The Library Challenge -Take Two!

Hi friends!

Yesterday I posted my first take on the new The Library Challenge where the first topic is Pride and Prejudice. My first card was inspired by the cover and now I'm inspired by the story -In my card I have Mr Darcy and Ms Bennet enjoying some afternoon tea in a romantic outing. Right?!? :) Lol! 

Here's some details about this new challenge:

If you love reading – or just looking at book covers – this challenge is for you.  Each challenge will feature a book and you can be inspired by :

The cover 

or

The title

or

The Story

In my card I've used stamps by Waffle Flower. It's the first time I make a card with these cuties because I've found them tricky to color with Copics -the bears are quite large and it's hard to get a smooth blend with brown Copics! However, after discovering the joys of coloring with Copics on kraft yesterday I realized the bears could work well on kraft... And they do!! I had super fun putting together this stamped scene with masking and then coloring it in with markers. I love white gel pen on kraft so I added "some". ;) I did make some mistakes in my masking but I was able to cover the weird spots quite well with coloring. I think next time I'll mask a bit less images! :) 

Hope you like and thanks for popping by! 

I'm also entering:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Make your own background ( I hope my stamped, masked and colored flowers will qualify!)

Simon Says Monday Challenge: In my Garden

New Challenge in Blogland: The Library Challenge!

Hi friends!

I'm here to share a quick post with a card I made for the brand new The Library Challenge. The first challenge topic there is Pride and Prejudice and here's the challenge info:

If you love reading – or just looking at book covers – this challenge is for you.  Each challenge will feature a book and you can be inspired by :

The cover 

or

The title

or

The Story

As you can probably see, I went with the cover! This was my first time coloring with Copics on kraft and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it! I think I'll never color on white again! ;) I also splattered some white paint -maybe a mistake- but I've been splattering all my cards lately. I can't stop it, it seems to be a bug. :) lol!! The fabulous stamps I used are by Altenew and I've actually received them last year as a birthday gift from Marina who is the mastermind behind The Library Challenge! 

I'd also like to join:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Make Your Own Background

Thanks for popping by!

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 Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

I'm a couple of hours late with my Inkspirational DT card but hey, better late than never! We are being inspired by this fabulous photo:

Very simple and very pretty too! I look forward seeing how you'll be inspired. My take is very obvious: I went with the butterfly! I looked for some extra inspiration from these challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge: Sketch

CAS Colours and Sketches: Colors

I used my Hero Arts butterfly stamps and dies + a Finnish birthday sentiment for this card. I used snippets of patterned paper to back the openings of the butterflies and show some color so I'd also like to join Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #320. I embellished the card with some watercolor splatters and blue gems. Hope you like! 

Please head on over to our challenge blog for all the challenge details and more inspiration by our design team and talented guest designer Lula. I love the shabby look of her card! Happy crafting, everyone!

Time Out Challenges Reminder!

Hi friends!

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

This challenge is sponsored by CAS-ual Friday Stamps and if you use the optional twist, your entry is in the draw for a 25$ gift voucher to their shop! 

I kind of went with the twist: I did not make a card but my project is a one layer piece! I chose two of my hobbies for this challenge, reading and crafting, and made a crafting-themed bookmark! I have to keep this post short and sweet due to house guests, no time to hang around online, but do leave me a question about the products and techniques I used if you want to know more! Thank you!

I hope to see you joining us! More inspiration from my fantastic team mates and our talented, fabulous guest designer Ashwini HERE! 

New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Less Is More! We continue with our birthday festivities and have some of our alumni DT members creating with us and we also have prizes for you to win... Don't miss any of the fun, the amazing amount of inspiration and prize details, click HERE. Our challenge topic is a fun, but possibly a challenging one:

Dry embossing is something that is maybe not easy to incorporate to CAS designs but that's why we love challenges... They challenge us! :) Let's see what I came up with.

Card 1 Feathers (above)

I've used dry embossing in two ways here: 

*I've dry embossed the whole background using a very subtle embossing folder, something that's very suitable for CAS backgrounds.

*The feathers are cut from previously dry embossed card. The feather die was a freebie with a crafting magazine some years ago and I still use it -it actually does some embossing in itself too!

A very simple layout with these feathers + a bit of wash tape and sequins to embellish the card. The Finnish sentiment means "for you". It's a rubber stamp and just impossible to stamp straight, I tell you!!!! I start to think the whole sentiment is somehow "crooked" on the rubber itself! I think this was the first and last time this stamp came out to play...

With this card I'd like to play along at:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Add a Die Cut

Card 2 Flowers (below)

In the detail photo you can see how I've used dry embossing here -just on 1/3 of the card making sure there's lots of white space left. This design is quite detailed but I'm hoping to get away with it, to me it is CAS enough! :) The stamped, Copic colored and die cut flowers come from Poppy Stamps and my currently favorite decorative edge die comes from Lil'Inker.

With this card I'd like to enter:

Stamping Sensations: Anything With Flowers (my 2nd entry)

Guest Designing at Addicted to CAS!

Hi guys!

Today (or tonight if you are on my time zone!) I have the great pleasure to be joining Addicted to CAS as a guest designer for their new challenge:

Thank you Barb for inviting me!

I've interpreted the code word with two ways:

a) using leopard print patterned paper

b) Thesaurus tells me words related to cat are for example "admirer" so I made the card for someone worth admiring -this could go to any of my beautiful, lovely friends! 

The sentiment stamps come from MFT and the brilliant curve die is from Lil'inker. Love this die! I bought it last summer but haven't really used it -recently I've made this + one other card with the die (in my blog tomorrow...) and now I feel like using it in all my cards! I just love this fun way to add some pattern and detail to your CAS design! Some sequins finish off this very simple card. 

I'd like to enter:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #319

(my snippets are the strip of black card + the leopard print paper is a leftover from a large 12 x 12 sheet from my scrapbooking times years and years ago!)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Add a Die Cut

I hope to see you playing along at Addicted to CAS and thanks again Barb for inviting me to join as a guest designer! 

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Inkspirational: 

Our guest designer this time is Jen from The Other Fickle Pixie. Her blog is truly fun, do pay her a visit if you haven't already! As always our regular DT members have also made amazing samples for you. Don't miss any of the fun all challenge details, click HERE!

In my card I've used a flower stamp and die + frame/aperture die from Paper Smooches and sentiment stamp by Verve stamps. The frame/aperture die is quite fun -you can use just the frame as it is or re-attach the rectangle it cuts out. I used just the frame now to show the opening witch is my aperture for the challenge. :) The frame is cut from watercolor card I had "colored" with Brushos. The flowers are colored in with Copics. To be honest this is my third attempt with this card -my first one had blue card base, orange rectangle in the opening + white frame... This made my eyes hurt. :) I then moved into white card base, blue rectangle + orange frame... My eyes hurt a bit less... But then I ended up even removing the blue rectangle. I think this is colorful enough as it is now! :) Or should I have saved the blue rectangle... Hmmm... Hmmm.... Too late! 

I hope to see you joining us! Happy crafting! 

I'd like to join:

CAS on Friday: Dies

Stamping Sensations February Challenge: Anything With Flowers

TIME OUT Challenges Reminder!

Hi friends!

I'm here to remind you of our current challenge at TIME OUT. The challenge is still running for about a week. We are inspired by this gorgeous Home Sweet Home photo:

STAMPlorations sponsors this challenge and I had the fun opportunity to play with STAMPlorations products in my card! I'm using Clustered Heart Dies, Fond Expressions Stamps and Plaid Maker Stencil. I think the way I was inspired by the photo is pretty obvious: I went with the colors, hearts, love-theme and even the stripes. 

Our DT members and talented guest designer Trina have made fabulous samples for you, don't miss any of them! If you are new to Trina's blog you are in for a treat -she has the most unique CAS style, often with stunning coloring and always with great ideas in her cards!

Now it's your turn to take TIME OUT and craft! I hope to see you playing along. 

I'd like to join:

AAA Cards Challenge: All You Need Is Love

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge: Hearts, Hearts and More Hearts

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Love Is In the Air

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: It must be Love

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!