Nonni's and Sandie's First Kit, Cards 1 and 2

Hi friends!

Last fall I was admiring a card kit group where my friend Sandie was one of the members. I was determined to start a kit club of my own and so I did -with Marina and Pia -and we exchanged a lot of card making materials the autumn. Sandie stayed out of this group (she was already busy with her another kit club) but we agreed that come spring, we'd exchange some materials just the two of us. So, here we are with the first post for Nonni's and Sandie's kit cards! We are posting two cards today and more later this week.

I sent the first materials and of course I didn't photograph them... Grrr... But let me tell you what I sent.:

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 Doolie- 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! :) 

So, obviously, this kit was all about flowers. For stamping and card stock I used colors that I thought Sandie would like -purples, violet, ruby reds, yellow. I'm excited to see which two cards Sandie is posting today... Go ahead and visit her blog and have a look you too, click HERE.

Card 1

From the kit: Altenew Hennah Elements flowers heat embossed with gold powder 

I also used a border stamp (a gift from Sandie a couple of years ago), MFT stitched arch die + sentiment stamp from Altenew Ori Kami stamp set. 

I was inspired by the sketch at Less Is More

I must say I'm quite pleased with this card! It was one of those makes that went to many different directions before finding it's path... So lots of wasted cardstock was involved. ;) However, the CAS end result is very pleasing to my eye! The flowers are popped up with foam so the card has nice dimension IRL. 

Along with LIM I'd also like to enter this card to:

City Crafter Challenge Blog: A few Stitches (my die has stitches)

Card 2 

From the Kit: Altenew Christmas Rose stamped and die cut flowers, MFT Hello-sentiment die

I also used the border stamp from card 1, a sentiment stamp from Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set + clear sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.  

I hope you like these two cards and will come later this week for the 2 more cards I've made! 

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

I'm here today with my DT card for our new Inkspirational challenge, "connect". Often when we have word prompts (or when CASology has a tricky cue word for example) I google synonyms and words related to that word... And that's what I did this time too. One of the words related to "connect" was "touch" and that made me think of "hugs". This NBUS (never before used) W+9 holiday stamp was waiting to be inked and that was it, my direction for this challenge was decided! :) Click HERE for all the DT projects, you'll love them! 

I used my Copics and white gel pen to color in the image + did some basic masking for stenciling the sky design with a snowflake stencil and light blue ink. I love how this turned out! I haven't had time for coloring lately and I was very happy to have a free day today and to practice on my blending skills again. I tried new cardstock: it's not specific blending card but it is meant for crafting. It's called Vivaldi by Canson. I really liked working with this card. Copics just glided on it! Word of warning though if you want to try this paper: it does take longer than normal for Memento (or any ink I'd guess) to dry on this surface. I heat set it with my heat gun after a couple of messy attempts! Your coloring could also bleed more easily (go outside lines) but this wasn't a problem for me really after I got the hang of the card. I really recommend this! It's something a bit different!

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you at Inkspirational! 

I'd like to join:

ABC Christmas Challenge

C= creature (bear) + D= dimension (created with masking + shading with Copics)

Happy Little Stampers February Christmas Challenge: Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations

Animal Magic

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Hi guys!

I'm here to remind you that you still have about one week to play along in our latest challenge at TIME OUT Challenges! We are inspired by a fab wall mural you see below my card photo... Love it! So many ways to be inspired. Our DT and talented guest designer KandA have many different types of inspiration cards for you. The DT has been playing with stamps by STAMPlorations, our sponsor, and there's 2 prizes for grabs in this challenge! Don't miss any of the fun, click HERE! 

In my card I used a STAMPlortions set called Dee's Artsy Impressions Party Mates. This set has many fun party images including 3 type of balloons! I chose the star shaped ones for my card. My layout is inspired by the current Mojo Monday. From the inspiration photo I picked the blue bg, waves, used a banner and balloons (there's even stars in the photo!) using the color of the banners on the mural. This was such a fun photo, many possibilities for inspiring! 

I'd like to join: 

Mojo Monday -sketch

STAMPlorations: February CAS challenge

STAMPlorations: Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge 

Mod Squad Challenge: Geometric

(my 2nd entry. I have triangles in the stars, half-circles on the black border and spirals in the patterned paper)

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you playing along at TIME OUT!

Playing with Dies for Challenges... Again! :)

Hi guys!

Here's a second card I made using the Pretty Pinks Posh storybook die I bought back in December (first one is in my previous post!). I also used a sentiment die and sentiment stamp by MFT, gold card + patterned paper that mimics wood. I die cut the sentiment 4 times: 3 times out of the same gold card I used for the base and once from gold glitter card and stacked them together. The sentiment is heat embossed with white powder. 

I was inspired by:

Addicted to CAS: Wood

The Paper Players: Sentiment as Focal Point

Stamp Ink Paper: Kindness

It's a kind message, isn't it! And it's always kind to send a card for someone just because they are great! :)

Mod Squad Challenge: Geometrics

(I have several rectangles in my card)

Hope you like and thanks for popping by!

Playing with Dies for Challenges!

Hi friends!

I had house guests all weekend but managed to squeeze in a little bit of crafting before bedtime yesterday! Bedtime was sort of late because of the card making though... Was super sleepy at work today! :)

Anyway, I was inspired by this week's Less Is More: Alphabeth. After seeing the challenge topic I immediately thought of these designer papers I had... And the Happy Little Stampers sentiment I decided to use fits the challenge pretty well too I think! I played with my Pretty Pink Posh die that I hadn't used before -when I bought this die I though it would be great for using designer paper in a CAS way. The flower die is by Penny Black. I winked it but this is photographed in grey Finnish winter day light so you can't see the shine. :)

I'm also entering:

The Heart Desires Challenge: photo inspiration

(flowers + baby blue and baby pink)

I've saved this cute inspiration photo on my computer and finally I was playing with colors that worked! My first time entering here!

http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.fi 

Try something New (new die + designer paper in a CAS way) 

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies

Thanks for popping by! 

CAS One Layer

Hi friends!

I'm here with a CAS one layer card for these challenges:

Less Is More: Opposites Attract

(man and woman, black and white, textured+non textured base)

CASology: Romance

This card went on my boyfriend's desk right away! We share a study and have nice moments there with me crafting and he doing his stuff on his own desk. :) 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Use your favorite tool

I've used my favorite tool, the Cuttlebug, for creating the partial embossing. I love how it turned out! I just learned this from a youtube video HERE.

And last but not least I'm joining the February CAS Challenge at STAMPloratios and the Never Ending AG Challenge at STAMPlorations. The wonderful couple silhouette is a STAMPlorations product. The sentiment stamp comes from a SSS set.

Thanks for popping by, I hope you like my card! I must say I was pretty happy with how this turned out! I was just about to give up after trying several designs for this week's LIM but nothing really "spoke" to me... And then this one did big time! :) 

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi guys!

I'm here to share with you my DT card for our new Inkspirational Challenge where we are inspired by the photo above. All those pastel colored hearts are just perfect for Valentine's... But for me this challenge was a hard one. Well, that's why it's called a challenge, right! :) 

I'm not super into pastel colors in my own cards although I admire the look of them in other's creations... And I had nothing inspiring hearts-related in my stash. Also, I didn't need a Valentine's day card (I've already made a card for my boyfriend) so I was a bit idea-less! In the end I do like the card I made using the colors of the photo. I played with some MFT dies and a Spellbinders embossing folder. This is maybe not my usual style but the card is growing on me... I do love the look of the fishtail die cuts and using patterned paper in the lower one... Something I'll recreate in the future for sure! I've taken the photo on a rather dreary day, the color of the base card is actually really close to the color of the pink hearts in the inspiration photo. 

I colored the sentiment with Copics. I was so pleased that what seemed like a mission impossible in the beginning became a cute card in the end! 

We are very happy to have Ros as our guest designer. Don't miss her card and the always fab work by our regular DT, click HERE!

I'd like to enter:

http://modsquadchallenge.com Texturize (my bg is dry embossed with an embossing folder)

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Hi gyus!

I'm here to remind you of our current Inspired by Words challenge at TIME OUT:

'Friends are connected heart to heart, distance and time can't break them apart'

Click HERE for all the challenge details and prize info + fun inspiration from our DT and GD Jane who is our regular player and fantastic card maker! We are proud to have CAS-ual Friday stamps as our sponsor and the whole DT is using their fab stamps. 

In my card I'm using CAS-ual Fridays stamp set Girlfriend. This set has fun sentiment stamps and small, cute flower stamps. I masked off a strip of my card, did some ink blending and stamped some of the flowers from the set with white pigment ink. They are very hard to see in the photo on top of blue ink but IRL you can see them everywhere when you tilt the card against light in your hand. The word "friend" is stamped with black Versafine and then heat embossed with clear glitter powder -looks sort of green in the photo, don't know why! I embellished the card with clear sequins and rounded the bottom corners. Hope you like!

This card is my second entry for the current Less Is More challenge: 

3 adjacent colours used on your cards

I'm also entering Your Next Stamp (colors)

(I picked purple, red, blue)

Celebrating Darnell's 5 Year Blog Birthaversary + Less Is More Challenge Blog 6th Birthday!

Hi friends!

I was super happy to notice yesterday my card was showcased at Less Is More and I couldn't wait to see what their new challenge would be today. It turned out it's their 6th birthday! Happy Birthday Less Is More! There's a month long party with prizes and lots of fun stuff happening... Don't miss any of it, click HERE. The new challenge is:

We were advised to use 3 colors next to each other. I chose yellow, orange and red.

In addition to LIM, the inspiration behind this card comes from Darnell and her NBUS Challenges. I'm entering her NBUS Challenge #10 using also the optional theme "bubble wrap". My NBUS items are the smile-die + the clear drops. 

To celebrate Darnell's blog birtaversary big time I also wanted to use the optional theme from her previous NBUS challenge -that theme was "hidden sentiment with die cuts" and I didn't have time to try that technique then. To be honest te technique has a fancier name but I've forgotten it! :) Anyway, now I had time for both of Darnell's fun techniques and this is what I did:

I used drops of 3 colors of alcohol ink-refills + blending solution directly on bubble wrap. I took a piece of card and pressed it directly onto the bubble wrap and got this fun bg, yay! The stamped card was originally bigger but I trimmed it for more CAS look. After the stamped piece was dry I cut the smile-word out of it and also 4 times out of plain white card, stacked these together and adhered the thick word to the "slot" I had die cut from the stamped piece. LOVE how it turned out! Such a fun technique , I had never tried this before. Thank you for the inspiration, Darnell! 

To finish this card I simply adhered my embellished card to a card base, added an additional sentiment and a couple of clear drops. Oh and I wink of stellad the die cut sentiment too. I just had to! :) 

The stamped sentiment + sentiment die both come from STAMPlorations. I'm also entering:

STAMPlorations February CAS challenge

STAMPlorations Anything Goes Challenge

That's all this time! Darnell and the ladies at LIM:

Smile, it's your day! 

New CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers!

Hi friends!

We have a new CAS challenge for you at Happy Little Stampers. Click HERE for all the challenge details and fabulous DT samples!

When I made my card I didn't yet have any HLS stamps to use (now I do own one fab set!) so I played with some of my other favorite stamps. You don't have to use HLS stamps to play along but we sure like to see them used! :)

My boots- and sentiment stamps come from STAMPlorations. The bg is stamped with various of my favorite bg stamps by Prima, Marianne Design and Kaiserkraft. I love love love these smallish stamps that are so fun to work with! My card is a simple one layer. Nothing fancy, just basic stamping -I did mask a small strip from the bottom of the card to give the boots a "flat" surface to stand on. :) Love how this turned out! 

Hope you like and I hope to see you playing along at Happy Little Stampers! 

I'd like to join:

STAMPlorations: February CAS challenge (no twist)

STAMPlorations: Anything Goes Challenge

CASology: Youth

Who doesn't know about teen age blues (or angst!) ... And yes, shopping helps! :) 

The sisterhood of crafters: Simply made (One Layer Cards)

Balloons!

Hi friends!

I'm here to share a quick CAS card for challenges. I'm entering 

Less Is More: Balloons

STAMPlorations Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge

This card design didn't just pop into my head but I'm CASEing a card by from Ksenija's amazing Chasing Mojo gallery... Click HERE for the card that I'm CASEing and HERE for Ksenija's challenge! I truly loved this card design and think it's no wonder so many others have also CASEd it! 

The stamps I'm using are by STAMPlorations and I've die cut the border with a MFT die. Hope you like and thanks for popping by!