Colour Crazy Challenge ~ Feel Better Soon

Hey there my lovely crafty pals. I was given the lovely opportunity to Guest Design for the Colour Crazy Challenge for 3 months and was delighted to take them up on their lovely offer. So I'm here today to share my first design for the Team D challenge using Knitty Kitty Digi's. I've not come across this artist before, but clearly cute kitties are their thing! So here is my creation for all you cat lovers out there.

The timing to use this sweet image was perfect for me, as my brother in law has been really poorly, so this is perfect as a feel good get well card for him. I created the card with layers of black and white paper. The background was an inky sky paper, which I printed in black and then added stars to with Sakura white and clear sparkle pens. I diecut a moon, added Wink of Stella to the already pearlescent cardstock and then shaped it for a bit of dimension before gluing it in place. The black cardstock I've used as the base, also has a really lovely pearlescent sheen to it.

The brick wall was already as it printed, a white brick with distressing. So I thought that was a good fit to lighten the picture a bit. I diecut some climbing flowers with a Memory Box die and coloured them dark grey with my C7 copic marker. I wanted it to look like everything except the cats were in shadow. I then added a little fence in front, which was brown originally, but I recoloured it with my N9 copic marker for a bit of additional depth at the front. The sentiment came with this cute pair, so that was edged with a marker and added straight to the brick wall.

I kept this card very CAS. I really wanted it to look like the cats where lit by the moonlight and everything else was in shadow and I'm so delighted with how well all the elements came together! I coloured the kitties as a Burmese and a Marmalade Moggie using my Copic Markers. I wanted them to be the focus in colour, with everything else in shadow around them.

You can click on the link above to head straight to the sponsors store for a closer peek at their images. Do stop by the challenge blog too and check out what the rest of the team did with these lovely Knitty Kitty images. You're sure to leave inspired. The theme is always 'Anything Goes' so come and enter your creations for the chance to win a lovely prize from our sponsor.

I'm delighted to be designing with the Colour Crazy Challenge team for the next three months. Thank you ladies for having me! I'll be back again soon with another crafty adventure, so until then, have a fabulous week and happy crafting! Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Fab 'n' Funky ~ Make It Funny

Hey there lovelies, it's time for a new challenge at Fab 'n' Funky and we have a wonderful sponsor this week. It's Dr Digi's House of Stamps. If you know their designs, you'll know that their designs very much err on the cheeky and irreverent side of things. So it's kinda perfect that our lovely hostess Chris has chosen 'Make it Funny' for our theme this week. I have quite a number of Dr Digi's images, but I couldn't work out how to make any of the ones I had humerous! It's only as I'm sitting here writing this, that I've remembered a 'Blast From The Past' creation I made a few years back with a Dr Digi image. I think it was quite cheeky and humurous, so I'll share a pic with you here and a link to the original post.

Now for a close up on the funny bit. I did chuckle when I created this, as we'd been talking with the kids about the fact that the internet didn't exist when we were little. It was my Father-In-Law's birthday soon, so it prompted what I thought was a rather fun idea! He didn't laugh as I'd hoped he would when we gave it to him though, oh dear! LOL

Now onto the creation I actually made for this challenge! I tried really hard to connect some sentiments and images, but I have the animal images mostly from Dr Digi's and was thinking more along the lines of a 'Grumpy Old Man' image and just didn't have the right elements. So I decided to go a different way and make a sentiment only creation. I had a few little stamps I wanted to send to one of my crafty pals and had made a little card with a sentiment that really did make me LOL. I think you have to be a crafter to get this one though!! But I think it works perfectly for our 'Make It Funny' theme this week at Fab 'n' Funky.

That fabulous sentiment is from The Rubbernecker Stamps Company. I bought a few a while back, after seeing one on a fellow crafters card. I have to say, I really want to buy a whole bunch more! They really do have some fun ones! But this one I knew would come in handy for my crafty pals, who would hopefully totally share the joke!

I'm a bit disappointed that I used black ink as the embossing base for the sentiment, as the one I used didn't stay tacky long enough for really good adhesion. So there's a wee bit of the black peeking through underneath. I'll know for next time just to use the clear embossing ink. I did this, because I was struggling to see where I'd laid the ink down when I was embossing the Scandinavian design background stamp and expecting full coverage, thought it would be easier to see where I'd laid the ink. But you can see the clear ink embossing definitely had the better finish. So lesson learnt. Clear embossing ink is the best!

I hope you'll join us this week for our 'Make It Funny' challenge. I do love a good laugh, my hubby is a proper prankster and is always making the kids and me laugh. I think this will be a fun week for commenting! Do stop into the main blog and check out what my teamies have been up to for this challenge, you're sure to leave inspired. I want to leave you with one final pic, this is of a card my Georgie made. She's only 13! So I thought this was rather good! It's using another one of the funny sentiments that I bought from Rubbernecker Stamps. I think she did so well! (I think I may have shared this already, but it's so worth sharing again!) I just loved this image and sentiment combo. The image is of course Stamping Bella.

Wishing you all a wonderful week and looking forward to seeing what you're inspired to create for this 'Make it Funny' challenge. I'll see you again soon with another crafty adventure. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Whimsy Challenge ~ Rainbow Unicorn

Hello again, so soon you say?! Well yes, my Whimsy Wednesday post is a little early this week, as today is the 15th and I am sharing the creation I've made for our latest challenge which starts today. It's easy peasy, Anything Goes, as long as you use a Whimsy Stamps image. There's a wonderful Whimsy Stamps gift voucher up for grabs every challenge, so if you love all things Whimsy as I do, it's worth being in the running. I have created a rainbow themed card for this challenge. Inspired by Denise Lynn's lovely rainbow papers and following a rather fab' tutorial by Mindy Baxter.

This exquisite image is by none other than Crissy Armstrong, Whimsy Stamps artist and crafter extraordinaire! I just loved this the minute I saw it, but felt a little daunted by it's awesomeness. So when I found that Mindy Baxter was doing a copic tutorial using this image, I was in like Flynn!

I had so much fun following the tutorial and even gave the 'sparkles' a go, which you can see clearer in this close-up. It's just white pen dotted and crossed here and there, but what a fabulous effect! I know I'll be trying that on other things too now. It really does look effective. I even added a lil' shine on his rump! Hehe.

I paired this stunning image once it was coloured up with Denise's gorgeous Rainbow papers. I didn't like the way it looked just with the papers. So decided on adding a small silver sparkle trim. I just love that subtle finish. I have a trick for you too. I have spent 'loads' on glitter paper in the past, but recently discovered in the kiddies 'book covering' section of our local supermarket, as self adhesive (what's not to love about that?!) glitter book cover! So ever the thrifty crafter me, I decided to give this a go and I'm so pleased I did. I won't go back now to the expensive glitter cardstock!

I just trimmed it to size and then left a little overhang either side and just tucked it around the back like the ends of a ribbon. As it was self adhesive it was so tidy and easy! I know I'll be using this loads now!

I used a WPlus9 sentiment called Sparkle and Shine as it really was the PERFECT sentiment for this lovely image. I gave this card to my brother after his first film debut. It was entered into the Melbourne film festival and won a prize! So I was well proud of him. Needless to say, he was delighted with it and it's especially meaningful for him with all the rainbows.

I'll link the Whimsy Stamps products I've used below and do check out Mindy Baxter's amazing tutorials. I've done a few now and loved every one of them! Learning some great skills along the way. You can find her tutorials at My Creative Scoop. 

I hope you'll come and join us in the challenge this month. You've a whole month to enter your Whimsy Stamps creation and as I said earlier, it's a fabulous Whimsy Stamps Store Voucher as the prize. So well worth entering! I'll be back again soon with another crafty adventure, but in the meantime, check out all the fabulous inspiration that comes in a constant stream from Whimsy's amazing design team on the Whimsy Stamps Facebook page. Hugs to you all xoxo

Challenge Entries:

Crafting By Designs: Anything Goes

Not Just Cards: July ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Creations: #370 ~ Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations: July ~ In My Garden

Dragonfly Journeys: #122 ~ Summer Lovin'

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: #86 ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Catz: #425 ~ Anything Goes + Think Summertime

SugarPea Challenge: #45 ~ Mix It Up ~ Rainbow Sprinkles

Sweet Stampin' ~ Occupations or Hobbies

Hey there lovely crafty pals. It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and this week, we'd like to see your creations that depict an 'Occupation or Hobby'. Well, I had to put my thinking cap on for that. I first thought, I'd do a creation that I could use for a 'get well' theme and had a nurse in it, after all, in my younger days, that was my profession. However, I remembered that I'd made my hubby a birthday card this year and was yet to blog it, that would fit the bill perfectly! 

If you've followed my blog a while, you'll know my hubby is a musician. He writes his own very beautiful pieces, but at heart, he's a rock guitarist. So when this stamp set came out with the Creative Stamping Magazine a short while back, I knew I had to have it! I've actually mixed the stamps from two sets of Creative Stamping image sets, both with a musical theme. I really like their stamps sets and was really happy to have a chance to play with these for hubby's birthday, which was in late May. As you can see, the card design is very simple. I've just masked off the edges and added distress ink, splattered some water for effect and then stamped the images in black ink, which I clear embossed overtop. I added a vellum wrap with the sentiment and was done. Love the CAS design, but actually with all the ink work, took no less time to make than my hand-coloured designs. Hubby loved it of course.

He loved even more, the 'DIY' guitar kit I bought him for his birthday. He'd been humming and harring over this for a while, so he was well chuffed when I went ahead and bought it for him. He's done an incredible job with it, and it now looks like this!...

I just love the marine blue he chose to stain it. The grain still shows through and it's ever so gorgeous in reality. He's set the neck up so the string tension gives the best sound and it has a really lovely tone. So he's delighted as he wasn't expecting much from the sound! He just wanted to have a go at building one himself. Thank goodness it was a kit, as we don't have all the woodwork bits he'd need to truly do one from scratch! Just as well too, as I'd lose my craft space otherwise!

Well remembering about this birthday make for hubby, meant that I didn't need to do last minute panic crafting! LOL. (Yes, I do this, more often than I'd like to reveal, but I work quite well under pressure, so it's often some of my best work! LOL) It meant I could sneak off with my Mummy, brother and Zac to celebrate Bastille Day in my Mummy's suburb. She flew back this morning, from seeing her twin, so we went straight to Remuera to the street party. We only caught the tail end, due to mum's flight being delayed, but it was still fun. I'll share some photos soon. It was especially meaningful for my mummy, as it's the anniversary of my father's death tomorrow and it was Bastille Day in France the day he died here. Mum and Dad having lived in France for 5 years, this has meaning for my mummy and it was a comfort to her that we went today. I was glad to be with her for this. 

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' this week for our 'Occupations or Hobbies' challenge. I can't wait to see what you are inspired to do and sorry for the overshare! Have a wonderful weekend. I'll see you again soon with my next crafty adventure. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Use Your Stuff: #321 ~ Birthday
Crafting By Designs: Anything Goes
Not Just Cards: July ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Creations: #370 ~ Anything Goes
Alphabet Challenge: H is for Happy Birthday

Moving Along With The Times: #75 ~ Male Themed

613 Avenue Create: #211 ~ Anything Goes + Make Your Own Background
The Sisterhood of Crafters: What's Your Favourite Colour ~ Green ~ I love the Blue/Green shades

Southern Girls ~ Tic Tac Toe

Hello again. I know, three posts in two days, crazy! For me at least! But I'm back today with my Southern Girls DT post. I should have had this up this morning, but it's Winter break here and the kiddos are off school and Mr Mojo has gone on holiday, so I've been struggling to get finished! But I finally have, so without any further delay, here it is.

Let me tell you our challenge theme. We have a 'Tic Tac Toe' challenge this time and I think it's a pretty fun one. I could use two lines for my inspiration, the horizontal centre, Diecut, Stamp, Blue, and the right side, White, Blue, Yellow. 

As usual, we have two wonderful sponsors for this challenge and I was spoilt to be given a sweet image from A Day For Daisies to work with, whose stamps I utterly adore! This wee stamp is a hat tip to Snow White and I think she's utterly enchanting.

A very big thank you to both our wonderful sponsors this challenge, Darkroom Door and A Day For Daisies. Both absolutely fabulous companies, so two very cool prizes up for grabs this challenge!

I created a multilayered card, using a blah blah blah card base. I added an extra layer as I wanted to add in some deer behind her, but didn't want to have them stuck to the darker paper in the backdrop. This was meant to look like she had emerged from the 'Dark Wood' into a clearing and I wanted the deer family to be between those two layers. So I diecut a hill with a CC Designs hill die and added my deer and a few grass tufts behind them. I just love how this came together. I did have to add some Z fold strips of paper to be sure they 'popped out' from the base layer.

I coloured Snow Drop with my Copic Markers and added a CC Designs mushroom die in front of the embossed birch trees that I'd added to the front layer. I then added some grass tufts and more lil' toadstools and mushrooms. I just love this CC Designs border die. A bit of ink and it comes alive! I've used a white jelly roll to add the white dots after I coloured the toadstools with my copics. I used N9 to create the dark rim, then R39, R27, R24 and R22. You might not need to know this, but I love how it turned out, so this is a quick reference for me! LOL. The little brown mushrooms were coloured with Warm Greys, W7, W5 & W3.

I squared off the tops of the birch trees, so that when the card is closed they sit flat and within the 6x6 square of the closed card. They do look a bit stunted, which is a shame, but it's close enough to the look I wanted to be pretty pleased with the effect :)

Here's a side view of the Accordian Fold card. I have used some Z fold paper strips to 'brace' the card, as it was quite heavy with all the cardstock layers and liable to just collapse! So this way, it holds quite steadily when open. It does mean it's not possible to use the inside for writing a message, but the back page is blank for this purpose.

A final pic of me holding the card flat, as with all the extra Z fold tabs I've added, it rather springs open! LOL. Hopefully my niece will find this amusing when she opens it later this year. I will be keeping this for my wee niece's 4th birthday, which will be upon us in no time the way this year is flying!

I do hope you'll come and join us this fortnight for our 'Tic Tac Toe' challenge at Southern Girls. We have such great sponsors and the theme I think is super fun this challenge. I can't wait to see what you're inspired to create. Be sure to stop into the blog and check out what my awesomely talented teamies have been up to. You're sure to be inspired. I'll be back again very soon with another crafty adventure, but in the meantime, hugs and happy crafting, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
Cardz 4 Galz: #75 ~ For A Little Girl
Always Fun Challenges: #66 ~ Anything Goes
Creative Inspiration Challenge: July ~ All Tied Up
Crafty Cardmakers: #215 ~ At Least Two Dies (I used four dies)
Little Red Wagon: Lights/Camera/Action ~ Disney's Snow White
Cute Card Thursdays: #538 ~ Ribbons & Bows (I hope twine counts!)

Addicted To Stamps & More: #300 ~ Happy Birthday (Niece's Birthday Card)
Unicorn Challenge: #34 ~ Stitching Real or Faux (there's a faux stitched edge on the hillside)

Whimsy Wednesday ~ Stained Glass Peacock

Ooh it's been a few days since I posted but I've so many lovely creations waiting to share with you. Today of course is my Whimsy Wednesday post and I am back with another Stained Glass Window creation! I so enjoyed making the Sunflower Sun Catcher that I created a second Stained Glass Window design but this time kept it purely as a card rather than Sun Catcher. Though it easily could have been created that way. These Whimsy Stamps Stained Glass designs are so lovely, I'm keen to do another one already! This lovely one is called Stained Glass Peacock.

I went for slightly bolder colours after realising from trial and error in my last creation that the acetate needs stronger colours to really pop. So lots of lush blues, purples and yellows and doesn't this gorgeous peacock wear them well! The colours appear much richer when the card is closed and right up against the white backing panel. 

I kept the card design very simple as I really wanted nothing to outshine the peacock. So the sheer acetate layer is just sandwiched between cardstock layers. It's necessary to put a plain background behind to show off the lovely sheer panel to its best. So no message will go there, rather a panel added on the back for the message. I could in retrospect have done this as a flip open page, but didn't think of that at the time. Live and learn don't we?! I'm always learning new tricks in my crafting, often through my own mistakes. 

Whimsy Stamps have a lovely range of chipboard sentiments and I used one on this creation to finish it off. I inked the shadow base of the sentiment to match the cardstock and kept the front part plain as it worked well with the yellow tones in the design. I really love this simple CAS finish. 

Here's a side view of this beautiful peacock panel. The photos show the shadow play the image creates, which doesn't give a very crisp outline to that lovely image when taking photos, but adds to the 'je ne sais quoi' of this sheer design in reality. I used my Copic Markers for this creation on the back of the acetate following the lovely and easy to use Stained Glass Design. It was such a lovely relaxing image to colour. Quite mesmerising in fact. I felt very relaxed when I'd finished! 

Click the banner above to head straight to the Stained Glass Designs in the Whimsy Stamps Shop or click on the links below to go to the individual items. I'll be back again soon with another crafty adventure and I'll be posting slightly early next week as our new challenge goes live on the 15th, so if you haven't entered this month and have something ready to go, be sure to enter before this challenge closes. We'd love to see what you create for the next challenge too. It's always 'Anything Goes' with a Whimsy Stamps Image. Hugs and happy crafting xoxo

 

Challenge Entries:
Not Just Cards: July ~ Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create: #211 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs: July ~ Anything Goes
Always Fun Challenges: #66 ~ Anything Goes
Use Your Stuff Challenge: #320 ~ Mood Board
Card Mania Challenge: #106 ~ Anything Goes
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: #85 ~ Anything Goes
Fashionable Stamping: Use Those Inks Any Way You Want (alcohol ink on acetate)

Use Your Stuff ~ Mood Board