New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Less Is More:

This gives you a lot of options... Perfect opportunity to begin making Christmas cards for example! I love holidays by water -both seaside holidays and summer vacations at cabins by lakes are my favorites- so I chose a water-themed starfish stamp and sunshiney sentiment for my card. Starfish stamp by Stampers Anonymous, sentiment by PTI and dies by STAMPlorations. I also used some yellow tinted Nuvo Jewel drops for embellishment -if you click the photo larger you'll see them better. This is a very simple card but I love the detail from the die cut rectangles and I think the "whiteness" of the card does keep the overall look pretty CAS. I colored my starfish with copics and added white gel pen for details. 

Our sponsor for the month of August is the fabulous UK based online craft supplies store Seven Hills Crafts. Play along and you could win a coupon to their store! 

I'd like to enter:

STAMPlorations Summer CAS challenge

CASology. Prickly (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think starfish is not a smooth creature!) 

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Nautical

City Crafter Challenge: No flowers

I hope to see you playing along! Don't miss any DT inspiration, click HERE. Our guest designer this time is Pauline and I absolutely love her fun flip flop card! Have a fun, crafty weekend everyone! 

New Challenge at TIME OUT!

Click larger for details.


Hi friends!

I'm here with a DT card for our new challenge at TIME OUT Challenges where we are inspired by words:

'If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely' Road Dahl

As always, our challenge runs for two weeks and we also have a guest designer, Toni, whose card for us totally makes me smile. Don't miss Toni's brilliant card, work by our DT or any challenge details, click HERE. 

I decided to concentrate on the sun-part of the quote and colored in W+9 flowers with sunny colors. The card is also really shiny -all the greenery is glittered up with Wink of Stella and I also added some clear, sparkly Nuvo Crystal drops. There's a couple of tiny rhinestones too and about 1 million white dots that I made with acrylic paint and paint brush. To be honest it all looks a bit crazy (like snow and raindrops at the same time...) but that's how it is this time. :) The stamped greeting is by Papertrey Ink. The background is very lightly inked with pale yellow DI and old make up brush. Hope you like and thanks for popping by!

I'd like to enter:

Stamping Sensations: anything with flowers

Stamp Ink Paper: Fabulous florals

Time Out Challenge Reminder

Hi friends!

I'm here with a reminder for our current TIME OUT Challenge where we are CASEing this fantastic card by Hannelie from Desert Diva:

Click HERE for all the challenge details and prize info -we are sponsored by the fabulous Happy Little Stampers! The challenge blog is also, as always, filled with inspiring card by our DT. This time our guest designer is Susanne whose cards for this challenge have both been stunning. Thanks for joining us, Susanne! 

In my card I focused on many elements of Hannelie's card: the sponging, the warm color palette, the black and white flowers + I tried to mimic her cutting file design with the background stamp I heat embossed on my card base. Also my layout is very close to Hannelie's. I can thank my wonderful DT friend Anita for this PTI flower die cut I used -I own the stamp set but not dies and Anita was super friendly and sent me some die cuts to stamp on. Thank you so much dear Anita! I think this flower worked very well for this challenge and I loved the way this card turned out. The die cut stitched shape behind the flower is by MFT and the heat embossed sentiment is from a Concord & 9th set. 

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you playing along! To me Hannelie's card was one of the most fantastic cards we've ever CASEd! 

I'm entering:

CASology: warm

I think this sponged sunset looks super warm! 

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Hello friends!

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

Flowers with the Optional Twist of Kissing

Are you familiar with the kissing technique? In this technique you use a solid stamp + a detailed stamp for forming one image -you transfer the detail to the solid stamp by "kissing" the inked solid stamp with the inked detailed stamp before stamping your design on the paper. In my card I've used solid flower and leaves stamps from PTI and altered them with kissing them onto a Kaisergraft grungy grid- style stamp before stamping on paper. I absolutely love how different these flowers look after the kissing! You can barely believe it's the same, clean-lined, solid PTI stamp! 

My card is a simple one layer. I've masked a curve and inked it lightly with grey ink before stamping the images. The sentiment comes from Happy Little Stampers, who are sponsoring our challenge with a 15£ voucher to their store, randomly drawn for one "twister". Go ahead and do some kissing then, right! :)

Click HERE for more inspiration from our DT members.  

I'd like to enter CASology: Flow

The wavy curve adds flow... And so does the stamped, continuous, pattern!

I'm also entering the Paper Players: Tic Tac Toe, my 2nd entry

(pink, flowers, leaves)

Addicted to CAS: Grunge

(I've grunged up my flowers with the grungy grid-stamp!) 

City Crafter Challenge : You Can Do It (Make your own bg)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: A hint of Pink

Quick Birthday Card for Challenges

Hi friends! 

Here's a CAS birthday card I made with some challenges in mind:

Less Is More: Stripes

(my 2nd entry)

The Heart Desires: Color Palette

Addicted to CAS: Rainbow

Sugar Pea Designs Challenge: Inspiration Photo

The design in my card is stamped with a PTI border stamp (from the same stamp set than my first card for LIM stripes) and is colored in with Copics. I added a simple stamped sentiment from Concord & 9th. I tried to add sequins and what not but nothing seemed to work so this is one of my no embellies, no nothing cards! The expression "no nothing" comes from a concert hall location where they don't want you to enter one particular door.... There's a sign "no backstage, no exit, no nothing" and it always makes me smile. They really don't want you to go trough that "no nothing" door. :) !

Thanks for popping by! 

Butterflies for Challenges

Hi friends, I hope you have a good Sunday evening!

I'm here to share a CAS card for three fun challenges:

Less Is More: Stripes

Inspired by All the Little Things: photo inspiration

CAS Mix Up: Inlaid die cutting, stamping + your choice (dry embossing, copics). My 2nd entry to this challenge!

I've used a Taylored Expressions embossing folder for creating the stripes in my card base. For the focal point I cut a white circle and stamped PTI butterflies on it. I then cut a black frame where I inlaid the white circle. I think inlaid die-cuts are so good for CAS! Less layers, more CAS, right. :) The butterflies are colored in with Copics and I've also coated them with Wink of Stella. I added white dots with white gel pen to perk up the frame a bit. My usual choice would have been to add a sentiment heat embossed with white powder on black card but I wanted to add some grey to the card (inspired by the silver in the photo inspiration) and I actually really like the outcome! 

Sorry for the shadows in the card (well they do show that I've popped up the circle with foam adhesive!), I had to photograph this in unnatural light. It's late here already. :)

Thanks for popping by and happy new week!

Spring/Easter Cards with Marina and Pia Post 2/4

Hi guys!

It's day 2 out of the 4 days with Spring/Easter cards with me, Marina and Pia! We have made a small kit swap and today we are sharing cards made with materials by me. I wanted to send a colorful, funny kit that had a little retro vibe to it. The stamped flower images are by PTI and the sentiments + chick/egg images are by Avocado Arts, a company that unfortunately no more runs. 

I made 3 "official" cards with my materials and if you come back on Thursday when we are sharing cards made with the leftovers, you'll see (at least...) one more card. These cards are pretty self-explanatory... I used Copics for coloring + did a lot of die cutting. If you want to hear more details of the dies or something, just leave a comment! Now I hope you'll head on over to Marina's and Pia's for guaranteed inspiration! :) 

Nonni's and Sandie's Kit, Second post with Sandie's Materials

Hi guys!

I'm here today sharing the next 2 card I made with materials that Sandie sent me! If you missed my cards from Wednesday, scroll down or click HERE. Here's a refresher of what Sandie sent to me:

Stamped, die cut Happy Little Stampers butterfly

Heat Embossed, die cut Happy Little Stampers butterfly

Heat Embossed Uniko butterflies

Heat Embossed Uniko hummingbird 

Stamped Penny Black bird

Die cut Concord and 9th butterfly

Stamped flower by Visible Images

Die Cut fun foam sentiments by STAMPlorations and W+9

Stamped sentiments by the Ton

Faux-stitched die cut panels and frame by L'il Inker

Glitter cardstock

Different colored fun foam for die cutting

That's a lot of wonderful crafty stuff, isn't it! I can still make at least 2 more cards out of the goodies... They are all great and I want to thank my lovely friend Sandie for treating me with these! The two cards I'm sharing today are pretty self-explanatory so I'll just show you the photos and list the ingredients. Thank you for popping by and biggest thank you to Sandie for this fun swap! I'll go and visit Sandie in June and I think I'm going to die cut at least 10 of these wonderful Concord & 9th butterflies... If she lets me! :) 

Orange Flower Card

From the kit:

Stamped flower

Blue glitter card 

From own stash:

MFT Jumbo Fishtail banner Die

Circle die (brand unknown)

PTI sentiment

Clear sequins

Card base

Blue Shaker Card

From the Kit:

Die Cut Butterfly (Concord & 9th)

Die cut Birthday-sentiment (STAMPlorations)

From own stash:

Blue and white card for the card base

Sequins for the shaker

Previously heat embossed sentiment (can't find this stamp from my stash and it's driving me crazy, can anyone help me, do you know where this sentiment could be from?!?) 

I'd like to enter Orange Flower card to:

City Crafter Challenge: In Bloom

I'd like to enter Blue Butterfly card to:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Things with wings

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Guest Designing at Less Is More

Hi friends!

Today I have the great honor of being guest designer at Less Is More. I'm chuffed about this because Less Is More is my favorite challenge blog (along with those blogs where I'm in DT of course!) and I try to enter their challenges always when I can! When I started card making and blogging my cards were less CAS and I was searching for my style -I didn't like those super frilly cards but didn't yet have eye for designing simpler cards either. Then I bumbed into challenges like Less Is More and started to find the clean and simple style inside of me! I just went through my old blog Runaway Cards and found my first entry to LIM from December 2012. :) The 2 last years have been rather hectic on work field and I haven't had much time for challenge cards but things have settled now and by today I have not missed one LIM challenge from the beginning of 2017! :)

Anyway, onto my card and this week's LIM challenge!

It's a recipe week and the recipe is Use a Frame. My first idea was to make a shaker card and after playing with some other options I went back and did the shaker. I used a fun tag die from Sugar Pea Designs that allows you to cut a window -this was perfect for making a framed shaker. I chose Easter stamps by PTI and Avocado Arts (unfortunately not an active company anymore), did some simple Copic coloring and put my card together using a bit of grey card and a die cut border for accent. The small, glittery and clear shaker bits and pieces have such pretty shine IRL and the yellow card I used shines as well so this card is very glittery! I'm sending this to my boyfriend's sister and his nieces, they are 3 year old twins -I hope they'll have sun shaking! 

I'd like to thank Less Is More for inviting me to guest design. I hope you ladies understand what an influence your challenge blog has had for my card making! 

Thanks for popping by! 

Let's Do Lunch

Hi friends!

I'm here to share a quick CAS card I made for the current CASology (Crunch) in mind. This was a tough cue word for me and I had to turn to Google for synonyms and words related to crunch... And this led me to "bite". I remembered these fun cutlery stamps from PTI and a sentiment from STAMPlorations that would match the cutlery more than nicely! I missed the previous CASology, Score, and wanted to add score lines to this card using my new Scor-Buddy (a prize from Darnell's NBUS challenges!)... But now when I look at my card it looks a bit busy for a CAS design. I however love the score lines so let's decide they look good! ;) I also don't know if anyone has ever seen winked, glittery, wooden cutlery but that's what I have for you. Lol. :) 

Thanks for popping by! 

Entering:

CASology: Crunch

STAMPlorations: March CAS Challenge, AG (no twist)

Addicted to CAS: Wood (my second entry)

City Crafter: Hygge

Nonni's and Sandie's First Kit Cards 3 and 4

Hi friends! 

I'm back sharing the next 2 cards Sandie and I have made with the same materials. To remind you what materials we played with, here's a list of the kit ingredients:

All About Flowers Kit:

Three different types of stamped and die cut flowers by Altenew (Hennah Elements, Peony Bouquet, Christmas Rose)

Sentiment dies by My Favorite Things 

A stamped PTI Doodlie- Do flower. This is my favorite flower stamp of all times... And I especially wanted to send this to Sandie because it's so nice to color in with markers -no shading is needed for this image to look fab! Sandie is not a fan of shading so I wanted to show her that markers can be fun too and not only intimidating! :) 

Now, today's cards!

Card 1

From the Kit: PTI Doodlie-Do stamped flower

combined with colored, partly embossed paper, border die (manufacturer unknown but love it!), stitched fishtail banner die by MFT, sentiment stamp by Altenew Beautiful Day set.

Sketch inspiration comes from Less Is More

and color inspiration comes from Sunday Stamps

I've colored the flower with Copics but without any shading this time. Some white gel pen and white enamel dots for accents. 

Card 2

From the Kit: Altenew stamped and die cut Peony Bouquet flowers and leaves, MFT sentiment die

combined with MFT white heat embossed sentiment and enamel dots by Happy Little Stampers. I've covered a regular card base with purple paper and popped the flowers up with 3d stickers. 

In case you missed my post on Monday, in the upper row in the photo below you can see the two first cards made with the kit. 

Thanks for popping by! I encourage you all to have crafty fun with friends by swapping materials and getting inspired! 

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Hi guys!

I'm here to remind you of our current TIME OUT Challenge where we are CASEing Ksenija's card:

As you can see I was so inspired I made two CAS card designs, really loved the inspiration Ksenija provided for us!

The sentiment stamps in both of my cards comes from Happy Little Stampers. Happy Little Stampers

 is sponsoring this challenge with a 15 $ voucher for their shop for the winner. Do not hesitate to play along!

In my first card I've used a stencil by STAMPlorations. I just purchased this in December and have been using it several times already! I love the graphic look of this card. If you click Ksenija's card larger you can see that she did some tone on tone stamping on her card base and this really drew my eye. I also love the way she stamped her leaves on an angle and followed this layout in both of my card. The big leaves on my second card are made with a SSS stencil. The stamped flowers are from an old PTI set and I just stamped them pretty randomly. The ribbon tries to mimic the red strip Ksenija heat embossed on the corner of her white panel in the card. 

Now I hope you'll head on over to have a look of the inspiration our talented GD Marjan and the TO design team has provided for you in our blog HERE. Then it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft!

The challenges I'm entering:

card 1

STAMPlorations January CAS Challenge

card 2 

Mix It Up #27 Anything Goes

Your Next Stamp Challenge #56 (colors)

The Paper Players use a flower

Thanks for popping by!