Winnie & Walter Leading Lady - Week 1, Dear Dad...

Hi there Winnie and Walter friends and fans!  So excited to have been invited to spend September with you as Winnie and Walter's Leading Lady. I'm sure Shay and Julie could hear me squealing from half way around the globe when they asked me to join you!

Before I start I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Jenny Martin for being my Silhouette saviour!!!

DEAR DAD...

As tomorrow is Father's Day here in Australia, I thought I'd start out September with some cards for the special Dad's in our lives.

First up for the Dad who is the centre of your universe...

I had a whole lotta fun getting super inky for this one! On a base of watercolour paper, starting in the centre, with Distressed Ink in Squeezed Lemon applied with a round dauber, then moving outwards with Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Broken China and Faded Jeans. Splattered liberally with water and dried with a heatgun, before stamping a sprinkling of these super cute Winnie and Walter Scenery: Big Bang Confetti stars, heat embossed in Zing White. Coloured my die cut star with Distressed Ink in Squeezed Lemon, and stamped Winnie and Walter Big, Bold, Seasons, topped with a Winnie and Walter Parentville cut file "Dad". 

Next up, for the Dad who dreams of being shaken, not stirred...

Created using Walter and Winnie Scenery V is for Chevron, with the V stamp repeated to create faux plaid. First stamp an evenly spaced row in Momento Luxe Bahama Blue, then an evenly spaced row in Momento Luxe Pear Tart in the opposite direction, Making sure you overlap the two points of the chevron. Created the faux tux with a die cut stitched tag, stamped with sentiments from Walter and Winnie The Big, The Bold and the Seasons also in Momento Luxe Bahama Blue, and finished once again with these cool Walter and Winnie Parentville cut files, "Dad" and a Bond bow tie. You can have a lot of fun playing with different colour combinations to create your own faux plaid patterned papers!

Last, but not least, for the Dad who LOVES spending time in the shed!

I have recently discovered the delights of creating cards with metal sheets, and Winnie and Walter cut files are perfect for this! My background was created by running a piece of Add a Little Dazzle Dark Chocolate metal sheet through my Cuttlebug with a Tim Holtz gears folder. The raised sections were sanded to remove some of the top layer of colour, then the bare silver was coloured by rubbing with Gelatos. I ran a second piece of the metal sheet through to create the fishtail flag base for sentiment, secured the Winnie and Walter Parentville cut file, "Dad" letters in place behind the flag with masking tape, then used a cotton bud (Qtip) to rub around the edges of the letters before again sanding back the top layer of colour, and adding blue Gelato highlights. The "Happy Father's Day" Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold and the You sentiment was stamped on silver cardstock and heat embossed in Zing Pewter.

Remember to leave a comment on my blog on any of my Winnie and Walter Leading Lady posts throughout September to be in the draw to WIN a $30 gift card for Winnie and Walter! 

HUGE thanks to Shay and Julie for their generosity, and for this fabulous opportunity!

Card #3 Playing along with Darnells NBUS (Tim Holtz gear embossing folder),
Creative Knockout Tic, Tac, Toe (embossing, sentiment, metal embellishment)
Card #2 Playing along with Virginia's View Patterned Paper, and Wanna Sketch

and Card #1 with Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember® ‘Stamp-It’ and Blog Hop.

Wanna Uniko Card Concept...

Playing with watercolours, this time using Distress Inks as the base, and these gorgeous Uniko Studio die cuts. Die cut the three Uniko Studio butterflies first, followed by the Uniko Studio flower and lastly the Fawn Stitched Journalling Card. My blue and green watercolour panels were also die cut, then this fabulous Uniko Studio sentiment stamped in white embossing powder on blue vellum.

Joining in the fun at the Uniko Studio Spring Challenge, 

playing with this fabulous Wanna Sketch, 

Card Concept Butterfly Challenge, Seize the Birthday and

Simon Says Stamp HAPPY BIRTHDAY Challenge.

 

 

This made me smile...

Love {Mama Elephant} today & always...

I thought I'd try a new to me technique which has been popular for a while, so to twist it up {and as Valentine's Day is around the corner} I thought I'd try bokeh in hearts rather than dots. Created using hearts from Mama Elephant Tree Friends, Bling and On Target, with the gorgeous silhouette and sentiment from So Breezy. Inspired by Mama Elephant Photo Inspiration Challenge, CAS on Sunday Lovely Dovey, Addicted to CAS New Challenge, and Curtain Call Love Letters Challenge. Stamped in a combination of Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks, Hero Arts Bubble Gum and Momento Luxe Rose Bud. Stamped the sentiment and girl in position first, then the hearts with the lightest colour first, building up to the darkest layer.

E.T.A... After I uploaded my card I discovered Lisa's Wanna Sketch has started for the year with the fabulous sketch below - and I couldn't resist linking mine up :)

  

 

Peace on Earth...

"Hasten the time when, from every clime,

Men shall unite in the strains sublime:

Peace on earth, good-will to men;

Peace on earth..."

Combining negative die-cut Lil Inkers Stitched Snowflake and Stitched Rectangles, Lil Inkers sentiment and papers from MME and Echo Park, with a Neat & Tangled Crystal Clear sequins.

Playing along with Addicted to CAS Transparent Challenge,  

Merry Monday Music or Carol Challenge, and Dahlhouse Designs Wanna Sketch #10.

  

This made me smile

Wanna Sketch in Colour...

Had a play with my new Memory Box Gorgeous Gardenia's paired with Avery Elle's tag die cut and sentiment stamp to play along with this fabulous Dahlhouse Designs Wanna Sketch?, the gorgeous bright colours from Colour Q and City Crafter Give Thanks Challenges.  I love that I used up some more Basic Grey paper scraps - the Lollipop Shoppe Raspberry is at least 7 years old!

 

Linking up with Moxie Fab World Handmade Cards Colour Week Challenge and
Runway Inspired Challenge - with the contrast of black & white, flowers and POP of colour!

This made me smile...

Love and Happiness...

ETA Joining in the fun with Moxie Fab World 

Handmade Cards Week - General Craft Supplies Challenge

When I looked at the list of supplies for Therese's fabulous MUSE card this week, I discovered I could 99% copy this amazing creation, all I was missing was the brown sugar embossing powder!  As tempting as that was, I thought I'd twist it up a little by incorporating Lawn Fawn Home Sweet Home negative die cut houses, filled with burlap (or hessian as seems to be more common here) and Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts die cut red felt hearts, together with this sentiment from There She Goes Day or Night, stamped in Cup O' Joe, and pop dotted on a Kraft card base.

Joining in the fun at Lisa's Wanna Sketch,  

CAS on Sunday New Home Challenge and
CASology Silhouette Challenge too.

Therese's gorgeous MUSE card

 

This made me smile...

A Dash across the Lawn...

8 Minutes and 7 seconds later...

with a few of my favourite things...

Die cuts,

Foam tape,

Fussy cutting,

Patterned paper,

Combining Challenges,

Living in the Land Down Under...

So what's a girl to do when Lawnscaping Challenged with using her favourite supplies to create a card?!? Here's what I did!  

First up start the clock for the 10 Minute Craft Dash!  Then adhere a piece of brown Fancy Pants paper to cardstock before stamping this gorgeous Lawn Fawn Critters Down Under roo & kanga, once onto the brown and once onto the teal Childish papers, then fussy cut the images (see the first 10 Minute Tip below on how to save time when fussy cutting). Next up die cut Lawn Fawn Quinn's ABCs - the BEST thing about Lawn Fawn alphabets is that they come with ALL the letters - which means that "baby" was cut in one pass through the machine! Cut the Fancy Pants Childish check paper to size and adhere to the cardstock base. Position and adhere the die cut "baby" and stamp the "welcome" sentiment in Cup O Joe ink (another favourite!) Pop dot the roo & kanga, and stop the clock!

I interpreted the gorgeous overlapping hearts from Lisa's Wanna Sketch as the baby and mama roo - 'cause you can't get much more overlapping hearts than that!

10 Minute Tips...

• When fussy cutting overlapping images, first cut the top layer image edges that overlap (in this case the back of the roos head around to his nose) before adhering to the bottom layer image, then you can cut the common outline (in this case the front of the roos head) with the two pieces already glued together so you only need to cut the outline once.
• Choose a die cut alphabet which has ALL the letters -  the b and the q, the d and the p, the n and the u - which means that you can die cut words such as "baby" in a single pass through the machine!
• I find glue pens are the easiest adhesives to use for smaller fiddly pieces - especially when you are in a rush!
• Grid or check background paper makes aligning stamping & die cuts a breeze! 

Also playing along with Simon Says Stamp Animal Antics!

Dotty Dahlhouse Dash...

8 Minutes and 36 seconds later...

Couldn't let the 10 Minute Craft Dash deadline sprint by without a card, especially with a FABULOUS kit from Gossamer Blue up for grabs!  I spied this cute layout from Lisa over at Dahlhouse Designs and paired it with this weeks Little Red Wagons Pretty Polka Dots Challenge.  In the interests of equality, I played with my WPlus9 Feather die with polka dot papers from Echo Park, background paper from Fancy Pants, Lil Inkers stitched mat, My Favourite Things sentiment stamped in Hero Arts Stonewash ink and finished with Neat & Tangled sequins.

10 Minute Tips

• Keep it Simple!!! Die cuts make it simple to create a fast card, every time!
• To adhere the sequins quickly, I squeezed a small amount of Dimensional Magic on a spare piece of cardstock.  I used the edge of a ruler as a guide to line up where I wanted the sequins to be placed, and dipped the sequins in the Dimensional Magic before placing on the card.
• Foam tape on a roll is a Dashing crafters friend, peel off the backing tape before attaching to the card - saves time and mess ;)

Playing along with Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes too!

This made me smile...