Christmas Kickstart Challenge

Waaaaay back in the beginning of November I was invited by Jo (AKA Dotty Jo) to be a Guest Elf at the Christmas Kickstart challenge.  I was chuffed to be invited and luckily she caught me before life took some unexpected turns and my card supplies got packed up and shoved into a corner.

The theme for this month's challenge is The Sentiment Takes Centre Stage.  This was a perfect choice for me as I'd been having so much fun with my Essentials by Ellen alphabet dies at the time.  I always thought this Katzelkraft kitty must be yowling out a celebratory tune and decided that this time the tune would be Deck the Halls.  :)

I hope you'll play along and can't wait to see your creations!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Ralfs Red, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper: (Green Swirls 12x12) Stemma

Stamps:  (Cat) Katzelkraft, (Santa hat from Holiday Cats) Skipping Stones Designs

Ink:  (Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Classic Block Alpha) Essentials by Ellen

Markers:  (R27) Copic

Other:  (Glossy Accents) Ranger

Time Out Guest Designer

 I was lucky enough to be the winner of a recent Time Out challenge and was invited to be a guest designer for their latest challenge!  It just so happens that today is also my birthday - a pretty cool birthday gift huh?

It's an Inspired by Words challenge this time and, as always, you can take inspiration from the whole quote or just one word.  Usually I end up just working off one word but this time I found a rose die and friend sentiment that seemed to work well together and I went with it.

The sponsor this week is CAS-ual Fridays and you have until August 11th to play along!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, White) Papertrey Ink, (Certainly Celery, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from All Year Cheer) Wplus9

Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow'

Dies:  (Fantasy Floral, Halftone cover plate) Altenew

Other:  (Nuvo English Mustard Crystal Drops) Tonic

Seize the Birthday Guest Designer Part 4

I'm back for my fourth challenge as Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday.

As usual you can make any kind of birthday card and join the Anything Goes portion of the challenge or you can play along with our Topping which this week is Rainbow Colours!. 

I think this might be the first time I've inked up this Essentials by Ellen set.  I originally considered creating rainbow icing for the cupcake but then I decided to flip things around and put the rainbow in the background using the sprinkle stamp with Catherine Pooler inks.  I first stamped the cupcake in a soft grey but it felt a little wishy washy so I used black ink and now it really pops off the rainbow!

I hope you'll join in the fun!  You have until 9am (PST) on Tuesday, 25 August to play along.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Bermuda Bay) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Cupcake and sprinkles from Sweet Sprinkles, Sentiment from Latte Love) Essentials by Ellen

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Party Dress, Tutti Frutti, Tiki Torch, Tiara, Lime Rickey, Aquatini, Flirty Fuscia) Catherine Pooler

Die:  (Flag) My Favourite Things

Other:  (Nuvo Oyster Grey Crystal Drops) Tonic

Colour Throwdown Guest Designer

I'm excited to be guest designing at The Colour Throwdown this week!  They have a bright and cheery colour combo for us to play with and I took my inspiration directly from the  photo.  How yummy and refreshing do those popsicles look?  My little popsicles are from a fun Reverse Confetti set and remind me of popsicle day at school.  In the summer term Friday was popsicle day and at lunch time you could buy one for 50 cents.  It never failed to entertain us watching each other's tongues turn red and orange and purple and someone always ended up with popsicle drips down the front of their uniform.  (Usually me if you ask my mum!)  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Gumball Green, Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (All from Hey, Sugar) Reverse Confetti

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Other:  (Nuvo Ripened Pumpkin Crystal Drops) Tonic

CAS Colours & Sketches Guest Designer Take 4

Hi there!  I'm back for my final week of guest designing for CAS Colours & Sketches.  I just want to say thank you to the lovely CC&S ladies for welcoming me and letting me play along with them for the last 4 weeks.   

This week we have a sketch challenge:

When I see layers for a CAS card sketch I always get a little worried but keeping the top layer white helps to keep it clean.  I used a peekaboo amount of patterned paper underneath it and pulled colours from it for the rest of the card.  This MFT bear is from one of my most used My Favourite Things sets.  I think he's just so cute!

Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Design Team and then play along!  You have until 6pm Eastern Time on Monday, 3 April.    

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Sweet Celebration 6x6) My Favourite Things

Stamps:  (Bear & sentiment from Beary Special Birthday) My Favourite Things

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Markers:  (RV10, RV34, Y15, YG03, C1, C3, C5, 100) Copic

Gems:  Recollections

CAS Colours & Sketches Guest Designer Take 3

Hi there!  I'm back for my third week of guest designing for CAS Colours & Sketches.  

This week we have a colour challenge:

These are classic bright Stampin' Up colours this week - some of the first I ever bought.  (You don't have to use SU colours - just match your colours as closely as possible).  The Avery Elle butterfly was stamped, fussy cut and popped up on foam tape over the leaves and stitched arch.  You can't see it but the leaves are covered with clear Wink of Stella and I've scattered some gems around as well.  The sentiment is Altenew and I like the clean lines of the font against the busy layers of die cuts.

Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Design Team and then play along!  You have until 6pm Eastern Time on Monday, 27 March.    

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Textured White) Bazzill, (Old Olive, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Butterfly from Butterflies) Avery Elle, (Sentiment from Bejeweled) Altenew

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Dies:  (Leaves) Papertrey Ink, (Stitched Arch) My Favourite Things

Glitter:  (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Gems:  Recollections

CAS Colours & Sketches Guest Designer Take 2

Hi there!  I'm back for my second week of guest designing for CAS Colours & Sketches.  

This week we have a sketch challenge:

I broke out some NBUS items for my card which seemed to perfectly capture the sketch.  The wreath and bird are from Lil' Inker Designs with a banner from Paper Smooches and a sentiment from Fresh Squeezed stamps (sadly closed).  It came together quickly once I finally decided on the colours for my bird - I could have dithered forever on that!

Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Design Team and then play along!  You have until 6pm Eastern Time on Monday, 20 March.    

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Textured White) Bazzill, (White) Papertrey Ink, (CPear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Bird from The Little Things) Lil' Inker Designs, (Sentiment from You Said It Sister) Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Wreath) Lil' Inker Designs, (Flag) Paper Smooches

Gems:  Recollections

CAS Colours & Sketches Guest Designer

Hi there!  I was thrilled to receive an email inviting me to be the March Guest Designer for CAS Colours & Sketches!  I only discovered this challenge fairly recently but my CAS loving heart has really been enjoying it and I hope you'll check it out.

This week is a colour challenge:

I used all NBUS items on my card - stars from Simon Says Stamp and sentiment from Neat & Tangled.  How fun is that Awesome die cut?  I love the way you can layer it or use it on it's own.  I added some clear Wink of Stella to the stars for a bit of sparkle as well as a gem to help the sentiment pop.

Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Design Team and then play along!  You have until 6pm Eastern Time on Monday, 13 March.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Awesome) Neat & Tangled

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Awesome) Neat & Tangled, (Stars) Simon Says Stamp

Glitter:  (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Gem:  Recollections

CAS(E) This Sketch #161

I'm super excited to be Guest Designer this week at CAS(E) This Sketch!  I was once on the design team at this fabulous challenge and still try to play along whenever I can.  I stuck pretty close to N@'s sketch with my card.  I love these WPlus9 elephants and think this guy and his balloon go along perfectly with the Altenew sentiment.  I actually loved this card so much that I made it in a few different colours.  I hope you'll play along this week.  The design team has their usual array of amazing inspiration so check them out and then join in!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Tangelo Twist, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana,  Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Elephant & balloon from Unforgettable)WPlus9, (Sentiment from Halftone Hello) Altenew

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Markers:  (Tangelo Twist, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up, (C-1) Copic

Colour Throwdown Guest Designer

Hi there!  I'm thrilled today to be playing along with The Colour Throwdown as their Guest Designer!

How sweet is that hanging basket with the grasses and seashells?  Such a great beach cottage feel to it - so perfect for this time of year.  

I wanted to make a very clean and crisp Thank You card so I pulled out some of my favourite Paper Smooches dies and put them to work.  This was a quick and easy make which was a nice change from the endless dithering that usually accompanies my card making.  :)  

Hopefully these colours will inspire you to get creating and if you play along remember that the deadline is 6pm EST on Monday, 10 August.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Crisp Cantaloupe, Gumball Green, Baja Breeze, Tip Top Taupe) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Chit Chat) Paper Smooches

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Crystal Clear 3, Flag Tags) Paper Smooches

The Challenge Guest Designer

Hi there!  I'm super excited today to be playing along as a guest designer over at The Challenge!  This week Lesley has a sketch for us:

I have to admit that all those layers made me a little nervous at first but it gave me an excuse to use some patterned papers and die cuts that I won from a PaperCrafts challenge.  Once I decided on which pieces to use it came together quite quickly and there's no stamping at all which is pretty rare for me.  I hope you'll pop over and have a look at all the other gorgeous creations from the design team and the other guest designers and then play along!   The Challenge closes on Sunday, May 10th at noon (PST).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Alphabet Soup Girl) My Mind's Eye

Dies:  (Stitched Squares) Lil' Inker Designs, (Double Ended Banners) Papertrey Ink

Stickers:  (Micro Mono stickers) Basic Grey

CAS-ual Fridays Guest Designer

Hello and Happy Friday!  I am so excited that thanks to this card I am a Guest Designer over at CAS-ual Fridays today!  I've had lots of fun playing with CF goodies and have 4 cards to share with you.  The first two cards I made using the technique of stamping the backside of a stamp and then stamping the correct side over it.  I love that this flower stamp didn't create a perfect circle when I used the backside of it.  I like the wonkiness!

The same thing happened with the backside of this stamp - love the scalloped edge it created!  I stamped the correct side of the image in orange and then covered the whole image in orange Stickles.  It's got such fabulous sparkle in real life!

For this card I created my own background pattern with these awesome jack images.  They're so funky and fun!  I also pulled out my neglected Hero Arts inks for all of these cards - I'd forgotten how gorgeous they are!

For my last card I kept it super simple - die cuts from coloured cardstock and a sentiment on a Simon Says banner.

Thanks so much to Michele for having me as a guest over at CAS-ual Fridays.  Michele was one of my earliest supports and blog followers and I've love watching CAS-ual Fridays evolve from a brilliant challenge site to an awesome company full of amazing products!  If you are inspired by any of my cards and "need" to do some shopping then head straight over to the CAS-ual Fridays store for look at their entire collection!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Kraft) Papertrey Ink, (Strawberry Slush, Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Calm & Gentle, Exclamations, Mum's the Word, Shenanigans, Sunbeams) CAS-ual Fridays

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Bubble Gum, Raspberry Jam, Pale Tomato, Orange Soda,  Butter Bar, Tide Pool) Hero Arts, (Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Ranger

Dies:  (Casual Trees) CAS-ual Fridays, (Small Folded Banners) Simon Says Stamp

Twine:  Darice

Glitter:  (Orange Peel Stickles) Ranger, (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Gems:  Doodlebug, Craft Supplies for Less

Muse Guest Designer

Good morning!  I'm thrilled to be here today as a Guest Designer over at Muse!  It's a super challenge with a small but seriously talented Design Team.  If you haven't checked out the blogs of the DT members then you must - you'll find no end of inspiration!  

Once I'd decided on my design this card came together quite quickly as it's pretty much all die cuts.  That Memory Box palm is quickly becoming a favourite of mine especially when I need Bermuda themed cards. :)  Anyway enough of that - it's time for you to get creating!  I'm so excited to see how this inspired you!

For those of you who may not have played along before here are the basics straight form the Muse blog:

Here are the 3 simple rules:

Use the Muse card as inspiration, explain your interpretation and link back to Muse.

Provide supportive comments to at least 3 of your fellow members' submissions.

Vote for 3 of your fellow members' submissions that you find inspiring.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzil, (So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, Soft Sky, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Hello from Swirly Twirly Tags) Neat & Tangled

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Punch:  (3" circle) Marvy Uchida

Dies:  (Sun) Lil' Inker Designs, (Swaying Palm) Memory Box, (Small scallop border) Papertrey Ink

Market Street Greetings

Hi there!  I'm excited to be back with my second showing as Guest Designer over at Market Street Stamps!  I wanted to make some Christmas cards but when I looked through my MSS collection it turned out I only had one Christmas set, Prancer, which I last used here.  I decided that this was a good opportunity to "stretch my stamps".  I'd use the sentiment from Prancer but I'd try and use non-Chrismas images to make the rest my cards.

For my first card I used the outline triangles from Nuts About Nature.  I stamped them onto patterned paper, fussy cut them and made a little forest.  The border along the bottom is from Great Big Greetings and the star is from Blast Off (now retired).

For my second card I went for a simple, graphic design using the chevron from Riding By in red and greens.  A one layer card perfect for mailing!  Isn't it fabulous how versatile these stamps are?  Do check out the Market Street Stamps shop if you haven't before.  I bet you'll find something you like!  :)

Supplies Used:

Triangle ForestCardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Cherry Cobbler) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Christmas Mat Pack) Anna Griffin

Stamps:  (Triangle from Nuts About Nature, Star from Blast Off, Border from Great Big Greetings, Sentiment from Prancer) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Always Artichoke) Stampin' Up

Gems:  (Fabrications "Linen" collection) Teresa Collins

Chevron Greetings

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Stamps:  (Chevron from Riding By, Sentiment from Prancer) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Real Red, Garden Green, Lucky Limeade) Stampin' Up

Gems:  Doodlebug

Market Street Stamps Guest Designer

I was so excited last month when this card was chosen as the winner of Market Street Stamps' monthly Block Party!  That means I'm their guest designer for the month of November and my first card were featured on the blog yesterday.

I decided to use my winning card as inspiration for my two cards.  For this one I again used the triangle stamps from Nuts About Nature but this time I used the open triangles and stamped them on patterned paper.  I then fussy cut them and created a flower.  I used the Bit of Burlap background stamp to give some texture to the card base and I finished it off with a sentiment from Great Big Greetings (which is definitely one of my favourite recent releases) and a whole lot of Glossy Accents!

For this card I again used rainbow colours but this time for the sentiments (also from Great Big Greetings).  The Candy Stripe background stamp gives a bit of pizzazz to the card base and this adorable phone from Teacher Notes is the perfect partner for the sentiment!  

If you've never checked out Market Street Stamps before then you are missing out and you must have a look around their shop.  And I'll be back on November 30th with some more MSS cards!

Supplies Used:

Keep Smiling

Cardstock:  (Cajun Craze, More Mustard) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Happy Trails) K & Co

Stamps:  (Bit of Burlap, Triangles from Nuts About Nature, Sentiment from Great Big Greetings) Market Street Stamps
Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black)  Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Ranger

Button:  (Obscure collection) Basic Grey

Embroidery Floss:  Janlynn

Call Me

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Real Red, Basic Grey) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Candy Stripe, Telephone from Teacher Notes, Sentiment from Great Big Greetings) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko, (Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Richa Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger