Retro Style...

Just a quick post as my computer is not appreciating the Summer to Winter transition and keeps freezing ;)  Love these cute monkeys - could be from Hero Arts, and this sentiment from Verve, with papers from Bo Bunny and Crate Paper.  Inspired by this weeks cute Retro Sketch.

ROCK STAR
This made me smile too :)

A Scrappy Moxie Play Date...

Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday!

It's not very often that scraps from a card become the basis for a scrapbooking page - but that's what happened today!  I did not want to part with the overspray cardstock from this card, so I used it as the matting for my photo and this gorgeous sentiment from My Favourite Things, Clearly Sentimental About Emerson "What lies behind us and what lies in before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us".  The Heidi Swapp butterflies mask is Glimmermisted in Black Cherry and Harvest Orange. with the little die-cut butterfly from My Favourit Things, and the heading is in the very funky American Crafts Vinyl Thickers Vera.  A Making Memories die-cut cardstock was used as the template for the Scalloped Square, and the backing cardstock is from Basic Grey.  I hope it's OK to have a layout rather than a card for The Play Date Cafe - but hey - it started out as scraps from a card :)  Just realised there's two weeks at Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday this time - so you get an extra week to play!!

Hope your day is extra bright and beautiful too!

A CASE of Paper. Smooches. I Adore You...

Can you believe it post #3 for the day!

CASE Study Inspiration Card

OK, so this is my final and most blatent plea to join the Paper Smooches Sparks Design Team "P.S. I Adore You" aka "Paper. Smooches. I Adore You" LOL.

I was inspired by the texture, stitching, colours and theme from this fun Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge (along with the chance to wear my heart on my sleeve!), and the colours, texture and sentiment from this weeks funky CASE Study.  I stamped in Dazzle Versamark ink and clear heat embossed the Paper Smooches Good Gab "I Adore You" sentiment to create texture on the red cardstock, the heart was negative die-cut and pop-dotted for added visual texture.  The inside heart shape was die-cut in Sasafras paper and stitched using red embroidery thread.

I've had fun revisiting the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenges - and hope you have too!!

Paper Smooches Sparks DT Colour Throwdown...

My second post for the day...

Standalone Card

Card placed inside a frame to make a cute nameplate for the bedroom

 

When I saw this Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge inspiration photo, I just knew I had to make a cute card / door nameplate for a girlfriend of mine who recently had a baby.  This is also part of my submission for the Paper Smooches Sparks DT (a girl can dream!!!).  The colour fit perfectly with this weeks Color Throwdown too!

I was inspired by the baby onesie from the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, so I drew a template and hand cut the onesies from Echo Parks Country Drive paper, and stamped the name using Paper Smooches Alphadots.  The gorgeous frills on the onesie reminded me so much of the cute little sheep from Paper Smooches Party Possee, that I couldn't resist stamping her in Magenta Ink, colouring her nose with Copics R83 (Rose Mist) and adding her in, running under the clothesline.  The clothesline and pegs were added by adhering the pegs in place, then pegging up the onesies and the Twinery Pink Sorbet clothesline.  I love that you just insert the card into the frame to make a cute nameplate for a childs bedroom.

Hope you have sweet dreams too!

Hoppy to Announce Paper Smooches Sparks Freshly Made...

I LOVE this inspiration photo from Paper Smooches Sparks and have used it as part of my entry for the Paper Smooches Sparks DT (a girl can dream!!!)  The circular elements and strong lines fitted perfectly with this weeks Freshly Made Sketches.  From the inspiration photo I have used the hot pink spots and green floral patterns, the cute frog, from Paper Smooches A Little Lovin', and the home theme with the sentiment, also from Paper Smooches A little Lovin' - "Hoppy to Announce", inside I stamped the sentiment "...we've hopped to a new pad." using Paper Smooches Alphadots. 

Papers are from Echo Parks Dots and Stripes, and Pink Paisley 365 Degrees, die-cut using a scalloped circle from Spellbinders, with hot pink twine from the Twinery, and Magenta Ink from Versa Colour.

Precious Girl...

I can't believe that my first born will be a teenager soon!  I still remember when she was barely a few weeks old, and everyone was telling me "you soon forget how little they were", and I did not believe a word they said!  So I've created this flutterby birthday card for my precious girl. 

Inspired by this divine dress at Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger, this delicious colour palette at The Play Date Cafe - a perennial favourite as my girl was blessed with stunning red hair - and this gorgeous layout sketch from Clean&Simple, I dived in and had a play with my Glimmermists.  I created a negative die-cut template of butterflies using MFT die-cuts for the medium and smaller butterflies and a Spellbinders die-cut for the larger butterfly to mask the Black Cherry and Harvest Orange Glimmermist overspray.  I love how the Glimmermist seems to capture movement in the butterflies.  At the same time I placed a large die-cut butterfly in position on top of the template so it would match the spray pattern when placed back in position on the card.  The border cardstock was misted separately.  The sentiment on the front of the card with its gorgeous faux stitching is by Little Yellow Bicycle, and the stamped sentiment inside the card is one of my favourite, from My Favourite Things Clearly Sentimental about Emerson, with a small butterfly die-cut from the scraps. 

I hope you have a beautiful day too :)

Paper Smooches Challenges... All I Want is You

If you hurry there is still time for you to enter the Paper Smooches Sparks DT Challenge, but I'm cutting it fine with the Paper Smooches May Guest Designer spot, and this fortnights Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  With its combination of orange-red and blue-green, this card is also perfect for this weeks CAS-ual Fridays Opposites Attract.

After reading the content of this Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge photo, everytime I looked at it there was one song that kept going through my head.  The song is a cover version by The Thompson Twins of an old Cole Porter song "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" from the Red Hot & Blue album. The chorus of the song asks "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" and the response "I don't, and I don't, 'cause ALL I WANT IS YOU", thus my inspiration, and I figured whoo better than a wise owl to remind us that love is more important than money :)   Other elements that drew me in most about this particular Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge were the contrasting colours, the linear elements and the graphic style.

I enlarged the free digital Paper Smooches "For You" stamp to create a template for the "YOU",and hand cut the letters out of the white cardstock with a blade. The sentiment is stamped using Paper Smooches Alphadots and as my "s" has gone walkabouts, I masked the "IS" from "surprISe" in Good Gab, and of course the little owl is from Chubby Chums.  The sentiment and the owl are stamped in watermark ink then heat embossed with American Crafts Denim Zing.  The owl is coloured in Copics Caramel (YR14), Pale Aqua (BG000) and Aqua (BG15). The papers are from Echo Park Dots & Stripes. The front layer of the card and the owl are pop-dotted for visual texture.

Hope you are having a wonderful day :)

Sew Beautiful...

Have you ever had one of those cards that just stuck in your head and wouldn't let you do anything else 'til you get it onto paper?  I'm not sure why, but this was one of those cards for me - perhaps it's my love/hate relationship with my sewing machine - I love the look, but not so much the process! 

Back with details after I've been shopping - grocery shopping that is ;)

I'm back!

This card was inspired by the soft colours, corrugated cardboard and mannequin from this weeks gorgeous vintage CASE Study, this gentle CR84FN colour palette, this gorgeous Cardabilities sketch and some glitter from DYSU for fun.

Papers are a combination of MME Lost & Found Two, Crate Paper and Basic Grey, with the cool corrugated kraft alphas from Jillibean.  The Beautiful stamp is part of a set by My Little Yellow Bicycle.  I stamped the sentiment in Essentials Glue, then added Making Memories Pink Glitter.  The chipboard accents are from Maya Road.  The cotton spool was rubbed with Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy ink, then cotton wound around the spool, with an length looped back over the mannequin.  The mannequin was first inked with Versa Colour Old Rose, then dipped in Making Memories Pink Glitter.  The sewing machine was painted in Making Memories Manila paint.

Hope you have a creative day too!

Paper Smooches Sparks DT... Thanks for the Lift

 

If you hurry there is still time for you to enter the Paper Smooches Sparks DT Challenge, and for the Paper Smooches May Guest Designer spot.  For the Sparks DT Challenge, all you have to do is create a NEW project inspired by any of the past or present Sparks Challenges - and as you can see from the one I chose, there is plenty to be inspired by!

The elements that drew me in most about this particular Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge were the gorgeous flow of colours, the uplifting message, and the little heart anchoring the bottom right of the page.  It inspired me to drag my Glimmermists out of the cupboard and create my own background paper.  I love re-discovering old supplies and new trying new techniques, and challenges are a great opportunity to push your creativity.

The background paper was created by resting the left-hand side of the cardstock higher than the right, so the glimmermist would run across the paper - following the flow of the text from left to right.  I sprayed from the top using Sapphire, Juniper, Olive Vine, Gold, Harvest Orange and lastly Candy Apple Red, and let the excess ink slide down the cardstock, with lots of paper towel at the end to catch the run-off!  I also sprayed a smaller piece of cardstock with Harvest Orange and Candy Apple Red for the kite.

The clouds and kite are stamped using Paper Smooches Sunny Side Up, and pop-dotted for visual texture.  The kite string is created by attaching the Twineries Tangerine twine under the tail end of the kite, coating the twine in Stranos ribbon stiffener (or similar liquid adhesive) and adhering in position before threading the end through a small hole (made with an awl) by this uplifting sentiment stamp, also from Paper Smooches Sunny Side Up.  The black cardstock mat highlights the gorgeous rich ink colours.

Hope you are inspired to try out or try a new technique today :)

Tell you why I DO like Mondays :)

Who couldn't love Mondays with these three great challenges!  Todays inspiration comes from these funky colours at Colour Q, this great sketch from Mojo Monday, and this weeks Ribbon Challenge at There She Goes.  And if that wasn't enough, TGS has a fantastic sale on this week, with proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation!

LOVE, love, love this funky colour combo, and I have been itching to try these gorgeous puppy stamps and sentiments from There She Goes.  In case you can't read it, the sentiment reads "A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the nicest things you can be".  The puppies are coloured using black, red and pumpkin Marvy Markers - I added some spots to the smaller dog and gave them matching pumpkin-coloured noses and red collars.  I paper pieced the grass and die cut and pop-dotted the heart shape from My Favourite Things.  The papers are a mix from Kaisercraft and SEI, but would work fantastically using Stampin' Up papers too.  This gorgeous ribbon and cute paw-print brad are from my stash.  I knotted an extra piece of ribbon around my the flat piece across the page - it's much easier to end up with the words where you want them using this method! 

I hope you are having a glorious weekend too - and looking forward to Monday :)

This made me smile too!

Less Is More... It's Easy Being Green

I saw so many gorgeous creations over at the Less is More Three Shades of Green Challenge this week that I had to join in!  Being an all green theme, I couldn't help but use this gorgeous froggy stamp from Skipping Stones Design (minus his usual crown).  I created my "new pad" lily pad with a few helpful hints from the "How to draw a cartoon frog" lessons I found on the How to Draw and Paint Smart site.  The frog and lily pad are coloured using Copics Yellow Green (YG03), Grass Green (YG17) and Moss (YG67).  All pop-dotted for depth.  The sentiment is created using Paper Smooches Alphadots and Party Posse.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Practical CAS-ual Friendly Critter...

Hoppy to announce a second card for the day!

CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to create a Clean & Simple project featuring something you'd find in an Easter Basket - so I've created my bunny and grass from my Easter egg foils.  Being made almost entirely from non-paper scraps this card is perfect for the Moxie Fab World Don't Throw it Away Challenge. I couldn't resist including my card in this weeks DYSU Challenge Friendly Critters too. 

Paper Smooches A Little Lovin' bunny was stamped using StazOn Black ink.  I wasn't sure how well it would work and I must admit I was a bit dissappointed to discover it worked first time - I really wanted an excuse to eat another chocolate egg!!!  The die-cut grass using foil worked first go too.  Both are adhered with Terrifically Tacky red tape.  The sweet sentiment is also from Paper Smooches A Little Lovin' set.