Twofer Challenge #2 Hearts

Hi friends!

I'm here with a last minute entry for Twofer Challenge #2: Hearts. I was afraid I'd miss the deadline but I did make it in the end, yay! There's even 5 more hours to go before the linky closes... Hmmm I could still start over if I wanted! :)

In my cards I've used a heart background stamp by CAS-ual Fridays and my occasions are Love and Christmas. 

In my Love- card I've white heat embossed the heart background, die cut it with my currently favorite die by Lil'Inker and sponged ink to only to the top part of the image.  I also splashed some water to the inked part for extra texture. The sentiment is heat embossed with white too. 

A close up of the card:

The continuous heart pattern reminds me of retro wallpaper patterns, maybe from the 70's... And I though it might look fun stamped tone on tone. It looks alright IRL but was hard to capture with my camera, hopefully you can see the heart pattern a bit better in the detail photo below. For some reason the tone on tone look begun to look like Scandinavian Christmas print to me and therefore the second occasion turned into Christmas -my first idea was to make a Friendship or Sympathy card. In the end the second card is my take on "Scandinavian Retro Christmas". Lol! :) I used die cuts from W+9, a Finnish Christmas sentiment + white paint splatters. I seem to need to splatter all my cards now... It's a thing! 

In addition to Twofer challenge, I'd like to enter my Love-card into:

Penny Black and More: Hearts and Love (and/or flowers, no flowers here!) 

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Crunge It Up (I used distress inking + water splattering)

Calling All Sistahs: Photo 

In addition to Twofer challenge, I'd like to enter my Christmas card into: 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Make Your Own Background

ABC Christmas Challenge: Distress (I used paint splatters) 

Thanks for popping by!

New Challenge at Less Is More!

HI friends!

It's February which means Birthday Celebrations at Less Is More! That's right, Less Is More celebrates it's 7th Anniversary, woot woot! We have 2 sponsors this month, one for each birthday challenge. Along with sponsor prizes there will be surprise prizes too so do play along for a change to win! All the details are in our challenge blog HERE. This current challenge is sponsored by Uniko and Uniko owner and designer Bev is joining us as guest designer. And guess what... In addition to that, previous LIM DT members are joining us too! So there's lots and lots and lots of inspiration in the challenge blog. Welcome back Chrissie, Esther, Jen and Sarah G! 

Now let's get onto our theme, "Music", and my DT cards.

Card 1 You Rock

(above)

This simple card was made to encourage a friend facing challenging, exciting work stuff this week! I was inspired by both the colors and photo in the current Calling All Sistahs Encouragement challenge. The large Rock-word is by CASual Fridays and to maintain a lot of white space I chose a very small You-word from MFT. I added extra interest with markers and white gel pen and also did some stenciling to spice the card up! This is a masculine card (the recipient is masculine enough to take the floral word!) so no bling or sparkle or other embellies this time. I did splattering with blue perfect pearls mixed with water though so there is some moderate shine! 

I'd also like to enter:

CASology: Swoon

(all "rock stars" are to swoon over, the real big ones and the more "mortal" ones too!) 

CAS on Friday: Use Markers/Pencils

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge. Anything Goes

Card 2 Merry Christmas

(below)

In this card I used designer paper that has a Christmas carol sheet music and lyrics printed on it. I've used my favorite snowflake die (Joy crafts) and added score lines for extra interest. The sentiment is heat embossed with white. I think the layout is pretty much an old Lim sketch and also Nonni + square piece of card + Joycrafts snowflake is not a new idea either but oh well... You can repeat nice ideass, can't you?!? At least this time the snowflake is not in the middle of the square like before! :)

After taking the photo and looking at it from my laptop screen I started staring that something in the sheet music looks a bit off to me... Why is this melody written in such weird way... And then I took the card in my hand and the thing is I've glued the paper upside down!! So the lyrics and everything is upside down!!! I think I have to send this to someone who doesn't pay much attention to detail!!! This is extra hilarious because I'm a musician and read sheet music every day -now we know I can't do it when I don't get paid! ;) 

With this card I'd like to join:

AAA Cards: Chilled 

(snowflakes are pretty chilled, aren't they!)

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you playing along at Less Is More!

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hello friends!

It's time for the last 2017 challenge at Inkspirational! This time our wonderful DT member (and one of my best friends!) Sandie has chosen the challenge theme and this is what she chose for us:

We'd like you to focus on plain old (but good!) stamping -no designer papers or dies allowed this time! Grab your stamps and inks and join us! Our guest designer this time is the very talented Laurie and I love the fun card she made for us. Do visit her blog and our regular DT members too! 

My DT card is one of my last minute Christmas cards created with snowflake stamps by CAS-ual Fridays. I've used these stamps a lot, they are so versatile and can be used for many different looks! I went with CAS, one layer, sort of geometric style this time. Hope you like! The photo is a bit unfocused due to lighting problems I had when taking the photo but then it was too late to re-do the pic -the X was cards had to be sent out! :)

I'd like to join:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

TIME OUT Challenges Reminder

HI friends!

I'm here to remind you of our last TIME OUT Challenge for 2017:

You still have about one week to play along! We will do a random draw between all those who use the optional twist. The winner of this will get a $15 gift voucher to use in Happy Little Stampers store, woo hoo!

I have pretty much twisted when making my card: I've used snowflake stamps by CAS-ual Fridays and a deer from Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together which is a Christmas set. The sentiment is also by Lawn Fawn. I've colored my deer with Copics and made a super simple (and slightly unrealistic, the snowflakes are a lot bigger than the deer!) scene. 

Now it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft! Don't forget to check out all DT inspiration HERE and visit our talented guest designer Patty! She had some Lawn Fawn fun too! :)

I'd like to join:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes 

CASology: Kindness

(a card for a "deer" friend is a kind gesture isn't it!) :)

New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi guys!

We have a new challenge for you at Less Is More! This post is a couple of hours late due to me being an airhead -I forgot it's Saturday... So I'll just quickly tell you about my cards and click publish!

Card 1

(above)

In my first card this week I'm using a beautiful candle stamp by STAMPlorations along with a sentiment stamp by CAS-ual Fridays. The sentiment says "It's the most wonderful time of the year", it's a bit tricky to read in the photo. I've cut a circle out of masking paper and placed it on top of my card base. I've then stamped the candles and masked them. The background is made with sponging with distress inks + splattering with white acrylic paint + gold watercolor by Kuretake (the starry colors palette).

With my candles- card I'd like to join:

AAA Cards: Christmas

Card 2

(below)

I've used same techniques in my second card. I've masked a snowbank + a moon that I had first sponged with greyish ink and then made the distress inked sky + splattered white paint + shiny watercolor for stars and snow. This time I used the white gold color from the starry watercolors palette -it's almost silver, very pretty! The sentiment is by CAS-ual Fridays again. 

I'd like to join CASology: Stormy with my landscape card. I think there's a snow storm happening in there! :)

I'm also joining:

CAS-ual Fridays: Winter Blues

I hope to see you playing along at Less Is More! Our blog is filled with more inspiration by our DT + information about the challenge details and our December sponsor, Happy Little Stampers so do head on over there!

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

I'm here with my DT card for our new challenge at Inkspirational. We are inspired by this fun photo:

I chose glittery cold, black and white from the color scheme of the photo and made a card celebrating Christmas -they are celebrating something in the photo for sure too! I've used my favorite snowflake die (Joy Crafts), MFT fishtail banner die + CAS-ual Fridays sentiment. A very quick and simple CAS card but I do like the end result, this looks quite festive! The sentiment "Joy to the world" is a bit hard to read in the photo, all that shine was a bit too much for my poor old camera (just when I wrote on Thursday that I'm in better terms with it finally...).

I hope to see you playing along! Please check all the DT work HERE, you'll surely be inspired! 

I'd like to play along:

AAA Cards: Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes 

(my 2nd entry)

CAS on Friday: Christmas

CAS Mix-Up December

(stamping + heat embossing, die cutting, vellum, sequins!) 

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Inkspirational. Our DT member Yvonne has chosen a fun Christmas card challenge for you:

Our challenge blog is filled with DT inspiration and we hope to see you joining us! Our guest designer this time is the talented Heidi -play along and you could be chosen as guest designer too!

My card is made with patterned paper, vellum and CAS-ual Fridays snowflake stamps and sentiment stamp heat embossed with white powder. I love how this turned out but the photo gives it no justice -I photographed this outside one morning when the sun was not really up yet (not that it shines too much in November anyway...) and the white in the photo looks very blue. It's that time of year again when taking photos of your cards is super annoying!

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you joining us! Happy crafting! 

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder!

Hi friends!

I'm here to remind you of our current TIME OUT challenge:

Sympathy Cards with the Optional Twist of Distressing

No twist for me this time! I've made a super CAS card with minimal Copic coloring using poppy stamps by Clearly Besotted and sentiment by CAS-ual Fridays. Only the blooms are colored in with red Copies + I've added some white gel pen to two of the flowers. I quite like the red/white/black/grey color palette of this!

Our sponsor in this challenge is Happy Little Stampers, play along for a chance to win! You could also be chosen as a future guest designer -this time our GD is Sue whose CAS style (often with mixed media feel!) I really admire. Now it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft!

New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi friends!

It's Saturday and time for a new Less Is More challenge! We have a color challenge for you and it's a fun one: hot and spicy colors! Our blog is filled with DT inspiration so please head on over there for more hot and spicy cards!

Card 1

My first card is very CAS with burning hot colors! I've stamped my Altenew bird, masked it off (along with adding a straight edge mask), sponged the top portion of the panel with orange DI and stamped some grid pattern (Kaiserkraft) on it with the same orange ink. My bird is colored in with Copics and I simply stamped a sentiment (STAMPlorations) to finish off the card. I adhered the stamped panel on card base out of red cardstock -I'm trying to use up my colored card and save some white! :) This card is inspired by the sketch (and well, the colors are very sunny too so by the photo too!) at Fusion card challenges:

And I'm also joining the grid-challenge at CASology. (I hope you can see the grid I stamped as extra interest on top of my inking! The photo didn't catch it very well.) 

Card 2 

My second card is sort of a re-make of my TIME OUT DT card from Thursday (click HERE if you want to check out that card, I really liked how it turned out!). I wanted to change the design a little bit and have a go with the hot and spicy colors. The stamp set is a stunner by CAS-ual Fridays stamps: Casual Comfort. This card is inspired by these challenges: 

AAA Cards: Sketch

Calling All Sistahs: Colors

My first time playing here... Glad to enter! These encouragement challenges are amazing!

Stamping Sensations: Autumn Glory

Before going I want to let you know that Uniko is our sponsor in the month of October and this week we have the pleasure to have Bev from Uniko as our guest designer. I love the mandala card she made for us! 

That's all from me this time, folks! If you made it until here... Well done! Quite a long post! :)

TIME OUT Reminder!

Hi friends,

I'm here to remind you of our current challenge at TIME OUT. Due to breast cancer month our theme is:

Breast Cancer Awareness and/or Friendship 

This challenge is sponsored by CAS-ual Fridays and the winner will receive a $25 voucher to their store! Wonderful prize, right! 

In my DT card I'm playing with a wonderful stamp set by CAS-ual Fridays: Casual Comfort . I got this design idea immediately after seeing this stamp set but I must confess it's not my own: if you click HERE you'll see my "inspiration for one layer cards- Pinterest board" and find many examples of this kind of simple masking/layered stamping cards. I used a pink DI for sponging and and ink brushing my masked area and stamped some flower stems with that same ink, then I continued to stamp with black ink and in the end I did a couple of stems with golden Delicata ink. My DT buddy Jill used gold in her pink/white card last week and I loved it, I wanted to try the same color combo! Thanks Jill! I also used some sequins we DT members got as an extra gift from CAS-ual Fridays. Michele is always so generous to us, thank you so much!

Now it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft if you haven't already! :) Please check our blog for even more DT inspiration from our design team members and wonderfully artistic guest designer Yulia. 

Guest Designing at AAA Cards!

Hi friends!

Today I have the great pleasure to be guest designing at AAA Cards! I was so pleased when Jane asked me to join in for this challenge, "Words Have Power". How true is that, right!! 

 I always think cards that have the main focus in sentiments are fun and this time I had a NBUS stamp waiting that was just perfect! These stamps come from CAS-ual Fridays and are just gorgeous. The three red colored flowers are from the same set. There's even words rock + love -this is just such a fun stamp set! 

I colored the words in with grey Copics and added some additional color with red markers and white gel pen. I did very basic masking to stamp the three individual flowers behind the sentiment. After die cutting the decorative MFT border and adding some sequins my card was all finished! I love how this turned out! 

I hope I've inspired you to play along. Thanks again AAA Cards for having me!

Read all about the challenge and HERE. I promise you you'll be inspired by the work of the AAA design team!

New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Less Is More. It's a one layer week (one layer = one piece of cardstock folded in half) and we want to see spots and stripes in your one layer cards!

Our sponsor in May is the wonderful Uniko  and some of the DT is showcasing their great products! Don't miss any of the gorgeous inspiration, click HERE. We also have a guest designer, one of my first acquaintances here in bogland, Sue. She makes such beautiful CAS cards. Congrats on your GD spot, Sue! 

Now let's have a quick look at my cards.

Card 1

Sentiment stamps by MFT

Other stamps by Simon Says Stamp

This card has no special techniques or anything, it's simply stamped -after I was sure about the design I wanted to make I think this took under 5 minutes to make! :)

I'f like to enter this card to 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Going Dotty

AAA Cards: Bright and Beautiful

Card 2

Sentiment stamp by Freshly Squeezed Stamps (no longer in business)

Flower stamps by CAS-ual Fridays

This card took a bit longer than 5 minutes but not much! 

I've masked off a wide stripe and gently brushed grey ink to it to make it stand out from the white. My tools for this are not exactly fancy: an old blusher brush + very old and dry black memento ink pad that's nowadays grey! :) 

I then stamped the flowers and colored them in with Copics. After that was dry I added some Wink of Stella to the colored in areas and made the white dots in the flowers stand out even more by using white gel pen. I also added extra dots to some of the completely black "flowers". I think these could double as snow flakes in a winter card! :) 

I'd like to enter this card to 

Your Next Stamp: Color palette

Mod Squad Challenge: Let's color

CAS-ual Friday Challenge: 6 of something + birthday card

(6 x colored in flowers)

Now it's your turn to show where our one layer theme Spots and Stripes takes you. Happy crafting!