Sweet Stampin' ~ Christmas in July

Hello my lovely crafty pals. It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and since we're racing through this year so fast, we've decided to get ahead on some Christmas crafting. Have you been making Christmas cards throughout the year? Or do you leave yours until just before Christmas? I'm known to be still making them Christmas Eve! So I take every other opportunity I can to get ahead with my Christmas crafting. I've rather fallen in love with Unity Stamps this year. I discovered this stamp company late last year and let's just say, I now have a lot more red rubber than I ever previously did! I used a really fun and cute Christmas image called Cool Little Christmas from Unity Stamps for this creation and the sentiment that comes with that set.

I've seen crafty pals using this 'white border' technique for some time in their creations and always thought it looks utterly stunning, so with this simple image, I thought I'd give it a go. The watercolour paper I used was actually a really cheap one from my local $2 store, as I was just having a play and paper is so expensive in New Zealand, I didn't want to waste 'good paper' on an experiment. But I ended up being so pleased with it, I took it right through to completion. I don't know that I'd get the same patchy cool finish on better paper that I did with this, but I really liked the effect! My brother saw it and commissioned this card for a friend of his. 

I liked the way the colouring came together so much, I didn't want to do anything to detract from it. So the page with its notebook edge, was torn straight out of the watercolour paper pad and added to a 'Christmas Red' notecard, no embellies, totally CAS and I utterly love it! So did my brother which was fab, because he usually really loves the more embellished creations I make. It's so lovely, he often asks me to create cards for friends and he's very artistic, so I count it a real compliment.

I have a thing for the Scandinavian Christmas gnomes, known as Tomtenisse. They are Santa's helpers, but not in the way we know elves to be. They are based on deeper Scandinavian folklore, they are the keepers of the farms, of the animals and nature. I have such a love for them and started my collection when I visited my Swedish bestie, so took the opportunity to use them as my Christmas props. I've been hunting down Tomtenisse stamps ever since I discovered them, and may have a couple of makes to share closer to Christmas. So watch for those if you like them too!

I love that the Unity Stamps sets, often come with their own sentiments, and I happen to think this was a rather fun and 'hip' Christmas sentiment for this fun card. Stamped just in Memento Black Ink rather than white, as I wanted to keep the watercolour just around the image itself.

Come on over and join us for some Christmas crafting fun this week and if you enjoy crafting for Christmas all year, remember that Sweet Stampin' also has a Monthly Christmas Challenge, which runs all year long, so you're welcome to join in anytime! Pop into the main challenge blog for some awesome Christmas crafting inspiration this week, the DT have some awesome Christmas creations to share. I'll be back again before long with another crafty adventure, but not for a week or so, as my kiddos are on Winter Break right now, so we're having some holiday fun. Hugs to you all, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Aud Sentiments: #184 ~ Christmas In July
613 Avenue Create: #199 ~ Anything Goes

Always Fun Challenges: #14 ~ Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge: #28 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart: #167 ~ Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge: #159 ~ Christmas In July

Shopping Our Stash: #311 ~ CAS for Simplicity Day
Creative Moments Challenge: #122 ~ Christmas in July
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round: July ~ Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations: #279 ~ Anything Goes (For The Summer)

Southern Girls ~ Bingo!

Hey there again. I'm back (not quite as early as I meant to be!) with a new challenge for the Southern Girls. We have a 'Bingo Board' challenge this fortnight and our lovely sponsor Lacy Sunshine has given us some fabulous images to work with. I've chosen to use a sweet image called Daisy Delite Sunshine Pinup Girl.

I would have had my creation up on time, except that my computer had a strop this morning (it was working perfectly fine last night, so go figure!) and I had to wait for hero hubby to step in and sort the trouble. Gladly it's all sorted and I'm here now with my creation. I was inspired by the sweet image I had to work with, to create a little handbag to go with it, so created a little tag with the image, to tie to the handbag. 

I coloured up the image with my Promarkers and used colours that were in the papers I created the bag with. So stayed with greys, pale green and jade green. I added some stickles glue for a bit of 'bling and glitter' to her petticoat frill. The closure on the bag, I decorated with a couple of diecuts and a femo button, which I fussy cut one of the circles from the paper and sewed over the button to coordinate with the main paper. I used a decorative Spellbinders die to create the pretty semicircle flap on the front of the bag and handcut the handle which was glued to the underside of the decorative flap. I used velcro to close the bag, but wish I'd used magnets, as it would open and close a little more easily. I would do that next time for sure. 

The bag is made from one 12x12 piece of paper/cardstock and is so quick and easy to make and I think, a really sweet pairing for the tag. Above, you can see the flap open and the velcro dot on the front. It's big enough for a little sweet treat or small bag of craft embellies. I've no use in mind for it yet, so it will get tucked away in my gift cupboard for the right moment. (I do like to be prepared!)

I hope you'll come and join us for this fun 'Bingo Board' challenge. Here is the board so you can get started straight away! I look forward to seeing what you'd create with this inspiration. My creation had Glitter, Dies and Ribbon (twine, but I think it counts) and if you consider my special fimo button and diecuts 'bling', then I also can count Dies, Image and Bling in my creation.

Come on over to the Southern Girls Challenge blog to have a look at what my other fabulous teamies have been up to. They really are a madly talented bunch, so you're sure to find inspiration in your visit. I hope you'll join us in the fun too. I'm off to hang out with my small boy, as the kiddos are on Winter Break right now. It's freezing today, so we're hibernating and have a video day! It's nice just to mooch sometimes isn't it? Enjoy the rest of your week. Hugs, Wends xoxo 

Challenge Entries: 

I Love Promarkers: #339 ~ Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create: #199 ~ Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday: #486 ~ Ribbons & Bows

Always Fun Challenges: #14 ~ Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge: #27 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart: #167 ~ Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations: July ~ Anything With Flowers
Shopping Our Stash: #311 ~ CAS for Simplicity Day
Creative Inspirations: #279 ~ Anything Goes (For The Summer)
Crafty Cardmakers: #192 ~ Tic, Tac, Toe (Faux Stitching, Digi Stamp, Button)

Fab 'n' Funky ~ Shaped Cards

Hey there my lovely blog buddies. It's a flying visit from me tonight, as the kiddos are on Winter break and my days are full. But we have a new challenge starting over on the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge blog and our lovely hostess Ginny has chosen such a fun theme. This week, we'd like to see all your 'Shaped Card' creations! 

Our sponsor this week is Digital Delights and they provided the Design Team with some really fun images for this challenge. I used a cute little owl character called Owlbee Learning. I coloured the wee owl with my Promarkers and shaped him a bit so he 'pops' off the page, then fixed him to the page with my Olba glue which is great for adding dimension when needed and gives a nice strong hold. I was in a tearing hurry tonight, as we'd had a lovely visit from my hubby's cousin (who I get on incredibly well with and the kids adore) so I lost a few hours when I should have been finishing up my DT creation. Last minute lass strikes again! LOL. 

I had the inspired idea of adding this lil' cutie to an apple shaped card and hunted high and low for a template. The one I found was for a candy apple card, so it didn't have the little stalk or leaves on it. I used my Memory Box Palm Tree die to create the stalk and leaves, turning the trunk of the tree upside down to create the stalk, then used two of the fronds as the leaves. I think it works. What do you think?

The spotty paper is a lovely Christmas paper from Echo Park's 'Very Merry Christmas' collection. This page is called Holly Berry. I thought it would be fun to create the apple shaped card with this fun red paper. Little did I know, when I was making this creation, that our lovely blog hostess Ginny, had the exact same design idea! I had intended to add a sentiment, but ran out of time, so I may come back and add another pic once I've done this, but as it stands right now, our DT creations are an exact match. Too funny! How often does that happen??!! I had to laugh when I realised. Great minds... as they say.

I hope you'll come and join in the fun with us this week and share your own 'Shaped Cards' creations with us. I so look forward to seeing what you get up to. I wonder if anyone else will have an apple card to share?! I'm off to prep my next DT post, which will be following this one very closely, but until then, I wish you a wonderful evening and I'll be back in the morning with my next crafty adventure. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Pile It On: #132 ~ Primary Colours
A Gem of A Challenge: #198 ~ Animals
Lemon Shortbread: #45 ~ Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create: #199 ~ Anything Goes

I Love Promarkers: #339 ~ Anything Goes
Always Fun Challenges: #14 ~ Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge: #27 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart: #167 ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Creations Challenges: #345 ~ Anything Goes
Shopping Our Stash: #311 ~ CAS for Simplicity Day

Sweet Stampin' ~ Stars & Stripes

Our latest challenge at Sweet Stampin' is live and we're wanting to see your creations that have 'Stars & Stripes' on them! Yes, you can interpret that in the traditional way, and make a patriotic creation or you can choose an 'outside the box' choice like I did. I created this card for our neighbour's youngest son for his birthday. He happens to share my birthday, so every year, I create a special card for him and run it across the driveway in the morning. Our two families have become very close as we live so near each other. We literally can wave at each other from our kitchen windows!

It's been such a busy couple of weeks, filled with highs and lows. Last week was all about getting my baby boy through some minor surgery and he was such a trouper! This week I played catch up for all I missed while nursing my lil' lad. Yesterday was an incredibly busy day, starting with an extra breakfast guest as a baby brother was being born! It was a heartwarmingly joyful day! I then spent the morning with my baby sis and followed this with lunch with two of our oldest friends who live in the Wellington area where we used to live before moving to London. Strange coming back from London to a completely different city, but it's where the rest of my family lives and after 13 years in London, we wanted our kiddos to know their extended family, so Auckland it was. It's been so wonderful being home and around them all. It's been a bonus to have such a lovely family to live next door to also and they hail from Scotland and England, so you can imagine our joy having lived in the UK for so many years, to have lovely British neighbours!

I used a really cool My Mind's Eye paper pad from their Lost and Found 2 collection called Breeze. The vintage train is part of the page design and inspired me to pull out some fabulous Lili of the Valley stamps with an equally vintage feel to create this card. I opted to stamp them on little tags and add them over a fabulous embossing folder design with lots of uplifting words. I used an opaque vellum for this and I love the effect the embossing has on it. I must remember to do this again! It needed a darker layer behind so the words could be easily read, as the paper was too pale, so I cut some kraft card and trimmed it with a scalloped border for a bit of extra detail. Then wrapped the panel in heavy twine, and added a large rusty star from Live & Love Crafts (I'm still crying in my coffee that Sandy closed the store!)

How fab are these Lili of the Valley vintage stamps?! I just love them for this type of Vintage-feel creation. They're from an older grunge set of stamps, which I can no longer find in the store (oh no!) so I hope you snapped some up before they were gone! Remember you need to do some stamping on your creations to enter our challenges. We all so love seeing what you come up with, so I hope you'll come enter this challenge and show us your 'Stars & Stripes' creations. I'm off to make dinner and spend some time with my babbies. Catch ya'll again soon. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

4 Crafty Chicks: #357 ~ Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday: #484 ~ Anything Goes

Deep Ocean Challenge: #158 ~ Lots of Layers

Crafty Catz Challenge: #377 ~ Anything Goes

Colour Crazy Challenge: #26 ~ Anything Goes

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: #61 ~ Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Challenges: #344 ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge: #129 ~ Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations Challenge: #278 ~ Dots and/or Stripes

Fab 'n' Funky ~ All Dressed Up for Christmas

A warm hello on this Winter night to you all my lovely blog buddies. Or are you in the Northern Hemisphere and basking in the warm sunshine?! Maybe I should be saying good morning! It's dark-out here and I'm procrastinating about making dinner, and quickly finishing up my blog post for our latest challenge at Fab 'n' Funky. Our theme this week is 'Crackers for Christmas', which doesn't mean you have to create Christmas Crackers, though you are welcome to if you'd like. For us, it's just all about getting ahead with our Christmas stash, so it's 'Anything Goes as long as it's for Christmas!' I hope you'll be inspired to join us for some Christmas crafting this week.

Our sponsor this week is the wonderful All Dressed Up Stamps and the DT were spoilt with some really gorgeous images to work with. I chose this gorgeous Deer in a Snowglobe called Christmas Snowglobe for my creation. 

I just love this sweet serene scene. I had the crazy fancy, that I'd try to do some Northern Lights, only I didn't realise the red and orange were less common so when I showed hubby that was his first comment! Oh dear, better luck next time. Far more common to have greens and purples apparently, though you can have red! I added glitter to the trees and snowflakes, which may or may not be a great idea for a shaker! So we'll see how long that lasts!! I did use loose glitter initially but then added some stickles on the trees as I figured that might have a better chance of staying put. 

I added some assorted sequins and some tiny blue seed beeds and layered up the shaker window. I bought some different widths of double sided craft mount, which I just love for shaker cards, as you can die cut the shapes you want and there's no risk of the contents leaking out a not so well secured frame. I used Affixit Double Sided Foam Sheets, the 3mm is fine for a shallow shaker card, or you can layer it up for a deeper aperture. It's really high tack, so the finish is really secure. I didn't have any trouble diecutting through the 3mm thickness either, so saved time. 

I finished my card with some patterned paper from the Frozen Forest paper pad from Craftwork Cards, a string of sequins around the shaker window and a simple Baker's Twine bow in dark blue wrapped around the base of the snowglobe. The image comes with a pretty snowglobe base, but I cropped it, so that I could create a wider boarder before adding the snowglobe base. I didn't use a sentiment in the end, I thought there was enough going on and it's pretty clear what this would be used for.

All that remains is for me to encourage you to head over to the challenge blog and check out what my fabulously talented teamies have been up to. There really is a fantastic lineup of talent there and everyone has made such different and unique creations, so I know you'll leave inspired! I hope you'll come and join us for some mid-year Christmas crafting fun. Thanks for popping in to see me, it always makes my day. Hugs to you all and happy Christmas crafting! Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Not Just Cards: #45 ~ Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread: #44 ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner: #129 ~ Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl: June ~ Any Image Challenge
Colour Crazy Challenge: #25 ~ Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes
Crafty Creations Challenge: #344 ~ Anything Goes
Little Patch of Crafty Friends: #60 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs: June ~ Getting Ready For Christmas
Sparkles Christmas Challenge: #77 ~ Non-Traditional Colours

Sweet Stampin' ~ For A Child's Birthday

Hey there lovelies, how has your week been? This year keeps whizzing by, so fast I'm dizzy! But it's time to take a pause and tell you about our latest challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. We have such a lovely theme this week. It's 'For a Child's Birthday', so I'm sharing the card I made for my darling little man's birthday back in May this year. 

Zac is growing so fast and is so full of cheek and mischief now, but he's still such a soft hearted lil' dude, that when I saw this sentiment on the lovely MME paper pad, I just knew I had to figure out how to work it into my small dude's birthday card. The paper is My Mind's Eye ~ Lost & Found 2 Collection/Breeze. The page is called Boyish Handsome.

I can't quite believe he's 7 now. My kiddos childhoods are going so fast and I longed for my babes for too many years to say. I still can't quite believe I have two gorgeous kiddos! Beyond blessed and they're both such awesome kids, it's a blast watching them grow and develop. Seriously so blessed for a girl who (not so long ago) thought she might never have her own babes. I love my 'mummy journey' and I don't take it for granted for a single minute! But let me get onto sharing detes of his card...

Zac is a little gamer, he's loved it ever since he was super tiny, we have some uber cute images of him gaming with his papa when he was really small. So when I saw this adorable 'The Greeting Farm' stamp I just HAD to have it for my lil' guy. It makes the perfect card for him.

I coloured it with my Promarkers and added a little shadow to the actual paper on the card before mounting him, to ground him a bit. He's popped up on foam pads for a bit of dimension. It's an older stamp and no longer in stock, so I can't link it sorry.

 

I recently bought a Hampton Art Stamp Perfect tool and yes, I wanted a MISTI, but it's prohibitively expensive here in New Zealand, so I chose this option and I have to say I am not in anyway disappointed! It does exactly what it says on the box! All those pesky stamps I had trouble getting a good image from first time, are now stamping beautifully with two or three passes on my HSP. It isn't too big, which suits me, as I always craft with an explosion of stash around me, so I have a tiny working surface. I do clear my desk, but I seem to do my best work when I've lots of 'stuff' around me to look at and spark my inspiration. Apparently I'm in good company too, Einstein was famously messy! LOL. (Abi our resident 'Creative Genius', would like that bit of info' too!)

I made a shaker card as I think it's fun to have a 'tactile' element to kids cards. I love a shaker card, but I often shy away from doing them as it can be fiddly cutting all the matching layers, but this came as a 'ready to put together' kit with the foam precut along with the paper elements. So all I had to do was add the patterned paper. So I flipped it over and using my craft knife cut lines into the hole of the star shape so that I could fold the paper back over each point of the star. I thought this would give a really tidy finish to the card and it really does!

I marked where the star was on the paper by drawing a pencil line around the star before adding my stamping, so I could get it exactly right on the paper beneath. The '7' comes from a stamp set the kids and my hubby gave me for my birthday from a local craft store and the 'Happy Birthday' is from a Penny Black clear set called 'Sprinkles & Smiles'. I really love this set!

Zac is super into Pokemon right now, so I threw him a Pokemon party this year, it was huge fun! He just loves going on Pokemon hunts with mummy. It helps my step counter too, so I don't complain! I was so elated when my daughter Georgie was born, because she was my first breathtakingly spectacular miracle and I just never thought I'd love again quite like I love that lil' girl, until my wee boy was born. Isn't it amazing how the love just multiplies?! This lil' dude is such a blessing to us, an adoring sibling to his big sis (he worships the ground she walks on, it's seriously too cute!) and the snuggliest, funniest, cheekiest, sweetest lil' dude I could ever have hoped for. So I loved that this card captured a little of the sentiment we all feel as a family towards our littlest miracle. I made myself cry writing this, so I'll dry my eyes, stop the sop and wrap up this post. Hehe, sometimes you just have to be still and acknowledge life is pretty amazing though right?

Do stop into the challenge blog and check out what my amazing teamies have been up to for this challenge. They really are a madly talented bunch, so you're sure to leave inspired! I'll be back very soon with another crafty adventure, but in the meantime, have a fabulous weekend and take some time for 'you'. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Crafty Catz: #375 ~ Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge: #420 ~ Birthday Boy

City Crafter Challenge: #366 ~ Frame It

613 Avenue Create: #198 ~ Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Challenge: #23 ~ Anything Goes

Always Fun Challenges: #10 ~ For A Male or Dad

Passion For Promarkers: #399 ~ Add A Sentiment

Crafty Cardmarkers: #190 ~ For A Special Man/Boy/Father's Day
Aud Sentiments Challenge: #182 ~ Bingo (Patterned Paper, Stamped Image, Fav' Colour)
Stamping Sensations: June ~ Use Your Favourite Stamp (Ooh I've got lots of fav's! But this stamp stole my heart when I bought it which you'll see why I'm sure from my post.)

P.S. If you made it all the way to the end of my mammoth post, I found a few pics to share of my tiniest gamer... the wee man that inspired this creation, my lil' lad Zac hanging out with his papa.

Update: I made the Top 5 at Aud Sentiments. I'm so thrilled as I think this wee card has one of the nicest sentiments ever, so a real thrill to win! Thank you so much ladies. I'm doing a little happy dance!!

Southern Girls ~ Sticky Business

Hello lovelies, I'm back again already, and I'll be back on Saturday too! It's the London bus syndrome again! LOL. Today though, I'm sharing my DT creation for Southern Girls with you. We have a super fun challenge this week, we'd like you to use all your 'Sticky Stuff', so pull out your washi tape, your thickers, enamel dots, flat back pearls and gems and show us what you've got! We have two lovely sponsors this challenge, the fabulous Ppinky Dolls and Krafter's Cart a New Zealand based craft store. I've worked with a lovely set of Krafter's Cart dies called 'For You With Love' for my DT creation.

I created the swirly marbled background with nailpolish, yes nailpolish! I dropped a couple of shades into water and then marbled the watercolour paper with it. Gosh it was fun! Stinky, but fun!!

I embossed the lovely Penny Black sentiment onto the 'hill' with Ranger Super Fine White Embossing Powder. Then I randomly stuck some lovely holographic gems around it for a bit of sparkle and interest. The 'hill' was cut with a Paper Smooches 'Stitched Border' die. 

The silvery moon and strip down the side of the image panel were cut from American Crafts POW! Glitter Paper. I love this stuff. It's super sparkly and lovely but it doesn't shed! Really easy to diecut too. I added a strip of black and white chevron washi tape alongside the glitter strip to my 6x6 card base et voilà, fini! It took me ages to put this card together, I was stuck in 'concept and planning' mode for the longest time. But once I actually figured out what I wanted to do it flowed really easily. Do you have creations like this?

Pop on into the Southern Girls Challenge blog to see what my fabulously talented teamies have been up to. We would of course love to see what you would create for this challenge too. So do come and join us with your 'Sticky Stuff' creations. I'll be back again this weekend, so enjoy the rest of the week and do pop back Saturday to see what other crafty mischief I've been up to! Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Crafty Catz: #374 ~ Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge: #419 ~ Use 2+ Dies

The Ribbon Girl: June ~ Card Challenge

Crafting By Designs: Things With Wings

Dream Valley: #158 ~ Square Cards Only
Lemon Shortbread: #43 ~ Anything Goes

Colour Crazy Challenge: #23 ~ Anything Goes

Moving Along With The Times: #47 ~ Embossing - Wet or Dry

Deep Ocean Challenge: #157 ~ Diecuts, Chipboard and/or Punches

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Touchy Feely - I've used Glitter cardstock on this card which creates a very tactile rough texture to those areas of the card.