STAMPlorations Inspiration #58 - Déjà Vu

Not quite déjà vu, but very similar to this card back in November.  This time I used the frilly dress from The Bee's Knees PartyDresses.  The fa la la la las come from the Joyful set.

The dress and pennants are coloured with Festive Berries and Barn Door distress inks, and I've used Frantage embossing powder, heating it gently from underneath so that I didn't have to use embossing ink one the image.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team, and leave a comment for a chance to win.

Parade of Poppies

I'm over at A Sprinkle of Imagination today with a step-by-step on this poppy parade.  Pop on over to take a look!

I'm entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes.

Seize The Birthday - A Sketch

We've got a sketch for you at Seize The Birthday this challenge.  I've been a little bit creative with the sketch, but you can still see how I've incorporated all the elements.  Well, most of them - I've interpreted the circles as sequins!

Shortly before Christmas, DS2 surprised his girlfriend by proposing to her.  Fortunately, she said yes :)  They live in Australia, and as most of our communications are done by text and FaceTime, it seemed appropriate that I used a mobile phone diecut to convey our congratulations.

I had watched Jennifer McGuire's video on a window shaker card, which gave me the idea for turning the phone screen into a shaker.  I sealed a double heart charm into the shaker pocket, which I'd made with my trusty DIY tool, then set it into the card front, adding the phone diecut to the card front.  Here are a couple more views:

I wrote on the back of the card so that it wouldn't show through the screen.

The 'celebrate' diecut (Winnie & Walter - The Big The Bold and Party Cutaways) is glued at either side onto the white card.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog to see how the rest of the Design Team have interpreted the sketch, and join in with us.  If you don't want to use the sketch, you can play along with any birthday creation.

I'm adding this card to Winnie & Walter's Rerun No 8 (technically for Scenery: The Party Hangover but I've used Shay's project as my inspiration.

I'm also adding it to Winnie & Walter's Join In To Win.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #57 - Comic Strip Birds

I've done another comic strip card for today's STAMPlorations Inspiration.  I used The Bee's Knees SmallBirds set, and Sentiment Builders: Happy for my sentiment.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and leave a comment for your chance to win a random prize.

I'm entering my card into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Create With Critters.

Paper-Pieced Party Dresses

Fusion meets CAS on Sunday with this card.  When I saw the inspiration photo for the Fusion challenge, I immediately thought of polka-dot dresses.

As luck would have it, the challenge at CAS on Sunday is paper piecing.

So I had a rummage through my paper stash for blue and cream dotty paper, stamped some dresses from The Bee's Knees PartyDresses and fussy cut them.  The background panel was in my stash of embossing folder prints à la Tim Holtz in Weathered Wood, sponged with Antique Linen.  The hangers were stamped directly onto the panel before adhering the dresses.

The sentiment is made from a couple of STAMPlorations sets:  "simply" and "stunning" are from Blossom Overture and "have a" and "birthday" are from Sentiment Builders: Happy.

Comic Strip Party Dresses

Another comic strip card - my latest obsession.  I was getting low on girly birthday cards, so it was an ideal opportunity to make a few variations of these cards to replenish my stocks.

I'm entering this into Curtain Call - Girly

And the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - T for Technique (Comic strip cards, Distress watercolouring).

I've never played here before, though goodness knows why, cos I certainly qualify on the snark side of things ;)

Get Your Party On

Popping in with a quick card for a couple of challenges.   I'm supposed to be helping prep for a dinner party tonight but I had to play along with The Challenge when I saw this inspiration photo.  Love the soft cream and pink and lace.

I still had my Party Dresses set out from Wednesday, so I made a quick one layer card, colouring the image and sentiment with, appropriately, Tattered Rose and Antique Linen.

I'm also playing at Curtain Call, where the theme is Girly,

and Simon Says Monday Challenge where the theme is Best Friend.

Ok, back to making tuile biscuits and freezing grapes :)

Comic Strip Card

I've been making a few comic strip cards, so you'll be seeing more of this style over the coming weeks, and I'll be doing a tutorial on my STAMPlorations Spotlight post on 3 February.

But for now, I'm adding this one to ColourQ, where I haven't managed to play for ages...  As soon as I saw the colour scheme, I had to make this card :)

It's the perfect card to give to a friend, so I'm entering it into Simon Says Monday Challenge - Best Friends.

It's actually my turn in the Spotlight tonight at STAMPlorations with a different card - here's a little peek, but pop on over and take a look.

STAMPlorations Inspiration #56 - A Shaker Card (So Soon)

It's time for some inspiration over at the STAMPlorations blog.  Having said here that I wasn't likely to make another shaker card, I've made another shaker card.  And another, which I'll share when I know it's reached its recipients.

And the reason I've been making them is because I've rigged up a "fuse tool" DIY style.  I've been umming and aaaing whether to get a Fuse Tool.  I'm a sucker for gadgets, but would I actually use a Fuse Tool enough? (That tiny little detail doesn't usually stop me.)

So I watched the promotional video, and thought that it just looked like a soldering iron with a different attachment.  Hang on - I've got a soldering iron in the attic (told you I was a sucker for gadgets).  I also have a Pergamano perforating tool but unfortunately the shaft is too big to fit the soldering iron.  So I compromised by using the conical soldering tip and a dotting action, and an ordinary steel ruler.  Which works, as long as you're encasing the shaker pouch so that the sealed borders aren't showing - they aren't quite as neat and pretty as the real deal, but otherwise you wouldn't know the difference.  Anyway, on to the card.

I had this panel in my stash (embossing folder and Distress Ink printing à la Tim Holtz).  I stamped the sunrise image from Deepti's new set, New Beginning, in Versafine Smoky Grey, cut the image out and used that on this card last week.

I stamped the image on acetate using Staz On black, laid it onto another acetate panel, fused three sides, filled with sequins and stardust, fused the final side then attached the shaker pouch to the back of the cutout panel, then attached it to the front of the card.

So - have I inspired you to make your own "fuse tool"?  Thought not.  But I hope I've inspired you to make a shaker window card with Deepti's new set ;)

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and don't forget to leave a comment while you're there for a chance to win in a random prize draw.

Banishing The Winter Blues

I've been banishing the dull winter blues with some bright colours over at A Sprinkle of Imagination today.  Pop on over for the full reveal

STAMPlorations New Release, Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Here it is, the STAMPlorations Blog Hop featuring the new release of stamps by Becca, Deepti, Shery and me!

Did you see Becca's set, Reindeer Games, on Monday?  Here's what I made:

And did you see Deepti's set, New Beginning, on Tuesday?  Here's my card:

How about Shery's set, Big Greetings, on Wednesday?  Here's mine:

And then there was my set, Winged Things, on Thursday.  Here's another card (also using Shery's Big Greetings set):

So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty - and see what you can win:

Prizes:

• ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs (January 15/Day 5 post) wins a $25 gift certificate to the shop
• TWO (2) commenters randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs each win a $15 gift certificate to the shop
• FOUR (4) commenters randomly drawn from Designer & Stamp Spotlight posts (Days 1 to 4) win the stamp set featured for that day.

All four sets have 10% off until 22 January - if you buy all four sets as a bundle, it's 20% off - bargain!  Click here for the bundle.

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Reminder - Take A Stamp

Are you playing along with the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge?  This month, it's Take a Stamp, so anything you like as long as it includes proper stamping.

I've used dragonfly images from my new set, The Bee's Knees Winged Things, along with a sentiment from STAMPlorations Country Rustic, and background stamps from Mixed Media Elements.  The background is Dylusions sprays, and I've added some Wink of Stella to some of the dragonfly wings.

Here's what's on offer:

The challenge is sponsored by Dali Art and one lucky random winner will get this package:

l-r: ribbon, bindi embellishments, self adhesive gems in 2 sizes, Indian butterfly stamp

And the winner chosen by the Design Team will get their entry published in Craft Stamper magazine, along with a profile feature, and will be invited to guest design in a future challenge.  What are you waiting for?

Pop on over to the blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, then join in!

Seize The Birthday - Clean and Simple

This is my second post today.  For my new stamp release, The Bee's Knees Winged Things, click here, where you'll see lots more cards I've made with this set.

It's time for a new Seize The Birthday challenge, and the topping is Clean and Simple.  If Clean and Simple isn't your style, you can still play along with any birthday creation.

I created my panel by stamping the large butterfly from my new stamp set, The Bee's Knees Winged Things, then watercoloured using Distress Inks.  The sentiment is from Deepti's set, Balloons and Banners.

If you've seen my earlier post today, you'll see the other half of this panel on another card, along with a few more cards using the stamps.  If you haven't seen it, click here.

So, how about playing along at Seize The Birthday?  Click here for more inspiration from the team, and to join in.  See you in the gallery!

ETA:

I'm adding this to the galleries at City Crafter - Butterfly, My Butterfly

and Timeout - Birthday (minus the optional twist of sponging).

The Bee's Knees - New Stamps and a Giveaway!

Hello, and welcome to Day 4 of STAMPlorations release week and the launch of my newest stamp set in The Bee's Knees range - Winged Things!  (Click on Day 1 for Becca's Reindeer Games, Day 2 for Deepti's New Beginning, and Day 3 for Shery's Big Greetings.)

Love these stamps!  Big butterflies, small butterflies, dragonflies - yay!  So, let's see what we can make with them.

A bit of mixed media:

Some watercolouring with Distress Inks (you'll see the other half of this panel later today).

Spray inks, bleaching with water, Wink of Stella:

Bubble wrap, Distress Inks, masking fluid, gold leaf:

If you want to win this set, or any of the other new sets featured this week, pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog and leave comments on the relevant posts (including this one).  And pop back to the STAMPlorations blog tomorrow for a mega bloghop where all the team are showing cards from each set, and for a chance to win more prizes:  

• ONE (1) commenter randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs (January 15/Day 5 post) wins a $25 gift certificate to the shop
• TWO (2) commenters randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and designers' blogs each win a $15 gift certificate to the shop
• FOUR (4) commenters randomly drawn from Designer & Stamp Spotlight posts (Days 1 to 4) win the stamp set featured for that day

All four sets are on offer at 10% off until 22 January - if you buy all four as a bundle, you'll get 20% off - bargain! 

STAMPlorations Inspiration #55 - Expect Great Things

It's time for some inspiration at STAMPlorations, and we're in the middle of a new stamp release, so it's a great excuse to use some of the new images and sentiments from the release.

The butterfly is from my new set, The Bee's Knees Winged Things, and the sentiment is from Deepti's new set, New Beginning.

The background panel has been in my stash for a while.  At a guess, I'd say it involves a smooshing of modelling paste and some Distress Inks ;)   Once I'd stamped and coloured my butterfly on mixed media paper, I added a touch of pink and yellow onto the background to tie everything together.  Stamped a sentiment onto the scrap of mixed media paper, stapled it to the panel then mounted the panel to the card, added the fussy-cut butterfly and it's done.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Something New.  The sentiment says it all, but it's also a new stamp set ;)

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Time Flies (time or flying)

Just Us Girls - Metal or Metallic (I've used staples, does that count?)

and Fusion, where I've picked a couple of the colours (magenta/yellow) and sort-of followed the sketch ;)

**************

Don't forget about the Mixed Media Card Challenge, which is all about beginnings, with an option of sequins.  Click here for all the details.