SWEET STAMPIN - PRETTY IN PINK

Well - apologies firstly for being a week late with my card for Sweet Stampin's Pretty in Pink - sometimes real life gets in the way even for us crafters and I had a bit of a family crisis.

My Pretty in Pink is a card I recently made for my daughter's baby shower - my darling girl was told she would never have children but this year she proved them all wrong.  Her little girl Hazel was born 6 weeks prematurely but mum and baby coped really well.  She is now nearly 10 weeks old and is such a delight.  My daughter didn't really want a baby shower - it's not really something we do here in the UK although it is becoming more popular but her friends wanted her to have one so we did a surprise one at our home.  

I cut out the shape by hand and used Stampin Up's Powder Pink card stock and their cable knit embossing folder.  My daughter loves cable knit jumpers!  The little images are from SU's First Steps set which I bought especially with baby Hazel in mind.

The ribbon is some I found in the Range - luckily we knew she was going to be a little girl!


 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - # TS0T423

Our sketch this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday has the optional addition of using plaid or checks.

I chose to do a Christmas Card as I've recently bought the beautiful stamp set Holiday Style from Sunny Studio.  Being in the UK it is sometimes too expensive for us to order anything from the US as the postage is so expensive. I was delighted that this wasn't the case with this company and my parcel was here within a week!  I just adore these bells and they are so clever the way just using ink makes them look as though they shine.

I chose to use some black card stock as the base and a sheet of the gorgeous plaid paper from Festive Chalkboard - it's my last piece -eek!  I added a strip of black and stamped the bow from the set in Versamark ink.  I used Old Olive for the fir tree and SU inks in Basic Gray and Going Gray and Memento Black ink for the bell.  I cut out a bow in the same plaid paper and attached a sparkling rhinestone in the middle. The sentiment comes from the same set.

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS IC#322

Such a gorgeous colour palette for our colour challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments  this week. I hope you have fun playing with it as much as we did.

I chose to go with Stampin Up's Floral Essence and matching DSP Perennial Essence - Monet is one of my favourite artists and this paper just screams his water lilies.  And I really love the colour palette.  

I used a piece of the DSP as the background against a Blackberry Bliss card stock.  The flower was first embossed with Copper Embossing Powder and watercoloured in with Blackberry Bliss ink with a touch of Daffodil Delight for the centre.  I then cut it out.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was gifted to me in a Stuffed Envelope swap we recently held on my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets.  The ribbon is old SU and the sequins were also gifted.


 

SUNNY DAYS

I'm joining in with the Global Design Project - it's been a while since I joined in with one of their challenges 



I've used two Stampin Up sets for my card - one current and one retired.

I love that sun stamp from Kinda Eclectic.  It is so useful for lots of cards.  I've used Daffodil Delight to stamp it here and the leaves were stamped in Pear Pizazz.  I used the flowers from the current Floral Essences - they were actually inked back to front - one was Powder Pink and Daffodil Delight and the other was the other way round.  One is popped up on dimensionals and a touch of glitter rhinestone for the middle.  The butterfly is from butterfly thinlets and has been cut out of the matching DSP Perennial Essence.  The sentiment is inked in Pear Pizazz and I've used the matching card stock.

TIM HOLTZ BIRD TALK

I recently found this wonderful set of stamps, die cuts and an embossing folder on a FB sales group - by the wonderful Tim Holtz!  This one is called Bird Talk and has three bird stamps and some great words, with matching die cuts and an embossing folder.  On my travels around blog land yesterday I found a wobble card.  New to me - I love finding new things because you must admit they are few and far between.  So I decided to make one of my birds wobble.

I started off with the embossing folder and then threw a load of Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Oxide inks at it until I was happy with the over all look.  I also added an old Tim Holtz stencil to add some more interest.  I coloured the birds in with some Stampin Up Watercolour pencils and a blender pen.  Sadly I don't have any Tim Holtz Distress markers yet.... yet! 

I used the die cuts to cut out the two birds and added the bottom one to a wobbler which I made myself with some wire.  I used part of the other bird for the sentiments which are also in the set.  I then added some Glossy Accents to their eyes to make them goggle a bit more.  I added a touch of sparkly black ribbon and two sequins to look like eyes in the middle!  Such a mad fun card - I'm not sure who is going to receive this one!!


I'm adding this into Retro Rubber's #117 challenge this week which is Anything Goes!  This stamp set goes back to 2015 I think!

TGIF's #tgifc225 challenge this week is All on Black - lots of black on here

Snippetts Challenge - I've used the word Hello from her card 

Try It On Tuesday - what we find in the garden - I'd love to see some crazy birds like these 





 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT422

Here's our challenge for you this week at TSOT - #TSOT422 -

I chose to use the image for my inspiration this week.  I used a mini chevron stencil from The Crafters Workshop to represent the chevrons on the cake.   I used a rainbow colour palette of Tim Holtz Distress inks.  I used an old die cut I had to cut out the words out of the chevrons - I've kept the cut out for another card.  I then cut out the words twice more in white and black and layered them onto the card. I added some pearls in pinks and blue to the little balloons on the die cut.  I generous smattering of Spectrum glitter pen also gives it some shine.

 

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE - CLEAN AND SIMPLE

We have a Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge for you this week at Stampin Up Only challenge.  I know we are still officially in summer but my mind turned to a Christmas card....again!

I wanted to use the Winter Woods set which is still current.  I used some inked off basic gray ink to stamp the birch trees for the background.  The trees were stamped in the same ink and then cut out with some tree thinlets.  I kept the sentiment in the same basic grey ink and mounted it on some grey cardstock.  A few rhinestones on the trees and the sentiment just gives the card a touch of sparkle. 

 

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST!!

I know it's only August but my head is already turning to Christmas cards!  Any excuse for me to make them.  Over at AAA cards I was motivated to make a seasonal card for their challenge 




I've just got a new set from Clearly Besotted called Let it Snow which comes with the matching dies.  Such a cute little penguin - I thought he deserved to be centre stage on this CAS card.  One of my favourite seasonal songs is Let It Snow so I thought this fitted well with their optional twist.  Look at his cute little hat - the set comes with three different hat stamps! 

 

WHAT !!! NO STAMPING?

That's the challenge this week over at Just Add Ink#470- no stamped images! Eek that sounded tricky and then I looked at my desk.  I had just finished making some ATC's for a challenge - the theme was Something In The Garden.  One of the ATC's didn't have any stamping on it - amazing. I'm adding it into their challenge.  Just for completeness I'm showing all three ATC's.





The first one is the one with no stamping.  I used a Kaisercraft embossing folder for the leaves and then used some Tim Holtz Distress crayons to ink up the background.  The bird was gifted to me in a Fat Envelope Swap we did on my Facebook Group, The Joy of Sets, as was the flower.  There is a touch of old SU washi tape on the one side.  The words are cut out of a book I use especially for crafting.  I know I hate cutting up books but this is an old book of ancient Rome I found in a charity shop for 10p and it really has had a new lease of life.  It took some reading through to find some words that were suitable for all the ATC's but I managed it.

This second ATC does have some stamping on it - I stamped some of the leaves from a Clearly Besotted set called Fall Flowers which have matching dies.  They were inked up with Tim Holtz Distress inks.  They are layered onto another piece of card stock which was stencilled and inked with the Distress Crayons to give texture.  There is some bronze thread behind the leaves and some washi tape.

The third ATC has more of the leaves from the Clearly Besotted set and a different bird on a branch.  Some of the leaves have been stamped and some have been cut out using the dies.

These little ATC's will be winging (oops sorry for the pun) their way off to Karen Mortensen's from Charmed Cards and Crafts group FB challenge.

     

SOME CHALLENGES

I've been having a play with some new products this week - new to me - not necessarily new products on the scene!

I run a Facebook Crafting Group called The Joy of Sets - and last Saturday a few of the ladies came over to my house for a Crafternoon Tea.  They came from various parts of the UK to Hampshire and one lady even stayed over night.  We had great fun and it was lovely that we got on as well in person as we do over the internet.  You never really know do you?  One of the ladies had an upline who was leaving SU and was giving away some stamp sets.  I received an old one called Petal Parade. It seems as thought this wasn't very popular in it's day because there is not a lot of inspiration out there.

I chose to use it for the challenge over at Less Is More - though now I've done it I think there is More rather than Less!    I loved the colour choice they had given us though and somehow I thought it lent itself to this stamp set.





I actually made this card last week and nearly forgot to post it for the challenge! I used all Stampin Up Colours for my card.

My second card uses some new leaf dies and stamps I've just got from Clearly Besotted - the leaf stamps are so lovely and are all two step stamping.  I used some Tim Holtz distress inks for the leaves.  The swirl is from the Swirly Bird thinlet and the flower is from Floral Essences, stamped in Blackberry Bliss and fussy cut out.  I added some dots from Timeless Textures and the dotted lines across are from Watercolor Wings.  A few sequins finish off the card.  The sentiment is from the Clearly Besotted set - it's called Fall Flowers.  I'm adding this card into the Fab Friday challenge #169 as I used their sketch 

I'm also adding this into a new challenge I've found called Crafting Happiness - their brief this week is Flowers



 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - COLOUR CHALLENGE -#HSSCC321

A colour challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments- and this was a real challenge for me colour wise.  You can see the small piece of Soft Suede paper I've used on my card - that's the only piece I had in my scraps box!!  Just goes to show it's worth keeping every little bit of coloured card stock! 

I used one of the new DSP from SU called Woven Threads for the Pretty Peacock background.  I've used Cherry Cobbler ink for the Lighthouse which is from SU High Tide which I'm pleased is still current.  I used a cloud stencil to create my background using Soft Sky ink for the clouds.  The sentiment comes from Jar of Love.

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT421

Our sketch this week at TSOT has the added optional challenge of flying things.

I chose to use a Clearly Besotted Stamp Set called You're So Tweet II which has some really cute bird images and appropriate sayings.  I used a stamp from Stampin Up's retired Watercolour Wings for the dots.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks for the background and inked the little bird directly onto the background.  I used Bermuda Bay for the ribbon, sentiment and card stock.

 

SWEET STAMPIN - ANYTHING WITH WINGS

Our challenge for you over at Sweet Stampin this week is anything with wings. I chose to do a butterfly - I'm not good with insects but butterflies don't count!

I've recently bought some stencils - a real bargain I found them on a FB craft selling site.  This one is made by The Crafters Workshop and is called Mini Alhambra.  I started off by just playing around with some Distress Inks by Tim Holtz on some Very Vanilla SU card stock.  I wanted to use a sort of rich Moroccan palette so I opted for Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Bundled Sage and Fossilized Amber, blending as we went along. I then went over these stencils with a Tim Holtz little dot stencil in Tattered Rose.  I then used the same colour palette for the butterfly which is from Stampin Up's Watercolour Wings.

I then spotted a piece of the new SU card stock I had been gifted from a friend and it was just the colour I wanted for my background.  It's called Noble Peacock Speciality DSP.  I also used the same paper to cut out the Celebrate from SU .  I still had some of the inked background left so I cut another celebrate out and layered them.  I added some lovely shiny embellishments which shimmer blue and green when the light hits them and some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the butterfly.  

I really liked working with the stencils and you may see some more as I bought six new ones!


 

A SUMMER CARD IN MINUTES

The challenge over at AAA this week is to make a card in minutes with the added challenge of something to do with summer.




This little card didn't take long to make - I used two Clearly Besotted sets - Feeling Fruity for the little mouse and Truly Scrumptious for the strawberries.  The little mouse was coloured in with Spectrum Noir Tri Blends and a grey SU watercolour pencil.  A scattering of sequins and the card was finished!

 

LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS....

The Male Room Challenge blog is celebrating 6 years and are asking us for birthday cards.  I used two sets from Card-io Stamps - Garden Hosedown, and Birdsong 1 for my card.  I masked off a piece of the white card stock first and sponged some Tim Holtz distress ink in Bundled Sage for the grass.  I added tufts of grass from Stampin Up's High Tide set.  The tree is from Birdsong and I used some stamps from SU's Lots of Lavender for the leaves.  I added the barbecue flames in 3 Tim Holtz colours, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, and Barn Door and added some Glossy Accents to make the flames shine.

The backing paper is from some of Stampin Up's current DSP called Pressed Petals.

The sentiments are from Clearly Besotted Tiny Type.

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #420

Here is our sketch this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday   We are also doubling up with Double Trouble so check out their rules for their challenge and if you combine both you can enter both challenges.  I chose Thing 1 for my card :

THING 1:  Trouble Maker

says, "Help us stir up some trouble with a 3-2-1 Recipe that can be used for any occasion." 

     From: Our Kitchen at Double Trouble   

     Servings: Unlimited portions of Fun

     Ingredients:  3 - Colors 

                           2 - Patterned Papers  

                           1 - Sentiment or image (stamped or digital OK)

Directions: You may use more than the recipe ingredients stipulated, but you need to include at least the required minimum of each ingredient for successful results. 

I used some of the lovely new papers from SU from the Bird Ballad DSP.  I have seen lots of samples with the paper with the cute birds on it but not so much of the other papers.  I used lots of stitched framelits for the pieces and some grey cardstock for the background.  I used an old scallop punch for the sentiment and some retired SU ribbon.  The sentiment is from another retired set Apple of My Eye.

    

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE #SUOC229 - SUMMER

A great challenge over at Stampin Up Only this week - Summer is definitely here with most of us in my part of the world.

I've teamed up Floral Essences and the gorgeous Pressed Petals DSP. I used an old ink from SU called Rose Red for my flowers and Daffodil Delight for the inside.  All the flowers were fussy cut - not my favourite past-time but there are no matching framelits for these flowers or the leaves.  I think there is a punch that goes with it though but I'm not sure I'd get enough use out of the punch to warrant the cost.  I also cut out the leaves inking them in Wild Wasabi and I used Wild Wasabit as the base.  I added a few pearls and some in the middle of the flowers.