23-colours.html

This challenge gave me a chance to try out the new inks that we have in store at Make the Day Special Stamp Store - we got the full range of Hero Arts Shadow Inks in, which have been very hard to get hold of in the UK, and I have to say I love them.  I used Tide Pool, Soft Sand and Orange Soda for the background and added the beach hut and umbrella with Wet Cement.  The images and sentiment are all from My Island by Waltzingmouse stamps.

It's a 5 Saturday month which means my other favourite challenge - Less is More - is on an Anything Goes week, so I will be added this card to that challenge too.

Hope those of you who have Waltzingmouse Stamps will join us this fortnight as our numbers are very low just now so the challenge may have to close.....

Singing in the Rain

This week's challenge at LIM is to be inspired by the song "Singing in the Rain" - a much easier challenge than last week's finger print one!   Although I have to say thanks as I got so many lovely comments on my card last week and I hated it - just goes to show that we are our own worst critics!   This is what I did this week:

I'm sorry but I have no idea where I got the image - it's an old red-rubber stamp in my "misc" file so probably something I picked up at a fair at some point (but at least I knew I had it as it was the first stamp I thought of when I saw this challenge!)    I stamped it onto a mini card and then used watercolour paints to colour it and to add the downpour of rain around them.   I didn't have exactly the sentiment I wanted so I decided to just hand write my own.   I have to say I'm much happier with this one than last weeks' effort!

Er - well - less said the better......

You could be fooled into thinking that todlers have taken over my blog today, but no, I am afraid this is all my own work - I can't actually believe I'm sharing it but here goes my entry to this week's Less is More challenge of "adapt a fingerprint on a one layer card"...........

Now some people in the gallery have done some amazing cards (can't believe Gay and Birgit used fingers!!!) - mine, well as the title says less said the better, but at least I had a go!   I made finger prints with distress inks in a very vaguely peakcock shape and then added the eyes and feathery bits with sakura gel pens.  Sentiment is Kraftin Kimmie.

Right - time to run away..............

Can we have something easier next week PLEASE?????

Horsey

One of my friends at work is very horsey - in fact she just qualified for HOYS (the Horse of the Year Show) last week, so when I see a cute horse stamp I HAVE to have it ready for her birthday card.  It's her birthday today so I'm safe to share the card now.  I've done the horse in the same colours as the one she qualified on.....

The horsey girl stamp is from MFT and the horseshoe die is a Joanna Sheen one.  Just coloured with copics and then finished with a SU sentiment and some (wobbly) dash lines!

I'm sure her 14th month old daughter will love it too as her favourite word, not surprisingly, is horsey!!!

CASE Histories

We're having a fun challenge this month at my store - we're calling it CASE History and want you to find a project from your first year of blogging and CASE it to see how far your style has come.  I started blogging in 2009 but if you look back, you'll see that there were no craft projects that year - I started off a food blogger but I knew I wanted to blog about crafts too so called my blog Craftilicious - crafty and delicious combined!   So I chose a project from 2010 - a wedding card I made in a box style and you can find the original post here.

I made this box card with the floral frame adhered to a fold in the middle so it had 3 layers and a 3D feel and it was this technique I decided to CASE and update on my new version and this is what came out of it!

 

I used a nestie to cut a couple of frames and then went full on die cut mode to create the sea scene.  The sailboat is adhered to the dotted paper on the base card, the rainbow and small cloud are stuck to the first frame and the larger cloud on the second frame.  This shot shows the dimension to full effect.

So you may think that the new card bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original - well it doesn't - but it was inspired by the 3D design of the original so it still counts as a CASE study - hope that encourages you to have a go and play along.

As my card is entirely made with die cuts - I am also going to enter it into Virginia's View challenge this month.

Smoochy ribbons

I made a little card today which fits a couple of challenge this weekend - firstly Paper Smooches Sparks which is Anything Goes and Less is More which is Recycling.

I was inspired to make this card by the song "tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" which came on the radio yesterday.  The yellow ribbon was salvaged from a box of chocolates so is my recycled item for the LIM theme this week.  The tree is from Paper Smooches Summer Groves and I coloured it with copics in a very basic pointillism style and fussy it cut it before tying my ribbon and foam mounting it.  The sentiment is also from Paper Smooches from the ever so useful Sentiment Sampler set.   I stood the little blue bird on the O so he's looking out for the person on the bus in the song.....

Anything Waltzingmouse Goes!

Our new challenge at Waltzingmouse is anything goes this fortnight http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/challenge-21-theme.html

Our friends are moving house today so I used the cottage home set to make them a new home card.  I just used the stamps to make a decoupaged card and coloured the layers with copics (you can't really see it clearly from this front on shot but the centre of the house stands off from the rear and the plants stand further forward still)  I added some embossed stones and a little ribbon for colour to finish.

Hope you'll find time to join us for this challenge - if you love Waltzingmouse stamps like Deborah and I do, please share your love with us.

Back on the watercolour...

The theme at LIM this week is watercolouring - well I don't need much of an excuse to play with that technique again!

I decided to have another go at the watercolour technique Dawn from Wplus9 showed on their blog a few weeks ago - stamping with 2nd generation distress ink and then using a brush and water to soften the stamping for a watercoloured look.  So naturally I went to my favourite Fresh Cut Florals set but needed something to put them in.   I used Joanna Sheen's trug, but instead of die cutting it, I used the die to emboss the shape into the watercolour card stock.  I then stamped the flowers and leaves using Dawn's technique, and then used the distress inks with the brush to colour in the trug - the embossed lines "hold" the ink so it's easy to paint ;-)   A little more ink underneath to ground it and a sentiment from the set and a thin blue mat to pull out the berries and its finished.

I have wedding invites to finish today so I'd best get cracking!

Balloon paper

I needed a birthday card and wanted to use my new AE balloon dies again so I decided to take their current challenge as my inspiration and stamped my own designer paper with the little ones  http://aeiheartuchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/aeiu-challenge-9diy-designer-paper.html

I tried a bold background first but didn't like it so I decided to go subtle instead and just used a single ink soft stone from Hero Arts and the 3 small balloon stamps to make my DP.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I make a card I added a blue and silver balloon using the matching dies and a blue and silver happy (Wplus9) and then I overstamped BIRTHDAY to finish.

Just in time to join the challenge I think.....

 

Off the edge

Going off the edge is the challenge at Less is More this week and I got the perfect new set of stamps and dies in my store this weekend to make a card with that theme!

I used the large die to cut the top of the big balloon off the top of the card base and then simply stamped the rest overlapping each other.  Added the strings from the set and finished with a wink of stella for shimmer.

It's been an exciting week in the store - we've had 7 big boxes of new stock arrive, so if you want something to distract you from the football, then we have the following:

• Lawn Fawn - latest release and restocks including the polka paper pad
• Papersmooches - latest release and restocks
• Neat and Tangled - SEQUINS (yeah!) and the latest release of stamps (the hope stamps is backordered)
• Newton's Nook - the last couple of releases PLUS all the Christmas stamps that have been oos for ages!
• Avery Elle - new release, restocks and storage panels!
• Wplus9 - ALL the floral sets are back in stock as is hand letter hello!
• and last but no means least - Lil Inkers - restocks where they had any left plus some more stuff I didn't get first time around.  They didn't have huge stocks but I will be ordering again soon.

Thanks for visiting

Tara
 

Nouveau Tiles

I really loved the new floral stamps at Clearly Besotted as soon as I saw them http://www.clearlybesottedstamps.com/products/nouveau-flowers and I knew I could do so much with them.  This is my second make for my SIL who's birthday is today and I was inspired to create a tile like the ones you see in fireplaces you can't afford!

I used one image and stamped it 4 times then selectively inked just the bud ad added that where the leaves joined.   The sentiment is made up from a WPlus9 set and a Mama Elephant set.

As their new challenge is Anything Goes then I'll link it up it http://www.stampingsharing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/clearly-besotted-challenge-12-anything.html

Bedroom Flowers

This week's colour challenge at Less is More is an interesting one - its to use the colours in your bedroom  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/week-175-colour-challenge.html

Now those who know me well are probably expecting a card in shades of teal, but my bedroom is actually green with hints of chocolate brown!

Thanks to Stephanie's super speedy delivery the gorgeous new stamps I ordered yesterday were the perfect choice to play with for a chocolate lime creation.  I used her new gorgeous Nouveau Flower stamps and used Lemon Grass Ink from Avery Elle and Pearlescent Chocolate from Tsukineko.   Paired with a strip of washi tape as a side panel - the main design is popped up for added dimension but that does't show in the photo.

I've batoned down the hatches today in anticipation of the storms coming this afternoon while I nurse my poorly cat who thanks to a local tom cat who needs neutering has a nasty abscess which could lead to her having her tail amputated :(

New Home

Some friends of ours just moved into a new home so naturally I had to make a card.    So I took my bitty bungalows and went about highlighting their big posh house on a hill with this little scene.......

I had lots of fun making this card adding the layers and making their house all bright and colourful up on it's green hill whilst the rest of the houses in the valley are all dull and grey.  The perfect cheerful New Home card.   I coloured all the elements from Bitty Bungalows with copics and used a little glossy accents for the windows and the mail box and then fussy cut everything out.  The papers are Lawn Fawn Let's Polka

Luckily this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge is Anything Goes so I'm linking it up there as it fits ;-)  http://papersmoochessparks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/june-1-7-anything-goes-wk1-challenge.html

Kick Ass!

I'm feeling pretty Kick Ass myself today - I made 3 cards yesterday!  Can't remember the last time I found this much time to craft and had the mojo to go with the time to play!

I joined in with Muse Challenge http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/muse-challenge-69.html I love the inspiration of the fanned paint backgound but I thought the dotted stamp in So 80s would be great to overlap for a similar effect so that's the way I took it.

I just used my favourite ink colours - limes and teals and stamped the dots three times.  I added a few stars from the same set in the same colours instead of the black dots and then used a couple of sentiments from the set in bold black.  I finished with some sequins in matching colours.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out - I might even make a set of them in different colours and send them to friends to remind them they kick ass too.  

It's good to be reminded how fabulous you are sometimes - and there is no better way than to listen to this poem read by the author who sadly passed this week.  RIP Maya Angelou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeFfhH83_RE   and remember we are all PHENOMENAL women!

Go with all your heart

The challenge at Less is More this week is to use more than one stamp http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/lucky-dip-week-174.html and that gave me the perfect excuse to ink up one of the new Mama Elephant sets that have just arrived at Make the Day Special Stamp Store today.....

I love this set - Sightseeing - the big bridge is so versatile - I can see it making funky borders next ;-)   There is definitely more than 1 stamp on this card- the bus, the bridge, the sign and wheels on the bus, the flags, the stripes on the flags and the sentiment are all separate stamps.  The road is washi tape.   I used Avery Elle pigment inks which are back in stock too.

Flowers, Frames and Stars

It's my day over on my Store's blog today and we have big news to share as we have becoemm the first UK stockist of Lil Inkers stamps and dies http://makethedayspecialcards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/big-news.html

I'm celebrating their arrival by using them for this weeks die cut challenge at Less is More http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/week-173-we-have-recipe.html

I used the gorgeous Frames and Flowers Die to make 2 cards - you get 3 frames from the one die with the signature stitching we all love Lil Inker's for :-D   This is a super set as you also get some flower and leaf dies so I die cut some leaves from patterned paper and one of the flowers from felt and used those to decorate the frame.  I used a little washi for decoration and then used one of the great sentiments from Shiny Happy Sentiments to finish it off - simple but effective.

I'm going to enter this one into this weeks' CASology challenge too as the cue word is FLOWER.  http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/week-96-flower.html

You can go masculine with the centre of the frame - I used another sentiment from Shiny Happy Sentiments and embossed it in silver.  I then used another set of dies - the really lovely Stitched Stars but I decided to go for the negative space as you get the lovely stitching around that too so it makes an AMAZING background.  I arranged them on my silver mirri matt and die cut them a couple of times until I filled the whole matt and then simply popped the sentiment panel on top.

Hope you're all enjoying the bank holiday weekend :-D

My Hero

See I promised you less flowers and less watercolour today - well there are no flowers but there is still a tiny but of watercolouring going on....

It's my day on the Make the Day Special Store Blog and I'm using one of our newly arrived stamps from SugarPea Deisngs.  There are lots of great new characters to choose from, but as my husband works in a Comic shop then I had to go for this little dude first (complete with accurate colouring on his Flash t-shirt or I would never hear the end of it......)

Isn't he fun!   He was coloured with copics and cut out so I could mount him over the panel of buildings which is a sheet of DP from "man made" by Trimcraft that I cut a skyline from.  A little blue washed sky and an embossed sentiment for him to stand on like a girder finish this simple card.  The sentiment made up from the words in the set - there are lots of separate words and phrases so there are endless possibilities with this one!

Right time to leave the craft room and make the most of the sunshine.

 

Deja Vu

You may be forgiven for thinking you are seeing double day as the card I have is very similar to the last on I shared, but when I saw the theme at LIM today was flowers, I just couldn't resist having another go at the same kind of card but I did do a different floral arrangement!  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/week-172-theme.html

I really love the "flooding" the background with colour and letting it spill beyond the embossing.  It makes the whole watercolouring thing a hell of a lot more manageable for me!

Right - I promise I'll share something less floral and watercoloury tomorrow.......

Watercolour Flowers

I've been following the latest watercolour class at Online Card Classes this week but I've been struggling with it as a medium and really didn't think it was going to be for me.  However, I finally found a technique that works for me - and it's totally against my normal need for control and everything I ever learnt about colouring - going outside the lines!

I was inspired by the current challenge from Clearly Besotted - http://stampingsharing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/clearly-besotted-challenge-11-colour.html which is these gorgeous set of colours and I used some blooms from Fresh Flowers and a sentiment from Fabulous Fuchias.   I simply embossed the flowers in white and then coloured them in with a mix of pan water colours and luminarte shimmer watercolours but on the first layer I made the colours very light and loose and let them flood outside the lines - I know shock horror right!  I added hints of the 3 main colours around and about to get a soft background and balanced feel and then when it was dry I went back to the images and added a couple more layers of detail.  I finished with some strips of card and washi for balance.   I have to say it is just about my favourite card ever.......

Playing with Watercolour

Like many of the crafters I know, I'm taking part in the current Watercolour classes at Online Card Classes.   It's not a strong medium for me - I find the free form nature of it too loose - I like control!  However I have had a bit of a go.......

Firstly I used a quick and easy technique to enter this weeks's LIM challenge - I've not played in a while due to being busy with the store but I really miss it so will try harder to participate.

The challenge this week was a one-layer thank you.  I used PTI stamps and distress inks and softened the stamping for a faux watercolour look.   Not earth shattering, but not bad for a first attempt.

For my second attempt I used my newly arrived Clearly Besotted blossom stamps and the same technique with a little splattering over top to suggest the blossom drifting off in the wind.

I thought I'd enter this into the current watercolour challenge at KIS  http://kis-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/keep-it-simple-39-watercolor.html

Waltzingmouse Parrots

We have a fabulous new colour theme at Waltzingmouse Fanatics this fortnight based on some bright parrots  http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-17-colours.html

I was drawn to the purple and orange so decided to take artistic licence with the apple blossom in this seed packet design and I know it's mostly white or pink but we can paint it any colour we like now can't we that's the fun of stamping!   I wanted to do a little watercolouring ahead of the online class I'm taking from Monday so I can see if I've improved by the end of the class ;-)

I added a sentiment from "Frame It" on a green banner to finish it off and bring in more of the colours.

Do pop along and join in the challenge  http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-17-colours.html

Washi, bridges and sushi........

...Yeah not the obvious things to combine on a card, but I promise you it makes perfect sense to me!  A friend recently got a new job as a programmer for a company that makes software to do with bridge engineering so here I combined mathematical washi tape, with a die cut bridge and a sushi eating, happy dancing penguin who is "soy" happy for the recipient just as we are ;-)    See I told you it made sense!

The adorable little dancing penguin is from SugarPea Designs and is available in the UK now from Make the Day Special Stamp Store along with a lot of super cute friends.   I just coloured him with markers and fussy cut him out and stamped a matching sentiment onto card I coloured to match his bandanna.  The bridge is cut on my cameo.

I'm going to enter this into the Paper Players challenge this week which is all about washi tape  http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-192-cas-challenge-from-nance.html

Feathery Birthday

We have a new challenge this week on the Waltzingmouse Fanatics challenge and it's a really simple sketch that can be layered or simple.

I used the gorgeous peacock feather from the Funky Feathers set and stamped it with a couple of shades of ink before painting the centres with luminarte shimmer paint and stamping the dark blue centre over the top when dry.  I used the matching cut file to cut the feathers on my silhouette machine and cut a mat just larger in gold using a feature on the machine to make an outline larger than the original shape.   I decided a simple strip of dark blue card would set of the images well and paired it with a sentiment from Compact Sentiments using the same blue ink to finish.

Do pop on over to the blog and have a go at the challenge - we even have a set of stamps to give away as a prize this weekend.   http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Wait for it

It's my day to inspire over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store where we bring you all the best of the US craft brands without the dreaded import costs....   Today I am playing with one of our newer brands CASual Friday stamps who have some fabulous sentiment based stamps and when I saw the new "Wait for it" set I knew I had to play with it.  If you're not a "How I Met Your Mother" fan, then this card may be somewhat lost on you, but if like me you're a fan then I don't think I have to say much more...

I started with a black DL base card and cut a white panel from which I die cut some chevrons allowing the black base to show through.  Apart from the sentiment the only other decoration was some chevron and dotty washi tape.  For the sentiment I split the word LEGENDARY to make space for the "wait for it" to go in between in a nod to Barney Stinson.  I think this is a fun card for a guy and there are lots of great sentiments in the set.

Inspired by Lilacs

So being stuck in looking after a patient recovering from surgery does have its advantages - I made another card today!

I decided to play in the current Clearly Besotted challenge which is "Spring" and my first thought of spring was Lilacs - I love when the trees come into bud.  I look the colours of lilacs and came up with this.

I die cut the rose die and embossed it with ranger verdigris powder.  I die cut it again from cardstock in lilac and darker purple and pieced the bits into the embossed version before covering them in glossy accents to give it a faux enamel look.  I finished with a very handy sentiment for when you miss a birthday like I did today.....

http://www.stampingsharing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/clearly-besotted-challenge-10-spring.html

I made stuff!

I'm stuck at home with my husband who had surgery yesterday but the upside is I actually found time to make a couple of cards whilst he slept this afternoon.

Firstly I needed a sympathy card for a friend who is going through her second close family bereavement this year so I wanted something brighter and cheerier than the normal sympathy card as she needs a little light her in life just now.  I thought the MUSE card this week was the perfect jumping off point.  http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/muse-challenge-62.html

I used Water Blooms from Mama Elephant and paired it with a sentiment from Avery Elle with a tiny red butterfly from Stampin Up to signify life after the darkness.

I also wanted to play with this week's LIM challenge as I've missed a few and turquoise is one of my favourite colours http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/colour-week-166.html

I used the lots of circles stamp from SSS and used all teal and turquoise inks I have and stamped them within a masked off circle in the centre of the card.   I decided a simple die cut sentiment was all that was needed to finish it off and as gold pairs so well with turquoise I die cut "friend" by Papersmooches from gold mirri card.  

Right better get back to the patient.....

Mixed Messages

Our challenge this fortnight at Waltzingmouse Fanatics is all about getting more from your sentiments.  Clare makes some fabulous sentiment stamps and if you look at all the different sets there is heaps of potential to combine sentiments from different sets to make something extra special from them so that's what we want the fanatics to do - use at least 2 sentiments from 2 different stamps sets.   I used more than 2 and came up with this bleeding heart.......

I took lots of love related sentiments and stamped them into a heart I created by inking through a die cut heart frame.  The sets I used were:

• My Heart
• Compact Sentiments Part 2
• Compact Sentiments
• Country Labels 14
• Say it Loud (all year sentiments)

I decided I wanted to go a little grungy - not my normal style but I gave it a good shot!  I spritzed my heart with water and did a little spritzing around the edges with a distress marker and my hand spritz tool.  I stamped some splatters from "Splat that" and then sprayed some copper shimmer over the top.  I finished with the arrows from one of the hearts in My Heart making it fit my bigger heart with masking.

Right - over to you - let's see you getting sentimental!

http://waltzingmousefanaticschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/challenge-15-mixed-messages.html

Prize Challenge Tag

We're launching the first of our monthly challenges over at Make the Day Special Stamp Store today so if you're a fan of US stamp brands and want to get your hands on £15 to spend in store then check out the blog for details of how to join in http://makethedayspecialcards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/monthly-prize-challenges-start-today.html

As we're starting easy with "anything goes" I decide to do something a little different and make a tag rather than a card....

To make the die cut happy all pink and jolly I went mad with washi tape and selected all the ones I had with pink in them (it seems I have quite a few!!!) and stuck them down in a random order with some overlapping and simply die cut the word using one of the happy trio dies from Wplus9.   I think this is a super quick and easy way to add a lot of interest to a simple project.

The rest of stamping is done with the companion stamp set - whole lotta happy - I added words (some over the washi) in black and pink and then added some of the stars in the same colours to draw the eye to the top of the tag.  I'm not normally a pink girl but I do like the new inks from Avery Elle and was drawn to the raspberry one - probably because I love raspberries but I guess I shouldn't try eating the ink lol!

You've got 3 whole weeks to play in the challenge and the only rule is that your project must feature one product we sell so I do hope you'll join us......     http://makethedayspecialcards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/monthly-prize-challenges-start-today.html