Honey, I Shrunk the Kit - September 2017

Good morning

My fellow honeys and I have got together again recently and been creating cards from an identical kit of crafty goodies.

One of the gang puts together an envelope of the same secret crafty bits and sends the happy mail to each of us, and we then get creative with it.  It was my turn to supply the kit this time so I'm excited to see what my talented teamies have done with it.  The fabulous honeys are:

Hazel Hodgkins - Hazel's Paper Designs

Sarah Platt - Sazzle Dazzle Crafts

Sarah Gray - Funky Fossil Designs

Shona Chambers - Twine Around

I named my kit 'Symbols of Summer'. 

Here is a pic of the kit and details of what I included

(I went a bit bonkers and included rather a lot, and from many brands too!)

Stamps:
Your Next Stamp - Flippin' Fabulous (crab/sentiments)
Clearly Besotted - Life's a Beach (flip flops/sentiments), So Sweet II (ice cream), Hung Up on You (mini cocktail/sentiments), Good Times II (sentiments), Petite Plushies (lolly/pinwheel)
Hero Arts - Let's Chill (palm/hibiscus/cocktail/beachball/sentiment)
Avery Elle - Sip Sip Hooray (sentiments)
The Greeting Farm - Rain Snow Shine (girl)
Little Claire (beach huts
Clear Impressions - Sea Breeze (deck chair)

Dies:
Paper Smooches - Warm Wishes, Birthday Words (cheers)
Echo Park - Flamingo Palm die set
Newton's Nook - Hibiscus
Clearly Besotted - Scalloped Edges die collection

Patterned Paper:
First Edition - Paradise Crush (floral)
Decotime - no name (ice creams)

Ribbon - Dovecraft
Gems - Papermania Glazed Gems Iridescent
Reversible coloured card from stash

Here are my makes (and still plenty left to make more!)

Card 1

I used the coloured cardstock, image and sentiment from the kit for this one.  I die cut a white piece of card using an MFT Die-namics double stitched circle die and stencilled some clouds using MFT mini cloud edges stencil with Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass (apologies, it's very pale in the pic).  I then layered up the sand and sea and die cut these with the same circle die to create the scene.  I added a mix of embossing powder by Wow! by dotting with an embossing pen, to create the break of the waves on the sand. The crab was coloured with ProMarkers and fussy cut, and the sentiment was cut out and mounted on some leftover blue cardstock. I finished by adding the sun which is in fact part of a chrysanthemum layering die set by Creative Expressions, cut from yellow card, and blended this with Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade.  Oh, and of course some googly eyes!

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #98 - Creatures Great or Small (a few layers but hopefully still CAS enough!)

Alphabet Challenge - M for Make Your Mark
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies September Challenge

Card 2

This one uses three of the die cuts from the kit.  I used Distress Inks to colour the flamingo (Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Hickory Smoke, Pumice Stone) and the palm tree (Ground Espresso, Forest Moss, Pine Needles).  The 'warm wishes' I coloured with a black ProMarker.  I used the brush stroke image from Stampin' Up's Work of Art set to create the sand, sea and sky using Versa Color ink in Bisque, Lagoon Blue and Sky Blue.  I used a black fineliner pen for the flamingo's eye and finished by adding my coconuts, Doodlebug Sprinkles in Bon Bon.

Challenge entry:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #376 - Just Add 'D' (Die cuts / Distress Ink)

Card 3

Everything here was from the kit, other than ProMarkers and Wink of Stella to colour and a couple of stitched dies.  I adhered the lolly/ice cream paper to the entire card base, then split a piece of white cardstock on the diagonal and adhered this over the top. The beach huts were coloured with ProMarkers and die cut with an MFT Die-namics stitched rectangle die, and the sentiment was cut from a smaller one in the same set.  I coloured the three elements of the ice cream, fussy cut them out, cut a slit in the ice cream to tuck in the flake, covered with clear Wink of Stella then adhered to the card with adhesive and glue dots.

Challenge entry:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp It

Card 4

This one was predominantly all bits from the kit too.  The image I coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos before mounting onto some of the floral patterned paper.  I wrapped the ribbon around a piece of white cardstock and adhered the image panels on top.  I die cut the sentiment and a piece of the orange cardstock using the Tiny Tags Die by Clearly Besotted and offset these before adhering.  I finished by adding some of the gems to the ribbon and tag, and finally added some Glossy Accents to her sunglasses.

Challenge entry:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Stamp It

Card 5

I wasn't really sure where I was going with this one and it's my least favourite but thought I would share it anyway.  I die cut the pink cardstock and the cocktail image using rectangle dies.  The cocktail was coloured with ProMarkers and some Wink of Stella.  The hibiscus die cuts were colour blended with Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick, Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss.  I layered up all the elements, added the 'cheers' sentiment which I kept white and finished with some of the smooth gems.

If you've made it to the end of this post, thank you so much for sticking with it.  I'm now off to see what my honey buddies have made with the kit!

I'll be back very soon with the details of the upcoming challenge at Less is More.

Less is More Week #342

Good morning

It's Saturday morning and therefore time for a new challenge over at Less is More.  Week three of the month means we're back with a Theme challenge and here is our theme for this week...

To be honest, it's been so long since I had a proper holiday, anything would be perfect right now.  My last trip abroad was in 2010! But in a nutshell, anything that involves being able to wear my flip-flops, drink yummy cocktails and enjoy a lovely warm sunset would be perfect.  So I've included all three on my first card...

I started by stamping the flip-flops then masked these to stamp the cocktail.  I coloured the cocktail with coloured pencils and then masked this also.  I then used Distress Inks to blend the sunset over the images before die cutting with a square pierced die.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam and I finished by heat embossing the sentiment in white onto a strip of textured black cardstock.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Life's a Beach; Hero Arts - Let's Chill; Sentiment: Joanna Sheen - Garden Retreat (free with publication)
• Ink: Memento - Bahama Blue, Rose Bud; Verafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark; Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• Cocktail coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos

Challenge entries:

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #52 - Things Beginning with the letter 'B' (blend / birthday / bright)

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations - August Challenge - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - CAS Game #96 - Summer Fun

And I think anyone's perfect holiday would involve a tropical paradise.  We do have palm trees in the seaside town where I live but I certainly wouldn't call it tropical or paradise! lol  I wanted to keep this card fairly simply but didn't like it at all when I first made it, but I thought I'd share it anyway as it's growing on me!

I simply die cut three palm trees from the same cardstock as the card base and adhered these flat.  I heat embossed the sentiment in white onto some black cardstock and popped it up on 3D foam.  And hopefully you can just about see in the photo, I finished by adding some clear Wink of Stella to the trees.  Why can't our cameras see the sparkle like our eyes can?!

Materials used:

• Die: Echo Park - Flamingo Palm die set
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Hung Up On You
• Ink: Versamark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear

Challenge entry:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

A couple of the LIM Design Team are taking a break this week but there's still plenty of inspiration, and we also have the lovely Pauline of Crafting with Cotnob joining us as a guestie following her June win.  So please do pop over and visit their personal blogs, you won't be disappointed.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Less is More - Lucky Dip Week!

Good morning crafters

Hopefully Blogger has been nice to me and published this scheduled post for me.  Right now I'll be sitting down to a much needed brekkie after my works Christmas bash last night (unseasonably late I know!), before heading off on a four hour journey back down to Devon from Kent (my employer's Head Office is in Kent so the other branches travel there from all over the UK).

So, while I'm probably nursing an inevitable hangover (no doubt after a free bar!), I'll introduce this week's challenge over at Less is More.  As we have a fifth Saturday this month it's the turn of our Lucky Dip challenge.  And as we have Aussie Kylie bringing Happy Little Stampers as our sponsor this month, our theme is...

Down Under

Feel free to interpret this however you like, just remember to keep your creations clean and simple

I struggled with this challenge for a while as I had nothing Australia themed in my stash like koalas, kangaroos and didgeridoos to name a few, but then an idea popped in my head.......sun, sea, sand and surfing!  Obviously you can go off in a completely different direction with how you interpret the challenge if you wish.  Here's what I came up with...

I didn't have anything resembling a surfboard so I popped into MS Word, created an elongated oval with two vertical lines going down the centre, printed it on some patterned paper and....voila, one surfboard!  I then made a beach scene using a variety of dies.  The sky, sea, sand and sun all started from round dies which I then cut using scallop dies to create the layered up scene.  I nestled the surfboard in between the sand layers, with the top popped up on 3D foam, then adhered the whole circular scene to the card base slightly overlapping the edge, then trimmed off the excess.  I then manipulated the sentiment stamp into a curve on my acrylic block before stamping around the curve.  I'm actually really pleased with how this one turned out as I was having brain block for days before this idea materialised!

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Echo Park - Sweet Day
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circles; Clearly Besotted - Scalloped Edges Die Collection; X-Cut - Nested Circles
• Coloured Cardstock: Papermania - Capsule Solid Cardstock; Neenah - Desert Storm
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Mix Mash
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #105 - Anything Goes

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #156 - Punches and/or Dies

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #343 - Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations - January Challenge - Anything Goes with a Die(s)

So, get your thinking caps on and we would love to see your creations in our gallery this week.

Bye for now

CAS Party!

Hi guys

Well, I was in a mood for crafting today so I decided to have another go at the latest challenge at Less is More which is to choose any previous challenge.

I didn't have a clue which one to choose so I asked my boyfriend to pick a number between 1 and 150 and he decided on 82.  So there you have it, I made this card based on Week 82 which was a Recipe challenge, being '3, 2, 1'.  I hadn't started blogging when this challenge was set previously so haven't attempted it before.

I also decided to enter another challenge at the same time, this being the latest at CASology where the theme is Party.

I had all sorts of 321 combinations going round in my brain but settled on this:

3 - Pearls

2 - Patterned Papers

1 - Stamped Sentiment

Materials used:

• Stamp: From an unknown set free with a publication
• Ink: Versa Color - Pine Cone
• Patterned Paper: Echo Park - Sweet Day 6x6 Paper Pad
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flag STAX
• Pearls from stash

I'll be back tomorrow with my favourite creations from this year and who knows, I may ask him to pick another number later and have another go!

TTFN

Sketch Saturday Week #263

Hi guys

Go me, three posts in less than 24 hours!

While I had my hexagon hat on I thought I'd have my first go at a Sketch Saturday challenge which this week features a hexagonal design.

Here is my card...

 

and here is Jen's sketch...

 

I started by flipping through some of my patterned paper pads as I was initially going to die cut the hexagons, then I looked through one of my new pads and found a page which was a hexagonal design.  So I cut out a section to use and then matched up the upper and lower background papers using sheets from the same pad.  A bit of matting and layering, stamping a sentiment and a few dew drops later and it was complete.

I'm not entirely happy with this but I think its because its quite masculine.  I prefer girlie cards but as my stock of male cards is pretty much non-existent, I'll add it to my stash :)

Materials used:

• Design Paper: Echo Park - Sweet Day (6x6 paper pad)
• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Premium Cardstock (lime green)
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Honeycomb (sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dew drops from stash

As always, thanks for dropping by.

Take care and see you soon :)