Win with Winnie and Walter August Release Tour of the Stars...

Update: Entry into the prize draw has been extended to 

September 1, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. CST

Just comment to be in the draw!

Tickled pink (or maybe black LOL!) to be part of the 

Winnie and Walter 

August Release Tour of the Stars! 

You could even win your favourite stamp new set (or all 3 sets)!

Just wait til you see the AMAZING projects the 

Winnie and Walter Talent and Guest Designers have in store for you.

The FABULOUS new Winnie and Walter stamps including three brand new 6x8 inch "Texas" sized stamp sets and their coordinating digital elements, featured on the August Release Tour of the Stars, are available NOW, and the coordinating digital elements will be FREE with purchase for 2 weeks. You can WIN, just by commenting, and the winners of one of the August Release set of stamps will be randomly picked from each stop on the August Release Tour of the Stars from those who comment before August 31, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. CST, and that's not all, on the Winnie and Walter blog you could win the entire August Release.

I have had these Halloween photos and mini-album sitting in my "wish list of projects to do" for almost 5 years! When I saw the fabulous new Winnie and Walter stamps, I knew exactly what I was going to create! Whilst I have mainly focused the fabulously spooky Moonlight stamps and cut files for this project, (even using it to create my own patterned paper for the front and back covers), I have also incorporated stamps from A Tree For All Seasons (the tree makes a FANTASTICALLY haunted tree in black, and the circle is a perfect full moon) and This Awesome House (see the black cat hiding in the branches!)

The gorgeous Winnie and Walter Moonlight pumpkins and faces are super cute highlights for pumpkin carving photos!

I just LOVE the fabulous Winnie and Walter Moonlight bats, and there is a great range of sentiments, just right for creating your own banners and titles, including "frightful and delightful"...

and "Eat, Drink and be Scary". There is also a brilliant variety of spiders webs, for creating border highlights, or the perfect corner to hide a spider...

Or two...
To add some more dimension to your project, Winnie and Walter sets have some amazing cut files too, this spider and "Eek" from the Moonlight cut files, add a whole lotta spooky, with A Tree For All Seasons and This Awesome House are available in cut files too. 

Can you spot the element from This Awesome House? That's right, the gorgeous wrought iron fence. Also featuring Moonlight "31" as a full moon, and I love the font used in the fishtail flag "spooktacular" and "haunting" too!

The "trick or treat" sentiment comes up a treat when orange glitter embossed against black...

and all the sentiments and graphics are perfect to create your own patterned paper...

I hope you have as much fun on the 

Winnie and Walter August Tour of the Stars

as we had in creating these projects for you! 

In case you get lost, here's a complete list of the TOUR...

Winnie and Walter Blog

 Jenny Martin

Heather Hoffman

 you are here - Lyndal Higgins

Gayatri Murali

Heather Pulvirenti

Joni Andaya

Kelly Griglione

Laura Sterckx

Lea Lawson

Mayuri

Vanessa Menhorn

Stamps: Walter and Winnie Moonlight, A Tree For All Seasons and 

This Awesome House

Cut files: Walter and Winnie Moonlight

Papers: Basic Grey, Authentique, MME

Ephemira: Making Memories, Scrap FX, October Afternoon, Hambly, Artifex 

Also playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

A Lil Christmas Bauble Tag...

Second card for the day...

I had so much fun stamping this card, that I thought I'd try a variation on the theme for this weeks Lawnscaping Tags & Treat Bag Challenge, and the Paper Players Evergreen Challenge with my evergreen wreath and bauble.  Combined three Lawn Fawn sets to create this cute wreath and two turtle doves. Peace, Joy, Love branches, heart and birds, Happily Ever After bow Trim the Tree sentiment, stamped in Momento Luxe Love Letter, Pear Tart and Dandelion inks.  Used Lil Inkers Stitched Circles to create the bauble - sandwiched two smaller circles between two larger circles and punched the hole for the Twinery Marascheto twine to thread through.

 

Little Tangles Guest Designer Post - Giving Thanks...

E.T.A.

So excited to be able to present this card to you as Guest Designer over at Little Tangles, the Neat & Tangled Challenge blog!  This fortnights Little Tangles challenge is Giving Thanks. Although we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in this part of the world, I do have a lot to give thanks for!

I thought I'd give you a few hints and tips to create a card similar to this, using Distress Inks, Glimmermist, Embossing powder, and of course, Neat & Tangled Stamps! 

• Cut your 6x4 inch card base to size and round the corners.
• Stamp several Neat & Tangled Fresh Blooms flowers (12) and My Heart Sings bird (1) onto watercolour paper in Versamrk Embossing ink (or similar).  Try stamping two rows of six flowers, with the bird stamped underneath the flowers on the right-hand end.
• Sprinkle with clear embossing powder before blasting with your heat gun.
• Using Distressed Inks, vertically swipe the ink pad over the clear embossed images. Swipe the colours so each is just overlapping the next colour. Try using Wild Honey on the left (4 flowers), Spiced Marmalade in the centre (4 flowers & bird) and Picked Raspberry on the right(4 flowers & bird).
• Overspray with Glimmermist, or water & perfect pearls, then dry thoroughly with your heat gun. Try using Glimmermist Twinkle Yellow, or Gold, or just plain water!
• Fussy cut the Neat & Tangled flowers and bird. Try using a really small pair of sharp scissors, to help get around all the curly edges more easily.
• Adhere the layered flowers in position on the card with double-sided tape.
  
• Cut a strip of cardstock 6.5 inch x 1.5 inch, round the corners and die-cut "thanks" letters. Try aligning and taping the letter dies with masking tape to them hold in place before die-cutting.
• Don't be afraid to cut your stamps to customise your sentiments. This sentiment was created using Just Hello "a note of thanks" and "o" from "hello: and Fresh Blooms "f" from "beautiful". Before you ink your sentiment, place the sentiment stamps in position on your cardstock, then press down your stamp press or stamping block to pick up the stamps from the cardstock - this will vertically align your sentiment with your negative die-cut letters. Alternatively use a ruler to measure the spaces before placing your stamps on the block. If you have a stamping block with grid-lines, you can use the lines to help align your sentiment horizontally.
• Stamp the sentiment using a coloured ink such as Hero Arts Soft Cantaloupe.
• Pop dot the sentiment banner across the card.
• Pop-dot the top section and double-sided tape the bottom section of the bird and attach to the card.

I hope you are inspired to give it a go with your inks and sprays,

 and Neat & Tangled stamps!

Also playing along with Seize the Sketch, with this fabulous sketch by Stacey.

P.S. Holiday Cheer!

 

Inspired by this fabulously festive photo from Paper Smooches (below), I decorated a six-pack of beer and used the Paper Smooches Flag Tags dies cut to create a beer bottle tag.

Paper Smooches Sparks Inspiration Photo

The beer bottle tag was created by cutting a piece of MME pattered paper (cardstock weight) just over two inches wide and just over seven inches long, and scoring and folding it so one side is just over five inches, and the other side is just over two inches long. This paper was placed in the largest Flag Tag die, with the fold just inside the top flat edge of the die, so that when it goes through the die cutter, the folded end remains attached. A one inch hole was then punched in the shorter end of the beer bottle tag and the corners rounded, so this folded flap can be used to hang the tag from the bottleneck. The Paper Smooches Enchanted Elves reindeer was stamped on some old Mambi woodgrain paper, which had been glued to a piece of cardstock for extra strength when fussy cutting. A red Kaisercraft rhinestone was then added for his nose, and a googly eye. The Paper Smooches Christmas Words sentiment was cut from two shades of green papers and the darker green words were set into the negative space left in the lighter green paper, leaving a bit of the background stripes to peek through. The lighter green paper was die cut using the medium sized Flag Tags die, and this was scored and folded and adhered around the beer bottle tag.  The reindeer was then pop dotted onto the beer bottle tag. The beer bottle holder was then decorated using Crate Paper - to make it look like a wooden crate of beer LOL!  Paper Smooches Ponsettia holly die cuts were used to create the holly, which was pop-dotted over the gingham ribbon.

Playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks DT Call, 

City Crafter Hold It Challenge and 

The Friday Mash Up 3D Challenge too.

Have a Little Guesso What the Difference is...

With the current mixed media / art journalling trend, I thought I'd have a play and see the difference a little gesso can make to your cards.

In the first sample using a base of Kaisercraft music paper, I stamped the Neat & Tangled My Heart Sings bird and sentiment in Versamark Watermark Ink and heat embossed with American Crafts Pewter. By embossing this layer, you create a barrier which will stop your watercolours from ending up where you don't want them. Next I dipped a water brush into my Gelatos to create the watercolour fill.  The heart was filled in red, and the bird was filled in turquoise, then I added the darker blue. I found the watercolours easy to blend on this card as they bleed and blend into each other and the paper.

The second sample was created in exactly the same manner, with one simple exception - the Kaisercraft music paper was first primed using white gesso, applied in a thin layer with a paintbrush.  This white gesso layer served to tone down the background layer, so the stamped images take centre stage.  When embossing directly onto the paper, the Watermark Ink and some of the Pewter embossing powder bled into the paper, so the result was not as crisp as when I stamped onto the gesso.  When you use the gesso as a base, as it is a primer, this means the colours sit on top of the gesso layer.  The advantage of having gesso as a base is that if you make a mistake, you can easily remove colour from where it is not wanted by gently wiping the area with a baby wipe.  White gesso is a simple way to tone down any patterned paper so you can stamp and colour over it.

Playing along with Little Tangles Technique Challenge

Playing along with this weeks Catered Crop Sentiment-al Challenge

City Crafter Challenge Birds & Blue Challenge and
Addicted to CAS Music Challenge

This made me smile...

P.S. Just for the Record...

So excited to bring a third week of Paper Smooches Guest Designer projects!

Today I was inspired by Paper Smooches Many Thanks "A Note of Thanks" sentiment, to create a 3D musical shaker! I used this gorgeous retro player from Perpetual Bliss to create a 3D "note of thanks" musical shaker.  The player was stamped onto Kaisercraft wood veneer paper backed with black cardstock (for added strength) and fussy cut.  I glued a clear sheet behind this for the face of the shaker.  3D foam was adhered to the back of the shaker face.  A very fine strip of black cardstock creates the inside wall of the shaker and a very fine strip of wood veneer cardstock creates the outside wall of the shaker.  The shaker contains die cut musical notes and treble clef, together with black sequins - the perfect black vinyl LOL!  The centre circle from Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm features pink sheet music. The record shape was cut using Lil Inkers Stitched Circle dies, and the back circle is scored about 2cm from the top and glued to the card front. Because the card is round, you can roll it to activate the shaker too!  Playing along with the Less is More Round & Round Challenge too.

I snuck my second card in early to make the deadline for the Moxie Fab Trendy Triangle Challenge, and details of this Laura Bassen inspired card can be seen here.

It's a Good Day for FUSION...

I can't wait to see how you are inspired by this fortnights' fabulous FUSION!!!  

Are you like me, and have put off giving the chalkboard technique a whirl???  Something about trying to mess us your white stamping on black seems, well, just WRONG!?!  But it's so FUN!!!  Inspired by this fortnights FUSION photo and sketch, I stamped this fabulous My Favorite Things sentiment in Versamark Watermark ink and heat embossed in Seafoam White. Using Hero Arts White ink, I smeared a little on my finger and rubbed it across the embossing - almost like I was trying to rub it off with an eraser, then to add a bit more interest I swiped the edges of the diecut panel with the ink pad.  I thought this burlap tied in nicely with the string around the pile of erasers from the inspiration photo!  I have to admit, purple is not up there with my favourite colours, but I was quite partial to this gorgeous handmade flower, and paired it with some matching skeleton leaves, also found lurking in the bottom of my stash!

Here's how you can play along...
PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Experiment Page before playing along.

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

Playing along with this weeks The Pink Elephant Texture Challenge too

Seeing as I finally took the plunge and created using this purple colour combo, 

thought I'd better link up to Summer Camp Week 3 Homework too!

Do You Remember Paris...

When I saw the Mixy-Matchy Style Challenge Moxie Fab World I thought it would be fun create a memory box, full of the patterns and images that reminded me of our trip to Paris, so here we have it, my memories in a box.  This was such FUN to make, and every time I look at my box it makes me smile.  This is how I remember Paris, how do you?

It may not be the first word that comes to mind for most, but when I think of strawberries, I think of Paris. Travelling on a budget, most of our stay was spent eating baguettes, yoghurt, and the most amazing market fresh strawberries we had ever tasted.  I remember we stayed in the attic room of a tiny guest house, with its crazy sloping old timber floors.  I remember we had to get used to paying to use public toilets, and that one of the highlights of our stay was a tour of the old underground sewerage system - strange, but true! I remember visiting the beautiful parks, with the gorgeous trees in full blossom, and their special doggy areas! I remember visiting the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Versaille too, but more than that, I remember the little French Restaurant that we used to walk past on the way to and from the Metro station and peering in the gingham curtains wondering what it would be like to dine inside.

Papers are a mixy-matchy from Crate Paper, October Afternoon, and Echo Park, with chipboard from American Crafts and My Favorite Things, Studio Calico wood veneer chevron, photo cards from Typo, stamps from Heidi Swapp, Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday and the Sweet Stamp Shop alphas, and I used a Heidi Swapp mask as the outline for my heart of hearts.

Also playing along with the Sweet Stamp Shop Use What You Have 

with my chipboard collection being raided again, 

Pinspired Challenge #13 with its strawberries and gingham, and 

Lisa's fabulous Retro Sketch this layout was based on.

These made me smile...

Hey!... You're Cute as a Bug

 

First up toady is a card combining this rather literal interpretation of this cool CAS(E) this Sketch with the gorgeous colours in this weeks Color Q (some of my favourites!)  I had started off using a peacock feather, but I just couldn't get it to work, so I broke out my feather dies from My Favorite Things, combined these with a range of chevron papers from Echo Park and My Minds Eye and this cute wooden speech bubble from Basic Grey, together with this fab stitched rectangle mat from Lil Inkers.

 

Next up I dug deep into my stash of chipboard to find inspiration from this tag, flourish and three leaves to play along with this weeks Use What You Have over at the Sweet Stamp Shop (photo of my stash below).  I glued the chipboard pieces together before covering them all with Gesso.  Once the Gesso had dried, I oversprayed with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise and Fresh Lime.  I stamped the Sweet Stamp Shops You're Cute as a Bug! then decided it needed some extra shimmer so I oversprayed with Heuys Calico Shine.  (Note to self - stamp last as the added liquid tends to make the sentiment run LOL).  I went a bit overboard with the Calico Shine, so once it had dried off I grabbed my Distressed Ink Mowed Grass, and highlighted my flourish branch and leaves, before adding extra shine with Dimensional Magic.  The cute as a bug Sweet Stamp Shops ladybird was stamped in black over red cardstock before adding Dimensional Magic to its wings.  I attached my tag to some black cardstock to make the colours pop - and to play along with this weeks Keep It Simple Black Background Challenge, and Shopping Our Stash No Patterned Paper too!

Chipboard Stash

Batty in Love, Since I Spotted You...

UPDATED: I discovered these boxes are a perfect match for Jaffas...

I thought I'd have a go at making a candy box for this months Trendy Twine Sweets for My Sweetie and Addicted to CAS Candy Challenges, inspired by Paper Smooches Sparks and Catered Crop Polka Dots Challenges, and Scrapbook Boutiques Love Photo Challenge.  First I adhered my red polka dot and pink polka dot pieces together and negative die cut a heart from this panel.  Next I cut two pieces of red cardstock two inches wider and two inches taller than my heart panel, and scored along each edge one inch from the outside edges.

Front two pieces before I sandwiched the clear plastic between them

On the lid of the candy box, I used my heart panel to trace then cut out the heart shape (as my cardstock piece was too big to use the die cut again).  I stamped sentiment from Paper Smooches Falling for You on the heart panel, before sandwiching and double-sided taping some clear plastic between the heart panel and the cardstock lid.  I used a hole punch to create the handle holes, in the top and bottom pieces of my box, and threaded 6 strands of Trendy Twine Valentine Cherry Cupcake through the handle holes and plaited the handle before securing to the inside of the box.  I cut a 1 inch strip of the red cardstock and adhered to the inside top edge of the box, so the twine ends are concealed.  Using Paper Smooches Alphadots and Sentiment Sampler I stamped the inside sentiment - which appears at the bottom of the candy box when the recipient finishes the candy.

Inside the finished box

I finished constructing the box securing the corners with double-sided tape and adding the gorgeous polka dotted Paper Smooches Falling for You bat.

Now all I need to do is go find some polka-dotted candy before Thursday - 

or maybe some Lindt chocolate balls - then again they probably wouldn't last til Thursday LOL!

Scrapbook Boutique Love Inspiration

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Have a Heart too!