Fabulous, Foxy & Fifty...

I had this card all lined up for FUSION this fortnight, but as FUSION has taken an early Summer break (see you back in September!) and as the card is for my hubby's 50th (hence the fabulous, foxy and fifty), I thought I would link it up to this weeks Simon Says For Him, and Seize the Birthday challenges instead. Created with Coute Coture embossing folder, wood veneers from Lawn Fawn and Studio Calico, letter stickers from Lily Bee, and papers from my stash.

Hubby noticed the the markings around the "fabulous" and asked "Does this mean you think I'm burnt out!?" LOL.

Spent a lovely couple of days relaxing in the Yarra Valley to celebrate - wine, cheese, chocolates and staying warm by the fire, while listening to the rain on the roof - perfect!

Playing along with Simon Says For Him and Seize the Birthday.

Clearly Freshly Made...

I decided last minute (like 16 minutes before cutoff time!) that I needed to make a card for the (soon to be not so) current Clearly Besotted Autumn / Halloween Challenge. Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches, Color Q and Little Red Wagon Fall Themed too. These fabulous papers from Lily Bee Designs matched the Color Q colours perfectly. Die cuts are Clearly Besotted Autumn Flowers and Leafy Accents, with Happy Days sentiment stamped in Momento Luxe Nautical Blue.

 

This made me smile...

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..

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Happy Bee Day...

OK so this is one of those cards that started in one place, and ended up in a whole other postcode - maybe even a whole other country LOL!  Inspired by The Alley Way Stamps BE Inspired, those lemon pom-poms reminded me of this cute The Alley Way Stamps Priceless Joy bee, and the rest of the card evolved from there!  I stamped the bee onto the back of some yellow vellum, so he would be facing the right way, coloured in the black stripes on the reverse side too, then added some yellow paper behind his body, leaving the wings opaque. The cork hexagon was left over from an earlier project, but fitted the theme perfectly.  Added a couple more MFT die-cut hexagons, MME word stickers, and Neat & Tangled sequins, backed with Lily Bee Design papers (of course!!)  It was only after I finished the card that I realised how closely I had followed this weeks fabulous Retro Sketch - must have been lurking in my sub-conscious!  

Playing along with Keep It Simple Birthday Challenge,

Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge, 

Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge and

Jackie's Rockwell Designs Lemon Zest Challenge too!

Spring Chick...

Playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks Cool Shades Challenge, combined with some more homework from Pattern Play Day 1 too.  Patterned papers are a mix of Echo Park, Lily Bee and Bo Bunny, with this gorgeous spring chick from Paper Smooches, with the sentiment created by combining Spring Fling and Chubby Chums,with a few buttons from my stash.  Sketch is flipped from this weeks fab Retro Sketches by Lori.

Also joining in the fun at:

Simon Says Stamp Easter / Spring Challenge
The Pink Elephant Easter Challenge

 These made me smile...

Ginghnam Style...

I just LOVE this little bird from Purple Onion Design, and the whole time I was making this 10 Minute Craft Dash card the song going through my head was "Ginghnam Style" LOL!  I did all my stamping at once - once on the white cardstock, and once on each of the three gingham papers.  Amazingly my gingham stripes matched up almost perfectly for the wings and body - more luck than calculation!  The easiest way to paper piece in a hurry is to cut out the larger piece with a straight line running along the birds back, then just paste the wing on top - I used a glue pen too as I find this quickest for sticking fiddly pieces in a rush :)  As usual to save time I used my go-to Retro Sketch, so I didn't have to think too hard about what I was doing!  To match up my gingham lines on the base shapes it was quicker to cut them by hand, then cut the corners using my Fiskars corner rounder.  Papers are from Lily Bee Designs, with a gingham ribbon from my stash, and I cut out a circle from the light blue gingham to create my perfectly matched brad.  If I included making the brad in my 10 minutes I went over time by about 2 minutes 19 seconds, but I think it was worth it!!!

This made me smile...

Tomorrow's forecast...Less is More at the Play Date Cafe!

This is one of those cards I love the idea of more than I love the finished card, I still love the card - I just love the idea of it more lol!  How cute is the "country theme" in the inspiration photo at The Play Date Cafe this week, I ran with it, creating patchwork clouds from Authentique Glory with a little Lily Bee Designs Double Dutch too.  There may be too many ideas going on here to still make it a CAS card, but it is still shaped for the Less is More Challenge!  This gorgeous sentiment was part of the Flourishes April Showers I was lucky enough to win recently, stamped onto a McGill Fancy Square.

Back with more soon!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger The Alley Way...

Second post for the day!!

OK so you have probably guessed by now that I LOVE brights and I LOVE gingham, so put on your sunglasses for this one ;)

This was actually the first idea I had as soon as I saw these delicious gelato-coloured cookies from Tuesday Trigger Bright Bite at Moxie Fab World all stacked up in a nice neat pile.  The cherry was fussy cut from Rose Moka Pique-Nique, and this gorgeous gingham cone was cut from Lily Bee Designs Double Dutch, perfect for the Gingham Challenge at Moxie Fab World.  I created the gorgeous gelato scoops from my scraps by stamping The Alley Way Get MOOvin' clouds in Stampin Up Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Versa Colour Lime - all good enough to eat!!!  I stamped the sentiment in the same inks, using a variety of alphas from The Alley Way Get MOOvin', ei-ei-o and Chatterbox.

Hope your day is delicious too!

The Alley Way Moxie Fab Mojo Monday

  

Hope to just squeeze in for the gorgeous The Alley Way Stamps BE Inspired Challenge and Mojo Monday Challenge, and couldn't help but add this to the ever popular Gingham Challenge at Moxie Fab World.

Just in case you are wondering how I was inspired by the BE Inspired photo, other than the gorgeous colour combination of green, brown, light tan, teal and burnt orange, you may remember the sayings "Proud as a peacock" and "Pride comes before a fall", well what comes after a fall?  Someone asking "How are you???"  Obvious isn't it LOL!

I just love The Alley Way stamps for paper piecing, their stamps are just so cute, including this sheep and hay (used as grass tufts) from ei-ei-o, and the sentiment is taken from the "ewe" and "ho" from "horse" from Get MOOvin' and the "are" and "w" from Chatterbox.  Papers are a mix of gingham from Lily Bee Design and Echo Park, with the spots from Echo Park too. All the stamping is in Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, and the scalloped circle die cut is Spellbinders.  I took a bit of liberty with the Mojo Monday sketch by using my sun as a flower and moving the sentiment banner to the base of the card - just don't tell anyone ;)

Hope you have enjoyed a wonderful weekend :)


Update -  I participated in The Alley Way Stamps / Ribbon Carousel bloghop recently, and had not realised what an impression Laurel Seabrooks card had made til I went back and checked it out (pun intended!) again today.  Her gorgeous creation can be seen here. 

The Alley Way Moxie Tuesday Trigger...

Second post of the day :)

The Alley Way Stamps are having a Design Team Call so I thought I'd start making a few cards to showcase their great designs - I just love their funky font!  Also inspired by this weeks delicious colours and shapes from the Tuesday Trigger Bright Bite, the very popular Gingham Challenge at Moxie Fab World and CAS-ual Fridays Punchy Challenge.  

I punched my circles from Lily Bee Designs Double Dutch and stamped them using The Alley Ways Jibber Jabber and Chatterbox.  The "World" was a combination of sentiment stamps "W" from "Wishes", "OR" from Color, "L" from "Cool" and "D" is an up-side-down "P" from "Prayers".  I have discovered that when you are stamping / masking using a variety of sentiments, it is always less risky to use letter/s from the beginning or end of the sentiment, rather than the middle :)  Pop-dotted "You" and "My" for added texture too!

Hope your world is full of colour too!!!

Trigger Tuesday Moxie Gingham Splatter...

Inspired by this weeks delicious Tuesday Trigger Bright Bites, Gingham Challenge in Moxie Fab World and the Splatter Challenge in Moxie Fab World together with CAS-ual Fridays Punches Challenge.  Love the bright colours and circles from this weeks Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo, I punched circles of solid colour from my Basic Grey and Pink Paisley scraps, and the checks, waves and spots are all Lily Bee Designs Double Dutch - a fantastic resource for gingham addicts!  The splatter was created by flicking the tube of Glimmermist in Olive Green, Cherry Red and Harvest Orange. This gorgeous sentiment is from My Favourite Things.

I discovered a really neat trick while making this card - I usually get really frustrated when I design a layout for my card (or scrapbooking) and then have to attempt to move all the overlapping pieces to stick it down, I thought what I need is a big not-so-sticky sheet to adhere to the top of my layout which enables me to turn my pieces over all at once, to adhere it to my cardstock base, then peel off the sheet.  Apologies to those who already know this trick, but I realised the answer to my problem was staring me in the face - POST IT notes!  So I was able to stick my layout down, in the right place, in no time flat!!!