Floral Fusion... and Friends

Yoohoo! Anyone seen my mojo, I think it has gone on extended vacation LOL!!!

OK, I have said it before, I do have a pathological fear of purple, well, not quite, but it isn't pretty! That said, I do also LOVE this Flourishes sentiment stamp and thought it needed to be front and centre for this fortnights Floral Fusion inspiration photo and sketch! Paired with this super cute handmade organza and pearl flower, skeleton leaves and net ribbon from my stash, together with a very ancient piece of Basic Grey paper.

The Design Team have some more 

FABULOUS creations to inspire you

Amy Tsura - Betty J - Deepti 

Jeanne Jachna - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks

Kelly Griglione - Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan

Michelle Folland - Michelle Lupton - Stephanie Severin

Hope to see you playing along, can't wait to see what you create! 

Remember you can play along by being inspired by 

the photo, the sketch or BOTH.

Please check the linky for the days left to play with us.

CAS(E) this Festive Friday...

Had a play with some crafty friends yesterday - although there was more laughing and chatting than crafting me thinks! This is one of the two Christmas cards I managed to add to my collection. Inspired by this gorgeous Festive Friday inspiration photo and CAS(E) this Sketch. Created using Paper Smooches Christmas dies and Memory Box Pine Needle border, with papers from Echo Park and Basic Grey. 

Playing along with Virginia's View CAS Challenge too!

CAS(E) this Sketch & Dash

11 Minutes and 12 seconds later!

This was originally a 10 Minute Craft Dash Card, but I ran overtime when I decided at the last minute that it would look cute to have the Lily Bee gingham check as a background as well as for the banner - but I think it was worth it!! Joining in the fun at CAS(E) this Sketch with this amazingly versatile sketch - you should see the DT samples and gallery - just FABULOUS!  Playing along with Sparkle Creations Weekly Christmas Card Challenge for the first time too - this weeks theme is Flowers.  The flower featured is Uniko Studio Poinsettia - the perfect Christmas flower, stamped on some old Basic Grey papers from my scrap stash, and the Uniko Studio sentiment stamped on a Paper Smooches fishtail banner.

Sparkle Creations Weekly Christmas Card Challenge - Flowers

This made me smile..

.

A Little More Sunshine...

Playing along with Curtain Call Sunflower Surprise and this weeks fabulous MUSE.  I had fun using this gorgeous gerbera flower and leaves stamps from Uniko Studio again, stamped in Hero Arts Cup O' Joe on Bo Bunny Forever Fall paper and fussy cut. Reflecting the variations in colour in the MUSE card background, the background paper is also from Bo Bunny Forever Fall, and the leaves are created from some very old Basic Grey, perfect for playing along with Basic Grey Challenges Autumn Inspiration.  The Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle was stamped with My Favourite Things sentiment.

 

This made me smile...

FUSION... The Perfect Blend

I don't know about you, but this fortnights FUSION graphic keeps giving me flashbacks to the 70s, when Mum & Dad used to have dinner parties created in our lime green kitchen and served coffee made in plungers or percolators, rather than deluxe cappuccino machines!  Will you be inspired by this fabulous sketch, or the fantastic elements in this cool graphic, or will you create a FUSION of both?

Taking the colours and theme from this fortnights funky graphic, I combined my FUSION inspiration graphic with a Clean & Simple Sketch to create this friendship card to play along with Use it Tuesday Friendship Challenge. Talking about flashbacks, the papers are a combination of Echo Park, Kaisercraft (from about 3 years ago) and Basic Grey (from about 7 years ago!), with the coffee girl and sentiment from My Favourite Things, and the coffee cup splatter from Bo Bunny stamped using Hero Arts Cup O' Joe (of course!!!)

Hope to see you at the FUSION Challenge Blog soon, in the meantime, here's some more FABULOUS inspiration from the Design Team...

Amy Tsuruta

Geri Freeman

Kelly Griglione

Lynn Mangan

Stacey Schafer

Clean & Simple Sketch

Playing along in the Basic Grey Anything Goes Challenge too!

Nothing but Blue Skies (and VW Kombis)...

Inked up my Inkadinkadoo VW stamp to play a long with a few challenges this week.  My grandparents were always off camping somewhere in their VW Kombi, and often we joined them.  To me this Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani Orange is the perfect VW Kombi colour, which in turn is perfect for the Blue Skies Ahead sentiment.  This square of colour was left over from making this weeks Muse card, and was created by stamping on a clear block then spritzing it with water and swiping the ink across watercolour paper, in Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint and Peacock Feathers, and the sign was stamped on an extra scrap of the same watercolour paper.  Lil Inkers Stitched Squares mats were used for the background square and the cardsock base.

Playing along with CASual Fridays Aqua, Green & Orange, 

Basic Grey Weather Challenge, Adicted to CAS Holiday,

Less is More Round & Round, &

Sketchbook Saturday (flipped).

  

Hello Uniko...

Uniko Studio are having their very first challenge, so I thought I'd play along!  The theme is Hello, and whilst you need to use a Uniko Studio product on your card, don't worry if you don't have any yet, as Uniko Studio have a fabulous selection of FREE downloadable digital goodies!

I have used this gorgeous layered Uniko Studio poinsettia stamp - this time in slightly less traditional colours of pink and green, together with an MFT Hello die cut.  I stamped the poinsettia image multiple times onto two sheets from my overflowing diverse collection of Basic Grey papers, and fussy cut two green layers and three pink layers, foam dotting each layer, and finishing with some Kaisercraft pearls.

Playing along with Little Red Wagon Falling to Pieces Challenge and 

this fabulous Dynamic Duo warm pink & soft green combination.

This made me smile!

and this too!

A MUSEing Train of Happy Thoughts...

When I first saw Therese's fab MUSE card this week, I was immediately drawn to the negative die cut and yellow background, which made me think of the sun, which reminded me of some free downloadable wall art I had seen on-line, which inspired me to create this...

As the focus of my wall art is negative die cuts, I couldn't resist playing along with the Moxie Fab World Card Creations Week - Emphasise the Negative Challenge, Just Us Girls Negative Die Cut Challenge, and as this verse is taken from a song I thought it was perfect for playing along at City Crafter Challenge Inspired by a Song too.

Wall Art created using paper from October Afternoon, My Favorite Things die-cut clouds and alpha, Marvy scalloped circle punch was used as the basic outline for the sun then hand cut the rays, Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder, Basic Grey alphas and LOTS of pop dots!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I really appreciate your visit :)

Therese's fab MUSE inspiration card

Moxie Fab World Card Creations Week

Inspired by a Song

This made me smile...

Hello Chickie...

The more I use The Alley Way Stamps Trees Company, the more I love it!  These gorgeous birds, branch, tree foliage and nest are all from Trees Company, and the sentiment is created by combining Monster Mash and Mad Gab, perfect for a note to say hello, or to welcome a new little one to the world.  To help the nest blend into the tree foliage, I stamped the nest onto the same patterned paper as the tree foliage, before paper piecing it.  Inspired by this weeks FAB CAS(E) this Sketch, CAS-ual Fridays Over the Edge, and Less is More Autumn, with papers by Basic Grey and MME.

So Fruitiful...

I guess by now you can tell I'm in love with these gorgeous fruit stamps from The Alley Way Stamps It's Fall About You, together with this sentiment from Jibber Jabber and Ghoul-Friend stitching line, they are "So Fruitiful" :) with papers from Lily Bee, Die-namic die-cuts, and Basic Grey sticker letters.

I thought they were perfect for a very literal interpretation of this sketch over at Page Maps Blog, especially for this Moxxie Challenge to promote Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Moxxie has teamed up with PageMaps with a great prize package.  Just link up your interpretation of the sketch on the Page Maps Blog by October 28th for your chance to win - but just so you know you need a US mailing address.

Also playing along with Simon Says Stamp - Die-cuts &/or Punches

and Catered Crop - Circle Round Challenge

I love a long read, bookmark card...

Loved the colours this week at Color Throwdown and the sketch from Freshly Made, perfect for a Bookmark Card to encourage my youngest to complete his Reading Challenge - he's only got one or two books to go, but every bit of encouragement helps!!  I designed the card so that the bookmark/tag tucks in behind the button, and can be easily removed as needed.  I added paper to the back of the middle section of the Basic Grey flourish sticker so it would not stick to the bookmark.

Papers are a combination of Basic Grey, Echo Park, Crate Paper and Jenni Bowlin, stamped with The Alley Way Stamps funky little Party Animal giraffe, with the sentiment made using Alphabet Soup, Hey Cupcake and Party Animal, and punched with EK Success scalloped border.  Buttons are Fancy Pants Off to School and a Prima heart button.

Also playing along at:

Cute Card Thursday  - Tag You're It
Raise the Bar - Back to School

Hope you have the opportunity to enjoy a long read soon!

A Whale of a Play Date More or Less...

 

Love these berry nice colours from this weeks Play Date Cafe montage!  Inspired by the water droplet from the first photo, and this weeks Less is More Something Shiny Challenge.  I keep thinking this little whale would make a fabulous addition to a party invitation.  Whale and spout are The Alley Way Sea Mates and sentiment is from Jibber Jabber, Mad Gab and Christmas Magic.  Papers are a mix of Basic Grey, embossed using Cuttlebug Swirls, with American Crafts ribbon, Kindyglitz sparkles for the whales spots and spout, and My Favourite Things scalloped border for the waves.

I wish I could go for a swim in the sea today - without a wet suit LOL!

This helped warm me up :)

Enjoy Life... The Alley Way

First my news - I am super excited to have been invited to join the The Alley Ways Stamps Design Team – amazingly talented ladies, and my very first stamping Design Team!!!   I love CAS and punny cards so TAWS stamps are just perfect – and they are great for dressing up scrapbook pages too!  Can't wait to show you some of the FAB new stamps Alison has for you!!

LOVE the jewel colours at The Play Date Cafe this week - decided to play along even though I missed the deadline, with this FAB Retro Sketches sketch.  Papers are from the old Basic Grey Marakesh and Rose Moka Mec, jewels from Kaisercraft, with a mega Prima butterfly stamp, Couture Creations Victorian Square diecuts and gorgeous sentiment stamped in Versa Colour Turquoise from The Alley Way Stamps Mad Gab.

Visit the blog to meet the other new DT members and for a fantastic giveaway too!