BOO!

I'm not really one to make Hallowe'en cards but Songs and Rhymes challenge had something I just had to join in with.  Plus it had me singing the song all day and it was one of my favourites to sing back in the day when I used to!  So their song is Midnight from Cats musical.  I took the idea of the cat and the Midnight of the song to create my little 4x4 card.  

I used the moon from an old SU stamp set called To the Moon and then stamped the black cat on it from Visible Image set Curious Cats.  I stamped it in Versamark Nocturne and then clear embossed it to make it shine - although it's not shining in my photo.  The background is another SU Set called Drybrush and the added little stamps are from a very old SU set called Bitty Boos!.

I'm entering this into the following:

Songs & Rhymes Challenge

Tic Tac Toe - - black, cat, embossing 

Tuesday Taggers - circles 

SUYP - Cats 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS CC#372

A lovely colour combination to inspire you this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Cinnamon Cider is one of my favourite colours at the moment.  It is so versatile and can be a dark or light shade depending on how you use it and a great one for Autumn cards.

I used it here as the background on Kraft cardstock and it came out quite dark.  I used the Stampin Up Drybrush stamp - I love that stamp for backgrounds.  My main image is from Saleabration called Feels Like Home and I've used the other colours in the combination to colour only parts of the stamp.

A touch of pearls and some satin SU ribbon under the sentiment finishes off the card. 

SWEET STAMPIN - MASCULINE

We are challenging you this week at Sweet Stampin with a masculine card - something we all like to see inspiration for.

This card was actually made for my hubby who reached the big 60 in April!  Where does the time go - we met when he was 20 so we've seen a lot of birthdays between us.  He was an engineer by trade and has a very mechanical mind - so much so that sometimes my artistic offerings don't sit well with him as he likes very straight lines and everything to be precise lol!

I was gifted these lovely gears and clock elements from a member of my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets where we often send out freebies to each other. I knew I just had to use them on his card.

For the background I used the large stamp from Stampin Up called Dry Brush - It's a great stamp for creating quick backgrounds.  The die cut letters were from Tim Holtz together with some of the extra ephemera.  The sentiments are from various sets in my stash.

I'm adding this into the following challenges

Three Room Studio #39 - Tic Tac Toe - I used the middle vertical line

CRAFT challenge - masculine

Seize The Birthday - Wheels

Stinkin Inkers - Youre the Man 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Masculine

The House that Stamps Built - Masculine

Watercooler Wednesday - All things masculine 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #CC357

Welcome back to another Colour Challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments and I hope you are inspired by our lovely choices.  

I started off by using the wonderful background stamp Dry Brush stamped in the Blushing Bride - it's a large stamp but is so versatile and I've found it just amazing for backgrounds!  I then wanted to use one of my favourite retired sets Home To Roost - bought mainly for that lovely Rooster I must admit but the sentiments are great too.  I used some of the Bermuda Bay to stamp the grasses in the foreground and coloured the Rooster in with all three colours.  I just simply added the sentiment in Real Red and layered the card onto some Real Red card stock. I added a touch of twine around  just to finish off the card. 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #HSSCC351

Our colour challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments uses the following colours:

I'm sure I've mentioned previously that I am not an SU Demo so I don't always have all the new colours as happened here with Bumblebee so I used Crushed Curry instead.  I think it looks very similar.  Our colours are always guidelines and you don't have to use the SU colours exactly.

So I started my card off with using the Drybrush stamp and some Crushed Curry.  This stamp is so great for making backgrounds and I feel it is often overlooked.  I then used the lovely Country Home set and my first time for using those lovely jugs.  This is just my kind of stamp set and I'm surprised it took me so long to buy it but I'm glad I did.  I stamped the jugs in the Blackberry Bliss and Night of Navy and used the same colours to colour in the flowers.  That touch of green came about by mixing the Night of Navy and the Crushed Curry to give a green hue for the leaves.  The little sentiment is from the same set and I just added a few Night of Navy dots to finish it off.

I then added this to some Blackberry Bliss card stock and added some Linen Thread.  

I used the tile stamp from the same set to stamp the background in Night of Navy ink onto the card stock to give tone on tone - I think you can just make out the stamps.  I then added a cut doily and inked it with a light of coating of Crushed Curry just to soften the white.  I added a Blackberry Bliss button and some thread to the bottom.#hss

 

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE - #SUOC258

Our theme this week at Stampin Up Only is nautical.  I don't have any SU stamps with a nautical theme so I had to think outside the box for this one a bit.

I had great fun creating this scene - starting out with the fabulously versatile SU background stamp Drybrush.  This stamp could so easily be over-looked in the catalogue but I find it fabulous.  Here I've used three colours on the one stamp to create the background scene - I used Night of Navy for the top and the middle and Crumb Cake for the bottom. I used SU High Tide for the stamps. I added Bermuda Bay for the middle to create the wave ripples.  

I added the last bit of that gorgeous retired ribbon at the bottom. Some Wink of Stella on the sea just to give it a bit of shine.

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE - CASE THE CATTY #SUOC256

We are casing the Catty today at Stampin Up Only challenge this week.




I chose to CASE the card on the left and turned it into a Christmas card - I know it might be a bit early but doing them during the year saves all the rush nearer the time.  I used a retired SU Embossing folder for the holly for the card stock.  I then used the new Drybrush Background stamp for the tree background using some Basic Gray ink. I love this stamp - I think I've showed how versatile it is quite a lot if you're a regular to my blog.  

I stamped one of the trees from Winter Woods using Old Olive and Pear Pizazz inks and cut it out with the matching die. I added the matching sentiment and some very old SU gingham ribbon I have in my stash.  There is some sparkle on the tree although it's not showing up here.

 

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE - #SUOC255 - USE YOUR FAVOURITE STAMPS

Now how difficult is this challenge going to be for you from Stampin Up Only Challenge #SUOC255?  Use your favourite Stampin Up stamps - could be of all time, or just in the current catalogue.  The choice is yours.

I've mixed mine up by using a new stamp from the current catalogue, a current stamp and old favourite.

The first stamp I used is the background stamp Drybrush.  This was gifted to me by a friend who is a Demo and I must admit it's not a stamp I would have bought but I love it - it has so many possibilities.  Here I've stamped it using four colours - Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Perfect Plum.  It's a large stamp so I just put some ink on parts of it and then stamped onto card stock.

I then used Dandelion Wishes to stamp the dandelions in black ink.  I used the framelits from Watercolour Wings to make the butterfly and cut out two and layered them.  The bottom one is in plum cardstock, the top one has also been inked with the Drybush stamp.  A touch of the lovely old lace ribbon, a sentiment from Watercolour Wings and some retired embellishments finish off the card.  There is a touch of Wink of Stella on the butterfly and the dandelions too to give a bit of sparkle.

I look forward to seeing which favourite stamps you choose.

 

TRY STAMPING ON TUESDAY #TSOT464

Another week another sketch plus challenge over at Try Stamping on Tuesday - this one had the added challenge of Vintage. I love vintage and making vintage cards so I was definitely up for this challenge. 

I have to share a little something with you - when I sat down to do this I had a bit of a Deja Vu moment - I was convinced I had already made a card for this sketch.  I checked my file on my computer and it wasn't in there, it wasn't in my phone and it wasn't in the pile of cards on my desk - but I am convinced.  Then it came to me what I had done - on my Facebook Group we send out RAK cards and I think this one got sent out before I even had a chance to photograph it.  Oops - so I had to think of something else.

I'm really loving what developed and I think it's better than the original one I did lol!  I had been gifted the new background SU stamp Drybrush by a demo friend as she had ordered it incorrectly and didn't think she'd ever use it.  Well I must admit this one would have passed me by in the catalogue but Wow!  I love it - it is so good for doing the distressed, grungy, arty time cards I love doing.

You can see here it has done this lovely background - I used Tim Holtz's stamping platform which makes stamping it as a whole stamp a lot easier - but equally you could just ink it up and add your paper to parts of it.

I've used it here with Powder Pink and then I went over it with a brush and some Crumb Cake.  I cut a strip off the end and stamped a word type stamp from SU Background Bits in Early Espresso.  I then cut that out with a little heart die cut I have - I didn't waste those little hearts though and added them randomly to the card.  

I used a paper doily cut to the shape and gently brushed with Crumb Cake was adhered to the top left and then I used some stamps from Happy Wishes.  I stamped it in Early Espresso and coloured the flowers in with Powder Pink and an aqua painter.  I cut it out and frayed the edges and sponged them.  A touch of ribbon on the bottom finishes off this card and I think it looks very vintage.

I'm adding this into the following challenges 

Take A Word Challenge - Hearts and Flowers
Crafty Cardmakers - Create your own background
Double Trouble - Use your Stuff