Ombré and Butterflies

You know that moment just before the light fades completely after a gorgeous sunset?  That's what this reminds me of.  Not sure if the butterflies would still be playing out at that time, though.

The background for the card was inspired by the challenge at Simon Says Monday Challenge - Ombré.

I've been using autumn colours lately, (with a lot more to come, I'm sure) so I thought I'd have a change of palette and went for pink through to purple.  I dabbed Spun Sugar, Pickled Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire Distress Paints down one side of a panel of mixed media card, then spritzed, turned the card sideways to let the paints drip and blend, with the added help of a paintbrush. I like that you can see some of the brush marks too.  Once the panel was dry I stamped the solid butterfly shapes from Trendy Butterflies and sentiment from Vignette: Trendy Feathers.

We've got more inspiration for you over at the STAMPlorations blog, and if you fancy CASEing this or any of the DT's cards, why don't you link it up to the CASE playground and the Anything Goes challenge (if you used STAMPlorations stamps) for a chance to win prizes.

Come back tomorrow, we have a new CASEplorations challenge for you.

Autumn Dress

My acrylic block palette is still full of autumnal shades of Distress Inks, so I sloshed some on this dress image (Inkadinkado - My Mother's Dress), splattered some onto some white card that I'd cut a border on, then fussy cut the image and mounted everything onto leather-look maroon card.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Stamp - Work It Wednesday (Use a Stamp) and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #39

Time for some more STAMPlorations inspiration for you.  Today I've used the Leaning Cake of Pisa from The Bee's Knees World Birthday Cakes set.

I started by brayering a layer of gesso onto a piece of mixed media card, then when that was dry I added Distress Paints in Spun Sugar, Antique Linen and Mustard Seed, spritzed and blended them and left them to dry.  I stamped the image with Versafine Onyx Black, then gently stamped off parts of the image until all the ink was gone.  Added a sentiment and stamped off some of the plus signs as well, then distressed the edges of the panel to add to the ancient Italy feel, before adhering it to my card base.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.  If you want to CASE this or any of the inspiration cards, why not add your entry to the CASE playground for a chance to win a prize?

I'm adding this to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper.

Autumn Splendour

A quick post from me before Downton Abbey starts :)

Shades of autumn, going into the following challenges:

Simply Create Too - Autumn Splendour

City Crafter - Fall Has Arrived

Magenta - Autumn

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper

Autumn Has Landed

As soon as I saw this stamp, and more particularly, the beautiful cards that Heather and Micheline have been creating with it for Penny Black, I had to have it.  This is my first attempt with it, and I'm quite happy with it.  I'm entering it into Inkspirational, which has this photo for inspiration:

I'm also entering it into Simply Create Too, Autumn Splendour:

And City Crafter - Fall Has Arrived:

STAMPlorations Inspiration #38

How about a little STAMPlorations inspiration?  I've teamed the trio of trees from The Bee's Knees Houses Extras with a sentiment from Oh, Christmas Tree for a quick Christmas card to add to my collection.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and if you fancy CASEing this or any of our cards, why not add your entry to the CASE playground for a chance to win a prize?

Seize The Birthday - Border Punches Or Dies

We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and this time we want you to use border punches or dies.  I've used my new border die and teamed it with the Woodware Doodle-a-Flower stamp set and Distress Inks.

I'm entering this into CASology - Circles.  Is it CAS enough?  I think it better fits Maria's definition of CASSY (CAS and messy)!

And I'm also entering it into FUSION - Peacock Dynasty.  I've gone for the peacock colours.

Floral Vellum Birthday

I'm playing along at TIME OUT, where the challenge is to CASE this gorgeous card by Tracey:

On mixed media paper I stamped the Histoire du temps XL stamp by Carabelle with Versamark, then washed over it with Distress Inks - it didn't resist quite as much as I'd thought.  You can just make out a clock face on the left, but IRL you can see a lot more of the image. My panel is one quarter of the complete image - it's huge!

I stamped the flowers from Winnie & Walter on coloured vellum, white-embossed them and cut them out, adhering them with Invisible Dots for vellum.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted, and I doodled a border on the panel before adding it to the card base.

I'm also adding it to Winnie & Walter's Join In To Win.  It's been ages since I played here!

Dotty Dress Birthday

Quick post from me today.  I've been busy with design team commitments lately, but I managed to find this card in my unposted folder.  I'm playing along with Simon Says Monday Challenge - STAMPtember Use a Stamp and Blog Hop.

It also fits the City Crafter Challenge - In Pieces, which closes in a few hours, so I'd better get a wriggle on!

See you soon!

Summer Party Dresses

I'm over at STAMPlorations tonight with a tutorial on how I made this card and its counterpart.  I'm entering this one into Simon Says Monday Challenge, Love This Technique  (for me, it's watercolouring and splattering with Distress Inks).

Here's a sneak of the other card.  Pop on over to STAMPlorations for the full tutorial.

Painted Daisies

It's a day for daisies!  Here's some STAMPlorations inspiration for you, using the daisy stamp from The Birds and The Blooms set.  I stamped three images, masking as I went, then coloured them with Aged Mahogany and Fossilised Amber Distress Inks.  I painted in some stalk and leaf shapes with Peeled Paint, then scribbled some outlines and squiggles with a black pen.  And added some splatters :)

I'm entering this into The Card Concept where the inspiration is this gorgeous photo:

I've gone for Clean(ish) and Layered ;)  In case you're wondering, my painted daisies are Pyrethrums.

Pop on over to STAMPlorations for some fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and to find out how you can win prizes!

STAMPlorations Inspiration and NBUS5

Time for some STAMPlorations inspiration for you.  I've used the frilly dress and tailor's dummy from The Bee's Knees PartyDresses, and the sentiment from Party Time.  And lots of splishy splashes and splatters, love 'em!

I'm also playing along at Darnell's NBUS challenge #5.  Perched on the very top of Mt NBUS is this lovely border edge die, which I coveted recently and which promptly jumped into one of my many shopping baskets.  I'm hoping to have a look around Base Camp at Mt NBUS soon, see what I can find.  I'm sure it will all come back into fashion one day...

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for more inspiration from the Design Team, and to see how you can win prizes by playing along.  (STAMPlorations are also one of the sponsors for Darnell's fabulous NBUS challenge.)

Craft Stamper Reminder - Take a Stamp

Have you played along at Craft Stamper Take It Make It yet?  All you need is a stamp and you're in!

This month we're being sponsored by STAMPlorations, and a randomly chosen entrant will win this fabulous stamp set and two stencils:

I've used the stamp set and one of the stencils for my card.  For my background, I dusted over the bold florals stencil ever so lightly with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, then stamped the lily image on spare card and coloured with Picked Raspberry and Fossilised Amber Distress Inks.  I added a little grungy stamping in the corner, trimmed the panel to fit my pink card, and mounted the framed lily.

Pop on over to the Craft Stamper blog for some more inspiration from the rest of the design team, then get creating for your chance to win.  Don't forget, the winner chosen by the design team will have their creation published in the magazine along with a two page profile, and a guest design spot in a future challenge.

Seize The Birthday - No Toppings

We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and this time there are no toppings, so anything you like, as long as it's a birthday project.

I've done a one layer card so that I can play along at One Layer Simplicity where the theme is What's Your Number?  Erm - all of 'em!

I'm also playing along at Inkspirational, where they also have a one layer challenge.

This card didn't start out well, as my first imprint with spritzed Distress Inks didn't turn out as well-defined as I'd envisaged, so I just overstamped with black, and now I like it :)

Pop on over to Seize The Birthday for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, and play along with us!

I'm off to build my new Rastog trolley and re-arrange my craft room.  Who knows what treasures I might find??