FUSION - Penguin Love

So I have to admit, I have more Valentine's cards in my stash than fish in the sea - but hey, I only ever use one a year! Regardless, I could not resist making this little cutie for the FUSION challenge this fortnight. Inspired by the fabulous sketch and super cute inspiration photo, this was created using a selection of patterned papers from American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook and Yes, Please ranges, die cut using Verve Hearts and Stitched Pennants, together with the super gorgeous Mama Elephant Love Quotes and cute chicks I re-purposed as penguins.

Head on over to the FUSION blog for some more super inspiration from our fabulous Design Team...

Betty J. - Jeanne Jachna - Jen Mitchell

Karren Johnson - Linda Callahan - Michelle Leone

Michelle Lupton - Michelle Williams - Wanda Cullen

Hope you can join in the fun this fortnight @ FUSION.
Can't wait to see what you create!

Also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More!

Stained Glass Hearts FUSION

Had super fun getting messy with Distress Inks for this fortnights FUSION! Love the stained glass look from the FUSION inspiration photo and tried to relicate this using the inks, then cut out my window of hearts using Verve diecut, and finished off with a cute Paper Smooches sentiment.

To play along you can take inspiration from either the FUSION sketch or inspiration photo - or combine the two as I have!

Hop on over to the FUSION blog for some more super sized inspiration from our fabulous Design Team...

Becca Cruger - Betty J. - Jeanne Jachna - Jen Mitchell - Karren Johnson

Linda Callahan - Michelle Leone - Michelle Lupton - Michelle Williams

Hope you can join in the fun this fortnight @ FUSION.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Got a chance to see the super amazing 'super blue blood moon' lunar eclipse too, on an almost perfectly clear night in my corner of the world, did you?

You're my cup of tea @ FUSION!

Back from a family wedding in New Zealand to join in this fortnights FUSION.
Thought it only apt to add a photo from my niece's wedding to add to the Valentine's celebrations.

Simple Valentines card created using Winnie and Walter die cuts, Avery Elle stamped sentiment, and some gorgeous American Crafts patterned paper. 

You can find some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team blogs:

Becca Cruger - Betty J. - Carol Mayne - Jeanne Jachna - Karren Johnson

Linda Callahan - Michelle Leone - Michelle Lupton - Michelle Williams

Hope you can join in the fun this fortnight @ FUSION. 

Can not wait to see how you are inspired! 

Also playing along with:
Winnie and Walter's 3rd Birthday Challenge with Shay's 3 Challenge
 using three Winnie and Walter diecuts. 
CASology Romance

Full of Love for FUSION...

OK I have to admit, I do {heart} how this card turned out! I seem to be on a roll with my red and woodgrain cards LOL!

Inspired by these fabulous FUSION paper hearts and super cool FUSION sketch, the sentiment is stamped using Dina Wakley's Scribbly Alphabet, combined with Amy Tangerine's Today Thickers foam hearts, filled in with MME red polka dotted paper, and backed with MME woodgrained paper on a red cardstock base, with the front of the card offset about one inch compared to the back. 

As usual, you can play along with FUSION using either this gorgeous FUSION photo inspiration, or this fabulously versatile sketch, or a combination of both. Hop on over to the FUSION site for some more super gorgeous inspiration from the fabulous FUSION DT... 

Betty J - Brandi Hall - Deanne K - Jeanne Jachna - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks

Karren J - Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan - Michelle Folland

Michelle Lupton - Sandie Munro - Shannon Jaramillo - Stephanie Severin

I would LOVE if you could join in the fun @ FUSION too!

PS. If you joined along with my Favourite Things post, send me a note with your address as I'd love to send you a little thank you! 

Michelle Lupton, Karren J, Susanne V, Sonja K and Kelly Griglione!

Also playing along with Addicted to CAS Red,

AAA Cards Love me Like You Do, and Sparkle and Shine.

Those of you who play along with Sparkle and Shine, may know that founder Angel Johns recently lost her husband to illness, and is now facing raising her two boys alone. 

A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help the Johns family.

 

Love You... FUSION

Hope you had a chance to join in the fun @ FUSION 2nd Anniversary, 

such a fabulous gallery of talent!

This fortnight I was inspired by love! Combining the woodgrain, spotted elements and wreath theme from the super cool FUSION inspiration photo, together with a loose interpretation of the inspiration sketch. I used my super cute spotted Verve heart die cuts to create a wreath of hearts just in time for Valentines. I love that the hearts ended up almost looking like a nordic inspired Christmas snowflake decoration too! Patterned papers are MME spots and Kaisercraft woodgrain, paired with Crate Papers' Open Book chipboard "Love You" sentiment. 

Remember to hop along to the website for some more amazing inspiration from the Design Team. As usual, you can play along with FUSION using either this gorgeous FUSION photo inspiration, or this fabulously versatile sketch, or a combination of both.

Betty J - Brandi Hall - Deanne K - Jeanne Jachna - Julia Aston - Katie Brooks

Karren J - Kimberly Wiener - Lynn Mangan - Michelle Folland

Michelle Lupton - Sandie Munro - Shannon Jaramillo - Stephanie Severin

I would LOVE if you could join in the fun @ FUSION too!

Also playing along with The Paper Players Clean & Simple Valentine

P.S. I would love you to join in to win with 2015 A Few of My Favourite Things too! 

FUSION - Who Loves You...

So many FABULOUS FUSION entries last fortnight!

Thank you so much for playing along :)

This fortnight's card is inspired by the colours and textures of this FUSION photo, with highlights of teal (yes it is teal irl!), orange and brown, and hints of the inspiration sketch too! Super cute owl, branch and sentiment from Paper Smooches, all stamped in Momento Ink Rich Cocoa, and combined with papers from Kaisercraft. 

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.

Joining in the Valentine's Day fun at Paper Smooches,
The Pink Elephant Be My Valentine,
Simon Says Stamp All Creatures Great & Small (Paper Smooches),
and House of Cards Love Challenge too!

PS Happy 4th Anniversay - Hogs & Kisses...

Happy Fourth Anniversary Paper Smooches

I thought I'd try and kick myself out of my mojo lull by joining in the fun with Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes, this very cool Freshly Made Sketches and Addicted to CAS Hugs and Kisses. Don't forget the Paper Smooches Designer Challenge is on at the moment too!

Created the large heart by using the small Paper Smooches Hearts die cut, enlarging on the photocopier by 400% and using this as my template to fussy cut the large heart. Cute little hog is from Paper Smooches Green Acres, and the sentiment is from Paper Smooches We Connect. Papers are from Kaisercraft, including the gorgeous red embossed paper for the hearts, the little hog is stamped onto Gelatos on watercolour paper then fussy cut, with die cut alphas from MFT.

Also playing along with 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge H is for Hearts, Hugs, Hogs...

AAA Cards Love, Love, Love, Happy Little Stampers Embossing,

Crafty Cardmakers Love, Love, Love,

Inspired by Stamping Colours & Hearts

I'd LOVE it if you could play along with this months 
Mixed Media Card Challenge - LOVE too!

This made me smile...

This made me smile too...

LOVE Ewe - Mixed Media Card Challenge

I thought I'd have a bit of fun with this months Mixed Media Card Challenge - LOVE and created LOVE Ewe card using this super cute Paper Smooches Party Posse lamb, combined with Paper Smooches Hearts Dies and Love Word sentiment die cuts. Background woodgrain paper is from Kaisercraft, with the sheep and string of hearts created using Gelato crayons and watercolour paper.

There's some more fabulous inspiration from the design team over on 

the Mixed Media Card Challenge blog.

Looking forward to seeing your fabulous LOVEly creations!
Link up before Fabruary 25th.

Also playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes, 

CAS(E) this Sketch and the Card Concept Clean and Layered challenges.

FUSION - Heartful

Returned recently from a trip to Tasmania - no internet or crafting for more than a week - fabulous fun, but I'm feeling a little rusty LOL!

Love is in the air... inspired by the fabulous different sizes and shapes of hearts in this fortnights FUSION inspiration photo. Simon Says Stamp Lots of Hearts and Studio Calico JJ Bolton hearts, stamped in Momento Luxe Red Letter, Rosebud and Bahama Blue, and sentiment is from Technique Tuesday by Ali Edwards Live in the Moment.

The Design Team have some 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.

Also playing along with The Card Concept - Clean and Graphic
and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes

and don't forget, there are still a couple of days to join in and link up a post highlighting your favourite creations for 2014 on Our Favourite Things linky party on my blog here!

Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge...

Hope you all had a FABULOUS Christmas!

I was so excited to discover I had time to spend a day with my kiddies enjoying the Boxing Day sales (except for the parking which was diabolical LOL!), AND a chance to play along with Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge (not the least bit diabolical!), thanks to the time difference!

The December theme is Silver and Gold - so on trend! With all my Christmas cards out of the way, I was inspired by this gorgeous celebration cake, with all its layered circles. Created using a base of white cardstock splattered with Heidi Swapp Gold, diecut with silver glitter paper Papertrey Ink circle heart die cut (tree top) and Stitched Circles, added a touch of gold thread, and Papertrey Ink Wet Paint sentiment in superfine silver embossing powder.

Also playing along with Crazy for CAS Anything Goes,

Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes, and Dies R Us Anything Goes.

I Fall 4 U...

Now I dare you no to have that song running around your head for the next 20 minutes LOL!

Created with left over leaves from this card, I thought I'd create a Valentine's Day card to play along with Lawnscaping Pumpkin / Fall Challenge. Seize the Birthday have a Monochromatic Orange challenge at the moment this would be perfect for - but for the slightly excluding fact it is not a birthday card LOL! 

The Lawn Fawn Autumn Leaves were die cut from watercolour paper with Twinkling H2O (Egyptian Gold, Autumn Butternut, Poppy) and LuminArte (Sunflower, Yellow Rose, Orange Peel, Persimmon), and the Lawn Fawn Into the Woods fox was stamped and paper pieced using scraps of Basic Grey papers. The sentiment was created using Lawn Fawn Into the Woods "fall" and Riley's ABCs.

Also Playing along with Card Concept Thank"fall" Clean & Simple and 

The Pink Elephant Photo Inspiration Challenge.

Do what you love, love what you do...

I got to thinking about why it is we do what we do, after reading Darnell's thought-provoking post, and realised when I'm in a ditch of doubt or lack of creativity, I always need to refocus on simply doing what I love and loving what I do, and anything else is a bonus. After all, the world now knows of the fate during their lifetime of such greats as Monet, Van Gough and Cezanne (see this article of 10 Famous Artists Who Had to Deal with Rejection During Their Lifetime). Not that I am in ANY way placing myself anywhere near the company of these luminaries, but it just goes to show, in order for them to keep creating, they too had to simply focus on doing what they loved and loving what they do.

With that in mind, I simply could not go past this spectacular photo prompt from this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, and combined it with this fabulous Retro Sketch by Tracey, because it's what I love to do! 

Created using a mix of Paper Smooches dies, Reflections Flowers and Big Bloom flowers on a Polaroid base, with Love Word sentiment, all pop dooted against this gorgeous American Crafts timber grained patterned paper. The patterned paper flowers are a mixture of MME, Echo Park and American Crafts.

Remember, have FUN and enjoy the process, and if you can recognize something you love in what someone else creates, let them know, it doesn't hurt to spread the love ;)

I hope you get to do what you love and love what you do a little this weekend!

Addicted to CAS and Geometric - August Guest Designer

So happy to be back Guest Designing with the fabulous 

Addicted to CAS team this fortnight!

With the Addicted to CAS code word Geometric, 
I had so many ideas I ended up making two cards today!


Winnie and Walter Pennant triangle stamps are FABULOUS for this challenge! 
The sun was created by stamping the pennant triangles in Dandelion and Morocco Momento Luxe inks, with a die cut circle as the centre, stamped with this very fitting Verve sentiment.

The second card uses this gorgeous geometric giraffe and crazy sentiment by Altenew, stamped in Versamark Watermark and heat embossed in Zing Pewter, and randomly filled with these three fabulous bright Color Throwdown colours. The triangle chunks were cut by snipping the card at a right-angles to the side, then cutting along the top half of the triangle, and flipping that cut piece over as a mirror reverse template, to make ensure the larger triangle ended up equilateral.

Remember to visit the Addicted to CAS Challenge blog for some more 

gorgeous Geometric inspiration from the team!


Card 2, playing along with Color Throwdown,
Virginia's View Shaped Cards,
Seize the Sketch and Less is More Animal too!