A Neat & Tangled Birthday Dash...

8 Minutes and 49 seconds later...

Joining in the celebrations at 10 Minute Craft Dash Birthday Extravaganza - as I had quite a few extra flowers from creating this card yesterday, I thought I'd have a go at creating a second card using the left overs! Also joining in the fun at Neat & Tangled Birthday celebrations, where Danielle challenged us to create a Neat & Tangled birthday card with non-birthday sets, so I've combined the Little Tangles and Fresh Blooms sets.

My first 10 Minute Craft Dash attempt was way too ambitious, so I scrapped that idea and started again from scratch, this time stamping the chevron background then pasting the flowers on top and cutting out the decorated Lil Inkers frames - much more time effective! As the only sentiment in these sets close to Happy Birthday was "Happy Day", I added the little "Bee" to create a "Happy B'Day" sentiment, stamped in Hero Arts Wet Cement.  The Little Tangles chevrons were stamped in Hero Arts Butter Bar and Orange Soda, and the Fresh Blooms flowers and bee left over from yesterdays card, had been stamped over spritzed Dylusions backgrounds with white embossing powder.

As you can see from the extra sequins, enamel dots and twine on my desk, none of this ended up on my card - even though I was running out of time, I didn't feel it needed any - OK well, maybe a little sequins wouldn't have gone amiss ;)

Playing along with Little Tangles Let's Celebrate, 

Neat & Tangled Un-birthday Birthday Challenge

Moxie Fab Birthday Creations Week Birthday Card Challenge, 

Summer Camp Wrap Up Homework, and

Keep It Simple Chevron Challenge too.

Happy B'Day Neat & Tangled...

Neat & Tangled are having a massive Birthday Bash to celebrate turning one - so I thought I'd join in the party!!!

Danielle challenged us to create a Neat & Tangled birthday card with non-birthday sets, which I have already attempted here and here using the Little Bear set, but I thought I'd give it another whirl, this time combining the Little Tangles and Fresh Blooms sets.  As the only sentiment in these sets close to Happy Birthday was "Happy Day", I added the little "Bee" to create a "Happy B'Day" sentiment.  The Little Tangles chevrons were stamped in Butter Bar (yellow), Orange Soda, Bubble Gum (pink) and Wet Cement (grey), and the Fresh Blooms flowers and bee were stamped over spritzed Dylusions backgrounds with white embossing powder.  The frame was created using Lil Inkers Dies, pop dotted for added texture, and finished with clear Neat & Tangled sequins.

Playing along with Little Tangles Let's Celebrate, 

Neat & Tangled Un-birthday Birthday Challenge

Moxie Fab Birthday Creations Week Birthday Card Challenge,

Unscripted Sketches Flashback Summer Sketch #92, and

Keep It Simple Chevron Challenge too.

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!

Paper Smooches August Guest Designer...

So excited to be Guest Designer over at Paper Smooches!!!

Delighted to bring my first two cards featuring the August Paper Smooches release Many Thanks stamps, these are the Thanks A Million stamps for August too - so any August order over $60 (before discounts & postage) receives this fabulous set for FREE!

This set will certainly never leave you short for a word of thanks! I couldn't decide which of the fabulous Many Thanks sentiments to choose - so I (nearly) used them all!  I created the background using Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemon, then spritzed with water and a touch of Dylusions Lemon Zest (hungry yet anyone LOL!), and used a heat gun to ensure this was thoroughly dry before stamping.  I aligned all my stamps using my Fiskars Stamp Press before stamping in Momento Black ink, and adding these cute wood veneer hearts and speech bubble from Studio Calico.

My next card features sentiments from Many Thanks, combined with this funky little Bee Mine bee and "Bee" sentiment, together with the August release Artisan Blocks hexagon honeycomb.  The honeycomb background was created by stamping Artisan Blocks on yellow vellum using Versamark Watermark then heat embossing with Whispers Black Glitter - it's amazing how this looks in real life! The bee was also stamped in Black Glitter on yellow vellum, with his body backed using white cardstock - and fussy cutting the holes out for his eyes.  Paper Smooches Hexalongs dies were used to create the negative space for the honeycomb, and to also cut a negative space in the dark grey cardstock base - so the yellow vellum honeycomb becomes a translucent window - perfect for playing along with this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch - Sheer & Clear.   The white cardstock layer and bee were pop dotted, and this cute little Studio Calico wooden heart was stained with Versa Color Opera Pink ink.

Playing along with Dynamic Duos,
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes,
The Pink Elephant Texture Challenge
Little Red Wagon Falling to Pieces, and
Summer Camp Online Class Homework Week 1 - Day 2 too!

A-MUSEd Smooching Sequins Super Shaker...

Couldn't resist playing along with Lynn's gorgeous MUSE card this week - just squeaked in though! Taking inspiration from the blue background and white frame I created a Super Shaker, based on Lil Inkers Stitched Polaroid die cut, and added these cute star sequins, from the bargain bin at my local craft outlet. These paper pieced stamps are from Paper Smooches Super. My first attempt at a shaker card, and it was surprisingly easy. First cut some left over clear packaging to size for the window and glued into place with Helmar 450, added foam double-sided tape around the back of the polaroid frame, lined with a super thin strip of cardstock, to help stop the sequins from sticking to the insides of the frame, then added a backing piece the same size as the frame - if you haven't already you should try it, you might like it LOL!

Playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks Trend Watch Sheer & Clear Challenge with the clear shaker cover and sheer sequins, Catered Crops Sequins Challenge, Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Birthday Challenge, Moxie Fab Birthday Card Challenge, Keep It Simple Birthday Challenge, and last but definitely not least, Die Cuttin Divas Anything Goes.

Lynn's MUSE card

 

Retro Red Merry Christmas...

 

ETA. Playing along with the Moxie Fabulous Holiday Cards & More - Holiday Card Challenge

You have until September 2 to join in the fun!

I thought that it was high time to get a head start on Christmas cards, especially since I was fortunate enough to recently win this gorgeous Poinsettia stamp set from Uniko Studio (who are having their very first Challenge over here, so if you get a chance, pop by and say Hello before August 14th). I stamped the poinsettia several times onto Basic Grey paper and fussy cut, mounting the five layers with foam tape, and then added Annabelle Stamps Blackcurrant Sprinkles as the buds on the poinsettia and to decorate the border. To play along with Shopping Our Stash Use Your Oldest Punch, I created the border using my oldest punch, a Fiskars Scalloped Border punch.  The weathered wood paper is from Simple Stories.

Believe it or not, this card started off using this gorgeous Retro Sketch as it's springboard, and dived off into a whole other pool!!!

I do have a couple more ideas in mind for this sketch, which you may or may not see this week LOL!  

Playing along with Merry Monday Anything Goes Challenge, 

Little Red Wagon Christmas in July Challenge and
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes too!

This made me smile

A Little CAS Camping...

As soon as I saw this weeks CASology Camp Cue Card, I knew this is the card I wanted to create - just took me a while to get around to it LOL!  Nothing says camping to me more than a campfire, and this cute Neat & Tangled stamp, paper pieced with a combination of Echo Park and Simple Stories papers, fitted the bill perfectly. The smoke signals are negative die-cut using Paper Smooches cloud dies, backed with Echo Park Now & Then paper.  I wanted to play along with Little Tangles Birthday Celebration, but I struggled with a lack of birthday stamps, so the smoke signal sentiment is handwritten.  Luckily this weeks Color Throwdown is the perfect colour combination for camping too!

Playing along with Keep It Simple Birthday Challenge too!

This made me smile!

and this too!